Chapter 115: Jade pendant
The motion of Liang Jiwen's hand stopped instantly. The Great Li only had one "Wangjun"; even without turning her head, she knew who it was. Suspicion rose uncontrollably in Liang Jiwen's mind; how come Song Juguang would be here now?
"Ah, rise."
Liang Jiwen heard Song Juguang's voice sound from behind her. Not the slightest amount of emotion could be heard in Song Juguang's indifferent tone, as if her being here at this moment couldn't possibly be any more normal. But from the time Liang Jiwen had begun living in the Rongfan Palace, she'd barely seen Song Juguang come here more than a handful of times. Suddenly, plots common to folk literature arose in her mind—with events out of the ordinary, there always had to be some unusual explanation.
Her mind suddenly filled with dread. She'd only just learned that, due to her own return to Shejin, those who had connections to her were about to lose their freedom. Liang Jiwen felt that there wasn't anyone here she could trust totally; everyone was on guarded against her—everyone said one thing and did another, and everyone hid away their sincerity.
Now, seeing Song Juguang suddenly appear here, for a moment, she didn't know how she ought to react.
But Song Juguang didn't know what Liang Jiwen was thinking—and, of course, she didn't care to know, either. But, seeing Liang Jiwen's extended daze, she taunted, "Has your highness the Princess fallen asleep?"
Only now did Liang Jiwen stiffly make obeisance, and after rising, she said, "What matter is there, that Wangjun has come so late?"
Song Juguang unhurriedly took measure of the Rongfan Palace, her gaze ending, finally, on Qiu Liu. On being stared at, Qiu Liu grew panicked, and cast an appealing gaze at Liang Jiwen, and, only after hearing Liang Jiwen's order of "why don't you leave first", did she leave the hall, as if some great burden had been relieved from her. As she was about to leave through the door, she almost tripped over the threshold.
"I don't know how to steep tea, nor how to engage in your pleasantries; if there's something Wangjun wishes to say, why don't you say it directly." Seeing Qiu Liu had closed the door, Liang Jiwen's expression grew heavy as well, and she looked at Song Juguang.
She knew that Song Juguang hadn't been willing for her to leave the Great Li and return to Shejin—not only Song Juguang, either, but a number of senior ministers in the court had opposed this matter as well. If not for Xie Qianbing standing against the majority, and Jiang Changbai's support, at this moment, she would never have had the chance to pack away the things she intended to take with her to start with. And Song Juguang's arrival this late was most certainly to discuss this matter.
But she hadn't imagined that Song Juguang would merely say with a smile, "You're about to leave in two days; returning home is a good thing, so why is Dianxia so irritable? In any case, this regent and Dianxia have known each other for a while, so can't I come see you off?"
Liang Jiwen merely scoffed in her mind, and watched as Song Juguang sat down on the low bed as if this were her own residence. Liang Jiwen felt as if she were about to grind her teeth to pieces, but she could only do her best to suppress her temper. "The relationship between Wangjun and myself is far from that degree; I'll ask Wangjun to please state your mind clearly."
Song Juguang blinked, and didn't continue the deadlock. Presently, she pulled out a jade pendant, flushed with the colour of blood, and tossed it at Liang Jiwen. Liang Jiwen merely saw something fly towards her, and instinctively grabbed it.
When the sleek jade and skin met, Liang Jiwen felt as if she were holding a ball of snow, threads of cold creeping from her palm to her scalp. When she took a proper look at it, she found that the surface of the jade pendant was carved with intricate designs; some of the more simplistic parts, she vaguely seemed to have seen somewhere before, but they weren't entirely the same. As she looked more closely, she felt dizzy and dazed, and she nearly fell to the ground.
Liang Jiwen's body swayed uncontrollably a few times, and the next moment, something hard pressed against it. When she raised her head, it was to find that, at some point, Song Juguang had pulled out her fan, and was pressing it against her shoulder.
Seeing Liang Jiwen had stabilised, Song Juguang calmly put the fan away. She said, "Her majesty wished for this regent to give you this. In the past, only the Great Li's imperial family could carry such jade. The patterns were carved by a Daoist priest, and have the ability to clear the mind and calm the spirit, and have a protective effect. At present, Shejin's state is complicated; your return is jumping into a dragon's pond or a tiger's cave; take this jade pendant, and remember to carry it on you."
Clearing the mind and calming the spirit?
Liang Jiwen repeated Song Juguang's words in her mind with some astonishment; only now did she suddenly realise that from when she'd started holding the pendant, the lingering resentment in her mind had, in fact, all dissipated. When she bowed her head once more, she felt that the patterns were even more mysterious, but the dizzy sensation from before was no longer there.
It seemed to truly have an efficacy different from the usual. But even if she believed Song Juguang, Liang Jiwen still felt there was something off. After all, Jiang Changbai was so guarded against her that she had locked those related to her up in the Palace to surveil them, so why would she take the consideration to give her such a pendant?
The pendant was still permeated with a chill; such a diligence, Liang Jiwen suddenly felt as if Jiang Changbai were her own older sister. Not an older sister like Su Ya—rather, the sort she'd imagined in her childhood; the sort of older sister that would appear out of the blue, and save her from her hardships.
Liang Jiwen struggled at the temptation, unable to make a decision, and her face showed her pondering expression. Her eyes were lowered, and she absently felt that Song Juguang wasn't without season. Looking at it like this, it was as if Jiang Changbai were protecting her friends for her, and that suspicion of hers from just before seemed a bit malicious.
