The appearance of the gyrfalcon truly attracted many people’s attention, even causing His Majesty to order its capture.

Amidst the chaotic noise, Xiao Huayong heard Shen Xihe call out. Due to the distance and interference from other sounds, he could only vaguely identify that it was Shen Xihe’s voice, so he asked Tianyuan, who was riding horseback beside his carriage as a guard: “Who is the Princess calling?”

Tianyuan’s attention had also been diverted by the gyrfalcon’s appearance. Though he heard someone call out, he couldn’t even distinguish who it was, nor did he have time to consider it. Instead, he anxiously reminded the Crown Prince: “Your Highness, it’s the gyrfalcon!”

The gyrfalcon had been personally captured and trained by Xiao Huayong. That year, to catch it, Xiao Huayong had spent a full three months with it in Bohai Commandery before finally capturing it, then spent several more months taming it. Since then, it has only acknowledged Xiao Huayong.

It wasn’t kept in the capital, and would only seek out Xiao Huayong for extremely urgent matters.

“It’s just joining in the excitement,” Xiao Huayong replied flatly.

Tianyuan breathed a sigh of relief, finally remembering Xiao Huayong’s earlier question, “This servant will go investigate…”

“Meow!”

Before he could finish speaking, Short Life suddenly leaped into his carriage. Xiao Huayong deeply despised these furry little creatures, and his expression darkened. Just as he was about to strike out with his palm to kill it, Tianyuan cried out in alarm: “The Princess’s cat!”

Tianyuan had visited the Princess’s residence several times, and on one occasion had briefly encountered this cat. Though it was just a glimpse, the cat was so ugly that it was impossible not to remember.

The moment Tianyuan uttered “Princess,” Xiao Huayong’s palm strike diverted, hitting the carriage shaft instead, causing the vehicle to shake violently. If Tianyuan hadn’t quickly reached out to steady it from outside, they might have risked overturning.

Completely unaware of the trouble it had caused, Short Life jumped from the window to the carriage roof, where it issued challenging calls to the circling gyrfalcon above: “Meow—Meow—”

Moyu, who had chased after it, showed disdain even on her usually cold face. The Princess’s cat always liked to punch above its weight, challenging any strong opponent it met, seemingly unaware it was just a cat, thinking itself a tiger!

She leaped up and grabbed the extremely arrogant Short Life, then apologized to Xiao Huayong: “This servant has offended, please forgive me, Your Highness.”

“No matter,” Xiao Huayong stared at Short Life, who was still waving its paws while being held by the scruff of its neck by Moyu. “It has courage.”

This was the first time he had seen a cat dare to challenge the gyrfalcon, which was the king of birds that could drive away even leopards and black bears.

Tianyuan looked skyward: …

In His Highness’s eyes, anything or anyone associated with the Princess could do no wrong. If it had been someone else’s cat daring to challenge His Highness’s gyrfalcon this way, His Highness would certainly have summoned the gyrfalcon to utterly humiliate it.

“This servant will take it back to report,” Moyu bowed again to Xiao Huayong.

Xiao Huayong, not wanting Shen Xihe to worry, waved his hand indicating she could withdraw.

When Moyu brought Short Life back, Shen Xihe took out a cage and directly threw it in. Short Life began meowing in the cage, scratching at the bars with its paws. Shen Xihe completely ignored it – no matter how it was called or scratched, Shen Xihe remained perfectly composed.

She loved tranquility, a tranquility that required no accommodation or coordination from external things or other people. Even amid crowds, she could remain as quiet as a secluded orchid, calm and undisturbed by any external objects or clamor.

While Shen Xihe could maintain this state, others could not. Hong Yu, Bi Yu, and the others endured the grating sound of Short Life’s claws on the cage with gritted teeth, but Xue Jinqiao grew increasingly agitated, feeling the urge to destroy something in a release.

Sensing she was about to have an episode, she quickly said: “Sister, I’m leaving.”

She took Diandian and jumped down from the carriage, returning to the Xue family’s carriage.

Soon they arrived at the temporary palace, and Ziyouren led Shen Xihe to her assigned residence. Shen Xihe placed Short Life aside – it had finished scratching at the bars and was now crouching pitifully in the cage, letting out soft, pleading sounds whenever Shen Xihe came near.

Just as Shen Xihe had Bi Yu finish arranging their things, Tianyuan brought over some small fish: “Princess, His Highness just learned that you keep a cat, and specifically had this servant bring some food for it.”

“His Highness is too kind,” Shen Xihe gestured for Hong Yu to accept it.

“His Highness says there are many mosquitoes in the temporary palace, and wonders if the Princess has any mosquito-repelling sachets to spare for His Highness. This way, His Highness won’t need to trouble the Imperial Medical Office. Everyone has just arrived today and things are chaotic everywhere – if someone provided unclean items, it would be difficult to investigate.”

Tianyuan smiled outwardly, but inwardly felt exasperated at his master’s behavior. They had brought mosquito-repelling sachets, yet he insisted on asking the Princess for some, using the fear of being sabotaged as an excuse so the Princess couldn’t easily refuse.

With Xiao Huayong putting it this way, Shen Xihe saw no reason to be stingy with a mosquito-repelling sachet. She provided not only one for mosquitoes but also one for snakes, both personally blended with medicinal herbs: “Hang these two sachets in His Highness’s room, and neither snakes nor insects will come near.”

Actually, every room had been fumigated with mugwort by the palace staff before they knew His Majesty would come hunting, and the rooms for royal relatives and noble families had been additionally fumigated with common fragrances.

However, these couldn’t ward off snakes and vermin.

“I want some too, I want some too!” Xue Jinqiao had just entered and overheard the conversation between Shen Xihe and Tianyuan, immediately coming over.

Shen Xihe glanced at the luggage carried by her two maids Huahua and Caocao: “Where’s your Diandian?”

Xue Jinqiao puffed her cheeks at the mention: “Diandian refuses to come in.”

Outside, no matter how she pulled, she couldn’t get it to enter.

Shen Xihe’s lips curved slightly: “In my courtyard, not only do snakes and insects dare not approach, but even birds and beasts stay away.”

Some scents naturally made animals fearful, and as soon as she entered the courtyard, she hung different sachets in the four corners.

“Then why isn’t Short Life afraid?” Xue Jinqiao asked.

“Short Life was raised by me, I trained it,” Shen Xihe said as she turned to go inside.

“Sister, please help train Diandian too…” Xue Jinqiao followed after her.

Tianyuan understood now – so the Princess’s cat was called Short Life, truly a unique name.

He returned to the courtyard with the sachets and handed them to Xiao Huayong: “The Princess is truly a master of fragrances. Even Miss Xue’s leopard dares not enter because of the Princess’s sachets.”

“When she could recreate the Winter-Dispelling Fragrance, any scent she creates seems natural to me,” Xiao Huayong held the two sachets close to smell them – they were sharp up close but had a light, comfortable fragrance from a distance.

He immediately hung one sachet on each end of his bed, carefully straightening their tassels, somewhat regretful that these weren’t made by her.

“Oh yes, Your Highness, you’ll never guess what name the Princess gave her cat,” Tianyuan said smugly.

Xiao Huayong gave him a sidelong glance.

Tianyuan obediently said: “The Princess named the cat ‘Short Life.'”