Chapter 3 The Light in Her Eyes 1
Princess Lin'an Song Eryue was praised for her delicate hands that plucked the strings of the zither. She was very good at music, and even the best musicians in the palace praised her for her extraordinary talent. At every important palace banquet, the finale performance was Song Eryue.
God gave Song Eryue a pair of skilled hands, but did not give her a face to match.
Song Eryue was born with a fist-sized purple-red birthmark on the right cheek. Whenever she appeared in public, she would apply thick makeup and stick flowers on the side to cover it up.
Song Eryue seldom interacted with others except for occasional gatherings with other princesses. However, Huo Chi recognized her at a glance because of her unusual makeup and delicate, elaborate and gorgeous clothes.
When I left the interrogation room, the rain had stopped and the moon quietly climbed up to the treetops, illuminating the puddles in the courtyard.
"Princess Lin'an still lives in the palace and has no mansion outside the palace. She doesn't like to go out usually, so she will probably miss the Fragrance Picking Festival this time." Cheng Jue rarely had such a headache. Huo Chi pointed out a new direction for the princess' case, but this new direction was not an easy one.
"Princess Lin'an will definitely go, Lord Cheng, don't worry!" Zhou Zhenzhen stepped across the water, creating ripples, and crossed the puddle like a nimble deer.
Cheng Jue's eyes followed her movements and he uttered "Oh" between his lips: "Why?"
"As the saying goes, 'women dress up to please themselves.' Princess Lin'an pays so much attention to her appearance, it must be for her beloved prince to see. The Fragrance Picking Festival is a festival for lovers in Chang'an City, she will definitely go." Zhou Zhenzhen turned around and saw Cheng Jue looking at her intently. She suddenly realized that jumping around just now was not very solemn, so she straightened her back and stood up.
Cheng Jue nodded: "That makes sense. It's getting late, you should go home first!"
"Master Cheng, aren't you going to leave?" If it's convenient, we can walk together.
However, Cheng Jue shook his head and said that he had something else to do. Zhou Zhenzhen was a little disappointed, and even her back was hunched over when she turned around, looking smaller than usual.
In the interrogation room, Huo Chi hung his head in a daze. The sound of the door suddenly opening startled him, and he was relieved when he saw the person coming. "Why is Master Cheng back again?"
Cheng Jue walked over to the table where he had just sat and took the paper bag of chestnuts in his hand: "I left this behind, come back and get it."
His long eyes flickered slightly, and his other hand moved subconsciously at his side: "A pink double-breasted jacket, a water-red flowered skirt, a flying bun on her head, a phoenix-wearing-peony hairpin inserted diagonally, peach blossom makeup on her face, and a butterfly flower ornament between her eyebrows..."
"Master Cheng, what are you talking about?"
Cheng Jue's eyes darkened again, as dark as ink, and he seemed to be smiling at him: "Women dress up to please themselves."
Seeing that Huo Chi's eyes were full of confusion, Cheng Jue lowered his eyes and walked out.
Song Sanyue usually dressed simply and elegantly, but on the day of her death she looked extremely gorgeous, like a newly-wed.
Cheng Jue didn't understand what was going on, but Zhou Zhenzhen's words just now woke him up.
Women dress up to please themselves. Song Sanyue's "dressing up" was for the man she had an appointment to meet at the princess's mansion, that is, Huo Chi, and not Qi Yi, the prime minister's son who was about to become her husband.
The Fragrance Picking Festival is on March 26th. Starting from March 20th, many people come to both sides of the South Third Street in Chang'an City to take up seats.
Because of the annual Incense Picking Festival, girls sell spices on these three streets, so this place is also called "Incense Picking Street". Spices are sold during the day and there are lantern festivals at night.
Early in the morning, Meng Fan entered the Dali Temple and covered his nose and sneezed repeatedly: "I choked on the way here, this is too fragrant."
