Tie Ci had already returned to her seat, smiling at the middle-aged man sitting across from her.

The man looked somewhat nervous, with a large mole on his chin that twitched with his anxiety.

Tie Ci’s expression remained calm.

The Prince’s Residence required proper appearance and demeanor for ceremonial officials. For someone with such looks to become a ceremonial official, he must possess considerable talent.

“Master Shi,” she smiled. “I’m a friend of Brother Pang’s, and I’d like to ask you for a small favor.”

Master Shi sat down. Having received Pang Duan’s token that Tie Ci had sent, he had found an opportunity to come here. Though Pang Duan hadn’t revealed the identity of the other party, he had warned Shi to serve carefully, so he remained very cautious and didn’t ask many questions after sitting down.

Tie Ci smiled and asked, “Is Master Shi on duty today? Is it convenient for you to come out?”

Master Shi replied, “I’m not on duty today, but with the young lady’s upcoming wedding, there are many affairs to handle. Whether on duty or not, I must stay busy in the residence. Since people from the Prince’s Residence love to shop and entertain guests in the Zanhua Street area, though I’m a ceremonial official, I also manage the residence’s purchasing affairs and must settle accounts with Yuzuan Tower monthly, so I came here today.”

Tie Ci nodded with satisfaction. Very good—cautious and watertight.

She smiled, “Brother Pang recommended Master Shi to me, and I feel we’re kindred spirits at first meeting. Since this is our first encounter, I should give you a meeting gift. I heard Master Shi’s second son has been frail since childhood, often ill, and you’ve been searching for a Dragon Eye Peony all these years?” She pointed westward. “I’ve already had someone deliver the Dragon Eye Peony to your son. It’s at the eastern part of the city, outside the Small West Gate, correct?”

Master Shi’s heart trembled, and he quickly stood to express his gratitude.

It was both a favor and a threat, all contained in a few brief words—the practiced demeanor of someone in power.

Tie Ci smiled and gestured for him to sit, then discussed her purpose. “I’d like to ask the ceremonial official whether You Weixing, the younger brother of the female heir, is still in the Prince’s Residence?”

Master Shi’s expression became even more careful. “They say he’s still in the residence, but I suspect he’s no longer there.”

“What makes you think so?”

“I’m friends with the head chef in the residence. The other day while drinking with him, he mentioned that Ah Qi, a servant from the young master’s courtyard, used to frequently request sweet vegetables and honey from the kitchen, but recently stopped asking.”

“Why did he want honey?”

“I don’t know why, but I once visited Wanqing Garden in the Prince’s Residence. The maids there said there have been especially many ants in the garden lately, even crawling onto the clothes being washed and dried.”

“Whose clothes were they washing and drying?”

“The laundry maids in the Prince’s Residence are assigned by garden and only handle the washing and drying for all the masters and high-ranking servants in their assigned gardens.”

“Which masters live in Wanqing Garden?”

“Wanqing Garden is quite remote. It’s where the young master lived since childhood. Later, when he went traveling, he moved to Xuetao Residence for a while after returning. The official story is that the young master currently lives in Xuetao Residence, but I suspect he’s moved back to Wanqing Garden—what appears real is false, what appears false is real.”

“That makes sense. The young master wanted sweet vegetables, which attracted many ants. Have you seen these ants? Why would the young master want to attract ants?”

“Wanqing Garden and its surroundings have countless guards. Idle people cannot approach casually.” Master Shi smiled bitterly. “As for why the young master would want to attract ants, that’s not particularly strange. The young master’s behavior has always been rather… special. Since childhood, he’s loved watching ants, staring at them all day long, crouching in corners as if rooted there. When the old prince was alive, he dragged him away from corners countless times, but as soon as he was pulled away, he’d be crouching there again… It wasn’t just ants—he also watched cart wheels, water wheels, anything that rotated. Once, when the old prince took him hunting, he jumped down to watch the cart wheels and nearly crushed his own hand…” He sighed and paused, then suddenly said, “It’s just that after watching ants for so many years, he never knew to use honey to attract them. I don’t know how he suddenly learned this.”

Tie Ci’s chopsticks paused while picking up food.

That was because she had taught him.

“I want to visit Wanqing Garden.”

Master Shi frowned. “The young master is no longer there… And even if you came to rescue him, I’m afraid he wouldn’t leave with you. Since returning, the young master was fine for a while, then something seemed to trigger him, and he suddenly stopped talking or seeing people again. Anyone who tries to approach him gets screamed at, and with his martial arts skills, I fear you might fail to rescue him and alert others instead.”

He continued, “Actually, I don’t understand how the young master was transferred away, or even how he was willing to stay quietly in Wanqing Garden. Even if they drugged him unconscious initially, he would eventually wake up. The young master can only stay in places he’s familiar with. Once he woke up and found himself in a strange place, he would certainly make a huge fuss and refuse to let it go. But these past days, we haven’t heard of any strange incidents happening anywhere…”

“Naturally, that’s because he willingly changed locations,” Tie Ci replied lightly.

