To have thrown away even the jade pendant bestowed by the Prince of Xuan — in all likelihood, he no longer wished to wed the eldest Miss Yan either.

“It’s an imperial…”

Before Ye Chen could finish, Ye Jian’s expression froze.

Ye Chen gave him a disdainful glance and said with a grin, “Your Highness, it is your imperial younger sister. The Prince of Xuan has welcomed yet another princess.”

Xuan Yanyu’s brow arched. Had his imperial father offended someone? How was it that apart from himself, all the rest were daughters — was that even normal?

Ye Jian exhaled in relief. His Highness was still one of a kind.

……

For several days running, Chu Wantang failed to persuade Yan Yunning to leave the residence. She changed targets instead, and manipulated Yan Ruijing into taking Lu Jin’an out of the house.

She also sent Yan Shiyao to seek out Xuan Yanyu. Over the past few days, she had been quietly observing, and had noticed that Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning got along remarkably well.

The two were often seen sharing meals together, taking walks, and even leaving the residence together — not returning until after dark.

She had always said Yan Yunning was a capable one. Not only did she have the Third Prince’s interest, but now she had also lured away the man her Yaoyao had so kindly taken in. Xuan Yanyu owed his very life to Yaoyao — if not for her, he would not have survived. And yet rather than show any gratitude, he chose to spend his time with Yan Yunning instead.

She had also arranged for Qiuci to be sent out of the residence to purchase cosmetics. Once everything was in place, Chu Wantang sent Afu to Yan Yunning’s room.

Afu still walked with a slight limp — Xuan Yanyu had stabbed him in the leg with a dagger during their last encounter, and because he hadn’t received treatment in time and had walked all the way back to the Chancellor’s Residence on it, the injury had left him with a permanent hobble. All he’d done was raise his voice a little when speaking to Yan Yunning — was that worth being stabbed for?

The Madam thought nothing of Yan Yunning, and so her manservants naturally saw no reason to defy the Madam on her account. As for the stabbing — did she really need to go that far?

He had come to despise both Yan Yunning and Xuan Yanyu. Now, being chosen by the Madam through this chance turn of events, he saw it as an opportunity.

He intended to go through with it for real. And the second Miss Yan’s face — it was extraordinarily beautiful.

The door to the room was suddenly thrust open, then pulled shut again by Afu from within. Yan Yunning took one look at the undisguised malice on Afu’s face and immediately reached into her sachet for a medicinal pill, swallowing it down without even a sip of water.

“Ugh~” The girl’s delicate face scrunched into a grimace.

It was utterly vile.

Afu frowned. Nothing had even begun, yet she was already trying to poison herself?

“Who let you into the inner courtyard? Chu Wantang??” Yan Yunning pushed down the urge to retch.

Without the permission of the mistress of the house, Afu had no business being in the inner courtyard.

Afu hobbled forward two steps, a sneer curling at his lips. “Second Miss, after today, you’ll be Afu’s woman.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

She felt even more like retching.

“Second Miss, if you’re cooperative, Afu will make sure you suffer less. How about it?” Afu laughed brazenly.

Yan Yunning: “……”

“Second Miss.” Afu’s eyes traveled over her without restraint.

Such a fine thing — and in a moment, she would be his.

Yan Yunning suddenly smiled — a slow, languorous smile. “I’ll cooperate.”

Afu licked his lips. “Good. Good.”

He had thought she would put up a struggle. He hadn’t expected this to go so smoothly.

Yan Yunning took out the incense stick from her sachet and lit it, holding it close to her nose and inhaling lightly. “Setting the mood with a little incense.”

Good lord, the girl held her breath — the incense smelled awful too, and the antidote tasted disgusting.

Next time she’d have to mention it to Elder Brother Mu — she needed something that actually smelled pleasant.

Afu swallowed and drew a few steps closer. Before he could so much as touch Yan Yunning, he toppled straight down, unconscious, to the floor.

Yan Yunning gave him several kicks, confirming he was well and truly out, then blew out the incense — she needed to conserve it — and after stamping on the prone figure of Afu a few more times for good measure, turned and ran to A’Ci’s room.

Her room was close to A’Ci’s — Lu A’Niang had specifically arranged it that way.

A short while later, Chu Wantang and Nanny Liu pushed open the door to Yan Yunning’s room. On the floor lay only Afu, his face badly bruised, and the remnant of a strange-smelling incense.

