Tigers Sniff the Rose - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Yan Shisheng eventually persuaded Mu Wanyao to return to the room.

The maids were outside taking care of the luggage. Mu Wanyao sat down and watched as Yan Shisheng returned, carrying a bowl of hot tea for her.

Yan Shisheng said, "Your Highness was shouting outside just now and must be tired. Drink some tea to soothe your throat."

Mu Wanyao held the teacup, her tone strange: "I spoke to you like that, yet you aren't even angry?"

Yan Shisheng replied, "In this world, thus far, nothing has ever appeared that could make me angry."

Mu Wanyao leaned forward, looking intrigued: "Saying that makes me want to provoke you."

Yan Shisheng said, "However, Your Highness is leaving, and there is no time left to provoke me."

Upon hearing this, both of them froze for a moment.

Mu Wanyao averted her gaze and lowered her head to drink her tea in silence. Within her downward gaze, she saw Yan Erlang kneeling beside her, gently tugging at her brocade sleeve embroidered with flowing cloud patterns. Mu Wanyao stared at the tea stains floating in her cup, focusing on them with extreme intensity.

Yan Shisheng said, "If Your Highness encounters any difficult problems, even if I cannot help you, perhaps I could offer some suggestions. Even if Your Highness ignores my advice, having someone else to talk to might help vent the depression in your heart, no?

"Besides, Your Highness is leaving immediately; even if you tell me something, you shouldn't have to fear me spreading it. After all, this humble student lives in a desolate and remote place like Lingnan; Your Highness should feel at least a little reassured by me."

Mu Wanyao raised her eyes to see him kneeling beside her, his green robes draping to the floor, his hair bound with a cap. His features carried an innate, gentle air that calmed the heart, making one feel a sudden, impulsive urge to trust him.

But Mu Wanyao was, after all, the Princess Danyang who had been married off. She had long since ceased to believe in interpersonal affection, believing only that no one acts without a motive of profit.

Nor did she feel that a rustic scholar, lacking in experience, could offer any solution to her current plight.

And so, with the intention of merely venting her inner frustration, she spoke to him listlessly: "An old acquaintance of mine has some conflicts with me. He will likely look for trouble with me soon, and I must resolve this matter."

Yan Shisheng asked, "Can the Emperor handle it?"

Mu Wanyao: "My Imperial Father cannot know about this. It is best that I resolve it myself. Once my Imperial Father intervenes, the situation will turn to my disadvantage."

Yan Shisheng asked, "What is the other party's family background, how do they treat their relatives and dependents, and do they have any weaknesses? Does Your Highness wish to resolve this once and for all, or just temporarily?"

Mu Wanyao: "..."

Yan Shisheng smiled: "Why? Did I say something wrong?"

Mu Wanyao: "...I feel like you are hinting that I should kill this person."

Yan Shisheng smiled: "Your Highness heard correctly."

Clatter.

The teacup Mu Wanyao was holding dropped and shattered on the ground, staining the rug. However, neither the young man nor the young woman sitting together in the room cared about the broken cup. The two looked at each other in silent stillness; Mu Wanyao was shocked beyond measure.

She barely recognized Yan Shisheng anymore: "Are you not just an ordinary scholar? Why can you speak of 'killing' without your expression changing?"

Yan Shisheng lowered his eyes: "This humble student was merely speaking casually."

Mu Wanyao was silent for a long moment. Possessed by a strange impulse, she truly began to consider the possibility in Yan Shisheng's words.

Kill Meng Zaishi?

She had long wanted to kill him... During the civil strife in the Wu lands a year ago, she had already attempted to take his life. Yet, that man did not die.

Mu Wanyao shook her head: "He escaped death by a hair's breadth; he is likely extremely vigilant against my methods. Moreover, I cannot kill him. The influence he wields is far greater than mine. That is his territory, and I cannot even get close to him. But waiting for him to find me is something I am unwilling to accept."

Yan Shisheng said slowly, "In that case, if you cannot eliminate the future threat once and for all, you must stall for time... For example, is there something he cares about that Your Highness could exchange for a very small price? You could keep him busy with that."