Master Shi frowned, thinking about how to enter the Prince’s Residence and approach Wanqing Garden. While thinking, he shook his head. “It’s not that I won’t help you, but the current Prince’s Residence doesn’t allow outsiders in—it’s like an iron fortress. Even we who enter and exit daily must undergo several inspections…” Suddenly, there was a clatter of footsteps coming upstairs, accompanied by the shopkeeper’s particularly enthusiastic greeting: “Master You, this way please!”

Master Shi suddenly stood up, looking around. He realized this was a private room, and the most corner one at that. To the right was the staircase wall. If he tried to escape through the window, he’d land on the crowded Zanhua Street below, which would be tantamount to exposing himself.

Besides, if he escaped and left the room suddenly empty, wouldn’t that be even more suspicious?

The footsteps continued up the stairs as a group of people ascended, passing by this room. A young voice said, “Ah, it smells so good! What are they eating at this table? Let me see—we’ll order the same dishes later!” He was about to lift the curtain.

Just then, cheers suddenly erupted from downstairs. Someone shouted loudly, “The third branch of Guiqizhai on Zanhua Street opens today! Congratulations to everyone!” Accompanied by a loud crash, chaos erupted below with cheers and screams that were deafening.

Master Shi turned around to find that Tie Ci had vanished.

Startled, he instinctively went to the window and looked down. He saw several shop assistants in front of a newly opened store across the street carrying out large baskets of copper coins and vigorously scattering them across the street. The entire Zanhua Street was in an uproar as nearby people scrambled for money, and those farther away ran over. Everyone was looking down to pick up coins, with no one looking up.

Master Shi saw someone in the crowd below look up and smile at him—it was Tie Ci.

Two arms suddenly reached down from above, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him up with a whoosh.

Someone flipped down from the roof and sat at the table. The next moment, the curtain was lifted, and the person sitting there was hunched over the table, drunkenly waving his hand: “What troublesome guests are disturbing people? Get out! Get out!”

The shopkeeper was about to scold him when You Weinan laughingly waved his hand and said apologetically, “I was being rude.” He let the curtain drop and turned to leave.

Master Shi, sitting on the roof, was covered in cold sweat, having never sat in such a high and steep place. His legs trembled as he glanced at the person beside him—dressed as a shop assistant, chewing on a grass stem and grinning at him, gesturing for him to look below.

Master Shi saw that in the crowd below, Tie Ci had finished collecting money and unhurriedly entered a building. After a while, a young woman in plain clothes emerged from that building. By then, Guiqizhai had finished scattering coins and the crowd gradually dispersed. The young woman mixed with the crowd, walked to a spot somewhat distant from Guiqizhai, and knelt crying at a street corner.

Master Shi watched in bewilderment, wondering where “that person” had gone.

He had a vague guess about Tie Ci’s identity. After all, the Imperial Heir’s disruption of the birthday banquet and Pang Duan’s meteoric rise had already been turned into songs spreading throughout Yannan and Qianzhou. Awed by that identity, even though he’d seen a young woman emerge with his own eyes, he didn’t think much of it and continued craning his neck to look for Tie Ci, asking, “Where is that… young master?”

The shop assistant grinned and nodded toward the street corner. “Isn’t that her right there?”

Master Shi followed the assistant’s gaze and pointed at the young woman kneeling with a “Selling Herself to Find Her Husband” sign, his mouth slowly falling open.

…

Tie Ci knelt on straw matting with a sign in front of her reading “Selling Herself to Find Her Husband” in large characters, while a crowd gathered around, commenting and criticizing.

She silently thought to herself, “This is my tribute to Murong Yi.”

Years ago, he had performed brilliantly on Ziyang Street when selling himself to bury his father. Tie Ci was now trying to recall the essence of his acting skills, striving to surpass him.

It actually wasn’t difficult—she just needed to appear pitifully sad. For this, she only had to think about her days living under the Empress Dowager’s tyranny.

Below the large characters “Selling Herself to Find Her Husband” on the sign, densely packed small characters were written crookedly, telling how she was from Haiyou Qingyang in the Da Qian dynasty, sixteen years old. Last year in Haiyou, she had inadvertently rescued a young master. Through their daily interactions, feelings gradually developed, and under the moon and flowers, they pledged themselves to each other. The man was young and wealthy, quiet by nature, and had an equally generous elder sister. But after only a few months of marriage, one day her husband and his elder sister suddenly disappeared together. She searched everywhere without success and grew desperate. Then she remembered the elder sister mentioning that they had come to Haiyou to study, but their ancestral home was in Yannan Kunzhou, where they were from a prominent family. So she made her way here. After great difficulty entering Kunzhou, in such a vast city with nowhere to search, kind people advised her to come to Zanhua Street. Now, after a long journey with her travel money exhausted and her husband’s whereabouts still unknown, she knelt begging the local elders for help. She would sell herself so she could slowly search for him. If anyone knew her husband’s whereabouts, please don’t hesitate to inform her. Her husband’s family was extremely wealthy, and once found, she would become the matriarch of a wealthy household and would surely repay with substantial rewards.

