My mind buzzed, then felt dizzy, though I heard Song Langsheng’s words crystal clear. In that moment of realization, I felt as if heaven and earth merged into one color, yellow leaves swept directly into the dark curtain by the night wind. “You… are saying Xu Fang was someone you deliberately sent to approach me? Those things… everything he did for me, the tears he shed for me, the flute he played—were all fake performances?”

Song Langsheng frowned: “He even played the flute for you?”

I reached out and grabbed his collar. Though there was nothing in my grasp, it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds: “Since he knew who I was, knew everything, why did he pretend not to recognize me? He clearly remembered—why didn’t he save me when he saw me shot with an arrow, when he saw me fall into the abyss?”

Song Langsheng seemed somewhat frightened by me, saying in shock: “He… he actually treated you like that?”

I stared at him fixedly, not blinking once, tears streaming from my eyes: “How could he so callously harm me? How could he come to the Imperial Academy as if nothing happened after I was swept away by the flood? Was this also your instruction?”

Song Langsheng’s face paled: “Imperial Academy? There have been no new students at the Imperial Academy recently. Could the Xu Fang you speak of be the new Director of Studies, Nie Ran, the heir of Marquis Xia Yang? So that day when you suddenly ran back to the mansion, was it because you saw him?”

Now it was my turn to be stunned. My tears hadn’t dried, and my mind hadn’t straightened out the confusion: “He… wasn’t someone you instructed? How could you not know who he is?”

Song Langsheng turned his head away rather awkwardly, saying lightly: “I merely heard the name Xu Fang when the Princess was unconscious, guessing he must have been your companion during your disappearance. I spoke casually just now—how could I know the Princess would react so intensely?”

Spoke casually? I stared at Song Langsheng speechlessly. He avoided my gaze and said coldly: “How could I have such great ability to command people from the Marquis Xia Yang household? If I wanted the Princess to disappear, when we reunited at the capital yamen, I could have simply said you weren’t of noble blood. Why would I need to bring you back to the mansion?”

I released his sleeves and turned to leave.

Song Langsheng’s voice drifted from behind: “The Princess says I had the intention from the beginning to stay in the Princess’s mansion as this consort, but have you considered that if you hadn’t consented to this marriage, if you hadn’t had this intention, how could I have calculated the Princess’s feelings?”

I had no heart to carefully consider his words and waved dismissively: “I don’t wish to pursue these matters anymore. Whether I guessed correctly or misunderstood you, I truly dislike this suspicious way of getting along. Forget it, let’s not discuss it anymore.”

Song Langsheng quickly stepped forward to block me: “How I treat you, why I stayed—you don’t mind. But that Nie Ran deceived and hurt you so, yet you still cherish his false affection. Could it be you want to divorce me to reconcile with him?”

I felt as if something was stuck in my throat, unable to speak.

Song Langsheng said: “Are you acknowledging this by your silence?”

I raised my sleeve to press against my eyelids, letting the cuff absorb my tears. When I lowered it, I sighed: “I don’t want to engage in schemes and machinations even when returning to my own home, speaking in riddles with my own consort.”

Song Langsheng looked at me deeply, still wearing that familiar expression of wanting to speak but stopping himself. I stepped around him and began walking. He followed behind me for a long while. Throughout the journey, as the night wind assailed us, the more indifferent he remained, the more miserable I felt. The only person I thought I could rely on harbored such deep calculations. The accumulated fatigue felt like a nail driving straight into my heart.

When we reached the entrance, Song Langsheng suddenly grabbed me and asked: “If I told you I had unavoidable difficulties, would the Princess be willing to trust me once before recovering all your memories?”

I said: “Perhaps you truly have many unavoidable circumstances, many situations beyond your control. But what do those have to do with me? Whether it’s your background, responsibilities, protecting your family, upholding promises, or seeking revenge—whatever it may be, none of these constitute reasons I should forgive. I have my own life trajectory. Having it disrupted by you is already quite troubling. If I were to learn of your difficulties and show tolerance for everything, wouldn’t that be cruel to myself?”

Song Langsheng slowly released my hand, his eyes fixed intently on me: “So the Princess is determined to divorce me?”

I forcefully knocked on the mansion’s main gate several times. The gatekeeper took quite a while to open the door, looking half-asleep and babbling incoherently. When he saw Song Langsheng and me, he was again scared witless. I turned back to Song Langsheng with a forced smile: “You only need to put pen to paper. I’ll handle everything else properly.” After saying this, I didn’t look at him again and went straight to my room, lying down fully clothed and falling into an exhausted sleep.

The next day I slept very comfortably until I woke naturally.

