Yan Xiaoying was born with a curious nature that loved watching drama unfold. She put on her face veil, checked herself in the mirror, then draped a cloak over her shoulders and leaned against the doorway, listening to the commotion downstairs.

It turned out that Mu Yanyan had come with her mother. Princess Anqing, having heard about the incident in Linchuan, used visiting her hometown as an excuse to immediately set out for Jiangzhe with her daughter.

The Third Prince seemed to have found some official business and conveniently volunteered to be their escort, gallantly bringing troops to protect them along the way.

Everyone had thought that with Wei Country’s military advance, Linchuan was in danger.

However, after just a few days on their journey, they received news of Linchuan’s great victory and the recapture of Fengwei Slope.

Princess Anqing’s party finally met with Mu Hanjiang and his companions in Yao City.

Yet despite finally finding her son, Princess Anqing did not enter the inn. Instead, she ordered someone to call Mu Hanjiang out while she waited in a grove beside the inn.

Judging by Mu Yanyan’s anxious demeanor, it seemed that Princess Anqing was punishing her brother quite severely.

But not daring to interfere with her mother, she urgently came to seek the Grand Prince’s help.

Earlier, when Yanyan knocked on the door, no one had answered. The Third Prince, growing anxious, forced the door open only to be met with utter embarrassment.

Feng Yuan listened to Mu Yanyan’s explanation with indifference.

Feng Qiwu was displeased: “Yanyan is asking for your help! Can’t you show some reaction?”

“When a mother disciplines her son, what right do outsiders have to interfere? Why don’t you go handle it?” Feng Yuan coldly threw the words back at the Third Prince.

Feng Qiwu, having been rebuffed, was left speechless and could only stiffen his neck: “That… that’s Princess Anqing we’re talking about. How could I dare argue with her…”

Princess Anqing was known for her strictness and meticulous attention to detail. She was a formidable figure who could even silence the unruly Uncle Xiao Tianyang.

When the Empress Dowager was still alive, Princess Anqing had practically lived in the palace, absorbing palace etiquette under the Empress Dowager’s influence until she became even stricter than the instructress matrons.

It was no wonder that every prince and princess had learned to avoid this royal aunt from a young age.

Even a wild bull would lower its head in her presence.

However, since barging into the room, Mu Yanyan had shown little concern for her brother’s predicament. Instead, she kept looking up at Yan Xiaoying, who was leaning against the doorway, watching the commotion.

Unable to contain herself, during a pause in the Third Prince’s speech, she pointed at the veiled woman and asked Feng Yuan, “Who is she?”

Feng Yuan’s expression remained cold, and he ignored her question. After hearing about the situation, he asked the inn attendant to prepare another upper room.

The original room’s door was damaged, so he needed to change to another room.

Seeing that Feng Yuan had no intention of interfering in the matter, Xiaoying strolled to the western side of the second-floor corridor and peered through a window at the grove below.

There stood a woman in magnificent clothing – unmistakably Princess Anqing, whom she had seen at the palace banquet previously.

A strong guard was wielding a whip, striking the kneeling Mu Hanjiang.

The young master, typically aloof and proud, knelt submissively with his back still straight, but his proud head lowered, enduring the lashing.

No wonder Mu Yanyan was anxious. The guard was merciless, the whip cracking loudly with each strike against Mu Hanjiang’s back.

Mu Hanjiang closed his eyes and bore the beating, his snow-white clothes gradually staining with spots of red…

Perhaps unable to endure any longer, the young master’s back flinched slightly.

The Princess coldly commanded: “Kneel properly! Who told you to hunch your back like a coward?”

Mu Hanjiang immediately straightened his back, gritting his teeth as he endured the beating.

When Feng Yuan came upstairs, Xiaoying called him over, pointing out the scene below and asking quietly: “Are you not going to help Mu Hanjiang? Is this truly his birth mother? Surely Young Master Mu couldn’t be adopted?”

This severity in disciplining a son would make even the venomous Madam Tang in the palace feel inadequate.

If no one stepped in to stop it, Mu Hanjiang would likely be seriously injured.

Feng Yuan looked down at the scene with complete indifference, as if it were none of his concern.

Xiaoying couldn’t quite tell what was between Feng Yuan and Mu Hanjiang.

To say they had fully reconciled after settling their debt with one strike wouldn’t be entirely accurate.

More often than not, it was Mu Hanjiang eagerly trying to befriend Feng Yuan and engage him in conversation, while Feng Yuan maintained a consistently detached attitude.

Although the young master had later betrayed Feng Yuan once due to her instigation, it was merely the unfortunate result of differing political stances.

When he had witnessed Feng Yuan being punished, he had urgently gone to Chen Nuo to plead for mercy.

