Ling Daye and Ling Ji stepped forward first to pay their respects.

Then Ling Jingshu pulled Ling Xiao forward, and together they knelt to express their thanks: “Yesterday, Uncle brought back good news—that Your Highness was willing to bestow a calling card upon the two of us. We will never forget Your Highness’s great kindness and generosity. Should you ever have need of us in the future, we would not hesitate even to walk through fire.”

As she spoke, she respectfully kowtowed three times.

Ling Xiao kowtowed along with her. Since Ling Jingshu had already said everything that needed to be said, he simply added, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Looking at Ling Jingshu, her expression respectful and grateful, her etiquette flawless and beyond reproach, the Crown Grandson should have felt pleased. After all, hadn’t he deliberately bestowed this favor precisely so he could watch her bow her head?

Yet now that the moment had actually arrived, he suddenly found he didn’t feel as pleased as he had imagined he would.

What he wanted to see was the girl who had remained calm even while held captive by bandits that night, the Ninth Miss Ling who had dared to take up a dagger and kill a bandit, the Ling Jingshu who hadn’t feared his status and had dared to mock him.

Not this Ling Jingshu wearing a mask, concealing all her true emotions so thoroughly.

The Crown Grandson pressed his thin lips together and said flatly, “Rise, there’s no need for such formality. It was a trivial effort on my part—I had no intention of seeking anything in return for it.”

He paused, then added slowly, “Besides, I truly can’t imagine what favor I might ever need from the two of you in return.”

Ling Xiao was thin-skinned, and upon hearing such harsh words, his face flushed red almost instantly.

Indeed!

The other party was the lofty Crown Grandson—aside from the Emperor, the Empress, and the Crown Prince, there was scarcely anyone in the world of higher status than him. He could have whatever he wished for; if he wanted even the stars in the sky, there would naturally be someone willing to climb a ladder to fetch them for him.

He and A’Shu were nothing more than an ordinary pair of siblings—what right did they have to speak of repaying the Crown Grandson?

Ling Daye’s smile had also grown a bit stiff.

It seemed he had been mistaken earlier. The Crown Grandson clearly had no particular feelings toward Ling Jingshu. Otherwise, he certainly wouldn’t have spoken so harshly…

Ling Jingshu, by contrast, was the calmest and most composed of them all. She helped Ling Xiao to his feet, then said with a faint smile, “Your Highness’s status is exalted, and countless people pledge their loyalty and support to you. Whatever you need, you only have to give the order, and people will rush to see it done well. There would naturally be no need for the two of us. I only spoke as I did earlier to express our sincerity, and to let Your Highness know that we are by no means the sort of people who forget kindness and fail to show gratitude.”

“If I may speak boldly, I ask that Your Highness not be angered by what I say.”

Having said this much, she deliberately paused.

The Crown Grandson raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smile: “Say whatever you wish to say. Even if it’s something utterly outrageous, I won’t hold it against you.”

“Thank you for Your Highness’s magnanimity. Then this humble girl will speak boldly.”

Ling Jingshu’s voice was soft and pleasant, unhurried, echoing in everyone’s ears: “As the saying goes, no goodwill lasts a thousand days, no flower stays red for a hundred. The higher one climbs, the colder it grows. The affairs of the world are hard to predict, and no one can know what fortune the future holds. Today Your Highness has shown us kindness, but perhaps someday you may yet find use for the two of us.”

Upon hearing “no goodwill lasts a thousand days, no flower stays red for a hundred,” Ling Daye’s face began to pale.

When the words “the higher one climbs, the colder it grows” reached his ears, the color drained entirely from Ling Daye’s face.

This girl was being far too reckless and bold!

Were these the kind of words one could simply say without consequence?

