After all the major matters were settled, everyone got up and left.
Before leaving, Zhu Xiao said to Master Guangzhi,
"Master, now that His Majesty has once again attached great importance to Buddhism, the matter you've been worrying about for years is finally resolved. Why are you still being so stingy? Next time, prepare some better tea. This tea makes my mouth bitter, old Zhu."
Master Guangzhi laughed so hard that his white beard trembled.
Before they knew it, the whole February had passed. It seemed that overnight, the bone-chilling cold was driven away by the coming spring. Spring returned to the earth, and all things revived.
The new envoy from the capital finally entered Yanjing.
Unexpectedly, the one who came with the imperial edict this time was Ji Qian, the former Jinyiwei official.
"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Since leaving the Yan area, there has been chaos for a long time. I and the Queen miss our family very much. Prince Xuan Yao of Yan is hereby ordered to return to the capital immediately to fulfill his filial duty to his mother. Thus it is decreed!"
Ji Qian reached out to help Song Yinghuai and Concubine Yao up, and presented the imperial edict with both hands. He smiled and said,
"Your Highness, I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
Song Yinghuai replied with a gentle smile, "Sir Ji, you've been traveling back and forth between Yanjing and the capital. You must be exhausted. I've prepared some congee and side dishes. Please come with me to the mansion to rest."
Ji Qian readily agreed and followed Song Yinghuai into the dining hall.
"Last time, thanks to your Highness's help, Lord Lu was able to make great contributions and finally stepped on the Dongchang. The Jinyiwei has regained its importance. Lord Lu asked me to convey his message. After your Highness enters the capital this time, the Jinyiwei will take care of everything. We will surely not let any ill-intentioned people harm your Highness in the slightest!"
Song Yinghuai raised his tea cup as if it were wine and said, "Thank Lord Lu for his arrangement. I'll trouble you all."
Because the imperial edict was urgent, Ji Qian didn't stay long. He came in a hurry to announce the edict, had a meal, and then left.
When Caiyu carried the copper basin back to the side hall, she found that the lights were on in the bedroom. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
She quickened her pace through the arched gate. Her cheeks flushed with excitement, and her breathing became a bit rapid.
The man she saw had been gone for nearly a month. He seemed even more noble and cold than before.
Under the bright yellow candlelight, he sat upright. His slender hands slowly flipped through the Buddhist scriptures. His appearance was as beautiful as a painting, and his eyes were cold and aloof. He was indescribably handsome and cold.
During the days when Song Yinghuai was away, except for the anxiety she felt when receiving the urgent secret orders from the crown prince, she seemed to have lived a rather peaceful and carefree life.
It seemed that without that person, she could still go on as usual.
But as soon as she saw him, Caiyu felt as if her heart, which had been hanging for a long time, finally landed.
As their eyes met, all the sealed memories were awakened by the man's cold eyes.
It turned out that she seemed to miss him a little.
Not thinking about how to flatter and get close to him.
Not thinking about how to deal with him.
Just simply - missing.
"Your Highness," Caiyu heard her voice trembling. "When did you come back?"
Song Yinghuai raised his eyes and stared at her. Some emotions churned in his eyes, but he finally closed them. His expression was cold and aloof.
"I just came back half an hour ago."
Caiyu waited for a long time, but there was no further instruction from him. Her eyes turned red involuntarily. She stubbornly stood there without saying a word.
Song Yinghuai lowered his eyes and continued to read the scriptures, but he didn't miss any of Caiyu's actions.
What was this girl up to?
Could it be that she was brewing another plan to get close to and pester him?
Song Yinghuai's eyebrows twitched slightly.
After flipping through more than a dozen pages of the scriptures, Song Yinghuai finally looked up again. There was no indulgence in his eyes as before, only coldness with edges and corners:
"Leave."
Caiyu tightly clenched the fingers holding the copper basin. She bit her lips and didn't say a word or move.
Song Yinghuai took a deep breath and frowned. "Are you deaf? I told you to leave."
But Caiyu knelt down. There were a few drops of water hanging on her long eyelashes. She blinked a few times, and the water droplets slowly fell into the water in the copper basin.
There were a few "drip" sounds.
Song Yinghuai's fingers holding the scriptures curled slightly. He tried his best to ignore the emotions rising in his heart and said coldly,
"What kind of trick are you playing again?"
