Chapter 342: Chapter 342: He Even Wrote Me Love Poems!
Cui Rong loves to hear this.
She shook her head happily, her small tuft of hair swaying along with it. Thinking of something, she couldn’t help but lean closer to Shen Hua.
"Speak the truth with this Commandery Princess."
She asked: "You really have a bad temper, but you are also extraordinarily beautiful. There must be quite a few young masters who wish to marry you, right?"
Shen Hua ’heh’ed. She couldn’t resist feeling a bit of pride.
"If your second uncle has girls chasing after him, I naturally receive the favor of various young masters too."
"The household next to my mansion, the Xu family has a peach tree that bears large and sweet fruits. That brother from the Xu family always climbs up the tree to pick them, washes them, and brings them to me."
"He even writes love poems for me!"
Cui Rong: !!!
Her heart was suddenly lifted.
"Then did you accept them?"
Shen Hua: ...
At that time, she couldn’t read, only felt it was pretty, the envelope was pink, and there was a lovely bow on top, a bell hanging beneath the bow. Shen Hua joyfully accepted it, even thinking of hiding it in the box where she kept her jewelry.
After holding it and returning to her residence, she pulled out the letter, the little girl looked at it from left to right bewildered, not recognizing any of the words. Just by chance, Shen Zhi passed by, took it from her, and his expression changed.
——Brother, what does it say on top?
Shen Zhi told her.
——He’s mocking you for being illiterate, for having no ink in your chest. Look, every word, every sentence is scolding you, yet you hold it like it’s a treasure, aren’t you annoyed for being played like this?
Under Cui Rong’s curiosity, Shen Hua responded with noble coolness: "A joke, if someone sends me a love poem, should I accept it?"
"I’ve received more than enough love poems."
So much so, that every time she received one, it felt as if they were all jeering at her. She gave them all to Shen Zhi. Shen Zhi comforted her while burning the letters. Then he went to visit the families and spoke with their parents and elders. So much so, that later, those people would run away upon seeing Shen Hua.
Cui Rong believed it.
"Wow!"
She felt a bit envious because no one in the entire Shengjing dared to write to her.
The girl remarked, "In Fengzhou City, there are plenty of young masters who come to court me as well."
Cui Rong: "Wow!"
Lost in the successive ’wows’, Shen Hua overstated to make herself seem more sought-after than Cui Yun.
"Whenever I go out, I could block the roads to the point where not a drop of water could slip through."
The girl raised her little finger: "How troubling."
The little baby beside her was about to continue praising, but then she noticed a man not far away and abruptly stood up.
"Second Uncle!"
Shen Hua’s small raised finger trembled a bit.
The moment she looked up, she collided with Cui Yun’s indifferent gaze.
Cui Rong ran over: "When did you come back?"
Cui Yun looked at the girl who, just a moment ago was sitting on the threshold, bragging unabashedly. His thin lips moved slightly, his voice betraying no change in intonation.
"I returned when your Second Aunt was calling out for Brother Xu."
Shen Hua felt that this person took advantage while also being sarcastic.
Cui Rong: "Wow!"
She triumphantly tilted her chin at Shen Hua: "You are so dead!"
Shen Hua slowly withdrew her little finger. Then she lowered her head, trying to summon the sorrowful emotions from her previous complaint.
Cui Yun averted his gaze and ordered: "Send the little princess back."
The little baby pouted unwillingly. Then she heard Cui Yun’s indifferent voice again: "Oversee her copying..."
Before the words were finished.
"I won’t copy, I’ll leave right now."
Cui Rong pathetically scampered away.
Soon, steady footsteps approached from afar. A pair of black boots embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns entered Shen Hua’s field of vision. The owner of the black boots maintained a bland expression, but his red robe lent a hint of radiance to his features.
Having finally regained her composure, Shen Hua let out a breath: "I have something to tell you!"
Cui Yun glanced at her.
"Hmm."
He walked towards the study, and Shen Hua hurriedly got up to follow. She didn’t forget to close the door cautiously behind her.
Cui Yun took off his official hat, and the girl quickly stepped inside, tugging at the hem of his clothing.
"Today outside, I saw someone."
Cui Yun looked at her impassively.
"Who?"
He asked indifferently, "Your brother from the Xu Family?"
Shen Hua’s face fell, and she said bluntly, "It was the person who used Buhuo on me back then."
At this statement, Cui Yun suddenly turned to look at her.
Shen Hua: "I could never mistake him. But he is from the Imperial Guard."
During the days she was recovering, Xue Tuan would always be clinging to Cui Yun, licking his wounds while mourning the appearance of that person every day, wishing he would meet his demise.
The girl was somewhat flustered: "The Buhuo incident was tied to many cases, still a mystery to this day. You once said that a general from the previous dynasty was controlled by it. The seductive scent was then lost for a time but reappeared after the Grand Ancestor Emperor’s ascension."
"Not to mention other things, after the late Emperor’s death, during the Jiayou Period, the official family took control of state affairs, and the cases involving Buhuo started to emerge one after another."
Over these seventeen years, there must have been at least a dozen such incidents.
"I don’t keep a clear count of these, nor do I wish to think so far ahead," she admitted.
Shen Hua asked, "I just want to know, is the Imperial Guard loyal to the official family?"
If it were so, then this Emperor was far too terrifying.
"Can you draw?" asked Cui Yun, who happened to be standing at the desk, pointing indistinctly at the Xuan paper above it.
Shen Hua understood his meaning.
"Also, you should check it out. Maybe the person behind Buhuo deliberately planted someone in the palace."
She had just sat down when Cui Yun began silently lifting his robe to grind the ink for her.
A qualified embroidery lady must be able to draw designs, with brush pen tracing clear patterns. Drawing portraits was not difficult for Shen Hua.
She took over the brush pen, dipped it in ink, and with pursed lips, set the pen to paper.
She drew with great care. Unaware that the man’s gaze beside her grew colder with each inch, especially when half the face took shape on the paper, matching perfectly the second-in-command of the Imperial Guard.
Cui Yun’s jaw tensed.
The Imperial Guard was naturally Emperor He’s loyal dogs, never to betray in this lifetime.
Back then, the person who attempted to assassinate him had the emblem of the Imperial Guard on him.
Thus, he began to doubt this Emperor, whose benevolence and attention to detail gained him the adoration of thousands of people.
He began to thoroughly investigate the true cause of the Cui family father and son’s deaths on the battlefield.
He had also come to understand just how ruthless this Emperor’s methods were.
Yet he had never considered that Buhuo might also be connected to him. However, Cui Yun soon came to accept this fact.
If one were to investigate it thoroughly, the conspiracy would likely spiral out of control, shocking both the court and the commoners—with implications involving the Supreme Emperor, the late Emperor, and the one currently sitting on the Dragon Chair.
"No need to draw anymore."
He took the brush pen from the girl’s hand, and ink drops fell on the portrait, smudging the eyes filled with killing intent into a black blot, while the scar became even more prominent.
Shen Hua looked up at him.
Cui Yun gently stroked her soft ink-black hair.
"Do you know why the Second Prince is simple-minded?"
Shen Hua dared not guess.
Cui Yun answered for her.
"He is a victim of Buhuo."
The man’s voice was as cool as water, and the words that followed made Shen Hua’s heart skip a beat.
"But originally, the Buhuo was intended for the Crown Prince."