The thank-you gift for Xiao Xun was selected by Chu Tang. After selecting the gift, she went to see Chu Lan and Madam Jiang.

Chu Lan claimed illness from shock and refused to see anyone. Chu Tang didn’t bother to say much to her father’s side, and only met with Madam Jiang to tell her not to worry.

“The foolish Lingling slipped and fell in, and the Crown Prince, being kind-hearted, couldn’t bear to let an innocent person suffer, so he rescued her.”

“I took the opportunity to give Lingling to the Crown Prince, which shows our gratitude and dignity, and the Crown Prince graciously accepted as a gentleman would.”

“Besides, Lingling is aware of the situation. Giving her to the Crown Prince is both our way of making amends and ensuring the Crown Prince’s peace of mind.”

Madam Jiang had no patience to listen to these matters and simply pulled Chu Tang to ask, “Will the Crown Prince hold a grudge against us? Blame us? Will he harm us?”

Before hearing what Chu Zhao had said, Chu Tang would have shared this concern, but now—

She roughly understood that the Crown Prince of Zhongshan was intentionally approaching their Chu family—or more directly, Chu Li.

And Chu Li had no intention of associating with the Crown Prince of Zhongshan.

So, having his desire unfulfilled would naturally breed resentment.

However, if Chu Zhao, or her uncle, dared to act this way, they must have had enough confidence not to fear the consequences.

Regardless, this matter had nothing to do with Chu Lan and his wife. In Xiao Xun’s eyes, they were merely being used.

“Mother,” Chu Tang pressed Madam Jiang back into her seat, “rest assured, nothing will happen. I have already selected substantial gifts.”

She then brought out the gift list to show Madam Jiang.

The list was indeed valuable. Madam Jiang didn’t feel the slightest heartache over the expense, but rather felt completely at ease.

“Besides, now that Lingling is with the Crown Prince, if the Crown Prince has any requests for our family, it will be more convenient,” Chu Tang said with a smile.

Madam Jiang nodded repeatedly, feeling even more reassured. “That’s exactly right. Lingling was trained by you, and all the maids around you are clever and capable.”

What kind of creature had she trained? Chu Tang mentally rolled her eyes. Upon hearing she could become the Crown Prince’s maid, that cheap servant no longer regarded her as her mistress and ran off without even looking back.

She didn’t bother to say more; these few words of reassurance to her parents were enough. She took her leave and returned to her courtyard. By then, it was time to light the lamps.

The lamps in the room were lit, but it still seemed somewhat dim.

Chu Tang frowned. “Lingling, why isn’t the lamp by the mirror lit?”

A small maid hurriedly went to light it. “It’s this servant’s fault.”

Chu Tang came to her senses, remembering that Lingling was gone.

Looking around the room, although Lingling was absent, there suddenly seemed to be many more maids, all crowding around her.

“All the personal matters for the young miss were handled by Sister Lingling. We’re clumsy, and she usually didn’t let us come near,” the small maid said with her head lowered.

Chu Tang was amused again. This little maid was reporting against Lingling, knowing the young miss now disliked Lingling, and sharing in her resentment.

“All right, if you don’t know how, just learn gradually.” She said lazily, pointing at the small maid and trying to recall her name. “Dingdong, from now on, you’ll replace Lingling.”

The small maid Dingdong was overjoyed, while the other maids were regretful and jealous that this little girl had beaten them to it.

“Thank you, young miss,” Dingdong knelt down and repeatedly kowtowed. “I will do a good job.”

Chu Tang smiled mockingly. “You don’t need to do too well, lest I find it hard to part with you when you eventually leave.”

Dingdong immediately raised her head. “This servant will never leave the young miss. In life, I am a young miss’s person. If someone else were to save me, I would immediately die and be reborn to repay their kindness.”

Chu Tang was amused. Her mother was right; the maids around her were indeed clever and capable, but they also lacked loyalty.

Lingling was like that, and now this little maid was the same. Despite her professed devotion, when a good opportunity came, she would run no slower than Lingling.

But it didn’t matter. Maids were meant to be used, not treated like real sisters. Even real sisters had their calculations.

It was just a matter of who could outmaneuver whom.

This time, she had been outmaneuvered.

But strangely, she didn’t feel angry. Instead, she had a peculiar feeling.

Chu Zhao didn’t want to marry the Crown Prince of Zhongshan?