Having grown up in such a scheming, backstabbing environment really had caused an especially paranoid character to grow in her. Thinking thus, a bitter smile rose on Liang Jiwen's lips.
But, seeing all this, Song Juguang felt herself let out a breath of relief. Liang Jiwen truly wasn't that old, and couldn't understand these carvings; at first, Song Juguang had assumed that she'd have to waste a great deal of effort on getting Liang Jiwen to trust in this, but she hadn't imagined that, in a mere few words, she'd dispel the suspicions in her heart.
As for this jade pendant, Jiang Changbai didn't have the slightest knowledge. The material was from when Yang Zhuofei had been buried, which she had been clutching tightly in her hand. The imperial guards who'd been dealing with things hadn't known how to handle it, and so had given it to Song Juguang. It was only from then that she had known why Yang Zhuofei had been so confident; though the jade pendant had long since been lost, she'd still been insistent on that false Jiang Mingyou being the real item.
It was just a pity that that which was false was false, and the fact of one's falseness couldn't be changed. The scheme that she had concentrated on for so many years had only resulted in palms that hadn't been able to open when she'd been buried. Song Juguang had thought this material was hard to find, and so had kept it. She hadn't imagined that it would, now, be of use.
But the blood red that permeated the jade hadn't come from Yang Zhuofei.
But, besides Jiang Changbai having her come, everything that Song Juguang had just told Liang Jiwen had been true. The patterns carved onto this pendant truly were calming and clarifying, and had a protective effect—but there were other effects she hadn't said.
Just as she was thinking that, Song Juguang saw Liang Jiwen suddenly raise her head, and ask, "Since this pendant was gifted to me by her majesty, why is it Wangjun who is delivering it?"
You're not that much of a fool, Song Juguang though.
She'd long since anticipated that Liang Jiwen would ask something like that, and she didn't seem to hesitate for even a moment before she said, "Her majesty knew that this regent wasn't willing to let you return, and knew that you knew that clearly as well. She said that, in the future, Dianxia will be the King of Shejin, and this regent is the Regent of the Great Li; our relationship cannot, after all, be in too much of a deadlock."
Liang Jiwen, half doubtful, looked at Song Juguang; the jade pendant continued to let off threads of cold, and washed the drowsiness clean from her mind. The next moment, she nodded, and said, "Her majesty truly is deeply attentive; I'd like to request Wangjun to thank her majesty for me. But now it's grown late, and I won't trouble Wangjun for any longer.
Having finished speaking, Liang Jiwen intended to see her out, but Song Juguang remained sitting on the low bed. Seeing the expression on Liang Jiwen's face, Song Juguang continued, "That was her majesty's gift for Dianxia, but this regent's gift, I still haven't taken out."
Liang Jiwen's pupils unconsciously widened, and for a moment, she doubted what she'd just heard. She knew clearly that the sentiment between her and Song Juguang truly was pitifully shallow; in Liang Jiwen's impression, Song Juguang had only ever served her majesty, and as for others, she could only receive a cold look. She was the Regent, and a general, but she had never seemed like a friend.
Song Juguang didn't pay any mind to the shock and doubt on Liang Jiwen's face, and merely pulled out half a tally. This tally seemed to have recently been broken off, and the colour of the broken portion was a bit lighter. Liang Jiwen, puzzled, dared even less to reach out to take it, and said, "What's this?"
Song Juguang said mildly, as if this couldn't be more mundane, "This is an eight hundred person force. When they see this half of the tally, they'll spare no efforts to aid Dianxia when you're in need."
The words, light as a feather, seemed to be like a massive boulder breaking the calm surface of the water. It seemed as if, suddenly, a few birds had landed on the roof, the faint sound of tiles scarping reaching the inside of the hall. Within the hall, Liang Jiwen was shocked so greatly that her eyes were wide and her tongue was tied, her eyes round as plates as she stared, disbelievingly, at Song Juguang.
Only after a long while did she say, "You—you're really giving me this?"
Liang Jiwen's voice carried a tremor, and her voice trembled as well. She wanted to take it, but she didn't dare to reach out.
In daylight, she'd rejected the pendant that Su Ya had offered her, because she'd known that it had been left behind by Su Ya's mother, and she'd thought of her remaining, alone, in a foreign country; if she'd taken it away, it would have been far too cruel. The second was, she'd known clearly that, even if she'd taken that pendant, she wouldn't have been able to get aid from Su Ya's maternal uncle, either. After all, after Su Ya's Consort Mother had died, if her maternal uncle truly had been able and willing to protect her, she wouldn't have come to the point of letting her blood to feign illness to remain in the Great Li. But that half tally that Song Juguang held wasn't the same as Su Ya's jade pendant. Though when Liang Jiwen had been in Shejin, news had been so hard to obtain, she'd still heard of Song Juguang's epithet of "God of Death". Even now, she was the Great Li's singular Regent, and the words she spoke were most likely not to be untrue.
She has no need to deceive me, Liang Jiwen told herself.
"Of course it's for Dianxia," Song Juguang said, extending her hand, pressing the tally into Liang Jiwen's hand. "These forces will be garrisoned at the border between the Great Li and Shejin, and they will most certainly aid Dianxia."
Comments
Post a Comment