Empress Tang waved her hand in irritation, silencing the naive girl’s chatter.

The young woman had made one valid point—her nephew Tang Mingquan held many of her secrets.

Over the years, he had handled too many matters. If any one of them was exposed to Mu Hanjiang, it would cause significant trouble.

What was infuriating was that Mu Hanjiang wasn’t her man. His mother, Princess Anqing, was His Majesty’s sworn sister. When the Empress Dowager was still alive, she didn’t even acknowledge her, the Empress, at all.

The Tang family knew they couldn’t pressure this mother and son. Even if she issued an imperial edict, it would only make her appear guilty.

If the matter reached His Majesty and Yan Shan’s identity was investigated, wouldn’t it trigger an even bigger thunderclap?

Thinking of this, the Empress’s heart trembled. Fortunately, that person was now detained at the Court of Justice, which had recently relocated and was in disarray, making it easier to take action…

Yan Xiaoying, having eaten her fill, brushed the pastry crumbs from her hands, bid farewell to the troubled-looking Empress, and returned to the Crown Prince’s residence.

She had already explained the situation clearly; the Empress should know how to weigh her options.

In any case, it didn’t matter which monk died as long as it wasn’t the poor Taoist.

However, the Empress’s ruthlessness exceeded Yan Xiaoying’s expectations.

Even with blood relations, the Empress didn’t hesitate for long. After just one day, Tang Ru arrived at the palace with her mother.

The mother and daughter walked with red eyes and grief. The second branch Tang family, Madam, tearfully complained that her son, Tang Mingquan, could not withstand the severe torture at the Court of Justice and had hanged himself with a straw rope. Such an injustice! She begged the Empress to support the second branch of the Tang family.

Although the man died in the Court of Justice, he had been arrested by the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards. When all was said and done, Mu Hanjiang couldn’t escape responsibility.

Eventually, the matter reached His Majesty. The Emperor could only smooth things over, saying that Tang Mingquan wasn’t entirely innocent.

Under torture, he had confessed to hoarding land and forcing tenant farmers to their deaths. According to national law, he couldn’t have escaped death anyway.

The Emperor relied heavily on the Mu family and wouldn’t sacrifice his trusted confidant for the Tang family’s second branch nephew.

In the end, Mu Hanjiang received a moderate reprimand and had half a year’s salary withheld.

However, when Mu Hanjiang was leaving the palace that day, he accidentally fell from his wheeled chair. This misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it cleared his blocked meridians. His legs, which had been numb for years, suddenly began to feel pain.

According to the expensive physician who was summoned, the young master had been receiving continuous treatment over the years, which was finally showing results.

This fall had shifted the stagnant blood and activated his veins. If acupuncture continued to be applied, the young master would recover soon and no longer need to use a wheeled chair.

When this news spread, noble ladies throughout the capital who secretly admired the young master were all relieved, sighing that the elegant and graceful Young Master Mu could finally stand tall.

Only the Crown Prince in the Eastern Palace laughed until he held his stomach, doubled over, leaving the palace attendants puzzled.

Yan Xiaoying wanted to request permission from her imperial father to personally visit Young Master Mu, at the very least to see with her own eyes how he was filled with silver needles to unblock his meridians.

However, someone was still waiting to be fed, and Yan Xiaoying was too busy to spare time to enjoy watching Young Master Mu’s acupuncture therapy.

Today, she found another opportunity and, under the pretense of taking an afternoon nap, slipped out of the palace and climbed over the wall to Tianlu Palace.

This time, besides bringing medicine, she also brought a whole roasted chicken and three pastries filled with sugar.

The madman was always reverent toward food. After testing it for poison, he eagerly devoured it like a wolf.

Having settled the mad prince, Yan Xiaoying used a rope to climb the high back wall, secretly observing the changing of guards at the palace imprisoning her brother, trying to find a gap in their rotation that would allow her to sneak in and meet him.

Unfortunately, the Empress was extremely vigilant. Her brother was never seen leaving, and many capable hands had been assigned inside and outside the abandoned palace. To slip in quietly would be challenging. She needed to find the pattern of the guards’ patrol and identify a weakness.

