Shen Zhuxi’s words were like a thunderclap out of clear skies — earth-shattering — causing the color of everyone’s faces in the venue to change in an instant.

“What do you mean by this?” Shen Suzhan’s reaction was the most agitated of all — his eyes flared bright, like a drowning person who had suddenly caught sight of a floating plank not far away.

Fu Xuanmiao looked at Shen Zhuxi; the flash of astonishment disappeared quickly into those dark, bottomless eyes.

“……Princess of Yue cannot hold her liquor — it would be best if she returned to rest early.”

The moment his words fell, the attendants behind Shen Zhuxi pressed in toward her.

Not just the Imperial Guards! He had even taken control of the inner household affairs of the palace! This meant that Shen Suzhan’s every move had long been under Fu Xuanmiao’s watchful eye — Fu Xuanmiao had known the truth about this Feast at Hongmen, and yet had still allowed Shen Suzhan and Wang Jue to go through with it——

This Feast at Hongmen — who was it truly set up to trap? Fu Xuanmiao, or Shen Suzhan and Wang Jue, who fancied themselves the hosts?

“Impudent!”

Shen Zhuxi’s sharp and forceful voice startled away the palace attendants, who had never seen her like this before. Even Shen Suzhan on the vermilion dais was momentarily stunned, as though he were seeing the Noble Consort Bai — once the most favored in the harem, whose word was law — appear before his eyes once more.

“Fu Xuanmiao, do you dare say you had nothing whatsoever to do with the collapse of the Shang River Weir?!” Shen Zhuxi glared furiously at Fu Xuanmiao.

Fu Xuanmiao looked at her with an expression of calm.

“This subject would not dare say I had nothing to do with it.” He said. “If this subject had been more cautious, and had understood sooner that the officials overseeing the governance of the Shang River Weir were nothing more than incompetent men who ate their fill and did nothing, perhaps this subject could have discovered the danger before the Shang River Weir broke and averted the flood disaster in advance.”

“Regardless of who the officials governing the Shang River Weir were, the Shang River Weir — on that day — was always going to break!” Shen Zhuxi gripped her fingers tightly together. The sight of refugees gathered outside the gates of Xiangyang, dressed in rags, their faces etched with terror and grief, slowly rose before her mind. She held back the shimmer of tears in her eyes, glared furiously at Fu Xuanmiao, and in a voice that the entire venue could hear clearly, she declared resolutely: “Because — the collapse of the Shang River Weir was not a natural disaster, but a man-made calamity! The one who treated human lives as worthless, who committed a crime against Heaven — is none other than you, Fu Xuanmiao, he who is called the number one gentleman under Heaven!”

Before Shen Zhuxi’s last words had even faded, the venue erupted in a clamor of shocked murmuring.

The hundreds of officials exchanged glances, and had it not been for Fu Xuanmiao’s presence, they would likely have broken into whispered conversation immediately.

“This subject does not know what the Princess is speaking of. Does the Princess also wish to do as Chancellor Wang did — first have this subject thrown in prison, then personally deliver the list of charges afterward?” Fu Xuanmiao’s voice was calm and unhurried, but the gaze he fixed on Shen Zhuxi grew increasingly cold.

She was familiar with such a gaze.

When she wore bright and colorful dresses, he would look at her this way.

When she grew lax at the zither and se, he would look at her this way.

When she heard of the Commandery Princess of Qinghe’s visit and rushed eagerly to welcome her with a face full of joy, then turned her head as though sensing something — he would be sitting at the chess table, looking at her this way too.

He had never once said a harsh word to her.

Yet his gaze had always pressed down upon her head like a mountain.

After those gazes, the bright and colorful dresses vanished without a trace. Scores of se music scores were sent into the palace one after another. The palace attendants kept their distance from her more and more. She was clearly not ill, yet the Commandery Princess of Qinghe told her she thought she was sick and had only stopped briefly at the door before leaving.

And Fu Xuanmiao stopped coming into the palace to see her.

Sometimes for three to five days, sometimes for ten days to half a month.

She could only drift like a wandering spirit through the cold and lonely Cuiwei Palace, unable to find even a single person willing to meet her eyes.

Everyone said Fu Xuanmiao was a man without flaw — whether his noble character, or his unwavering devotion to the Princess of Yue, he was the paragon that every man in the world should aspire to emulate.

