Early summer had arrived, with lotus buds beginning to bloom in the pond, their leaves spreading wide.

Zheng Biyu sat in the cool corridor enjoying the breeze, listening to her maid report the happenings at the Princess’s residence. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, “The Princess doesn’t want to marry again?”

The maid nodded and said, “His Highness the Crown Prince ordered the Princess’s attendants to be arrested and tortured, forcing them to reveal what dealings they had with the Yelu tribe. They found the servant who had instigated the Princess to associate with the barbarians – he was a loyal servant of Princess Yiqing. He encouraged and deceived the Princess, provoking the Yelu tribe, all to incite war so he could rescue Princess Yiqing in the chaos.”

“That loyal servant said he originally wanted to help Princess Fukang obtain the position of Crown Princess…”

The maid paused.

Zheng Biyu calmly said, “Continue.”

The maid complied: “The servant said he wanted to use Princess Fukang’s relationship with the Crown Prince to influence the court, but Princess Fukang proved useless. He had no choice but to take a risk, encouraging Princess Fukang to ally with the barbarians, and deceiving her with promises to help restore her country. Once she married and went to the grasslands, the Crown Prince would surely send troops to rescue her, allowing him to fish in troubled waters.”

“Upon learning the truth, the Princess locked herself in her room, refusing food and drink.”

A trace of mockery flashed in Zheng Biyu’s eyes.

First, she had insisted on marriage, and now that she knew she’d been deceived, she no longer wanted to marry.

In her eyes, matters of state diplomacy were mere child’s play.

What a pity – the Yelu tribe was savage and cunning, not so easily dismissed. Now various factions were involved, with even Southern Chu intervening. Her regret came too late.

…

In the Princess’s residence, Li Xuanzhen finished interrogating Princess Yiqing’s servant, his handsome face clouded with darkness.

An escort asked, “Your Highness, how should we deal with this worthless slave?”

Li Xuanzhen said nothing, drawing his sword.

A flash of cold steel, and the servant fell silent instantly.

Blood spurted forth, staining Li Xuanzhen’s robes and sleeves.

The escorts in the room exchanged glances, their faces full of surprise.

With a loud clang, Li Xuanzhen threw down his bloodied sword and went to find Zhu Lvyun.

The guards broke down the door. Zhu Lvyun was huddled motionless on the bed in the inner chamber, her face pale.

Li Xuanzhen walked to the bedside, drops of blood from his robes dripping onto the floor.

“You colluded with the barbarians?” His voice was unusually cold. “Yuanniang, you are a Great Wei Princess, of Zhu bloodline – how could you collude with barbarians?”

Zhu Lvyun had deceived him; she had indeed reached an agreement with the Yelu tribe.

Back then, the Zhu clan had died defending Xiaoguan, stopping the powerful barbarian cavalry from advancing south. How many Zhu sons had shed their blood on Mount Liupan?

Yet she would collude with barbarians!

Zhu Lvyun raised her face, trembling: “For the restoration of my country, I will sacrifice anything. Isn’t your Li family now allying with the barbarians? Why can’t I cooperate with them?”

Li Xuanzhen’s anger grew: “You call this an alliance? This is a treasonous conspiracy!”

Her stubbornness, arrogance, and extremism, stopping at nothing for revenge – these weren’t important. But she shouldn’t have promised to hand over Helong to the Yelu tribe after the restoration!

Zhu Lvyun’s lips were bloodlessly white: “Your father forced me! He sent people to watch me, I couldn’t leave Chang’an a single step! Without cooperating with the Yelu tribe, I had no way to leave Chang’an!”

She gave a cold laugh.

“Back then when my mother wanted to take me to flee to Quanzhou, it was your Li family who stopped her. Li Xuanzhen, I’m not a Great Wei Princess, I’m your Li family’s prisoner! I’d rather cooperate with barbarians than be imprisoned by your Li family for life.”