After this, to avoid the messy accounts at Shao Fu, Xiaoying reduced her duties, freeing up considerable time.

Every three to five days, she would come once, bringing food to feed the madman.

The madman, eating to satisfaction, had become noticeably more stable emotionally. He never bothered Xiaoying, acting as if she didn’t exist.

This time, Xiaoying came to investigate again. After spying from the eaves for a while, she prepared to return via the rope, only to see the mad prince, who should have been feasting, standing beside the rope, head half-raised, staring at her coldly, his thoughts unclear.

In these days of receiving Yan Xiaoying’s charity, the mad prince had eaten meat and eggs, gaining flesh. No longer skeletal, his already tall body now displayed muscle, making him appear even more imposing.

However, his face remained hidden behind dirty, disheveled long hair, making his expression unreadable.

Yan Xiaoying had wandered the streets and broken temples with her father since childhood and had seen many vicious dogs.

Those most dangerous for attacking never barked wildly but just stared intently, tensing their entire body, waiting to deliver a fatal strike.

Just like… this madman below the wall, who needed only sharp dog teeth to pounce and tear out her throat.

Yan Xiaoying was cautious. When descending the wall using the rope, she swung nimbly to land some distance away from the madman.

She didn’t want to openly confront this madman and risk being heard by those next door or outside, causing complications.

But the madman had made up his mind and suddenly lunged at her.

Yan Xiaoying knew this madman was incredibly strong, and now well-fed with meat, he was even more formidable.

She shouldn’t have let him eat so much just to keep him calm…

Regret was useless now; she could only gather her wits and see if she could bring him down again.

If the struggle lasted too long and the Tianlu Palace guards returned and heard the commotion from behind the door, it would be trouble.

However, unlike the chaotic turtle-style fighting last time, the madman seemed to have memorized Xiaoying’s attack patterns from their previous encounter and replicated them with about eighty percent accuracy.

This close-combat grappling technique that Xiaoying used was specially created for her by her adoptive father, particularly suitable for girls to use an opponent’s force against them.

But when used by a naturally strong man, it became even more powerful, like adding wings to a tiger.

Fortunately, the madman’s memory was somewhat jumbled. His broad movements still revealed obvious weaknesses, allowing Xiaoying to handle him with ease.

This time, she had brought a hairpin she had taken from the Empress. With the pearl flower removed and the tip sharpened to a weapon-like point, after exchanging a few moves, she gripped the hairpin and aimed it at the madman’s waist.

However, having learned from experience, the madman was prepared. His entire body arched backward, falling awkwardly to the ground, but he managed to avoid the hairpin, with only his clothes being torn.

The madman showed martial honor. Seeming to acknowledge his defeat, he no longer approached but silently returned to the table. While gnawing on a chicken leg, he practiced arm movements, apparently seriously rehearsing the moves he had failed to execute.

Yan Xiaoying opened her mouth in disbelief, smiling as she approached with the hairpin and quietly asked, “Do you even understand? This is called stealing someone’s kung fu! Did I say I would take you as a disciple? You’re practicing so diligently, but have you paid the tuition fee?”

The madman seemed to have heard her words. After thinking, he offered her the chicken leg he was holding, apparently intending to use the bone-exposed chicken leg as a tuition fee.

Xiaoying disgustedly dodged and was about to continue lecturing this madman when he suddenly spoke: “Teach… me, here… you come freely…”

He must not have spoken for a long time, as his voice was hoarse and unclear, comparable to Uncle Hai, who had a severed tongue.

Xiaoying raised an eyebrow, about to speak, when he continued: “Kill me… big commotion, people outside will discover…”

His meaning was clear: if Xiaoying refused, he would make noise. Then, if she wanted to spy on the adjacent courtyard again, it wouldn’t be so easy.

Xiaoying never expected to be cornered by a madman. She gave him a thumbs up in admiration: “You can’t even eat properly, yet you’re so ambitious. That’s truly moving. But even if I teach you kung fu, where will you use it? To catch rats more efficiently?”

