“Do as I say, and I’ll make sure you soar to the top.”

——When Chen Baoxiang heard these words, she thought she was hallucinating.

At that moment, there was no one around her, only moonlight filtering through the window, illuminating a slanted drift of floating dust.

She sat within that dust, thinking in despair — what did “soaring to the top” even mean right now? She didn’t even know if she could make it out of here alive.

“You can.”

The voice repeated slowly: “With me here, you can.”

With a startled jolt, Chen Baoxiang sat upright and looked left and right.

“Don’t bother searching. No one but you can hear me, and no one can see me. And besides me, there is no one else who can save you.”

A faint, floating voice, carrying absolute certainty.

Drawing a sharp breath, Chen Baoxiang hurriedly knelt up and pressed her palms together: “Great Immortal, save me — I’ve been wrongly accused, I truly am not an assassin!”

He knew, of course, that she was not an assassin.

The assassin was a death warrior he had carefully selected over half a year — fast and precise in action. How could they possibly be like her, running and stumbling about wildly at a banquet, and even implicating him in getting struck by a long arrow?

If he had simply died cleanly from that arrow, so be it — but instead, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself inside this woman’s body. He had thought it over front and back and truly could not make sense of it, so he finally spoke up —

“If you are not the assassin, then why were you masked and carrying a dagger?”

“Great Immortal, please see clearly.” Chen Baoxiang made gestures with a miserable little face. “The assassin used a feathered arrow — that has nothing to do with me. The veil is decoration, and the dagger is for dancing. It’s a masked dagger dance — I spent three hundred copper coins learning it from someone.”

“But your dagger had a sharpened blade.”

“So what if it’s sharpened? All the daggers sold at the market have sharpened blades.”

“Don’t dancers have specially made, unsharpened daggers for performing?”

Chen Baoxiang looked aggrieved: “They do, but an ordinary dagger only costs a hundred copper coins, while a specially made dance dagger costs four hundred. Far too expensive — the money I save on that could pay for learning another dance routine.”

“But your name wasn’t on the guest list at all. How did you get into the banquet?”

Chen Baoxiang hesitated a little. The matter was, after all, embarrassing to admit.

But thinking of her current predicament — on the verge of losing her life — she honestly spoke up: “I spent eight hundred copper coins to bribe a kitchen boy, and hid inside a slop cart to get in.”

The voice sounded faintly incredulous: “A slop bucket?”

“It was a last resort.” She gave a dry laugh. “Who told this banquet to gather so many high officials and noble dignitaries? If I could make a name for myself with a single dance, wouldn’t I be set for life?”

The voice fell silent, as if thinking something over.

Chen Baoxiang probed carefully: “Great Immortal, you can save me, right?”

The other party gave a light, indifferent sound of agreement.

She let out a long breath and immediately patted her chest: “Once your faithful devotee is out of here, I will surely have a new gilded statue made in your honor.”

Then, a little self-conscious, she added: “Just gold paint should be fine, right? I truly cannot afford gold leaf.”

The Great Immortal seemed to be laughing despite himself, and after a long pause, said: “I don’t need a gilded statue. Just do as I say.”

Chen Baoxiang immediately listened with respectful attention.

But as she listened, she froze — her hand slowly, incredulously, pointed at the tip of her own nose: “Me?”

“Didn’t you understand?” he said. “Only by doing this can you escape danger.”

This would indeed get her out of danger.

But still.

Chen Baoxiang laughed and cried at the same time: “Great Immortal, if I actually knew that person, would I need to hide in a slop bucket? He’s the one who hosted this banquet.”

“I never said to actually know him.” The voice paused. “Don’t you know how to lie?”

“I do, but there are so many people in Shangjing who want to claim connections with him. Even if I say that, no one will believe me.”

“Try first, then we’ll see.”

“But…”

Before she could explain further, someone suddenly passed outside the prison cell.

Chen Baoxiang immediately fell silent and turned to look — she saw the banquet’s guests filing out of the interrogation room, all heading toward the exit.

“Well, well.” Someone noticed her inside the cell and turned on their heel to stop.

