Getting up early the next morning for class, Jiang Xuening’s eyes were slightly red and swollen. Others naturally saw but only thought to themselves that yesterday at Mingfeng Palace she must have said something with Grand Princess Leyang to cause this. They didn’t dare ask more.

Fang Miao, however, nearly couldn’t get up at all.

The palace servants on Yangzhi Studio’s side timed it perfectly to dig her out of the warm bedding. After haphazardly washing up, she came out top-heavy and light-footed. Seeing Jiang Xuening standing serenely under the corridor outside, she made a mournful face: “I got drunk last night, didn’t I? I didn’t make a fool of myself or say any nonsense to offend Grand Princess, did I?”

Jiang Xuening smiled and shook her head.

Only then did she feel relieved.

Zhou Baoying beside them was quite surprised: “You even drank wine last night?”

Fang Miao rubbed her head: “The Princess summoned us to drink, and also celebrated Second Young Miss Jiang’s birthday by the way. Could we do anything but follow along and drink? Aiya, my head is swaying and rocking—it simply doesn’t feel like my own anymore…”

You Yue saw this and laughed mockingly from the side.

Last night there had been no wind or snow. This morning the sun rose in the east. Thin clouds covered the glazed tiles piece by piece over the palace complex—it was a rare good day.

Classes were as usual in Fengchen Hall.

Everyone proceeded along the palace’s long path. Most of the others had become quite familiar over these days. Walking in front, they spoke softly in fits and starts, guessing what the teachers would lecture on today and what standard patterns the newly taught Go would test. Jiang Xuening walked behind, listening intermittently, and before long became distracted.

But when they turned a corner and reached the palace path in front of Fengchen Hall, Chen Shuyi at the very front couldn’t help exclaiming “Eh”: “Isn’t that someone who serves beside His Majesty? What’s he doing here?”

Jiang Xuening looked up following the sound.

It was actually Zheng Bao.

Having not seen him for some days, after being promoted by his master, the chief eunuch Wang Xingjia, he seemed to be faring better within the palace. The dark green robe he wore was brand new. He held a fly-whisk in his hand. With rosy lips and white teeth and delicate features, he was slightly frowning as he looked toward the eastern side hall, asking something of the young eunuch standing before him.

The young eunuch replied with a few sentences, bowed slightly, and went toward the side hall.

Zheng Bao stood properly. Looking back, he saw the group from Yangzhi Studio walking over.

In the past before Kunning Palace, everyone had watched Zheng Bao being punished and only saved when Prince Linzi Shen Jie spoke for him. Later hearing that this harem eunuch actually had the capability to go serve beside the Emperor, they had all been privately amazed for a while.

Seeing him here now, they couldn’t help being somewhat surprised.

Jiang Xuening’s heart also grew doubtful.

Before everyone could ask more, Zheng Bao, with his careful and sensitive mind, observing their expressions, had already guessed roughly. He proactively nodded: “Last night Teacher Xie discussed matters with His Majesty and several elder statesmen until very late and stayed overnight in the palace, sleeping in the side hall of Fengchen Hall. His Majesty originally didn’t wish to disturb him so early in the morning, but then several thorny matters were presented from below that required Teacher to go discuss. There was no choice but to come disturb Teacher’s sleep and request him to make the trip.”

So it was to request Xie Wei.

That made sense. Jiang Xuening still remembered that in her previous life, when Xie Wei had business in the palace until very late and stayed overnight after the palace gates were locked, he almost always stayed at Fengchen Hall. First, it was close to the Emperor’s bedchamber, convenient for timely summons to discuss matters. Second, it was close to the Wenyuan Pavilion, so if there was teaching, going there was also convenient.

Hearing Zheng Bao’s words, everyone’s doubts were immediately resolved. They all paid respects to him, then passed by him and entered the main hall of Fengchen Hall to await the teachers who would come lecture.

Jiang Xuening walked past with eyes observing nose and nose observing heart, not glancing at Zheng Bao even once.

After waiting in the hall for a while, Shen Zhiyi finally arrived followed by several palace servants. But the time she arrived truly couldn’t be considered early. She had just glanced at Jiang Xuening and smiled when Sun Shu, the Mathematics Doctor from the Imperial Academy, arrived.

Jiang Xuehui had previously had someone find two Go manuals for her to read, saying that during the time she was absent, the teachers began teaching Go. It proved to be true.

Sun Shu had already lectured through a small portion of the “Ten Classics of Mathematics.”