In contrast, Feng Yuan now appeared so coldly indifferent that Xiaoying felt somewhat uncomfortable. He seemed to have little interest in Mu Hanjiang’s welfare.

It was as if after returning that one strike, all debts between Feng Yuan and Mu Hanjiang had been settled, and any future grievances would be counted anew.

Xiaoying had no intention of criticizing the Grand Prince’s approach to relationships.

When it came to debts of gratitude, everyone repaid their own, and she still owed Mu Qing.

Mu Hanjiang had gone back and forth through the fire for her several times, and the marks from his blisters hadn’t yet faded. Such a profound debt of gratitude couldn’t be left unpaid.

So Xiaoying thought for a moment, then picked up a vase that was placed along the corridor and forcefully hurled it toward the grove below.

Then, hiding behind Feng Yuan, she pinched her throat and shrieked in a piercing voice: “In the middle of the night, who’s making such a racket! Are you going to let people sleep or not? If you want to collect debts, go to the magistrate’s office! Don’t disturb people’s peaceful dreams here!”

After this outburst, the veiled woman, under the astonished and admiring gazes of Feng Qiwu and Mu Yanyan downstairs, darted back into her room.

Young Master Mu, little sister Xiaoying has done her best! Now it depends on whether your mother cares about saving face and might stop this beating.

Indeed, being a dignified princess who valued her reputation, after the inn guest threw the vase, the beating finally ceased.

The Third Prince and Mu Yanyan quickly ran out to the grove to receive the injured Mu Hanjiang.

The next morning at breakfast, Feng Yuan looked at Xiaoying, who was still lazing in bed, and asked the inn attendant to deliver food to the room.

Though they had shared a bed last night, Xiaoying had insisted on using separate blankets.

In her words, although she held the title of concubine, she refused to do any extra work. Feng Yuan had to behave properly and couldn’t take advantage of her!

The last time the two had kissed was only because the weather that day had been particularly pleasant, putting her in a good mood. But she wasn’t always like that – for instance, today’s sunshine wasn’t to her liking.

If a man had said such things, it would be considered fickle and irresponsible behavior!

Feng Yuan’s face darkened slightly, his handsome eyes unblinking as he gazed steadily at Xiaoying.

Xiaoying turned over with a clear conscience: the weather had been bad lately, and this young mistress didn’t feel like being affectionate with him. So what!

Then she wrapped herself tightly in her blanket cocoon and went back to sleep.

Unfortunately, as night fell, the cold air set in. Without sunshine during the day, the night became even colder.

The inn hadn’t provided charcoal braziers to ward off the chill, and as Xiaoying slept, somehow she rolled over into Feng Yuan’s blanket beside her.

A man in his prime years naturally emanated warmth.

Xiaoying, frozen to the bone, slept pressed against him, her hands and feet becoming comfortably warm.

The second half of the night passed in sweet, warm slumber, and as dawn approached, she still refused to open her eyes.

Feng Yuan had been entangled by vines all night. When the young woman suddenly withdrew her hands and feet, rolling back to her cold blanket, he knew she was awake but pretending to sleep, unwilling to admit she had crossed into his territory.

He pinched her face and blew air onto her eyelids, but the young woman refused to open her eyes, only making little piggy snorts.

Feng Yuan, who had barely slept all night due to her clinging, kissed her soft cheek before getting up to go downstairs and ask the inn attendant to bring hot water and food.

Sure enough, when he returned, the previously soundly sleeping young woman had already risen.

While the two were eating breakfast in their room, someone came upstairs to invite the Grand Prince, saying that Princess Anqing had brought her own chef, whose cooking was more refined than the inn’s, and invited the Grand Prince to dine in her room.

“No need. I don’t eat things of unknown origin,” Feng Yuan seemed to hold little regard for this royal aunt, flatly refusing.

Xiaoying quickly provided a diplomatic excuse: “The Grand Prince has already had three bowls of porridge and is too full. Please thank Princess Anqing for her kindness. If convenient, perhaps she could provide a food box for us to eat on our journey.”

The person at the door went down with the message. Xiaoying looked at Feng Yuan and asked: “What’s the matter? Do you also have issues with Princess Anqing?”

Feng Yuan didn’t speak, only forcefully biting the pickled vegetables in his mouth with a crunching sound.

“Traveling thousands of miles to intercept someone on the road—surely it wasn’t just to beat her son. It seems the Princess has something to discuss with you. If you don’t go down, she’ll likely come up here shortly,” Xiaoying analyzed rationally.

If the Princess came up, she would have nowhere to hide and would very likely have to face Mu Hanjiang.

Feng Yuan drank the last sip of his porridge and immediately left the room.

Unwilling to miss out on the drama, Xiaoying noticed that the room next to Princess Anqing’s was empty. Biting into her half-eaten steamed bun, she went around through the outside window, jumped into the room adjacent to the Princess’s, and peered through a crack in the wall.

