“Lady Bian is a person of the palace,” Cui Jinbai said gravely.

Bian Xianyi was a palace dancer who lived with the palace ladies-in-waiting. She wasn’t an ordinary citizen, nor was she an official’s child living outside the palace who could come and go freely. How could one simply abduct her?

One misstep in entering the forbidden palace could easily warrant charges of attempted assassination.

“Based merely on ancestral home, it’s just my speculation, nothing definitive,” Shen Xi He was also worried about Bu Shulin’s lack of discretion.

“That’s easy enough to handle. We’ll arrest Fu Jin and those conspiring with him will surely panic,” Bu Shulin came up with another idea, her eyes gleaming with a peculiar light. “An examination candidate, likely delicate and good-looking. I have plenty of ways to deal with such young gentlemen…”

“Bang!” Before Bu Shulin finished speaking, Cui Jinbai slammed his teacup on the table.

“Lord Bu, this is the capital. Though you may disregard propriety and indulge yourself, don’t be so frivolous before the Princess!” Cui Jinbai’s tone was severe.

Bu Shulin pursed her lips, thinking he must believe she was planning something unsavory. However, in front of Shen Xi He, she wouldn’t argue with him: “Yes, yes, I’ll mind my words in the future, and won’t offend the Princess’s ears.”

After speaking, she winked at Cui Jinbai while gesturing toward Shen Xi He.

Cui Jinbai was thoroughly exasperated but couldn’t make a scene in front of Shen Xi He. He simply stood up: “Princess, Fu Jin is an examination candidate with academic credentials. This official came specifically to request that the Princess give this official some time to investigate quietly.”

He feared Shen Xi He might secretly arrest Fu Jin and use torture.

“One matter shouldn’t trouble two masters. My health is poor, and I’m deeply grateful for Young Official Cui’s assistance,” Shen Xi He agreed.

“There are some old cases at the Court of Judicial Review that require this official’s attention. I take my leave,” Cui Jinbai didn’t want to stay a moment longer.

Shen Xi He rose to see him off. This time, Cui Jinbai didn’t drag Bu Shulin away, probably because he was so annoyed he didn’t want to see her.

“What did you mean earlier?” After Cui Jinbai left, Shen Xi He asked Bu Shulin.

Bu Shulin had winked and made suggestive gestures more than once, but Shen Xi He hadn’t understood what she was getting at.

Bu Shulin grinned mischievously as she moved closer to Shen Xi He, lowering her voice and barely containing her laughter: “Oh my, Cui Stone, he hahaha… he has feelings for you.”

Shen Xi He: …

After hearing this, watching Bu Shulin doubled over with laughter, Shen Xi He’s expression was indescribable.

Though she didn’t pay much attention to romantic matters and hadn’t seen many flirtatious glances, she could still sense when someone had affection for her. Cui Jinbai showed plenty of respect but little intimacy – how could this be interpreted as a romantic interest?

“Have you been drinking today?” Shen Xi He asked.

“No,” Bu Shulin’s face still wore a smile.

Shen Xi He looked at her as if she were an idiot: “It’s one thing to talk nonsense in front of me, but don’t do this to Young Official Cui.”

“I understand, I understand, won’t rub salt in his wounds,” Bu Shulin nodded repeatedly.

Shen Xi He: …

“You may leave now.” She didn’t want to see this person either.

Bu Shulin’s smile froze, and she pouted with hurt: “What… what did I say wrong?”

“Your very presence before me is wrong,” Shen Xi He smiled slightly at her.

The coldness in that smile made Bu Shulin jump up and dash toward the exit, looking back as she ran: “I’ll… I’ll come visit you another day.”

After sending her away, Shen Xi He ordered Mo Yuan to investigate Fu Jin. Promising Cui Jinbai not to take action didn’t mean she wouldn’t investigate.

Fu Jin was surprisingly clean. He had passed the provincial examination three years ago but didn’t immediately participate in that year’s metropolitan examination. Instead, he practically devoted three years to further study. His family was poor, and he supported his studies by copying books and selling calligraphy and paintings. He didn’t socialize, focusing solely on his studies.

Though he and Bian Xianyi were both from Xianming, they weren’t from the same county, and their families were vastly different in status. Their ancestors seemed to have no connection or association. Bian Xianyi was born in the capital and was a noble lady until age fourteen – their lives had no intersection.

“Princess, these two have no connection,” Biyu felt the shared ancestral home was just a coincidence.

“This person must be extraordinary,” Shen Xi He noticed Cui Jinbai’s particular attention to Fu Jin, though he tried to hide it, it didn’t escape her keen perception. “Is there any connection between Guo Daoyi and Fu Jin?”

“None,” Mo Yuan replied.

Cui Jinbai and Guo Daoyi were both that person’s subordinates, and Guo Daoyi was also an examination candidate. She had an inexplicable feeling that these people must have some connection, that person must be planning something earth-shattering.

“These past two days, someone did approach Fu Jin,” Mo Yuan carefully replied. “A teacher.”

“A teacher?” Shen Xi He’s mind inexplicably flashed to that Mid-Autumn Festival night, when she was upstairs, across countless lanterns, looking at that person. “He does rather look like a teacher.”

She happened to encounter Cui Jinbai and others meeting with their master, though this person wore another disguise.

That day, Mo Yuan and others were guarding outside the room; only she and Shen Yun’an saw him.

“Mo Yuan, you needn’t concern yourself with this matter anymore. Leave it to Young Official Cui. You must spare no expense to investigate what strange illness the Crown Prince suffered eleven years ago that forced him to seek treatment in the palace,” Shen Xi He’s gaze fixed as she gave the order.

Sensing Shen Xi He’s level of concern, Mo Yuan responded firmly: “Yes!”

She increasingly felt that person was Xiao Huayong, and this strong intuition wouldn’t leave her.

She wasn’t afraid of Xiao Huayong’s power; she feared his good health would mean a lifetime of entanglement – that would be too exhausting.

However, if it truly was Xiao Huayong, if she didn’t ally with him, she would be his enemy, which would also be difficult to handle.

Never mind, she would first see exactly why he needed the Bone-Melting Pills before concluding.

This decision concerned the Northwest; she had to be careful. Even if reluctant, she needed to figure out how to ally with him.

The initial plan clearly wouldn’t work. Shen Xi He smiled bitterly, stroking Duanming who had bounded over, and sighed softly: “I brought trouble upon myself first.”

Initially providing evidence to actively approach Xiao Huayong was meant to test the Crown Prince and draw him into the situation from his position of neutrality, making things more chaotic.

She had considered that the Crown Prince might be deeply sophisticated, biding his time, but hadn’t expected his sophistication to reach such frightening depths, nor had she imagined that he alone could weave such a vast and tight network.

Someone like him appears once in a hundred years.

This was Shen Xi He’s first time truly understanding what it meant to be heaven-gifted.

Especially in Wang Zheng’s case – it was watertight, effortlessly causing one of the three ministers to suspend duties and reflect, with no one suspecting him. How alarming was that?