The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

Pei Yanchuan walked up to Mei Ruohuan, his back straight as bamboo, but his voice was very low, carrying a tentative tone that tried to conceal his concern but still revealed a hint of it:

"Is that person outside... really my brother?"

He had long felt that Shen Xian looked familiar—not that their appearances were exactly alike, but rather that the gentle, scholarly air about him was exactly like his mother's.

He never expected that his mother had a romantic entanglement with Prime Minister Shen!

"What exactly is your relationship with Prime Minister Shen?"

"Shen Zhangzheng?"

"He's just an insignificant ex-husband, Lin'er doesn't need to worry about him."

Mei Ruohuan said it casually.

Pei Yanchuan quietly watched her profile; her figure was slender, yet she possessed an indomitable spirit that defied adversity.

He suddenly spoke softly, his voice carrying a faint sigh:

"I had no idea... that my mother was once the wife of the Prime Minister."

"When I was young, I was naive and couldn't judge people well."

Mei Ruohuan sighed.

She was once a renowned talented woman, whose performance of "Ode to a Thousand Autumns" at the Beichen Wenhua Banquet at the age of eighteen amazed everyone present.

Shen Zhangzheng, who was then serving as a Hanlin Academy reader, composed three poems in court and presented the poem with a plum blossom as a gift, thus creating a beautiful story.

She married into the Prime Minister's mansion at the age of twenty, and Shen Zhangzheng named the hall "Plum Shadow Hall" for her, planting thirty-six white plum trees.

When the flowers bloomed, he drew her eyebrows under the tree, and said with a smile, "My wife's beauty surpasses even the snow."

They were once a harmonious couple.

Unfortunately, life is fleeting, and people's hearts are fickle.

"I've heard that Prime Minister Shen's first wife was the love of his youth, and he loved her madly. Sadly, she died young. After her passing, he was heartbroken and wrote dozens of 'Odes of Longing for My Wife' over the years!"

Tang Xixue overheard their conversation and realized that her deceased beloved was still alive.

Mei Ruohuan had already walked back to the couch and sat down. Upon hearing this, she gently straightened her plain sleeves.

At Shen Xian's third birthday banquet, his mistress burst into the mansion carrying her infant son.

The woman's features bore a striking resemblance to her own when she was young.

"At that time, he kept it a secret from me; he had an illegitimate child outside of our relationship."

"If you are heartless, then I will leave. There are so many fickle and ungrateful people in this world, do you think I need one more?"

"He swore that...the child was just a mistake."

She suddenly chuckled softly, a short laugh carrying a worldly-wise detachment and profound understanding:

"But I say, he's the one who made the mistake. What did a child do wrong? Could he decide whether he came into this world or not? It's the scoundrel who can't control himself who's truly at fault."

"That child," Tang Xixue suddenly remembered something and asked softly, "isn't his name... Shen Cuo?"

She remembered that Shen Xian was the eldest son whom Prime Minister Shen had carefully cultivated, while the second son, Shen Cuo, even had a name that conveyed disgust and rejection.

If it weren't for his elder brother keeping him by his side and bestowing upon him the name "Wujiu," the young man's days in the Prime Minister's residence would likely have been even more difficult.

"Yes." Mei Ruohuan nodded, not forgetting to admonish her son. "Lin'er, you must uphold male virtues! Never learn from those hypocrites! Otherwise, if you are abandoned, you can't blame anyone else!"

She left a letter of divorce at Meiying Hall that year: "Never see you again in this life, for even if we do, I will not recognize you."

On the day she returned north to Wangxue City, Shen Zhangzheng stood on the city tower, watching the carriage disappear into the wind and snow, when a plum branch in his hand broke off and pierced his palm.

He originally thought he could still salvage the relationship, believing that she was an orphan with no one to rely on, and that her leaving him was just a momentary impulse.

But she turned around and married Pei Zhao, her childhood sweetheart and a scholar, which became a legend in Beichuan: "Pei and Mei reunited, and Xue's soul returned to its origin."

Pei Yanchuan stood beside his mother, silent for a moment, before finally asking the question that had been lingering in his heart for so long:

"Mother, do you know... who planted this 'Thread-Pulling Gu'?"

Mei Ruohuan curled her fingertips slightly.

After a long silence, she finally said through gritted teeth:

"That guy is crazy."

She didn't want to elaborate, only glancing at Pei Yanchuan very quickly and almost imperceptibly.

That glance was complex, containing relief, sorrow, and a hint of indescribable relief.

Fortunately, her scales don't resemble that person.

On their wedding night, before the red candles had burned out, that bastard led his guards to break down the door.

Pei Zhao was bound under the plum tree in the courtyard when the madman carried away the bride right in front of him, saying, "Scholar Pei, I'm borrowing your wife for a while."

He was usually the most aloof person, but he turned out to be incredibly crazy!

"Speaking of which, the Silk-Pulling Gu is quite special."

Tang Xixue put down her teacup, her voice carrying the composure that comes from studying medical classics.

"It is a pair of twin Gu, placed in the heart meridians of two people. If they are far apart, not only will the person infected with the Gu suffer the pain of having their heart devoured, but the one who placed the Gu... will also suffer excruciating pain."

She paused, looked at Mei Ruohuan, her eyes clear:

"According to the book, if this Gu is forcibly removed, the other Gu is very likely to turn against its master, causing the host to perish together with it."

Pei Yanchuan gasped.

He finally understood the weight of his mother's words, "madman."

What an obsessive mindset!

