Han Yan frowned. Just as she was about to clean up the messy table, she noticed an iron plate beside the teacup. Picking it up, she found it surprisingly heavy, inscribed with text she couldn’t understand. Guessing it was left by that person and likely something precious, she walked to the bed and felt for a raised spot at the foot. With a forceful lift, the entire bedboard came up, revealing a hollow space beneath.

This was where Zhuo Qi had hidden earlier. After her rebirth, fearing Zhou’s spies in Qing Qiu Court, Han Yan spent two days and nights creating this hidden space under the bed when she felt unsafe keeping the silver from her exchange with Jiang Yu Lou on her person. That man had at least proven himself honorable – he hadn’t touched a single piece of the silver inside.

Han Yan retrieved a small cloth bundle from the bottom, placed the iron plate with the bank notes, and carefully replaced the bed. After all this exertion, she felt somewhat drowsy. But with daylight already bright, she couldn’t return to bed. Instead, she had Ji Lan bring a rattan lounge chair to the courtyard, where she dozed in the morning sun.

She wasn’t sure how long she had dozed when she felt a cold hand pat her head. Han Yan’s eyes flew open to find Fu Yun Xi standing before her, looking down at her.

Recently, he had taken to wearing a cyan-colored cape over a sky-blue embroidered brocade robe. He looked more martial than before, though his expression was somewhat gloomy.

Han Yan was startled at first, and looking around without seeing Ji Lan anywhere, asked curiously: “Why are you here?”

Fu Yun Xi just stared at her: “This morning I heard about the assassin at the Zhuang mansion last night. I came to check on the Princess Consort.”

The way he said “Princess Consort” made Han Yan suddenly uncomfortable. She thought to herself how quick Fu Yun Xi had been – the incident had just happened, yet he was already here. He must have sent Ji Lan and the others away. Coming so openly, he probably hadn’t sneaked in.

“Did you enter through the main gate?” Han Yan asked.

Fu Yun Xi found her question somewhat amusing but frowned: “Does this Prince need to use the back door?”

“That’s not what I meant…” Han Yan quickly denied: “It’s just that if you came through the main gate, many people must have seen…”

“So what if they saw?” Fu Yun Xi cut her off: “You are now the Princess Consort of my Xuan Qing Princedom. It’s perfectly natural for this Prince to visit his Princess Consort.”

Han Yan was rendered speechless by his words and could only glare at him silently. In her heart, she realized Fu Yun Xi’s actions would appear to others as the Prince of Xuan Qing doting on his Princess Consort – rushing over the next morning upon hearing about an assassin at her residence. He seemed to be demonstrating her status in his heart, showing others her position. In the future, anyone thinking of bullying her would have to consider the Prince’s face.

This person was always so thorough, Han Yan thought, feeling less irritated by his arrogant words. Still, she asked: “Why did you come? Nothing happened.”

Fu Yun Xi pressed his lips together as he looked at her, then after a while, tossed her a small white jade bottle. Han Yan fumbled to catch it: “What’s this?”

Fu Yun Xi stepped closer and grabbed her arm, startling her. He pulled up her sleeve, his face dark as he stared at the white bandage covering her wound.

Seeing his reaction, Han Yan understood he wanted to examine her wound, but still felt embarrassed and tried to pull back: “There’s nothing to see.”

“Don’t move!” Fu Yun Xi said in a low voice: “Zhuang Shi Yang didn’t even call a doctor for you!”

Indeed, Zhuang Shi Yang hadn’t concerned himself with Han Yan’s injury, so she had found another bandage herself and casually sprinkled some medicine powder before wrapping it, figuring it would heal on its own. Now, hearing Fu Yun Xi’s displeased tone, her heart warmed, and she consoled him: “It’s not a serious wound, no need to trouble a doctor.”

Fu Yun Xi sat down on the stone stool beside her and, with a stern face, began unwrapping her bandage, producing a fresh one – intending to rebandage it himself.

Han Yan felt it inappropriate for the mighty Prince of Xuan Qing to bandage a young girl’s wound and refused: “Let me do it myself.”

Fu Yun Xi commanded: “Be quiet.” He glanced at Han Yan, his usually profound phoenix eyes now emanating traces of frost. Han Yan found herself unable to meet his gaze, sensing his bad mood but wondering why he was angry. After all, she was the one in pain.

Though Fu Yun Xi’s expression was dark, his movements were increasingly gentle. Han Yan felt no pain at all. Seeing his practiced technique, she couldn’t help commenting: “Your Highness seems quite skilled at this.”

After a moment without response, thinking he was too angry to acknowledge her, she heard his cool voice: “In the army, I always bandaged my wounds.”

Han Yan asked puzzled: “Weren’t there army doctors? Why did you have to bandage yourself?”

Fu Yun Xi replied flatly: “Couldn’t trust them.”

Those three words seemed casual, but Han Yan could feel their weight. She’d heard this Prince of Xuan Qing had started wearing armor and fighting at fourteen. She could imagine the skepticism a fourteen-year-old boy had to face, especially on the battlefield. The helplessness of neither being trusted nor trusting others and the price one had to pay to survive in such circumstances. Was it perhaps that period of being attacked from all sides that had shaped Fu Yun Xi’s current cold and detached personality?

While Han Yan was lost in thought, Fu Yun Xi had already cleaned her wound, applied medicine, and rebandaged it. His technique was far superior to hers. Just as she was about to thank him, Fu Yun Xi looked at her and asked: “Why did you hurt yourself?”

Han Yan froze, not knowing how to answer. Given Fu Yun Xi’s actions and his military experience, this wound might fool others but not him. He could tell it wasn’t from a fall but self-inflicted. How should she explain this to him?

“I didn’t give you that hairpin for you to harm yourself,” he said, his deep eyes seeming to pull her in, yet revealing no emotion.

He’d even noticed that detail! Han Yan internally panicked and forced a smile: “The situation was urgent…”

“If you could use the title of Xuan Qing’s Princess Consort, why didn’t you use it from the start?” Fu Yun Xi said coldly: “Instead of hurting yourself to prove your innocence.”

Han Yan blushed. She had only used the Princess Consort title because she knew Prince Xuan Qing’s name carried weight. Now his words made it sound like she was abusing the title. Feeling uncomfortable but stubborn, she replied: “I haven’t formally married into the household yet, so I can’t be considered the official Princess Consort. How could I throw around the title everywhere? People would laugh.”

Hearing her words, Fu Yun Xi narrowed his phoenix eyes, saying with an ambiguous smile: “Are you reminding this Prince to marry you soon?”