“Let’s go, Nanny Liu.” Chu Wantang’s brow twitched.

Yan Yunning must have escaped — best to leave quickly, lest something went wrong.

Before they could step back out through the doorway, both women collapsed to the floor, stiff as boards, just as Afu had done.

Yan Yunning emerged from behind the folding screen and hurriedly blew out the incense. She really did need to conserve it.

“Little Lemon, how do we handle them — send them to the magistrate’s office?” A’Ci’s eyes were ice cold.

Yan Yunning curved her lips. “No. Send them to the Madam’s room.”

A’Ci raised an eyebrow.

Yan Yunning scouted ahead while A’Ci slipped past maidservants and manservants, carrying the bodies one by one to Tangyuan Pavilion.

“Madam, shall your meal be served now?” A maidservant knocked softly on the room door.

Yan Yunning cleared her throat. “No need — Mother has already retired to rest.”

The maidservant acknowledged this and withdrew respectfully.

A’Ci looked down at the three figures laid out on the floor — Afu in the middle, with Chu Wantang and Nanny Liu on either side — and asked with a furrowed brow, “Little Lemon, if we sent them to the magistrate’s office, they would…”

“A’Ci, if we send them to the magistrate’s office, Chu Wantang can just walk right back out.” Yan Yunning crouched down and peeled the outer robe from Chu Wantang’s body.

Sending her to the magistrate’s office would be nothing to her — those on the outside who didn’t know any better would think she’d gone there as a guest. And besides, what magistrate would dare truly punish the wife of the Chancellor?

Far better to let her suffer some public humiliation instead. The best outcome would be for the whole Chancellor’s Residence to find out.

Having stripped Chu Wantang’s robe, Yan Yunning went to remove Afu’s garments as well. A’Ci grabbed her hand. “Little Lemon, go wait outside. I’ll handle this.”

Yan Yunning nodded. “All right. I’ll wait for you out there.”

Once everything was arranged, A’Ci dragged them all to the center of the room, left the wooden door wide open, and the two of them made their quick exit.

A quarter of an hour later.

Afu rubbed his aching head. Hadn’t the Madam sent him to find the second Miss Yan?

Where was the second Miss Yan?

Hadn’t she said she would cooperate?

Afu fumbled in a daze, rolled over, and grabbed hold of something — seized Chu Wantang by the hair and threw himself on top of her.

The still-unconscious Chu Wantang’s brow instantly creased.

“You really are cooperative after all, Second Miss.” Afu said, smug with triumph.

Not sure how Xuan Yanyu would feel when he found out — serve him right for getting him turned into a cripple.

“Mmm~ Master…” Chu Wantang murmured faintly.

The eyes of the half-conscious Afu snapped wide open. And yet — since things had already come to this, he might as well enjoy himself.

……

Yan Yunning, carrying her half-spent incense stick, ran toward Xuan Yanyu’s guest room. Before she could get inside, she collided with Yan Shiyao, who was just stepping out.

“A’Jie, what’s wrong?” Yan Yunning clicked her tongue.

Why were her eyes so red?

“Ningning, it’s already been so many days. The wound has scabbed over — but the arm that was once so fair and unblemished now has a jarring scar cutting across it.” Yan Shiyao lowered her eyes, her voice carrying a faint tremor.

Yan Yunning offered some comfort. “Give it a few more days. It’s still early. If you apply the medicine on schedule, it will heal.”

Yan Shiyao shook her head, her eyes red. “It’s not that, Ningning. Do you still remember the time when A’Ci and I were both injured by a sword? That time too, after a few days, when the wound had scabbed over, it just healed completely.”

Yan Yunning studied her crimson eyes. Could it be that she had gone to find Xuan Yanyu and been rejected?

“Ningning, Brother Yanyu was also wounded by a sword once — did he end up with a scar?” Yan Shiyao gripped her wrist, her voice catching slightly.

Yan Yunning knit her brows. He had not — she had seen for herself, and he had healed remarkably well. With Imperial Physician Wen there, how could such a wound possibly go untreated?

The Prince of Xuan had gone to such lengths to cultivate an entire cohort of imperial physicians for Xuan Yanyu. If a simple sword wound could still leave a scar, the Prince of Xuan would have had the entire imperial physician’s hall turned upside down.