“How cautious,” Yin Gezhi couldn’t help but softly clap his hands. “Guanzhi, have you ever seen such a woman?”

Guanzhi shook his head, then asked with confusion, “What kind of woman?”

“The kind who claims to have admired you for years, yet remains deeply guarded against you, while freely entangling herself with others.” He closed his eyes slightly, his gaze darkening as he looked at the newly planted trees outside. “Her background is unclear, her methods numerous, and her intentions impure.”

“She sounds dangerous,” Guanzhi said. “If you know she’s no good, why still let her work for you?”

“A capable person should be used, or it would be a waste.” Yin Gezhi lowered his eyes. “She’s ruthless enough to use her own body as a bargaining chip. Why should I show her mercy?”

Looking at him, Guanzhi couldn’t help but say, “Master, there’s something I’m not sure if I should mention.”

“If you’re not sure whether you should mention it, then you shouldn’t,” Yin Gezhi said. “Don’t say it.”

“…But, were you so angry earlier because Lady Fengyue gave herself to Zhao Xi?” Guanzhi said. “However, Zhao Xi said he barely touched Lady Fengyue. He fainted right after entering the study and knew nothing after that.”

Yin Gezhi’s body stiffened. He raised his head and looked at him. “Are you so idle that you’re investigating such trivial matters?”

“It’s not that I specifically investigated. Our people overheard Zhao Xi explaining to Zhao Lin,” Guanzhi said. “Lady Fengyue is very clever, and her timing was perfect. She made her move on Zhao Xi while Zhao Lin wasn’t at the mansion, and she came prepared. She brought sleeping drugs, so obtaining the item went smoothly.”

Yin Gezhi let out a cold laugh and looked up at him. “If he didn’t touch her, then where did those marks on her neck come from? You believe Zhao Xi’s excuses?”

Guanzhi scratched his head, not knowing what to say.

The room fell silent for a while. He thought the matter was settled and needed no further discussion, but unexpectedly, his master spoke again, his tone somewhat strange:

“Besides, if she hadn’t given herself to him, why would she say such harsh things about herself?”

She had said it herself – whether it was one man or many, offering herself was offering herself. When she could use her body to exchange for things, why should she remain chaste? Such words – if she hadn’t done such things, who would curse themselves so harshly?

Guanzhi awkwardly tugged at the corner of his mouth and said hesitantly, “I was listening outside the door at the time, so I don’t know exactly what you two were arguing about, but from what I heard… Master, you were the one who spoke harshly first.”

Was that so?

Yin Gezhi frowned and quietly reflected for a moment, then fell silent.

“If you only saw Lady Fengyue as an asset, you shouldn’t care what she does. But you got angry – quite angry,” Guanzhi rubbed his nose. “I’ve wanted to remind you for a while, Master. You quite like Lady Fengyue, and since you like her, you shouldn’t always bully her…”

“I bully her?” The First Prince Yin’s tone was extremely disdainful. “Which eye of yours saw me bullying her?”

Can’t see it because you close the doors when you bully her! Guanzhi sighed. “I’m not trying to interfere with Master’s personal affairs, but… Lady Fengyue seems to have it hard enough. Since your interests align and she has shown no intention of betraying you, you could be more lenient.”

Lenient? He had always been lenient, never harsh with anyone. Just recently… perhaps because there were too many matters to handle, his temper had become more volatile, and his words weren’t very gentle.

He had originally planned to treat her well, to make her devoted to him and willing to serve. But this small matter had distracted him from his initial intention.

Slightly frustrated, Yin Gezhi stood up, about to say they should call Fengyue back as the task might be too difficult for her when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Guanzhi hurried to look and heard someone say: “Conveying the Crown Prince’s verbal order. Request Prince Yin to meet at the tea pavilion outside the North Gate.”

The Crown Prince? Guanzhi turned back to see his master already walking out, clasping his hands in response: “Very well.”

Relations with the Crown Prince were good these days, so Guanzhi didn’t think much of it. He grabbed his sword, intending to accompany his master, but heard him say: “You stay.”

There was still Lingzhu in the mansion. Fengyue wouldn’t take her when she went out, and that little girl would surely cause havoc if left unsupervised. If she stumbled upon something she shouldn’t, that would be troublesome.

Understanding, Guanzhi agreed and watched as his master mounted a horse with the messenger and quickly galloped out of sight.

Fengyue made a trip back to Menghui Tower. As soon as Madam Jin saw her, she pulled her into a small room and glared: “You must be careful! Many people are looking for you!”

“I know,” Fengyue smiled at her. “Someone’s protecting me, so I’m not worried about losing my life.”

“You mean First Prince Yin?” Madam Jin shook her head. “I’ve received word that he’s offended quite a few people recently, and he’s just a prince-hostage without power or influence. Some people want to move against him.”

Her smile froze. Fengyue thought for a moment and said, “His martial arts are excellent. Those who move against him won’t come to any good end.”

