“Next time, this Prince will examine Your Highness’s wounds personally.”

Recalling his meaningful words from the afternoon in the rear hall of Chongwen Hall, Zhao Yān nervously pinched the edge of her sleeve.

She hadn’t expected Wenren Lin to be true to his word and come.

The door closed behind her, and Zhao Yān smelled the clean woody fragrance on Wenren Lin’s clothes.

She stepped back half a pace, leaning against the door as she said hoarsely, “I’ve already done as the Grand Tutor instructed. There’s no need for an examination, and it’s… inconvenient.”

Today’s matters should be completed today. It’s merely examining the lessons missed at noon. What’s inconvenient about that?”

At this point, Wenren Lin’s voice paused subtly.

As if understanding something, he lowered his gaze and withdrew his hand, amusement spreading in his eyes: “…What did Your Highness think I was going to examine?”

His tone was casual, deliberately drawn out low and slow.

Zhao Yān couldn’t hide her embarrassment. Before her cheeks could flush, she dodged around Wenren Lin and walked to the desk, sitting down properly behind it.

…

…

Her movement was slightly too large, and she frowned almost imperceptibly before disguising it by picking up a brush, pretending to concentrate on copying the unfinished article, forgetting even to moisten the ink.

A shadow fell before her as Wenren Lin walked over and took the purple brush with its unsteady tip from her hand.

Wenren Lin bent over from behind, twirling the brush between his well-formed fingers before hanging it back on the brush rack. “Did you apply the medicine properly?”

With her hands now empty, Zhao Yān uncomfortably curled her fingertips and said softly, “I did.”

Zhao Yān choked, looked away, and said, “It’s already better.”

That momentary avoidance of eye contact didn’t escape Wenren Lin’s notice.

Looking again at her slightly stiff posture, he understood.

Wenren Lin slowly withdrew his hand, his voice lowering slightly, “Go to the couch.”

Thanks to yesterday’s detoxification, Zhao Yān now instinctively became nervous whenever she heard words like “bed” or “couch.”

She blinked hesitantly, sitting rigidly without moving, fully embodying the ostrich mentality of hiding one’s head in the sand.

Wenren Lin took a piece of cotton cloth and casually wiped his hands. “Tomorrow, when entering the palace to see the Emperor, I fear His Majesty will again ask which lady caught my eye at the flower-pinning banquet.”

He looked up, his implication clear: “Does Your Highness think I should answer truthfully?”

Zhao Yān immediately stood up, walked to the couch in a few steps, and sat down promptly, without a moment’s hesitation.

She pinched her fingers, outwardly obedient and gentle, but her eyes nearly sparked with fire as she gritted her teeth and thought: Fine, I know you’re holding leverage over me! No need to bring it up at every opportunity to threaten me!

Hearing the movement on the couch, Wenren Lin’s smile deepened at the corner of his lips. Methodically, he wiped his hands clean before opening a brocade box he had brought with him.

The box was lined with soft silk, with a faint lustrous glow emanating from within.

Zhao Yān tried to look more carefully, but Wenren Lin had already carried the box around the carved moon gate, lifting the curtain to ask, “Do you still have that medicine?”

Zhao Yān remained silent for a moment, then took out the small white jade medicine box hidden in her sleeve, holding it in her slender fingers.

Wenren Lin smiled, casually pulled over a round chair from beside the small table, sat down in front of Zhao Yān, and gently placed the brocade box on the bedside table.

In the warm light of the gauze lamp, Zhao Yān made out several smooth jade rods in the box, about a finger long and as thick as a little finger, with a pure color without any impurities.

“When I saw Your Highness leave at noon, your gait was still somewhat stiff, so I figured you couldn’t bring yourself to apply the medicine properly. Coincidentally, there was a piece of high-quality soft jade in the prince’s storehouse, extremely smooth and delicate. Thinking Your Highness might need it for healing, I ground it and brought it.”

Zhao Yān was wondering how jade rods could help with healing when she saw Wenren Lin calmly take one from the box, while his other hand took the medicine box from Zhao Yān’s hand, placed it on the table, and opened it with one hand…

Zhao Yān suddenly widened her eyes—these jade rods… they couldn’t be what she was thinking, could they?!

