“The Lu Family is powerful, far beyond what the Ling Family can match. What is more, I am merely a helpless woman — to avoid Lu An, to wait for an opportunity to seek revenge, would be as difficult as reaching the sky. I turned it over in my mind again and again, and at last resolved to come to the capital.”
“I never imagined that on the river journey, I would encounter bandits. Nor did I imagine that afterward, I would be rescued by Your Highness. Your Highness has saved my life, and afterward bestowed upon me a calling card, allowing my brother and me to see Imperial Physician Wei at the earliest opportunity. These acts of grace, I will never forget for as long as I live.”
Ling Jingshu raised her eyes to meet the Crown Grandson’s gaze, the rims of her eyes slightly reddened, though her expression had already returned to calm: “Your Highness, this is my greatest secret — and the greatest humiliation and suffering of my life. Regardless of whether Your Highness is willing to help me, I ask only that you keep this in confidence.”
The Crown Grandson exhaled a long breath. His face was as cold and austere as a sculpture of ice, radiating a stillness that made one hold one’s breath: “Rest assured — I will keep silent as a sealed vault.”
“Many thanks, Your Highness.”
Ling Jingshu bowed properly in gratitude, quietly exhaling a breath of relief inside.
The first step had been taken. What remained ahead of her was still a great deal.
“Dealing with the Lu Family on your behalf would require little effort on my part.” The Crown Grandson had by now recovered from his shock and regained his usual sharp composure: “But why should I help you?”
The Crown Grandson fixed his gaze firmly on Ling Jingshu and slowly asked: “Or rather — for the sake of this revenge, what are you prepared to offer in exchange?”
She did not like him yet — that was of no consequence.
So long as she agreed to marry him, he would avenge her and eradicate the Lu Family root and branch. He would lavish upon her all his affection, ensuring she would want for nothing in wealth and comfort for the rest of her life.
There would be plenty of time, afterward, for her to grow fond of him.
The Crown Grandson’s gaze was intense and burning — like a hawk fixing its eyes upon its quarry.
His gaze was nakedly transparent, making no effort to conceal the thoughts behind it.
A faint sinking sensation settled in Ling Jingshu’s heart.
Fortunately, she had never underestimated this Crown Grandson’s keen and formidable mind. She had foreseen a situation precisely like this. And so she felt no panic or confusion now.
Ling Jingshu did not look away from the Crown Grandson’s gaze. She met it directly, her clear words entering the Crown Grandson’s ears one by one: “So long as Your Highness is willing to help me seek revenge and redress my grievance, from this day forward, my life belongs to Your Highness. Whatever Your Highness commands, I will obey. I am willing to walk through fire and water for Your Highness’s sake, without the slightest hesitation.”
The Crown Grandson’s expression stiffened slightly. He furrowed his brow.
Such declarations of wholehearted allegiance he had heard more times than he could count.
Ling Jingshu’s expression was resolute, her words firm — clearly spoken from the heart.
Yet this was not the answer he wanted at all.
What he wanted was her person and her heart. Not her life and her loyalty.
“The Crown Prince’s residence commands a thousand guards, and my personal attendants number five hundred. Every one of them is agile and capable, obedient to my commands, and unswerving in loyalty to me. Beyond the Crown Prince’s residence there are also many concealed guards whose identities remain hidden. They lurk in various places as informants and agents, gathering intelligence and carrying out tasks on my behalf.”
A faint, almost imperceptible thread of anger ran beneath the Crown Grandson’s voice. His words, too, took on an edge of biting sharpness: “As for the officials who privately hold allegiance to the Crown Prince’s residence — their number is beyond counting. They hold posts of varying rank in every department and bureau. A single word from me, and there are those who will file memorials and carry out affairs on my behalf.”
“You are nothing but a woman incapable of lifting so much as a basket. I cannot conceive what use accepting your pledge of allegiance would be to me in future.”
“A single airy declaration of allegiance, and you expect me to act against the entire Lu Family in return. You’ve rather overplayed your hand, haven’t you? What gives you the confidence to believe I would agree to such a laughable request?”
Toward the end, his tone verged on cutting sarcasm.
To be so mercilessly mocked and dismissed — yet Ling Jingshu neither flushed with indignant anger nor burst into tears and fled.
“Your Highness’s concerns are not without reason.” Ling Jingshu’s voice was calm. “There is nothing in this world to be had without effort, and brazen as I may be, I would never dare presume upon something so grand. I am indeed a fragile woman — no match for guards or hidden agents, and far less so for those officials. Even so, I have my own advantages.”
“Oh? What advantages?”
The sting of his earlier rejection, mingled with the resentment and unwillingness festering within him, made the Crown Grandson’s tone grow even colder and more cutting: “Are you about to say that you are beautiful — that you can bewitch men with your appearance? The Sixth Imperial Uncle, for instance?”
The moment the words left his mouth, a flicker of vexation crossed the Crown Grandson’s eyes.
Such words, directed at an unmarried young woman, were undeniably a profound insult. He had only said it just now because… because his temper had gotten the better of him, and he had spoken in anger.
And besides — Prince Yan truly was interested in her. If he refused her pledge of allegiance and she turned to Prince Yan in disappointment, what then?
The Lu Family’s influence, however extensive, was still no more than a single clan. For an imperial prince or grandson standing at such heights, eliminating the Lu Family would be no great challenge.
Given Prince Yan’s nature, to win a beauty’s favor, he would act not only faster but with far more ruthless decisiveness.
But words spoken are like water poured out — impossible to take back.
Ling Jingshu raised her eyes to look at the Crown Grandson, whose face had darkened considerably, and said quietly: “Your Highness has misunderstood. I have never had any intention of pledging allegiance to Prince Yan. From the very beginning, the person I wished to pledge allegiance to was Your Highness.”
The Crown Grandson’s expression remained unchanged, but his eyes brightened, and the corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly.
“I will not conceal it from Your Highness — Lu Ping has long since secretly aligned himself with Prince Yan, and the Lu Family are also considered among Prince Yan’s followers. If I wish to seek revenge and move against the Lu Family, it would be entirely impossible for me to approach Prince Yan.”
Ling Jingshu continued: “Prince Yan would not act against his own people for the sake of a woman he barely knows. Once word of something like that spread, it would cost him greatly in the hearts of others. Prince Yan is ambitious and calculating — he could not possibly commit such a foolish act of self-sabotage. And were Prince Yan to hint at anything to Lu Ping, not only would I fail to exact my revenge, but I would also alert my quarry and drive him to ground.”
“And so I have always kept Prince Yan at a respectful distance, with no thought whatsoever of seeking his patronage.”
The corners of the Crown Grandson’s lips twitched a few times; a quiet sound, barely perceptible, escaped him — something between a scoff and a laugh. “You’ve given the matter quite thorough consideration.”
Whether that was ridicule or approval — or perhaps both at once — was impossible to say.
Ling Jingshu composed herself and replied evenly: “I am a woman alone, with neither allies nor backing. Yet I refuse to submit to being humiliated, and I want revenge — so naturally I must rack my brains and think things through with particular care.”
“You are far too modest.”
The Crown Grandson seemed to recall something and suddenly smiled: “If you were truly a fragile woman, there would probably not be another woman in the world possessing such tenacity of spirit.”
The Ling Jingshu who had stood unmovable in a hail of arrows, seizing the instant a bandit was wounded to strike him down with the blade in her hand — how could she possibly be a fragile woman?
The Ninth Young Miss of the Ling Family — sharp-witted and composed, never once bowing before the powerful — how could she be compared to those daughters of great families who spent their days composing verses and painting?