After Xiao Yuhuang shattered the jade pendant and left, she did not set foot in Fengqi Palace for several consecutive days. The palace servants were as silent as cicadas in winter, even their footsteps deliberately softened, as though this magnificent palace—along with the person living within it—had become an unutterable taboo. Aunt Qin continued to take my pulse and brew my medicine each day as usual, yet her brows knit tighter with each passing day. From time to time, the look she cast at me was filled with worry she wished to speak yet dared not voice.
As for me, I was like an empty shell from which the soul had been drawn. Most of the time, I simply leaned against the couch by the window, staring blankly at the courtyard where the snow slowly melted, only to be covered again by fresh snowfall. The tiny cuts on my palm left by the broken jade had long since healed, leaving faint pink traces, but the tearing pain and chill in my chest grew ever clearer by the day. That shattered jade pendant was like an ominous prophecy, foretelling the complete collapse of some fragile balance.
I began to have frequent nightmares. Sometimes I dreamed that the burning gaze in Xiao Yuhuang's eyes on that night in the plum grove turned into ice spikes stabbing toward me. Sometimes I dreamed of my eldest sister, Su Pei, her hands a bloody mess in the dungeons of the Ministry of Justice. Sometimes it was Xiao Linyue's blurred face amid the misty waters of Jiangnan, and that shattered jade pendant bearing the character "Yue." More often than not, it was my parents, my second sister, and my third sister in the Chancellor's residence, their figures gradually swallowed by thick fog—no matter how I shouted or ran, I could never reach them.
Each time I jolted awake from these bizarre, ill-omened dreams, I would be drenched in cold sweat, coughing and gasping for breath. Aunt Qin said this was due to excessive depletion of my vital energy and an unsettled mind. She grew increasingly cautious with my medication and even secretly began adding some costly, rare ingredients to the calming incense, yet the effects were minimal.
I knew that I was not merely ill. It was a deep-seated unease and fear, rooted in my very bones, silently gnawing away at the little vitality I had left.
This sense of foreboding was cruelly confirmed on what appeared to be an ordinary afternoon.
That day, the long-overcast sky finally let through a trace of thin sunlight, the accumulated snow reflecting a piercing glare. I felt slightly better, so Aunt Qin urged me to walk under the corridor and bask in the sun. I had just sat down on a corridor chair padded with thick cushions when Chunyu appeared, leading an unfamiliar palace maid who carried several plates of exquisite Jiangnan pastries.
"Young Master, these are new varieties the Imperial Kitchen has just tested. His Majesty ordered them delivered for Young Master to try," the palace maid said in a crisp voice, her smile proper and composed, as she arranged the pastries one by one on the small table before me.
I had little appetite and merely glanced at them indifferently. Suddenly, my gaze was caught by one particular plate—a plum-blossom-shaped pastry, crystal-clear and glistening. Its shape, color, even the tiny piece of gold leaf used as garnish at the edge were exactly the same as the one I remembered: every winter, after classes at the Imperial Academy, my second sister Su Fei would deliberately detour to "Sufang Pavilion" in the western part of the city to buy this very pastry for me!
Sufang Pavilion's plum blossom crystal cake was something my second sister brought me in secret, knowing I had grown tired of the medicinal pastries at home. Because it was time-consuming to make and produced in limited quantities each day, it was not a style commonly seen in the palace. My second sister once said that the master craftsman at that shop had an eccentric temper, made only this one kind of pastry, and sold it only at that single small shop in the west of the city—there were absolutely no branch locations.
The Imperial Kitchen… how could it produce a pastry identical in every detail? And why send it at precisely this time?
My heart sank sharply, a chill shooting from my spine to the top of my head. I looked up at the palace maid who had delivered the pastries. Her smile remained flawless, yet her eyes flickered briefly, avoiding my direct gaze.
"This pastry… is rather distinctive," I heard my own voice say, dry and hoarse. "May I ask which master in the Imperial Kitchen made it? It bears quite a resemblance to the signature pastry of an old shop outside the palace."
The palace maid lowered her head respectfully. "In reply to Young Master, this servant does not know. It was the chief steward who ordered it delivered, saying it was a trial made by a new master from Jiangnan."
