No way! Being love-struck is a fatal mistake! In these stories, the love-struck always dies early!

Yu Wanyin shook her head. The slightly drunk Xia Houdan seemed to sense her thoughts and swept his dark eyes toward her.

Yu Wanyin hastily averted her gaze.

Xia Houdan blinked, his playful mood rising again as he rested his chin on his hand and asked, “Beloved Consort, are you stealing glances at your Emperor?”

Yu Wanyin sprang to her feet and started walking away: “I’m going to wash up and sleep.”

Xia Houdan, still resting his chin on his hand: “Together? You’ll see even more, you know.”

Yu Wanyin froze, turning back with a shiver.

Xia Houdan burst out laughing and waved his hand: “Go on, go on.”

After Yu Wanyin had disappeared, Xia Houdan remained sitting alone.

He continued sipping his wine, but the lingering smile on his lips was slowly fading. Without a drinking companion, the vast hall suddenly seemed empty, with a cold, desolate chill seeping through the floor tiles.

A figure silently walked toward him and knelt behind him.

Xia Houdan didn’t turn around, gently setting down his wine cup: “Does Sir Bai have news?”

The man presented a letter with both hands: “For Your Majesty’s review.” If Yu Wanyin had been present, she would have noticed that this travel-worn secret guard wasn’t on their jointly approved list—he was a stranger she’d never seen before.

Xia Houdan opened the envelope, from which several wax-sealed pills fell out first. He paused, then pulled out the letter and read it through, his expression showing some impatience: “He still hasn’t given up?”

The guard remained silent.

Xia Houdan burned the letter over a candle, then casually poured a cup of tea and swallowed one of the pills. Only then did he instruct: “Tell him everything in the palace is as usual, and to continue as planned.”

Yu Wanyin finished her bath, dried her hair, and went to bed on her own. The bedding had already been improved according to modern standards; now the pillows weren’t hard, and the covers weren’t cold, significantly improving the quality of life.

While Xia Houdan was bathing, she lay in bed feeling rather nervous. To her surprise, Xia Houdan only took verbal liberties, and when it came down to it, he properly lay on his side of the boundary line.

After the security upgrade, Yu Wanyin had found a sense of safety, and her sleep quality had been excellent lately. Only tonight, worried about Bei Zhou, she tossed and turned for a while unable to fall asleep.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she suddenly noticed that Xia Houdan wasn’t sleeping either, seemingly staring at the bed curtains.

Yu Wanyin hesitated for a moment, then asked softly: “You can’t sleep either?”

Xia Houdan closed his eyes, his breathing somewhat labored as he muttered something indistinctly, something like “knew it wouldn’t work.”

What wouldn’t work? Yu Wanyin suspected she hadn’t heard clearly: “What’s wrong?”

Xia Houdan exhaled heavily: “Headache.”

Is it that serious? Yu Wanyin hesitated again, then moved a little closer to him: “Shall I massage it for you?”

Caring for a companion is normal, she told herself.

Xia Houdan didn’t refuse. But when her fingertips touched his temples, he instantly tensed all his muscles. Even in the darkness, Yu Wanyin could feel him clenching his jaw.

“What’s wrong? Should I be gentler?”

“…Yes.”

She had never learned massage techniques, so she could only gently make circles without much method: “I don’t know if this is any consolation—but your migraine is just a plot device, you won’t die from it in the end—at least before you get assassinated, it won’t kill you.”

Xia Houdan’s tense body gradually relaxed, his tone sarcastic: “That’s really reassuring.”

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Yu Wanyin didn’t hold it against a sick person; when she had menstrual cramps, she was also quite irritable. “Later, let Bei Zhou examine you to see if it’s a brain tumor or poisoning. He’s experienced in the jianghu world and might recognize poisons that imperial physicians don’t.”

“Mm.”

Yu Wanyin asked quietly: “You’re actually afraid of dying, aren’t you?”

Her fingertips were soft, still carrying the warmth of the bed.

Xia Houdan curled the corner of his mouth: “Hard to say.”

Yu Wanyin took it as him being too embarrassed to admit it: “It’s okay, I’m afraid too. But you, as a CEO, should adjust your attitude, and show some spirit. Even if Bei Zhou couldn’t retrieve the book this time, we can try again…”

“Don’t worry.” Xia Houdan interrupted her preemptive reassurance. “As long as you don’t want to give up, neither will I.”

Yu Wanyin pondered the statement in the void.

Was she being too sensitive, or was there something ambiguous about that sentence?

