“Then what do you want?” The young lady opened her mouth to cry. “This is all I can give you…”

“I don’t want anything,” Jing Hengbo said intimately. “You snatched away my fiancé, so I have to follow along to break off the engagement with him first, then officiate your wedding.”

“Ah, you’re that woman who competed with me in bidding.” The young lady sobbed. “I didn’t want to steal your man. I don’t want him anymore, you can take him back.”

“Hey, do you think I’m a madam? Taking back second-hand goods?” Jing Hengbo shook her head. “No, no. People must take responsibility for their actions. You snatched him back, but he can’t marry anyone else now. Who knows if you’ve taken advantage of him? Anyway, I don’t want him anymore. I’ll just give him to you. I’ll officiate your wedding, and you can happily enter the bridal chamber, okay?”

“No!” The young lady wailed under her palm. “I didn’t even see what he looks like clearly!”

“Then why did you want to snatch him? Just to spite me? But I remember you wanted to snatch him first. Are you spiting me, or spiting someone else?”

The young lady suddenly stopped moving, her eyelashes fluttering twice. Jing Hengbo immediately felt the edge of her palm getting wet.

She sighed.

As expected, she hadn’t guessed wrong.

Another foolish woman trapped by love.

“Wah wah wah wah wah…” The waterworks opened, and Jing Hengbo felt tears gushing over her palm. In the blink of an eye, even her sleeve cuffs were wet.

She had to let go, otherwise she worried her entire outfit would be unwearable soon.

She put away the candied hawthorn and bit it with relish, crossing her legs as she watched the street scenery while eating—let her cry. A little girl immersed in her own sorrow had no energy to harm others.

“How could he treat me like this…” The little girl cried more sadly, weeping like a pear blossom in rain, trembling all over. Unable to sit still, she simply collapsed onto Jing Hengbo’s knees.

“Wah wah wah I’ve liked him for so many years…”

“Wah wah wah can matters of the heart be yielded, can they be yielded…”

Jing Hengbo held up her candied hawthorn, staring wide-eyed at that sobbing little head, thinking how could the adults at home dare let someone so naive out with such inexperience?

She must have snuck out.

Meeting her boyfriend in a teahouse, negotiations failed, and in a fit of pique to provoke her boyfriend, she did this man-snatching thing. But he remained unmoved, leaving the little girl heartbroken and disappointed, feeling abandoned by the whole world, now crying her grievances to a female bandit on her knees.

The beginning was cliché, the ending absurd.

She sighed and tapped the girl’s head with her candied hawthorn. “Men are creatures with hearts hard as iron. When they decide they don’t want you, crying your heart out is useless. Get up quickly, you’re getting my pants all wet.”

“Wah wah wah wah he does like me, he must like me…” The little girl refused to get up, even rubbing into her embrace.

Jing Hengbo held her forehead—she regretted this carriage ride. Carriages just clashed with her fate.

“Wah wah wah I’m getting married soon, there won’t be another chance, and he still won’t give me a straight answer…” The little girl’s tears were like a faucet, splashing all over her chest. “I even shamelessly mentioned eloping, and he’s still acting dead…”

“Elope my ass! How many good endings have elopements ever had? If a man doesn’t dare marry you when you’re wealthy, would he fall in love with your pitiful appearance when you’re down and out? What kind of logic is that!” Jing Hengbo waved her candied hawthorn and crunched down viciously.

“Hey…” The little girl raised her tear-stained face from her embrace, sniffling. “What’s that fragrance on you? It smells so good. Tell me what brand of fragrant powder it is. I feel this scent is particularly captivating…”

Jing Hengbo immediately slapped her off her knees.

Had she encountered a lesbian?

“No, that’s not it…” The little girl understood her look and said coyly. “I asked him why he likes to frequent brothels and taverns. He said he likes the scent of mature women. Your kind of scent should belong to mature women, right…”

Jing Hengbo almost threw her candied hawthorn at the girl’s head.

She even loved scumbags!

Had she no self-respect left!

She hadn’t boarded the carriage to save Yi Qi, but purely because she’d caught a glimpse of that man in the teahouse—the guy who had eavesdropped on the ancestral hall roof last night and pushed her off. She wanted to come over and ask who that person was.

Now she not only wanted to know who that person was, but also wanted to drag him out for a beating.

“What’s your lover’s name?” she asked with a sweet smile.

“Why are you asking that?” The little girl immediately became wary. When it came to her beloved man, even her intelligence instantly increased considerably.

