The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"Alright."

Shen Cuo should respond decisively.

He couldn't find fault with his older brother—the other had never bullied him.

He greatly admired his elder brother, believing him to be a truly upright and virtuous gentleman.

The servants in the Prime Minister's mansion were adept at flattering the powerful and belittling the weak, always changing their tune with the wind. Because his father disliked him and his sister Shen Nian, he never stopped treating them coldly, openly or secretly.

And this eldest brother... always handled etiquette perfectly, never looking down on them.

Watching that tall, straight figure disappear beyond the beaded curtain, Shen Yan suddenly chuckled softly.

The smile was icy, tinged with self-mockery.

Outsiders all say that the Shen siblings have a deep bond, but who can see the desolation beneath this affection?

He treated her no differently than he treated the carefully tended orchid under the eaves.

Water it on time, prune it when necessary, and make sure it lives and lives decently, but never care whether it has ever really lived.

"My second brother treats me the best."

She looked up at Shen Cuo, her eyes revealing a tender, dependent light.

Shen Cuo scratched his head, his ears turning slightly red: "Of course."

Shen Yan lowered her eyes, concealing the fleeting sarcasm in them.

He really is a fool who doesn't know how to repay kindness.

It was worth it all for her to secretly instruct the servants to cut his monthly allowance over the years, and then pretend to discover it by chance and personally help him out—this small favor was enough to make him devoted to her.

Unlike Shen Xian...

Impervious to reason and defense.

"Sister Yan! We've come to see you!"

A crisp, clear voice shattered the silence in the tent.

Kong Sangling skipped in, lifting her skirt, but the moment she saw Shen Yan's face, her almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise:

"Ahhh! Sister Yan, what happened to you—you've become like this!"

She covered her mouth. Her sister Yan, how come she's so green, like a tea bud that's come to life?!

Kong Sangyu followed behind, her blue hair shimmering like the deep sea in the dim light filtering through the gauze curtains.

He leaned slightly forward, his blue eyes clear as the sky after rain, his concern evident in his expression.

"How is Sister Yan?"

Shen Yan: "..."

Looking at the innocent and worried expression on the boy's face, she felt a lump in her throat.

Good? Does she look "good" like this?

"Oh, right," Kong Sangyu seemed to remember something, her eyebrows curving into a kind smile.

"Sister Yan said earlier that His Highness Prince Beichen would gift you a large house? I wonder when you can move in? We'd like to prepare as soon as possible."

His bunch of kids can't wait to move into the big house.

Shen Yan curled her fingertips and lowered her voice: "The prince... he didn't come today."

"oh--"

The expectation on Kong Sangyu's face faded like the tide, her blue eyes dimmed for a moment, and her long eyelashes cast a small, deep shadow under her eyes as she lowered them.

"I see."

The sense of loss was so real that anyone who saw it would feel pity.

Sister Yan, how can you be so useless?

If he hadn't thought she was the easiest to fool, he would have found someone else to fleece.

His favorite person was his kind and easily fooled older sister.

But if he has no value to others, then he won't bother acting.

He, the dignified master of mountains and seas, was raising a group of furry children.

Finding a free, foolish, and kind-hearted laborer and going to all this trouble is something that would make people in the underworld laugh if word got out.

There was nothing he could do; he had invested all his wealth in his true love, Zhiyueting.

Now, all we can do is sacrifice his worthless good looks.

These thoughts flashed by in the blink of an eye.

When he looked up again, his blue eyes were once again filled with a reassuring, clear light, and his tone was as considerate as ever, as if the darkness of the moment had never existed.

"Perhaps," he said, looking at Shen Yan, his voice soft as a feather, "the prince is just busy."

"Sister Yan, you have to believe that he treats you differently. After all, you're so kind..."

"What are you so busy with!"

Kong Sangling pouted, speaking her mind quickly.

"I just saw Prince Beichen at Fuyun Pavilion, enjoying tea and admiring plum blossoms with Crown Prince Menghua! He didn't seem busy at all!"

The color drained completely from Shen Yan's face.

