Those words were rather harsh, making even Ye Yuqin turn to look at her.

Yi Zhangzhu remained oblivious, just staring at Fengyue, waiting for her answer.

Not showing any embarrassment, Fengyue instead looked at her with surprise, then said as if in praise, “I didn’t expect Miss Yi to understand our trade so well after just playing music once at Menghui House.”

“Playing music at Menghui House?” Ye Yuqin frowned. “Zhuer?”

Yi Zhangzhu’s face turned pale as she hurriedly shook her head. “I didn’t!”

But seeing Yin Gezhi still beside her, she immediately blushed and fell silent, lowering her head.

“I wasn’t here for business today,” Fengyue pressed her lips together and adjusted her clothes. “I came to visit Miss He Chou. After all, we’re both from Menghui House, so I wanted to see how she was doing. I didn’t expect to run into Young Master Zhao…”

Her expression suddenly turned pitiful as she bit her lip and fell silent.

This act was for Ye Yuqin’s benefit. After all, he was gentle and considerate, treating her far more tenderly than Yin Gezhi did.

Sure enough, Ye Yuqin immediately said, “Young Master Zhao has always been known for his tyrannical and lustful behavior. I didn’t expect him to be even more unrestrained in his own home.”

Yi Zhangzhu sneered, muttering, “Miss Fengyue is a courtesan, not some proper lady. If she offers herself up and gets taken advantage of, that’s just how it is. Is she going to act suicidal about it?”

Lowering his eyes, Yin Gezhi nodded. “Zhangzhu makes sense.”

Though this was indeed logical, seeing these two in such harmony made Fengyue uncomfortable. She gave a mocking laugh and said, “Indeed, in the young lady’s view, we who sell ourselves can be bullied by anyone without resistance. After all, isn’t that what we’re selling?”

“At least you know your place,” Yi Zhangzhu sneered.

Yin Gezhi remained silent, turning his head away without looking at her. Fengyue paused, about to say she wasn’t worthy of riding in their noble carriage and should get off, when Ye Yuqin suddenly said, “Stop.”

As the slowly moving carriage came to a halt, Ye Yuqin stepped out with a stern face. He turned and lifted the curtain, looking at Fengyue: “Come out.”

Fengyue was startled but followed, smiling awkwardly. “Your Highness needn’t drive me away, I didn’t want to ride anyway.”

Before she could finish, he took her hand. Ye Yuqin turned to look at her, his eyes full of sympathy: “If you don’t want to ride, then don’t. There’s a cosmetics shop nearby. Your face is in disarray; why don’t you go wash up?”

His palm was warm against her cold hand, sending warmth straight to her heart. Fengyue blinked, somewhat surprised, and found herself being led along without resistance, forgetting to object.

“This…” Yi Zhangzhu in the carriage grew unhappy, clutching her heavily bandaged arm and frowning. “Weren’t we supposed to be seeking justice for me? Why is he leaving with her?”

She turned to complain to Yin Gezhi but was startled by his dark expression. “Brother Yin?”

Containing his aura, Yin Gezhi said expressionlessly, “His Highness is behaving quite inappropriately.”

“Exactly!” Yi Zhangzhu said. “He says he wants to marry me, yet he frequently associates with other women. And now this is even better – I’m still injured, yet he’s off with a courtesan?”

She lifted the curtain to watch their retreating figures, then frowned again. “Could it be that the Crown Prince has fallen for her?”

“What makes you think so?” The man behind her asked coolly.

Yi Zhangzhu said unhappily, “Though Brother Crown Prince is usually gentle, he rarely touches other women. Yet look at this – he’s even holding her hand.”

The carriage fell silent. Yin Gezhi turned his head, glancing at the Captain’s Manor through the carriage window.

After washing her face and applying the new cosmetics Ye Yuqin had just bought, Fengyue smiled and curtseyed him: “Thank you.”

Ye Yuqin looked at her deeply before moving closer and saying quietly, “By rights, I should use your pitiful state to persuade Yin Gezhi to take action against the Captain’s Manor sooner.”

Fengyue raised an eyebrow, thinking this calculation would fail – how could someone as deep as Yin Gezhi be swayed by her to follow the Crown Prince’s wishes and disrupt his plans?

But then the man before her suddenly laughed, perhaps at her or himself. He opened his fan to cover half his face, leaving only his deep eyes visible as he said in a low voice, “However before he could feel sympathy, I found myself feeling it first.”

Her heart trembled as Fengyue looked up at him in surprise.

Covering her eyes with his hand, Ye Yuqin sighed. “Never mind. I’m not in a good mood today. Why don’t we forget everything else and go back to watch you dance?”

