After learning the general location of Tianlu Palace from Jin Zhong, Yan Xiaoying no longer mentioned the orchid and changed the subject.

If her “brother” was truly imprisoned in the isolated abandoned palace, Uncle Hai couldn’t easily appear in that area under the pretense of collecting night soil buckets.

He was elderly with slow movements, and if discovered, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

It seemed she would have to investigate personally to see if Tianlu Palace was indeed where her “brother” was imprisoned.

Exploring palaces at night was always the least desirable option, as security in the palace was actually stricter at night than during the day.

With her status as Crown Prince, as long as she avoided the inner palaces of the consorts and stayed clear of the Empress’s eyes and ears, she had more convenient access than most people. Why skulk around at night?

So, taking advantage of the scorching afternoon sun when people’s minds were sluggish, she brought some necessary items wrapped in oilskin and tucked them into her clothes. Using the excuse of taking a walk in the garden to aid digestion, and then claiming a stomachache to visit the garden’s side chamber, she employed her usual trick of jumping out the window to shake off the two guards following her.

As for how to get across, it was even simpler—since the palace wall bisected half the lake, she just needed to swim across.

There were iron gratings underwater, but Uncle Hai had already left a handy crowbar in the lakeside bushes. She pried open a gap and, relying on her slender body, squeezed through.

When Xiaoying emerged from the lake, she saw desolate, abandoned palaces all around. This place truly had been deserted for decades.

She quickly changed into clean clothes from the waterproof package she had brought to avoid leaving wet traces.

Tianlu Palace could be reached after passing through an alley blocked by iron railings.

After checking that no one was around, she nimbly scaled the railings that were twice her height. Following the stone path overgrown with weeds, turning several corners, she arrived before a palace with broken eaves and rampant vegetation.

There should have been guards at the palace entrance. They enjoyed their comforts, having placed a bench in front of the door, with clothes and teacups strewn upon it.

The guards must have gone to eat and rest and hadn’t returned yet, leaving the post empty.

Indeed, in such a desolate place, there were likely no assassins to worry about. The palace door was locked from the outside with heavy iron locks, so there was no concern about anyone breaking in. No wonder the guards dared to openly abandon their posts to slack off.

Yan Xiaoying circled around to the back of the palace wall and took out her homemade climbing rope with hooks from her inner pocket.

The rope she had pilfered from the Shao Fu storehouse, while the hooks were fashioned from garden rakes she had disassembled from the Imperial Garden.

After hooking onto the eaves, she climbed the wall as nimbly as a swallow and then spryly jumped into the palace courtyard.

Inside the walls, it was even more desolate than outside, with reed grass growing taller than a person—no one had tended to it.

When she pushed open a broken main door, a musty smell of decay hit her face. This environment was vastly different from where she had met Feng Qiyuan…

Having come to the wrong place, Yan Xiaoying decisively turned to leave.

Just then, a dark shadow flew at her from the side. Xiaoying dodged by tilting her head, and the fist landed squarely on the doorframe beside her head.

With a cracking sound, the door panel shattered, and flying splinters scratched Xiaoying’s delicate face.

Xiaoying focused and saw a strange man with matted hair, tattered clothes, and an offensive stench lunging at her.

Someone with less composure might have screamed at the sudden appearance of such a monster.

The strange man was tall and, though thin, seemed to possess innate strength, his punches landing like iron hammers or heavy axes!

If she continued to hide her skills, her head would meet those iron hammers!

Yan Xiaoying dared not be careless and could only dodge quickly. However, the man’s punches followed no pattern, completely like a crazed turtle’s fighting style.

Although she had practiced martial arts with her adoptive father since childhood, she couldn’t withstand this rain of mad attacks. If this continued until she was exhausted, she would be beaten to death.

Yan Xiaoying made a split-second decision. When the iron fist came again, she tilted her head slightly, letting it hit her hair crown. As the hairpin broke, her wet hair spread like black vines, whipping the man’s face. With his vision obscured by the tangled hair, he raised his hand to brush it away. Seizing this opportunity, Xiaoying bent down, grabbed the broken hairpin, and stabbed it hard into the attacker’s leg.