Upon waking, my mind was foggy for quite a while. I called for maids to help me dress and wash. It wasn’t until breakfast time that I remembered the complicated events from last night with my consort.

As I mentioned before, I’m the type of person who can sweep away negative emotions after a good night’s sleep. Last night, from lurking at Kang Lin’s mansion to catching the black-clothed person to discovering it was Song Langsheng to our lengthy back-and-forth to being forcibly kissed—my thinking had been in a very unstable state. This morning, after quietly reflecting, I felt my final words had been somewhat too aggressive. After hearing them, Song Langsheng probably couldn’t be bothered to continue wrangling with me. Perhaps he’d already drafted divorce papers and was just waiting for me to sign them so we could go our separate ways.

The maid said the Consort had gone to the Court of Judicial Review early in the morning, leaving behind a letter to be delivered to me.

I nibbled on a post-meal sweet melon, secretly sighing that Song Langsheng was indeed brilliantly talented—overnight he’d completed divorce papers for divorcing a Princess Regent. I wondered what reason he’d use to explain that our marriage was irreparably broken. I freed one hand to unfold the letter and read: “Divorce papers… (three blank lines)… I will not write. The Princess should abandon this hope early. Consort Song Langsheng.”

Those two characters for “consort” were particularly prominent.

I: “…”

So what was the point of last night’s emotional, painful, and resolute dialogue… After all that talk, Song Langsheng dismissed everything like passing clouds, and one letter made it all disappear…

I rubbed my temples, feeling an inexplicable urge to cry blood.

When I rushed to the Court of Judicial Review, Song Langsheng’s deputy—Xu Ningzhi, the Deputy Minister who was slightly younger than him—said: “Minister Song arranged all capital affairs this morning and then hurried to Zheng Zhou to handle the prison riot case. His return date is uncertain. What, did he not mention this to Princess Highness?”

Last night we were discussing divorce, thank you very much.

I wandered around Song Langsheng’s office, confirming he wasn’t hiding in some cabinet to avoid people. Then, somewhat listlessly, I flipped through the case files on his desk. Each case was reviewed clearly and methodically, with vermillion annotations that were truly pearls of wisdom.

I was stunned and asked Xu Ningzhi: “Don’t tell me every case here was personally tried by Song Langsheng?”

Xu Ningzhi said: “By regulation, major and important cases should naturally be personally tried, while ordinary criminal cases can be transferred to subordinates. However, the current situation in the capital is unlike before—there are always people from various factions openly and secretly trying to protect others. Sometimes a case appears minor, but if you punish the criminal, you offend someone; if you don’t punish them, another party watches closely and will accuse you of favoritism. At times like this, Minister Song, with his status as consort, must step forward to settle things.”

I could see Xu Ningzhi’s speech was disjointed and confused, his facial expression stiff and twisted—clearly depressed about having all this heavy burden fall on him during the coming period. However, I did understand one meaning from his words: besides Song Langsheng’s rather formidable work capabilities, due to his status as consort, even if he made decisions that offended some people, there wouldn’t be major troubles.

Basically, whoever dared to deal with the consort could expect to be dealt with by the princess.

In other words, was this consort identity also an iron token for Song Langsheng to maintain justice in the Court of Judicial Review?

I couldn’t help but hesitate about whether I should really be so determined to divorce Song Langsheng… Wait, why was I always thinking from his perspective? How did his case judgments relate to this princess’s lifelong happiness? But… the Court of Judicial Review reviews all cases under heaven—how important this position is! As Princess Regent, how could I sit by and ignore it? Right, I just need to let everyone know that this princess protects the Court of Judicial Review Minister. What does it matter who specifically it is?

Take this Xu Ningzhi beside me, for instance. He’s quite handsome and dignified-looking. Since Song Langsheng could dump this whole mess on him, his abilities are probably decent. He looks pure and honest. If he became the consort instead…

Alright. I’m purely joking.

With Song Langsheng escaping like this, divorce proceedings couldn’t continue. If I chased him thousands of miles to settle accounts, it would seem I couldn’t keep my composure. After this trip, my biggest doubt was: Song Langsheng was busy handling official duties daily—where would he find the energy to scheme and plot against me? Perhaps I should dig around with my imperial brother?

Sometimes people are like this—you think of something and it happens. My front foot had just stepped back into the mansion when the handsome and tall Eunuch Cheng from Crown Prince’s side came to summon me. Whenever he appeared, I knew there was no good news. I was too lazy to change clothes, so I simply turned around and followed Eunuch Cheng into the Eastern Palace. At first glance, I spotted my Crown Prince brother sitting dejectedly in the side hall, playing at being depressed.

