She leaned back leisurely and smiled: “Yes, indeed saved each other a few times, but also stabbed each other!”

A period of silence.

After a long while, Tie Yan said: “…Because of a misunderstanding?”

Tie Ci laughed once: “Would you like me to show you the wounds?”

“Show them then, who’s afraid of who!” Before Tie Yan could answer, Murong Yi got fired up instead, suddenly yanking his clothes apart and saying: “As if I haven’t been stabbed! Look, the knife wounds are still here!”

Tie Yan hadn’t expected this rogue to tear his clothes at the slightest disagreement. Startled, he quickly backed away.

But Tie Ci’s gaze fell on Murong Yi’s chest.

There was a patch of skin different from the rest, slightly shiny and reddish, with wrinkled edges as if a layer of skin had been peeled away.

Her heart clenched as she remembered Zhao San saying he had once been flayed.

At the time she couldn’t bear to listen, and having heard it, didn’t dare believe it. Later on the battlefield they had a hurried encounter, stabbed each other once, and then she knew nothing more. Thinking back afterward, she always felt it couldn’t be that bad, couldn’t be that cruel.

But seeing it with her own eyes today, her heart also seemed to have a layer instantly peeled away, bloody and slightly suffocating.

So much so that when Murong Yi pulled his clothes down to his ribs, pointing to that knife wound and tearfully complaining to Tie Yan about Shiba’s cruelty, she forgot to retort.

While tearfully complaining, Murong Yi glanced sideways at Tie Ci, very satisfied.

Does it hurt your heart? Good that it hurts.

What he was showing wasn’t just the knife wound, but that medal on his chest.

Too bad there were too many outsiders present. Otherwise this scar should have been shown when holding her close in the deep of night, perhaps earning tearful caresses and kisses from his beloved.

He pointed to the scars on his body, boasting to Tie Yan.

“…This was scraped when I rescued her from the dungeon of Ziyang County’s yamen.”

“…This was burned when I saved her from a great fire.”

“…This was cut by rocks in the Sanbai River at Dongming…”

Outside the door, Dan Shuang couldn’t stand it anymore and muttered: “Shameless!”

Hadn’t the Crown Princess been injured for his sake too? The Crown Princess had single-handedly broken into the Liaodong army to save him, and even took a knife from him first!

This bastard was just taking advantage of the fact that the Crown Princess couldn’t undress to show her scars!

Mu Si blocked her path – not exactly blocked, since she could easily walk around him, but somehow Dan Shuang just couldn’t get around him.

Mu Si nodded, deeply agreeing with the word “bastard,” yet said: “I rather envy his shamelessness.”

Dan Shuang turned her head away from him.

Mu Si looked at her profile, gritting his teeth for a long time before saying: “Is it only shameless people who can win back those they care about?”

Dan Shuang didn’t turn back or answer, but her profile and ears gradually reddened.

Chi Xue silently walked over, seeing their situation, she smiled slightly.

A bit comforted, a bit helpless, and a bit worried.

She looked at Mu Si, then around at the surroundings. Mu Si knew she was looking for Zhao San. After thinking, he said: “Zhao San… has some business in Liaodong and couldn’t come out.”

The Great King refused to return Zhao San, playing deaf and dumb, probably still wanting to use Zhao San as a hostage. The master didn’t say much about it either.

In the current situation, even with a heir apparent established, the rifts between them were actually beyond repair.

Fortunately, Zhao San was now well-fed and cared for, safe and sound.

Chi Xue smiled slightly, saying gently: “As long as he’s fine.”

Mu Si thought for a moment and took it upon himself to say: “He… asked me to give you his regards.”

Chi Xue nodded with a smile and walked away.

Mu Si opened his mouth, thinking this girl was so perceptive and kind-hearted that such words were useless.

Looking back at Murong Yi, who after exhausting all means of gentle persuasion, winning hearts, and flattery, had begun acting like a rogue again, for the first time he cheered for his master in his heart.

You must succeed!

The lifelong happiness of us three brothers depends on you!

…

His Majesty the Emperor encountered someone like Murong Yi for the first time in his life, dazzled by one performance after another. After being forced to listen to the tearful complaints, he nearly felt the same sympathy as Zhu Yi, secretly looking at the Crown Princess with reproachful eyes.

Fortunately, having been emperor for so many years, he still had his wits about him. After listening for a while, he asked pointedly: “Since you risked life and limb for my daughter, why were you injured by her? My daughter is not an ungrateful person. And why did you hurt my daughter?”

Murong Yi poured wine for him, looking troubled: “Uncle, it was all misunderstandings.”

Tie Yan looked at Tie Ci.

Before Tie Ci could speak, Murong Yi had already said: “Shiba, whatever you’re thinking, listen to my thoughts first.”

Tie Ci closed her mouth.