The man hadn’t expected this counterattack and grunted in pain.

Xiaoying seized the moment and, before he could recover, used a small grappling technique to circle behind him. Her slender fingers gripped his shoulder blade, and with a deft move, she dislocated his shoulder.

Even a military camp brute couldn’t withstand such bone-wrenching pain and would have cried out long ago.

But this strange man, whose face was indiscernible beneath matted hair and beard, merely grunted, the veins on his forehead bulging, and made no further sound.

Yan Xiaoying efficiently bound him with the rope she had brought and tore a piece of his collar to gag him, preventing him from calling for others.

But seeing his tight-lipped demeanor, this seemed unnecessary.

The fight had been exhausting, leaving her body sore. She simply sat down opposite the strange man to catch her breath before deciding what to do next.

By now, Yan Xiaoying’s long hair was loose and damp, clinging to her, accentuating her pretty face.

Her appearance, which should have been as delicate as a flower, was instead marked by spirited eyes and an unrestrained brow, revealing a wildness that could only be nurtured in the mountains.

The man, perhaps dazed from pain, lay motionless, his fierce eyes hidden behind tangled hair, glaring intently at the jade-like beauty before him, like a bound beast waiting to strike back.

Seeing that he neither called out nor seemed to recognize her, Yan Xiaoying redid her hair bun and asked: “Who… are you?”

When he didn’t respond, she shrugged it off and rose to survey her surroundings.

This person had strange habits! Tied to a pillar in the house was a rat with its neck clamped by a wire. In front of the rat was a plate with some food. The rat, clearly hungry, ate urgently despite its captivity.

The strange man turned his gaze toward the rat, while his stomach rumbled audibly, indicating his hunger.

Just as the rat had been eating for a while, the man suddenly shifted his body, enduring the pain to crawl toward the plate, then, like a vicious dog, wolfed down food, competing with the rat…

Yan Xiaoying had witnessed many human sufferings, but she never imagined that in this once-imperial residence, someone would be living a life worse than pigs and dogs.

She had already guessed that this person must be the mentally ill Grand Prince.

Yet this madman, bearing the title of Prince, was abandoned in this desolate palace to fend for himself with no one to care for him.

Earlier, she had noticed a three-inch square hole at the bottom of the palace gate, with oily stains around it—likely a trapdoor for delivering meals daily.

Jin Zhong had mentioned the Grand Prince’s violent tendencies. The guards probably didn’t want to risk being pummeled by the madman and could deliver food without entering or having contact.

Given the guards’ laziness, this Prince probably didn’t receive regular meals three times a day.

She noticed many small white bones in the corner of the room, rat bones by their shape, gnawed very clean.

This Grand Prince, though mad, wasn’t stupid. He knew how to raise rats as backup meals to avoid starvation.

Under the eaves were several broken vases and pottery, obviously used to collect rainwater.

Just then, with one mouthful of rice left on the plate, the man stopped his voracious eating. Instead, enduring the pain in his arm, he struggled to sit up and used his foot to push the plate to a corner.

There was a rat hole there, and this last bit of rice was bait to lure more rats for his sustenance.

Looking closely, though the courtyard was dilapidated, there were many ingeniously crafted items.

For instance, the ladle for scooping rainwater seemed to be made from a polished turtle shell. The soles of his shoes had fallen off, yet he had twisted hemp grass into ropes to reattach them. Various clubs and tools made from modified furniture leaned against the window.

This desolate palace exuded the self-reliant spirit of a mountain hermit.

Despite falling to such a state, his daily life included pots, bowls, ladles, and even meat—quite impressive in its completeness.

If he hadn’t been the madman who nearly drowned her “brother,” Xiaoying would have almost expressed admiration!

Since he was insane, there was no point in questioning the Grand Prince about the past incident of almost drowning her “brother.”