He also looked like a night owl party member. Seeing me arrive, he drooped his head even more: “Imperial Sister, you’ve finally deigned to come see me…”

I dragged a stool beside him, looking at the mountain of memorials piled on his desk: “Your words sound too awkward to me—as if I came to the palace for a prison visit…”

The Crown Prince tousled his hair: “It’s about the same. Natural disasters and man-made calamities never end. Why couldn’t I be Crown Prince in a peaceful, prosperous era…”

I glanced sideways: “Be content. When Father Emperor was a prince, there were continuous wars. He frequently had to personally lead campaigns—all real swords and spears. Several of our imperial uncles unfortunately passed away. It was truly a tragic world. You, on the other hand, merely sit here writing and moving your lips, with such a large group of people serving you. Too many complaints would be hypocritical…”

The Crown Prince said: “Imperial Sister, have you forgotten… you’re the Princess Regent…”

I patted his shoulder: “Crown Prince, you’ve grown up. Tomorrow I’ll hand over the regency seal to you and announce it at morning court. Imperial Sister is old—it’s time to retire.”

The Crown Prince said: “Imperial Sister, your jokes are really too cold. I think we should change the subject.”

I: “…”

The Crown Prince said: “Have you actually settled Han Fei or not?”

I: “…”

The Crown Prince stopped joking and said seriously: “The Jiangsu-Zhejiang Surveillance Commissioner position has been vacant for nearly half a month. When you rejected Chief Minister Zhao’s recommendation of Nie Ran here, and coincidentally there was this Imperial Academy Director of Studies vacancy, I temporarily agreed to let him fill it to appease their frustration. Afterward, thinking it over, I still felt Han Fei was the ideal candidate. Didn’t Imperial Sister say a word would suffice? How is there still no news whatsoever?”

Because I completely cannot understand Han Fei’s thought processes and cannot grasp the underlying meaning in his words.

I casually picked up a memorial and flipped through it: “He just refuses to go. I can’t force him, can I?”

The Crown Prince looked at me strangely: “Why not…”

My hand paused.

Right, why not? No matter what, I’m a Princess Regent with real power. Appointing him, a mere male favorite, to Jiangsu-Zhejiang is completely reasonable and justified. I thought: shouldn’t I change this habit of considering others’ feelings?

“However…” the Crown Prince continued: “If he’s unwilling but you force him, I’m afraid it’ll be a fight to the death. Back then, he wasn’t even afraid of Father Emperor—he even dared refuse your marriage proposal…”

I resisted the urge to throw the memorial at his face: “Can’t you finish speaking all at once…”

At this point, an inner attendant came to report that the Minister of Personnel requested an audience. I looked down at the memorial in my hand—wasn’t this exactly what Minister of Personnel had submitted? And wasn’t this minister exactly Lord Han, who had desperately run to my mansion wanting his son back?

Lord Han apparently came to report on the Personnel Ministry’s heart-stopping case.

A few days ago, the Vice Minister of Personnel mysteriously died in his office study. Various unfavorable evidence pointed to Minister Han as the murderer. Fortunately, the Minister of Justice wasn’t just collecting his salary for nothing. From some clues, he uncovered the real culprit’s framing methods and arrested the true murderer—a janitor from the Personnel Ministry who, for various grievances, various sad past events, various helpless circumstances, anyway, had acted.

Of course, this case seemed heart-stopping to Minister Han. If they hadn’t caught the real culprit, he would have been the prime suspect.

The Crown Prince comforted him with a few words: “This Prince never doubted Lord Han. Lord Han conducts affairs honestly and is a model among current veteran ministers. How could you commit such acts?”

I rolled my eyes at the Crown Prince. These words were too hypocritical.

Minister Han was quite pleased with the flattery and exchanged a few pleasantries. Seeing them chatting happily as sovereign and minister, I didn’t have the heart to interrupt. Only at the end did I ask Minister Han: “If the Ministry of Justice hadn’t found the real culprit, Lord Han would have been unable to escape guilt this time. You must be more careful in everything from now on.”

The entire atmosphere fell silent. The Crown Prince’s gaze at me said “bringing up problems when there are none.”

Minister Han coughed lightly, neither confirming nor denying. His displeasure with this princess wasn’t a recent development. Though he didn’t dare act presumptuous now, he pretended not to hear.

I continued: “Regarding your son’s matter, please help Lord Han.”

Minister Han cast a suspicious look over.

I said: “How to drive him out of this princess’s mansion… I hope Your Lordship will spare some effort.”