He was still considered young compared to other teachers. Though not a bookworm, he was obsessed with mathematics. Arranging his materials, he lectured to them that many, many things in this world secretly contained the principles of mathematics. For instance, Go—it seemed to compare who thought deeply and carefully, but actually compared who had a faster-turning mind and calculated more long-term.

Jiang Xuening absolutely hadn’t expected this development. Her Go playing was already not good to begin with, and being absent for many days due to the Tongzhou affair, she had no idea what had been taught before. Though she sat obediently in the hall frowning and listening earnestly, her mind remained like a tangled mess.

When one couldn’t understand, naturally it was easy to drift.

Her position happened to be by the window. With nothing to do, naturally she looked outside, slacking off a bit. But unexpectedly, having mentally wandered away for not too long, a figure in pale blue Taoist robes suddenly intruded from the left side of her vision, startling her.

Last night, Xie Wei had been choked by charcoal fumes from the Imperial Kitchen’s stove, triggering a cough. Moreover, returning to the side hall close to midnight, he had tossed and turned all night without sleeping well.

When the young eunuch came to request him, he had just risen.

His complexion couldn’t be considered very good. But since entering winter last year, his complexion had never been particularly good either, so others couldn’t tell.

After briefly washing up, he emerged from the side hall.

At this time, lecturing had already begun in the main hall. The Mathematics Doctor from the Imperial Academy’s voice teaching Go came from inside. Hearing it, he couldn’t help instinctively glancing that way.

As a result, with just this one glance, he actually saw Jiang Xuening.

On the cold day, the window was half-closed. Her powder-white palm-sized face was framed in the window gap. Her palm supported her pointed chin. The pair of eyes usually rippling with light showed some vacant, listless dullness, not moving for quite a while.

Clearly slacking off!

Seeing this, Xie Wei’s steps paused and his brow had already furrowed.

Jiang Xuening was quite far from him, but the instant she saw him stop and look her way, she already felt a chill run up her spine. Shivering, not knowing how her brain worked, she actually extended a hand and with a “snap” closed the window.

Their line of sight was immediately cut off.

But this sudden sound also inevitably alarmed Sun Shu who was teaching Go in the hall. Seeing it was Jiang Xuening by the window, he couldn’t help frowning: “What is Second Young Miss Jiang doing?”

Everyone looked at her.

Jiang Xuening smiled sheepishly, explaining: “There’s wind blowing outside, a bit cold.”

After all, she sat at the wind opening.

Though Sun Shu was slightly displeased that she made noise during his lecture, he said nothing. Turning his head, he continued lecturing.

Jiang Xuening listened for another moment. Seeing Sun Shu wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, she leaned over again to quietly crack open the window.

Outside the hall, rosy clouds flew past eaves corners, light filled jade steps.

But Xie Wei’s figure was already gone.

He must have been still waited for by Shen Lang’s side, with no time to stop and hold her accountable for these small matters.

What, she wasn’t even allowed to slack off a bit during class?

Jiang Xuening muttered this in her heart. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she was in the right, so she set her mind at ease.

But unexpectedly, as soon as the morning class finished, in the afternoon someone came to “invite” her.

It was a young eunuch previously seen serving at Fengchen Hall. He respectfully kept his head lowered and said to her: “Teacher says Second Young Miss Jiang hasn’t entered the palace for study in many days. Your coursework must have fallen behind considerably. He asks you to come over this afternoon so Teacher can examine and test you.”

Jiang Xuening immediately felt as if bereaved of her parents.

With feet as if filled with lead, she moved step by step back to the side hall of Fengchen Hall. Entering the hall, she indeed saw Xie Wei already seated behind that familiar desk, holding a thin brush in his hand, currently writing a memorial.

She stepped forward to pay respects.

Xie Wei didn’t even raise an eyelid. The brush in his hand flowed like clouds and water without delay. He only asked: “Playing around blindly in Tongzhou for several days, your heart went wild with play. Returning to the palace, you don’t even listen to classes anymore?”

Jiang Xuening thought to herself this was unjust: “Today I did listen.”

Xie Wei’s long fingers lightly turned, already setting aside the brush. He took out a seal from the case beside him and took a moment to glance at her, saying lightly: “Listening to when the flowers outside will bloom, when the snow will melt, so you can go out and give free rein to your unrestrained nature?”

Of all things she shouldn’t have done, she shouldn’t have been caught red-handed slacking off by Xie Wei.