“…” After a moment’s hesitation, Fengyue nodded. “Alright.”

The items in her bodice needed to be given to Yin Gezhi quickly, but since she couldn’t do that now, she’d store them at Menghui House first.

“Miss, His Highness has left first. He said he had urgent matters,” the attendant reported at the carriage.

Yi Zhangzhu laughed bitterly upon hearing this. “Urgent matters? I’m so seriously injured, yet he has other urgent matters?”

The attendant lowered his head in silence as Yi Zhangzhu laughed while crying: “I’ve never met someone like this, constantly talking about wanting to marry me yet treating me this way.”

“Enough,” the man beside her said coolly. “If he’s busy, then we’ll just enter the Captain’s Manor ourselves.”

Hearing this, Yi Zhangzhu felt somewhat better. She looked at Yin Gezhi through tear-filled eyes: “You’re the only one who’s good to me.”

Eyes half-lowered, Yin Gezhi said, “You were stabbed in the city, and recently there have been cases of people being kidnapped in the city and safely transported out. The Captain’s Manor has severely neglected its duties and must certainly explain.”

With his words, Yi Zhangzhu felt much more assured and had the driver knock at the Captain’s Manor. Learning that Captain Zhao wasn’t there, they headed straight for the current Grand Commandant’s residence.

Back at Menghui House, Fengyue changed clothes and hid the items before pouring tea for Ye Yuqin and asking, “What dance would you like to see?”

Ye Yuqin chuckled softly: “Whatever you enjoy dancing, that’s what I’ll watch.”

Tilting her head and smiling at him, Fengyue said, “You’re spoiling this servant too much.”

“A fine woman like you deserves any amount of spoiling.” Opening his fan, he said, “It’s just a pity that beauty often brings hardship. Your life isn’t peaceful.”

Giving a soft laugh, Fengyue said, “An unsettled life is fine too – it makes living more flavorful.”

“Is that really how you think?” Ye Yuqin raised an eyebrow. “I was considering buying your freedom and sending you to the envoy’s mansion, to live a better life.”

Fengyue paused briefly before hurriedly saying, “That wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“Why not?”

How could she receive information from various sources if she went to the envoy’s mansion? Under Yin Gezhi’s watchful eye, all her connections would surely be exposed. Then she’d lose her value and be discarded!

Grinning, Fengyue said seriously, “Men, you know? A wife can’t compare to a concubine, and a concubine can’t compare to a stolen moment. Here at Menghui House, I can keep him yearning. If I’m delivered to his doorstep and satisfy him completely, I’d become useless.”

Ye Yuqin was stunned, staring at her before suddenly breaking into laughter: “There’s such a saying? You see things quite clearly.”

“Just experienced, that’s all.” Fengyue sighed wistfully, then said cleverly, “About the task you assigned last time, this servant has completed it, though I’m not sure if it was effective.”

Nodding with a smile, Ye Yuqin said, “He’s willing to help me now, and with your additional assistance, things will naturally go smoothly. Fengyue, your value is far greater than you imagine.”

Rather than her helping Ye Yuqin influence Yin Gezhi, it was more like Yin Gezhi using her as an excuse to enter the Crown Prince’s domain. The Crown Prince even thought he’d succeeded, unaware that the great demon lord Yin was sharpening his knife behind the scenes, probably with great satisfaction.

Lowering her head in a bow, Fengyue said, “This servant is unworthy. Let me dance for Your Highness instead?”

Just as he was about to agree, Feng Chuang at the door quietly said, “Master, Miss Yi, and the others have gone to the Grand Commandant’s mansion.”

“The Grand Commandant’s mansion?” Ye Yuqin paused, somewhat irritated. “Didn’t I say we’d go another day?”

Feng Chuang sighed. “No one dares stop the young lady.”

And Yin Gezhi didn’t stop her either?!

Rubbing his temples, Ye Yuqin said, “He’s deliberately not letting me have peace.”

“It wasn’t very appropriate for Your Highness to leave midway,” Fengyue said gently. “Since you have matters to attend to, Your Highness should go first, lest Miss Yi feel wronged.”

“I said we’d discuss that matter another day because I saw you were wronged. Besides, the evidence isn’t complete yet, so going now won’t yield good results.” Letting out a long breath, Ye Yuqin stood up and said resignedly, “But it seems Zhuer isn’t willing to wait, so I have no choice but to go over.”

“Take care on your way.”

Stepping out reluctantly, Ye Yuqin fanned himself as he walked, trying hard to stay calm.