Xiaoying couldn’t help but laugh. At that critical moment, she had thought Feng Yuan was immersed in his troubled past, filled with hatred toward his father, and wallowing in self-pity.

She had even empathized with and comforted him, offering a full bag of her special sweet dates.

Who would have thought this cunning fellow had such deep schemes, using the opportunity to investigate by examining her neck?

If she ever felt an ounce of compassion for this rascal again, she would change her surname to his!

At this point, Feng Yuan even dared to gesture for her to lower her collar to show her neck and verify her identity.

Now that Xiaoying had no constraints in the palace, she had no reservations.

Since Feng Yuan had seen through her, Xiaoying openly admitted, “No need to look. I indeed am not him. But why haven’t you exposed me? Or you could have just stood by today, and this fake would have naturally disappeared beneath the cliff, never disturbing your Feng family bloodline.”

Feng Yuan handed Xiaoying a cup of tea he had poured, leaned in, and stared into her eyes: “Whether you’re real or fake isn’t important. It’s just that the Eastern Palace Crown Prince… It’s not yet time for a change of ownership.”

As he spoke, his eyes revealed a darkness, as if something lay dormant in that obscure, ominous shadow.

Xiaoying’s thoughts shifted slightly, seeming to understand Feng Yuan’s reasoning.

The Empress had been confined, and if the Crown Prince were to fall off a cliff and disappear now, who would fill the vacant position in the Eastern Palace?

Feng Yuan was the least likely candidate. Even without the rumors about his bloodline, he had no courtiers supporting him.

People believed he had the hidden illness of madness and seizures, making him truly unsuitable for the great succession.

Among the Chunde Emperor’s remaining sons, the Second Prince had the greatest odds.

Feng Yuan’s words directly revealed that he didn’t want the Western Palace to gain power, with the Second Prince ascending to the position of Crown Prince, so he needed Xiaoying, this fake, to temporarily occupy the position.

When he was poisoned and persecuted years ago, based on timing, it had nothing to do with Lady Tang. The most likely culprit was then-consort Lady Shang!

Feng Yuan, though appearing calm and composed, harbored a madman’s vengeful nature deep in his bones.

For someone who had imprisoned him for ten years, once identified, how could he let them off lightly?

Figuring out Feng Yuan’s meaning, Xiaoying laughed lightly: “You’re good at casting roles, but the Grand Prince has forgotten to ask—am I willing to continue performing in this play?”

Feng Yuan looked up at her: “Why such a rush to jump off a cliff? Do you have urgent matters elsewhere?”

“The palace is full of shrewd people, and dealing with them is exhausting! I wanted to get out and enjoy myself sooner.” Xiaoying’s background was too dark; there was no need to tell the Emperor’s son too many details.

Feng Yuan said calmly, “If you’re in a hurry to return to Jiangzhe with Ah Yuan, please be patient. Our alliance isn’t settled; how can you leave alone…”

Before he finished speaking, Xiaoying’s dagger was already pressed against Feng Yuan’s throat.

It was one thing for him to know she was impersonating the Crown Prince, but why did he suddenly mention Jiangzhe?

This matter concerned her adoptive father’s close relatives—Xiaoying finally became anxious!

With the dagger pressed against him, Feng Yuan leaned back slightly and calmly said: “The Yongxiang Pastry Shop in the west of the city closed today. If they left the city with today’s convoy, calculating the time, they should have reached Wolong Town by now. If your dagger strikes, there will also be blood spilled on the country roads of Wolong Town, bodies lying in the ditches.”

The Yongxiang Pastry Shop in the western city was precisely the base of her subordinate, Feng Yi.

Feng Yuan was so calculating. From his words, it seemed he had even sent people to follow her brother and the others?

How did he manage to know the whereabouts of her brother Feng Qiyuan so thoroughly?

Seeming to perceive Xiaoying’s question, Feng Yuan continued explaining: “The night I left the Desolate Palace, I asked Third Granduncle for help. One of his followers works in the inner palace prison. I interrogated that captain of the guards…”

Xiaoying remembered that the guard captain who had beaten Feng Yuan was found dead in the inner palace prison the next day.

She had thought the Empress had silenced him to protect herself, but never imagined it was Feng Yuan who had personally gone there…

No wonder, on the first night of his return to the palace, when Xiaoying went to find Feng Yuan, she found Xuanqing Palace empty!

Indeed, that guard captain had beaten him severely, nearly lashing Feng Yuan’s back to shreds.

Given Feng Yuan’s vengeful nature, how could he let this go?

No wonder Feng Yuan knew the ins and outs of her impersonation of the Crown Prince—he must have extracted everything possible from that guard captain…

However, the guard captain only knew she was a commoner, brought in by Song Ao to substitute for the Crown Prince and conceal his limp. He knew neither whether she was male or female, nor her origins.

