Zhang Zhixu was moving in great haste, his deep purple official robes billowing in the wind.

He strode through the inner palace’s restricted passages, through the Imperial Garden, and had just reached the vicinity of Baoxin Palace when he saw a crowd gathered ahead. They were already readying a caning.

“Sir?” The eunuch guiding him reminded, “You must enter the hall first to observe proper etiquette.”

As if he had not heard a word, Zhang Zhixu stepped past the guards and servants in long strides. His voice was not entirely steady. “Stop.”

The servant who had been about to administer the caning looked as though he had been set free, and retreated hastily to the side.

He stepped forward and helped up the person lying across the bench, clenching his jaw as he met that face — and then his expression abruptly froze.

“Who are you?” Rouyi demanded, furious and flustered. “Have you also come to laugh at me?”

“……” It was not her.

He released his hold and stepped back to his feet. Zhang Zhixu frowned. “What has happened?”

“The Grand Princess is in a great rage and has punished Young Princess Rouyi.” A palace attendant nearby waved a hand. “The matter is not yet concluded. Please withdraw, sir.”

Li Rouyi had dragged Chen Baoxiang into the palace, yet ended up being beaten herself?

The deep furrow between his brows relaxed slightly. He was rather bemused.

“Oh dear, ancestor of mine — Young Princess is still unwell. How can she endure such heavy punishment?” The guiding eunuch rushed over and scolded the surrounding attendants. “This is the Junior Tutor personally appointed to the Young Princess by His Majesty. What is there to withdraw from? Have you no eyes in your heads? Go quickly and summon the imperial physicians!”

The attendants scattered. Rouyi was helped to her feet as well.

Her station alone meant they would never dare cane her too severely, but the Young Princess had grown up with no one daring to cross her. This was the first time she had suffered such a loss, and she trembled with fury. As she was helped up she said, “I will definitely have Chen Baoxiang killed. I will!”

Zhang Zhixu had been about to leave, but these words stopped him in his tracks.

“Please do not take offense, sir.” The eunuch smiled apologetically. “The princess is too young — she understands nothing.”

Some people at five years old already knew how to fight for their grandmother and guard their fields. Some, at fourteen, still understand nothing.

Zhang Zhixu lowered his eyes and cupped his hands in a bow. “I have arrived at an inconvenient time today. It would be better to come another day to conduct the lesson.”

Rouyi had still been fuming, but as she looked over, something caught her curiosity.

She asked the matron at her side: “Who is that?”

The matron covered her lips and replied: “That is the one from the Zhang family. When he placed third in the imperial examinations two years ago, His Majesty had him concurrently appointed as Junior Tutor. He has simply claimed illness all this time and never come to the palace to teach.”

“He stayed away all this time, and chooses precisely today to come — everyone knows it’s not for my sake.” Rouyi narrowed her eyes, feeling the slight all the more keenly, and enunciated each word in a mutter: “Chen. Bao. Xiang.”

Seated up on the carriage shaft, Chen Baoxiang shivered for no apparent reason.

She turned her head toward the interior of the carriage with a trace of unease. “Your Highness, punishing a princess this way — will it be possible to explain yourself to His Majesty?”

The Grand Princess, lounging lazily against her male companion, said: “Explain myself? As long as there is the late Emperor’s personal edict, he will be the one to come to me bearing a bundle of thorns on his back to apologize.”

Well said. Very bold.

But the problem was — they didn’t have any late Emperor’s personal edict at all.

Chen Baoxiang squeezed her empty sleeve pocket, then pressed a hand over her ice-cold chest.

Good news: she did not have to die today.

Bad news: tomorrow was not certain.

Nearby, a scout rode up on horseback to meet the procession and bowed in salute: “Your Highness, Magistrate Zhang has gone to Baoxin Palace in his capacity as Junior Tutor — but did not stay long. He is presently making his way in our direction.”

Li Bingsheng raised an eyebrow, then broke into laughter: “Ha ha ha!”

Chen Baoxiang’s scalp prickled at the sound. “Your Highness, I still owe Magistrate Zhang a considerable sum of money. He is perhaps worried that the debt will die with me.”