All that talk about examining lessons, he came prepared!

Wenren Lin turned his face and looked at the fully dressed Zhao Yān.

Zhao Yān pressed her knees together, trying to resist: “I’ll do it myself.”

“If Your Highness were willing to let others see you in this state, you wouldn’t have delayed until now.”

Wenren Lin’s voice was both light and deep, cutting straight to the point. “No matter how considerate the palace maid is, she is still from Kunning Palace.”

Zhao Yān felt as if her carefully maintained dignity had been seen through instantly, revealing her awkward and flustered interior.

She was the legitimate princess of the Great Xuan, with her pride. The deep pain felt like a mockery of her incompetence; she couldn’t face it directly or admit her failure.

She was accustomed to processing emotions alone and had never thought of relying on anyone, not even Liu Ying.

Zhao Yān’s eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings as she gripped her clothing tighter.

Even though she had already been intimate with Wenren Lin, she still couldn’t overcome the psychological barrier.

Yesterday, she had been tricked and wasn’t in her right mind, naturally losing her sense of propriety and shame. But now, what would this honest exchange amount to?

Seeing that she made no further move for a long time, Wenren Lin’s gaze moved from her restrained jade-like face downwards to her tightly clenched, whitened knuckles.

It seemed as if one more word would bring tears to her eyes.

She had just bathed and was wearing a thin, loose spring garment. Instead of a formal belt at her waist, she had loosely tied a four-finger-wide moon-white silk sash.

Wenren Lin raised a finger to hook the silk sash’s knot and gently pulled.

Zhao Yān was startled as her waist garments instantly loosened.

She thought Wenren Lin had run out of patience and was going to act directly. Just as her heart began racing chaotically, Wenren Lin merely placed the untied waist sash gently on the back of her hand.

“This Prince is holding medicine and is not very convenient. May I trouble Your Highness to blindfold me?”

Seeing Zhao Yān’s surprise, he leaned back in the chair leisurely and explained for once, “This Prince is not a lustful person. Getting entangled with Your Highness in confusion was truly an accident. Your Highness need not guard against me like a thief. What should be seen, this Prince has already seen; what Your Highness doesn’t wish this Prince to see… this Prince has no interest in.”

He spoke so frankly and calmly, as if Zhao Yān’s anxiety and loss over the past two days were merely unnecessary worry.

Zhao Yān finally raised her stiff arm, grabbed the waist sash, and knelt upright.

Wenren Lin cooperated by leaning forward, gently closing his eyes.

Though it was a submissive gesture, on him it had a distinct air of inviolable purity.

Zhao Yān pursed her lips and placed the moon-white silk sash over his deep-set eyes, tying it at the back of his head.

Fearing gaps in the silk sash, she deliberately tied an extra knot with force, causing Wenren Lin to let out a muffled groan as he raised an eyebrow and said, “Your Highness seems intent on revenge, trying to strangle this Prince.”

I wish I could.

Zhao Yān secretly lamented: Too bad I can’t win. I fear that before I could get the sash around his neck, he would already have snapped my life away.

After a slight rustling sound, Wenren Lin, blindfolded by the silk sash, tilted his head slightly: “Ready?”

Zhao Yān, sitting at the edge of the couch, nodded, then realized Wenren Lin couldn’t see and softly made an “mm” sound.

Wenren Lin held the jade rod coated with ointment in one hand while the other reached forward to touch Zhao Yān’s ankle, then traced upward along her calf.

His palm was rather large with extremely long joints, yet unlike a scholar’s elegant hand. The slightly protruding tendons on the back of his hand gave it a powerful appearance, as if he could effortlessly control everything.

Zhao Yān unconsciously fell backward, quickly bending her elbow to support herself.

Wenren Lin suddenly paused his movement, as if encountering an obstacle.

He frowned slightly and said in a low voice, “Relax a bit.”

Zhao Yān remained silent.

