Concubine Yao was left speechless by the question.
The swelling had indeed gone down a great deal, but she had also suffered. Her forehead was throbbing from the cold.
"Once a son grows up, his mother can no longer control him," Concubine Yao sighed angrily. "From now on, I won't interfere in your affairs. Do as you please!"
"Amitabha!" Master Guangzhi, who had been silently following behind all this time, finally chanted a Buddhist mantra. "Let go of disputes and find liberation. Many people fail to understand. Devote your heart to Buddha and Buddha will come. Tea tastes better when brewed, and life is easier when one lets go."
"Your Highness has already given birth to such an outstanding son as His Highness the Prince. Why must you force His Highness to live the life you desire?"
"Master!" Concubine Yao was stubborn and her eyes welled up with tears. "You and I both know that Huai'er's future should not end here. How can I let it go? How can I not worry?"
Seeing her stubbornness, Master Guangzhi didn't insist on persuading her. Instead, he told a young novice monk to take the two of them to get their wounds treated. After they were settled, he arranged for the monks in the Main Buddha Hall to chant scriptures and pray for Concubine Yao.
Song Yinghuai paused slightly and his gaze fell on a tiny dot that was almost out of sight.
Caiyu had been left far behind during this journey. It was only her stubbornness that had allowed her to catch up.
Master Guangzhi said, "Your Highness, General Tan and General Fang have been waiting for you in the meditation room for a long time."
Song Yinghuai retracted his gaze, replied indifferently, and finally followed Master Guangzhi away.
The moss had climbed up the steps, and the grass had grown into the curtains.
There was a thousand - year - old bodhi tree in the courtyard of the meditation room in the backyard of the Great Ennity Temple. The stream at the courtyard gate and the stone bridge covered with green vines complemented each other. In a well, the koi swam quietly and peacefully with their tails swaying.
Master Guangzhi led Song Yinghuai and pushed open the door of a meditation room.
Two tall and mighty bearded men bowed to Song Yinghuai in unison:
"Your humble servant pays respects to Your Highness!"
"Please rise," Song Yinghuai said. After he and Master Guangzhi were seated, Tan Xiong and Fang Kuan also took their seats.
"How is the military training at Shanhaiguan?"
Fang Kuan laughed heartily. "Hahaha! Sheng Jiangli, the commander of the cavalry from Kaiping, felt ashamed when he saw the might of our Yan Army. He has already retreated outside the pass and become a coward!"
Song Yinghuai said with a gentle smile, "Well done."
Fang Kuan continued, "Our Yan Army's show of force scared Sheng Jiangli. The envoy from Shangjing, who received instructions from the Crown Prince, has rushed from the Jin area to Yanjing in a hurry."
"Let him come," Song Yinghuai said, sitting on one side. His tall figure blocked half of the candlelight on the wall. He was like an eagle spreading its wings, with an overbearing and unparalleled posture. "Let him come but never return."
Tan Xiong and Fang Kuan looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.
His Highness... seemed to be a fierce beast that had been dormant for a long time.
Now he had awakened from his slumber and was ready to pounce on his enemies at any time!
Tan Xiong said, "There is another thing. Your humble servant heard that Dong Zhuocheng, the Commissioner of the Yan area, has colluded with merchants and driven up the prices on the border. The people in the Yan area are full of complaints."
"Our Yan Army has increased its military expenses recently due to the training at Shanhaiguan. We are running out of money. Please give us instructions, Your Highness."
The Commissioner was a high - ranking official sent by the court of the Great Ye Dynasty to the fiefs of the vassal kings.
Although the court had granted the fiefs to the vassal kings, it couldn't completely ignore them.
Therefore, under the pretext of governing, the court appointed Commissioners to each area to restrain the independence of the vassal kings and supervise their every move in the fiefs.
Song Yinghuai twirled the Buddhist beads on his wrist and said calmly,
"General Tan, go back and order the leader of the 3000 - man Secret Guard to secretly collect evidence of the Dong family's corruption."
"Regarding the military expenses, General Fang, please first make up the shortage from my private treasury. Don't let the soldiers of the Yan Army suffer."
The two immediately took their orders.
Suddenly, Tan Xiong's face changed. He quickly drew out his long sword and yanked open the door of the meditation room.