“Isn’t this the legitimate daughter of the Chen Family?”

That singsong, sarcastic tone instantly drew everyone’s gaze.

“It really is.” Someone leaned in to look. “The Chen Family’s legitimate daughter — rich and powerful family, mother from a prestigious clan, father with ten thousand gold in fortune, eating abalone and ginseng every day — and yet you’re so impressive, how are you still locked up? Has no one from your family come to vouch for you?”

The words fell, and outside there broke a wave of mocking laughter.

Chen Baoxiang thought inwardly: This is bad — but kept up appearances, lifting her chin to face them: “My status is high, so naturally I am waiting to see the chief examiner privately.”

“Status high, she says.” Lu Qingrong covered her lips and laughed out loud. “I saw your household registration in there — a village girl from Sanxiang in Yuexian, yet you strut around all day putting on airs like a noble lady.”

This cell is actually leaking household registration records.

Chen Baoxiang felt a hollow panic inside, but forced herself to hold firm: “I don’t know whose registration you looked at, but I grew up right beside Xuanwumen in Shangjing.”

“Still pretending.” Lu Qingrong grew impatient. “You probably don’t even know which direction Xuanwumen faces.”

Indeed she didn’t.

Chen Baoxiang wailed inwardly — she had never been to that place.

But in Shangjing’s noble circles, looking up to the powerful and trampling on the weak was commonplace. She had already nearly been bullied to death by Lu Qingrong for her shabby spending habits in the past. If her origins were exposed here, wouldn’t she be finished in Shangjing?

I know.

A voice rang inside her mind.

Great Immortal!

Chen Baoxiang’s eyes lit up at once.

“What’s wrong, run out of things to make up?” Lu Qingrong was still mocking her. “Parading around with deceptions and airs, all just to hook a wealthy man and climb to the top — today’s affair, I will make sure every household hears of it, and then —”

“What have I deceived anyone about.” The cowering quail suddenly rallied.

Lu Qingrong startled, and said with displeasure: “Oh? It came back to you?”

“Xuanwumen faces south — what is there to think about?” Chen Baoxiang gave a cold laugh, and even her spine straightened. “What I was actually thinking about was whether to tell you that behind that gate there is an ancestral shrine, housing the tablet of General Zhang Weining — a three-dynasty elder meritorious for pacifying rebellions — and I have even gone to offer incense to the old general.”

At these words, the laughing crowd slowly grew quiet, and Lu Qingrong’s expression shifted from contempt to bewilderment.

“You.” Her eyes were full of disbelief. “You have visited the Zhang Family ancestral shrine?”

“Yes.” Chen Baoxiang clasped her hands behind her back, chin raised high. “You haven’t?”

“Since when is the Zhang Family estate a place anyone can just walk into?” Someone in the back grew indignant at hearing this. “Claiming connections out of nowhere — aren’t you afraid it’ll cost you your life?”

“Exactly — spinning whatever lie comes to mind just to save face.”

“If she’s been to the Zhang Family shrine, then I’ve been inside the imperial palace itself.”

A torrent of jeers and insults came crashing down.

Chen Baoxiang didn’t rush. She only smiled and waited — waited until they had finished their abuse, then spoke unhurriedly: “I see it’s such an important place? Zhixu never told me. He only said he wanted to take me to pay respects to his grandfather, and so I went. Oh dear, whatever shall I do about this.”

“……”

Zhang Zhixu.

That name landed like a thunderbolt, and the little prison block erupted into chaos at once.

“She actually knows Zhang Zhixu?”

“By the sound of it, they’re quite close — why else would he take her to the ancestral shrine?”

“But how can that be? Those who associate with the Zhang Family are either powerful ministers or distinguished scholars — look at the state of her.”

The uproar grew louder and louder, and even the officials inside the interrogation room were startled by the commotion, striding over in large steps.

Lu Qingrong was still at a loss when she turned and spotted her savior, immediately waving her hand and calling out: “Lord Zhang, someone here is making false claims against the Zhang Family — please come and see!”