There weren't many people in Dongyuan. Meng Fan saw Zhou Zhenzhen huddled in a corner with her head nodding with sleepiness. He couldn't help but rush over and slapped the table.
Zhou Zhenzhen was frightened and stood up suddenly with her eyes wide open: "Master Cheng, what do you want me to do?"
Meng Fan laughed unkindly, and Zhou Zhenzhen sobered up a little. When she saw that it was Meng Fan in front of her, she immediately shrank back.
"Hey, hey, hey, I am your superior, although not as high-ranking as Lord Cheng, but your reaction is too perfunctory. But why are you so sleepy? Did you also stay up all night to make spices for your lover?"
Zhou Zhenzhen rubbed her eyes and shook her head. Before she could say anything, she saw a tall figure standing at the door and immediately shut up.
Meng Fan didn't notice at all, and continued to talk nonstop: "If you didn't make spices, then you were just tired. Master Cheng is really something, you say there are so many grown men who are not used, and you are tormented all day long, making you run around, he has the heart to do it... Hey, what's wrong with you? Is your eye cramped?"
At this moment, Meng Fan felt a sense of horror that made his hair stand on end. He turned around with his neck stiff, and saw Cheng Jue standing there expressionlessly. When he saw Meng Fan looking at him, his slightly raised eyes actually showed a smile, which frightened Meng Fan.
"Master Meng seems to be very free?"
Meng Fan immediately shook his head like a rattle: "I will go and copy another twenty volumes of files right away. I will not be idle at all." He ran back to his seat and buried his head in his desk, looking like he would "devote himself to the Dali Temple until his death."
Cheng Jue put away that tiny bit of smile and said in a cold voice: "Zhou Zhenzhen, follow me out in the afternoon."
Zhou Zhenzhen nodded in agreement, and Cheng Jue looked at the man buried in the desk and said, "Meng Fan will go too."
Meng Fan's face immediately showed joy, Cheng Jue's eyes narrowed slightly, and he said, "Take the file home and copy it after you leave the government office."
Meng Fan: …
As soon as you enter the alley of Caixiang Street, even the wind blowing in your face is fragrant. Ordinary girls use seasonal flowers as ingredients to make juice and make fragrant bait. So many kinds of fragrance mixed together are still fresh and floral, not unpleasant.
But Meng Fan couldn't stand the smell, so he covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief as soon as he came out. He suspected that Mr. Cheng was deliberately taking revenge.
Zhou Zhenzhen followed Cheng Jue and walked to South Second Street. The location near the Liushui Bridge has always been the most popular.
Flowers fall into the water, the fragrance is faint, all the romance of this season is at this moment.
Cheng Jue stopped at the bridge head. Zhou Zhenzhen looked across and saw a young woman sitting next to the first stall at the end of the bridge. Although the woman's face was covered with a veil, making it difficult to see her face, her clothes were very eye-catching. The delicate yellow dress was embroidered with spring peach petals, layer upon layer, gently swaying in the wind, like peach blossoms falling from branches.
It was Princess Lin'an, Song Eryue.
Cheng Jue pointed ahead and said to Meng Fan, "Go buy a box of bait. Any amount of money is fine."
Meng Fan nodded. Zhou Zhenzhen saw him walk over and said something to Song Eryue, who kept shaking her head. After a while, Meng Fan came back and shook his head as well.
Song Eryue's gaze didn't shift at all, she just looked up at the street, as if she was waiting for someone.
"She said I didn't need to bother giving it to her. She only wanted to give her the bait to one person. No matter how much I raised the price, she wouldn't budge. She's really persistent."
Zhou Zhenzhen nodded at Cheng Jue and walked straight over.
After a moment, a pretty face came into Song Eryue's sight: "Miss, this incense bait is really good, different from others. I have been making incense day and night these two days, but the incense bait I made is pitch black. How can I give this kind of thing to others? Miss, can you tell me how to make it? I will go home and make it right away, so that I can give it to him before the Lantern Festival."
