Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 256 Making a Vow Before the Buddha
On the day the army set off, Xue Sui got up early in the morning and knelt before the Buddha to devoutly add oil to the lamp.

Xue Yuechen, supporting her pregnant belly, stepped across the threshold, her fur collar damp with fine snow, her face pale.

"Sixth Sister, have you heard?"

Her voice trembled slightly, "His Highness the Crown Prince volunteered to lead the army. This morning he led 30,000 elite cavalry out of the city to reinforce Chishui Pass. This battle will be tough. My mother's nephew, who was stationed on the border two years ago, said that the wind and snow there could freeze a person's ears off. Alas! The Crown Prince, who grew up in the capital, with his precious and delicate body, how can he withstand the bitter cold beyond the pass?"

"Princess, please come and sit here!" When Xue Sui helped her up, he felt her fingertips were icy cold.

"The snow is raging outside, why don't you take care of yourself? The affairs of the court are handled by the generals, Your Highness should just focus on your pregnancy. Why trouble yourself?"

Xue Yuechen looked at her and forced a smile.

"Sixth Sister, you may not know this, but the Prince sent someone to say that he will come to the nunnery to see me later tonight. Husbands and wives have not seen each other for a long time, so they must have some things to say... I don't know if what you're saying is right or wrong, so I've come to you for advice..."

His words carried a mixture of expectation and unease.

Xue Sui remained silent.

I do not know what to say.

If a woman dedicates her entire life to a man's favor, how humble and wistful she must feel when she is pregnant...
-
As dusk seeped through the window paper, a pigeon fluttered in.

Xue Sui untied the letter tube from the pigeon's leg, unfolded the letter, and saw Li Zhao's handwriting like a drawn sword.

[Seeing this letter is like seeing you in person. The wind and snow have blocked my way, and I haven't had a chance to say goodbye. Take good care of yourself, and wait for my return so we can trim the window together.]

Snowflakes gently tapped against the windowpane.

Xue Sui leaned against the window covered with frost flowers, gazing at the distant mountains, and held the letter close to the candlelight.

The flames flickered past the corner of the paper, igniting tiny sparks...

The sound of the bell from Shuiyue Temple echoed through the mountains. Lingyu fluttered its wings, picked up a plum petal from the windowsill, and placed it in front of the carrier pigeon.

Two pigeons, necks intertwined, pecked at each other's food and preened each other's feathers, like lovers tenderly cuddling in the cold night...

"What's your name?" Xue Sui asked, leaning closer.

"..." The pigeon did not answer.

"Has your master named you yet?"

"Coo coo..." The pigeon seemed not to understand, and subconsciously tilted its head.

"Sigh!" Xue Sui smiled. "I suppose you wouldn't understand, poor thing. Just stay in the nunnery."
-
As night fell, Xue Sui tossed and turned on his couch.

With only the lamp casting her shadow, she couldn't fall asleep no matter what she did, so she simply took her lantern and went out to look at the budding flowers on the branches in the plum grove of the temple.

The snow weighed down the plum branches, and a faint fragrance drifted into my nostrils, much like the gentle kiss that person left on my forehead before parting.

She suddenly came to her senses, and her heart tightened.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of boots crunching through the snow behind me.

She stopped in her tracks, and saw Li Huan walking towards her, wearing a moon-white fox fur coat, the hem sweeping across the snow as he drew closer...

Xue Sui raised the lantern higher, and the light cast swaying shadows on his face.

They looked at each other for a fleeting moment.

Li Huan took off his cloak and handed it to her.

"Put it on."

"Your Highness, there's no need for that." Xue Sui took a step back, bowed, and was about to turn around when the shawl was forcibly draped over his shoulders.

"Why do you always avoid me?" he suddenly spoke, his voice filled with suppressed anger. "You could clearly..."

"What can I do?" Xue Sui looked up at him, a snowflake landing on her eyelashes. "Be a concubine of the Prince of Duan, or a thorn in the side of the Crown Prince?"

After speaking, he kept his distance, his expression becoming even colder.

“Your Highness, you hold a promising position in the imperial court, while I have already devoted myself to Buddhism and severed all worldly ties. Our paths are different, and we are worlds apart. Why force it?”

Hearing her restrained anger, Li Huan took a half step forward, enveloped in a chill, shaking off the snow piled on the branches.

"Come back to the manor with me." He reached out to brush the snowflakes off her shoulder, his voice gentle. "This war could last for many years. The Crown Prince has gone to a place thousands of miles away, with no return in sight. If you stay here, you will have no one to protect you. How will you protect yourself in this chaotic world..."

"Hmph!" Xue Sui sneered.

"Your Highness has overstepped your bounds."

"Do you still remember the game of chess in prison?" Li Huan lowered his voice, as if afraid of startling something. "You said the most brilliant aspect of a ko threat is that it forces the opponent to hand over the piece to resolve the ko. I lost that game, reviewed it a hundred times, and only then did I understand the pain you felt for sacrificing yourself and taking that risky move..."

Xue Sui was taken aback.

During their game of chess in the dungeon, she played white and captured his black pieces. At the time, Li Huan thought she was just being stubborn, but little did he know that she had already calculated that he would personally uncover the truth about Ping Le for the sake of his mother's reputation and his own future...

"I used the prince, but I never harmed him." Xue Sui closed his eyes, letting the wind and snow rage and sweep away the last bit of warmth.

"It was the prince who first turned the unfinished game into a dead end."

"Do you really think that the Crown Prince is in love with you?" Li Huan suddenly gripped her shoulders tightly, his fingertips almost digging into her shoulder.

"What he wants is the old mausoleum. As long as you live, you will be a pawn in his game!"

Xue Sui looked at him with eyes as calm as a compassionate ancient Buddha.