Mu Wanyao nodded slightly, falling into deep thought.

Yan Shisheng smiled faintly, took a handkerchief from his robe, and knelt on the floor to pick up the shards of the teacup one by one, ensuring no one would be cut if they came in. After cleaning up, he looked at Mu Wanyao and saw she was still hanging her head.

Usually, her beautiful eyes were full of life, but when she was silent and ignoring others, her expression was somewhat cold.

Yan Shisheng no longer disturbed her. As he pushed the door open to leave, he suddenly looked back: "Your Highness."

Mu Wanyao looked up coldly: "Hmm?"

Yan Shisheng stood in the doorway, his face hidden in the shadows, revealing only a refined silhouette. He asked, "Does the old acquaintance Your Highness mentioned have anything to do with the Wu Barbarians?"

Mu Wanyao: "...?!" —

The next day, a fine drizzle fell. Everyone in the Yan family, along with Liu Wenji, went out with umbrellas to see them off. Seeing the Princess’s grand procession of carriages and horses, everyone felt differently.

Chunhua wore a veil to shield herself from the rain and, together with the other maids, bid farewell to the Yan family, gifting them the presents the Princess had bestowed. When she reached Liu Wenji, Chunhua cast a fleeting glance at him through the veil.

Liu Wenji said obsessively: "My lady, when I enter Chang'an next March, I will come to find you."

Chunhua took the opportunity of gifting him a brush and ink to tuck a small paper ball into Liu Wenji’s hand. As Liu Wenji looked on in surprise, Chunhua had already turned her back to him with the other maids, leaving only a low whisper as she brushed past: "Wait until I am gone, then look, Master Liu."

Liu Wenji clutched his hand in surprise and joy, his eyes bright.

The maids and guards were busy, but Mu Wanyao did not appear from beginning to end.

Mu Wanyao sat in the carriage and opened a black wooden box. This box had been knocked at her door and delivered by Yan Shisheng before dawn.

Inside the box lay a memorial.

Mu Wanyao opened it. She had been indifferent at first, but the more she read, the more focused her gaze became.

The memorial detailed how to deal with the Wu Barbarian forces.

Yan Shisheng guessed that the person Mu Wanyao had offended was likely a high-ranking member of the barbarian tribe. Given that the Wu Barbarians were still living in a slave system, Yan Shisheng boldly speculated that someone had ascended the throne, and the person Mu Wanyao had offended was the Wu King. Since she had offended the Wu King, what would pain him the most would be the loss of land and his people.

As far as Yan Shisheng knew, the Li family, Mu Wanyao’s maternal kin, had once controlled the frontier army. Although they no longer held that power, having operated the frontier for so many years, there should still be high-ranking officers who followed the Li family to this day. Thus, one could use small groups of frontier soldiers to harass them—not to start a war, but to abduct some commoners, burn a few camps, or sow discord between the Wu Barbarians and the other four southern tribes...

Yan Shisheng had written out ten feasible strategies.

Mu Wanyao: "..."

Clutching this memorial, she suddenly felt an agitation in her heart; every word was worth a thousand gold pieces. Did he stay up all night without sleeping just to devise a strategy for her?

As Mu Wanyao sat quietly with the memorial, Chunhua knocked on the carriage window outside and said softly: "Your Highness, Master Yan Er is outside to pay his respects to you."

Mu Wanyao snapped out of her thoughts. She stared at the words on the memorial, pursed her lips, suppressed the irritability in her heart, and asked: "Why are you here?"

Outside the carriage, Yan Shisheng said: "I just wanted to tell Your Highness that I have let Lady Chunhua take the remaining Lingxi Boluo wine from my home, the Jingzhen incense that my younger sister and I remade, and the candies Your Highness likes. Everything else is fine, but I was afraid the sugar beans would melt, so I specifically came to inform Your Highness."

Mu Wanyao was silent.

Yan Shisheng’s voice sounded slightly confused: "Your Highness?"

Mu Wanyao said in a low voice: "You sent all the Lingxi Boluo wine, the famous liquor of Lingnan from your home?"

Yan Shisheng: "Yes."

