Chapter 10
The first place to be inspected was the rear hall.
Lin Feng Hall served as the princess’s daily living quarters. From the central main chamber to the east and west side rooms, all the way to the westernmost bedroom, the dozen or so palace maids who attended the princess closely, led by Nurse Yuan, were politely asked to leave.
Nurse Yuan had initially tried desperately to stop them, but Pei Xian’s calm words pacified her.
“I only worry about the princess’s safety, nothing more.”
He raised a hand to tap the crossbow resting on the table. “There’s a deadly weapon silently concealed on her person, unknown even to you close attendants. When the princess pointed the crossbow at herself just now, Nurse, were you not worried?”
Hesitating, Nurse Yuan glanced behind at Jiang Luan.
The thick cloak still tightly draped over her body, Jiang Luan’s delicate fingers touched the edge of the fabric, her pale pink lips curling into a smile.
“Nurse Yuan, please take everyone outside and allow Commander Pei to conduct the inspection. He now holds command over the palace’s defenses and is even more vigilant than the sovereign’s own people when it comes to ensuring the safety of Lin Feng Hall. Perhaps the crossbow startled the commander just now?”
Pei Xian gave her a faint glance and motioned for Xue Duo to enter.
“Did you hear what the princess said?” he instructed. “Take twenty capable scouts from the vanguard unit and use their reconnaissance skills to thoroughly comb through the front hall and rear gardens. Make absolutely certain the princess is safe within Lin Feng Hall.”
He then called Ding Jian in and stressed, “You personally guard the perimeter of Lin Feng Hall tonight. Not a single word about this search is to leak out, lest rumors spread and disgrace the princess.”
Both generals accepted the orders solemnly and left like the wind.
The faint sound of digging soon arose nearby.
Jiang Luan sat in the brightly lit main hall, pulling her cloak higher and adjusting her posture from a crooked slouch to a more upright position.
“Must the search be tonight? It’s already the middle of the night. The commander has been busy from dawn till dusk—aren’t you tired?”
Pei Xian sat under the candlelight in the main chamber, fiddling with the narrow crossbow. Holding it up to the light, he scrutinized the marks on the wooden stock where the craftsman’s signature had been scraped off. “Startled by the princess’s crossbow? There’s no way he’s tired.”
Jiang Luan fought the drowsiness overwhelming her eyelids, finally leaning forward to rest on the armrest of the divan. “Ah, you’re angry.”
She yawned and complained, “No wonder they’re searching Lin Feng Hall all night, turning everything upside down, even trampling the flowers in my courtyard. Has the commander cooled off yet?”
“The princess speaks too harshly. The Black Iron Cavalry now also shoulders the palace’s defense duties. It is simply my duty,” Pei Xian replied evenly, placing the crossbow back on the table and sipping from a celadon porcelain tea cup.
After finishing the tea, Xue Duo reported to the main hall that several weapons were found in various parts of Lin Feng Hall. They were all common ornamental swords and knives inlaid with gold and jade, stored sheathed in chests in the adjoining rooms. The blades were blunt, incapable of even cutting an orange.
Xue Duo held a delicate, two-strand twisted gold hairpin in his palm, hesitating. “Hairpins can be used to stab… I wonder if this counts as a weapon…”
Jiang Luan lifted her hooded cloak and glanced at it with amusement.
“A hairpin as a weapon? If the commander wants to confiscate those, there’s a whole box of them on the vanity table.”
Pei Xian, who had been observing with a cold eye, began to grasp the situation.
“No need to take the hairpins. The princess didn’t wear any hairpins or rings when she went to the Two Patterns Hall this morning, clearly not valuing them.”
He lifted his eyelids and scanned the slender figure hidden beneath the cloak on the divan across from him.
“The critical weapons are likely concealed on her person.”
Jiang Luan shifted to lie prone again, covering her mouth to stifle a yawn. “Commander, you observe thoroughly but should be a little faster.”
***
With the inspection of weapons in the rear hall complete, it was time to check the weapons carried on the body. Pei Xian ordered everyone to leave, but Nurse Yuan stubbornly refused at the door.
Whether this Commander Pei bore hostility toward the princess was one thing, but whether any outsider male could come close to the precious princess was quite another.
Even if the princess herself didn’t mind, Nurse Yuan could not be indifferent.
“Let me inspect,” Nurse Yuan gripped the door frame tightly, refusing to let go. “I will conduct a thorough check.”
Jiang Luan waved her hand with a smile and sighed. “Nurse Yuan, please leave. You are my person; Commander Pei will not feel at ease otherwise.”
Nurse Yuan remained adamant. “Even if you send an eunuch inside, that’s fine! I dare say, from Commander Pei down to all the generals, they are all men—how can they come near the princess—”
Pei Xian set down his tea cup and stood.
“The princess just turned fifteen this year? I am already twenty-five, ten years her senior.”
Jiang Luan lifted her head, eyes bright with interest. “What is the commander trying to say?”
