As usual, Yang Xingjian got up in the morning to first pay his respects in Bao Zhu’s room, but saw Wei Xun leaning against the wall, waiting in front of the door. Yang Xingjian looked around uncertainly, not seeing anyone collapsed nearby. Looking again at Wei Xun, he saw dark circles under both eyes, completely lacking his usual arrogant demeanor of being conceited about his talents and looking down on everything—his eyes were full of dejection.

Yang Xingjian asked cautiously: “Where is the Princess?”

Wei Xun didn’t even lift his eyes to look at him, saying lifelessly: “She’s doing her makeup.”

A woman’s grooming was private business, so unrelated men naturally had to wait outside to avoid impropriety. But Yang Xingjian knew this person had never respected such etiquette—when Bao Zhu was doing her hair, he would still boldly squeeze in to watch from the side. Why was he suddenly following protocol today? Looking at his expression, he clearly wasn’t voluntarily waiting outside—could it be he was thrown out?

Though he didn’t know the specific reason, seeing Wei Xun’s anxious and dejected appearance, Yang Xingjian wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, enduring until his whiskers trembled. The two men stood left and right like door gods, just waiting.

Old Yang only guessed half right. Wei Xun hadn’t been thrown out—he had tried the windows again this morning and still wasn’t allowed in, so he could only muster the courage to knock at the main door. Bao Zhu didn’t tell him to get lost again, but said very coldly that she was doing her makeup and told him to wait outside.

This sentence gave Wei Xun great hope, but unable to see her, still not knowing what the conclusion would be, he was practically clawing at his heart, sitting on pins and needles. Several times he wanted to just abandon everything and wander the world to return to freedom, but ultimately his legs wouldn’t obey and wouldn’t take a single step away.

Yang Xingjian now had extreme patience waiting for the young lady to finish her grooming. With nothing else to do, Old Yang stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, contemplating the relationship between the two back and forth, gaining some understanding and showing an adult’s knowing smile.

Suddenly he remembered his daughter Fangxie who had died young—if she could have grown up, she would be about the Princess’s age today. Perhaps she too would have blushed and argued with some sharp-edged young man. At this thought, Yang Xingjian couldn’t help but feel emotional turmoil, deeply moved.

After waiting nearly an hour, Bao Zhu finally said they could enter.

The two men entered together. Wei Xun looked over anxiously, seeing Bao Zhu sitting coldly and distantly on the couch, her bearing graceful and dignified, completely lacking her usual warmth. This demeanor undoubtedly confirmed she was an imperial princess. For a moment, both Wei and Yang were silent as cicadas, not daring to speak first.

Wei Xun’s gaze carefully rolled over her face, but he couldn’t see what special makeup she had painted during this hour. Usually she drew curved willow-leaf eyebrows that made her appear gentle and approachable, but today she had changed to cloud-sweeping brows, extending horizontally into her temples with upturned ends, making her bearing much more imposing. He thought no wonder she had spent so long grooming—she must have been repeatedly checking which eyebrow style looked more angry.

Because she was so cold as frost, and with Yang Xingjian present, Wei Xun couldn’t speak the apology he had thought about all night, waiting anxiously for her to speak first.

But Bao Zhu didn’t mention yesterday’s conflict at all. She took out the note with “Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know” written on it and said coldly and seriously: “I thought carefully last night. The tribute paper used in the palace is supplied by designated imperial workshop estates. Each batch’s quality strives for consistency, otherwise the papermaking craftsmen would be punished. But this kind of hemp paper used by common people, though the materials are similar, doesn’t come from one workshop. The pulp isn’t bleached, and no commoners would investigate, so different batches of paper still have slight color variations that can only be seen when compared with the original. Go investigate in the city to see if anyone is using hemp paper from the same batch as this note.”

She paused and continued: “This reasoning is quite simple—I don’t know why Bao Lang didn’t think of it. Perhaps because of what’s written on the note, he doesn’t want the clerks handling the case to know. As soon as these people see it, it’s equivalent to the whole city knowing.”

Yang Xingjian sincerely praised: “The Princess is brilliant, no less than Prince Shao.”

Wei Xun went to take the note, deliberately wanting to see her hands. He saw she was still wrapped tightly in sleeves, not even exposing her fingertips, unable to tell how badly she was injured.

The instant before he touched the note, Bao Zhu let go, letting the note flutter down through the air. Because he had repeatedly deliberately avoided her touch, wounding her self-respect, she now refused even indirect contact, her tone and manner very cold and distant. Using his own methods against him, Wei Xun was counterattacked by his own tactics for the first time, struck right in his vital point.

The note slowly fluttered down in the air to the ground. He made no sound, silently picking it up and putting it in his coat.

Seeing he still wasn’t moving, Bao Zhu urged sternly: “Why aren’t you leaving yet?”

So Wei Xun got up with downcast eyes and left.

Watching Wei Xun depart, Yang Xingjian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what they had quarreled about, it seemed the Princess still held complete power in this room—that arrogant boy was no match for her at all.

