Old Sun quietly tugged at Gui Yuanshu’s sleeve. Gui Yuanshu turned to look at him, and the meaning in Old Sun’s eyes was… this girl is no simple character.

A shrewd operator like Gui Yuanshu could naturally see that this girl was no ordinary person. She possessed a purity of appearance that Gui Yuanshu had never encountered in all his years, yet her methods and scheming were enough to make one’s heart uneasy.

She had only begun to engage with Gui Yuanshu from the previous night, had only decided to follow him just before dawn, and yet now she carried herself with the confidence of someone who had everything in hand.

Eunuch Xu had no other options at this point. Every single matter recorded on that piece of paper — things he had done over the past half year — was sufficient grounds to have him executed by the most severe of punishments.

Such as humiliating and driving a young palace maid to her death. Such as stealing valuables from the palace. Such as secretly embezzling the monthly stipend of the Grand Noble Consort. Such as the countless times he had privately cursed Zhen Xiaodao behind closed doors.

Eunuch Xu could not yet guess who was trying to have him killed, but the number of people with both the standing and the motive to contest his position was not so great — he had a rough direction in mind.

Yet no matter which eunuch he suspected, he would never land on the right answer, because no such person existed. The words on that paper had been written by Yun Xiazhao, and every single item had been compiled from conversations she had overheard among the eunuchs who frequented Yun Su Tower for leisure.

“What does Master Pei actually want me to do?”

Eunuch Xu asked.

Yun Xiazhao said, “Eunuch Xu needn’t worry so much. What could Master Pei possibly ask of you, really? It’s just that… Master Pei has never seen what an imperial edict looks like, and wishes to ask Eunuch Xu to bring out a few for him to have a look at.”

“Imperial edicts?!”

Eunuch Xu’s eyes snapped wide open. “Several of them?!”

Yun Xiazhao smiled. “Does Eunuch Xu find this difficult?”

Before Eunuch Xu could respond, Yun Xiazhao said, “Then let us be on our way. We’ll ask another eunuch instead. Master Pei does not like to put his friends in difficult positions, but a person who cannot help Master Pei can hardly be called a friend. It is true that Master Pei enjoys making friends — but what is equally true is that he despises being treated like a fool.”

Gui Yuanshu immediately nodded and said, “What Master Pei dislikes even more is trouble.”

He looked at Eunuch Xu. “For instance, someone already knows now that Master Pei wants to have a look at a few imperial edicts. Should that information leak out, that becomes trouble.”

Eunuch Xu looked back over his shoulder. There were so many people here — all eunuchs from Shiyuan Palace — yet comparatively speaking, he would sooner trust the people standing before him than trust anyone inside the palace. As long as he satisfied Pei Bancheng, there would be no trouble. But if those behind him were to find out, the head internal attendant Zhen Xiaodao could know within half an hour.

And so Eunuch Xu suddenly burst into hearty laughter. “Master Pei is too kind to me — he even wants to invite me to Yun Su Tower? Very well, very well, I cannot refuse such generosity. I’ll go with you right now.”

He turned back and called out to the eunuchs who had been gambling with him earlier, “Don’t wait for me when you head back to the palace. I’m off to have a fine time at Master Pei Bancheng’s Yun Su Tower.”

A chorus of envious looks followed from the group of eunuchs.

Eunuch Xu turned around and let out a sigh. “What does Master Pei want those things for?”

Yun Xiazhao said, “Master Pei only wants them to play with. You know how it is — Master Pei has always been fond of collecting things.”

Eunuch Xu thought to himself that the man probably would not dare go too far. Pei Bancheng’s love of collecting things was well-known; perhaps he genuinely just wanted an imperial edict as a curiosity to look at.

Besides, without the imperial seal, the thing would be completely useless — not worth more than a blank sheet of paper.

“All right… how many do you want?”

“Three to five scrolls?”

Yun Xiazhao ventured tentatively.

Eunuch Xu said, “Tomorrow I will personally deliver the items to Yun Su Tower.”

Yun Xiazhao said, “That would be ideal, naturally. Though — I forgot to mention just now — the imperial edicts Master Pei wants must be blank ones, but they must have already been stamped with the imperial seal.”

Eunuch Xu’s footsteps halted abruptly. He turned and glared furiously at Yun Xiazhao. “If you want to kill me, just say so plainly — why go through all of this?”

Yun Xiazhao said, “Master Pei has so many business interests in Daxing — do you really think he would destroy his own prospects? Master Pei only wants to keep them as an heirloom to pass down…”

She lowered her voice. “Eunuch, how much longer do you think Dachu can hold on? If Dachu collapses within a few years, what do you suppose would be the collector’s value of a blank imperial edict already stamped with the great seal of the Dachu Emperor?”