Jing Hengbo shrugged—women drowning in love, when you use your intelligence on men, your own IQ hits rock bottom.

“I’m the proprietress of Night Fragrance,” Jing Hengbo winked. “Your lover might well be a regular customer at our establishment. If you really want him, I’ll help you catch him next time, wash him clean and send him to your bed.”

“What are you saying?” Unexpectedly, the young lady immediately frowned, looking unable to bear listening. “What is Night Fragrance? Yifan goes to places with high taste and elegance, the finest in Chong’an like Drunken Dream Tower and Yixian Residence. The establishments have talented and beautiful ladies, refined women who compose poetry and drink wine together. Not the kind of… kind of…” Her face reddened as she glared fiercely at Jing Hengbo.

But Jing Hengbo wasn’t listening at all—she was lost in thought.

Yifan… Yifan… This name sounded so familiar, where had she heard it?

The carriage suddenly stopped. There were footsteps outside, and the coachman went to greet them. Jing Hengbo heard the familiar sharp sound of iron armor and weapons clashing.

She lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and immediately saw the towering gate studded with copper nails across from them, along with endless blue-gray walls extending in her vision.

The familiar architecture made her fingers pause.

Then she turned her head, stared at the young lady, and slowly said, “You wouldn’t be Princess Hewan, would you?”

…

On the long street, the crowd gradually dispersed. Zirui and Yong Xue looked uneasily at the empty space beside them, helplessly looking at each other and sighing.

Having a master who could teleport was truly the sorrow of all subordinates.

Yelu Qi and Tian Qi squeezed over, neither showing any anxiety.

“That carriage is a royal carriage,” Tian Qi said.

“That young lady is Princess Hewan,” Yelu Qi said. “It’s fine. Hewan doesn’t know martial arts and has a good temperament. Though somewhat spoiled, she’s essentially a kind woman. Hengbo won’t be in danger.”

“I’m afraid Princess Hewan might be in danger…” Tian Qi muttered.

That Jing Hengbo fellow was acting unpredictably now. Everyone felt uncertain.

“Hengbo isn’t someone who acts recklessly,” Yelu Qi had confidence. After a pause, he added meaningfully, “Even if she harbors resentment, she knows where grievances originate and debts are owed. I trust she’s always maintained her composure.”

Tian Qi looked at him and smiled with ill intent.

Yelu Qi felt slight bitterness in his heart, but his face remained impassive as he slowly clasped his hands behind his back. “Tomorrow is the palace banquet for the princess’s engagement…”

…

The carriage passed through almost no inspection, directly entering the palace gates.

From the posture and expressions of the guards along the road, Princess Hewan was indeed as she had guessed—with extremely high status in the palace.

Jing Hengbo remembered Yelu Qi saying this princess was the Xiang King’s only daughter. It was said that before her birth, Xiang Kingdom suffered great drought with no rain for three months. The entire nation tried every method to pray for rain unsuccessfully. Just when great disaster loomed, the princess was born. The moment she cried out, a torrential rain fell upon Xiang Kingdom’s land.

The Xiang King was overjoyed. This rain came so timely, it could prevent total crop failure and save countless lives. He immediately petitioned Emperor Song to grant the princess a title. So while daughters of the six kingdoms’ rulers could normally only be called princesses by birth, this one received an imperial princess title.

Raised in the deep palace and carefully protected, this woman was innocent and naive, unaware of worldly matters. Having one romance made her think it was earth-shattering, the whole world.

Dealing with such an inexperienced little girl, Jing Hengbo felt half her brain would be sufficient.

Before the carriage even stopped at the princess’s Mingxi Palace, Jing Hengbo had already heard the entire story.

Simply put, it was a melodramatic love triangle.

Oh, with some inappropriate elements too.

The young princess met a graceful youth at a palace banquet and fell deeply in love, only to later learn he was her uncle.

Ji family’s legitimate son, seventh young master Ji Yifan, was Queen Ji’s youngest brother. Princess Hewan was born to Noble Consort Hui. From blood relations, she had no connection to this convenient uncle, but according to propriety, she was truly a generation lower.

Ji Yifan naturally didn’t dare challenge feudal propriety. For this reason he repeatedly avoided her, even playing among flowers and living dissolutely, not hesitating to gain the reputation of a dissolute playboy in the capital, hoping to make Hewan heartbroken and retreat, seeking another good man.

The good man finally appeared—the Xiang Kingdom ruler chose the equally talented and noble Yong Xizheng for Hewan, also from a great family, outstanding in ability, with a fine reputation throughout Chong’an.

