A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 193

“We must not rush into this matter,” Zhan Zhao said in a deep voice. “Right now, we should keep an eye on the woman beside Yelü Hongji. I suspect she was most likely given to Yelü Hongji by Grand Tutor Pang. I wonder if she is also the one who is making contact between the two sides?”

"Leave this to me!" Mo Yan said with a smile.

"Be very careful."

"Um."

Volume 3, Chapter 33

The next day, as soon as Mo Yan entered Zhao Yu's tent and dismissed the maids around her, Zhao Yu immediately asked, "Is he alright?"

Mo Yan paused for a moment, thinking the princess was asking about Zhan Zhao, and replied, "It's fine."

"Are you willing to eat?"

"Hmm?...Oh," she realized that the princess was asking about "it," and quickly smiled, "It ate half of my pancake, which is not bad. I was thinking of feeding it some steamed buns tonight, but I don't know if it prefers vegetarian or meat-based foods."

Zhao Yu breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that it can eat. I was worried that it wouldn't eat, and it would be terrible if it got hungry."

Mo Yan chuckled: "Princess, don't worry, I guarantee I'll raise it to be plump and healthy."

"It all depends on you."

Zhao Yu gracefully rose, the hairpins in her hair jingling softly. Mo Yan tilted her head to look at her and asked with a smile, "Princess, where are you going dressed like this?"

"Yelü Hongji will be fishing on the ice today, and he invited me."

"Oh." Mo Yan suddenly realized, looked Zhao Yu up and down, and frowned, "She looks pretty, but she's wearing way too little. What if she gets cold?"

To avoid looking bulky, Zhao Yu didn't wear a close-fitting robe underneath, but only a fur-lined fox fur robe on the outside. When she moved, the cold wind blew straight in through the gaps in the sleeves, making her skin crawl with goosebumps.

"There's no way around it; it's too difficult to have it all." Zhao Yu gritted her teeth, enduring the cold for the sake of her graceful figure. "Let's go..."

Mo Yan shook her head, sighed, and followed.

The place where Yelü Hongji dug the hole to fish was a very large open lake. Unlike the place where Zhao Yu fished, the ice here was already frozen solid, so that even a carriage could walk on it without any problem.

When they arrived, there were already quite a few people there. Many of them were Yelü Zongzhen's concubines, dressed in gorgeous fur robes, laughing and chatting, some fishing, some angling, all enjoying themselves on the ice. Mo Yan glanced around and secretly gasped, realizing that compared to these concubines, the princess was dressed quite lightly. Little did she know that Liao women, having grown up in the north, were naturally more resistant to the cold than women from the south. These women were used to wearing less, but for Zhao Yu, it was truly a torment.

Zhao Yu was extremely polite to all the concubines, patiently greeting each one individually. Mo Yan roughly calculated that by the time they arrived next to Yelü Hongji, they had greeted at least twenty concubines.

"You've arrived," Yelü Hongji said to Zhao Yu with a smile.

Zhao Yu smiled and bowed, "I didn't know Your Highness had arrived so early. I should have come earlier too."

“It’s alright, we’ve come at the perfect time.” Yelü Hongji pulled her over, pointed out a few holes in the ice to her, and said enthusiastically, “Watch closely, fish will come up to breathe soon. As soon as you see bubbles rising, cast your hook out…”

"I've tried catching them before, but somehow I always managed to let the fish get away," Zhao Yuying said with a smile.

"Is that so? Perhaps you're too weak and your aim isn't good enough." Yelü Hongji took a gleaming fishhook from the guard beside him and handed it to her. "Here, give it a try. If you can't do it, I'll teach you."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Zhao Yu indeed took the fishhook and held it in her palm. Yelü Hongji held her hand from behind. With the beauty in his arms and a faint fragrance wafting to his nose, he couldn't help but feel his heart flutter.

This scene caught Mo Yan's eye. It looked as if Yelü Hongji was practically fishing with Zhao Yu in his arms. She knew Zhao Yu was deliberately trying to please him, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Then she thought, at least Zhao Yu is warmer this way, so it's not too bad. She waited listlessly to the side, seemingly indifferently observing the guards around Yelü Hongji.

She scanned the group of guards several times, but couldn't find the woman Zhan Zhao had described who resembled Madam Fang. She then turned her gaze to the group of maids…

"That woman... that's her."

Fearing arouse her suspicion, Mo Yan's gaze always swept over her quickly, not daring to linger on her for long, but she already knew what was going on. The woman was petite, standing out among the group of Liao maids. Her appearance and demeanor were indeed as Zhan Zhao had said, very similar to Madam Fang three years ago, but much younger.

Sometimes disguised as a guard, sometimes as a maid, all to stay by Yelü Hongji's side, Mo Yan frowned. Yelü Hongji certainly wouldn't be unaware of this woman's blatant following; it must have been his arrangement.

Just as she was thinking, a fiery red figure came from afar. Mo Yan raised an eyebrow and looked over. Sure enough, it was Xiao Guanyin, with Xiao Xin by her side.

This is truly lively now.

"Brother Cha Ci!"

As soon as Xiao Guanyin arrived, she called out to Yelü Hongji in a sweet voice. When she saw Zhao Yu in front of him, she said with a half-smile, "I didn't expect that the princess of Song would also have such a refined interest. I remember a few years ago, the princess seemed unwilling to come fishing. I thought you looked down on the leisure activities of us northern barbarians."

Ignoring her mocking tone, Zhao Yu greeted the Xiao siblings one by one before gently smiling and saying, "How could I look down on it? It's just that I'm not strong enough and my aim isn't good enough, so I can't catch any fish often, which is why I don't play much."

"Aiming will improve with practice," Yelü Hongji said with a smile.

Watching him gently embrace Zhao Yu, teaching her how to fish with practiced ease, completely oblivious to the stares of others, Mo Yan couldn't help but sigh again. How could he not find it troublesome to live with two women on either side of him like this?

Seeing Yelü Hongji protecting Zhao Yu, Xiao Guanyin walked away sullenly and picked up a fishhook to play with. Xiao Xin, on the other hand, was quite playful, disregarding the holes dug by the guards and squatting on the ice, vigorously chiseling away. The Liao people had played with this kind of thing since childhood, so they were very skilled at it and didn't consider it difficult.

Just as he finished digging the hole, Zhao Yu and Yelü Hongji stopped working. Several fresh fish were in a wooden bucket nearby, and they sat down to rest on chairs that had been prepared and covered with wolf-skin rugs. Maids served them hot tea and fruit in a continuous stream.

As the maids approached, Mo Yan paid close attention. Sure enough, when the woman served the pastries, she glanced at Yelü Hongji, seemingly unintentionally. Yelü Hongji reached for a pastry, put it in his mouth, and also smiled at her. It would be truly strange to say that she and Yelü Hongji had no affair.

Seeing that they were resting, Xiao Guanyin prepared to come over as well. Perhaps still angry, she didn't pay attention when putting the fishhook back and cut her wrist, causing blood to gush out immediately...

A maidservant cried out in alarm, "Princess, your hand!"

Upon hearing the shouts and seeing Xiao Guanyin's crimson face, Yelü Hongji hurriedly stepped forward, took her hand, and repeatedly called for a maid to bring medicine.

"Why can't you be more careful?" he scolded.

Xiao Guanyin pouted, feeling wronged, and remained silent.

"Xiao Qi!"

Zhao Yu turned and called to Mo Yan, who responded and stepped forward.