“That’s why you need to be more careful,” Madam Jin said. “They’ll go after the soft targets!”

Not moving against Yin Gezhi, but against her instead? Fengyue snorted lightly – with her ability to come and go without a trace, who could corner her?

However, reality proved that one shouldn’t be too confident. Before she could even voice these thoughts, the door to the small room was suddenly kicked open!

Fengyue looked up at the group of people wearing ordinary clothes but wearing unfriendly expressions. She smiled, slipped something into Madam Jin’s hand, then stood in front of her and batted her eyes at the group: “Gentlemen, are you here to play?”

The group of men didn’t respond to her, instead immediately grabbing her and dragging her out!

“Hey hey hey, let’s talk this through, be gentle!” Making a huge commotion, Fengyue shouted at the top of her voice: “In broad daylight! Kidnapping an innocent… pah, kidnapping a woman!”

People from all over the tower immediately ran out to watch the excitement, even the cleaning ladies came out with their winnowing baskets to look as Fengyue was taken away.

Probably because she was too noisy, the group of soldiers gagged her with a cloth. So Fengyue could only glare at them.

Though Commander Zhao was supposedly under house arrest, he could still send people to capture her. Yin Gezhi was right – this person’s backing was truly significant.

Would she be taken to the imperial prison? Or someone’s private dungeon? She pondered this the whole way, but unexpectedly, the group simply carried her straight out through the North Gate. Right under the noses of the North Gate guards, they took her bound and gagged, directly out of the city.

Looking back deeply at the North Gate one last time, Fengyue had nothing to say except to give them a mental thumbs up – impressive, not even bothering to question anything!

But why take her out of the city?

The sky grew mysteriously dark. When Fengyue arrived at the forest, she saw many people formed in a circle. The atmosphere was tense.

A bonfire party? So they kidnapped her to dance around a fire? They could have just asked – she would have come on her own.

The cloth gag was yanked from her mouth, and a fierce-looking man beside her barked: “Call out to him, or we’ll kill you!”

A gleaming blade was pressed against her neck. Fengyue hurriedly said: “Call who? You have to at least let me see first!”

The circle opened up a gap, and she looked up to see that what the group was surrounding wasn’t a bonfire, but Yin Gezhi.

“You’re here too?” Fengyue exclaimed with delight. “What a coincidence!”

Yin Gezhi: “…”

This impossibly stupid woman – hadn’t she confidently claimed she would handle everything well? Yet here she was, captured before completing the task?

As she smiled, sensing something was off about the atmosphere, Fengyue blinked, looking at Yin Gezhi and then at the leader-like figure beside her, asking softly: “Brother, what’s going on?”

Ignoring her, the leader held his blade to her throat and said sternly to Yin Gezhi: “If you continue to resist, she dies first. I hear you’re quite fond of this little beauty.”

“You heard wrong,” Yin Gezhi said flatly. “Even if you kill her, I won’t do as you wish.”

Fengyue immediately understood the situation and couldn’t help but scold: “Are you all stupid? So many of you and you’re afraid of just one person? Attack him! Even two fists can’t fight four hands! Even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them!”

The leader was stunned, looking between Yin Gezhi and Fengyue, thinking something wasn’t right – this didn’t look like the rumored deep romance at all. It looked more like she was facing her father’s murderer.

“Aiya, why bring a weak woman like me when you big men are fighting? Won’t people in the martial world laugh at you?” She gave him a reproachful, coquettish look and said, “Brother, listen to me. Eight of you attack his left side, eight attack his right, and the rest surround him. Even if he were a demon, you could still beat him to death! If that’s not enough, add some arrows and hidden weapons!”

Amid the heavy encirclement, Yin Gezhi said with a dark face: “You’re quite quick with suggestions.”

“Too kind, too kind.” Making a face at him, Fengyue snorted with laughter: “If it means getting rid of you, this servant can offer even more suggestions.”

“Don’t let me catch you, or you can forget about what’s on your neck.”

“Come on then, hit me!” Rolling her eyes, Fengyue’s expression was quite provocative: “Too bad you’ll die before me today!”

Hearing this back-and-forth, the leader was completely dumbfounded, seriously doubting whether his men had grabbed the wrong person.

However, there was no time to think further. Yin Gezhi had truly become enraged and charged straight toward Fengyue, looking as if he meant to kill her.

The little beauty screamed and stamped her foot, “Brother! Protect me!”

The leader beside her instinctively shouted: “Stop him!”

Could they stop him? Fengyue smiled, watching with complete confidence as Yin Gezhi seized weapons and cut through the group like vegetables.

There was a gap between assassins and battlefield generals. Yin Gezhi was accustomed to fighting against many, while martial artists were more used to one-on-one combat. So when the two sides met, the side with greater numbers found themselves constrained.

Yin Gezhi was excited, just like that time at Wangxiang Tower. The sight of blood made his whole being like a sword unleashed, trembling with excitement. Each thrust of his blade into a heart, each spray of blood across his face, made his eyes burn even hotter.