Using themselves as locks and pain as chains, they bound the two of them tightly together until death.

But just now... why did Mother glance at him?

A sudden chill ran through him as an absurd yet persistent thought surfaced—could he possibly have some connection with the madman who cast the curse?

"Your Highness," he suppressed his surprise and doubt, his voice slightly tense, "if it cannot be resolved... is there any way to alleviate or suppress it?"

"have."

Tangxi Xue nodded.

"It is said that when the Gu worms are agitated, if the person afflicted by the Gu can... focus their thoughts on another person, they may be able to calm the Gu worms and make them temporarily dormant."

Pei Yanchuan was stunned. After a long while, he murmured a few words:

"That's really... a pervert."

They insist on forcing the other person to be together, and if they separate, they expect the other person to think of them.

Upon hearing this, Mei Ruohuan simply closed her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes casting a faint shadow on her pale face, without uttering a word.

"The royal family of Kitagawa Yunting is the Qi clan. I've heard that every year during the Heaven Worship Ceremony, the Qi royal family sends an envoy to Baiyujing to observe the ceremony and participate in the gathering of the emperors of the nine kingdoms. Judging by the time... it should be time this year."

Pei Yanchuan suddenly remembered this matter.

Speaking of which, he and the royal war god Qi Wang were once close friends.

"As long as it's not someone who's praying for something, it's fine."

When Tang Xixue heard the name Qi, she thought of one of the transmigrated woman's targets, the God of War Qi Wang.

As expected, thanks to the time-traveling woman, her relationship with Qi Wang, the war god of the enemy country, was extremely hostile, almost to the point of being irreconcilable.

At this moment, Mei Ruohuan slowly got up and walked to the old but clean wooden box in the corner of the room.

The lid makes a soft "creaking" sound when opened.

She bent down and took out several old books carefully wrapped in plain silk from the bottom of the box.

The silk cloth has turned yellow, but the edges are still neat, showing how carefully it was preserved.

She carried them back to Tang Xixue, offering them with both hands, her eyes clear and solemn:

"Your Highness's kindness is immense. I have nothing to repay you with, except these few musical scores... which I compiled with a close friend many years ago and are unlikely to be found elsewhere. If Your Highness would not mind, I would like to offer them as a token of my gratitude."

Tang Xixue was slightly taken aback, then accepted it with both hands.

The silk cloth was lifted, revealing the original appearance of the books underneath—the pages were yellowed, but the ink was still clear.

On the cover, two names are written side by side:

Flowers bloom lightly in the evening. Plum blossoms seem joyful.

The handwriting, one clear and elegant like clouds, the other graceful and beautiful like plum blossoms, stand side by side, seemingly proclaiming a friendship that has never been worn away by time.

"This is... a musical score written by Mrs. Mei herself?"

Tang Xixue lightly traced the two names with her fingertips, then looked up at Mei Ruohuan.

"This is not my work alone."

A gentle smile curved Mei Ruohuan's lips, her gaze distant with memories.

"It was composed with Awan. She is skilled at playing the zither, and I am knowledgeable in music theory. In those years, when we had nothing to do, we worked together to compose many pieces."

When Hua Qingwan was mentioned, her pale face seemed to be bathed in a warm light.

Tangxi Xue gently turned the pages of the book.

The paper is thin and fragile, so you need to be extra careful when turning it over.

The gongche notation that comes into view is elegant and neat, with small annotations in the margins explaining music theory or recording anecdotes. The words and notes flow with the painstaking efforts and inspiration of two exceptionally talented women.

What struck her even more was that many of the pieces were rare gems she had been searching for but could only hear of but never see the score for.

Among the sheet music is the complete score of "The Heart Lamp Shines Brightly," a piece she had always loved.

This is so rare.

You should know that the sheet music she had finally found was actually incomplete, and that incomplete piece was later accidentally lost by the time-traveling woman in Lintai.

Now that she has the complete sheet music, she's going to practice it diligently.

After all, Master really liked this piece of music.

She has practiced enough and wants to play it for her master.

"I love this sheet music so much."

She closed the book, her fingertips gently tracing the cover. When she looked up, her eyes shone with light, and her smile was genuine and bright.

"Thank you, Mrs. Mei. This kind gesture is extremely precious to me."

A moment later, Tang Xixue got up to take her leave.

Her moon-white skirt brushed against the clean yet chilly ground as she walked to the door and spoke softly:

"If Madam Mei is willing, the Lintai Library needs people to copy a batch of ancient books. The payment is calculated per page, and the writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones can all be obtained from the library. You can take them back to copy them. Once you have finished copying, you can return them and receive new scrolls. It's very flexible."

Mei Ruohuan suddenly raised her head.

Those eyes, always shrouded in a faint melancholy and sickly air, were suddenly ignited by a faint yet incredibly bright light.

That light represents the dignity and hope she has for herself, the dignity and hope that she can uphold in this world through her knowledge and her own hands.

She was unwilling, and never even considered, to be a parasitic vine.

Even though she was frail and sickly, she was still Mei Ruohuan, who could compose poems with ease and amaze everyone with her calligraphy.

"Thank you... thank you, Your Highness."

She stood up, solemnly curtsied, her voice trembling slightly with emotion, yet every word was clear and firm.

Tang Xixue smiled slightly and nodded, indicating that there was no need for such formalities.

"Your Highness, let me see you off."

Pei Yanchuan immediately stepped forward and pushed open the simple wooden door for her.

How come his prince is so good?

He really grew to like it more and more.

I long to be with Your Highness forever, never to be separated.