Chapter 6 Hands That Could Not Pour
Lan Zhi still wore that red dress. She walked in with proud brows and eyes, and gave a sloppy courtesy.
"By rite I should serve tea to Your Ladyship. But the year I saved Crown Prince, an assassin cut me. My hands have an old injury now. I cannot hold a teacup."
She held out the arms that had no hands. Two smooth balls of flesh swayed in front of my eyes.
Had an assassin's blades been enough to cut off both hands? I was curious. I gestured for Xiao Cui to ask in my place.
The question was offensive, but Lan Zhi's eyes lit up. She looked like a hyena that had smelled blood. She pulled a chair over and sat pressed against me.
A sickly-sweet pear-blossom scent rushed into my face. I frowned. Her face leaned in and grew large. The powder was so thick it looked like the white face-mask an actor brushed on.
She wore powder that thick, yet a faint green-purple still showed at the corners of her eyes...
Lan Zhi did not seem to notice how uneasy I was. She started in, excited, on the story of Xiao Yan and herself.
He was a prince who did not care about high or low birth, she said. He was her salvation, and she was the girl glad to give everything for love...
She had read plenty of storybooks. I listened in silence. Now and then I nodded to show I agreed, or lifted a brow to show surprise, or frowned to show it was a pity. She grew more and more worked up. Her scarlet lips opened and shut fast. Spit flew onto my face.
That was the good of playing mute. I could hear someone pour everything out, and it cost me no effort.
From her words I drew two conclusions. First, the way she spoke of Xiao Yan, her love seemed real. Not like me. I had become Crown Princess entirely by calculation.
Second, she had traded both hands for Xiao Yan's favor. She said that every time Xiao Yan saw her severed limbs, he pitied her without end.
"A Yue." Lan Zhi ignored rite and called my maiden name. She seemed to take me for a mute with no temper. "You want to win Crown Prince's favor, don't you? You want to understand him a little more. That is why you listened to me tell so many things."
I lowered my head, putting on the look of someone whose secret thoughts had been poked.
She smiled, smug. The balls of flesh rubbed back and forth over my hand. The cold, soft touch was like the toad Half-Sister used to stuff into my collar.
"Crown Prince is diligent in state affairs. On ordinary days he handles official business in the study. If you want to understand Crown Prince, you must have more contact with him."
The study?
The last time I went to the study, it was also because she told me Xiao Yan's annotations were fine and neat.
Both times, she had been guiding me toward the study.
I did not know the reason. But whether the study was dangerous or not, since it was a place Xiao Yan often stayed, the hidden chamber's mechanism was most likely there.
And I had to find the real Crown Prince soon. However deep the dragon pool and the tiger den, I had to go in.
Lan Zhi's attachment to Crown Prince ran deep. I figured she would not be able to forgive the one who had taken his place. Perhaps I could use her later.
But the Eastern Palace was not small. If I wanted to find the real Xiao Yan quickly, I needed more hands.
I watched Lan Zhi withdraw. I lifted a brush, wrote a family letter, and sent it to the residence of Duke of Zhenguo.