As she spoke, she twisted the corner of her clothes with her slender fingers and her cheeks flushed.
When Song Eryue saw her, it was like seeing himself at that time. His heart softened a little and he agreed.
Zhou Zhenzhen smiled and said, "I'll go find a notebook and write it down now, otherwise I'll forget it later."
She went very quickly, and soon came out of the study next door, spreading out the rice paper. Song Eryue took the pen she handed over, and wrote in neat hairpin-shaped handwriting: "The fire for making incense should be low, and you should always watch it. If you make a dark incense bait, it must be because you have overcooked it."
Song Eryue handed over the written recipe: "Just follow the steps above."
Zhou Zhenzhen looked at the recipe carefully, her eyes curved with smile, she really looked extremely happy: "Thank you, young lady, I will go back and make incense now."
Song Eryue nodded and continued to wait for the man at the stall. Suddenly, the little girl screamed. She turned around and saw the rice paper with the recipe for making incense was blown by the wind. The little girl was standing by the bridge, grabbing her hands randomly, and shouting anxiously: "My recipe!"
The rice paper was blown away, and the little girl lowered her head. Then she exclaimed again: "What...what is this?" She turned her head and said, "Girl, come and take a look."
Song Eryue frowned, but she followed and looked in the direction Zhou Zhenzhen pointed. Suddenly, her heart started beating wildly, her eyes widened, and her legs softened, and she fell to the ground.
I saw a human-shaped creature floating on the river, wearing a pink double-breasted jacket, a light red long skirt, and a phoenix-wearing peony hairpin on her head, with sapphires embedded on it sparkling.
Song Eryue remembered that gem, which was a tribute from Persia during the New Year. At the palace banquet, his father gave it to Jintai, saying that it was perfect for Jintai to make a hairpin...
Song Eryue lowered her eyes and looked at her trembling hands. There was a deep mark on the thumb and index finger of her right hand. A white light suddenly appeared in her mind, and her eyes began to spin.
Her hands were clearly clean, but she seemed to see blood.
Blood, it’s blood…
Some people around had already noticed the difference. Zhou Zhenzhen pursed her lips and helped Song Eryue up: "Maybe it's too hot. I'll help you sit over there."
Song Eryue's forehead was already covered with sweat. She let Zhou Zhenzhen take her to the other side of the bridge and walk along the river bank lined with weeping willows to a shady and deserted place.
"Does the girl feel better?"
When Song Eryue heard the voice, his trembling body calmed down and he looked at his hands in a daze.
"Why is there still blood? I have already wiped it clean, why is there still blood..." she murmured. Just as she was about to wipe her body with her hands, she stopped as if she remembered something and rubbed them against the tree trunk next to her.
"Your hands will get rubbed like this. I have a handkerchief here. I'll give it to you."
Song Eryue turned her head, and a silver light was reflected in her eyes, jumping and spinning, again and again, as if it was going to jump from her eyes into her heart.
"Are you waiting for him? You've been waiting for so long, but he hasn't come yet. Do you want to wait any longer?" The female voice was soft, but it was like the sharpest sword, directly picking open the softest and bloodiest wound in Song Eryue's heart...
When the other person's emotions fluctuate violently, the most direct and fastest way to hypnotize is to start with the person or thing that the other person cares about the most, and of course it won't take long. Last time, when Zhou Zhenzhen was holding Gu Qing's hand, Cui'er was almost immediately confused, but this time Song Eryue was still in a daze, with a blank look in his eyes.
If this continues, all the previous efforts will be wasted. Zhou Zhenzhen racked her brains. When her eyes fell on Song Eryue's face, she was startled and blurted out: "For so many years, you have been wearing thick makeup, veils, and flower ornaments, deliberately hiding the scars on your face. You feel like a monster, and you are angry that you are despised and laughed at because of this..."