Eunuch Xu’s expression shifted continuously. If it were merely a matter of sneaking out a few blank scrolls of imperial edicts, he would not face too great a difficulty — it would not be so impossible to arrange.

Given the current atmosphere within the palace, smuggling out blank imperial edicts was nothing. Even taking out some rare antiques and treasures was not considered particularly difficult these days.

The noble ladies within the palace had grown far more dependent on eunuchs like himself than they ever had before.

When those noble ladies ran short of money yet refused to allow their quality of life to suffer, the easiest solution was to spirit palace goods outside and sell them. Naturally, those highborn ladies could never do such a thing themselves — they all left it to the junior eunuchs in their respective palaces to handle. Over time, the hands of those eunuchs had grown less than clean, with some acting with outright brazenness.

“Master Pei can offer you a guarantee.”

Yun Xiazhao said, “Do this well, and if Dachu cannot hold on much longer — regardless of who enters the city as the new master — Master Pei will ensure that no harm comes to you. At the very least, he will see to it that you live out your remaining years in comfort.”

These words genuinely moved Eunuch Xu.

Even with the modest standing he currently held in Shiyuan Palace, he was nothing but a minor figure of no real consequence compared to the true powers that be. The days when the Bureau of Investigation could act without restraint were long gone. With their patriarch Liu Chongxin dead, the eunuchs had become a band of monkeys without a tree to cling to.

“This thing — I cannot guarantee I’ll have it in hand by tomorrow.”

Eunuch Xu exhaled slowly before speaking. “If it is an unstamped one, I can deliver it to Master Pei’s door tomorrow. As for one with a seal impression… I cannot be certain an opportunity will arise, so I dare not make promises.”

Yun Xiazhao said, “How about this — the eunuch currently resting at Yun Su Tower: I can make him disappear for three days. If he happens to turn up again after three days, that would simply mean I failed to hide him well enough.”

A flash of cold menace passed through Eunuch Xu’s eyes, yet he truly had no choice but to comply.

“Wait for my word.”

Eunuch Xu left those words behind and hurried off in a rush.

Yun Xiazhao watched until Eunuch Xu disappeared from sight, then let out a breath. “That scared me to death. That was my first time deceiving someone.”

Gui Yuanshu and Old Sun exchanged a glance, then both raised their hands and began to applaud.

Gui Yuanshu said, “Miss Yun, does that line you just said count as the second time you’ve deceived someone?”

Yun Xiazhao laughed. “Believe it or not, that truly was my first time deceiving anyone.”

With that, she turned and walked away. Gui Yuanshu asked, “Where are we going now — back to Yun Su Tower to wait?”

Yun Xiazhao said, “I’ve worked so hard just to get out for once — why would I turn straight back? I want to have a proper look around the city… Oh, and I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I’m quite hungry.”

Gui Yuanshu looked over at Old Sun. Old Sun pursed his lips. “Why are you looking at me? It’s not like I’m the one being helped here. Do you really expect me to pay for your breakfast?”

About half an hour later, at a roadside noodle stall, Yun Xiazhao finished every last strand of the large bowl of pulled noodles placed before her, then lifted the bowl and drank the broth as well.

Old Sun sighed. “Looking at this, life in Yun Su Tower must not be quite as comfortable as I imagined.”

Yun Xiazhao laughed — and when she laughed, she was truly beautiful.

Not only had Gui Yuanshu never encountered a woman of purer appearance, but Old Sun, who was more than a decade older, had not seen one either. That said, Old Sun did not think Yun Xiazhao was particularly remarkable in terms of beauty — at the very least, not as beautiful as the woman in violet.

Yun Xiazhao said, “You don’t understand. The food at Yun Su Tower is not good — it’s nowhere near as tasty as roadside stalls.”

Old Sun understood now. This girl was simply a classic case of someone who had lived too well for too long, and so found roadside food appealing by comparison.

Yun Xiazhao nudged Gui Yuanshu’s foot with the tip of her shoe. “Do you know why I say roadside stalls taste good?”

Gui Yuanshu gave a perfunctory reply. “For whatever reason — if you find it good, then eat more of it. Shall I order you another bowl?”

Yun Xiazhao looked at Gui Yuanshu the way one looks at a scoundrel, and spoke to him in the tone one reserves for a faithless man. “When I said the roadside stall tastes good, it was because I wanted you to know — I’m actually very easy to keep.”

Gui Yuanshu shuddered.

