The commotion from Yaoguang Pavilion quickly spread throughout the entire marquis manor.

Everyone watched as guards and servant women stormed in with murderous intent, only to emerge barely conscious. Even Nanny Chai, who had served the Madam for more than a decade, was carried directly out of the estate. In an instant, nearly everyone outside Yaoguang Pavilion feared for their safety.

This was especially true for those who served in Huifeng Courtyard. From the lowest maids to the senior housekeepers, they all kept their heads down and dared not speak above a whisper. They feared saying something wrong that might be overheard by the Imperial Guards stationed at the courtyard entrance and reported to the Princess, resulting in them being the next ones strapped to the punishment bench.

Madam Zhong remained unconscious from noon until late into the night. When she finally awoke, she found herself surrounded by strange faces attending to her, as if she were under house arrest. Overcome with despair, she fainted again.

The eldest son was still ill, and now the Madam had collapsed as well… Everyone knew how much oil and water the Madam had skimmed from Yaoguang Pavilion over the years, yet the Princess had never bothered to look into it, let alone confront her directly. Who could have imagined that once the Princess took decisive action, she would crush the Marquis’s wife as easily as stepping on an ant!

The entire household remained in a state of anxiety for three days. On the afternoon of the third day, a carriage bearing the Yong’en Marquis’s emblem arrived at the capital city of Chang’an through the wind and frost, stopping outside the side gate of the marquis’s manor.

A dressed woman, weary from travel, descended from the carriage and hurriedly entered Yaoguang Pavilion.

Inside Yaoguang Pavilion, Jiang Zhiyi reclined on a daybed, cradling her raccoon pet, while Gu Yu poured a cup of hot tea for the woman before them.

“When the Marquis received your letter, he was anxious to return immediately, but the mission assigned by His Majesty was urgent, and the schedule could not be delayed. So the Marquis instructed me to return to the manor first with this letter and seal…” The woman presented a letter and a sandalwood box as she spoke.

Jiang Zhiyi took the letter from Gu Yu’s hands and opened it.

Her uncle had two concubines. The woman before her, Lady Xu, was of unremarkable background and plain appearance, but she shared the Marquis’s interests in carpentry and architecture. Whenever he traveled for business, the Marquis would bring Lady Xu along.

“The Marquis said that over the years, the Madam has indeed approached him multiple times, both openly and in private, about arranging your marriage to—” Lady Xu omitted the name Jiang Zhiyi didn’t want to hear, “The Marquis knows you could never approve of this match and has opposed it every time. Before the Marquis left on his long journey, the Madam brought it up once more, and in his impatience, he said something like, ‘A toad wanting to eat swan meat—wishful thinking!’ He never expected this would provoke the Madam to resort to such underhanded means, nearly harming you…”

“The Marquis truly regrets not handling this matter properly and says he will make it right for you this time.”

Jiang Zhiyi looked up from the letter: “Then let’s go see how my aunt is doing.”

Changing into more practical attire, Jiang Zhiyi boarded a sedan chair and headed toward Huifeng Courtyard with Lady Xu.

In Huifeng Courtyard, the servants moved about like mice, sweeping the ground with utmost care. When they saw the sedan chair arrive, they collectively held their breath and lowered their heads, cautiously glancing toward the bedroom.

Just as Jiang Zhiyi followed their gaze, she heard a sharp “crack” of a porcelain bowl shattering from inside the room.

Immediately after, a woman’s voice rose in consolation: “Madam, please calm yourself. You must take your medicine…”

The speaker was another of the Yong’en Marquis’s concubines.

Years ago, after Madam Zhong gave birth to a sickly son and struggled to conceive again, she grew threatened seeing Lady Xu bear two sons and win her husband’s favor. In response, she had elevated one of her maidservants to be her husband’s concubine.

However, contrary to Madam Zhong’s wishes, this former maidservant gave birth to daughters in both pregnancies.

Madam Zhong: “Is ‘calm yourself’ all you can say? Useless thing!”

A cry of pain followed, suggesting the former maidservant had been pushed to the ground.

“If your womb hadn’t been so incompetent back then, would I have fallen to being manipulated by a parentless little girl?!”

Jiang Zhiyi paused. Lady Xu stopped behind her, shaking her head with a silent sigh.

Inside, Madam Zhong continued muttering curses, then took a deep breath: “All these years, I’ve been deceived by that girl. She put on an act of purity and detachment, while secretly plotting to humiliate me! If she hadn’t gone to the palace to bring back reinforcements that day, deliberately setting me up…”

“If this Princess wanted to humiliate someone, would she need to resort to schemes?”

Madam Zhong jolted and trembled, abruptly raising her eyes and cautiously shifting toward the inner side of the bed. Halfway through this movement, she seemed to remember her dignity and straightened her back.