“I have a niece,” Pei Xian calmly said as he took a handkerchief to wipe the tea stains from his hands. “She is the same age as the princess and I have watched her grow from childhood. In terms of palace hierarchy, I am a cousin of the Empress Dowager. Strictly speaking, I am a generation senior to the princess.”
“The princess is still young and reckless. Out of concern for her safety, I dare to request an inspection in my capacity as an elder. Is this acceptable? Are there any objections in the palace?”
Nurse Yuan’s heart finally settled back into her chest, murmuring, “An inspection by an elder from an external noble house—this is quite acceptable.”
Two palace guards politely escorted Nurse Yuan out and closed the hall’s doors behind them.
Jiang Luan remained seated alone in the spacious chamber, shadows flickering in the light. Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “Commander, do you regard me as your niece? We only met today, and yet you have already taken pity on me and wish to act as my elder?”
“There is a distinction between sovereign and subject. I dare not presume to be an elder to the princess,” Pei Xian smiled faintly, tossing the handkerchief back onto the tea table. “Enough of this politeness. Do not ask further. Let us end it here.”
Jiang Luan agreed and changed the subject.
Her delicate chin lifted slightly, her gaze indicating the pine straw mat on the floor with a subtle expectation. “Commander, please?”
Pei Xian lowered his eyes and smiled silently.
To sit above is to command, to sit below is to submit. Such a young age and yet so mischievous in teasing an official.
“Please rise, princess,” he said, standing still. “Your spring garment is thin and light, leaving little to conceal. I shall stand here and conduct a brief search.”
He ignored the pine straw mat on the floor; Jiang Luan ignored his request to rise.
She simply shifted her posture on the divan, sitting upright and proper, her slender white hands neatly folded in her lap. The silk sleeves of her robe draped down the side of the divan.
Her dark eyes shone like brilliant glass under the lamplight. Jiang Luan lifted her head, the sheepskin boots wrapped beneath her skirt lightly swaying at the divan’s edge. Her voice carried a brazen laughter.
“Commander, what did you say just now? You’re too tall. When I look up to speak to you, my neck hurts and I can’t hear you clearly.”
Pei Xian had clearly discerned the princess’s clever little scheme. His gaze circled the flawlessly white neck she complained about and a faint, official smile tugged at his lips.
As she wished, he lifted the hem of her garment, leaned down, and knelt on the pine straw mat. Their eyes were level now. Jiang Luan sat on the higher divan, still slightly taller.
“Are you satisfied now, princess?”
***
Jiang Luan was very pleased.
After a moment of admiring, she teasingly said, “Now, when I look at you, commander, my neck doesn’t hurt anymore…”
Her wide sleeve flung in the air was grabbed.
Long, strong fingers with calloused pads on the index and middle fingers began a thorough search, starting from the sleeve, sliding over the thin double layers of spring fabric along her arm, unceremoniously moving upward.
From her slender wrist, over her plump elbow, all the way to the tender, sensitive inner upper arm, the delicate skin beneath the fabric instantly broke out in goosebumps.
Jiang Luan instinctively tried to pull her sleeve back but was stopped midway and pulled back.
As Pei Xian had said, the spring garment was light and thin. Such a close, nearly full-body search revealed nothing hidden. Clearly, no weapons were concealed.
After finishing the right arm, he repeated the process on the left, searching from wrist to shoulder blade.
“Please spread your arms,” Pei Xian said gravely. “I need to check your armpits.”
Jiang Luan protested, “Nothing is hidden there,” but before she could finish, her arms were forcibly spread apart. She squirmed with laughter, trying to pull back but was held firmly.
“Having been in the army for a long time, I’ve learned that spies hide weapons everywhere,” he said as he continued the swift search. “Hidden knives in the armpits, needles beneath the tongue are common tricks. Some even cut the skin and hide weapons deep in the flesh. Not to mention the usual places like boot shafts and soles.”
Jiang Luan’s shoulders twitched with ticklishness; she laughed so much she could barely speak. “Commander, have you mistaken me for an enemy spy?”
“God forbid,” Pei Xian said politely but without stopping. Using his index and middle fingers joined together, he probed inside the tall boots by the shin bone and drew out a slender two-foot-long small sword.
“The princess’s weapon hiding spots are ordinary, nothing compared to enemy spies.”
He tossed the small sword to the ground and continued along the trouser leg, using his fingers to lightly sweep down. Through the leather boot shaft, he touched a hard, blunt object at the ankle wrapped in white silk stockings.
He frowned and stopped. “Is there a dagger hidden in the foot covering?”
Pei Xian examined closely. The hidden item at the ankle was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. Through the sheepskin boot shaft, its protruding side was cylindrical and extended into the trouser leg. It did not appear to be a dagger.
He pondered what sort of deadly weapon this could be.
As he bent his finger to tap and test the object’s texture, the ankle in front of him pulled back lightly, skillfully evading.
Even with his senior status, it was improper to remove a lady’s shoes or socks.
His slender fingers tapped lightly on the ankle. “Princess, please take it out yourself.”
Jiang Luan smiled and curled her knees, slowly slipping off her sheepskin boot. The silk stockings rolled down layer by layer, revealing her slender, snow-white ankle.