A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 158

"Annual tribute?" He leaned back in his chair and scoffed. "Three hundred thousand every year. The taxes that the common people work so hard to pay all year are just handed over like that. His Majesty is really very generous."

"It's just about spending money to seek peace."

Mo Yan said calmly. She might have been indignant about this before, but after three years in Kaifeng Prefecture, she had seen everything and was no longer surprised.

"That would be best if there were truly peace," Su Zui said coldly.

In that instant, his tone of voice sounded somewhat familiar, and Mo Yan was startled, turning her head sharply to stare at him...

Seemingly sensing something, he changed to a smiling expression and asked curiously, "I wonder which official in the court is escorting the tribute this time? This is quite a cushy job."

Mo Yan hesitated for a moment. In any case, what he asked was not a secret of the court, so it was fine to answer. He replied, "It is His Highness Prince Ning."

"So it was him." Su Zui smiled, seemingly with a hint of mockery.

"The grand wedding ceremony between Princess Yu and Yelü Hongji is imminent, and he has come to observe it as well," Mo Yan casually explained for Ning Jin, fulfilling her duty as a friend.

Upon hearing this, Su Zui's eyes, which had been smiling, seemed to dim slightly. He then turned his head, glanced at the falling snow outside the window, and said indifferently, "The snow is falling heavier and heavier; I'm afraid your journey tomorrow will be difficult."

Mo Yan followed his gaze and saw that the snow was indeed getting heavier.

She finished her tea in one gulp, stood up and thanked him, saying, "Thank you very much, Young Master Su. I apologize for disturbing you for so long. I should take my leave now."

Su Zui did not try to keep him. Sitting in his wheelchair, he smiled faintly and said, "Please take care, young lady. I apologize for my leg problems, but I will not see you off."

Mo Yan pulled up her cloak, stood at the doorway, looked at the dark room next to her, paused for a moment, then suddenly turned around and asked, "Young Master Su, may I go in and take a look at this room next door?"

Su Zui smiled apologetically: "That room is full of clutter, there's not even a place to put your feet down, I'm afraid it's inconvenient."

“…Oh.” Mo Yan sighed inwardly, laughing at herself for being so naive. How could she still imagine that the house would look the same as before?

Thank you, farewell.

As the snow fell heavily, she coughed lightly, turned and left the courtyard, closing the gate behind her as she walked away slowly.

Volume 3, Chapter 6

Even though she was gone, Su Zui still sat in his wheelchair, slowly sipping his tea, boiling it again when it got cold, and letting it cool down again, over and over again...

Just past four in the morning, a very faint sound came from the courtyard, seemingly snow falling from the eaves. Su Zui stretched wearily and said with a smile, "Come in quickly, I was almost asleep waiting."

The door was pushed open, and a figure slipped inside. He then closed the door again, took off his white fox fur coat, shook off the snow, and smiled faintly at Su Zui: "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, brother. This snow came suddenly. I was afraid that the 200,000 bolts of silk would get wet, so I added several layers of oilcloth. I was busy until the third watch of the night."

"Alright, have some tea to warm up." Su Zui stared at Yelü Pusa Nu's face for a long time, then laughed, "Why do I always feel so awkward when I look at you, as if I'm looking at myself? But I can never get used to looking at my own face."

Yelü Pusa Nu took the tea, lowered his eyes and smiled: "At first I wasn't used to it either, but after three years, I don't find it so strange anymore. By the way... has anyone been here?" He had seen faint footprints in the snow when he came.

Su Zui looked at him with a half-smile: "She's been here."

"who is she?"

Yelü Pusa Nu was puzzled, but seeing Su Zui's expression, he seemed to understand, and his heart began to pound wildly.

“Who else could it be but the one in your heart?” Su Zuiqi asked. “What, you didn’t know she was here? She said she came with the Prince of Ning’s tribute escort team.”

"I have no idea."