“Whether it’s misunderstandings, obstacles, or status – in the end they’re all external things. You see them as an unbridgeable chasm, I see them as ditches that can be crossed with enough effort. Now I’m working hard. As long as you still have even one part affection and trust for me, don’t speak yet. Let me fulfill the promise I once made. You may have forgotten that promise, but I still remember it.”

He tapped the table with his finger, staring at Tie Ci meaningfully: “Of course, if you no longer have even one part affection for me, if you plan to marry those random cats and dogs, then consider everything I just said unsaid.”

Tie Ci also tapped the table, looking toward the corner: “Speak properly. Even when expressing feelings you’re full of murderous intent, and you have to step on others while you’re at it. What exactly are you trying to do?”

“Pursuing a wife isn’t like hosting guests for dinner and drinks. Being a gentleman won’t let me achieve my heart’s desire. If I don’t break their hearts, if I’m not sitting here calling out ‘Uncle’ today, I guarantee tomorrow I could see the imperial announcement of the Crown Princess’s engagement.” Murong Yi smiled with bared teeth: “I’ve never been a gentleman. I only do what I want to do, and get the person I want. As long as you have feelings for me, nothing else can stop me.”

Though his words were full of murderous intent, his hands moved very civilly as he poured wine for Tie Yan and Zhu Yi again, then smilingly served them food. The two men stared at him in disbelief, feeling this person was deeply contradictory, listening as he continued methodically: “Today’s presumptuous visit is to let the elders know of my existence, and also to respectfully inform all the elders that Tie Ci and I originally had a good connection, traveled together through life and death, and have long planted deep bonds of affection that cannot be separated. Though there are some small difficulties now, they are mostly because Tie Ci is accustomed to shouldering burdens and self-restraint, preferring to sacrifice her own feelings and happiness.”

He stood up, raised his cup, toasted Tie Yan, and drank it all in one gulp.

“The first cup, to Uncle. Please, Uncle, considering that Shiba has shouldered the burden of this vast realm since childhood and suffered all the world’s hardships for it, understand her difficulties and mine. Don’t casually arrange her marriage. Give her a chance, give me time.”

Tie Yan’s face instantly turned pale.

Zhu Yi sighed inwardly.

This one was formidable indeed.

Appearing rebellious and unrestrained, but actually sharp-eyed, hitting the emperor’s most uneasy and guilty feelings with just a few sentences.

With these words spoken, even if there were many obstacles between him and the Crown Princess, the emperor would be too embarrassed to become another obstacle.

With parental commands and matchmaker’s words, few couples facing private romance with too many obstacles could be seen conquering the parents first.

While he was still marveling at this, Murong Yi’s second cup of wine was already offered to him.

“The second cup, to my teacher. Whether Teacher Zhu or Teacher He, both are elders that the Crown Princess and I deeply respect in our hearts. Teacher Zhu personally witnessed our acquaintance and friendship at the academy. If the Crown Princess and I can eventually become husband and wife, it would also be a fine tale for Yueli Academy. This cup thanks Teacher Zhu for caring for Shiba at the academy, and thanks the teachers for their future blessing.”

In this era, a teacher’s command was hardly less important than parents’. Especially since He Zi was currently the leader of the royalist faction.

If He Zi firmly opposed them, Tie Ci would have to consider the views of the civil official class and scholars throughout the realm.

Though Murong Yi felt he was the world’s best, he knew in his heart that with old He and old Zhu’s character, eight or nine out of ten would prefer Rong Pu.

So, he had to speak first.

Zhu Yi was startled, then smiled bitterly after a long while: “I’m merely a disciple of my teacher. How can I speak for my teacher on this matter?”

Murong Yi smiled: “Ten thousand volumes, the Five Parasites Collection.”

Zhu Yi cheerfully drank it all in one gulp.

“I love promising young people like you! Rest assured! I’ll definitely persuade my teacher well!”

Tie Ci: “Hehe.”

Murong Yi raised his wine cup for the third time.

Tie Ci thought he was going to toast her and wondered whether to drink.

If she drank, seeing his flowery performance today made her feel annoyed.

If she didn’t drink… this fellow’s toasts were all the kind that couldn’t be refused.

Before she could decide, Murong Yi’s cup, which seemed about to reach her, curved and returned to his own face.

Tie Ci: …Very annoying.

Under everyone’s puzzled gazes, Murong Yi drained the third cup in one gulp.

Setting down the cup, he said: “The third cup, to myself.”

“To my ability to create possibilities from impossibilities no matter what circumstances I face. This time will surely be no different.”

After drinking, he set down the cup, smiled and bowed, said “please enjoy yourselves,” turned and left.

When leaving, he didn’t forget to take the cat from Tie Ci’s arms again.

Tie Ci’s hand hung suspended in air.

…That’s my cat!

The door closed again, and the three people inside still hadn’t recovered.