Li Xuanzhen was silent for a moment, his phoenix eyes lowered: “You know your mother wanted to flee to Quanzhou, to go to sea. Your mother was just a palace lady – if she weren’t desperate, why would she attempt to sail alone?”

Zhu Lvyun’s mother was a palace consort, more aware than others of what fate awaited the last emperor’s consorts and children if they fell into ill-intentioned hands.

How tragically had the consorts and palace ladies abandoned in Chang’an by the last emperor died?

The Li family had saved her, raised her, and given her shelter. Li De was indeed using her, but had also given her a princess’s honor and never harbored murderous intentions toward her.

Did she think escaping Chang’an would bring freedom?

Only cruel and bloody slaughter awaited her.

Zhu Lvyun turned her face away, thin lips pressed tight.

Li Xuanzhen’s face showed weariness. He rubbed his brow and turned to leave.

As he reached the door, a suppressed sob came from behind.

“Brother Changsheng…” Zhu Lvyun faced away from him, wiping her eyes, “I didn’t truly want to divide Xiaoguan with the barbarians, I just wanted to leave Chang’an…”

Her alliance with the Yelu tribe was just an expedient measure. She wanted to leave the Li family, save her aunt, and restore her country. When the servant suggested cooperating with the barbarians, she agreed.

Li Xuanzhen was the son of her enemy – she couldn’t marry him, but she had to marry someone.

She hadn’t expected the servant had be deceiving her all along – the servant’s loyalty was to Princess Yiqing, and she was just the servant’s pawn.

Li Xuanzhen left without looking back.

A shadow moved at the door as Zhu Lvyun’s maid fell to her knees before him, crying: “Your Highness, the Princess was deceived – you must save her! How can someone as noble and delicate as the Princess be married off to savage barbarians?”

Li Xuanzhen closed his eyes briefly, shook off the maid, and left without a word.

The escorts hurriedly followed.

Master and servants returned to the Eastern Palace. As they stepped onto the long corridor, they heard arguing from the study.

Wei Ming was still discussing potential substitute brides with others.

Li Xuanzhen slowly walked to the window lattice, peering inside through the gaps.

Five or six people were in the room, all his confidants.

Qin Fei stood in the corner, speaking gruffly: “Princess Fukang’s status is noble, and the Seventh Princess is also of royal blood. How can we let the Seventh Princess suffer in Princess Fukang’s place when she’s being difficult?”

Wei Ming glared at him in exasperation: “The Seventh Princess is the Second Prince’s full sister!”

Qin Fei immediately lost his nerve.

Wei Ming raised his hand in gesture, and a small eunuch came forward with a lacquered tray. He first took up a stack of blank paper, showing it to Qin Fei and the others to examine.

“This paper is soft yet strong, uniform in thickness, and resistant to insects. Guess how much a hundred sheets cost?”

Someone said: “This paper is indeed soft, white, and smooth, suitable for writing and painting. Six hundred Wen for a hundred sheets?”

Wei Ming shook his head: “Sixty Wen.”

The other five were shocked. Even the crude Qin Fei gaped – though a military man, he knew how expensive paper was. How could such good paper be so cheap?

Wei Ming took several bound books from the lacquered tray.

Qin Fei took one of the books, flipping through it casually, seeing nothing special.

But the other scholars all exclaimed in surprise.

One said: “I’ve never seen such ingenious binding methods.”

Another said: “The binding method aside, look at the articles inside – how were these images printed? Every line is clear, truly innovative.”

After marveling for a while, they asked with smiles: “Which great scholar supervised the writing and printing of these books? How have we never heard of this?”

Printing books was no simple matter – they had assisted Grand Secretary Zheng in printing the new dynasty’s calendar and knew well the difficulties involved.

Wei Ming said expressionlessly: “It was the Seventh Princess.”

Everyone was stunned.

Wei Ming pointed at the paper: “This is just ordinary paper sold by the Xie family bookstore. Besides these, there’s expensive gold-flecked paper, peach blossom paper, and of course cheaper rough paper. Among them, scholars especially favor the affordable yet high-quality cotton paper – people in Jingnan call it Xie family paper.”