Initially, there was just stiff, polite small talk. Princess Anqing inquired about the Grand Prince’s concubine.

Probably because Mu Yanyan had told her mother yesterday that the person who threw the vase was a woman brought by the Grand Prince.

So Princess Anqing expressed a brief apology, saying she had disturbed the Prince’s peaceful sleep.

After the pleasantries, they got to the main topic.

The reason Princess Anqing had rushed all the way here in such haste was the issue of the battle at Fengwei Slope.

Although Mu Hanjiang had concealed the truth about the “Crown Prince being captured” and had not reported it to His Majesty,

Princess Anqing was well-informed and knew about her son and the two princes’ audacious scheme to provoke Wei Country into war.

This was also why Mu Hanjiang had received that beating last night.

Princess Anqing had come to demand accountability, to see who—the Grand Prince or Mu Hanjiang—would take responsibility for this act of deceiving the Emperor if the matter came to light.

No wonder the princes in the palace all feared Princess Anqing.

Though she was good-looking and still charming despite her age, she deserved to be called a beauty,

Her meticulous speech was like that of an old teacher in a private school, holding a disciplinary ruler and controlling life and death.

Every word was an interrogation, as if punishment would follow in the next moment.

Mu Hanjiang, who had been beaten the night before, wasn’t even allowed to sit, but stood straight as a board beside his mother, listening to her lecture.

From Princess Anqing’s meaning, she hoped the Grand Prince would reveal the mastermind, to see whose bold and audacious strategy it was that had provoked the Wei army to advance.

The underlying message was that her son Mu Hanjiang was law-abiding and loyal to His Majesty and would not act so deviantly.

And Feng Yuan had always been reticent, having just come out of the Barren Palace, and was not known for devious plotting.

Thus, by process of elimination, only the Crown Prince, who was pretending to be ill in Jiangzhe and refusing to return, remained.

From this perspective, the Crown Prince was undoubtedly the mastermind. If Feng Yuan and Mu Hanjiang presented a united front when explaining the situation to His Majesty in the future, they might avoid being implicated with the Crown Prince and save themselves.

Princess Anqing was eloquent, clearly pointing out Feng Yuan’s current predicament and dilemma. If he didn’t follow her guidance, the Grand Prince’s future would be uncertain, and his days in the Barren Palace might be prolonged.

Before Feng Yuan could speak, Mu Hanjiang frowned and said, “Mother, this matter indeed has nothing to do with the Crown Prince. It was a decision made at the discretion of the Grand Prince.”

Although it had been a decision made by all three, for some reason, Mu Hanjiang was determined to exclude the Crown Prince completely, willing to share the responsibility solely with the Grand Prince.

Feng Yuan cast an expressionless glance at Mu Hanjiang, while Xiaoying in the next room was somewhat moved: Mu Qing, last night’s rescue wasn’t in vain. You’re truly honorable!

However, Princess Anqing seemed to lack the generous spirit of the jianghu, and instead of being moved, she coldly reprimanded Mu Hanjiang, telling him to be quiet.

Then the Princess turned back to Feng Yuan, asking for his opinion.

Such forceful pressure might have been difficult for others to withstand, but unfortunately, today, she was dealing with the only madman in the palace.

Feng Yuan, unlike the Third Prince and the others, had no reverence for Princess Anqing. After listening to her pressuring words, he coolly replied: “So… what business is it of yours?”

Princess Anqing hadn’t expected such a crude response from the Grand Prince. Her expression briefly froze before she smiled and said, “It concerns my son and the Mu family’s reputation, so naturally it concerns me as a mother. After all, I am your royal aunt, and I was a close friend of your mother. As an elder, I should point out a clear path for you children.”

Feng Yuan leaned back in his chair, crossing his long legs at the knees, his posture exuding arrogance. He tapped the table with his slender fingers and said coldly: “If you enjoy advising juniors, you can find some callow youths behind closed doors. My actions with Young Master Mu concern state affairs and don’t warrant discussion with women from the inner palace. Duke Ding’s wife, you have overstepped your boundaries!”

He deliberately avoided using her title as Princess, instead calling her “Duke’s wife,” pointing out that Anqing was now a married woman and should abide by the rules of the Mu household.

The sons of the imperial Feng family didn’t need teaching from an adopted daughter of the Empress Dowager who had married out of the palace!

Mu Hanjiang, standing beside them, hadn’t expected Feng Yuan to be so confrontational. He looked at Feng Yuan with some surprise, then stood expressionlessly behind Princess Anqing, giving the Grand Prince a thumbs up.

Halfway through the gesture, he realized such disrespectful behavior violated proper conduct, so he changed to holding up his index finger and waving it slightly.