After all that singing, acting, and flashy maneuvers, they thought he would make some request next, but he just left like that?

Tie Ci, who had been slightly tense throughout, relaxed, but didn’t know why she was relaxing.

She walked to the door, wanting to confirm whether this fellow had really left.

But before she could open the door, she heard Murong Yi’s voice from downstairs: “Yes, I am indeed Rong Wei, genuine article.”

Then came the young ladies’ low, delighted laughter.

And then…

Tie Ci quietly opened the door and peeked out.

Good heavens, I say good heavens.

This fellow was surrounded by maids from the Miaoci Society young ladies, signing autographs!

Tie Ci: …How can there be such a shameless person in this world!

…

His Majesty the Emperor returned to the palace with a heavy heart.

On the way, he encountered cabinet grand secretaries getting off work. The grand secretaries came forward to pay their respects, with Rong Luchuan walking at the back. After the monarch and ministers casually discussed some court affairs, Rong Luchuan lightly mentioned the purple jade ruyi bestowed by the emperor yesterday being smashed, and apologized to the emperor.

This was a small matter, but because the purple jade ruyi had different symbolic meaning, Tie Yan had originally instinctively wanted to bestow another gift to favor Rong Pu, but suddenly remembering the first cup of wine that man had toasted earlier, he fell silent.

Rong Luchuan had been watching his expression throughout, immediately smiled faintly, said no more, and took leave of the emperor.

Tie Yan nodded with a heavy heart.

Rong Luchuan left the palace gate square with a calm expression, boarded his family’s carriage, where his accompanying advisor offered tea.

During his tea break, the advisor mentioned that the young master had refused the marriage arranged by his grandmother with a minister’s family, spoke of the earlier incident at Zhegui Tower, the fireworks on the Qi family’s roof, and the emperor’s earlier disguised visit to Zhegui Tower.

Rong Luchuan listened with half-closed eyes, thinking of that glaring Qinde treasure seal on the painting of snatching food from a tiger’s mouth he had seen that day.

After a long while, he sighed: “All of Lianzi’s devotion has been wasted…”

“Then what do you think, Grand Secretary…”

“Daughters favor outsiders. Female heirs are like this – ultimately unreliable. If someone like the Crown Princess cannot become part of the Rong family, then the Rong family’s prosperity will be hard to sustain for another hundred years.”

If she were still that little puppet from before, it would be fine. With the Rong family’s power, whether Rong Pu became the imperial son-in-law wouldn’t matter.

But now this one was ambitious. After dealing with the Xiao family, would she still tolerate the Rong family controlling most of the civil official system?

Originally, influencing the emperor to arrange the marriage would have worked, since the emperor had a very good impression of Rong Pu.

But today even the emperor had changed his tune.

What exactly happened at Zhegui Tower? Who exactly was this Rong Wei?

But regardless, the Rong family would need to think more carefully in the future…

The carriage swayed, and Rong Luchuan closed his eyes. The thin bamboo curtains divided the afternoon sunlight, casting his face in ominous shadows.

…

Tie Yan walked toward the inner palace, originally intending to see if Tie Ci had returned, but was intercepted halfway by Noble Consort Jing.

Noble Consort Jing joyfully told him that her family had sent word saying they had encountered a wealthy merchant who took them under his wing in business. They had made a great profit and wanted to come to the capital to visit their daughter and congratulate the Crown Princess on her birthday.

Noble Consort Jing’s maternal family was a small clan from Guishan County in Pingyun Prefecture, Xizhou. She was merely a county magistrate’s daughter who had been selected and sent to the capital because of her beauty. Tie Yan himself was just a puppet emperor, so naturally couldn’t elevate her relatives. Her ability to keep Tie Ci as a daughter was also due to her humble origins. So even though Tie Yan now had some autonomy, he hadn’t planned to elevate his in-laws, creating trouble for himself and the Crown Princess.

After all, given Noble Consort Jing’s character, it was better for these in-laws to have no presence.

Hearing Noble Consort Jing’s excitement, Tie Yan felt slightly guilty. Thinking that the Crown Princess was different now, and having maternal relatives of too low status would be disadvantageous to her, he agreed to Noble Consort Jing’s request.

He casually asked: “What’s the surname of the wealthy merchant who took your family under his wing?”

Noble Consort Jing said happily: “I heard he’s a newly wealthy merchant, surnamed Rong.”

Tie Yan was startled, immediately thinking of Rong Wei who had left such a deep impression on him.

What, had he gotten in good with the Crown Princess’s maternal family ahead of time too?

He was distracted and therefore didn’t hear Noble Consort Jing’s chatter about how the Yun family had originally been the largest merchant family locally, and how fierce the competition had been when this Rong family arrived.

