In his fury, Li Chong couldn’t stand Han Qian’s slow dawdling. He pushed from behind, practically stuffing Han Qian into the carriage.

The curtains on both sides of the carriage compartment were lowered, making it pitch black inside. Pushed violently by Li Chong from behind, Han Qian’s foot caught on the horizontal wooden bar at the carriage entrance. He stumbled into the carriage and, in his haste, pressed both hands against a soft object to avoid falling.

Hearing a familiar muffled grunt from the person in his arms, and sensing Yao Xishui’s murderous intent surging even in the darkness, Han Qian absolutely wouldn’t have minded taking a few more squeezes of that elastic and alluring delicate body—if he weren’t worried that truly enraging Yao Xishui might actually result in her stabbing him.

“Miss Yao has been waiting here all afternoon?” Han Qian sat next to Yao Xishui. Even if he couldn’t directly reach out to take liberties, being pressed against her warm, soft, bouncy body felt quite wonderful.

“…” A sharp hard object pressed over. Han Qian obediently shifted aside.

When Li Chong got into the carriage, he lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, allowing the light from lanterns hanging along the street to penetrate inside so the carriage wouldn’t be pitch black.

Both Li Chong and Yao Xishui remained silent, but Han Qian could feel the surging anger and murderous intent in their chests. Yao Xishui tucked a short blade into her sleeve, while Li Chong directly laid a horse-cleaving saber across his knees.

Damn, do they think I’m easily intimidated?

Han Qian wasn’t afraid of this pair of illicit lovers beating him up on the main street. He also stared at Li Chong with wide eyes. Seeing Li Chong’s breathing grow heavy with rage, he secretly pondered how to convince others to believe that his instigation of the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu today wasn’t reckless action.

This would not only determine whether he could further participate in Wanhong Tower’s more confidential conspiracies and thereby have the opportunity to seize the initiative, but also whether he could continue to gain Yang Yuanpu’s trust going forward.

He believed that Yang Yuanpu was, after all, still a youth not yet fourteen years old. He should be feeling frightened now. If Imperial Consort Madam Wang and her side all despised him for acting rashly and nearly causing a catastrophe, it would be hard to believe Yang Yuanpu would continue to trust him in the future.

The carriage rumbled across the long street, the “clop-clop” of horse hooves breaking the night’s tranquility. Han Qian glimpsed through the window corner that more than ten mounted knights flanked the carriage on one side. He thought to himself that Xinchang Marquis Manor’s grand style truly couldn’t be compared to his Han family.

An incense stick’s time passed. Han Qian glimpsed through the window corner that the carriage turned directly into Wanhong Tower, drove through an internal side lane to the foot of a small mountain lush with green trees. Flanked front and back by Yao Xishui and Li Chong, climbing the stone steps, he discovered that among several towering ancient trees there was actually a three-story small wooden building.

Ascending the wooden building, the entire third floor was a great hall. Climbing the stairs and looking out the window by the stairway opening, through dense branches and leaves, the myriad lights of the left and right streets and alleys lay entirely below.

A screen was placed across the hall. Candles burned high, illuminating the great hall as bright as day and faintly projecting the shadows of two figures sitting behind the screen onto the silk embroidered screen.

From the shadows on the screen, Han Qian could make out a woman with a flying phoenix hairpin inserted in her hair bun and a middle-aged man with a long beard under his chin wearing an expanded-winged futou on his head.

A futou was a type of black gauze soft scarf wrapped around the head. The two strips tied at the back of the futou were also called futou wings.

When Emperor Tianyou established the Chu Kingdom, all systems followed the previous dynasty. Common people and low-ranking officials wore futou with wings that drooped limply down. Only officials with official rank were permitted to use materials like metal or wood to support the futou wings to spread out on both sides—this was called an expanded-winged futou.

The long-bearded man behind the screen wore an expanded-winged futou. Besides Xinchang Marquis personally coming to Wanhong Tower to investigate his reckless act, Han Qian couldn’t think of any other court official who would be waiting for him at Wanhong Tower at this time.