After all, like her “brother” Feng Qiyuan, he was just another pitiful person trapped within these palace walls.

While Xiaoying was exploring, she finally spotted the exotic orchid “Snow-Soaked” in a corner of the palace wall.

This orchid seemed to have received careful attention, with a lush cluster surrounded by no weeds. The orchids wound their way along, with a few plants even squeezing through cracks in the corner of the palace wall, extending outward.

A flash of inspiration hit Yan Xiaoying. She used her hook again to climb the palace wall, straining to climb up a section to peer over to the other side.

Next door was a wide, dry, dark canal, and the exotic orchids had spread their roots to the palace wall on the other side of the canal. Unlike the desolation on this side, that side was much cleaner and neater.

The two palaces faced away from each other, separated by high walls, not disturbing each other. Listening carefully, she could faintly hear voices on the other side, with two or three eunuchs moving about, and strict security inside and out, with more than a dozen guards on duty.

Listening a bit longer, from a tightly closed palace room, she could faintly hear the high-pitched notes of a song, which sounded like her “brother” Feng Qiyuan’s voice.

Hearing that familiar singing, Yan Xiaoying confirmed that her “brother” was imprisoned on the other side of the dark canal.

Because of the guards, Xiaoying dared not look longer. She climbed back down the rope and returned to Tianlu Palace.

She finally had a lead on her “brother’s” whereabouts, but what should she do with this bound madman to facilitate her future actions?

Yan Xiaoying thought for a moment, then took out a preserved date from the small pouch at her waist and tentatively offered it to the madman: “Would you like to eat this?”

Fortunately, she habitually carried snacks, which could now be used to pacify the violent man.

The man’s beast-like eyes peered through his matted, dirty hair, staring unwaveringly at the date.

Xiaoying simply placed the date in front of him, then strolled out of the hall to examine the surroundings.

When she circled to the outside and peeked through the window cracks, she saw the man swallow a few times, then sweep the date with his long leg to the bound rat.

After watching the little rat enjoy the date with no adverse effects, he eagerly lowered his head, gobbled up the date from the ground, and swallowed it whole, pit and all.

Impressive! He knew to use the rat to test for poison—not completely insane after all!

Yan Xiaoying knew the deep palace harbored many pitiable and hateful people.

She had no interest in investigating the mad Prince’s story. As long as he retained a shred of rationality, they could negotiate.

After all, if the madman were killed and discovered by the guards, it would cause unnecessary complications and alarm the adjacent courtyard.

Then, if the Empress were alarmed and moved her “brother” elsewhere, it would be difficult to find him again.

With this in mind, she approached the madman with a smile: “Hey, I’ll come to see you often, but next time you see me, you can’t attack me right away. If you kill me, you won’t get such delicious things to eat. Tell me, what would you like to eat next time?”

The madman didn’t speak, just woodenly swallowed the date in his mouth and continued to stare coldly at Yan Xiaoying like a wolf.

Yan Xiaoying took this in stride and cheerfully reset his dislocated arm, then tentatively said: “Look, I’ll untie you, but you can’t hit people.”

Having said this, she moved behind him and untied the madman’s ropes, testing if he could understand human speech.

The madman seemed to perceive that Yan Xiaoying had no significant malice, or perhaps felt he couldn’t defeat her. After shaking his reset arm, he rose limping to the eaves to wash his wounded thigh with water.

The gushing blood was diluted by water, spreading a faint smell of blood.

Seeing his crude wound treatment, Xiaoying went out to the courtyard, looked among the weeds, and found a creeping short grass which she handed to the madman.

“This is called ground brocade grass. It can stop bleeding. Chew it up and apply it to your wound for now, and I’ll bring medicine when I come tomorrow… Remember, don’t mention me to anyone, or else I won’t be able to bring you food anymore.”

The madman remained motionless, continuing to face away from her.

In the setting evening glow, his half-exposed back blended with the shadows of the dilapidated palace.