The title of the number one gentleman under Heaven was well and truly deserved.

Everyone knew he was without flaw, yet no one knew that the enviable fiancée of the number one gentleman under Heaven could only, when the imperial garden was empty of all people, steal away to hide behind a rock formation and converse with an osmanthus tree fragrant in the tenth month.

“There is no need to keep up your pretense any longer. Several months ago, you accompanied the imperial decree formally appointing the Xiangzhou Prefect Li Zhuzong as the new Military Governor of Zhenchuan and arrived in Xiangyang together. You brought your mother, Fang Shi, with you. When the two of you were conversing inside the main hall of the Anxisi Temple, I was right behind the Buddha statue! I heard with my own ears — Fang Shi questioned whether the collapse of the Shang River Weir was your doing, and you tacitly confirmed her question! In order to eliminate in one stroke both the former Military Governor of Zhenchuan, Li Qia, who refused to obey your commands, and the rebel army encamped in the capital region, you did not hesitate to destroy the Shang River Weir, flooding four prefectures and their cities!”

The bonfire at the center of the venue made one last struggle, then went out.

Yet the flames in Shen Zhuxi’s heart burned ever larger, ever more fiercely. Upon her delicate and beautiful face surged grief and fury; her almond eyes shimmered with waves of light, yet what flashed within them was a fighting spirit full of strength, without any trace of retreat.

“For the sake of your own selfish desires, you did not hesitate to destroy the Shang River Weir, letting the floodwaters submerge more than thirty commanderies, leaving the dead so numerous they covered the rivers, floating and sinking for more than ten days——”

“Months later, as harsh winter arrived, the corpses of the starved lay strewn across the wilderness. In the capital region, which suffered the most severely, people ate one another, or sold one another into servitude — the dead numbered tens of thousands each day——”

“These scenes of devastation——”

Shen Zhuxi held back the tears in her eyes, forcing down the sobs that welled up from deep in her throat, and said:

“You — the radiant and noble number one gentleman under Heaven — when you wake in the dead of night, have you ever witnessed them?”

“The flooding ran rampant and the common people suffered — this subject grieves just as deeply as the Princess does.” Fu Xuanmiao said dispassionately. “However, the Princess has accused this subject — beyond your few words alone, is there any conclusive evidence?”

“I heard it with my own ears! The abbot of Anxisi Temple can testify for me — on that day, both I and you and your mother were inside the temple!”

“If the Princess refers to the Abbot Konglai of Anxisi Temple,” Fu Xuanmiao’s eyes were expressionless, “the abbot passed away in perfect peace one month ago.”

“You actually silenced him by killing him?!” A blaze of fire leapt into Shen Zhuxi’s eyes.

“The Princess jests.” Fu Xuanmiao said. “What reason would I have to silence anyone?”

“Precisely for this — so that no one can testify for me now——”

“Even if the abbot had passed away, there are still the young novice monks at the temple who could testify. What reason would this subject have to silence Abbot Konglai?”

Fu Xuanmiao then continued:

“The Princess has wandered among the common people for two years, and her temperament has become quite different from before — not only is she highly strung and unable to sleep day or night, she is prone to suspicion, and her moods shift without warning. This subject can understand the Princess’s frightened and alarmed inner state, but the charge of treating human lives as worthless and destroying an embankment is too grave — this subject cannot but offer a few words in his own defense——”

“If it is based solely on ‘I heard it with my own ears’ — setting aside whether this subject is convinced — even if it were told to all people under Heaven to hear, it is unlikely anyone would be persuaded by it. Furthermore, since the Princess was behind the Buddha statue and heard everything, why did you not step forward at that very moment and level the accusation against this subject with righteousness and resolve?”

“You——”

“Even if the abbot of Anxisi Temple were still alive, what could he prove beyond confirming that both you and I were present at Anxisi Temple at that time? This subject could also summon the other party involved — my mother — to confront the Princess here, but what could that prove? If my mother denied the Princess’s groundless accusations on my behalf, the Princess would most likely claim we are shielding each other out of blood kinship.”

Fu Xuanmiao continued in his methodical, unhurried manner:

“If the Princess wishes to charge this subject with murder and embankment destruction, she must produce conclusive evidence — otherwise——” Fu Xuanmiao said softly, “it will only make people doubt the Princess’s state of mind.”

