Chapter 243: Chapter 243: This Cat Really Holds a Grudge
Only after everything was in order did it head straight to Cui Yun’s study.
Ji Xin, with a feather duster in hand, was cleaning up when she saw Xue Tuan enter and look around curiously.
"The master isn’t here."
"Meow?"
Ji Xin whispered, "The Second Prince comes uninvited. With his status, the master has no choice but to entertain him."
Xue Tuan blinked its eyes.
Its paw pads pointed towards the paper and pen on the desk.
It even contemplated whether informing about the possible trouble that Cui family father and son might encounter would change everything.
"Thinking of mischief again?"
"Meow."
No.
With a proud ’plop’, it knocked over the ink cake. Under Ji Xin’s puzzled gaze, it started grinding ink with all its might.
"This is not for you to touch."
Ji Xin hurriedly picked it up.
"Your paws are dirty, let me wipe them for you; if you get your fur dirty, I fear it won’t be easy to clean."
"Meow."
It gestured and made a motion as if it were writing.
Ji Xin understood.
She took out a piece of Xuan paper, folded a beautiful paper dragonfly, and tossed it into the air. Its wings quivered in the air, and soon, it flew out of the room.
Ji Xin patted Xue Tuan: "Go play."
It doesn’t want to play!
It has serious business!
Xue Tuan was very serious.
But instinctively, its little short legs couldn’t help but chase after it.
Xue Tuan in despair: ...Save... save me.
As a breeze passed by, the fallen paper dragonfly soared into the air, floating and dancing with the wind.
A hand intercepted it.
"I like this paper dragonfly," said the Second Prince.
"If the Second Prince likes it, then take it," said Cui Yun nonchalantly.
"But it seems your cat does not think the same," Ji Cong commented as he looked at the clenching, huffing Xue Tuan.
Cui Yun merely said, without a hint of reproach: "It’s being mischievous."
"Forget it, it’s just a senseless beast after all. Could I, a prince, actually compete with it?"
Ji Cong crumpled the deformed paper dragonfly into a ball and threw it heavily onto Xue Tuan. He loomed above, as though bestowing a favor.
"This is for you."
Xue Tuan was hit and left bewildered.
Soon, it was picked up by someone.
Cui Yun’s face showed a hint of anger.
"Ji Qing, see the guest out."
Ji Cong in disbelief: "What is the meaning of this? I’ve just arrived."
"The Cui Mansion is too small to accommodate the great Buddha that is the Second Prince. When you arrived, I showed you every courtesy without fault, but I don’t even bear to touch this cat on any ordinary day."
"Are you hitting the cat or my face?"
Cui Yun unexpectant, stood firm: "The Second Prince is free to ask for punishment from the officials or complain to Princess Consort Jing; either way, I’ll be waiting."
And so, Ji Cong was sent away.
Xue Tuan’s chubby paw pads reassuringly patted Cui Yun’s hand, but it was met with his sarcastic remark.
"Can’t even hide? Just sitting there stupidly, letting him throw things at you? You sure hold a grudge. How dare you throw a tantrum at me?"
"Meow."
It doesn’t hurt.
"Let me apply some medicine."
"Meow."
But there’s no wound.
Cui Yun grumbled with frustration: "Dumb to death."
Xue Tuan: ???
It clawed at Cui Yun’s fingers, struggling to point towards the study.
Ji Xin caught up and explained: "Xue Tuan found the ink cake amusing and insisted on playing with it just now. It seems to be begging you for it now."
Cui Yun looked down and lazily tapped its head.
"What’s wrong with you, thinking everything you see must be yours?"
"We can overlook everything else, you can even take them to your bed, but not the ink cake."
"Ji Xin."
"Here."
"Don’t let it touch those."
Xue Tuan gave him a distressed glare, its sharp claws writing something on the back of Cui Yun’s hand.
Cui Yun let out a hiss of pain.
Xue Tuan stared dumbfounded at the blood bead it had accidentally scratched out.
