Feng Yue giggled and nodded shyly, “I’m honored.”

Ye Yuqing stood up and waved for the people behind him to enter.

Feng Yue stole a glance—two maids were carrying a set of clothes, apparently intending to dress her as a respectable woman. It made sense; accompanying him outside, she couldn’t appear too much like a courtesan.

The Crown Prince had good taste though. The rouge-colored long dress paired with a cream-colored silk shawl was both stunning and elegant. The box of accessories contained gold-inlaid jade and pearls, all expensive.

As expected of a royal-born expert in wooing women—such generosity, such thoughtfulness, what woman wouldn’t fall for him!

Feng Yue was deeply moved; this feeling of being cherished felt wonderful. She immediately bounced up and bowed to him: “Thank you, Master!”

“Go ahead and change,” Ye Yuqing said. “I’ll wait outside.”

With that, he withdrew with his attendants and closed the door.

Now this was what you called a true gentleman, what you called refinement! Feng Yue sighed. This was a brothel—how many clients specifically requested to watch women change clothes? Yet he knew to avoid looking at what shouldn’t be seen. Such a person was refreshingly different, completely unlike those lecherous scoundrels outside!

“Achoo!”

Yin Gezhi frowned at his sudden sneeze.

“Master,” Guanzhi entered from outside, saying, “We’ve investigated thoroughly. The other two leads couldn’t have leaked information—it must be an issue with that mung bean cake shop!”

How could a mere mung bean cake seller have such powerful connections? Yin Gezhi frowned, reaching for his outer robe: “Let’s take a look.”

Xiangyu Street had many snack vendors, with half the street dedicated to food stalls. The Zheng Family Pastry Shop was at the end of the street, neither conspicuous nor hidden. Upon entering, the proprietress greeted them warmly: “What would the customer like?”

Glancing down at the pastries displayed on the counter, Yin Gezhi said, “Half a jin of mung bean cakes.”

“Certainly!” She skillfully took the money and weighed out the cakes. Just as she was about to wrap them up, she heard him say, “I’d like to eat here first. Do you have seating?”

“Yes, yes,” the proprietress smiled. “The table behind you is empty.”

Nodding to her while discreetly sizing her up, Yin Gezhi sat down and observed while eating.

Guanzhi also looked around but didn’t notice anything amiss. He simply asked, “These pastries taste so good—how long has the proprietress been in business?”

Madame Zheng smiled, “A bit over two years. I always loved making pastries and used to work for wealthy households. Later, I started my shop.”

Guanzhi nodded and continued, “From your accent, you don’t seem to be local.”

Pausing slightly, Madame Zheng kept her eyes lowered while rolling dough, “There are plenty of non-locals here, many are refugees from Wei. Ah, the war in Wei has gone on for so many years now, there are too many displaced people.”

Wei people? Glancing at her, Yin Gezhi remained silent, slowly savoring the pastries.

The proprietress’s every movement seemed perfectly proper. Half an hour later, Yin Gezhi left the shop, intending to rest at the teahouse across the street.

“Let’s rest at this teahouse.”

Before he could enter, Ye Yuqing’s voice came from behind: “You must be tired from walking.”

Feng Yue nodded, smiled shyly, and took Ye Yuqing’s arm as they walked into the teahouse.

Just as they were about to cross the threshold, suddenly a leg stretched out from the side, nearly tripping her face-first!

“You…”

The person at the door turned around, wearing plain blue clothes but maintaining an imposing presence. He nodded stiffly to the person behind her: “Your Highness.”

Ye Yuqing raised an eyebrow, looked at him carefully for a moment, then sighed: “I didn’t expect to meet you here. This must be fate—shall we go upstairs for tea together?”

“Fine.” Yin Gezhi agreed, not sparing Feng Yue a glance as he headed straight up to the teahouse.

Feng Yue pouted, straightened herself, and managed to maintain a smile as she followed.

After being led around by Ye Yuqing for quite a while, she realized this Crown Prince’s thoughts were far from simple. First, he tested her from various angles, confirming she had no martial arts skills. Then he probed into her background. Fortunately, she was well-prepared and hadn’t shown any flaws along the way, vividly portraying the character of a “ruined woman turned courtesan, seeking revenge but powerless.”

Noticeably, Ye Yuqing had dropped half his guard toward her, and so in a private moment earlier, he had said something.

“A beauty like you—if possible, I would like to right the wrongs done to you.”

Feng Yue smiled inwardly while maintaining teary eyes as she looked at him.

What wrongs did she have? She only had vengeance. Rather than righting wrongs, it would be better to provide a path for her revenge.

She hadn’t misjudged—the Crown Prince indeed intended to eliminate General Yi. She hadn’t chosen wrong.

“Is Miss Feng Yue’s neck stiff?”

Lost in thought, she was suddenly jolted by these words from the side, like ice water being poured over her head. She turned to look: “Huh?”

Yin Gezhi held out a cup of tea to her, his expression cold.

“Oh, oh, oh!” Quickly taking it, Feng Yue gave an awkward laugh and took a sip.

Ye Yuqing stared at Yin Gezhi, saying, “Your Highness has been most diligent in tutoring the two young masters recently. I heard yesterday that Marquis An’guo praised Your Highness highly before Father Emperor.”