Song Eryue almost jumped up immediately, her pupils slightly dilated, her breathing heavy, her voice hoarse, like a madman: "Why me! Why was I born like this! Why aren't any of them like me! I also want to be treated like a pearl by my father and mother, I also want to have my own mansion, free, I also want that sapphire, I also want to marry him... What I want, I can't get it no matter how hard I try, but even if Song Sanyue doesn't want it, someone will send it to her. Just because she is so beautiful, I will be trampled under her feet, and I will never be able to turn over in this life..."
Two figures appeared from behind the tree. Meng Fan looked at Song Eryue with complicated eyes: "When I was hypnotized, was I also like this? But this is too magical. If we can get the truth out of you like this, then what do we need our Dali Temple for in the future?"
Cheng Jue looked at the puppet floating on the river and said, "Suspicion breeds evil. It's just a coincidence."
The puppet drifted under the bridge pier with the current, and the people on the bridge followed him away. He slowly walked to the empty stall at the end of the bridge, held a box of scented bait in his bare hands and sniffed it: "Such a nice scented bait, what a pity."
As her bare hands loosened, the bait rolled all over the floor, and was crushed by the tip of her shoe, staining it red, looking very much like blood.
That day, in the Wangxing Pavilion.
The heavy rain "crackled" against the window frame, the sound was crisp but disturbing. When Song Eryue arrived, he saw the red sandalwood guqin placed under the window and a pot of orchids next to it.
That zither was unique in the world. Song Eryue once boldly asked her mother for it, but in the end the zither ended up in Princess Jintai's mansion.
"The sound of rain is really giving me a headache. Why don't you play a song for us?"
Jintai smiled, his voice was gentle, but it was slightly oppressive. Song Eryue hated Song Sanyue's condescending attitude, but she had to do it, and she really wanted to play the piano herself.
With her bare hands she played the song "Liang Xiao Yin". The gentle and graceful piano music was able to sound sonorous, even drowning out the sound of rain outside the window and the laughter of other sisters in the pavilion.
Every time this happened, Song Eryue felt that she was no different from the musicians in the palace, inferior to them. She simply closed her eyes and ignored the others, immersing herself in the sound of her own piano until her fingertips were scratched by the strings.
The sound of rain outside gradually subsided, and there was no movement in the pavilion.
When Song Eryue stood up, she saw a person lying in front of the table, his head covered in blood, his body twitching constantly, and a bloodstained inkstone broken into two pieces beside her. The clothes were as red as peony, so she naturally knew who it was.
She was so frightened that her teeth were chattering. She took a quick look and found that everyone else in the pavilion had disappeared.
She dragged her weakened legs closer step by step. Song Sanyue narrowed her eyes slightly, parted her red lips, and moaned softly. Even in such an embarrassing situation, this person still had a stunning appearance, without any loss.
"Second sister, do I look... ugly now?" Song Sanyue spoke intermittently, and the sapphire on her hairpin moved slightly.
Song Eryue's eyes were reflected in the indigo color, and her heart seemed to be bitten by a poisonous snake. The venom slowly seeped in and dyed her heart black.
All the things that Song Eryue had suffered over the years because of the man in front of him were brought back to his mind. His breathing became heavy and his hands and feet were numb.
The indigo in her eyes was covered by bright red, and her face, which was more beautiful than a flower, was scratched with ravines. Blood seeped out along the ravines and flowed to the slightly raised corners of her mouth.
Song Eryue screamed and threw down the strings that she was holding tightly in her hand.
"I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it... It's you, it's all your fault, it's all your fault... It's not my fault, you can't blame me..." She looked at her hands with a dull look, then rushed out of the pavilion and ran into the wind and rain.
…
"This is not my fault, this is not my fault..." In the slowly moving carriage, Cheng Jue looked at Zhou Zhenzhen who was huddled in a corner with a bit of a headache.
Zhou Zhenzhen has been like this since leaving Caixiang Street. Zhou Zhenzhen had said before that it is easy to be drawn into the other person's emotions during hypnosis, so he said, "It's not your fault, and it's not you who wants to go crazy."
