As the saying goes, even heroes falter before beauty.
For men to conquer the world requires steel and horses, bloody battles, and mountains of bleached bones. But for women to conquer the world, they need only conquer the man who has conquered the world.
Even the wisest and most decisive men cannot escape the temptation of beauty – it’s never that beauty is insufficient, only that no man can resist its hook.
Presumably, there were many corrupt officials both in court and in the provinces. The Fierce Prince must have obtained evidence, no wonder he was pursued so relentlessly. Did he truly not know how many people this move of his would drag down?
Mo Yuan remained stiffly kneeling for a long while, dreading that Shen Xihe might ask what the Rouge Case was about. How could he explain such matters to the pure and pristine Princess?
Fortunately, from above came only: “I understand. You may go.”
Mo Yuan stood up with immense relief and respectfully withdrew.
After finishing breakfast and wiping her mouth, Shen Xihe asked Biyu: “Who changed His Highness the Fierce Prince’s bloodstained clothes yesterday?”
“In response to the Princess, it was this servant,” Biyu quickly answered.
“Were there any papers or books among His Highness’s belongings?” Shen Xihe asked further.
“This servant did not see any,” Biyu shook her head after careful consideration.
Shen Xihe stood and walked to the window ledge, taking an incense box from her fragrance cabinet and handing it to Biyu: “Go replace the incense in His Highness’s room with this, and bring me His Highness’s discarded clothes.”
“Yes.”
After Biyu withdrew, Shen Xihe sat at the round wooden table, her round, delicate fingertips lightly moving across the silk brocade.
For Xiao Changying to be pursued so relentlessly, he clearly must have possessed substantial evidence. But this evidence hadn’t yet been passed on and remained with him.
Otherwise, those behind it would have already faced punishment – how else could they be so brazen as to attempt the assassination of a current prince?
Soon Biyu brought the bloodstained clothes. Originally she had wanted to wash them first, worried about the smell affecting the Princess, but remembering the morning’s events, she brought them as they were.
Shen Xihe seemed not to notice the bloodstains, taking the clothes and spreading them out to feel inch by inch but found nothing. Her gaze shifted: “Bring His Highness’s boots.”
Though puzzled, Biyu quickly put away the clothes and went to fetch Xiao Changying’s boots. He had worn a pair of black leather cloud-top boots, with elaborate gold-thread cloud patterns sewn along the edges. Perhaps due to the protection of his long robes, the boots hadn’t been stained with much blood.
Shen Xihe found no hidden compartments in the boots either. “This isn’t right…”
“Prin-Princess, what are you looking for…” Biyu gathered her courage to ask. For an unmarried lady to handle the Fierce Prince’s shoes so thoroughly, such behavior was really…
Shen Xihe didn’t answer her, instead focusing her gaze on a small, unidentifiable flower petal stuck to the boot sole. It had been badly abraded, presumably only surviving in the pattern of the sole where it hadn’t been completely worn away.
She took silver tweezers used for incense preparation and picked up the tiny petal, bringing it close to smell carefully.
Biyu watched her mistress’s actions with wide, horrified eyes, her heart pounding violently.
“It’s half-lotus…” Shen Xihe smiled slightly, turned, and walked out, finding Mo Yuan to give quiet instructions: “Follow the trail of the Fierce Prince’s pursuit backward. Look for places with half-lotus flowers. If you find trampled areas nearby, dig them up. Whatever you find, bring it back. Go personally.”
Mo Yuan glanced at Biyu holding the Fierce Prince’s boots behind Shen Xihe, nodded somewhat uncertainly, and quickly departed.
Shen Xihe turned and walked lightly into Xiao Changying’s room, her gaze falling on the curling smoke from the incense burner – this was also a focusing incense derived from datura.
In small amounts, datura could focus the mind and calm the spirit, even treating headaches and helping with sleep. In large amounts, it would make people lose their senses and fall into inescapable hallucinations.
Xiao Changying must have been pursued somewhere not far from here, realized his strength was failing, and likely faced death. So after escaping his killers one final time, he buried his belongings in a hidden place.
If he died here, people would certainly come searching and would thoroughly investigate. He must have left a mark, at least one his people could find, so this place couldn’t be too far from here.
“My saving you wasn’t in vain.”
Having Biyu fetch her a book, she sat in the outer hall of Xiao Changying’s room reading. Mo Yuan returned after about half an hour, having dug up a mud-covered book and a fragrance pouch containing a jade pendant, which he handed to Shen Xihe.
Without any pretense of propriety, Shen Xihe sat separated from Xiao Changying only by a curtain, openly reading the account book he had nearly lost his life to protect. Inside were also two letters and several deeds. After finishing, Shen Xihe couldn’t help but sigh: “I hadn’t imagined the people involved would be so numerous and of such high standing.”
“Princess, how should we handle these items?” Though he hadn’t read them, Mo Yuan wasn’t just a military man who only knew fighting – otherwise, Shen Yueshan wouldn’t have specifically sent him to protect Shen Xihe. He had already guessed what these were.
Shen Xihe asked: “Do you have a way to get this to His Highness the Crown Prince without leaving traces?”
“Send it to the Crown Prince!” Mo Yuan’s voice rose involuntarily before he realized his impropriety. “Princess, before leaving the Northwest, the Prince instructed this subordinate that we must never align with the Crown Prince…” He glanced at Xiao Changying through the curtain and lowered his voice, “The whole court knows the Crown Prince won’t live past two cycles, and in a few months the Crown Prince will come of age…”
Meaning he wouldn’t live past five years, and since age eight, the Crown Prince had lived in Taoist temples due to his health. He had no foundation in court – an heir apparent in name only.
All the princes were waiting for the heir to pass away, so they could compete for the supreme position.
“Is that so?” Shen Xihe’s bright eyes grew contemplative, containing a meaningful slight smile. “Isn’t being short-lived better?”
“Princess, be careful with your words.” Mo Yuan instinctively looked around at doors and windows in fright.
But Shen Xihe remained composed and calm, even directly ignoring Xiao Changying’s presence: “Mo Yuan, the Northwestern Prince’s manor is just like the recently exterminated Gu family – it cannot coexist with the Xiao imperial clan. To protect the Northwestern Prince’s manor, to protect the Shen family, and to protect all the generals who follow the Shen family in defending the frontier, I must aim for the position of Empress.”
Emperor Youning wouldn’t marry her, so she would inevitably have to marry a prince.
“Rather than gambling on winning someone’s heart, why not choose someone short-lived, allowing an imperial grandson with Shen family blood to take the throne sooner?”
“Princess…” Mo Yuan was shocked pale by Shen Xihe’s startling words.
“You may consult Father, tell him these were my words.” Shen Xihe gathered her floor-length ice-blue silk shawl. As the wind gently blew, the light gauze floated, making her appear ethereal. Her voice too became otherworldly and distant: “In a game where one bets with life and fortune, don’t place your bets too early, because once the stakes are set, there’s no room for regret.”