Hewan naturally refused. On the eve of the engagement banquet, she ran out of the palace court and desperately met with Ji Yifan. She even mentioned eloping, but Ji Yifan simply refused. Jing Hengbo had seen the two arguing in the teahouse—that was when Hewan was most heartbroken and disappointed.

In desperation, she made that public bidding and man-snatching spectacle, not knowing if she wanted to provoke Ji Yifan or herself.

Hewan cried while talking, using a basketful of handkerchiefs to wipe her nose and tears. She moved herself to tears, crying until heaven and earth grew dark.

Jing Hengbo lay on the reclining chair yawning, eating through a whole table of snacks.

But her mind didn’t stop working. While eating, she thought. By the time she’d cleaned the plates and bowls, a preliminary plan had formed.

Fei Luo wanted to kill Yong Xizheng and frame Ji Yifan.

Hewan didn’t want to marry Yong Xizheng—she wanted to marry Ji Yifan.

She wanted to deal with Fei Luo and gain benefits from this affair. Whether it was framing or marriage didn’t matter—it just depended on how much benefit she could gain.

The key to the problem was still Hewan and this palace banquet. After the palace banquet, the marriage would be announced to the world and become final, never to be reversed.

From a standpoint perspective, if Hewan and Yong Xizheng married and Yong Xizheng gained the position of Grand Chancellor, this would be a blow to Fei Luo. She just needed to facilitate it.

However… Jing Hengbo glanced at Hewan. The girl had stopped crying and showed a determined expression. Her watery eyes moved quickly—anyone could tell she was probably plotting some wicked scheme.

Jing Hengbo knew this girl wasn’t stupid. When she’d collapsed onto her knees earlier, she’d had a close-fitting knife hidden in her sleeve.

Of course, she also had a knife in her sleeve, placed at the girl’s neck. Hewan’s knife might not be able to stab her to death, but her knife could definitely sever a beauty’s neck with one stroke.

Jing Hengbo flicked her fingers, feeling uneasy about not following this girl before the palace banquet.

“Your situation truly moves me beyond measure.” She sighed, striking her fist into her palm. “Nothing more to say—how can I watch such a heaven-moving, earth-shaking, ghost-shocking peerless tragic love wither before my eyes? I will definitely help you!”

“I knew you were a righteous woman! You’ll definitely fight injustice and help me!” Hewan joyfully hugged her arm. “That fiancé of yours I kidnapped into the palace—I’ll release him immediately.”

“It’s fine, keep him locked up!” Jing Hengbo waved dismissively. “Keep him locked up longer! Less worry!”

…

In a pitch-black dark room, Yi Qi lay on the bed with his legs crossed, shouting triumphantly, “You can keep me locked up—soon my fiancée will come riding auspicious clouds to rescue me…”

…

The “fiancée” slept in bedding embroidered with auspicious clouds, enjoying the warmth from the brazier, eating snacks while chatting with her new best friend.

With her cunning and eloquence, becoming best friends with the little girl was truly a matter of minutes. After Jing Hengbo helped reshape her eyebrows, the little girl considered her a life-and-death companion.

Hewan wore snow-white sleeping clothes, lying in the bedding with a curved snow-white arm exposed, chatting with Jing Hengbo without any sleepiness.

Jing Hengbo wasn’t used to sharing a bed with others, but the girl clung to her and wouldn’t let go. Jing Hengbo also worried about being unsafe alone in Xiang Kingdom’s palace, so she agreed. She had laughingly asked Hewan, “How can you trust me so much at first meeting? Aren’t you afraid I’ll slaughter you in the middle of the night?” The girl had answered triumphantly: “I met a master when I was little. He said I’d have villains causing trouble before age sixteen and gave me a protective pearl. This pearl has a special property—if others have malicious killing intent, it shows strange colors. If I encounter someone destined to help me, it glows with magnificent radiance. When I first met you, the pearl didn’t show strange colors.” She pulled out the pearl strung on silk rope around her neck to show Jing Hengbo, then suddenly said “Eh?” in surprise. “Why did it change color?”

Jing Hengbo was also startled, thinking she had no killing intent—why did it change color? Could scheming also count as malice?

Looking again, she nearly went blind—the pearl blazed with magnificent radiance, glowing brilliantly like a night-shining pearl.

Jing Hengbo quickly shielded her eyes. “Hey hey, I know your pearl is awesome, but don’t blind me, okay?”