Even a man as worldly and weathered as he was felt his heart seize up at this girl’s sudden remark.

Gui Yuanshu said, “You’re easy to keep… whoever keeps you in the future will certainly be blessed.”

Yun Xiazhao gave a small sound of agreement. “He really is lucky. The first time he set foot in a pleasure house, he ran into me. Otherwise, who knows what sort of trouble he might have gotten himself tangled up in.”

Old Sun suddenly caught on to something. He pulled Gui Yuanshu aside and said in a low voice, “She wouldn’t happen to think that you’re still a… a virgin, would she? Is she trying to take advantage of you?”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Why are you telling me this…?”

Old Sun said, “I mean — you should ask her for a red envelope.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Will you be quiet…”

Though Gui Yuanshu did not put much stock in Old Sun’s theory, having heard those words, he found that whenever he looked at Yun Xiazhao again, he could not shake the feeling that the way she looked at him was not entirely innocent.

Gui Yuanshu thought to himself: whoever leaked the information about my particular situation — who on earth could it have been?

Going by Old Sun’s reasoning, he reckoned Yun Xiazhao must have drawn a certain conclusion: a man enters a pleasure house, encounters a girl like her, and yet remains unmoved. There were only two possibilities — either Gui Yuanshu did not dare, or Gui Yuanshu was not capable.

And so Old Sun said: treat the girl kindly. She is taking a gamble, after all.

A fifty-fifty chance it was out of timidity; a fifty-fifty chance it was out of incapability. If she bet wrong, what would become of the rest of her life?

Gui Yuanshu said that if he weren’t afraid of someone putting him in the ground, he would want to put Old Sun in the ground right now.

Yun Xiazhao seemed genuinely reluctant to return to Yun Su Tower. Everything she laid eyes on delighted her; she wanted to buy everything she saw — yet she had not brought any money with her.

Old Sun was naturally not going to open his purse, so Gui Yuanshu had no choice but to grit his teeth and foot the bill. He was not a lavish spender even before he had come to serve at Prince Ning Li Chi’s side — one could hardly expect him to have become free-handed with money after joining.

That ran contrary to the entire spirit of the Prince Ning’s army.

“This is so pretty.”

Yun Xiazhao picked up a hair tie. Gui Yuanshu thought to himself that there was nothing particularly pretty or unpretty about a length of cord, but glanced at the price — only five copper coins — and decided to let her have it.

“Wrap up thirty-one of them for me.”

Yun Xiazhao indicated to the peddler. “Looking at your stock, it seems you barely have enough for about three hundred-odd — just enough for me to change one each day for a month.”

The peddler was absolutely delighted. One hundred and fifty copper coins was a significant transaction for a small vendor like him.

Gui Yuanshu hastily tried to talk her out of it. “What would you do with so many identical hair ties?”

Yun Xiazhao said, “One per day — surely I’m not expected to wash them?”

Gui Yuanshu said, “They’re all the same — what’s the point? They don’t exactly make you stand out as wearing anything exceptional.”

The small peddler held up a jade hairpin. Gui Yuanshu immediately panicked. “Put that down!”

Yun Xiazhao sighed. “You’re always like this. I just spent five thousand taels of silver on your behalf, and yet you can’t even bring yourself to buy me a few hair ties. Fine, don’t buy them then — I wouldn’t want to make you angry again. And then I’d have to be the one to coax you out of it.”

Gui Yuanshu’s eyes went wide. Yet Old Sun said, “She has a point. It’s the truth.”

The small peddler looked at Yun Xiazhao, then at Gui Yuanshu, and could not for the life of him work out how someone so tight-fisted had managed to find himself a wife — and such a beautiful one at that.

Gui Yuanshu let out a sigh and pointed at the hair ties. “Wrap them up.”

Yun Xiazhao immediately brightened, her smile blazing like a summer flower in full bloom.

After a moment of silence, Gui Yuanshu pointed at the jade hairpin. “Wrap that up too.”

Yun Xiazhao quickly said, “Not that one — it’s a fake.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “But… it’s the prettiest thing he has.”

Yun Xiazhao was momentarily stunned.

Gui Yuanshu picked up the jade hairpin, examined it carefully, then handed it to Old Sun. “Take this back for that girl of yours in violet. Repeat my exact words to her — there’s no way she won’t be moved. This one is guaranteed to work. Trust me.”

Yun Xiazhao: “…”

Old Sun looked at the jade hairpin with an expression caught somewhere between concern and bewilderment on Gui Yuanshu’s behalf. “I genuinely cannot tell whether you’re sharp-witted or a complete fool.”

—