“Someone too filthy to look at doesn’t deserve this Princess’s efforts.” Jiang Zhiyi crossed the threshold, giving Madam Zhong a cold sideways glance. “But since my aunt has the energy to curse people, I assume she also has the strength to move out of Huifeng Courtyard?”

Madam Zhong was stunned, as if she had to replay the words in her mind several times to understand them. Then she stared in disbelief: “…I am the Madam of this marquis manor, your elder—how dare you!”

Jiang Zhiyi tilted her chin upward slightly.

Lady Xu stepped forward, nodding respectfully to both Jiang Zhiyi and Madam Zhong: “The Marquis has ordered that since Madam has engaged in witchcraft, bringing shame to the family, all household affairs shall be temporarily managed by me starting today. I will also look after the eldest son. Madam is to move to the small Buddhist shrine in the north to reflect on her actions. Without permission, Madam may not step outside the shrine.”

“…This is outrageous! Every one of you—all of you have gone mad!” Madam Zhong pointed a trembling finger at Lady Xu. “You all conspired against me. Once I move out of Huifeng Courtyard, you can finally become the mistress of this marquis manor—something you’ve wanted for years, isn’t that right?!”

“I have never had such thoughts,” Lady Xu lowered her head and presented the letter. “My words are entirely the Marquis’s intentions, every sentence is true.”

With a tearing sound, Madam Zhong ripped the letter to pieces: “You accuse me of witchcraft—where is your evidence? Show me the evidence! Without evidence, even if you’ve deceived the Marquis, I can still face you in court!”

“The evidence—” Lady Xu glanced at Jiang Zhiyi.

“Don’t tell me your evidence is just a few strands of hair?” Madam Zhong stared at Jiang Zhiyi with a cold smile. “What can a few strands of hair prove? How do I know you didn’t just find them somewhere to frame me?”

Jiang Zhiyi sighed softly: “Does my aunt truly want to see the evidence?”

Hearing Jiang Zhiyi’s sigh, Madam Zhong smiled with certainty and straightened her clothes: “Of course.”

Jiang Zhiyi glanced behind her. Gu Yu stepped forward with a confession document.

“Practicing witchcraft brings shame to the family, but hiring thugs to pose as mountain bandits and cause trouble right under the Emperor’s nose—that brings shame to the imperial family. It seems my aunt finds my uncle’s punishment too lenient.”

“You—how did you know—”

She had seen her son’s condition continuously deteriorate and thought she might capture this girl as a medicinal sacrifice. She had seized the opportunity when the girl went out, thinking that even if she failed, it would just be seen as an accident…

Madam Zhong hesitantly took the official document, held her breath as she unfolded it, and her face gradually turned pale as her hands trembled.

Jiang Zhiyi: “These crimes were personally investigated by Commander Shen. The witnesses are currently detained in the storehouse of my courtyard. Does my aunt still wish to face me in court?”

Madam Zhong’s held breath escaped her, and she fell back onto the bed, limp.

At dusk, Jiang Zhiyi returned to Yaoguang Pavilion from Huifeng Courtyard and silently curled up in a round chair, allowing Gu Yu to massage her shoulders and back to ease her tension.

“After waiting three days, we finally received the Marquis’s approval. This matter is finally resolved!” Gu Yu sighed with relief, but noticed Jiang Zhiyi’s exhausted expression, with a hint of annoyance in her eyes, still appeared unhappy.

A soft sigh echoed in the room.

“Yes, waited three days, a full three days…” Jiang Zhiyi rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the twilight outside the window as if waiting for someone. “Did he truly not send me even a single message?”

Having known for some time that the Princess had a lover, Gu Yu still felt momentarily stunned each time she witnessed how the Princess could be so fierce and unstoppable in public, yet so different in private.

This strange contrast was like watching a stage performance of Mu Guiying taking command, then blinking and suddenly finding the actors performing “Romance of the West Chamber” instead.

“This servant has asked at the gate every day, but Commander Shen truly hasn’t sent anyone…” Gu Yu answered softly, her thoughts drifting back to three days ago.

That evening, following the Princess’s orders, she had gone to Yuance Camp to deliver the good news. She had relayed the Princess’s words to Commander Shen verbatim, with feeling and in detail, only to see the Commander remain silent after listening, his face just a shade paler than the night itself.

Then she had been politely but firmly “invited” to leave.

The Princess had been quite downcast upon hearing her report that day, but had chosen to first stabilize the household while waiting for news from the Marquis.

And so they had waited until today.

“In the past, my aunt constantly interfered with us, preventing us from meeting, destroying our tokens of affection…” Jiang Zhiyi frowned slightly with a soft click of her tongue. “Now that I’ve dealt with my aunt thoroughly and there’s no one left to cause us trouble, why isn’t he happy?”