Hewan said dazedly, “Ah, pearl shining white light, a destined helper nearby… In all these years, this is the first time I’ve seen the pearl emit such light…” She looked at Jing Hengbo incredulously. “My destined helper… is it you?”

“How is that possible!” Jing Hengbo laughed. “I’m just an ordinary commoner, while you’re a princess. How could I be your destined helper? With your status, who else could be called your destined helper?”

“That’s true too.” Hewan put away the pearl and lay back in the bedding, staring blankly for a while before suddenly saying, “Actually, there are many people in this world more noble than me. But looking at those noble people, most are fat and incompetent, holding positions while doing nothing, occupying high ranks only for personal gain. Their nobility is only in status, not character.”

Jing Hengbo was quite surprised this girl could say such things. She smiled and reached out to stroke her hair.

“But among the noble people, there are some I respect and admire…” Hewan was getting sleepy, her voice gradually lowering. “For instance, I particularly admire Her Majesty the Queen…”

Jing Hengbo’s hand stroking her hair paused.

After a moment she heard herself laugh lightly. “Queen Mingcheng?”

This name came out quite calmly.

“Of course not, what is she?” Hewan immediately woke up, saying intensely, “Honestly, if she hadn’t pulled those stunts back then and recently again, I’d simply forget her era name.” She pursed her lips. “She’s no good at anything else, but she’s quite skilled at conspiracies and schemes.”

“That Her Majesty the Queen you admire,” Jing Hengbo said casually, “surely isn’t that unlucky queen who was recently exiled.”

“Don’t call her unlucky!” Hewan reacted even more intensely than before, sitting up abruptly and glaring at her. “She only lacks opportunity! She’ll make a comeback!”

Jing Hengbo raised her lip corners, quietly watching this sixteen-year-old girl’s excited, flushed face. She was truly like those celebrity fans from that lifetime, resolutely defending her idol’s dignity. But did she deserve to be this idol?

“Why do you admire her? She’s just a failure.” She scratched her face and yawned. “Why do you think she’ll make a comeback? She’s already fallen to the bottom, has nothing, can never even return to Emperor Song.”

“I’ve admired her for a long time, since hearing about her performance at the Welcoming Ceremony.” Hewan said yearningly. “Xiang Kingdom is closest to Emperor Song, so details of the Welcoming Ceremony reached here quickly. At that time, everyone in the entire palace court was admiring her. A woman, moreover one brought back from Da Yan, a woman without roots or foundation, actually managed to break through history and pass the Welcoming Ceremony alone, even angering those sour old scholars unconscious—truly inspiring!” She was animated with joy. “You know, the officials of Emperor Song’s Ritual Ministry are hated by all six kingdoms and eight tribes. When I first went to Emperor Song to pay respects to the queen, just for the angle of one bow, they corrected me for three whole days! Nearly gave me back problems! Originally that ritual could be waived, but of course,” she sneered, “Queen Mingcheng wouldn’t waive it. Her lifetime glory all lies in these rituals—how could she miss the chance to show off before us?”

“Just for that?” Jing Hengbo lazily turned over, looking at the exceptionally bright moon outside.

“Of course not only that. This just made us take notice.” Hewan said with great interest. “Later the Priest Tower was destroyed overnight, the queen destroyed divine artifacts with a wave, century-old wealthy families destroyed with a snap of fingers, collecting lightning to toy with powerful ministers—all good enough to write into storybooks. Most importantly, behind these seemingly supernatural events was the queen’s efforts to gain dignity and status. Throughout all dynasties, few could independently pass the Welcoming Ceremony, and she was the first to dare challenge thousand-year customs before even ascending the throne, fighting for the right to participate in court politics!”

“So what?” Jing Hengbo laughed heartily. “She exposed her ambition too early, so she was defeated.”

“You can’t say that. Many knowledgeable people in the country believe that in such circumstances, the queen’s ability to preserve her life can’t be considered defeat—the people’s hearts are with her.” Hewan disagreed. “Do you know what I admire most about her? Whether destroying the Sang family or gaining the right to hold court, ultimately those were her own affairs. But the Liuli Workshop fire carriage incident—she risked herself to save civilians, daring to choose crashing into Cheng Yaozu to protect the people in that crisis. This heart that fears no powerful people and values only people’s livelihood—how many under heaven can achieve this?”