“Han Qian pays respects to Madam and the Marquis!” Regardless of Li Chong grinding his teeth beside him, Han Qian bowed with clasped hands toward the screen.

“Stop being clever and showing off there. Do you think this can absolve you of today’s reckless crime?” Li Chong truly couldn’t imagine what terrifying catastrophic consequences would result if today’s case had been handed over to Anning Palace and officials of the Crown Prince’s faction to investigate. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to strike Han Qian across the face with both blade and scabbard.

“Madam, today we missed disaster by a hair’s breadth. This person Han Qian absolutely cannot remain at Linjiang Marquis Manor any longer!”

Li Chong spoke through clenched back teeth toward the screen, his hand gripping his sword with bulging veins, glaring menacingly at Han Qian as if just waiting for Han Qian to make any rash move so he could draw his blade and strike.

Li Chong’s words carried threats, but Han Qian, who had already prepared his arguments en route, didn’t want to pay him any attention.

Han Qian guessed that Xinchang Marquis was also sitting behind the screen. With such a major incident occurring today, it was quite normal for Xinchang Marquis Li Pu to be unable to sit still. But seeing Li Chong report to the woman wearing the dangling phoenix hairpin over there, he secretly wondered—could Wanhong Tower actually be presided over by this woman?

Yao Xishui stood to the side, her stunningly beautiful face also covered in frost.

Originally, she had been the one to strongly advocate using Han Qian as a chess piece, but she never imagined that Han Qian would actually dare to instigate the Third Prince to employ such a dangerous stratagem today. She had no objection to Li Chong’s suggestion, but the problem was—what excuse could they use to prevent Han Qian from showing his face at Linjiang Marquis Manor anymore?

Killing Han Qian was obviously unrealistic.

The old servants and household soldiers of Han Manor, as well as Feng Yi, Kong Xirong and others had all seen Han Qian being pulled onto the carriage by Li Chong. And even if Han Qian himself agreed not to go to Linjiang Marquis Manor, how could they persuade Han Daoxun to agree and convince the palace to accept it without pursuing the matter?

“If Miss Yao wants to eliminate future troubles completely, it would be best to dispatch a band of bandits to exterminate my entire household after I return home. Best to also eliminate Qiuhu Mountain, then burn everything clean with a great fire to prevent me from leaving any words or phrases that might implicate Wanhong Tower, Xinchang Marquis, and Imperial Consort…” Han Qian, changing from his earlier docility in the carriage, stared at Yao Xishui with piercing eyes, speaking with no small amount of mockery.

Yao Xishui raised her eyebrows slightly. It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered this option, but doing so would cause too much disturbance. Once the consequences spiraled out of control, the results would be equally unimaginable, which was why she hadn’t thought to propose it.

Han Qian knew his momentum must become forceful and he couldn’t let others see him looking guilty. He continued pressing Yao Xishui aggressively: “Or does Miss Yao want me to fall from horseback like Zhou Kun, becoming half-paralyzed, so all problems would be easily resolved?”

“That’s still better than you losing your life or your entire family being silenced!” Li Chong said sinisterly.

“Fool!” Han Qian cursed.

“Who are you cursing?” Li Chong held the blade before him, drawing out a section that flashed with cold light, his murderous intent fully exposed as he stared at Han Qian and asked.

“I’m cursing whoever is a fool,” Han Qian said, completely unafraid of Li Chong’s threat, seeming quite pleased to see Li Chong so angry that the veins on his forehead bulged.

Just now in the carriage, he had still feared enraging Li Chong and Yao Xishui, but now he needed to borrow their anger to elevate his own momentum.

Seeing two high-backed chairs in the corner, Han Qian rolled his wide sleeves to his elbows, moved a chair before the screen to sit down, and cupped his hands toward the screen saying: “Marquis, Madam, your schemes are great, but if you allow this fool Li Chong to continue wasting time at Linjiang Marquis Manor, that will truly spell disaster and complete failure!”