Before she could figure it out, Xia Houdan added: “After all, I’m still counting on Sister Yu to lead me to prosperity.”

Yu Wanyin withdrew her thoughts: “That’s true.”

Xia Houdan’s breathing gradually became lighter as she massaged his temples. Seeing him fall asleep, drowsiness unexpectedly washed over her as well. Her fingertips massaged more and more slowly until finally stopping.

Once she was sound asleep, Xia Houdan slowly opened his eyes and gazed at her.

Yu Wanyin didn’t know how long she had slept when she suddenly awoke. The surroundings were somewhat brighter, though dawn had not yet broken.

Someone outside the bed curtains called softly: “Stop sleeping, the book has arrived.”

Bei Zhou was back!

Yu Wanyin sat up with a start like a jumping carp, suddenly feeling something wasn’t right. She turned her head to look.

Xia Houdan’s upper body had crossed the boundary line, taking half of her pillow.

Yu Wanyin: “…”

This couldn’t be intentional, right? It was purely bad sleeping posture, right? When he realized it himself, he would also be surprised, right?

Bei Zhou called again from outside the bed curtains: “Dan’er?”

Xia Houdan opened his eyes, supporting his forehead as he sat up and calmly put on his clothes before getting out of bed: “Coming.”

It was intentional! Yu Wanyin felt a bit dizzy.

All along, when Xia Houdan was alone with her, he maintained the attitude of strategic allies dependent on each other for survival. Though they were quite close, he had never actually crossed the line.

So what was going on now? Do ordinary strategic allies share pillows?

Yu Wanyin suppressed these thoughts, got dressed, and jumped out of bed: “Is Uncle Bei injured?”

Bei Zhou laughed: “It’s not so easy to injure me. It’s just that besides the Imperial Guards on watch, there were also sentries sent by others nearby. It took some time to avoid them.”

Xia Houdan had already nonchalantly sat down at the table: “It seems my dear Imperial Brother hasn’t let down his guard yet. Fortunately, we had you to handle it.”

Bei Zhou pulled out a dust-covered book from his bosom: “What exactly is this? A treasure map?”

Xia Houdan: “Not quite, but close enough.”

The three of them lit a lamp and opened the book left by Xu Yao.

The cover was printed with “Great Xia Geography Chronicle,” but inside was all handwritten ink. The writing was dense and extremely cursive.

Clearly, when Xu Yao initially wrote these characters, perhaps it was just as a reminder, or perhaps to keep some leverage against Prince Duan just in case. Either way, it wasn’t meant for others to read. So the sentence structure was very casual, and many abbreviations were used.

Yu Wanyin studied it for quite a while before making out a line: “Turn… Zhao Fu? Who is this Zhao Fu referring to?”

Xia Houdan thought for a moment: “I believe there’s a Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards surnamed Zhao. We’ll confirm later.”

Yu Wanyin suddenly understood. In the original text, Prince Duan had indeed turned the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards, then supported him to overthrow the Commander, thereby gaining control of the Imperial Guards. That’s why his path from loyal prince to emperor had been so smooth and unobstructed.

Yu Wanyin squinted and read two more pages, all action plans that largely aligned with the original plot she had read. But compared to her vague memories, the records here were much clearer, some even detailed down to dates and times.

The beginning of one page read “Use Yan State spy to eliminate Jia”—this “Jia” referred to the dissident who would soon be eliminated by Prince Duan through borrowed knives.

Unfortunately, that Yan State spy had already died in the brothel yesterday.

Another page read “February, recruit failed examination talents”—next February there would be an imperial examination, but the current examination halls were rife with favoritism and corruption, becoming a murky pool where scholars from humble backgrounds had no hope of advancement.

Prince Duan was deeply versed in the art of winning people over. He would privately approach several talented individuals who had been eliminated, open convenient doors for them, and arrange for them to obtain official positions through other means, making them serve his purposes.

Below is even a list of official positions that could be filled.

Yu Wanyin was excited.

Due to Bei Zhou’s presence, she couldn’t tell Xia Houdan these details, and could only look at him and nod slightly: This thing works!

Xia Houdan also nodded once: Awesome.

Bei Zhou asked curiously: “Are these Prince Duan’s plans? Is he planning a rebellion?”

Xia Houdan smiled: “Yes. But now with the book in hand, we can defeat each of his schemes one by one, preventing him from succeeding.”

Bei Zhou showed concern: “Dan’er, won’t this be too exhausting for you? Wouldn’t it be simpler if I just cut off his head?”