Jing Hengbo smiled—at that time she hadn’t thought so much. As a modern person, she naturally treated all lives equally. In emergency situations, choosing the option with least harm was what modern people would inevitably choose in crisis. If she had known then that she ultimately couldn’t save Cheng Yaozu and would have such tragic consequences, would she still have insisted on saving people? Searching her heart, she didn’t know either.

“How hateful that my father and the others still think the queen saving civilians at Liuli Workshop was foolish—a few common people dying wasn’t her responsibility. Offending the Kanglong Army for this, leading to inability to establish herself in Emperor Song, was really not worthwhile at all.” Hewan grew angrier as she spoke. “A bunch of politicians! Despots! Old fossils!”

Jing Hengbo laughed heartily, patting her like a little dog. “Sleep now.”

Hewan lay down huffily, tossing in the bedding and mumbling, “Regardless, what kind of person she is—I know, she knows, and all the common people under heaven know. In the future…” She sat up again, clenching her fists. “I must become someone like her.”

“Be careful not to die without knowing where.” Jing Hengbo yawned and pulled her back into the bedding. “Alright, stop making grand aspirations. Aspirations are like hemorrhoids—pushing too hard will cause bleeding… Mm, who else do you admire?”

She only wanted to change the subject, but heard the girl immediately say in a dreamy voice, “The State Preceptor!”

Jing Hengbo’s hand paused again, quickly withdrawing. This time she didn’t even want to ask which State Preceptor, immediately turning around. “Sleep now. So tired.”

“How can you have no curiosity at all?” Hewan reluctantly tugged at her shoulder. “You don’t even ask which State Preceptor I mean…”

Jing Hengbo quickly snored.

“You’re so strange.” Hewan giggled behind her. “Which woman in Dahuang doesn’t feel her heart flutter when mentioning the two great State Preceptors? Hearing more news about them would be good. Only you act like this—you’re not secretly listening with perked ears, are you? Hehe, then I’ll whisper it to you. The one I respect and admire is Right State Preceptor Gong Yin…”

Jing Hengbo really wanted to grab the bedding and smother her to death.

“Rising from commoner status to control great power, in just a few years wielding power over the land, making the Jade Zhao Kanglong bow their heads, civil and military officials submit.” Hewan’s eyes sparkled. “So imposing, so fierce… But,” she shook her head, “recently my opinion of him has worsened. How could he exile the queen? A loving couple—how can they be separated like swallows? No matter how important the realm, is it more important than the beauty beside you? But my father and the others have opposite views from me again, saying Gong Yin is becoming more formidable, that real men are like iron, the realm comes first… Hmph! This is a man’s world—brothers are like hands and feet, wives are like clothes. Women—what do women count for!”

She seemed to think of herself, growing more indignant, her small fists pounding the bed frame with banging sounds.

Jing Hengbo resolutely pretended to sleep, not turning her head back.

“Such a good person as the queen, how could he bear to abandon her…” Hewan thought for a long time, her gaze becoming vacant as she murmured, “I always feel it shouldn’t be this way. I always want to ask him face to face, but soon, I’ll be able to ask him face to face…”

Jing Hengbo suddenly turned around. “What?”

“Ha, I knew you still care about the State Preceptor!” Hewan was triumphant, pointing at her and laughing. “Look how anxious you are.”

Jing Hengbo steadied herself. “What was that last sentence you said?”

Hewan stretched and lay down. As drowsiness overcame her, she said unclearly, “…Xiang Kingdom’s engagement ceremony is more important than the wedding ceremony. My father submitted a petition to Emperor Song, and the State Preceptor actually agreed to come observe the ceremony. It’s truly unprecedented…”

Her voice gradually lowered, and after a while, heavy breathing could be heard.

She had fallen asleep, but Jing Hengbo could no longer sleep.

She lay rigidly for a long while before digesting that news. She lay for another long while before her heart resumed normal beating, then lay for yet another long while… she couldn’t lie still anymore.

Getting up, she parted the gauze curtains. Outside was moonlight like water, scattered like broken silver across the wooden corridor.

She walked barefoot softly to the corridor, casually taking a cloak to drape over herself, and sat gently on the corridor. Hewan truly deserved to be the king’s most beloved daughter—the entire palace, including the corridors outside the sleeping quarters, had underfloor heating installed, warm as spring.

Jing Hengbo looked up at the bright moon in the sky, hazily remembering it was nearly the fifteenth. In another half month, it would be New Year.

The winter night moonlight was bone-chillingly cold. One glance and the chill reached her heart, as if she carried cold jade in her breast—her heartbeat and body temperature couldn’t warm it.