Jiangnan? A new master? A coincidence?
My fingertips were icy as I picked up one piece of the plum blossom pastry. The delicate texture was exactly as I remembered. Yet no matter what, I could not bring myself to eat it. I set it back onto the plate and forced myself to remain calm as I said to Chunyu, "I'm feeling a bit tired and would like to rest. These pastries… put them away for now."
After returning to the hall, I dismissed Chunyu, leaving only Aunt Qin. I pushed the plate of plum blossom pastries toward her, my voice trembling beyond control. "Aunt Qin, you've seen much in your life. Take a look at these pastries… do you see anything amiss?"
Aunt Qin picked one up, examined it closely, then leaned in to smell it. Her brows furrowed deeply. "There's nothing wrong with the pastry itself. The ingredients are all of the finest quality. But this style…" She paused, a flicker of alarm flashing through her eyes. "This old servant vaguely recalls that the Second Young Lady seemed to… often bring similar ones for Young Master?"
Even Aunt Qin noticed it! This was no coincidence!
Who was it? Who was using this method to send me a message? Or… a warning?
Just as my mind reeled and chaos filled my thoughts, a series of hurried yet deliberately subdued footsteps sounded outside the hall, accompanied by the anxious murmurs of palace servants. Immediately after, the head palace maid of Fengqi Palace rushed in, her face deathly pale, and whispered a few words to Aunt Qin.
Aunt Qin's face instantly turned whiter than the snow outside. She waved the head palace maid away, then turned to look at me. Her lips trembled, her eyes filled with undisguisable shock and… pity.
"Young Master…" Her voice was so hoarse it was barely audible. "Just now… just now news came from the outer court… Captain Su—your eldest sister, Su Pei—she… she pleaded on behalf of the family members of former subordinates of the Eighth Imperial Daughter who were recently convicted. Her words offended her superiors, and she has… she has been thrown into the Heavenly Prison!"
Boom—!
It was as if a thunderbolt had struck straight down onto the crown of my head. My vision went black, my body swayed, and I nearly collapsed. Aunt Qin hurriedly caught me.
The Heavenly Prison?! My eldest sister?! She had only just escaped the previous false accusations not long ago! How could "offending with words" lead directly to imprisonment in the Heavenly Prison?! This was clearly—
"And there's more…" Aunt Qin continued, her voice breaking into sobs. Every word was like a poison-coated blade slicing into my heart. "Today at court, the Chancellor spoke up on behalf of Captain Su and angered His Majesty… On the spot, an edict was issued removing the Chancellor from office and ordering her to… return home to await punishment! The Chancellor's residence… has already been placed under guard by palace soldiers!"
My mother dismissed from office! The Chancellor's residence surrounded!
These two heavy blows were even more lethal than the news of my eldest sister's imprisonment. This was no longer a frame-up or punishment aimed at a single individual—this was a reckoning against the entire Su family! It was the naked, merciless display of imperial wrath!
Why?! Was it because the lingering anger over the jade pendant had not subsided? Because the Su family's past ties with the Eighth Imperial Daughter had been dredged up again? Or… simply because I am Su Yuzhi, and the Su family is my weakness, and thus must be utterly crushed and controlled?
"My second sister… my third sister?" I forced these words out with every ounce of strength I had left, my voice shattered beyond repair.
"The Second Young Lady is at the Imperial Academy and has not yet been implicated, but… her situation must be difficult. The Third Young Lady is in the army; no news has come yet…" Aunt Qin said softly, tears finally spilling over. "Young Master! You must hold on! At this moment, you absolutely cannot let yourself fall into disarray!"
Fall into disarray? I could barely even breathe. It felt as though a massive stone were crushing my chest, the dull pain unbearable. A familiar metallic sweetness surged up my throat. I clutched Aunt Qin's arm tightly, my nails nearly digging into her flesh, barely managing not to collapse.
Who sent those plum blossom pastries? Was it a warning? A hint that every move of the Su family was already under surveillance, that even something as trivial and long past as my second sister bringing me pastries had been grasped and exploited? Or… was the person who sent the pastries trying, in this way, to remind me of something?