Jiang Xuening clasped both hands behind her back, fingers twisting tight.

Thinking of the palm Xie Wei had struck, and hearing his four words “unrestrained nature” as if implying something, she couldn’t help thinking of how yesterday on the way to Cining Palace she had spoken with Xiao Dingfei. Deeply afraid he would bring up these accounts, she ultimately didn’t dare talk back and only kept her head lowered.

Xie Wei pressed the seal on the signature spot of the memorial and closed it again, then called in the young eunuch from outside to deliver it to the Cabinet. Looking back to see Jiang Xuening sulking like a quail, his heart couldn’t help feeling stuffy as well.

This appearance had not half a trace of liveliness.

He watched for a long while, then suddenly said: “You couldn’t understand what Sun Shu was teaching?”

Jiang Xuening immediately raised her head in surprise to look at him.

Xie Wei said: “Missing so many days of class, it would be strange if you could understand. This isn’t hard to guess either.”

What surprised Jiang Xuening wasn’t actually that he guessed this point, but that he was willing to guess this point. After all, earlier it seemed he wanted to question her about slacking off, but once the matter of “not understanding” was raised, it had nothing to do with her.

Xie Wei’s manner actually didn’t seem like he would pursue it.

She blinked her eyes. A bold thought sprouted in her heart. Testing the waters, she said: “Master Sun’s teaching is both dry and boring. Even racking my brains, this student can’t keep up with him. I’ve heard Teacher is greatly talented in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Why don’t you teach me?”

These words first trampled Sun Shu underfoot, then raised Xie Wei up—the most obvious flattery and ingratiation.

Xie Wei felt that according to his usual temperament, he would definitely frown and tell her to straighten her attitude.

After all, Sun Shu from the Imperial Academy was no mediocrity.

But seeing her obediently standing before him with hands behind her back, those eyes that had been vacant with distraction by the window this morning now filled with spirit—like a deer by a forest stream that had never seen people—he felt considerably mollified.

The corners of his lips stiffened for a moment. Finally, a barely perceptible arc formed as he said: “To be stuck with an unscholarly person like you—I don’t know what possessed me.”

He rose and sat by the window, setting out the Go board.

Jiang Xuening struck while the iron was hot, immediately saying “Teacher is so good,” then sat across from Xie Wei.

She discovered that Xie Wei was truly one who responded to soft approaches but not hard ones. As long as she didn’t bristle all over confronting him, coaxing him was always easy. No no no—this was Xie Ju’an who killed without blinking. She truly had eaten a bear’s heart and leopard’s gall to actually dare use the word “coax”?

Inappropriate, inappropriate.

She should be more respectful!

Jiang Xuening was startled by that word that popped into her mind and timely pulled her derailed thoughts back.

Xie Wei placed the Go box beside them.

He wore a pale blue Taoist robe with dark cloud patterns rolled on the sleeves, like pine waves and cloud billows. Sitting by the window, he showed not the slightest trace of that day’s killing coldness in Tongzhou and had recovered his usual leisurely reclusive air of idly listening to falling flowers.

“Playing Go requires calculation—this is indeed one method. But when our generation discusses Go, we speak more of ‘momentum.'” Xie Wei wasn’t averse to the approach Sun Shu taught. Looking at her once, perhaps thinking young ladies all liked white, he placed that box of white stones by her right hand. “Calculation is technique. But if one can gain ‘momentum,’ that is attaining the Way.”

Jiang Xuening looked at that box of chess pieces.

Unintentionally raising her eyes, she discovered Xie Wei’s right hand had five long, slender fingers that were quite attractive. But the middle joint of his ring finger was wrapped in a layer of fine silk gauze, faintly giving off the clear fragrance of medicinal ointment.

A thought thus turned in her mind. She recalled seeing an injury on his hand in Tongzhou but couldn’t remember which part or which finger. So she said: “Teacher’s hand injury still hasn’t healed?”

Xie Wei’s fingers reaching for chess pieces paused.

His naturally lowered eyelids lifted. His lip line pressed straight as he looked at the Jiang Xuening across from him. For a long time, he said nothing.

Jiang Xuening’s heart pounded. She inexplicably felt this gaze held soaked coldness. Her lips squirmed, wanting to say something, but in the end didn’t dare open her mouth.

A long moment of heart-palpitating silence.