Before Shen Zhuxi could open her mouth, Fu Xuanmiao’s expression suddenly darkened, and he cast a cold look toward the palace attendants behind her.

“The Princess has already had too much to drink — why have you not escorted her back to her quarters to rest?”

The palace attendants behind Shen Zhuxi swarmed forward, each grabbing one of her arms, and without so much as a by-your-leave, prepared to lead her away from the venue.

“Fu Xuanmiao, you are celebrating too early!” Shen Suzhan ground out through clenched teeth. “Fortunately, my teacher had already anticipated that you would not submit without a fight, and kept a second card in reserve — you have schemed and plotted with exhaustive cleverness, but little did you expect that you have already been poisoned with a rare venom! Teacher knew you were crafty and suspicious, and that you would never relax your guard over the wine before you — so he placed the poison somewhere you would never suspect——”

Shen Zhuxi suddenly realized something. Her entire body went ice-cold, and she looked at the man on the vermilion dais in disbelief.

On the vermilion dais, Shen Suzhan gripped the silken cloth covering the table, the veins on the backs of his hands standing out starkly, and a ferocious light flashed across his handsome features.

“The poison is in the Princess of Yue’s wine! Fu Xuanmiao — We personally counted just now — you drank five cups in total. If you calculate the timing, the poison should be taking effect by now. If you don’t want to throw away your life and the Princess of Yue’s life, you had better order your men to lay down their arms and surrender — otherwise, the two of you can make the journey together!”

Shen Suzhan’s words did not achieve the anticipated effect.

Fu Xuanmiao remained unmoved, as though he had not been the least bit surprised.

“Has the Princess not yet been escorted back to her quarters?” he said.

The palace attendants beside Shen Zhuxi came back to their senses and began clumsily trying to “escort” her away from the venue.

She looked out at the officials in the venue — these subjects who ought to have devoted their loyalty to their sovereign — now sat one by one with their heads bowed in their seats, dreading even the brush of her gaze.

Sorrow welled up within Shen Zhuxi’s heart, and she cried out in a loud voice:

“Fu Xuanmiao is reckless and savage — he kills without compunction! The Military Governor of Zhenchuan, Li Zhuzong, was murdered by his hand! He destroyed the weir to unleash a flood, slaughtered his colleagues, defied those above him — there is no evil he has not committed!”

She cried out with all her might to the silent banquet venue:

“Today you watch him run roughshod over everyone — little do you know that tomorrow, you will be his next victims! You receive the sovereign’s pay and serve the sovereign’s affairs — have you all forgotten the oath you swore when you first entered the court?!”

The expressions of the assembled officials shifted with emotion, and they exchanged glances in subtle, inscrutable ways down below.

Seeing Fu Xuanmiao’s expression darken, the palace attendants were frightened into dragging her away.

No matter how much Shen Zhuxi struggled, she could not break free from several physically powerful palace attendants, and was forced back to the tent where she lodged.

After the attendants pushed her into the tent, they immediately stood guard outside the curtained entrance, and in polite but unequivocal tones, asked her to go back and rest.

Shen Zhuxi sat in a daze in a chair for quite some time, with no way of knowing how the banquet had unfolded after that. The music and dance had not resumed — had the banquet already ended?

She thought of the last words Shen Suzhan had spoken, and her heart sank as though into a pit of ice.

No matter how much she had anticipated and imagined, she had never expected that Shen Suzhan would place the poison in her wine.

She had always kept in mind those occasional flickers of warmth that Shen Suzhan had let slip through the gaps between his fingers to reach her — she had believed that even if Shen Suzhan did not hold her in high regard, he would still feel at least some bond of blood kinship for her.

She never, never could have imagined that Shen Suzhan would place the poison in her wine. To Shen Suzhan, she was truly no different from a palace attendant whose life was as worthless as grass.

Shen Zhuxi sat in hollow despair for a while, yet no matter how long she waited, she felt not the slightest reaction of poison spreading through her body.

Hope reignited.

She was lying on the ground, studying how to pry up the edge of the tent and escape from the side, when the curtained entrance was suddenly lifted and a set of footsteps walked in.

Shen Zhuxi was so startled she immediately leapt to her feet, instinctively hiding her dirt-covered hands behind her back.

The tent curtain swayed gently behind a figure dressed in pale blue. Fu Xuanmiao stood tall and straight, looking at her without expression.