The dwarf trees in the palace courtyard were evergreen, lush and verdant at the moon’s edge, tinged with layers of distinct emerald.

Palace trees were planted without large ones to prevent assassins from hiding. Jingtang was different—it had continuous red maples and lush green trees, seemingly unconcerned about creatures like assassins.

Because Jingtang’s master was solid as mountain stone, looking down upon the world, needing no tree-cutting for self-protection.

Glazed body, vajra realm, taking heaven and earth’s ice and snow for his gaze.

She suddenly shivered violently, feeling a pain in her heart as fierce fire energy coursed through her limbs and bones, immediately paralyzing half her body.

Her face went pale as she cursed inwardly—the poison was acting up!

She looked around. This corridor was recessed, the princess’s bedroom terrace, surrounded by flourishing flowers and trees. The palace maids slept on the other side of the hall—no one was nearby.

No one nearby meant safety, but it also meant no help.

In her outer garment’s inner pocket was medicine the Seven Kills had given her, which could protect her heart when the poison flared and prevent damage to her heart meridians. But now, she could hardly move from the corridor to inside the room to take the medicine.

Shouting could alert others, but one’s own weakness should never be discovered by anyone. Who knew if there were ill-intentioned people nearby?

Sitting on this terrace waiting for the poison to pass was also unrealistic. Though the terrace floor was warm, it was still outside, with cold wind blowing intermittently. After a long time, in her weakened state, she would still freeze and develop problems.

She cursed herself inwardly, hating that she still couldn’t manage her emotions properly, hadn’t truly achieved a vajra mind state, completely impervious.

No, she couldn’t sit and wait for death—she had to go back and get the medicine.

She supported herself with one hand, struggling to move and trying to stand.

Her fingers suddenly froze.

Beside her fingertips, a pair of boots had suddenly appeared.

Purple-gold boots, belonging to a man, pressed tightly against her fingers. With just a slight lift, they could step on her fingers.

Jing Hengbo didn’t immediately look up, as if she hadn’t noticed yet, or as if she were very focused on studying her own fingers.

“When the enemy makes no moves, it’s best not to act rashly yourself. It’s best to confuse the opponent. When the opponent also can’t figure out what you want to do, they’ll wait too. The interval of waiting is your opportunity for self-rescue.”

In moments of encountering enemies and attacks, these teachings he had given her always flashed by, impossible to stop even if she wanted to.

She slowly gritted her teeth.

Sweeping out from her field of vision, she could see a basin of frozen pears on the windowsill.

Pears deliberately left outside to freeze were generally very hard.

Using her remaining strength, with a flash of intention, the pear on top of the basin slowly rose.

Slower than usual—in her poisoned state, she really wasn’t as good as normal.

Sweat began to seep from her forehead.

Those boots didn’t move at all, with purple-gold robe hem hanging quietly in front. The person seemed to have excellent patience.

The pear had reached above that person’s head.

Jing Hengbo slowly raised her head. In the winter night weather, sweat rolled down her head, dripping onto the wooden floor with plop-plop sounds.

The person seemed startled, saying, “You…”

At this moment!

She raised her hand.

The pear struck down like lightning!

The person raised a hand.

Caught the pear with one hand, looked at it, then crunched into it.

Jing Hengbo froze.

For an instant she wanted to vomit blood.

“You see,” the person said, eating the pear while speaking to her in a refined manner, “tonight’s moonlight is truly beautiful.”

Jing Hengbo immediately understood where the problem lay.

The moonlight was excellent, showing every detail clearly. When the pear flew above his head, it would cast an obvious shadow.

Unless he was a pig, he would notice that moving black shadow.

Jing Hengbo was exhausted and simply flopped lazily onto the ground.

“Fine,” she said, “kill me or slice me up as you please.”

The person smiled and sat cross-legged beside her, his purple-gold robe hem hanging neatly.

“What kind of martial art was that just now?” he asked.

“Remote dog-beating,” she said.

He wasn’t angry, looking thoughtful. “Telekinesis is very advanced internal martial arts. I can’t tell that at your young age, you have such inner strength.”

Jing Hengbo chuckled, without any modesty. “Understand what natural talent means?”

He looked at her complexion and said, “You have poison injuries.”

“Nonsense.”

“Very unusual poison, from the palace court, and should be the most top-level, most secret kind. Ordinary people couldn’t get poisoned by it even if they wanted to.” He said, “Your identity must be extraordinary. Someone like you, infiltrating the princess’s side—what’s your purpose?”

