13 Not At Wit’s End

Chu Yu walked out of the Snow Garden and headed to the East Court where she lived. She forced herself to remember the route so that she needed no guidance when returning.

As soon as she returned to the East Court, Chu Yu ordered someone to bring the record scrolls of all the male companions from the Imperial Residence. After giving out the order, she noticed Yue Jiefei trying to speak but holding back as he stood aside. She then said with a smile, "Ask whatever questions you have."

Yue Jie Fei thought about it and said, "Princess, what do you plan to do about Huan Yuan and Jiang Yan?"

Chu Yu frowned a little as it dawned on her that she had no plans for that matter at the moment. From what Rong Zhi said earlier, he seemed to have full confidence in Princess Shan Yin. He was sure that Huan Yuan and Jiang Yan could do nothing to her. Unfortunately, she was not the real princess, and she did not know what to do in such a situation.

She pursed her lips after some thought and said while smiling, "Their rebellion will result in nothing even if they try for three years. There's no need for us to bother about both of them. Let's see how it goes."

Soon, the files came. The male companions' personal details were recorded on embroidered silk scrolls and put away in a silk sack after they were rolled up. The male companions' names would be written on the light green silk while the person's details could be found by simply opening the sack.

Although those were all traditional ancient manuscripts, she had learned them a little when she was young since her father studied ancient literature. Though not completely familiar, it was not too difficult for her to understand those descriptive words.

The first sack Chu Yu opened was the one with Jiang Yan's name on it. The scroll recorded that Jiang Yan had lost his father when he was young. He was popular and was once an officer. He was then framed of bribery and put into jail where he wrote a petition behind bars. However, the petition ended up in Princess Shan Yin's hands after some twists and turns. Intrigued by how the petition was properly and beautifully written, Princess Shan Yin did everything to get him out of prison as her interest was piqued.

The poor Jiang Yan thought he was out of prison but never had he expected to be put into another luxurious prison. In Princess Shan Yin's imperial harem, nobody could express their interest while the talented ones would simply have to let their talent go to waste.

'Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan…' Chu Yu mumbled the name over and over again while frowning. Why did the name sound so familiar to her? Chu Yu slammed the table after a hard, long moment of thinking and exclaimed, "That's it: 'at wit's end'!"

'At wit's end' was an idiom used to indicate a gifted person whose talent had faded away. The person who was the source of the idiom, Mr. Jiang, was none other than Jiang Yan who was currently in the Princess's Imperial Residence! It was said that this person was brilliant and talented when he was young, but his talent faded away when he reached middle age. That was how the idiom 'at wit's end' came about.

Although Jiang Yan's poems were not as popular as Li Bai's and Du Fu's whereby everyone could recite a few paragraphs of their poems, the excerpt of his poem, 'Departure is the only thing that puts me in dead grief,' was notorious. Even Yang Guo from the martial arts novel 'Legend of the Condor Heroes' created the palm technique called the Melancholic Palms which name came from Jiang Yan's poem excerpt.

Chu Yu could not help but feel an absurd sense of surrealness when she finally recalled Mr. Jiang's name. This person, who had his name in history, was a scholar whose name was made into an idiom and was now Princess Shan Yin's. To be exact, the person was in her imperial harem right now. In the ancient recordings that she read in her past life, Jiang Yan was not forced to become a male companion. Perhaps he was just a person with the same name.

However, it was hard to convince her that those were two different people since their life experiences were such a match. They were from a similar era, lost their father at a young age, and lived in poverty. As for the record, history could be altered by anyone. As long as the person had the power to, he could rewrite history however he wanted.

Chu Yu could not confirm Jiang Yan's identity after looking at the details for a long time. However, whether Jiang Yan was the historical person in mind or not, she had made up her mind to release him from the Princess's Imperial Residence. She wanted to grant his freedom to soar like a bird and swim like a fish.

After reading the other documents, Chu Yu realized all of the male companions in the Imperial harem had different backgrounds. It was so complicated that it could be written into a variety of historical rivalries.

Chu Yu categorized them according to their personal situations by heart and came up with a preliminary plan on how to handle them. Eventually, she got to Huan Yuan's scroll that was in a sack which edges had exquisite patterns. Chu Yu attempted to open the sack and found out it was different from the other sacks. This one was sealed.

Was there a secret inside?

Chu Yu's interest was piqued.

She took out a hairpin from her sleeve. She thought hairpins were troublesome, so she did not wear an up-do. She just tied her hair up with a piece of silk cloth. However, she kept a silver hairpin in her sleeve although she had no idea why she did that. Theoretically, she did not need any self-defense weapons, but she felt safer when she had something sharp with her.

She used the hairpin to pick the thread which sewed the sack together. Soon, Huan Yuan's details were fully revealed before her eyes.

Chu Yu had a faint smile on her face when she opened the scroll. However, her smile froze at the edge of her lips when she saw the paragraphs written on the scroll with red ink.

What!?

Huan Yuan?

I see…

How could it be?

I knew it…

That means…

Without knowing how long had passed, she put the scroll down while feeling her head ache suddenly.

It was easy to handle Jiang Yan as she could just recommend him to some nobility or officer by writing a simple letter, but Huan Yuan was a difficult case.

Chu Yu lifted her spirits a moment later after rubbing her temples hard.

Were they not just some male companions? If Princess Shan Yin could handle them, so could she.

Chu Yu rolled up the embroidery silk and glared at Yue Jiefei with her side-eye. She said with her deep voice, "Yue Jiefei, remember this. Don't tell anyone about whatever you've seen in this room today."

Although she was not the real princess, she definitely looked like one when she mustered her majesty. Yue Jiefei's heart jolted and gave his promise in an instant.

Chu Yu composed herself and reached out for the last scroll after some hesitation.

Rong Zhi.

Since Huan Yuan came with such an extraordinary background, then how about Rong Zhi whose position was so high up in the Imperial Residence? Who would he be, for what and through what way did he end up in the Princess's Imperial Residence? Why would he have defended Princess Shan Yin when he spoke to Huan Yuan earlier? And why was he Princess Shan Yin's favorite?

A pair of enigmatic and dark eyes appeared in Chu Yu's mind when her fingertips touched the soft silk. They gave her a clear and calm feeling, and seemed to bring out a faint, warm smile from her. She scolded herself not to overthink and retrieved the scroll from the sack immediately. She was in a grave shock when she opened it.

She thought she would not be surprised again since she had read Huan Yuan's document. However, Rong Zhi shocked her once again. The embroidered silk was empty and clear; there was nothing on it.

There was no name, birthplace, age, or simple description. There was not a single word on it.

The odd emptiness turned into a dense web that intertwined with her web of insecurity and suspicion which surfaced slowly into her heart.

What exactly happened? Did they forget to write it down? Or… Was there nothing at all?

Chu Yu rolled the scroll up with doubts clouding her head. She then ordered someone to put the documents back. Her investigation this time was only deemed half-successful. While she learned a lot from the written documents, at the same time, she was plagued with even more questions now.