Upon receiving the tribute, he only briefly met Prince Ning before rushing to settle the tribute arrangements. Only just now did he learn that she had also arrived, not far from him. Thinking of this, his breathing quickened, feeling a suffocating tightness in his chest, as if a huge boulder were pressing down on it, or as if it were about to explode—an unbearable discomfort. His body swayed slightly, and he involuntarily knelt on one knee, clutching his old chest wound, gasping for breath.

Seeing him like this, Su Zui frantically patted the armrest of the wheelchair, but could not go forward. He angrily scolded, "You, you don't want to die... Hurry up and sit down cross-legged, focus your mind on your dantian, and don't let your true qi run wild."

Yelü Pusa Nu propped himself up and, as instructed, sat cross-legged on the ground. He forced himself to clear his mind of distractions, focused his attention on his dantian, and regulated his inner energy. It wasn't until the time it takes for an incense stick to burn that his breathing gradually became steady, no longer as chaotic as before. Only then did he slowly rise and silently sit down on a nearby chair.

“You…” Su Zui shook her head at him, not knowing what to say to him. “Just hearing that she’s here makes you like this. How will you control yourself when you actually see her?”

“No, just now…” Yelü Pusa Nu took a deep breath, “…I didn’t expect her to come here.”

"Don't forget, although I cured you of the poison three years ago, your heart meridian was already damaged. You are most susceptible to extreme joy or sorrow. If you are not careful, your true energy will be diverted, and your life will be in imminent danger," Su Zui rebuked him sternly.

"I know." Yelü Pusa Nu looked up and smiled faintly. "Brother, you don't need to worry. I will be more careful in the future."

Seeing his appearance, Su Zui couldn't continue scolding him, so she could only say, "You know, this girl is here, so what? You've been thinking about her all along, haven't you? Now that she's here, it's a good thing that you can see her safe and sound. Why did you torment yourself like this?"

Yelü Pusa Nu smiled wryly, and after a long while, asked, "Does she look alright?"

"She's much more composed than before, unlike the carefree person she used to be." Su Zui smiled. "She originally wanted to come into your room to take a look, but I was afraid she would become suspicious, so I didn't let her in."

Everything in the room next door where Zhan Zhao once lived was exactly the same as it was three years ago, even the pair of red candles that had been burned were still in their original places, so Su Zui naturally dared not let Mo Yan go in.

Upon hearing this, Yelü Pusa Nu, whom Zhan Zhao was disguised as, sighed deeply: "I'm afraid she will come again. I'll trouble you to clean the house tomorrow, brother."

"Are you willing to do that?"

Zhan Zhao did not answer, but only said, "It's better not to let her see it."

Su Zui nodded: "Anyway, I'll keep everything safe for you."

"Thank you, brother."

Zhan Zhao warmed the teacup in his hands, lost in thought for a while. Su Zui didn't disturb him, and the two sat quietly by the stove, listening to the occasional crackling of the charcoal fire inside.

After a long while, Zhan Zhao forced himself to calm down, pulled his thoughts back, and looked up to ask, "...Has there been any activity in town lately?"

Su Zui shook his head: "It's the same as always. How about your end?"

“As I told you last time, I suspected that Yelü Hongji also had a map of the Song Dynasty’s defenses. Sure enough, last month he presented the map of the Song Dynasty’s troop deployment to Yelü Longzhu in front of Yelü Chongguang, which made Yelü Chongguang very angry when he returned and he was in a bad mood for several days.”

Su Zui frowned and said, "Yelü Hongji is a man who enjoys hunting by nature, and doesn't seem to have any ambition to invade the Central Plains. He probably created this map of the Song Dynasty's military deployment to curry favor with Yelü Longzhu. Now that Yelü Longzhu is getting old, it's only a matter of time before Yelü Hongji ascends the throne. But with Yelü Chongguang coveting the throne, and Yelü Longzhu once jokingly saying in a drunken stupor that he would give the throne to Yelü Chongguang, his position as crown prince is naturally not very comfortable."