How had the secret of the pastry shop in the western city been leaked?

This time, Feng Yuan was forthcoming with his explanation: “When your people were transporting Feng Qiyuan, I stuffed a leather pouch containing rat blood mixed with alum powder between the carriage axles…”

Rat blood mixed with alum powder wouldn’t coagulate. The leather pouch, pierced with small holes, would drip along the way, completely revealing their trail.

As for the shopkeeper’s background, Xiao Tianyang’s followers from the Court of Justice spent some time investigating but discovered nothing, indicating his identity was false.

Following the trail, the direction they took toward the boats could only lead to the Jiangzhe region.

Hearing about their route, Feng Yuan had deduced their destination and thus tested her with his words. It seemed his intuition was accurate.

After hearing him reveal her brother’s whereabouts, Xiaoying withdrew her dagger and cupped her hands toward Feng Yuan: “I was presumptuous. I concede this move to you and willingly submit!”

Xiao Tianyang’s martial skills were exceptional, and his followers were spread throughout the empire, not to be underestimated. If they followed her brother all the way, then her brother and Feng Yi’s group were essentially in Feng Yuan’s grasp, with no hope of shaking them off.

Knowing she was firmly in his grip, Xiaoying naturally needed to be more sensible and could no longer cross swords with the Grand Prince.

Feng Yuan asked: “You look so much like Ah Yuan. What is your relationship with him?”

The guard captain had only mentioned that Yan Xiaoying had substituted for the Crown Prince to conceal his limp, but knew nothing about the Empress’s cat-for-baby switch years ago.

Xiaoying knew that Feng Yuan had been guarding against her, and the cup of drugged drink she had given him had violated his taboo.

Given his petty nature, the trust between them was somewhat precarious.

If she lied again, this Grand Prince would likely see through the flaws. So, she decided to be straightforward, revealing how Empress Tang had swapped babies years ago, murdered her entire family, and stolen her brother.

Feng Yuan listened silently, his eyes fixed on Yan Xiaoying, as if verifying the truth in her words.

Xiaoying briefly narrated the past events but omitted her origins and completely avoided mentioning the matters in Jiangzhe.

Her adoptive father, Meng Zhun, was a thorn in the side of the court.

If this Grand Prince were to ascend to imperial power one day, he would not tolerate a rebel like her adoptive father. Therefore, she couldn’t implicate him.

Feng Yuan seemed unwilling to be too rigid with her. After hearing her half-true, half-false account, he smiled meaningfully and surprisingly asked no more questions.

His father, who placed such importance on bloodlines, had appointed an actor’s son as Crown Prince—truly ironic.

Xiaoying waited until he finished smiling, then said: “Ah Yuan is a pure person, completely uninvolved with the filthy affairs of the palace. I beg the Grand Prince, considering the plight of our family, to show mercy and spare Ah Yuan!”

Feng Yuan gradually stopped smiling but changed the subject: “I hate being drugged more than anything in my life!”

Well, he was finally bringing up her old transgression of drugging him!

Xiaoying had always been willing to take responsibility for her actions, so she promptly responded: “If you’re dissatisfied, just set out your terms. Tell me what would make you feel better. But it was I who drugged you, not my brother. Please, Grand Prince, don’t implicate the innocent!”

She had carelessly offended this madman. She wasn’t afraid of anything else, just that he might use her brother against her, taking revenge on him.

Feng Yuan laughed coldly again: “You truly care for your brother…”

Saying this, he slowly opened his mouth: “Three times!”

Xiaoying didn’t understand and blinked her eyes.

“I’ll give you only three chances. Drugging me counts as one—cherish the rest…”

Xiaoying understood now. This fellow was quite principled. He meant that she had shown him kindness by bringing him food and teaching him grappling techniques.

So he could overlook the drugging incident, but backstabbing him had limits—once, maybe twice, but not a third time.

If Xiaoying didn’t learn her lesson and continued to provoke him, she couldn’t blame him for being vengeful and forgetting old favors.

At this point, Feng Yuan also explained: “Having people follow them isn’t to harm them. According to Master Ge, the Jiangzhe region is very chaotic now. Your few people can’t fully protect Ah Yuan. For traveling through the jianghu, Third Granduncle’s people are more reliable.”

Xiaoying didn’t believe his good intentions; it was just a way to disguise his schemes.

Bypassing this issue, she said: “You want me to continue being the Crown Prince—fine! But I also have a condition.”

She moved closer and seriously told Feng Yuan, “I’m truly worried about my brother. Since you want me to continue as Crown Prince, I want to travel to Jiangzhe for an inspection in the name of the Crown Prince, ensuring his safe return home.”