“Now that you mention it…” Gu Yu had a sudden flash of insight. “I think I understand…”

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhiyi responded casually through her nose.

Gu Yu pondered for a moment, organizing her thoughts: “According to what you’ve said, when Commander Shen burst into the interrogation room that day, furious on your behalf, he had already made up his mind to stand up for you, correct?”

“Of course.”

“But before he could solve the case, you had already investigated everything and resolved the matter yourself. What was left for him to do?”

The room fell silent. Jiang Zhiyi blinked and sat up.

“Just as a woman beautifies herself for the one she loves, a man also wants to show his bravery and might before the person he admires. When you sent me to deliver the good news that day, wasn’t it like pouring cold water over Commander Shen’s head, hurting his pride and making him feel useless, unworthy of the Princess?”

“So you’re saying—” Jiang Zhiyi’s dark pupils shifted slightly as she nodded slowly, “I should help him regain his pride.”

Two incense sticks’ time later, outside the east side gate of Shen Manor in Shengye District.

Gu Yu carefully helped Jiang Zhiyi down from the carriage and whispered as she looked at the unfamiliar manor: “Princess, is this appropriate?”

“Didn’t you say I needed to show some vulnerability and let him help me?” Jiang Zhiyi gave her a sidelong glance, taking the bundle Xiaoman handed her and slinging it over her shoulder. “How do I look? Like someone who’s been driven out of their home by my aunt?”

When others carried such bundles, they looked like refugees, but when their Princess carried one, she looked like she was showcasing a new fashion trend that would soon sweep through Chang’an.

Gu Yu and Xiaoman opened their mouths hesitantly.

“Never mind,” Jiang Zhiyi waved her hand dismissively and walked toward the gate on her own. “Whether it looks convincing or not, it’s the thought that counts. You two hurry back now, don’t ruin my grand plan by lingering here.”

Just beyond the gate, inside Shen Manor, a figure dressed in night-traveling clothes paused, his well-defined fingers hovering over the door bolt.

“…But Princess, shouldn’t we use the main entrance?”

“Are we in the kind of relationship where we can use the main entrance?”

Yuance raised an eyebrow and withdrew his hand from the door.

Outside, after giving Jiang Zhiyi a few more instructions with backward glances, Gu Yu and Xiaoman reluctantly boarded the carriage and departed.

Jiang Zhiyi climbed the steps in the faint light of overhead lanterns and lifted the door knocker.

Three short knocks, three long knocks, then three short knocks again.

No response.

Not back from the military camp yet?

Jiang Zhiyi crouched down and peered through the crack in the door, squinting with one eye.

Yuance silently stepped aside.

After looking for a while and seeing no light, Jiang Zhiyi straightened up, stood waiting for a moment, then returned to the bottom of the steps and began pacing with her head down.

After gathering her emotions for a moment, she stood before the door and looked up with a smile: “Brother Astrategy, you’re finally here!”

Yuance hesitantly looked down at himself, then at the solid door before him.

“?”

Outside, for some reason, there was no continuation. The slow pacing sound resumed, then the person outside cleared her throat and tried again, this time with a crying tone: “Brother Astrategy, you’re finally here…”

Yuance: “…”

Outside, Jiang Zhiyi sighed, touching her dry eyes.

Throughout her life, she had always been straightforward. No one had ever required her to act or please them, and no matter how much she practiced, she couldn’t produce tears. Just getting the words right would have to count as sincerity enough.

Jiang Zhiyi looked up at the sky and recited the lines she had worked out with her maids on the way: “Brother Astrategy, do you know that if you had come any later, you would never see me again.”

“I originally thought that with such a major incident at home, my uncle would surely put justice before family ties, but I never expected that I would be the one eliminated.”

“I now understand that I’m ultimately just an outsider in that family. In this world, you are the only one who truly cares for me.”

“Now that my aunt has thrown me out and I’m alone on the streets with nowhere to go, I can only come to you, Brother Astrategy—” Having smoothly delivered this part, Jiang Zhiyi took a breath, smiled with satisfaction, and continued, “Would you take me in?”

“…”

Yuance folded his arms behind his back with a cold expression and turned to walk away.

At the other end of the east courtyard, Qing Song saw Yuance vanish and reappear in the blink of an eye, and asked in surprise: “Young Master, aren’t you going out anymore?”

Without looking back, Yuance entered his room: “Even if the Jade Emperor himself comes tonight, don’t open the door.”

The sky gradually darkened, night fell completely, and servants began lighting the corridor lanterns one by one with torches.

The servants moved in an orderly procession, bringing steaming food from the kitchen to the warm hall, and after the occupants finished eating, they cleared away the bowls and chopsticks.