My fingernails dug deep into my palm, but the stinging pain was nothing compared to the sudden chill that swept over me.

In the past, if something happened to her, the Prince of Beichen would always come to visit her, even if it was just a brief visit, it was enough to make her feel that she was special.

But now...

They were even stingy with a perfunctory expression of concern.

Outside the window, what was falling softly was not only plum blossoms and snowflakes, but also the frost that was gradually forming in her eyes.

The pure white petals covered the vermilion eaves of the waterside pavilion, and also quietly covered the lingering shadows spreading deep in her eyes.

In this moment of distraction, the contents of the anonymous letter I received last night once again surfaced coldly in my mind.

The letter said that her entire clan had perished at the hands of Bei Chenji.

As for which family she came from, the letter was vague, as if it were a trivial matter.

However, the few words "King Beichen is the murderer who wiped out the clan" were like a poisonous thorn tempered with ice, piercing her unsuspecting heart.

At first, there was a sharp stinging pain, followed by a numb chill, and finally, it transformed into a silent doubt and coldness that lingered deep within the blood.

All those seemingly accidental acts of kindness he had shown her in the past, and all those "unique" gestures that she had secretly rejoiced over, now reflected a chillingly different meaning under the bleak sunlight.

"Could what's in the letter be true?"

Her gaze, through the bamboo curtain, was directed toward the distant Fuyun Pavilion.

Sunlight filters through the gaps between the intertwined plum branches, scattering tiny, dancing golden spots across the pristine snow, like scattered gold leaf carelessly sprinkled by a goddess.

The wind carried the cool, delicate fragrance of newly blossoming plum blossoms, faint yet elusive, mingling with the crisp, cold air of the accumulated snow.

The bronze wind chimes hanging from the eaves were stirred by the breeze, releasing a string of ethereal and languid sounds, tinkling and tinkling as if whispering a long, peaceful time.

Hua Rong leaned against the vermilion railing of Fuyun Pavilion, her dark pink wide sleeves billowing in the wind, as if she had cut the rosy clouds on the branches into a garment.

It was as if the essence of all the peach blossoms on the entire spring mountain had condensed into a wisp of fragrant cloud drifting in his sleeve.

When the wind blows, the sleeves flutter like butterflies awakening from a dream, rippling out layers of transparent crimson waves.

It's hard to tell whether it's his sleeves that stir the wind, or the wind itself that gently grows from his wrists.

"cousin."

A playful, irreverent smile played on his lips, but his eyes gleamed as he looked at Bei Chenji beside him.

"Tell me... if I were to ask Xiaoxuehua to take on a small role in a play, would she agree?"

He paused, his tone becoming increasingly light and cheerful:

"The script is very simple! It only needs to be shown briefly in the main hall, and you just need to perform the three bows according to etiquette. After the ceremony... you can also get a free copy of the 'Mandarin Duck Register' with gold ink and jade scrolls."

Bei Chenji raised his hand and tapped the smooth stone tabletop with his knuckles, producing a crisp, soft sound.

"Your abacus beads just now flew right into my face."

"Peacock, are you worthy of Xue'er?"

"Don't let any foolish thoughts get into your mind."

He glanced at me sideways, his gaze sharp as a blade scraping my bones.

"You and she have always been worlds apart, like clouds and mud."

"You are the mud in the dust, she is the cloud in the sky."

"..."

Hua Rongshi's hand holding the fan froze in mid-air.

"What evil spirit? Get away from my cousin at once!"

He felt that his cousin must have been possessed by some kind of evil spirit.

Didn't he usually look down on Tang Xixue the most?

Before he could finish speaking, he was frozen in place by a cold glare.

"..."

Bei Chenji turned away with a flick of his sleeve, leaving him with a tall yet aloof back view shrouded in the shadows of plum blossoms and the light of snow.

The copper bells on the eaves swayed gently, their tinkling sounds accompanied only by the quiet, snowy courtyard and someone's shocked, peach-blossom eyes.

"Cousin, don't go!"

"I know a Taoist priest—"

"You can still be saved."