The Grand Princess let out a soft laugh.

She glanced sidelong at the figure huddled on the floor and said mockingly, “I did not expect Magistrate Chen to think so little of herself.”

“Your servant merely possesses a clear-eyed understanding of her own limitations.”

“Enough.” She rose to her feet and said with languid indifference, “If you are unwilling, I cannot force you. Someone come — escort Magistrate Chen out.”

“Your Highness, please reconsider. There are other ways I could be of use.” Chen Baoxiang attempted to make a good case for herself.

“Magistrate Chen, this way, please.” The female official beside her stepped in, positioning herself between Chen Baoxiang and the Grand Princess.

Chen Baoxiang knew this Grand Princess had an eccentric temperament and could not be pressed. With the conversation at this point, she had no choice but to take it one step at a time.

But why did the Grand Princess want to sabotage the imperial marriage between Zhang Zhixu and Rouyi?

Was she truly prepared to come to open blows with the new Emperor, or was she wary of the Zhang family’s power and reluctant to make an enemy of them?

Whichever it might be, the fact that she had set her sights on Chen Baoxiang — did that not imply that in the eyes of these powerful figures, she was already someone capable of influencing Zhang Zhixu’s emotions?

That was not a good sign, neither for herself nor for Zhang Zhixu.

Weighing the situation in her mind, she walked in silence back toward her small courtyard.

She had just reached the mouth of the street when she noticed a large crowd gathered up ahead — four or five people deep, all talking at once.

“Are all of these Imperial Guards?”

“They are indeed. They’ve already searched four or five times over, and nearly arrested a passing neighbor by mistake.”

Chen Baoxiang craned her neck, puzzled. “What kind of offense takes this much of a spectacle?”

“I heard they offended some imperial relative from within the palace. No charges given — just a direct raid on the household.” A passerby stood on tiptoe to peer ahead. “But they don’t seem to have turned up much.”

Of course not.

Chen Baoxiang patted her own belt pouch.

She had taken everything of value with her. She had left no one in the courtyard either. By now, Elder Sister Liu should have taken Han Xiao and fled three hundred li already. She had not a single loose end to worry about.

Chen Baoxiang narrowed her eyes toward her own front gate.

The Imperial Guards’ commanding officer was projecting enormous authority, gripping his scabbard and calling out to the crowd of onlookers: “Anyone who can report the whereabouts of this household’s owner will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver.”

The crowd erupted with noise, the murmuring growing louder.

Chen Baoxiang slowly began to withdraw her head from the crowd, and made to retreat without attracting attention.

But the lure of one hundred taels of silver was simply too great. A broker in the crowd recognized her at a single glance and pointed, shouting: “It’s her! She’s the owner of this household!”

This was the end.

Chen Baoxiang had no time to think. She turned and ran.

“Stop!” The clang of armor rang out, and a dark mass of Imperial Guards came charging straight at her.

She kept her eyes forward without looking back, sprinting flat out toward the Armed Constabulary Bureau.

If these people had truly been sent by Princess Rouyi, she at least needed to be arrested through proper channels in broad daylight — otherwise, if she died inside the palace, no one would ever know.

·

“Master.”

In the Zhang family courtyard, Ningsu stood at Zhang Zhixu’s side, hesitating over his words.

Zhang Zhixu’s hair was still unbound. He sat draped in his outer robe on the small daybed, and said coldly, “Let her go.”

It had already been this long, and now she thought to come find him? Did she really take him for some discount trinket on a market stall — useful when she thought of him, forgotten when she didn’t?

If only she had come to apologize the day before yesterday — not that he would have accepted the apology. He was not someone easily coaxed.

She had deceived him for so long. For so long. Through life-and-death situation after life-and-death situation, and not a single word had slipped. She was a born liar!

He had thought her earlier talk of inviting him to Zhaixing Restaurant for drinks meant she intended to give him the chance to declare his feelings. Now, thinking back, she had likely been building up to a confession then.

— Which meant she had considered being honest with him. She simply hadn’t found the right moment. That was not the same as having no conscience at all — it was merely bad timing.

No — what was he doing, making excuses for her? No matter how he dressed it up, she had still treated him like a fool to be deceived!

— Though in fairness, he had harbored intentions of deceiving her first. He just hadn’t managed it, because she had gotten to him before he’d gotten to her.

That only made it worse! He hadn’t gotten to her!

He had simply wanted to use her body to verify the outcome of his own assassination attempt. His concern for her along the way was genuine. His care for her was genuine. But what about her? All that flowery praise, each carefully arranged manipulation and exploitation — had she ever been sincere toward him, even once?

After brooding through all of this, Zhang Zhixu realized that Ningsu had still said nothing further. He glanced over involuntarily. “Has she actually left?”

“No.” Ningsu scratched his head. “I thought that since Master doesn’t care about her, there was no need to report it.”

“Of course I don’t care.” Zhang Zhixu said coldly. “Dongbin and the dog — that is me and her.”

With that, he picked up the case files from the Burning Tail Banquet and the Lu Shouhuai investigation and continued reading. His lips were pressed into a hard line. The more he read, the heavier his breathing grew, and the greater his fury.

Ningsu and Jiuquan exchanged a glance. Jiuquan’s eyes shifted, and he said, “Exactly right. Our master has given her so much consideration — and has she ever given any thought to our master in return? She ought to be taken away and arrested. Beaten to death would serve her right.”

“Precisely.” Ningsu chimed in.

The fingers gripping the case files stilled. Zhang Zhixu looked up abruptly. “Taken away — what do you mean, taken away?”

“Master need not concern himself. It is merely a matter of the Imperial Guards arriving at her door and hauling her off to the palace.” Jiuquan tilted his head and glanced at the hourglass. “By this hour, she is likely already at Baoxin Palace.”