He was in a dead-end situation; he should focus on catching rats for extra meals. What was he trying to achieve with this scheme?

The madman didn’t speak this time, just continued to fiercely chew the meat in his mouth.

Xiaoying looked at him sideways and probed: “Do you… Know who I am?”

The madman stared at her steadily through his dirty, tangled hair but didn’t speak.

After all, the last time he saw Feng Qiyuan, her brother was only six years old. It was normal that the madman wouldn’t recognize Feng Qiyuan’s appearance.

Xiaoying smiled: “You don’t even know who I am, yet you dare make demands. Aren’t you afraid I might harm you?”

The madman swallowed his meat and stared at her with dead eyes, expressionlessly saying: “…Already dead, not afraid!”

Indeed, confined to this desolate courtyard for years, alone without seeing anyone, occasionally relying on rainwater and rat meat to stave off hunger, for someone who had lost his freedom since the age of twelve, how was such a life any different from death?

But judging from his words and actions, he didn’t seem like a madman at all. So, when he nearly drowned her brother Feng Qiyuan back then, was it intentional?

Xiaoying decided to ask directly: “I heard from people in the palace that you were confined here because you went mad and almost drowned the Fourth Prince. Do you… have a grudge against him?”

The madman was silent for a moment, then looked up at her and replied: “…Was sick.”

Xiaoying’s instinct told her he was lying. Apart from his unkempt appearance, there was a hint of shrewdness about him that was far removed from a true madman!

But in the palace, where everyone kept their true thoughts hidden, it was understandable that he would be cautious and conceal things, not knowing her identity.

However, how could her brother’s mistreatment go unavenged? Teaching him kung fu was a pipe dream!

Xiaoying gave a mischievous smile, not bothering to waste words with him, and turned to leave.

But the madman grabbed her sleeve and spoke with difficulty: “…Back then, I don’t know what I ate, but each time my body would burn with heat, and I couldn’t remember things…”

Xiaoying turned to look at him. The madman, seemingly afraid she would never return, gripped tightly. The eyes hidden beneath his filthy hair were filled with emotions as thick as the deep night…

There did exist drugs in the world that could drive people mad, similar to the “Five Stone Powder” of the previous dynasty.

If what he said was true, and someone had given this filthy substance—a decadent nobleman’s entertainment—to a twelve-year-old child, it was extremely vicious!

If so, it was no wonder he had been violent and appeared insane at that time.

And the madman’s current caution about food, even raising rats to test for poison, was probably due to that unbearable experience, fearing he might be drugged again.

Perhaps… occasionally, that evil drug was still mixed into the food sent to him. Otherwise, why would the Grand Prince raise rats as a backup meal?

This Grand Prince, whose bloodline was questionable, whose mother had died, and who had no one to protect him, yet had managed to survive until now… it was truly not easy.

Having clarified that there were hidden circumstances behind his nearly drowning her brother, Yan Xiaoying sighed slightly and asked, “Do you have any idea who harmed you?”

The Grand Prince fell silent again, only quietly fidgeting with the dozen or so rat skins drying in his courtyard.

Very well, he was just a pitiful person passing the time. For her, it was merely a small effort. Why not?

Moreover, she still needed to use his courtyard to gather information about her brother, so she should pay the host some compensation.

Thinking this, she generously said: “If you want to learn, I can teach you some other things…”

So the next time Xiaoying came, besides bringing food, she also brought books suitable for enlightening a young mind, as well as paper, brushes, and an ink box.

Xiaoying had asked around and learned that after the Grand Prince was born, Emperor Chunde was away on a military campaign and hadn’t bestowed a formal name. He only had the pet name “A’Yuan,” given by his deceased mother, Consort Ye.

Watching him use his dirty hands to write the trembling, distorted character “Yuan” on the rice paper, Xiaoying smiled and said: “Not bad! After so many years without writing, can you still write this well?”

A’Yuan didn’t speak, but after patiently writing a few more characters, he tossed the brush aside and said hoarsely: “Is this enough?… Can you teach me kung fu now?”