After a long while, he finally let out a soft laugh.

"Your Highness came so late at night. Was it out of pity for me, or out of pity for yourself for miscalculating your strategy and almost ruining your ambition that ended badly?"

Li Huan choked violently.

Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Xue Sui slowly pushed his hand away, her expression resolute.

"Your Highness, please return. We are already even."

“Ping An…” Li Huan suddenly hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her cloak, his voice muffled as if blocked by snow, “If I were to change the chessboard, would you play another game with me?”

"Your Highness, the Princess is still waiting for you at the nunnery."

Xue Sui suddenly broke free, pressed his palm against his chest, and pushed him hard.

Li Huan staggered back half a step, then stubbornly reached out to embrace her.

*Thud!* The snow on the plum tree fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

Accompanied by a chilling laugh, "So, what a fine Prince Duan is!"

The two turned their heads at the same time. Li Zhao, who had arrived at some unknown time, leaned against the gnarled plum tree, his boot soles crushing the thin ice.

"He was just a lecherous opportunist!"

He was still clad in black armor, and the beast head on his sword sheath was covered in frost. His smile was colder than the howling wind and snow.

Didn't the Crown Prince lead the troops into battle?

Xue Sui's pupils contracted sharply, and he stared at him in disbelief.

Snowflakes flew from the plum tree, and Li Zhao, with his palm on his sword, drew it out with a clang.

"It seems that even this sacred Buddhist site cannot cure the filth of the secular world..." He turned his sword, pointing it at Li Huan's face, and then his gaze slowly shifted, locking onto Xue Sui's cold and aloof expression.

"Xue Ping'an, you are not pure in your desires as a nun."

Xue Sui closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, saying, "Amitabha."

Li Huan's face turned ashen. "What does Your Highness mean by this?"

Li Zhao: "Your Majesty knows what I mean."

Li Huan slightly curled the corners of his lips, raised his chin, and stared at him coldly without saying a word.

Li Zhao thrust his longsword forward half an inch. "I demand that you swear an oath before the Buddha..."

Li Huan frowned, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he didn't respond.

Li Zhao sneered, watching the sword blade slice through Li Huan's neck, and spoke in a deep voice.

"You swear, from this day forward—"

"No one may approach Xue Ping'an under any pretext, send people to spy on him, harass him under any pretext, coerce him with their power, or..."

Li Zhao's voice was as cold as ice, and with each word he spoke, the sword dropped a fraction of an inch.

"Don't touch her at all!"

Li Huan looked at the bloodstains on his palm and suddenly chuckled.

“I am not a despicable person. If she were unwilling, why would I force her?”

"I will make you swear an oath!"

Li Huan looked at the curve of the sword's blade, raised his arm, and gripped the hilt tightly, unwilling to be outdone.

"I have no need to swear an oath—"

Finally, he added slowly.

“Ping An is from my Prince Duan’s residence, so I will protect her.”

"I will make you swear an oath!" Li Zhao shouted again, the sword tip pressed against his throat, as if he would take his life in the next instant.

The blood gushing from his neck congealed into a dark red line on the spine of the sword.

shocking.

When this guy gets into a bad mood, he fears nothing, not even his own life!
Li Huan took a slight breath. "Alright, I swear. If she doesn't want to, I will not force her."

"If anyone breaks this oath, he/she will be struck by lightning and torn apart by five horses."

"Very well, if I break this oath, I will be struck by lightning and torn apart by five horses."

Outside the plum grove, someone whispered, "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

He called out three times, and Li Zhao's brows furrowed sharply.

"Xue Ping'an, the military situation is urgent, I have to go..."

Xue Sui looked at the black armor on his body covered in flying snow, and her heart clenched slightly.

In the dead of winter, braving the wind and snow, he traveled hundreds of miles just to see her and, incidentally, to get Li Huan to swear a solemn oath.
It's true that this person is willful and reckless...

It's true that he's foolish and stubborn.

Xue Sui lowered her eyes and bowed deeply to him.

"Your Highness, please take care!"

Li Zhao's throat tightened, and he suddenly raised his hand, his fingertips brushing against Xue Sui's reddened cheeks. Ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulders and back, he abruptly threw off his cloak, and in front of Li Huan, he wrapped his arms around the back of her neck and waist, lowered his head, and kissed her fiercely...

Xue Sui was struck as if by lightning, took a half step back, and was then pulled back forcefully by him.

The lantern slipped from my hand, and the candlelight cast a warm glow on the snow.

The smell of blood mingled with the fragrance of plum blossoms on her lips, spreading through the wind and snow.

Xue Sui sighed almost imperceptibly and slowly closed her eyes.

Li Huan trembled violently, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Outside the plum grove, Xue Yuechen leaned against a tree trunk, gazing at the swirling snowflakes, and quietly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye…

"They said they came to see me, but it turned out they came to catch me cheating."

Jade whispered words of advice to her.

"Princess, please don't overthink it."

Xue Yuechen shook her head.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she abruptly grabbed Jade's wrist.

"Didn't Princess Minghui say she was coming to Shuiyue Nunnery to worship Buddha? Have someone prepare a vegetarian meal for her; she must be treated well and not neglected..."

"Yes."

On a cold night, the wind and snow intensified, and the plum branches swayed in the night wind.

The departing man and his horse shattered the silver frost and jade on the ground, galloping like an arrow towards the beacon-stricken Chishui Pass, turning the Zen-like tranquility and snowy sentiments behind them into a wisp of longing on their journey.

　Li Zhao: I will definitely come back. Don't chant sutras.

　　Xue Sui: ...Some people refuse to back down even in the face of death, so I'd rather be a nun for the rest of my life.

　　Reader: Today, this big guy is just like a big golden retriever wagging its tail!

　　(End of this chapter)