Or perhaps her uncle’s purpose in sending Chu Zhao back wasn’t to arrange a secure marriage for his daughter, but had other plans?

Looking at all that Chu Zhao had done—being discourteous to Liang Siqing, unafraid of the Third Prince, and now daring to scheme against the Crown Prince of Zhongshan.

Setting aside what her uncle ultimately intended to do, just considering Chu Zhao, a girl, it seemed there were things a girl could do besides scheming for marriage.

Chu Tang sat at her desk, looking at the lamp, her eyes sparkling.

……

……

“How could this happen?”

In the lamplight of the post station room, the scholar Ning Kun wore a shocked expression as he looked at the maid standing outside.

To avoid attracting attention, he rarely appeared in public with the Crown Prince.

There was no need for him to personally go to Chu Garden this time. Not only were Chu Lan and his wife foolish, but the Crown Prince had always been cautious and meticulous, never making mistakes.

Today, he had specifically visited several households, drinking and laughing with carefree enjoyment. It was only in the evening when he returned that he first saw Tie Ying and asked if the matter had been taken care of.

Tie Ying glanced in a particular direction: “It’s done. The person has been brought back.”

He was stunned at the time. What did it mean that the person had been brought back?

“Master Ning, you gave such good advice, insisting that the Crown Prince save someone,” Tie Ying sneered. “The Crown Prince saved someone, so of course he had to bring the person back.”

He had long found this scholar disagreeable, always giving the Crown Prince strange ideas.

With all this nonsense, the stupid guard couldn’t even speak clearly. Ning Kun had long found him disagreeable, too. There were plenty of skilled guards; why did the Crown Prince need to keep this boy by his side?

Following Tie Ying’s indication, he indeed saw a woman under the corridor, head lowered, appearing timid and delicate.

It couldn’t be! Were Chu Lan and his wife so shameless? They pushed the rescued person over just like that?

He hadn’t met Chu Zhao before, so he hurriedly went to ask Xiao Xun, only to discover he had been tricked by Tie Ying.

That damned boy! But there was no time to deal with him now. Ning Kun urgently asked what had happened, and Xiao Xun explained the course of events.

“The young lady falling into the water became a maid falling into the water, so rescuing the young lady became rescuing a maid.”

If he had rescued the young lady, they couldn’t possibly give her to him immediately, but maids and servants were possessions. It was a fine gesture for the master to gift them, and it was reasonable for him to accept.

Why did this happen?

Xiao Xun sat in the lamplight and said with a smile, “Of course, it’s because I was outmaneuvered.”

Ning Kun came to his senses. Of course, he knew that too, but—

“Who outmaneuvered you?” he asked. “Chu Lan and his wife?”

Impossible!

“Their daughter? I’ve heard people in the capital say that Chu Lan’s sons are all stupid and incompetent, but his daughter is clever and smooth.”

But those were just the petty tactics of a young girl.

Xiao Xun waved him off. “Why would they scheme against me? I wasn’t planning to scheme against them. Schemes are mutual, so naturally, whoever I schemed against is who schemed against me.”

Ning Kun understood: “Chu Zhao?”

The King of Zhongshan had said this girl was quite similar to Chu Li, but he was referring to her unyielding character. As for intelligence—

Even if she had intelligence, the most crucial factor in this matter wasn’t intelligence, but information.

The Crown Prince’s action relied on the fact that the entire Chu Lan family disliked Chu Zhao and would certainly keep her in the dark.

“How did she know?”

Moreover, even Chu Lan and his wife didn’t know what the Crown Prince intended to do!

“Don’t bother thinking about it. These are trivial matters,” Xiao Xun said. “She didn’t hide anything either. From the beginning, she openly expressed her dislike for me, and this time too—”

He pointed at the clothes he was wearing.

“See, she told me that she knew everything.”

She knew what he intended to do, knew he would jump into the water, so she even prepared a change of clothes for him.

Looking at himself in the mirror, these clothes fit him perfectly, and the fabric and colors were all to his liking. A strange thought occurred to him: this girl seemed to know him very well—

As the thought flashed by, he couldn’t help but smile.

Ning Kun shook his head. “Crown Prince, how can you still smile?”

That girl had broken through their scheme. The next steps wouldn’t be easy.

“Of course I can smile. It’s so interesting,” Xiao Xun said, looking at himself in the mirror, his smile deep with dimples showing. “It turns out that girls can do more than just express their emotions to me; they can also scheme against me.”