Xia Houdan: “…”

Xia Houdan: “Thank you, Uncle. But Prince Duan’s faction is deeply rooted, and as powerful as Uncle Bei is, it’s difficult to fight against thousands.”

Bei Zhou fell into contemplation, as if seriously evaluating the possibility of one against ten thousand.

Xia Houdan: “Even if we could uproot them completely, the Empress Dowager’s family would become too powerful next, and the next step would be to eliminate me. This killing back and forth treats the symptoms but not the root cause.”

Bei Zhou: “Then how do we treat the root cause?”

Xia Houdan didn’t answer.

Yu Wanyin flipped through the book and suddenly asked: “Why would Yan State send assassins? They should know that killing one or two of our nobles also only treats the symptoms, not the root cause, right?”

Bei Zhou: “They say Yan’s land is arid and barren, with years of famine, making life unbearable. The worse they have it, the more they hate us, almost to the point of madness. Also, there are power struggles within Yan State. Sending a few assassins is probably their way of gaining prestige.”

Yu Wanyin was suddenly enlightened: “Uncle Bei, since they’re in an arid region, what crops do they grow?”

Xia Houdan: “?”

Xia Houdan: “!”

Both of them stared intently at Bei Zhou.

Bei Zhou scratched his head: “I think it’s called… Yan millet? It’s not a good thing, coarse and unpalatable. We in the Xia State hardly grow it, and when we do, it’s used to feed pigs.”

Yu Wanyin, suppressing her excitement, said: “I see. Uncle Bei, you’ve worked hard tonight. Go rest quickly.”

As soon as Bei Zhou left, she jumped up on the spot: “We’ve found a drought-resistant crop! Although it tastes bad, if every family grows a little, how could they worry about surviving drought years? Then naturally no one would rebel, Prince Duan wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the situation, and everyone would be happy!”

Xia Houdan pondered: “That’s the principle, but ordinary people only have so much land. How do you persuade them to grow pig food?”

Yu Wanyin: “Ah, what if the court purchases it at a high price? This way, they would be encouraged to grow it, the treasury would have grain reserves, the common people would get money, and when drought years come, the granaries could be opened for relief.”

Xia Houdan shook his head: “I’ve checked, the treasury really is empty. This country has a multitude of taxes and levies, but from the court to the local areas, there are too many corrupt officials. Surrounding small countries are watching like tigers eyeing their prey, and military expenditures can’t be cut either… In short, the treasury has no money.”

“Print money on a large scale?”

“Wouldn’t that cause inflation?”

Yu Wanyin: “Isn’t that good?”

Xia Houdan: “That’s not good, is it?”

Yu Wanyin was puzzled: “What’s with that tone? Aren’t you a CEO?”

Xia Houdan: “…”

Xia Houdan seemed even more puzzled than her: “Even as a CEO, I haven’t studied economic history? This isn’t a market economy; printing money and cutting taxes would have far-reaching consequences…”

Yu Wanyin’s head hurt listening to this: “Fine, fine, fine, neither of us understands, so we can only get help from those who do.”

She pointed to a line in Xu Yao’s book that read “Recruit failed examination talents.”

“I remember that among the candidates Prince Duan recruited, many later became capable officials. We don’t need to wait for the imperial examination; let’s poach them before he does.”

Xia Houdan asked suspiciously: “With your speed-reading, can you remember the specific names of the candidates?”

Yu Wanyin: “…”

Yu Wanyin said dejectedly: “I’ll try.”

The next morning, the Empress Dowager toyed with her crimson nails, listening to the maid’s routine report.

Maid: “His Highness spent last night again at Consort Yu’s quarters.”

The Empress Dowager raised an eyebrow slightly. For so many years, the Emperor had never favored one consort so exclusively. And as far as she knew, the Emperor was not only unenthusiastic about intimate relations but could almost be said to be averse to them.

Finding it strange, the Empress Dowager inquired: “Did they share a bed?”

Maid: “The defenses outside the Noble Consort’s chambers are strict, making it difficult to investigate. Moreover, His Highness habitually dismisses palace attendants to be alone with Noble Consort Yu.”

The Empress Dowager’s sense of crisis intensified: “It seems this contraceptive potion must be delivered.”

The maid hurriedly said: “I’ll see to it.”

The Empress Dowager continued: “This Yu Wanyin completely disregards me; it’s time to teach her a lesson. Her father… holds the position of Junior Minister, doesn’t he?”