Feng Yuan raised an eyebrow and also moved closer, his nose tip nearly touching Xiaoying’s upturned one: “Doing this… how is it different from confessing to His Majesty? Would it make for a more elegant death?”

Now that Lady Tang had been deposed, Feng Qiyuan’s position as Crown Prince was already precarious.

At this critical juncture, both civil and military affairs in Jiangzhe were urgent, the corruption cases hadn’t been cleared, and the rebels there hadn’t been suppressed. Going there for an inspection would be like poking a hornet’s nest.

If she went there as the Crown Prince, she would be entangled in troubles, likely to be crushed between the forces of the Chunde Emperor and the Tang family, leaving not even her bones intact.

With the slightest misstep, the day she would be presented with poisoned wine might not be far off.

Of course, Xiaoying knew this, but it was precisely what she most wanted to do.

If Feng Yuan were to use her brother and Feng Yi’s safety to coerce her into continuing to impersonate the Crown Prince, then she would have no choice but to use the Crown Prince’s identity to personally visit Jiangzhe and find a way to lift the siege of Mount Ding.

She had expected Feng Yuan to coldly reject her, telling her not to be fanciful.

Unexpectedly, after thinking for a moment, he ran his finger on the table surface and said: “You can’t touch civil affairs with your façade as the bungling Crown Prince, and military power is even more off-limits to the Crown Prince. The pretext for your visit needs careful consideration. I’ll help you think of other ways—how does that sound?”

Xiaoying narrowed her eyes, unable to fathom this deeply inscrutable man before her.

He had already seen through her and had her firmly in his grasp—it would be enough for her to simply continue impersonating the Crown Prince. Why would he even agree to her outlandish request to go to Jiangzhe? Wasn’t he afraid she might use the Crown Prince’s identity to stir up trouble, endangering the Dafeng imperial power?

The Dafeng dynasty’s number one madman—who else could it be but him? No wonder Mu Hanjiang had warned her to stay away from this person.

Regardless, after their open discussion, whatever calculations each harbored, their alliance remained as before.

As Xiaoying was about to leave the hall, she suddenly turned and asked Feng Yuan: “Do you know… why I still shared your bed that day?”

That guard captain didn’t know that the Empress had been so audacious as to use a young woman to impersonate the Crown Prince, let alone tell Feng Yuan about her female identity.

Feng Yuan was different from others in the palace; he hadn’t grown up with Feng Qiyuan, so he didn’t have the misconception that his fourth brother should be effeminate.

Could he possibly have recognized her as female? If so, yet he still shared a bed with her for a night without revealing it, that would be truly hateful! Thus, Xiaoying probed again.

But Feng Yuan didn’t take her bait. He simply looked up at Xiaoying calmly and said: “It’s my bed—why shouldn’t I sleep in it?”

Upon deeper reflection, she had been the one to test him first, actively getting into his bed.

Perhaps he hadn’t seen through her? Indeed, perhaps to Feng Yuan, whether his chess piece was male or female was irrelevant since he was only using her.

But… he’d need the skill to hold this chess piece firmly!

Xiaoying smiled and stopped dwelling on this point. However, as she was about to step out of the grand hall, she suddenly whirled around, and a hidden dart in her sleeve shot toward Feng Yuan with lightning speed.

This time, the distance was too close for Feng Yuan to dodge. The dart grazed his face, leaving a trail of blood.

Xiaoying had already vanished, but her clear voice came from outside the door: “I’m sorry, I accidentally triggered the string of my sleeve dart, wasting the second chance Grand Prince gave me! But I’m stingy by nature and can only give you one chance. Next time—don’t think of using my brother to threaten me again!”

Feng Yuan bent down to pick up the sleeve dart from the ground. It bore the mark of General Ye’s military camp. This fake Crown Prince hadn’t left the military camp empty-handed but had pilfered a sleeve dart case.

This person had visited his palace today, armed from head to toe.

The impostor often mocked him for being vengeful, not knowing that they were… the same kind of person.

…

Regarding the Crown Prince’s cliff-jumping incident, palace people had various opinions, but it was trouble caused by the Second Prince.

After this incident, the Western Palace noticeably lowered its profile, no longer as flamboyant as before.

Consort Shang had also rebuked the Second Prince, telling him not to gather friends and show off around the palace anymore.

However, the Empress’s sudden madness and the Crown Prince’s suicidal attempt had both occurred after the Grand Prince’s return to the palace.

Initially, it was the superstitious who spoke of this, but somehow it reached the Divination Department, which managed palace sacrifices.

After shaking a bucket of golden divination lots, they divined an omen of an evil star affecting three palaces.

By the time this reached His Majesty’s ears through the imperial consorts, it had already escalated.

