It was indeed a nightmare, the worst kind of nightmare. Feng Miaojun collected herself and asked, “Where am I? How long have I been asleep?”

“You’re at the Imperial Advisor’s residence, my lady. You’ve been unconscious for four hours.”

She sprang up with a sudden burst of energy. A child’s body possessed boundless vitality—even though she had been completely exhausted, a single sleep had restored her to full strength. “Where is Imperial Advisor Mo?”

“This servant doesn’t know,” replied the maid. Her smile remained perfectly measured, neither increasing nor decreasing by the slightest degree—infinitely more proper and composed than the stern faces of the matrons at the Feng household.

Now that’s what you call professional!

Feng Miaojun knew this girl was merely a minor servant; how could she possibly know the whereabouts of Mo Tijun? She stretched lazily and asked, “Is there anything to eat? I’m starving.” Then suddenly remembering someone, she added, “Where is my guard? Call him here too.”

She commanded another household’s servants with surprising ease. But she understood clearly that the servants’ attitudes reflected their master’s disposition toward her.

The Imperial Advisor’s kitchen staff worked with an efficiency that put the Feng household to shame. In just two-quarters of an hour, delicious dishes were successively arranged on the table. While Feng Miaojun feasted heartily, Chen Dachang arrived. She dismissed the servants and asked him, “Where did Mo Tijun go?”

“After you fell asleep, it took us three hours to reach Jin Capital.” Chen Dachang’s face still showed signs of weariness, clearly not yet recovered from the exhausting journey. “Imperial Advisor Mo had people escort us to his residence, then he went somewhere unknown.”

“Where else could he have gone?” Mo Tijun had traveled day and night, nearly exhausting both of them in his rush to reach Jin Capital—wasn’t it all to make arrangements before his rivals could act? She would bet Yun Ya’s life that at this moment, the Imperial Advisor was almost certainly meeting with the Prince of Jin.

In the coming days, some would rejoice while others would sorrow. She had only just arrived in this noble place, and already found herself caught in a rising storm of intrigues. This certainly wasn’t good fortune.

“You should rest too. Don’t wander the streets for the next ten days or half a month.” She was just a small shrimp, not wanting to be swallowed without a trace in Jin Capital’s great whirlpool. Better to stay safely in this harbor of refuge. “Whatever matters we have can wait until later.”

After eating and drinking her fill, Feng Miaojun energetically asked a maid to guide her around the Imperial Advisor’s residence.

Land in Jin Capital was worth its weight in gold, yet the Imperial Advisor’s residence was so vast she couldn’t tour it completely even after two hours. This demonstrated the honors Mo Tijun enjoyed. Although the residence boasted beautiful flowers and ingenious rock arrangements, its buildings were solemn and imposing, with colors that favored dignified simplicity. From this alone, Feng Miaojun could tell that Mo Tijun’s inner temperament was indeed not as youthful as his outward appearance suggested.

However, several small courtyards half-hidden among the trees displayed a touch of lightness. Visible from afar, they had a distinctive charm, with wintersweet vines and red apricot branches stretching over walls, swaying in the breeze.

Yet the maid did not lead her close to these places. When they reached the final courtyard, Feng Miaojun’s curiosity got the better of her: “What place is that?”

The maid smiled slightly: “Those are the residences of the minor ladies.”

“Minor ladies” was a euphemism for concubines. Feng Miaojun smiled too, now understanding why those courtyards were maintained with such vibrant life—there was a clear purpose. “How many minor ladies does your Imperial Advisor have? And how old are they?”

“There are seven,” the little maid replied, blushing slightly. “The eldest is nearly thirty, and the youngest just celebrated her seventeenth birthday.”

Feng Miaojun clicked her tongue in surprise. For an “old man” approaching a hundred years of age, the great Imperial Advisor certainly had boundless energy.

“His wife must be very magnanimous,” she remarked, to allow her husband to keep so many women in the residence.

The maid lowered her head and said softly, “The Imperial Advisor’s wife… she passed away long ago.”

Just as they were speaking, a young woman emerged from the courtyard before them. She appeared to be twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with a face like powdered jade and rosy cheeks—truly a beauty who could shame flowers and cause the moon to hide. She seemed in good spirits.

That day, Feng Miaojun toured until the sun began to set in the west. She dutifully returned to her temporary quarters and summoned Chen Dachang: “If I wanted to learn cultivation, where should I begin?” Capital for self-protection should be as substantial as possible. There was also an old saying: better to rely on yourself than others.

Chen Dachang stammered: “You would need specialized testing first. People with cultivation aptitude are extremely rare—less than one in ten thousand.” He stopped there, but Feng Miaojun understood what he meant.

As a princess, how could she not have been tested at birth? The fact that she hadn’t learned even the slightest bit of mystical arts until now could only mean…

At this thought, several images floated vaguely through her mind. It seemed that when the princess was very young, Queen An Xia had sighed and told her she had failed the test. The Queen rarely showed her emotions, but that day she had displayed unusual melancholy. The little Princess Changle didn’t understand but remembered her mother’s disappointment.

Perhaps Queen An Xia had already accepted then that Princess Changle would only grow, marry, and age like an ordinary person. Maybe this was why she hadn’t wanted Princess Changle to seek revenge for An Xia.

Now Feng Miaojun felt even more disappointed than Queen An Xia had. If this path was closed to her, her next course of action would be to focus on the Smoke Sea Tower, quickly finding a way to break the Ao Fish curse, then extricate herself from this murky situation and live freely thereafter.

But having just experienced a nightmare the previous night, her mood was poor. She couldn’t shake the feeling that things wouldn’t be simple or smooth. Tossing and turning, she finally fell asleep deep in the night.

Her sleep was light, and she felt as if she had barely dozed off before being awakened by the noise.

The weather had grown warm, and the windows were left open at night. The sound of weeping was carried to her on the evening breeze. Feng Miaojun listened intently and heard what seemed to be a woman crying: “I can’t bear it anymore… my lord, please spare me…”

The voice was thin and whimpering, breathless with pain, yet also reminiscent of a cat’s mewling.

Who would dare torture a fragile woman in the middle of the night, and in the Imperial Advisor’s residence no less? Feng Miaojun listened blankly for a while before suddenly realizing the woman was likely the courtyard resident she had seen earlier that day. That courtyard was quite close to this row of guest rooms, separated only by a cluster of short trees and a high wall.

Feng Miaojun belatedly understood and couldn’t help but spit in disgust.

Early the next morning, Mo Tijun invited her to breakfast.

The man was full of vitality, his eyes gleaming with spirit as if every strand of his hair radiated energy.

Feng Miaojun couldn’t suppress a yawn. With a dark face, she asked him: “Did you return to the residence in the middle of the night?” Hadn’t he had enough debauchery at the royal palace? He had to come home and continue! Yesterday those cat-like cries had persisted all night, and seemingly from more than one source, barely ending at daybreak.

Mo Tijun looked slightly surprised: “How did you know?”

She rolled her eyes: “Who in the entire Imperial Advisor’s residence doesn’t know?”

Mo Tijun’s confidant was standing at his side and stepped forward to whisper something in his ear. Only then did Mo Tijun understand, looking somewhat uncomfortable as he gazed at Feng Miaojun.

After returning to Jin Capital, he had been so busy that he hadn’t returned to his residence until the middle of the night. He truly hadn’t realized that Feng Miaojun’s arranged quarters were coincidentally so close to his minor ladies!