“You’re too kind.”

“Your Highness has a talent for military leadership, but it’s a pity your position is awkward and you cannot manage Wu’s affairs,” Ye Yuqing smiled. “But to waste such talent—even Heaven would reproach our country.”

“I dare not accept such praise.”

Feng Yue kept her head down eating snacks, listening to these two exchange compliments from one side and cold responses from the other. She thought the Crown Prince was truly too patient—why be so polite to Yin Gezhi? If it were her, she’d tie him to a tree and ask: will you help or not? If not, I’ll cut you down!

Ye Yuqing had long wanted to win over Yin Gezhi, but the Crown Prince of Yin seemed to enjoy living an idle life, showing no intention of joining forces. The Crown Prince was persistent though, using both soft and hard tactics, exhausting every method since Yin Gezhi’s arrival in Wu.

For some unknown reason, Yin Gezhi consistently refused to show goodwill toward the Crown Prince.

From a strategic standpoint, Yin Gezhi surely wanted to eliminate Yi Guoru, but perhaps because of Yi Zhangzhu, he appeared to get along quite well with Yi Guoru, maintaining cordial relations. He showed no sign of harboring grudges about being taken prisoner.

His heart was truly magnanimous.

“Feng Yue.” Unable to continue conversing with Yin Gezhi, Ye Yuqing turned to her: “Have some mung bean cake.”

Nodding in agreement, Feng Yue picked up a mung bean cake from the plate and took a bite, raising her eyebrows in surprise: “The teahouse buys this ready-made from the pastry shop across the street.”

“You can tell that?” Ye Yuqing smiled. “You must enjoy food.”

Smiling bashfully, Feng Yue said, “After living in poverty for so long, now that I finally have the chance to eat well, naturally I want to eat more.”

Is that so?

Looking at her fake smile, Yin Gezhi suddenly asked, “Do you usually send your maid to buy things?”

“Yes,” Feng Yue nodded, glancing at Ling Shu behind her, smiling, “This girl is naive, never deceives anyone or lies, and makes friends easily. When she goes out to buy food, people never short-change her.”

Glancing at Ling Shu, Ye Yuqing nodded slightly. Part of why he was willing to trust Feng Yue was because of Ling Shu—this maid was her closest confidante yet truly seemed simple-minded, answering any question straightforwardly. If Feng Yue were hiding something, Ling Shu would surely reveal it.

But Ling Shu hadn’t.

Yin Gezhi looked at Ling Shu, thought for a moment, then took out a tael of silver and gave it to her: “Go across the street and buy me some mung bean cakes.”

Feng Yue’s expression changed slightly. Suppressing her panic, she forced a smile and said, “Master? Your attendant is right here—why ask my maid to go?”

“When she buys things, she doesn’t get short-changed, right?” Looking directly at her, Yin Gezhi said, “My attendants aren’t so lucky.”

Would the great Crown Prince of Yin care about being short-changed? Feng Yue was somewhat panicked but had no idea what he suspected, so she could only restrain herself and wait.

Ling Shu took the silver and went down. Just as Ye Yuqing was about to speak, Feng Chuang called to him from the side and whispered something.

Looking somewhat impatient yet resigned, Ye Yuqing stood up and said, “I have matters to attend to and cannot escort the lady back. May I trouble Your Highness to do so? Please send Miss Feng Yue back to Dream Return House later?”

“Of course,” Yin Gezhi nodded.

Ye Yuqing hurried away, and Feng Yue pressed her lips together, her whole body inexplicably tense.

“What’s wrong?” Glancing at her, Yin Gezhi said, “Is this your expression when the Crown Prince leaves?”

“Not at all… I’ll go see if Ling Shu has finished buying!” Forcing a smile, Feng Yue got up and ran to the window.

Ling Shu had run across the street and was buying mung bean cakes. They weren’t far away, and the conversation could faintly be heard.

“Proprietress, one tael of silver worth of mung bean cakes… oh wait, is this one tael of silver?”

Seeing it was her, the proprietress smiled and said, “Why wouldn’t it be one tael?”

“It seems… much heavier than what my mistress gave?” Weighing the silver piece oddly, Ling Shu said, “Proprietress, can you weigh this for me—is this one tael of silver?”

“…” The proprietress paused for a moment, took her silver, and smiled, “It’s exactly one tael—people’s feelings can be wrong, but scales don’t lie. Here you are, miss.”

Just as Feng Yue was about to breathe a sigh of relief at the successful purchase, she heard someone say beside her ear: “Your maid seems quite familiar with that proprietress.”

Her hair standing on end, Feng Yue tensed up and said, “After buying there many times, naturally they became familiar.”

“Is that so?” Placing his hand on her shoulder, Yin Gezhi said flatly, “Let’s go back.”

“…Alright.”

Feeling like she’d been licked by a wolf, Feng Yue broke out in a cold sweat, following behind Yin Gezhi with her head down, not daring to make a sound.

“What did he tell you today?” the person in front asked.

Feng Yue smiled apologetically: “You mean that gentleman? Nothing much, just casual conversation.”