According to the golden divination, this evil star was none other than the recently returned Grand Prince. Rather than speaking of conflicting eight characters or fate, it was simply noted that after his return, Empress Tang had been possessed by evil spirits and developed hysteria, making people draw connections.

And the Crown Prince jumping off a cliff due to worry for his mother—all these incidents aligned with the divination, making it hard not to believe.

Now, this hard-fated Grand Prince had already affected two palaces. People couldn’t help but wonder if His Majesty would be next.

Initially, this was just baseless divination, but somehow, people with ulterior motives spread it more eerily. Even in the front court, some officials were stirred by the rumors, petitioning His Majesty to consider relocating the Grand Prince’s palace.

After all, the Grand Prince had a longstanding illness, and staying in the inner palace for too long wasn’t convenient.

Hearing these rumors, Xiaoying laughed. With a little thought, she knew whose handiwork this was.

It seemed that the Second Prince, lying on his bed recovering from the military whips, had come up with this clever plan during his idle time.

In this way, the Crown Prince’s cliff-jumping could be attributed to evil spirit interference, not to the Second Prince’s cruelty toward his brother.

This blame-shifting was truly impressive!

However, rumors can be fearsome. If these strange tales spread long enough, they would enter people’s hearts. Hopefully, the Chunde Emperor wouldn’t develop any headaches or fevers recently; otherwise, those with ulterior motives would attribute everything to the Grand Prince’s hard fate.

Previously, she had thought the Second Prince was incompetent yet prone to causing trouble, but now she realized he could stir up some waves. She wondered how the madman would respond.

When Xiaoying sneaked into Feng Yuan’s palace for a visit, she casually probed his thoughts on this matter.

However, Feng Yuan didn’t seem to take the talk of evil spirits seriously and didn’t even acknowledge the topic. Xiaoying then asked about the arrangements for going to Jiangzhe.

Feng Yuan simply said, “It should be soon.”

The Grand Prince, perhaps feeling guilty, silently peeled the five-spice peanuts Xiaoying had brought.

Eating the peanuts Feng Yuan peeled for her, Xiaoying looked at him skeptically: “Can you manage it? If you have no solution, don’t force it. I can find a way myself.”

Feng Yuan disliked her words, raising a cold eyebrow as he continued peeling peanuts, looking as if he was cursing internally.

However, he said nothing and only remarked: “Don’t be late for tomorrow’s autumn hunt.”

Xiaoying raised her eyebrows, suddenly having a premonition that tomorrow’s autumn hunt would certainly be lively…

With that, she dusted the peanut shells from her hands, preparing to leave.

As she was about to depart, Feng Yuan asked a question: “You and your brother… never met since birth. Why are you willing to risk yourself, disregarding everything, to save him?”

He had initially thought this cunning and daring person wanted to use the Crown Prince’s identity to disrupt the court and accomplish something shocking.

But in the end, he discovered that all this effort, risking the punishment of slow slicing, was truly just to save that neither-man-nor-woman weakling next door. She hadn’t even taken revenge on Lady Tang before eagerly abandoning the Crown Prince’s identity, preparing to fake her death and leave.

In Feng Yuan’s view, this was far from enough!

Rarely curious, he finally asked today.

Xiaoying found his question strange. Her brother—if she didn’t save him, who would?

But looking back at Feng Yuan in the dim, gloomy hall, he was just one solitary figure enveloped by candlelight and shadows.

How could one expect someone unwanted from birth, isolated from the world for ten years, and born into the scheming imperial family to understand the bond of blood connection?

This question was a bit too profound.

Xiaoying waved her hand and said with flair: “The world is full of gratitude and enmity, half bitter and half sweet. May my heart’s joy one day be something you, too, can appreciate!”

Having said this, she didn’t care whether Feng Yuan understood the true meaning of her words and strode out of the empty, desolate Xuanqing Palace.

This year’s autumn hunt differed from previous years, with far fewer young gentlemen accompanying His Majesty with raised whips and galloping horses.

There was no help for it—the Crown Prince’s momentary despair and cliff-jumping had caused all the young men close to the Second Prince to be whipped. Their wounds hadn’t healed, making it impossible for them to mount horses. They could only sit in carriages to attend and observe the scene.

Instead, the Crown Prince, who had sought death, was now properly seated on horseback, able to leisurely accompany the Emperor for hunting and archery.

However, “leisurely” might not be entirely accurate, given that the Crown Prince’s poor horsemanship and archery skills were common knowledge.

So while others rode tall and powerful horses, the Crown Prince’s mount resembled an adolescent, noticeably shorter than the others, making it hard not to laugh.

This was likely a deliberate arrangement by those who understood the situation. The Second Prince’s whip wounds hadn’t healed, and if the Crown Prince had another mishap and fell from his horse during the hunt, wouldn’t more people suffer?