Although Wenren Lin couldn’t see, her vision was very clear. The gentle sensation made it difficult for her to distinguish between the soft jade and Wenren Lin’s fingers applying the medicine.

In this situation, she found it hard to think of ways to relax; the more uncertain she felt, the more tense she became.

Wenren Lin also noticed this—continuing like this would make it impossible to apply the medicine successfully.

“Doesn’t it hurt when Your Highness is so tense?” he asked.

Zhao Yān held back for a while before retorting, “The pain is the Grand Tutor’s fault.”

Wenren Lin laughed, and though blindfolded, he accurately faced Zhao Yān’s direction, his gaze seemingly penetrating the silk sash.

“This Prince is wronged.”

He deliberately slowed his tone and said, “At that time, Your Highness was deeply poisoned, concerned only with swaying left and right. If not for this Prince’s support, Your Highness would probably be in too much pain to get out of bed now.”

Hearing the teasing in his words, Zhao Yān became angry with embarrassment. In her anger, she forgot to humble herself and instinctively kicked out.

Wenren Lin accurately caught her slender ankle with a raised hand and, taking advantage of her moment of surprise, pushed…

Zhao Yān felt a slight coolness, followed by warmth as the medicinal oil melted, without the awkward discomfort she had imagined.

“Your Highness is young, thin-skinned, and always feels that submitting to others… especially someone with as notorious a reputation as this Prince, is something hard to face directly.”

Wenren Lin faced the warm candlelight, his high nose and thin lips increasingly prominent under the concealing silk sash, and said, “When a person is starving, they must eat. Without food, they chew on roots and bark. If even tree bark is gone…”

He paused, his voice becoming vast and distant: “Even if it’s rotting corpses or snakes, they will close their eyes and desperately stuff them into their stomachs. Similarly, when Your Highness was poisoned and life was in danger, you had to find ways to detoxify. The will to survive exists in everyone. Having done what needed to be done, what is there to be ashamed of?”

Wenren Lin spoke of horrifying metaphors in a calm tone, but Zhao Yān keenly noticed the faint mockery interwoven in his words, as if he were recounting something he had personally experienced.

She quieted down, trying to discern something from Wenren Lin’s face.

But in the warm light, that face, half-covered by the silk sash, remained flawless as jade, showing no ripples of emotion.

Wenren Lin withdrew his hand and felt around the table. His index and middle fingers were still stained with a striking red.

Zhao Yān’s eyelid twitched as she guessed he wanted to wipe his hands. She hurriedly dressed properly and moved the cotton cloth from the corner of the table closer to his fingertips.

This time, Wenren Lin found it, took it, and leisurely wiped his knuckles clean before removing the silk sash from his eyes.

Upon suddenly encountering the warm light, he uncomfortably narrowed his eyes for a while before opening them to look at the “young boy” sitting properly on the couch, wrapped in blankets.

Her cheeks still retained a faint blush, and her eyes, due to restraint, appeared moist and rippling, as if all the damp spring emotions had gathered in her eyes, making her especially moving.

Wenren Lin couldn’t help reaching out again, gently covering the distracting tear mole at the corner of her eye.

Just as Zhao Yān blinked, wondering about the meaning of this sudden gesture, Wenren Lin suddenly moved closer.

“This jade should be kept in overnight, only to be removed when all the medicinal properties have been absorbed. However, given Your Highness’s special condition, one hour will suffice.”

He asked in an extremely low breath, “Would Your Highness like this Prince to stay and help?”

“No need!”

The resolute tone alone wasn’t enough; Zhao Yān also shook her head vigorously.

Wenren Lin was in excellent spirits and again displayed his usual deep, unfathomable smile. Rising, he stuffed the used cloth into Zhao Yān’s hand, his fingertips brushing her palm.

“Then Your Highness should remember the position for applying the medicine.”

With that, he arranged his robes, lifted the curtain to leave, picked up a brush to write a line of commentary on her unfinished article, and departed.

Zhao Yān was truly curious about what he had written in her article. After he left the hall, she eagerly put on her shoes, got off the couch, and leaned over the desk to see. Two lines of bold, free-flowing red commentary read:

Once in the morning and once in the evening. Stop using the soft jade in the box when finished.]

