The Ninth Prince was in the courtyard, and Yu Jingfeng was reporting something to him — though at this distance, Feng Jiu’er had no way of catching even a fragment of it.

Of course, other people’s affairs were best left unheard — trouble could find you through your ears just as easily as any other way.

She was just worrying over how to take her leave of the Prince when that tall, elegant figure shifted slightly — and turned to look in her direction.

The distance was genuinely not short, yet the way he looked toward her made Feng Jiu’er know, without any doubt, that he was signaling her to approach.

She hesitated for a moment, then finally took a step forward — moving toward him with a carefully performed air of slight unease.

“Follow this Prince.” He stepped toward the side hall.

Feng Jiu’er didn’t hesitate for an instant and fell into step behind him.

Entering the front courtyard’s side hall, she looked up — and on the chair inside sat a familiar figure.

Crown Prince!

The moment he saw Zhan Qingcheng, Zhan Yuheng immediately rose to his feet and came forward to greet him: “Ninth Imperial Uncle.”

His gaze then shifted to Feng Jiu’er.

At that exact moment, Feng Jiu’er did something that left every person in the room stunned: she ducked behind the Ninth Prince, and even clutched hold of his long sleeve.

“Insolence!” The Ninth Prince’s hidden guards shot out in a blur, their long swords leveled at Feng Jiu’er.

Zhan Yuheng’s expression also changed, and he said in a stern, low voice: “Jiu’er, do not be rude — come here.”

But Feng Jiu’er not only refused to move toward him; she clutched Zhan Qingcheng’s sleeve even tighter. “Ninth Imperial Uncle, Jiu’er is frightened.”

She called him Ninth Imperial Uncle! And the tone in which she spoke to him — it was as though she treated him as a family member who could protect her!

Every person in the room changed expression — every person, that is, except Zhan Qingcheng, who remained as unperturbed as ever.

He pressed his thin lips together lightly and said, with perfect calm: “There is nothing to fear.”

“……” Everyone was rendered entirely speechless. Was the Ninth Prince… actually reassuring this homely, foolish Ninth Miss?

Zhan Yuheng’s bright eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to make sense of what exactly these two were to each other: “Ninth Imperial Uncle…”

“What business do you have with this Prince?” Zhan Qingcheng’s long legs carried him forward in a few easy strides, and he settled into the chair in the side hall.

Feng Jiu’er followed at his heels like a little shadow.

He sat down; she stood beside the chair — still clutching his sleeve and refusing to let go, as though terrified he might escape the moment she released him.

None of them could make any sense of it. The Ninth Prince — who had always detested proximity to women, whose cold, abstinent reputation was the stuff of legend — how was he permitting this girl to act with such outrageous familiarity?

“Ninth Imperial Uncle, Jiu’er caused trouble in the Xuanhua Hall today. This Crown Prince has come to bring her back to face punishment.”

Zhan Yuheng looked at Feng Jiu’er, the surprise in his eyes already suppressed and buried: “Jiu’er, come here — do not be rude to Ninth Imperial Uncle.”

Feng Jiu’er had no intention of going with him. If she were brought back to the palace now, it would only be so the Empress could vent her fury on her.

This Crown Prince brother of hers was no longer the Pearl who had once been willing to protect Jiu’er when they were small.

To him now, his mother mattered far more than Feng Jiu’er.

With the scene Feng Jiu’er had caused in the Xuanhua Hall today, being brought back would inevitably mean having a layer of skin flayed off her by the Empress.

In any case, she was a “halfwit” — if she simply refused to budge, even the Empress could not convict her of any real crime.

After all, who would bother arguing seriously with a fool?

Feng Jiu’er gripped Zhan Qingcheng’s sleeve even tighter — and not only refused to let go, but gave it a gentle little tug.

“Ninth Imperial Uncle, Jiu’er doesn’t want to stay here. Come and play with Jiu’er outside.”

To ask the Ninth Prince — a man burdened with ten thousand affairs of state — to go out and play with her?

Were all of their ears… quite certain they were functioning correctly?