“As for these agricultural and medical books, they’re also from the Xie family. Their bookstores across the regions not only write, print, and sell books, but also allow common people to borrow books and provide paper for copying. The library in Jingnan has collected ten thousand volumes, with scholars coming daily seeking books. The Xie family turns no one away, charging just one wen per person.”

Everyone’s expression suddenly became grave.

Why could noble families prosper generation after generation, producing talented people?

Why was there such a clear divide between noble and common families?

Because noble families not only monopolized power and wealth but completely monopolized knowledge.

Noble children began their education at four or five years old, with wise elders, learned teachers, rich book collections, generations of accumulated knowledge, and profound family learning traditions.

What about common families?

Just the cost of paper and ink could bankrupt a family – even pooling an entire clan’s resources might not produce many scholars.

Wealthy households needn’t worry about money, but they too had few books – gathering even a complete set of the Four Books was difficult, let alone precious works by great scholars. If they finally obtained an error-filled copy after tremendous effort, with no learned teachers to consult, reading it a hundred times might not yield correct understanding.

The few in the room were all from humble origins, having endured countless hardships to reach their current positions, yet their humble birth meant they could never hold high office, forever subordinate to noble sons.

In this world, perhaps only they could understand the profound significance behind the Xie family paper and the Xie family library.

Allowing knowledge to spread among common people, letting them afford paper, buy books, and read all the Xie family’s collected works without spending money.

Benefiting countless people is an eternal contribution!

Everyone’s expressions couldn’t hide their excitement: “These were truly the Seventh Princess’s ideas?”

Wei Ming nodded: “The Xie family’s main line is extinct. They act low-key without grand publicity. It took me half a year to discover it was the Seventh Princess who ordered the library opened, who supervised writing the agricultural books. She established a bookstore in Jingnan with a thousand people daily collecting and organizing book catalogs, writing articles.”

Everyone exchanged shocked looks.

Qin Fei looked confused – if the Chronicler knew the Seventh Princess had done so much good for generations to come, why harm her?

Scratching his head, he said: “The Seventh Princess has a merciful heart, cares for all under heaven, no less than any man – we shouldn’t make her substitute in marriage.”

The others cast him sympathetic glances.

Wei Ming ignored him, looking at the others: “At the Prime Minister’s spring banquet recently, the Second Prince bought a peony for the Seventh Princess costing tens of thousands in gold. I deliberately spread the word of this, and sure enough, people criticized the Second Prince for extravagance. The Seventh Princess accepted the flower but didn’t attend the banquet, instead sending the flower to compete for Flower King at the Prime Minister’s mansion. After it won, the Seventh Princess sold it to a wealthy merchant and used all the money to settle refugees. The next day, half the memorials denouncing the Second Prince disappeared.”

He paused.

“The Seventh Princess appears gentle and virtuous but is deeply calculating. She’s also a great beauty – noble sons compete for her attention whenever she leaves the palace. How many court officials will become her admirers in the future?”

Wei Ming’s expression became solemn.

“The Seventh Princess will surely become our greatest threat. Each day she remains by the Second Prince’s side increases his chances of success.”

So, since they could kill multiple birds with one stone, eliminating both the Seventh Princess and the Second Prince, why not have the Seventh Princess substitute in marriage?

Everyone fell silent.

Qin Fei said nothing more.

Wei Ming turned and bowed toward where Li Xuanzhen stood: “Your Highness, you cannot be soft-hearted this time.”

Li Xuanzhen was silent for a long time, hearing that hoarse entreaty in his ears: “Avenge your mother… Changsheng, avenge your mother…”

Coldness spread throughout his body.

Standing in the dark corner, he nodded.

Wei Ming was overjoyed: “I’ll arrange it right away!”

The Crown Prince could finally harden his heart against the Seventh Princess.

…

That day, as Yaoying was doing her hair before a mirror, two eunuchs suddenly arrived outside the prince’s mansion.

“Noble Lady, His Majesty summons you.”