Ultimately it was still Xie Wei who first withdrew his gaze. Completely ignoring her previous question, acting as if he hadn’t heard at all, he continued his earlier words: “The Go board can演 military tactics—what’s fought is mental acuity. The board is like territory, the pieces like soldiers. Since ancient times, water can carry a boat but can also overturn it. The gain or loss of a single stone may be negligible, but if accumulated over time into momentum, it becomes difficult to channel and accumulates into calamity. Therefore, one who holds the pieces should guide according to momentum, like governing people or managing water. If you can understand some of this board’s learning, whether in conducting yourself or handling affairs, you won’t be confused to this degree!”

Conducting herself and handling affairs, confused to this degree?

Jiang Xuening felt he was speaking with implications.

But first, she didn’t know much about Xie Wei; second, she also didn’t know what she had done wrong again. She only took this contemporary semi-sage to be mocking her stupid brain and didn’t dare pursue the question.

Moreover, Xie Wei’s words just now suddenly made her think of Shen Zhiyi’s marriage alliance…

Water can carry a boat but can also overturn it.

This wasn’t the first time Jiang Xuening heard these words. She knew they were commonly said in court, but she had never taken them too seriously. However, Xie Wei saying that playing Go was like governing people and managing water stirred her thoughts.

One must know that in her previous life, the reason Xiao Shu could suppress her was that besides growing up in a great capital clan from childhood with broad knowledge and experience, Jiang Xuening privately pondered that back then studying at Fengchen Hall, Xiao Shu had truly learned many things. Accumulated day by day, her foundation was profound.

Now, someone like Xie Ju’an was right before her eyes…

She picked up a chess piece and lightly rubbed it with her fingertip. Her eyes flashed as she said: “Are people the same as chess pieces too? Chess pieces are manipulated by the player, but human hearts—each has their own, growing in their own belly. Playing Go can manipulate pieces, but human hearts, if you say manipulate…”

Xie Wei thought of what the young eunuch had reported last night. Right now he only wanted to remove Jiang Xuening’s pretty head and place it on the Go board, having her properly reflect on herself. He didn’t pay attention to what she asked and only coldly connected with one sentence: “Heroes create circumstances, circumstances propel heroes. Though the turning of human hearts is hard to predict, they also fear bold heroes raising the banner. If one is not cautious in thought and clear in judgment, when others add a bit of fanning the flames, hearts following momentum—what difficulty is there?”

In truth, human hearts were even worse than these chess pieces.

When a gust of wind blew past, chess pieces could still remain motionless. When a few words swept by, human hearts always swayed and fluctuated.

Jiang Xuening lowered her eyelids, vaguely comprehending something.

Some things always had to have a use before people would humbly and diligently study them.

What she learned today, she took very seriously.

Xie Wei answered questions and resolved doubts for her, teaching Go for an hour and a half. She respectfully thanked him. Because thoughts were churning like stormy seas in her heart, when leaving she didn’t notice Xie Wei’s thoughtful gaze. Just after leaving Fengchen Hall, calculating the time, she waited on the necessary path to Cining Palace. Before long, she indeed saw Xiao Dingfei coming out.

She deliberately walked past on the palace path ahead.

Xiao Dingfei saw she was alone. After thinking a moment and walking out a stretch of road, he made an excuse that he had lost something at Cining Palace he needed to find and turned back around to find Jiang Xuening.

By now the sky had darkened.

Jiang Xuening stood under the palace wall corner. Without wasting words, she got straight to the point: “Dingfei heir has mixed with marketplace people for many years. You should know some people, right? I have a matter I want to entrust you to do.”

Xiao Dingfei’s handsome long eyebrows immediately raised.

He didn’t decline at all and directly asked: “What matter?”

Jiang Xuening had him lean his ear close, saying thus and so, such and such.

Xiao Dingfei listened with great puzzlement: “What do you want to do?”

Jiang Xuening said: “You just say whether you can do it or not.”

Xiao Dingfei laughed once. How could he lose face before a beauty? Patting his chest, he said: “This matter is on me. Only…”

Jiang Xuening looked at him: “What?”

Xiao Dingfei scratched his head: “If there are many people, it’ll cost some money.”

Jiang Xuening furrowed her brow. In her mind, she calculated all the money she had in hand and thought of the several tens of thousands of taels of silver still with Xie Wei, feeling somewhat worried.

But her mind turned another corner, and her brow smoothed out again.

You Yue had been fattened for quite a while—it was time to find an opportunity to slaughter her.

She laughed once and said: “That’s simple.”