Wei Xun walked the streets absent-mindedly, his mind full of that paper slip that had floated to the ground. He didn’t know whether this result was joy or sorrow. Though Bao Zhu hadn’t driven him away again and had even given him a new task, it was all coldly businesslike, completely different from her previous attitude. It would have been better to be scolded directly. In that atmosphere, whatever he said would feel very awkward.

Just as he was lost in worried thought, he suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind: “What’s wrong with Senior Brother, looking like a homeless dog?”

He pretended not to hear and continued walking forward.

Huo Qi Lang quickened his pace to catch up beside him, laughing and teasing: “Are you about to die from illness? Do you have any valuable relics to leave to your junior brother?”

Wei Xun glanced at her sideways: “I have a meteoric iron dagger that cuts gold and jade. Want it? Tell me where it itches, and I’ll help you insert it.”

Huo Qi quickly waved her hands, saying fearfully: “I wouldn’t dare take it—I was just joking.” She looked Wei Xun up and down and said: “Your complexion looks quite good. It seems you’re having good fortune—why so unhappy?”

Wei Xun was full of troubles and had no mood for idle chatter with her. Frowning, he scolded: “Get lost.”

With entertainment to watch, how could Huo Qi leave? Chattering endlessly, she said: “Word on the streets is that you’ve latched onto a powerful patron and made it big. A few days ago I went to investigate at the Sun family shop—you happened to be away, but that donkey-riding lady has such a wealthy and noble appearance! You know I learned fortune-telling and bone-reading from Master for a few days. Those earlobes of hers—tsk tsk—she has the fortune of Dou Yi’s thousand gold!”

Dou Yi was a self-made wealthy merchant in Chang’an with vast family wealth, befriending court nobles, with estates and mansions throughout the realm. People used “Dou Yi’s wealth” to describe tremendous riches. Huo Qi Lang thought Bao Zhu was some merchant magnate’s beloved daughter and couldn’t help but have her eyes light up with envy.

This senior brother of hers was born with extraordinary bones and, after guidance from famous masters and early enlightenment, was a once-in-a-generation martial arts prodigy. However, he was born with an unlucky fate. Everyone in their school knew he suffered from a terminal cold evil illness with no cure, probably unable to live past twenty. No matter how talented or highly skilled in martial arts, he was destined to die young—who knew why heaven arranged things this way.

However, examining Wei Xun carefully today, though his face was full of worried thoughts, his impression hall was flushed red and his eyes and brows seemed to show signs of romantic fortune entering his fate. Huo Qi Lang was puzzled—if he couldn’t live past twenty, why would there be romantic fortune? Could his fate have changed for the better?

So she probed: “Has Senior Brother found the Phoenix Embryo?”

Wei Xun suddenly vanished from his spot, appearing next to Huo Qi’s face the next second, heavily poking her cloud gate acupoint at the collarbone. Huo Qi immediately felt half her shoulder go numb and sore, unable to move.

Wei Xun said grimly: “If you want to die before me, speak freely.”

Huo Qi knew she was no match and quickly surrendered: “Senior Brother, spare my life! I lost money gambling and was pressed by creditors. Unable to stay in Chang’an, I had to come out to see what money-making opportunities there were. Hearing that Senior Brother had made it big, I sought you out, begging you to help your junior brother!”

Huo Qi Lang was twenty-four, handsome in appearance, loved excitement, and spent years lingering in the pleasure quarters of wine and women. People in the martial world called her “Brocade Gentleman.” She had dissolute hobbies of gambling and visiting courtesans, loved both men and women, and spent enormously. The scarred face was because she had provoked a young Taoist under “Cave Truth Master” Xu Baozhen’s tutelage, flirting until that person wanted to live, die, or return to secular life, making Xu Baozhen so angry his hair stood on end that he threw down his whisk and grabbed a sword to slash her face.

Wei Xun had never been interested in her messy affairs. Having no conflicts despite different paths, seeing her honestly admit and beg for mercy, he didn’t make things difficult and just snorted before walking away.

Huo Qi Lang quickly followed, not daring to chatter about the donkey-riding lady anymore. She was increasingly puzzled—Wei Da usually joked about fate fearlessly, not an uptight person who couldn’t take jokes. She didn’t know why he was so difficult to talk to today.

Her nature was reckless and she couldn’t settle down. Her martial arts were a notch below the first three senior siblings, but because of her unfocused love life, she had learned many miscellaneous subjects from Chen Shigu. If not for her dissolute and unrestrained behavior, she could have established her own school long ago. Now at the end of her rope, she hoped to follow Wei Xun to make some money for emergency relief. Seeing his troubled mood today, she didn’t dare directly ask about the stolen pearl.

Receiving Bao Zhu’s orders, Wei Xun began secretly investigating hemp paper from the same batch as the note. The paper on the market was varied—hide paper, hemp paper, bamboo paper, grass paper. Common people used whatever was cheap and handy. As for using old cloth scraps and torn quilt covers for notes and flower patterns, examples were countless. Huo Qi Lang didn’t know what he was looking for, but was very good at reading faces and diligently ran around helping.