“Nonsense!” Li Chong raised his sword, about to strike with both blade and scabbard.

Li Chong had thought that bringing Han Qian to Wanhong Tower would frighten him into utter panic. Even if they couldn’t compel him to injure himself and withdraw from the Third Prince’s side, they could at least make him behave properly in the future. But he never expected that upon entering Wanhong Tower, Han Qian’s arrogance would surge, repeatedly calling him a fool. This truly made him so angry his heart and lungs nearly exploded.

“Chong’er, be patient and let him finish speaking. Then it won’t be too late to sew his mouth shut or cut out his tongue!” The man behind the screen finally spoke out to stop Li Chong, indirectly confirming his identity.

“His Majesty is already sixty-four years old. If His Majesty were to suddenly fall ill and die tomorrow, I ask the Marquis and Madam one question—how would Xinchang Marquis Manor and Wanhong Tower manage?” Han Qian asked. “Anning Palace are not benevolent people. They’ve harbored deep hatred toward Imperial Consort these years. Once His Majesty passes away, how long will Anning Palace endure before moving against Imperial Consort, His Highness, and Xinchang Marquis Manor to eliminate the roots?”

If the original historical trajectory remained unchanged, Emperor Tianyou would pass away within five years. Therefore, Han Qian asked these questions with full confidence, his tone even more aggressive.

“The Emperor is still in robust health. Your alarmist talk—can it reduce your responsibility for today’s rashness?” Yao Xishui stood to the side, her delicate eyebrows flying upward as she spoke, not minding letting Han Qian see the short blade hidden in her sleeve flashing with cold light.

“To this day you still regard me as an unlearned reckless person. It seems you’re just another fool,” Han Qian laughed derisively. Seeing Yao Xishui’s delicate eyebrows about to rise again, he challenged: “I ask you—that fool Li Chong has been guarding against me at every turn, slandering me in every way before His Highness. But if I truly am as unlearned and recklessly unstrategic as Miss Yao imagines, how did I persuade His Highness to act according to my stratagem today?”

Han Qian didn’t want to risk being silenced, so naturally he would never admit that afterward he too had broken out in a cold sweat.

Yao Xishui never expected Han Qian’s mouth to be so eloquent that she couldn’t refute him. She looked at Li Chong laughing coldly at this time, presumably he also had no words to block Han Qian’s foul mouth.

“When Miss Yao selected me as a target, you should have thoroughly investigated my situation. You should also know that in my youth in Chuzhou I had the reputation of a child prodigy—besides reciting poetry and books, I could also draw strong bows. You should also know that after my mother died, my father found me a burden at his side and sent me back to Xuanzhou in care of others. But what Miss Yao doesn’t know is that when I just arrived in Xuanzhou, I suffered continuous vomiting and diarrhea for days, nearly losing my life. Others all said I couldn’t adapt to the climate. What Miss Yao knows even less is that before Miss Yao, there were already people who hoped I would suddenly fall ill and die.”

Han Qian raised his head to look at the ceiling, as if sinking into memories of the past.

“Miss Yao, think about it—if I weren’t greedy for women and pleasure, if I weren’t dissolute and unrestrained, could I have survived well until now?”

Any lie must be nine parts truth mixed with one part falsehood to deceive people’s hearts.

Having said this, Han Qian turned his head again, staring at Yao Xishui’s eyes with supreme confidence. He could see the hesitation in Yao Xishui’s eyes—this was exactly the effect he needed. Slowing his speech but making each word more forceful and resonant, he asked: “Does Miss Yao still think I’m an unlearned reckless brute?”

“Even if I misjudged you before, don’t you know that acting rashly today, one wrong move would have meant complete failure?” Just based on Han Qian’s composure and these arguments, no matter how much Yao Xishui wanted to argue, she could only admit before Xinchang Marquis and Madam that she had previously misjudged Han Qian. But this didn’t mean Han Qian’s unauthorized action today was worthy of forgiveness.