The long sword drew a cold silver light in the air, illuminating the woman standing at the door.
Caiyu's pale but still stunning face appeared in front of everyone.
Seeing the long sword slashing towards her face like lightning.
Song Yinghuai's face turned cold and he snapped the Buddhist beads in his hand.
One of the Buddhist beads flew out from his fingertips and hit the back of Tan Xiong's sword.
The Buddhist bead seemed to have gathered immense power and forced the back of Tan Xiong's sword to deviate by two inches.
The blade barely grazed Caiyu's face and cut off a lock of her hair.
"Your Highness?" Tan Xiong stood there stunned and looked back at Song Yinghuai.
Song Yinghuai's expression was calm, as if the dangerous scene just now was an ordinary thing. He only said lightly, "My maid."
Tan Xiong: "… Oh."
He sized her up.
This must be the Miss Caiyu that Lord Zhu had mentioned when he went to the military camp.
She was indeed as beautiful as a celestial being.
Among all the women sent to the Prince before, none of them was like this one. She was charming yet innocent, coquettish yet heroic, noble yet demonic. It was as if all the good qualities of women in the world had been combined to create a perfect clay figurine.
Song Yinghuai looked at her with cold eyes. "What are you doing here?"
Caiyu seemed to be scared by Tan Xiong. Her face turned deathly pale. When she was asked, she was in a daze for a moment and then opened her palm. "Your humble servant saw that there were many bodhi seeds on the ground in this courtyard. They were so beautiful. So I wanted to pick them up and make a string of Buddhist beads for Your Highness. Before I knew it, I had picked them up to the door..."
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone in the room looked at Song Yinghuai with strange expressions on their faces.
"Your Highness, your Buddhist beads on your wrist are gone?"
Only then did Fang Kuan notice that the string of sandalwood Buddhist beads that had been wrapped around Song Yinghuai's left wrist for six years was gone.
Instead, he was only holding the Buddhist beads in his hand, and his left wrist was empty.
Caiyu's gaze was also fixed on Song Yinghuai's hand.
She had noticed it a long time ago. The first time she had approached Song Yinghuai in the hot spring, Song Yinghuai had snapped the first string of Buddhist beads in the pool, and his left wrist had been empty ever since.
She had been observing for so long and finally confirmed that this string of Buddhist beads was different from the others.
Song Yinghuai had never wrapped any other Buddhist beads around his wrist again.
Song Yinghuai looked at Caiyu. His cold eyes were filled with layers of light, like a bottomless deep pool.
There were still many fallen bodhi seeds beside her feet, scattered all over the courtyard.
Seeing his cold gaze, Caiyu's back was covered with dense beads of sweat, and her palm, which was spread out in front of everyone, trembled imperceptibly.
Song Yinghuai was really hard to deceive.
She tried her best to steady her breathing, looked calm, and met Song Yinghuai's gaze directly and boldly.
After a long while, Song Yinghuai said, "Go down."
"Yes, your humble servant will take her leave." Hearing Song Yinghuai's voice, Caiyu finally let out a sigh of relief. When she turned around, she felt dizzy.
Fortunately, she had sprained her foot. Her staggering departure didn't expose her guilt.
Song Yinghuai watched her back, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
It was Tan Xiong who couldn't hold back. He walked around Song Yinghuai and asked, "The Buddhist beads are really gone?"
He looked at Master Guangzhi with disbelief in his eyes. "Master, you once said that that string of Buddhist beads was the shackle that imprisoned His Highness. If one day the shackle was broken and someone gave His Highness another string of Buddhist beads to wear on his wrist, His Highness would be freed from the shackles. Could it be... this maid?"
Master Guangzhi lowered his head and chanted a Buddhist mantra: "Amitabha!"
Caiyu endured the panic in her heart and the sharp pain in her foot. She limped back to the dormitory arranged for the servants. Her heart was pounding like a drum.
She had thought that half of the three - month deadline had passed and she had made no progress. So she had to take the initiative to get close to Song Yinghuai's secrets.
If she could find out some information useful to her master, she could use it to negotiate with her master and get more time.
But she didn't expect that she had been discovered as soon as she reached the door!
She let out a long sigh and tightly clenched the bodhi seeds in her hand...