“Money?” Li Bingsheng laughed harder. “When has the second son of the Zhang family ever cared about money?”

He had never cared about money — and that did not necessarily mean he cared about her. Zhang Zhixu was not a bad person at heart. It was entirely possible he simply didn’t want anyone to die on his account.

Gently shaking her head, Chen Baoxiang bowed toward the carriage in deference. “Whatever Your Highness wishes your servant to handle, please simply give the order.”

“You have already seen what I am capable of. It is time for me to see what you are capable of.” Li Bingsheng finished laughing and dabbed at the corner of her eye. “Zhang Fengqing is soon to come of age, and His Majesty also has plans to reissue a marriage decree. I want you to go back to his side and act when the moment comes.”

To act when the moment comes meant to seize every opportunity to cause disruption.

An ordinary kind of disruption would have been bad enough. This one involved an imperial marriage.

Chen Baoxiang let out a quiet sigh.

“You cannot do it?” Li Bingsheng asked with a smile. “This princess does not keep useless people around her.”

She did not even need to do anything herself. She needed only to cast Chen Baoxiang out, and Rouyi would cut her to pieces.

Chen Baoxiang dropped to her knees at once. “I can, I absolutely can. Please set your mind at ease, Your Highness.”

“You have no one to wait on you, either.” Li Bingsheng flicked her fingers lightly. “This one called Biqiong is given to you then. Take her back with you.”

“Many thanks, Your Highness.”

The magnificent carriage drifted slowly down the street, leaving behind two women standing on the roadside staring at each other.

Chen Baoxiang managed a strained smile and greeted Biqiong. “Do you know how to cook and do laundry?”

“Yes.” Biqiong answered without expression. “But not for you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am simply the eyes the Grand Princess has planted at your side.”

“……” Did she really have to be so blunt about it?

Chen Baoxiang slowly crouched down at the roadside and let out a long, long sigh.

The setting sun hung low, like an egg with its yolk broken — carrying the same exhaustion as she felt. She stared blankly down the empty official road, feeling vaguely lost, vaguely torn.

The figure she had been looking at soon appeared at the far end of her line of sight.

A face of fine, handsome features, hair bound beneath a jade crown — Zhang Zhixu rode toward her on horseback, his upright posture poised on the horse’s back like a slender stalk of purple bamboo.

He rode straight past Chen Baoxiang, cast only a single sidelong glance, then withdrew his gaze and continued on ahead.

Biqiong stared, startled, and thought there must have been something wrong with the scout’s intelligence.

But then a horse’s neigh and whinny rang out as he reined in sharply — and the man who had already ridden some distance away turned his horse and came back. Standing above her in his stirrups, he looked down at Chen Baoxiang from his elevated position, his thin lips pressed together, without a word.

Chen Baoxiang scrunched her face and looked up at him, blinking against the light. “Magistrate Zhang — are you here looking for me?”

“Just passing by.” He answered coldly.

Chen Baoxiang thought this man was being terribly roundabout about it. He had clearly ridden here chasing after her, yet he refused to give her even a single convenient opening to start a conversation — aloof and unapproachable, leaving her at a loss for what to say.

She lowered her head and let out a muffled, “Then go ahead.”

Zhang Zhixu’s expression grew even colder. The knuckles gripping the reins whitened with tension.

This person truly was insolent. She had deceived someone and not bothered to apologize, and now she was the one showing a sullen face. Where in the world did she find the gall and the nerve?

He genuinely wanted to turn and ride away.

But thinking of the chaotic mess she was in at the moment, he gritted his teeth, swung down from the horse, and dragged her to one side.

“?” Chen Baoxiang was caught off guard. She instinctively glanced back at Biqiong.

Biqiong had the good sense to remain where she was and stare fixedly at her own nose and toes.

She turned back, and Zhang Zhixu put force into his wrist, pulling her into the narrow alley beside them. His eyes swept rapidly up and down.

“You weren’t beaten?”

She looked at him blankly, and answered honestly: “It had already come to the point of having my head cut off. Fortunately, the Grand Princess arrived and created a distraction.”