Minister Han was very willing to handle this errand—he’d been eyeing our mansion’s gate with eager anticipation. This matter wasn’t difficult. The Personnel Ministry case had caused quite a stir, but the latest evidence collected by the Ministry of Justice was known to few. Minister Han only needed to cry and complain to his son, saying father had gotten into trouble now, and the Crown Prince and Princess had said if he was willing to be this Surveillance Commissioner, they could show leniency. Otherwise… the “otherwise” left much to imagination.

In short, as soon as Minister Han stepped into my Princess mansion, he headed straight for the South Garden where Han Fei lived. I figured this kind of occasion called for strategic retreat to avoid being killed by Han Fei’s glare and humiliating myself. I simply turned around and instructed the maids to take the large stack of memorials from the Crown Prince to the study, rolling up my sleeves to prepare for work.

I always felt the Crown Prince was a strange young man. Now when Father Emperor was ill and Imperial Sister was slacking off was the best opportunity for him to seize power. Which nerve was wrong that he insisted on dragging me along? To say this little one had no ability—when I disappeared for a year, he didn’t make any mistakes. To say he had no ambition, I believed even less. In these times, the more purely someone smiled, the more evil their heart was—this point had been fully proven by Song Langsheng.

I read these chaotic impeachment memorials until noon without finishing. I didn’t know how Minister Han’s arrangements were going. I casually picked up a book from the desk—it was the Li Yu poetry collection I’d taken from Han Fei last time. The opening poem “Xie Xin Si” had lines like “All night by the gauze window, waiting for you unknowing,” except the character “xia” (under) was written as “xia” (frighten). I didn’t know which illiterate had copied this.

Flipping through two more pages, in the middle poem “Chang Xiang Si,” the line “Wild geese fly high, wanderers not yet returned, a curtain of wind and moon idle” had the character “fei” (fly) written as “fei” (not).

I shivered.

Han Fei couldn’t possibly enjoy such a mindless poetry collection.

I sat up straight and hurriedly examined it carefully from the first page. Sure enough, every page of this poetry collection had one incorrect character. Correcting them read: “The one who administered poison was not the consort but another person.”

I remembered now.

That day when I had just awakened from unconsciousness, Han Fei was reading by the pond with great concentration—clearly performed for me to see, deliberately trying to tell me information. But at that time, I didn’t even know about being poisoned. How could he have known? Why would he use such a roundabout method to tell me? Was his role in the Princess mansion not simply that of a male favorite?

Ahem, you understand

I tucked the poetry collection into my sleeve. When I reached the South Garden, Minister Han had already left, leaving only Han Fei sitting quietly in the courtyard playing the qin, the music’s emotions difficult to discern.

My entrance made quite a commotion, but Han Fei didn’t raise his head: “The Princess is in such good spirits, specially coming here to see me? Or are you worried your father didn’t handle the task you assigned properly?”

I dismissed the attendants and placed the poetry collection on his qin, asking directly: “What does this mean?”

“If the Princess had come to ask me this question earlier, I might have been able to explain a thing or two.”

“Are you angry that I used your father to force you to become this Jiangsu-Zhejiang Surveillance Commissioner?”

Han Fei raised an eyebrow: “What’s there to be angry about? If my father truly had problems, it definitely couldn’t be solved by my becoming Surveillance Commissioner. I’m only afraid you and the Crown Prince set a trap for me, waiting for me to jump in.”

I smiled slightly: “Young Master Han Fei, since you’ve guessed everything, this palace doesn’t want to exchange veiled barbs with you. Publicly, I am the regent and you are a subject—when the sovereign commands, the subject cannot refuse. Privately, Han Fei, you have always owed me, Princess Xiangyi. When I tell you to repay, you cannot refuse.”

Han Fei’s gaze finally fell on my face, his eyes deep as twilight, concealing everything without revealing anything: “Has the Princess remembered?”

“Regarding you, I remember precious little.” I answered truthfully. “You and I seem to have had some agreement over a year ago, but with only some vague fragments, I cannot understand the entire course of events. Setting aside past matters, I want to know—since you already knew I’d lost my memory, why did you pretend to know nothing?”

“How could I know whether the Princess’s amnesia was real or fake? If fake, who were you trying to deceive? If real, what was the cause?” Han Fei said lightly. “Naturally, I needed to spend some effort investigating. Seeing the Princess in difficulty, I should naturally spare some humble effort to resolve the Princess’s confusion.”

I frowned: “You stay in this mansion daily without stepping foot outside, yet you can investigate so many things?”