Cui Yun said coolly, "Why don’t you use this trick on strangers?"
————
The next morning.
The carriage from the Marquis Mansion drove out of Shengjing.
Mama, looking weary, had suffered from nightmares last night. She dreamt of seeing Cui Yang with his back turned towards her, calling out to him to no avail as he walked further and further away.
Even now, the thought still sent shivers down her spine.
Just as she was about to speak, she saw Cui Yun leaning lazily against the carriage, holding a small copper mirror in his hand.
Xue Tuan sat solemnly, looking into the mirror while applying lipstick.
Its wet lips turned even redder.
The actions were both comical and eerie.
Mama couldn’t contain herself and laughed out loud, all her gloom dissipating like smoke in the air.
"It really cares about its appearance."
Cui Yun replied with a smile in his voice. Once Xue Tuan had nearly finished applying, he took a handkerchief and patiently cleaned the remaining marks off its paws.
Mama, with a keen eye: "What happened to the back of your hand?"
Xue Tuan lowered its head.
Cui Yun glared at it and huffed, "You know to feel guilty, huh?"
Hearing this, Mama understood and simply swayed her fan, smiling with downcast eyes, deciding not to ask further.
The Daoist School was thriving, its bluestone paving cleansed by a heavy rain days before. Seeking sincerity, people landed at the foot of the mountain and climbed step by step.
The visitors to the Daoist School were numerous.
At this moment, there was endless chatter.
——Do you know about the official’s arranged marriage?
——The whole of Shengjing knows about it, how could we be unaware? In my opinion, young lady of the Wen Family is incredibly lucky, before Heir Xuan himself was considered a paragon, and now she’s betrothed to the Crown Prince; she’s destined to become the mother of the nation.
——Heir Xuan is not at a loss either; the rank of the Prince Guo Mansion is not inferior to Duke Wen’s Mansion.
These words made Cui Yun and his companions fall silent, waiting until no one was around. Only then did Mama said with self-mockery.
"Yesterday, the exchange of betrothal gifts between Wen and Xuan families was called off, and all the gifts were returned. Last night, that young lady from Duke Wen’s Mansion fell severely ill, suffering from an intractable fever. The Eastern Palace sent many tonics, and the Crown Prince personally visited; your cousin couldn’t even find a chance to see her once."
Mama sighed deeply: "Just listen to the rumors outside, they all say His Majesty is wise. Lucky? Not at a loss? Ridiculous, what was a good marriage has turned into a calamity."
"I really worry, if you become another Brother Chen in the future..."
"I won’t."
Cui Yun spoke assertively, calming the uneasiness in Mama’s heart.
"Mama, there’s no need to worry too much."
They walked and stopped along the way, resting for a while in a pavilion midway before finally reaching the peak.
Mama knelt on the cushion, closed her eyes, prayed sincerely, and then started shaking the divination sticks.
Xue Tuan: !!!
It pointed at the divination sticks.
Cui Yun put its paw down.
Xue Tuan raised its paw again.
Cui Yun, with good temper, put it down again.
"Inside the Daoist School, no disturbances allowed."
"It’s just a divination. All things have spirits; Cui, there’s no need to be so strict."
The ethereal Sanqing Taoist walked over slowly.
Cui Yun raised an eyebrow, then let go of Xue Tuan.
Xue Tuan sat on its hind legs on the cushion, it took the tong qian offered by Sanqing Taoist, hugged it, and shook it with a serious demeanor.
Lacking in strength, its body swayed with the motion.
Cui Yun’s gaze shifted from Mama to the now whitish-furred cat.
He chuckled quietly: "A mimic."
With a ’clack’, Xue Tuan drew a stick.
It joyfully leaned in to look.
It was a bad fortune.
Xue Tuan’s eyes instantly widened.
Angry, it decisively shoved the stick back in a flash.
Cui Yun witnessed this scene: ...
The cat carefully picked and chose inside the divination sticks tub, boldly biting out a top fortune stick and then dashing off to the fortune explaining stall.