Mu Wanyao: "Do you want to have a farewell drink with me?"

Yan Shisheng, standing outside the carriage, froze. He was surprised the Princess had forgotten that he had once said he did not drink. Yan Shisheng repeated: "I do not drink."

Mu Wanyao’s voice was slow and drawn out, carrying a note of regret: "Oh."

Seeing that he had sent her so many gifts and she had absolutely no intention of getting off the carriage for a final meeting, Yan Shisheng felt quite dejected.

Since the Princess would not even see him for a final time, Yan Shisheng had no choice but to nod helplessly to Chunhua and prepare to leave. Mu Wanyao’s voice came from inside the carriage: "Come closer."

Yan Shisheng glanced at Chunhua and walked a little closer to the carriage.

Mu Wanyao’s voice was somewhat bewitching in the fine rain: "Closer still."

Yan Shisheng was already pressed against the carriage; he had no choice but to fold his umbrella.

Mu Wanyao said again: "Get on the carriage."

Yan Shisheng hesitated, then adjusted his robe and stepped onto the small stool to board. As he bent his body, the tightly shut carriage door was pushed open from the inside with a clatter. He looked up, and in that moment of brief stunned silence, Mu Wanyao grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the carriage.

The maids and guards below exchanged glances as they saw the carriage door close again.

Pulled into the carriage, Yan Shisheng stumbled and fell onto the cushions. A strand of hair fell onto his cheek. He looked up at her, and just as he was about to speak, Mu Wanyao leaned in, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his.

Yan Shisheng’s eyes widened, and the back of his head struck the carriage wall. He tried to pull back, but Mu Wanyao pressed against him directly, giving him no opportunity to refuse. He opened his mouth to argue, but she curved her eyes, seized the chance, grazed his nose with hers, and hooked her tongue with his.

Yan Shisheng’s body went numb.

He resisted and tried to push her away, but she whispered against his lips: "Do you want the people outside to know what we are doing?"

Yan Shisheng became even stiffer.

With his back against the carriage wall, he tilted his head back, watching her thick, black lashes, and feeling her temperature. The scent coiled around them; the heat and softness between their teeth—his elbow suddenly hit the carriage wall.

The fine rain drifted in through the wooden window, cold yet hot; the complex rugs on the floor seemed to rotate and sprawl out;

The numbing pain in his elbow, the mist blurring his vision, the trembling in his heart—an urge, once locked under a glacier and suppressed, now burst through its iron chains...

Yan Shisheng dared not move, wanted to push but dared not. Outside were nothing but maids and guards; he couldn't even make a sound. He held his breath, his face rapidly turning red, the air between their lips warm, feeling as if his heart had been pierced sharply by a mosquito.

Sweat seeped from his forehead, and the blush at the corners of his eyes spread bit by bit. The imprisonment of being unable to move and the secret pleasure arrived simultaneously; caught between ice and fire, he felt both ashamed and intoxicated.

Sweat droplets fell; unable to help himself, his vision blurred. Yan Shisheng raised his hand and weakly embraced her back, wanting to respond...

BANG—

Yan Shisheng was shoved out of the carriage, and it was only thanks to the guard below that he remained upright.

Inside the carriage, Mu Wanyao’s voice sounded raspy: "Let us go." —

The rain fell in sheets.

Yan Shisheng stood in the rain, not even noticing that he was soaked; it was Yan Xiaozhou who stood on tiptoe, holding an umbrella to shield his second brother. He was utterly disheartened, staring for a long time at the rain and the departing convoy.

He dazedly remembered the beginning, when she sat on a low stool by the carriage, her red skirt trailing on the ground, turning her head to hide behind her feathered fan and laughing at him;

He dazedly remembered just now, when she pinned him in the carriage and teased him so.

The Princess’s convoy traveled far away. Chunhua, wearing her veil, rode on horseback and looked back at the people seeing them off. Their figures disappeared into the rain. Liu Wenji quietly opened the note Chunhua had stuffed into his hand.

On it, in delicate regular script, it read—

"Though we are parted, do not forget; strive to love Chunhua."

"Though we are parted, do not forget; strive to love Chunhua!"