“…”

Zhao Yān’s breath hitched as she threw the “defiled” article, along with the cotton cloth in her hand, into a copper basin of clear water. She even stirred it angrily until all traces had completely disappeared.

But angry as she was, Zhao Yān had to admit that the wounds, both inside and out, where medicine had been applied, truly no longer hurt.

It was a rare, peaceful night of sound sleep without dreams.

The next day, she woke up refreshed, and even Liu Ying praised her: “Your Highness looks much better today.”

The morning spring rain was bright, with fallen red petals covering the ground. When she arrived punctually at Chongwen Hall, the rain had just cleared, leaving a blue sky. The accumulated rainwater on the eaves glittered in the sunlight.

Zhao Yān’s sharp eyes noticed an additional thick wool rug on her seat. Kneeling on it felt like sitting on clouds, extremely comfortable.

Presumably, Liu Ying, seeing her physical discomfort, had ordered Li Fu to add a thick rug in advance. Zhao Yān didn’t investigate further and focused her attention on her studies.

Zhou Ji remained absorbed in researching Confucian political theories, while Wenren Lin taught chess strategies and military tactics. Apart from occasional glances that made Zhao Yān somewhat self-conscious, everything seemed normal as usual.

At the end of the day’s lessons, Wenren Lin called Zhao Yān aside.

Zhao Yān’s heart skipped a beat, already having a bad premonition, but she calmly turned and asked, “Does the Grand Tutor have other matters?”

Wenren Lin leaned back in his chair, flipping through the policy essay she had submitted, imitating Zhao Yǎn’s writing style, and casually asked, “The jade from last time, did Your Highness find it satisfactory?”

His tone wasn’t heavy, but Zhao Yān still felt his voice was too loud.

Her eyelashes trembled, and she instinctively glanced back at Pei Sa, who was arranging the desk.

“It’s already been used up,” Zhao Yān lowered her head, her voice so faint it was barely audible.

Wenren Lin nodded slightly, his fingertips turning another page: “If it’s used up, remember to return it to this Prince.”

What?

It needs to be… returned?!

Zhao Yān was stunned, not knowing how to refuse this awkward topic, when she saw amusement in Wenren Lin’s eyes.

She knew he was deliberately doing this. It was as if he had caught Zhao Yān’s pigtail and needed to tug it every so often.

Just as he had said, with such leverage in his hand, Zhao Yān had to be cautious. From now on, she could only live under his shadow, following his lead.

But even a clay figure has some temper, let alone Zhao Yān, who was never one to submit meekly.

“People living in this world all have weaknesses and shortcomings.”

She endured her anger, her voice taking on a stubborn calmness, “I only pray that the Grand Tutor remains forever powerful and ruthless, never experiencing illness, decline, or being at another’s mercy.”

Zhao Yān had been under his thumb for so long that she felt resentful and spoke carelessly.

But Wenren Lin’s hand paused as he was flipping through the article, and the amusement in his eyes gradually faded.

Though his face remained the same, elegant and handsome, Zhao Yān could keenly sense that the atmosphere had stiffened, as if even the air had congealed.

She didn’t know which words she had said wrong, touching Wenren Lin’s raw nerve, only instinctively stepping back under the pressure of his scrutinizing gaze.

“Prince Su.”

An old eunuch from the Taiji Palace entered the hall with small steps, timely breaking the silence in the hall. Wiping his sweat, he said, “Your Highness, the Emperor summons you to the Taiji Palace immediately.”

Zhao Yān quickly seized the opportunity, made a student’s bow to the seated man, and hastily excused herself.

Wenren Lin raised his hand, gesturing for the old eunuch to withdraw first.

Looking at Zhao Yān’s slender retreating figure, Wenren Lin’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

After a long while, he let out a low sneer: He had endured the pain of poison to act as her antidote, yet she was thinking of exposing his weaknesses.

Huh, little ingrate.

If she truly caught hold of his weakness, could she still live?