Since Rong Wei had already curried favor with Noble Consort Jing’s family, Tie Yan saw no need to keep the gifts Rong Wei had presented. He immediately ordered the kaleidoscope pai gow, pearl cross, and gold pocket watch brought, but didn’t mention they were from Rong Wei. Noble Consort Jing thought they were imperial gifts and was overwhelmed with favor. Her gaze at Tie Yan became even more watery. She not only came forward to massage the emperor but also voluntarily swore that when her family came to the capital, she would certainly restrain and educate them properly, devoting all efforts to repaying the imperial grace.

Tie Yan enjoyed Noble Consort Jing’s massage while listening to basketfuls of pleasant words, and couldn’t help but relax and show a few satisfied smiles.

Speaking of which, this fellow called Rong Wei was indeed gentle, considerate, and remarkably handsome…

…

The pre-examination turmoil passed just like that.

The captured scholars were also interrogated. As expected, they were just readers from remote regions who, though participating in the metropolitan examination, had basically no hope of passing. One day while enjoying themselves at a brothel, they were recruited and paid by someone to do things that discredited the imperial heir.

Naturally, they hadn’t dared at first, but the other party showed them highly skilled guards, repeatedly guaranteeing they would protect their safety. They were told to say a few words and leave, then be given another sum of money and promptly escorted out of the capital. This tempted them.

It was just a matter of saying a few idle words. Legend had it that the Crown Princess was quite merciful, so presumably she wouldn’t condemn them for mere words.

The Xiao family had actually found many such people. They didn’t use their own retainers, specifically choosing scholars with weak wills from teahouses and brothels, deploying them to various gathering places of examination candidates for large-scale defamation, trying to offset the massive influence brought by Chronicles of a Compassionate Heart.

Indeed, catching such people couldn’t really result in execution. But not giving any punishment was also impossible. Their examination qualifications were revoked, they were sent back to their home provinces, and banned from taking examinations for life. Their future prospects were finished.

Tie Yan was furious and ordered the White Marsh Guard to various wine shops and brothels, indeed catching a batch of rumor-spreading examination candidates and scholars, who were immediately struck from the rolls by the Ministry of Rites.

What angered Tie Yan more was the Xiao family’s cunning. When they found people to defame the imperial family, they never revealed their identities. The scholars took money to do the job but couldn’t identify the masterminds.

This made it impossible for the imperial family to implicate the Xiao family. As for why that captured scholar would publicly shout that the Xiao family was behind it, Tie Yan couldn’t figure it out, but Tie Ci knew.

Murong Yi had helped catch the person, and he had forced the scholar to say those words. Regardless of whether it was true, pinning it on the Xiao family wasn’t wrong.

Detaining him in the carriage was just torture and interrogation.

Though this matter was concluded, Tie Ci still felt vaguely uneasy. The Xiao family wouldn’t have expended such effort just to spread a few rumors about her, would they?

The next day, the spring examination officially began. Before dawn, those entering the examination like Qi Yuansi and Shen Mi carried their examination baskets into the examination hall.

The metropolitan examination was held in three sessions over three days each – the first on the ninth, the second on the twelfth, the third on the fifteenth, entering the day before and leaving the day after.

Entering the examination hall involved very strict searches for contraband. A large group of capital prefecture soldiers stood in formation. The scholars had been queuing since dawn, and the number guards searched very thoroughly. The well-dressed scholars were required to undress and remove belts, with smelly shoes and rotten socks thrown everywhere. If the guards found anything suspicious, being pulled behind curtains to remove pants also happened.

The scholars naturally grumbled about this degrading treatment, complaining bitterly, but the guards turned a deaf ear. This was standard procedure for every examination, and everyone was actually used to it.

Shen Mi stood in line. Before leaving home, he had triple-checked his examination basket, preparing to be thoroughly searched. Who knew that when his turn came, the guards only reached into his basket and stirred around carelessly, while another responsible for body searches only perfunctorily patted him all over through his clothes before waving him through.

He and five or six other scholars were processed simultaneously. While the others were just beginning, he could already enter.

This naturally drew stares from nearby scholars.

Shen Mi also felt something was wrong and hastily said: “Gentlemen, won’t you search more thoroughly?”

The guard looked at him sideways, laughing strangely and loudly: “You’re a strange one. Everyone thinks well of you, sees you as an upright gentleman, trusts you, lets you in, and you still don’t know what’s good for you?”

A nearby scholar angrily said: “Are we then shifty-eyed and unlike good people?”

The guard still laughed loudly: “Can you compare? Can you have what others have…”

Halfway through his words, another guard tugged at him. He seemed to realize he had let something slip, glared and said: “Go in, go in! No dawdling allowed!”

Shen Mi had no choice but to enter, while those nearby candidates received even stricter questioning as a result. The one who had spoken earlier was even pulled behind curtains to remove his pants, his shameful and angry curses audible even through the curtain.

Shen Mi stood in place, frowning.