“Want to kill her,” she said lazily.

He seemed to laugh briefly, shaking his head. “You can’t kill her, and you never planned to kill her.”

Jing Hengbo glanced at him. He sat with his back to the light, his flowing black hair like silk, vaguely showing a refined and handsome countenance. She seemed to understand something. “You haven’t been following us the whole time, have you?”

He smiled. “Thanks to you, this is the first time I learned the princess actually has men and women she respects and admires. I never expected that at such a young age, she would have the people in her heart.”

Jing Hengbo said in surprise, “You’ve been guarding above the hall the whole time? You’ve been protecting her? You…” A flash of lightning crossed her mind. “You’re Yong Xizheng!”

He smiled without answering.

Jing Hengbo fell silent.

Seeing Hewan’s fierce resistance, she had originally thought it was just a political marriage. But on this bone-chilling winter night, Yong Xizheng personally guarded above her sleeping quarters—was he really just watching the moon from his fiancée’s rooftop?

There was a kind of protection and deep affection that couldn’t be spoken, only turning into fireworks in silence.

She suddenly felt somewhat dazed—lovers in this world, with love, anger, obsession, and resentment unpredictable. Once the red thread of fate is wrongly tied, how many tears and laughter in the mortal world are disturbed?

Yong Xizheng gazed at her. This man’s gaze was very powerful, his speech slow and clear. One could tell he was the type with exceptionally firm will. Such people were capable, ambitious, and exceptionally difficult to shake.

Jing Hengbo sighed inwardly, feeling that the matter between Hewan and Ji Yifan was becoming increasingly hopeless.

“I know you have no killing intent, otherwise I would have killed you long ago. But someone like you staying by Hewan’s side is also up to no good. Hewan is too innocent and shouldn’t be influenced by you people.” He seemed to be discussing with Jing Hengbo. “I’ve decided to send you away.”

“Send me where?”

“To Fei Luo.”

Jing Hengbo resisted the urge to suddenly raise her head, keeping her expression unchanged.

“You seem indifferent,” Yong Xizheng’s tone remained calm, as if he always trusted his own judgment, “but your breathing has changed.”

Jing Hengbo silently decided she still needed to learn how to control her breathing from the Seven Kills.

“When I can’t determine your background and don’t want to cause trouble, sending you to my political enemy is the most correct way to handle it.” He said, “Your appearance by Hewan’s side must be related to Fei Luo. Whether you’re Fei Luo’s person or her enemy, giving you to her will shock and unsettle her, throwing her into disarray. At minimum, tomorrow’s palace banquet, whatever she wants to do might be affected.”

His tone was composed, each word like cutting metal. Even as an opponent, Jing Hengbo couldn’t help but secretly praise him. Apart from those few people in Emperor Song, Yong Xizheng was the most composed person with the clearest thinking she had ever met. This person’s ability to become deputy chancellor at such a young age and make Fei Luo regard him as a formidable enemy was indeed not just due to family background and birth.

“Hewan! Hewan! Come save me quickly! Your husband is going to kill someone!” she suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.

Yong Xizheng didn’t stop her, watching her with interest.

There was no movement from inside the hall. Not only did Hewan not appear, not even the palace maids came out to look.

“I’ve sealed Hewan’s sleep acupoint. She’ll be very tired tomorrow and should rest well today.” Yong Xizheng smiled gently. “As for the palace maids, as long as I’m here, no one else is needed.”

Jing Hengbo took a breath—she hated these domineering, autocratic men!

Thinking their arrangements were imperial edicts, that women should just grovel?

She decided she must pair up the uncle and niece.

“I can’t be taken away dressed like this. Aren’t you afraid people will misunderstand?” She pointed at her undergarments.

Yong Xizheng indeed wouldn’t give her a chance to enter the hall, nor would he leave her. He said, “I’ll have someone bring your clothes out.”

Jing Hengbo wasn’t in a hurry. As long as the clothes could get close to her, she would find a way to retrieve the medicine.

Yong Xizheng clapped his hands toward the hall. In a moment, a man who looked like a eunuch walked out slowly, stood at the hall entrance, and bowed slightly to Yong Xizheng.

Jing Hengbo’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

That person…

Though like all palace maids and eunuchs, he habitually hunched his shoulders and lowered his head, his posture seemed somewhat stiff. More importantly, at the moment he appeared at the hall entrance, when Yong Xizheng had his back to the entrance and hadn’t turned around yet, she saw his posture when he first appeared.