The footsteps coming and going finally stopped around the hour of Hai (9-11 PM).

The courtyard fell into silence. As the night deepened and the air grew colder, all the rooms closed their doors and windows and lit charcoal fires for warmth.

In the brightly lit study, Qing Song stood beside the desk, grinding ink, watching as Yuance took a military book from the bookshelf, casually flipping through it and occasionally writing something down.

After a while, there was a knock at the door—a soldier from Yuance Camp had come in the night.

Yuance looked up from his book and accepted the letter presented by the soldier.

As the soldier turned to leave, he paused at the door and looked back: “Commander, when I arrived, I saw Princess Yongying at the gate. She seemed to be quite cold…”

Yuance’s hand paused as he was breaking the wax seal, his eyes flashing with surprise as he glanced at the darkness outside.

“Should we invite her in…?”

“No need to bother.” Yuance turned his attention back to the letter.

The messenger who had brought the news departed as hurriedly as he had arrived, and the room quickly fell silent again.

The water clock dripped steadily, like a lullaby.

After some time, Qing Song’s ink-grinding hand drooped, and he began to nod off like a pecking chicken.

The north wind howled outside, slipping through a small gap in the window into the room, making the candle flame on the desk jump and causing the shadows to dance across the black characters on the white pages.

A snowflake suddenly drifted into the study, gently landing on the desk.

Yuance’s hand loosened on the scroll as he looked up.

Outside, a heavy snowstorm had begun without warning. Dense white flakes danced wildly in the air, swallowing the black night, turning the entire sky into a mottled canvas.

In the courtyard, the wind lanterns swayed, and the exposed flower pots drooped their branches, with the petals on the branches trembling, about to fall apart.

Some servants hastily put on clothes and rushed out, sheltering the most delicate pots under umbrellas as they hurried to bring them inside, calling for others to help move the remaining ones.

Yuance looked away and glanced at the water clock in the room.

The jumbled footsteps throughout the courtyard gradually approached, then receded, and finally returned to silence.

Yuance watched quietly for a moment, then put down his book and walked out.

Qing Song suddenly jerked awake from his doze, looked around in confusion, then quickly grabbed an umbrella and followed: “Young Master, where are you going so late?”

The wind blew fiercely against them, nearly turning the umbrella inside out. Qing Song struggled to hold it steady as he followed Yuance to the back door.

Removing the door bolt, the door revealed nothing but emptiness outside, as expected…

Yuance stopped mid-turn, lowered his eyes, and saw a white mushroom-like figure curled up into a ball by the doorpost, hugging itself and shivering.

Hearing the sound, the “mushroom” suddenly turned its head and looked up, seemingly dazed by the cold. With a frost-white face, it stared at him for a long while, and then, as if unable to believe its eyes, said in a confused voice: “Brother Astrategy?”

Yuance’s gaze slowly swept over her bright red ears and nose tip, and he blinked in disbelief.

“Princess—are you still here?”

Finally hearing the familiar voice, Jiang Zhiyi was too dazed to hear clearly, but felt like crying. Looking up, her eyelashes trembled: “I wanted to see you…”

Yuance’s gaze fixed on the snowflake that fell from her eyelashes.

Jiang Zhiyi’s frozen mind began to work again, and she tremblingly recited her lines: “Brother Astrategy, tonight, my uncle… no, my aunt has driven me out of home…”

Disjointed mumblings mixed with the sound of snow and wind hummed into his ears.

Yuance watched as the snowflake melted into water. Snapping back to reality, he saw the person on the ground hugging her knees and shivering twice: “Brother Astrategy?”

Yuance looked up at the increasingly heavy snow, then glanced down at her: “Stand up when you speak.”

Jiang Zhiyi looked at him with difficulty, moving her hand down to rub her calf: “It’s not that I don’t want to stand, but my legs are numb…”

Yuance looked away and remained silent for a moment, then bent down and grabbed her slender arm, pulling her up in one motion.

Jiang Zhiyi stumbled to her feet, and just as she saw him about to withdraw his hand, she grabbed his wrist: “Brother Astrategy, does this mean you’ll take me in?”

Yuance lowered his eyelids, looking at the hand gripping his wrist.

After a pause, he raised his eyes: “Princess, you are as precious as gold and jade. This humble dwelling has no one capable of properly attending to you.”

“But it can!” Jiang Zhiyi immediately pointed toward Chongren District. “I can send a message to my household and have my two maids come over right away!”

Yuance let out a light snort: “So not only is this subject expected to take in the Princess, but also her two maids?”

“That’s not impossible? They’ll be needed sooner or later anyway…”

“?”

Jiang Zhiyi took a light breath, licking her lips somewhat embarrassedly: “Well… barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will be my dowry maids in the future. You could consider them coming early to adapt—that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“…………”