A Moonlit Encounter at the Jade Terrace - Chapter 1

The peach blossom branch might as well have been a burning coal. The young eunuch dropped to his knees in terror.

Every noble young lady nearby turned to stare. Even the Crown Princess, seated at the head of the gathering, noticed the disturbance and sent someone to investigate.

Liang Huai, the Imperial Grandson, looked taken aback. His face soon darkened.

“Jiang Yi, do you truly imagine that no one else can be my consort?”

The Crown Princess had arranged today’s banquet specifically to choose a daughter-in-law. My maternal grandmother and the Crown Princess were both daughters of the Lu family, which made us distant relations. With my family background and the prospect of strengthening those ties through marriage, the Crown Princess had been quite pleased with me. She had settled on me long ago.

Humiliating Liang Huai in public was obviously unwise.

My mind raced. Then I remembered how reluctant he had looked when he offered me the branch, and seized on it like a drowning woman clutching driftwood.

I lowered my head in wounded silence and put on my gentlest, most magnanimous air.

“A marriage should unite two willing hearts. If Your Highness already cares for someone else, I should not force the matter.”

The anger gradually faded from Liang Huai’s face.

Almost instinctively, he turned toward the women’s seats. His gaze settled on one young lady.

I followed it, and my heart sank.

She was a daughter of the Wang family.

I had only meant to find an excuse and toss this troublesome blame elsewhere. I had not expected my excuse to be true.

Had I blindly accepted the match today, Liang Huai and I would probably have spent the rest of our lives resenting each other.

Besides, the fish had called him a fraud.

Who, exactly, had it meant by him?

An impossible thought began circling in my mind. My pulse skittered.

My eyes moved to the distant Crown Princess. For the first time, I studied mother and son closely.

Their noses. Their eyes and brows. There truly was not the slightest resemblance.

Wang Yingrong finally lost her composure.

She rose gracefully and cast Liang Huai a shy, tender glance. With his beloved before him, Liang Huai could not hide his feelings in the least. He reached toward Wang Yingrong before a lady official, hurrying over, cut him short.

“Your Highness!”

Liang Huai’s hand froze in midair. He looked at me, his eyes full of brooding resentment.

I sneered inwardly.

If he loved Wang Yingrong, he was free to stand up to his mother himself. He did not have to marry me.

Yet he had wronged the woman he loved while remaining unwilling to surrender my family’s influence. If this marriage went forward, every grievance in his life would eventually be laid at my feet.

The lady official arrived and placed herself between Liang Huai and Wang Yingrong. Lowering her voice, she said, “The Crown Princess says that Your Highness had better hold on to that peach blossom today. You know whom it should be given to. Do not forget yourself.”

The color slowly drained from Wang Yingrong’s lovely face.

Everyone had seen how eagerly she approached the Imperial Grandson. Now she had been left stranded in front of them all, exposed to every whisper behind her back. Retreating would only draw more attention, so she had no choice but to stand there with us and endure the humiliation.

The eunuch offered the branch back.

Liang Huai gripped the symbol of his future consort, his face livid. Anyone with eyes could see how unwilling he was, and the whole gathering fell into an awkward silence.

At last, the lady official coughed.

Liang Huai took two steps toward me, every word clenched between his teeth.

“Jiang Yi, you are remarkably calculating. You have forced me to give this to you.”

I suddenly beamed and took the peach blossom from his hand.

Then I turned, crossed to Wang Yingrong—who was so humiliated she was close to tears—and gently tucked the blossom into her hair.

“A peach blossom belongs with a beauty. I am honored by His Highness’s favor, but today I shall borrow his flower and offer it to someone more deserving.”

Wang Yingrong touched the blossom in her hair and stared at me in confusion.

Then, all at once, she blushed.