No sooner had Ling Jingshu finished speaking than Ling Daye gritted his teeth and dropped to his knees to beg forgiveness: “Please, Your Highness, calm your anger. A’Shu is young and ignorant, and her words were reckless. I beg Your Highness’s magnanimity to forgive her this once…”

Ling Ji also knelt down alongside him: “Please show mercy, Your Highness.”

Having already learned his lesson once before, Wang Tong didn’t dare say or do anything more, though in his heart he was breaking into a cold sweat on behalf of this audaciously bold Ninth Miss Ling.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, the Crown Grandson didn’t grow angry at all—instead, he began to laugh.

With that laugh, it was as if ice and snow had melted away, and his young face became unbelievably handsome.

“Ling Jingshu,” the Crown Grandson said, addressing her by name directly for the first time, his tone light: “You have real nerve. I have never met a woman as audaciously bold and sharp-tongued as you.”

He paused, then added, “It’s time for the ships to set sail. All of you may withdraw now.”

Ling Daye’s mind went completely blank, his legs turned to jelly, and he practically floated all the way back to the boat.

Only once he was seated in the familiar cabin, holding the fine official kiln porcelain bowl he was accustomed to using, and had taken a sip of hot tea, did he finally come back to his senses.

Ling Jingshu’s calm, lovely face entered his line of sight as well.

The scene from earlier surged back into his mind.

Ling Daye still felt his heart pounding with fright.

“A’Shu!” Ling Daye glared fiercely at Ling Jingshu, gritting his teeth as he spoke: “Did you grow the heart of a lion and the gall of a leopard? How dare you speak to the Crown Grandson like that?”

“Do you have any idea—if you’d angered the Crown Grandson, he would only need to say a word and the two of you would have been finished! And not just the two of you—our entire Ling family would have suffered for it as well!”

By the time he reached the last sentence, his face had turned ashen, and he was practically roaring.

Inwardly startled, Ling Ji quickly spoke up to soothe his furious father: “Please calm down first, Father. A’Shu is still young, and for a moment she couldn’t restrain herself—her words were indeed somewhat reckless. But the Crown Grandson didn’t turn hostile; he even laughed just now. It would seem he doesn’t really mind…”

“What do you know!”

Worked up with anxiety, Ling Daye, rarely one to curse, snapped: “The Crown Grandson clearly isn’t fine with it—he’s obviously just holding back his anger. Who knows, one day he might remember this and explode!”

As he spoke, he glared furiously at Ling Jingshu again: “You came to the capital with us to accompany A’Xiao for his eye treatment—not to go around stirring up trouble! If there’s a next time, pack your things immediately and go straight back to Dingzhou!”

Listening to Ling Daye’s furious shouting, anger rose in a flush across Ling Xiao’s fair face, and he stepped forward to say: “If Uncle wants to be angry and scold someone, direct it at me! Don’t blame A’Shu! If Uncle is worried the two of us will bring trouble upon your family, then once we get off the boat, we’ll leave on our own—there’s no need to trouble you any further.”

Ling Daye: “…”

Whether it was something that should or shouldn’t have been provoked, it had already been provoked—even if they didn’t live with the Ling family, wouldn’t this still be held against the Ling family’s name?

What’s more, if his nephew and niece had come to the capital with him only to end up not staying with the Ling family… anyone unaware of the truth might well assume that he had driven the two siblings away!

How could he ever face anyone again after that?!

Ling Daye’s expression shifted again and again. He wanted to scold them further but forced himself to hold back, pressing himself to soften his tone: “I’m not trying to drive you away. I just want you to understand that the capital is nothing like Dingzhou. In Dingzhou, our Ling family is a prominent, well-established clan. Even if you two stirred up trouble, others would show some tolerance out of respect for the Ling family’s name. Here in the capital, imperial relatives, dukes and marquises of merit, ministers of the Six Ministries—they’re everywhere. If you got yourselves into trouble here, even I, as your eldest uncle, wouldn’t have the standing to protect you.”

Not to mention that the other party in question was none other than the lofty Crown Grandson himself.