Caiyu's voice at this moment was no longer as charming as before. It was like a dull bell under the eaves of a pagoda. One could see the cracks in the moonlight, one after another, like flowing water:
"Your Highness, this servant knows her mistake."
Through the faint water vapor, her tear-stained face was reflected as she looked at Song Yinghuai:
"This servant thought it over after calming down later. If your Highness had wanted to kill this servant that day, you didn't have to risk coming to rescue this servant from the arrow rain and gunpowder later..."
Caiyu's heart felt as if it was being tightly held by an invisible big hand. She had a hard time breathing.
She had indeed thought about this matter these days.
She was usually calm, but that day, she was disturbed by Sheng Jiangli's serious injury and lost her ability to think. Coupled with the fact that Song Yinghuai almost strangled her to death later.
But when she thought about it later, at least, the first arrow was not aimed at her by Song Yinghuai.
As for Sheng Jiangli...
Caiyu thought that maybe Brother A Li mistakenly thought that the arrow was aimed at her.
In any case, it was all because of her that such a result had occurred.
No matter what the reason was, she owed Song Yinghuai an apology.
Hearing this, Song Yinghuai's fingertips trembled slightly. His lips were tightly pursed. His eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of snow. There was both hostility and anger between his eyebrows, but finally, it turned into calm:
"It's good that you've thought it through. You don't have to kneel anymore. Leave."
There was no anger as before, and there was no punishment either.
Caiyu stared blankly at him and felt the huge distance between them:
"Your Highness, are you still angry with this servant?"
Song Yinghuai covered up the strange look in his eyes and said calmly again:
"The mind, the Buddha, and all sentient beings are all empty. There is no enlightenment, no delusion, no sage, no ordinary person, no giving, no receiving. Everything is empty. Where does anger come from?"
Bullshit!
He was probably heartbroken by her and had been avoiding seeing her.
Caiyu felt indescribably sad.
Song Yinghuai was a prince and a feudal lord.
If he really wanted to kill her, he could dispose of her at any time.
But he didn't. He even didn't drive her out of the Lianyin Pavilion. Instead, he left the Lianyin Pavilion to her.
He had really treated her well.
But she had always hidden things from Song Yinghuai. Even her mission was to take his life.
Caiyu almost bit her lips through before she finally made up her mind.
She could no longer carry out the mission of making Song Yinghuai break his precepts, but she must break the ice with Song Yinghuai!
Since she couldn't complete the mission, she had to find a way to enter the capital, continue to delay the crown prince's time, and try to rescue her younger brother first.
Caiyu took a deep breath and asked with teary eyes, "Since your Highness is not angry anymore, are you still leaving?"
After asking, she stared at him fixedly.
The darkness and panic were reflected in her black pupils. The firelight and water vapor were swirling on her face.
Song Yinghuai was stunned. He pursed his thin lips tightly, and the hand on the table unconsciously tightened.
After a long time, he finally said in a deep voice,
"I will leave Yan in two days and go to the capital as summoned."
He was really leaving!
Caiyu's heart was tightly clenched. She boldly pleaded, "Your Highness, if you leave, what will this servant do?"
"This servant will die here..."
Her voice choked with sobs, which made Song Yinghuai's heart ache slightly.
But thinking that this girl might be playing the victim again, Song Yinghuai hardened his heart.
"You've been living well during the month I've been away from the Lianyin Pavilion. This is the Prince of Yan's Mansion, not a den of tigers." Song Yinghuai said coldly.
Caiyu pouted. "Although your Highness didn't return to the mansion, you were still in Yanjing. Naturally, no one dared to do anything to this servant. But if your Highness leaves Yanjing, this servant will surely die!"
"Nonsense!" Song Yinghuai scolded in a low voice. Then he pondered for a moment and compromised, "If you really don't want to stay in the Lianyin Pavilion, you can go and live in my mansion in the suburbs. I'll arrange people to guard there."
This was the decision he had thought about for several days.
But Caiyu still stubbornly knelt there and stared directly at him.
Song Yinghuai's eyebrows twitched. He was running out of patience.
"You're not satisfied with this or that. I'm your master, but I still have to come up with ideas to arrange for you and consider your wishes. Caiyu... don't go too far!"
"Then your Highness might as well drive this servant out of the door now!" Caiyu sobbed aggrievedly. "Anyway, sending me to the mansion in the suburbs is also driving me away. I'd better leave on my own!"
Song Yinghuai rubbed his temples with a headache and asked, "What on earth do you want?"