The sign detailed her husband’s appearance and habits: he was handsome and tall, spoke little and didn’t like looking at people, disliked ordinary flowers and birds but loved rotating objects, and always stepped out with his right foot first when walking. His elder sister was petite and beautiful with a gentle disposition.

On any other day, such an account would surely be met with pointing fingers and ridicule. But today’s crowd was strange. After slowly reading it, they would cross their arms, look Tie Ci up and down, then glance at the deep red, high gates of Yannan Prince’s Residence ahead, click their tongues, say “What a tragedy,” and walk away.

One group would leave, another would arrive. The next group would read it with similar expressions. Before they’d even walked far, they were already excitedly discussing.

“Hey, this seems like, seems like those two!”

“Ancestral home in Kunzhou, one man and one woman, sister and brother, a prominent Kunzhou family… That’s truly prominent—the most prominent in our Kunzhou.”

“Exactly! I remember those two weren’t in the residence the past two years, saying they went out to study?”

“Seems like they went to Haiyou!”

“But the young master is only thirteen this year, only twelve last year, so…”

“Bah, what’s that? We Yannan children marry early anyway, and the young master is tall for his age. Say he’s thirteen and people would believe twenty-three.”

“That’s not right. With the young master’s status, how could he have improper relations with this village girl?”

“You can’t say that. Didn’t you see it mentions life-saving grace? Life-saving grace, daily interaction, young and passionate—what couldn’t happen? Besides, that person is simple-minded. Someone willing to fancy a fool would be overjoyed!”

“I say the young master has excellent martial arts—would he need this village girl to save him? Nine times out of ten, that person was unwell then and wanted to leave an heir for the young master and the Prince’s Residence. Taking advantage of being in Haiyou with no one to interfere, she first picked a woman to complete the deed. If a healthy son was born, wouldn’t the legitimate main branch be secure?”

This last speculation gained the most agreement.

Residents of Kunzhou mostly knew about the affairs of Yannan Prince’s Residence. The old prince had few offspring—only two sons and one daughter, and the eldest son was simple-minded. The younger son was illegitimate, weak and sickly, and had died recently. The eldest daughter had sworn not to marry at the old prince’s funeral, and the clan elders petitioned to make her the female heir to temporarily hold the princely position for her brother.

But everyone knew this was only a temporary measure. A fool was a fool—could you expect him to suddenly become intelligent? The legitimate branch had thin bloodlines, while the second branch father and son were both very shrewd and capable. You Jun had been the Yannan Prince’s right hand while the old prince lived, already controlling great power, and You Weinan was also well-regarded. For a woman to be heir and prince was already difficult at every step. Initially, with the old prince’s lingering authority, it was manageable, but as time passed and the old subordinates loyal to the old prince died, were transferred, or left, the winds in Yannan Prince’s Residence gradually changed.

Master Shi, standing in the crowd observing, knew even more. Over a year ago, You Jun had found an excuse to dismiss all the servants attending You Weixing. You Weixing was someone who couldn’t even change the order of his meals—these people had followed him for many years, knew his habits, and he could accept them. But suddenly replacing everyone had predictable consequences.

You Weixing’s madness that day left even Master Shi, who glimpsed it from afar, still shaken. One attendant nearly died, two broke legs, and bodies lay groaning everywhere.

This also led many servants in the Prince’s Residence to no longer dare approach You Weixing. Not long after, the female heir, who had been struggling under her uncle’s control trying to grasp the residence’s affairs, took You Weixing away from the Prince’s Residence under the pretext of treating his condition.

Later, it was heard she went to Haiyou’s Yueli Academy, probably hoping to become He Zi’s disciple to gain scholarly support and consolidate her position in Yannan, but she didn’t succeed. However, when she returned with her brother, You Weixing shocked many people. He had suddenly become much more normal—able to converse with people, smile, and make requests. Though sometimes still a bit odd, he generally appeared to be a normal, handsome young man.

This moved many old ministers to tears, declaring that the old prince had a successor, and some even began actively working to petition jointly for You Weixing to inherit the heir position.

Master Shi sighed softly.

Sometimes, fortune and misfortune are intertwined.

Now, the improved You Weixing had vanished like a flash in the pan, falling into even deeper confusion. The so-called heir position naturally became a bubble, while the female heir was criticized by clan elders for inadequately caring for her brother and clinging to power, and was quickly betrothed to Chang Yuan of Huichuan.

The legitimate branch of Yannan Prince’s Residence seemed destined to wither.

Listening to the crowd’s discussion, Master Shi thought that if he didn’t know this husband-seeking village woman was someone’s disguise, he too would find this theory of “the female heir taking her simple brother away to continue the bloodline” quite reasonable.

He glanced at the young woman in the crowd’s center, head bowed and wiping tears, and marveled inwardly. If this really was that person, considering that person’s identity, to be able to perform such a play was truly flexible and adaptable…

But then again, this was indeed the only way to enter the Prince’s Residence with perfect justification.

Where did she even think of this?

The crowd suddenly became noisy as You Weinan finished eating and came downstairs.

As soon as he came down, people led him to the street corner, competing to tell him this shocking gossip.

“Master You, come quickly and see your sister-in-law!”