When Feng Jiu’er returned, Zhan Luori was still leaning against the doorway, lost so deep in thought that she had drifted far away.

At the sound of Feng Jiu’er’s returning footsteps, she turned her head on instinct and looked toward the sound.

But the moment she caught sight of Feng Jiu’er, her expression changed abruptly. She spun around at once, swinging her long legs to stride back inside the room.

That strange look a moment before left a trace of puzzlement in Feng Jiu’er’s eyes as well.

Back inside the room, Zhan Luori sat down on the bed, her back turned.

“Is something the matter with me?” Feng Jiu’er glanced down at herself and found nothing out of the ordinary.

She had just finished bathing, so there was still a faint dampness about her. On top of that, she was preparing to sleep for the night, so she was dressed somewhat lightly — beyond that, there was nothing amiss.

But Zhan Luori gave a cold, displeased little snort: “The way a young woman dresses like that — where is your sense of propriety?”

Feng Jiu’er looked down at herself a second time and still saw nothing wrong. Wasn’t this simply how she dressed every day?

Meanwhile, this Seventh Princess — it was already late at night and she was about to rest, yet she was still bundled up as tightly as ever. Did she not undress even when she slept?

Jiu’er walked over to the bed and sat down, picked up a towel, and began drying her hair, not paying Zhan Luori’s words the slightest mind.

Yet Zhan Luori seemed to have genuinely worked herself into a mood over it, and said with displeasure: “Put some proper clothes on.”

“…” What did this Seventh Princess mean? Put on clothes in the middle of the night?

“This is how I dress when I sleep. Is there some problem with that?” Jiu’er was also a little displeased. Even if she was a princess, she had no right to go about changing other people’s personal habits, did she?

“Seventh Princess, if you find living with someone else uncomfortable, I can go ask Commander Huo to arrange a separate room for me.”

She and Qiao Mu had talked through the curtain while bathing earlier, and she had learned that Qiao Mu had that room entirely to herself.

In that case, she could simply move in with Qiao Mu. As for sharing a room with a grand and noble princess — she wasn’t willing to do that at all!

Feng Jiu’er felt somewhat helpless. She draped her outer robe over her shoulders, tied it loosely, and moved toward the door.

“Come back.” Seeing her genuinely about to go and find Huo Yan to switch rooms, Zhan Luori’s expression darkened, her voice growing more somber: “Are you saying you find me undesirable company?”

“I would never dare.” The Seventh Princess’s strange temper was oddly similar to the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s. Feng Jiu’er turned back to look at her, helpless: “Does the Princess want me to leave, or to stay?”

“Stay.” Zhan Luori said flatly.

“Very well, then I’m going to rest. If there is anything, Princess, please say it tomorrow.”

Feng Jiu’er gave a yawn, reached over, and pulled off the outer robe she had just put on, tossing it carelessly onto the chair beside her.

Zhan Luori had not come to stay here without reason. Now that she had come, she surely had some other purpose. Feng Jiu’er was not without suspicions — only now she had no energy to think it through.

The person who had thrown the thunderbolt grenade tonight still had not been found. Feng Jiu’er’s heart felt heavy and oppressed, but confined to Mingyue Court as she now was, there was no way to go out and investigate even if she wanted to.

The Ninth Imperial Uncle clearly did not want her getting involved — yet she had been right there at the scene. Asking her to stay out of it was simply too difficult.

Another yawn, and Jiu’er flopped headfirst onto the bed.

Zhan Luori was startled by the tremendous thud of her landing and thought for a moment that this girl had passed out — but when she turned to look, Feng Jiu’er was rolling about on the bed.

Dressed so lightly, rolling around like that, her collar shifted open slightly, and even the fair skin of her neckline came into view.

Zhan Luori’s expression fell even further, more displeased than before: “Dressed like that — have you no shame!”

Was she speaking human language? Feng Jiu’er blinked in mild bewilderment, looked back at her, and felt her forehead crease: “Seventh Princess, you’re not one of those people who swings that way, are you?”

They were both women here. And she had called her shameless — just who exactly was she tempting at this moment?

Was there a man here?

The peculiar temper of this Seventh Princess was simply incomprehensible.

Zhan Luori gave a cold sniff, still with her back turned: “This Princess simply dislikes having someone appear disheveled in this Princess’s presence.”

“Did you not say that here, there are no distinctions of rank or status? If we are all equals, then why should I have to consider your preferences? My own comfort while sleeping is what matters most.”

Feng Jiu’er could not be bothered with her any further. She pulled the covers over herself, rolled to face the other way, closed her eyes, and prepared to sleep.

Hearing the rustle of the covers being pulled, Zhan Luori turned back and fixed her gaze on the slender figure beneath them, her expression growing even more unpleasant.

This girl — with that sharp tongue of hers — had used her own words to stop her mouth.

But then, those words had indeed been hers to begin with. Now that Feng Jiu’er was showing her no particular deference, that was a consequence of her own decision to invite it in the first place.

Zhan Luori found herself with nothing left to say. She looked again at Feng Jiu’er — and this girl had genuinely closed her eyes, already settling in to sleep in perfect peace.

She felt a vague irritation stirring inside her. For all her years of living, no one had ever looked her in the eye in quite this manner.

She looked at Feng Jiu’er once more. Even her breathing was already growing even — she had genuinely fallen asleep.

Drawing her gaze away from the covers, Zhan Luori hesitated a moment, then pulled back her own bedding and lay down.

The clothes she wore were still buttoned tightly and neatly all the way up — sleeping in them was admittedly not very comfortable — but this was the first time in all her life, since she had been old enough to know herself, that she had gone to sleep with another person nearby.

In the past, even her own mother, Lady Jing, had not been permitted to come too close after she had grown old enough to understand things.

In any case, having a girl sleeping not far away felt decidedly strange.

Zhan Luori tossed and turned in bed a great many times before gradually drifting into a half-dreaming, half-waking haze.

In her drowsy state, it seemed as though someone were drawing near. Every hair on her body stood instantly on end.

She was just about to rise and strike out to send the person flying when she heard Feng Jiu’er’s familiar voice nearby, mumbled and indistinct: “Do you want to go to the outhouse together?”

Zhan Luori’s tension eased all at once. She turned over, and this time, she truly fell asleep.

Going to the outhouse together in the dead of night — was she not well?

Jiu’er gave her a mild glance, then turned and headed toward the rear door, in the direction of the outhouse.

The moment she stepped outside, those eyes that had appeared muddy and half-conscious cleared in an instant, bright and sharp.

In the open ground behind the outhouse, Qiao Mu was waiting — she seemed to have been there for quite some time.

When Feng Jiu’er arrived, Qiao Mu immediately and alertly scanned the surroundings, then came forward to meet her.

“Those few injured students are now all in the medical hall. Only Hong Ying has been sent back into the palace for treatment.”

“Was it the Seventh Princess who gave the order to send her back?”

“Yes.”

Feng Jiu’er pressed her lips together in quiet thought, and after a moment asked: “Did you notice anything at the time?”

“I did not. But based on the traces the thunderbolt grenade left at the scene, the person who made the move at that moment should have been standing among the few on your right-hand side.”

Feng Jiu’er fell silent. Standing on her right — going down the line — were Mu Mu, Xiao Yingtao, Hong Ying, and one student from the Forbidden Fourth Army.

The likelihood of Mu Mu being the one was not high; he had been right beside her the whole time. She looked at Qiao Mu, then suddenly produced something: “This is a map of the palace interior that I quietly took from Bai Wuchang’s person. Go and see what Hong Ying is up to.”