Han Fei curved his lips: “Each according to their abilities. Others may not distinguish between the real and fake princess, but I can discern a thing or two. I can see clearly what’s going on in the mansion during the Princess’s year of amnesia, but this wasn’t within the scope of my agreement with the Princess. I had no need to negotiate with the Princess. Everything follows our agreement—I investigate people for you, and you protect people for me.”

I thought for a moment and suddenly understood: “Could it be I suspected the consort early on, so I asked you to temporarily stay in the mansion to investigate? But… why would I choose you…”

My mind grew hazy. From the depths of memory, an aged voice emerged: “Princess Highness has a pure nature and has been overprotected since childhood. Your perceptive abilities are too weak. Though Wei Qingheng can teach you great wisdom in handling affairs, this person’s heart is too tolerant and easygoing, making it difficult for the Princess to truly see the subtle signs. Without excellent insight, how can you maneuver freely in court? This old man has many disciples. Speaking of this skill, I consider Han Fei most outstanding. Even the most inconspicuous clue can be analyzed and connected by him into a vast network—this is natural talent. You should interact with him more. You needn’t surpass him, but learning even a fraction would be a lifelong skill.”

Han Fei stroked the carved patterns on his qin: “Has the Princess remembered something again?”

I asked: “You said the poisoner wasn’t the consort—who was it?”

Han Fei said: “The Princess only asked me to find out whether the consort was the poisoner. As for who it was, I can choose not to answer.”

Now, were we competing or playing a battle of wits? I focused intently on his eyes—calm as still water.

“You’re unwilling to say, so I’m helpless. However, this Jiangsu-Zhejiang trip is definitely happening. The Crown Prince was right—no one is more suitable for Surveillance Commissioner than you.”

Han Fei said leisurely: “If I’m unwilling, no one in the world can force me.”

I said: “If you treat this as just a task, then there’s truly no need to send you. Consider it that the Crown Prince and I misjudged you.”

Han Fei’s expression stiffened.

I said: “People have different aspirations. If you feel that eating and drinking well, living comfortably and luxuriously for a long time is your wish, I don’t mind. Consider it raising a parasite.”

Han Fei sneered: “Is the Princess trying to provoke me?”

I said: “Young Master Han, why would I provoke you? True, I initially inquired due to the Crown Prince’s request, and later I simply wanted to settle this matter by scheming to force you into this Surveillance Commissioner position. Only just now did I realize how ridiculous this was. The Jiangsu-Zhejiang floods continue, those with ulterior motives in court take advantage of the chaos, and countless innocent people are caught in between. We need to choose someone with wisdom, strategy, and virtue for this important responsibility—to provide disaster relief, transport military supplies, fight power struggles, fight villains, fight bandits, and stabilize people’s hearts. This isn’t experiencing folk games, much less using schemes of human manipulation to fight this smokeless war. If we’re forcing a duck onto a perch, they’ll either die an unnatural death, only care for themselves, or go with the flow. What necessity is there for this assignment to specifically require you?”

Han Fei bit his lip for a moment, then closed his eyes in frustration: “Since this is so, why need the Princess say more?”

Seeing him like this, I only nodded: “This palace truly has nothing more to say.” After thinking, I added: “By the way, you asked me earlier what I actually remembered about you and me. Truthfully, I’ve completely forgotten everything between us. However, I still remember at the Qionglin Feast that year, all the successful examination candidates were surrounded like stars around the moon, but you alone said nothing, appearing arrogant and unruly. Yet when Father Emperor asked each of you about your aspirations, you only answered one sentence: ‘I only seek to have no shame before heaven and earth, to be a good official.’ You’ve probably long forgotten such old memories, but I still remember. At that time, you wore only a blue scholar’s robe, yet you were more dazzling than anyone.”

After saying this, I didn’t hesitate further and turned to leave. I walked at a measured pace, counting silently in my heart. At exactly one hundred steps, I finally heard footsteps behind me.

“Princess.” Han Fei pursed his lips: “Though I know this is the Princess’s scheme, the Princess has won this gamble.”

I turned around. Han Fei’s eyes burned darkly, that imperceptible light gradually emerging.

I smiled.

Han Fei added: “It won’t be forcing a duck onto a perch.”

He actually remembered that phrase. I was both amused and touched: “I understand.”

Seeing me staring at him, Han Fei laughed: “The Princess is still wondering who exactly administered the poison, aren’t you?”

I coughed lightly: “Knowing would naturally help me be more cautious. If you don’t want to say, it’s no matter.”

Han Fei stepped forward two paces and whispered a name.

I almost thought I was hallucinating, saying incredulously: “Who… who did you say? Say it… say it again…”

“The Crown Prince.”