Straight, silent, composed. When his blue-clothed figure suddenly appeared from the dark hall entrance, she actually had the illusion that the dark dust of memory was peeling away, overlapping this figure with a certain shadow.

But this feeling lasted only an instant.

Then that extremely humble eunuch posture of bending and bowing brought her back to her senses, and she couldn’t help but mock herself in her heart.

Seeing him in everyone!

Stop!

Yong Xizheng didn’t even glance at this eunuch. Someone of his type wouldn’t cast his eyes on lowly people.

“Bring this young lady’s clothes and help her dress,” he said.

The eunuch bowed and replied, then turned back into the hall. In a moment he brought out Jing Hengbo’s clothes.

Yong Xizheng stood without moving. Jing Hengbo looked at the clothes, then at him, and smiled. “You want to watch someone other than your fiancée change clothes?”

Only then did Yong Xizheng turn his face away, but he said, “Don’t play tricks. My patience may not be good.”

Jing Hengbo said breathlessly, “You be careful—I might give you a Qiankun Eight Trigrams Palm any moment.”

Yong Xizheng just smiled. The woman before him had dark circles under her eyes and a pale face, clearly with deadly poison acting up. She had difficulty even lifting a finger, yet still talked tough.

Just this composure alone showed she wasn’t a simple character.

Therefore he was even more unwilling to leave, only slightly turning his head, the corner of his eye sweeping inside and outside the entire hall.

Since Jing Hengbo was sitting cross-legged, the young eunuch knelt down in front of her.

In the moonlight his face was ordinary, eyes downcast, as if he didn’t dare look at Jing Hengbo.

“I have no strength,” Jing Hengbo smiled. “Help me put it on.”

The eunuch paused, then gently picked up the outer garment to drape over her.

His movements were gentle, seemingly extremely careful. A warm fragrance spread from his fingers. Jing Hengbo lowered her eyes and saw his snow-white fingers slowly descending by her neck, meticulously arranging the collar. A faint melancholy suddenly arose in her heart.

This posture was called tenderness.

Thinking about it, she found it amusing. She had lived twenty years and encountered various emotions, passionate as fire or cold as ice, but being treated with such tenderness seemed to be a first.

This momentary gentle posture like wind passing over water actually dispelled the last trace of doubt in her heart.

The person she knew was snow on mountain peaks, moon in the sky, not casting light upon the human world.

Moreover, this person’s nails were slightly red—it wasn’t him.

She sighed, feeling she was quite ill, becoming suspicious of everything she saw. How could she be so pathetic?

She took a breath and focused on watching the eunuch’s movements. He was now picking up the sash.

The antidote was in the sash.

Jing Hengbo smiled as she watched him, placing both hands at her waist, seemingly waiting for his help.

On her finger, the cat’s eye stone bronze ring glowed with flowing light.

The eunuch holding the sash approached her and seemed to see her ring, pausing slightly.

Jing Hengbo’s heart jumped—had this guy discovered something?

But after the pause, the eunuch’s movements returned to normal, holding the sash with both hands as he came closer.

Tying a sash was an intimate action. He leaned forward, his hands reaching around her back. A faint, warm fragrance approached. She found it hard to imagine a eunuch having such an elegant and moving scent.

His long hair fell onto her shoulder, the strands smooth as silk.

Jing Hengbo’s nose was tickled by his hair, but she didn’t dare sneeze. The ring on her hand turned, and a hidden spike protruded.

This ring had three mechanisms, this being one of them. The hidden spike contained drugs that could paralyze someone.

Yong Xizheng refused to get close to Jing Hengbo, so she had to strike at this eunuch. After paralyzing him, she could seize the antidote and also crush the pill Yi Qi had given her for protection in the sash. When crushed, the pill would release poisonous mist that could block Yong Xizheng for a moment. In that instant, she could take medicine to alleviate her condition and teleport to attack.

The two were now extremely close, and the eunuch’s back even helped block Yong Xizheng’s line of sight. It was the perfect opportunity to strike.

The hidden spike turned, about to emerge!

Yong Xizheng suddenly said, “Are you finished with your act?”

Jing Hengbo was startled, but her hand didn’t stop. She instinctively felt this wasn’t directed at her!

At the same time, the eunuch suddenly twisted his waist sideways, just avoiding her hidden spike, then pressed her shoulder and flipped her backward!

“Bang!” A loud sound as Yong Xizheng’s palm struck exactly where Jing Hengbo had been sitting, leaving a deep palm print!