The meaning was clear – he hoped Feng Yuan would tone it down and not be too forceful.

When Princess Anqing turned her head, the young master quickly withdrew his hand and turned his face aside, intently examining the washbasin stand nearby, as if his mother’s argument had nothing to do with him.

It was evident that Mu Qing had long suffered from his “mother’s affliction,” but he lacked Feng Yuan’s stubbornness and couldn’t directly defy his mother.

At this point, the conversation could not continue.

Although Princess Anqing held many cards against Feng Yuan, since he refused to engage and took the position of “I will deceive the Emperor, what can you do about it,” there was no way to continue the discussion.

She was accustomed to having the upper hand in conversations, but now, being contradicted by a junior in front of her son, she was at a loss for words.

However, the Princess quickly adjusted her emotions and said with slight stiffness and self-mockery: “Now that you and Hanjiang have already created this trouble, and the Crown Prince remains in Jiangzhe, the consequences will indeed fall on you two. As a woman from the inner palace, I’ve told you all I can. When you return to the capital, you must consider for yourselves how to confess and apologize to His Majesty.”

The people in the room parted on unfriendly terms. Xiaoying hadn’t finished eating her steamed bun, so she planned to climb back through the window to her room.

However, when she peeked inside, she discovered someone had entered.

Xiaoying quickly withdrew her head. In that brief glimpse, she saw Mu Yanyan from the Mu family pacing back and forth in the room.

The young woman looked at the somewhat disheveled blankets on the large bed and, evidently thinking of something inappropriate, appeared as indignant as if she had caught someone in an adulterous act.

Just then, Feng Yuan returned and, seeing Mu Yanyan inside, quickly scanned the room. Confirming Xiaoying wasn’t there, he coldly asked: “What are you doing in my room?”

Mu Yanyan, who dared to speak up even to the Crown Prince, surprisingly lowered her voice when addressing Feng Yuan: “I heard from my brother that the woman is a concubine you brought back from Jiangzhe. As a prince, how can you behave so improperly? If His Majesty finds out, won’t the Grand Prince be punished?”

For princes who hadn’t been assigned separate palaces and weren’t yet married, there could be some palace maids serving in their chambers.

But for Feng Yuan to openly bring a woman of humble origin back to the palace like this could easily become a source of criticism.

Xiaoying, crouching under the window listening, thought that Princess Anqing’s tradition of lecturing people had indeed found an heir.

This Mu Yanyan, with no right to interfere, had come to Feng Yuan’s room to criticize him for impropriety.

It seemed that Feng Yuan taking a concubine upset Mu Yanyan even more than it would the Emperor himself.

Recalling how Mu Yanyan used to frequently seek out Feng Yuan in the palace, Xiaoying could naturally guess the reason.

Logically, if Feng Yuan gained Mu Yanyan’s favor, it would be all benefit and no harm to him.

After all, the Mu family had stable foundations, and if he could leverage their influence, Feng Yuan would naturally stand out among the princes. With Mu Hanjiang, who controlled the shadow guards, as his brother-in-law, what would he have to worry about in his future path?

As intelligent as Feng Yuan was, he must have considered this point, right?

Xiaoying was quite curious about how Feng Yuan would treat Mu Yanyan in private.

After all, this man was not as ignorant of matters between men and women as he appeared on the surface; when it came to seducing women, he had quite the skill set.

A pure maiden like the Mu family’s daughter would surely be no match for him and would fall easily into his hands!

But she continued to hear nothing from Feng Yuan, making Xiaoying suspect that he had directly employed his ultimate technique, embracing Mu Yanyan with a kiss.

Before the steamed bun in Xiaoying’s mouth could turn sour, she heard the door slam shut, followed by the sound of Mu Yanyan knocking at the door.

Perhaps fearing her mother would come, Mu Yanyan knocked a few times before leaving in anger.

Xiaoying was puzzled. How did it end so quickly? Had he simply picked her up and thrown her out of the room?

Peering in, she saw Feng Yuan standing by the window, arms folded, looking down at her. Xiaoying smiled, swallowed the last of her steamed bun, and climbed through the window.

“How was your eavesdropping?” Feng Yuan asked, pulling her to the table.

Xiaoying commented: “Even when rejecting a young lady, one should be polite and tactful, leaving her some face. How can you just throw someone out the door and be done with it? You should be thankful that Mu Yanyan has a somewhat heroic spirit; otherwise wouldn’t have lost face completely and been backed into a corner.”

Feng Yuan didn’t bother to untangle the young woman’s convoluted words and simply asked: “I was asking, what do you think of Princess Anqing’s words?”

It seemed he had also guessed that Xiaoying wouldn’t behave herself and had gone to eavesdrop on his conversation with Princess Anqing.