One night, Dong Chengfeng entered the sleeping chamber as usual.

Strangely, the old fox wasn’t inside.

Xiao Ze told him to wait where he was.

Full of curiosity, he set down his qin and tiptoed after them. Before he’d taken a few steps, Xiao Ze turned around and nearly scared him to death.

“The Crown Prince is worshipping Buddha in the small prayer hall. What are you following for?”

Dong Chengfeng’s first reaction was: “As Crown Prince, he still believes in gods and Buddhas?”

Dong Chengfeng’s second reaction was: “Others should be praying he protects them.”

Xiao Ze looked at him as if looking at an idiot and asked back, “What would he pray for?”

“Fame and fortune, glory and wealth, marital harmony, descendants filling the halls, favorable weather, peace and prosperity!”

Xiao Ze: “…”

Dong Chengfeng, seeing his blank expression, pointed inside: “I’ll just look from outside, won’t go in. I’ve lived this long and never seen a prayer hall.”

Then came Zhao the Fox’s voice from inside: “Let him enter.”

“He said I can enter.”

Dong Chengfeng shrugged, ignoring Xiao Ze’s cracking expression. As he brushed past, he deliberately bumped him, then swaggered into that prayer hall.

It wasn’t a prayer hall at all—it was clearly a meditation room with not even a Bodhisattva enshrined.

In the center of the room, on the wall hung two characters written in cursive: Benevolence and Filial Piety.

Below the scroll sat an incense burner, three plates of fruit and pastries. Three incense sticks were inserted in the burner. Zhao the Fox, wearing only simple robes, sat cross-legged on a cushion, completely motionless.

Dong Chengfeng cursed inwardly “what a waste of time,” and was about to turn and leave when he saw Zhao the Fox pat the space beside him, gesturing for him to sit down.

He sat over, his gaze moving back and forth between those characters and Zhao the Fox, thinking that with your scheming mind, you don’t match the words “benevolence and filial piety” at all. You really should cultivate yourself.

After sitting a while, seeing the fox still had his eyes closed, he drew in a breath and slowly leaned his body down, then propped his head up with his hand.

Zhao the Fox lifted his eyelids to look at him. He said very naturally, “I’m tired.”

“Where are you tired?”

“My heart!”

“Want to leave?”

“How did you know?”

Dong Chengfeng sat up and brought his head closer: “Since you know, I won’t waste words. Let’s discuss properly—can you let me go?”

“Why?”

“Don’t you think your Crown Prince’s residence is like a cage? It’s utterly meaningless. I’m going to die young!”

Seeing the fox remain silent, he extended his hand: “Really, I’d rather have three fingers cut off.”

“Ah Ze, cut off his three fingers.”

“Hey, hey, hey…”

Dong Chengfeng quickly retracted his hand. “I was just talking. How can you take it seriously?”

Zhao the Fox looked at him coldly.

He could only say stubbornly, “Three years in exchange for three fingers—any ghost would know which to choose, let alone a person!”

“People…” Zhao the Fox said expressionlessly, “All weigh pros and cons.”

Dong Chengfeng tilted his chin up slightly. “Yan Sanhe, you should know that because of these words, I couldn’t sleep for three whole days.”

“Why?”

“I suddenly realized he was right!”

“Right about what?”

“Look…”

Dong Chengfeng said, “My master wanted to buy me. I actually could have said no—climbed up the mountain and hidden for a few days where no one could find me. But I obediently accepted my fate. Why?”

Yan Sanhe: “Because subconsciously you felt that following your master was better than following your parents.”

Dong Chengfeng slapped the small table: “Exactly that principle.”

Magistrate Tan made him choose between having three fingers cut off and becoming a son-in-law.

Was being the magistrate’s son-in-law so easy?

Put plainly, it meant living off a woman, being pointed at behind his back his whole life. Weighing the pros and cons, of course he chose having three fingers cut off.

As a man standing tall, he had to maintain some dignity!

But once Zhao the Fox proposed three years in exchange for three fingers, he agreed without hesitation.

Why?

Weighing the pros and cons, of course he wanted to preserve his fingers.

It was only three years—he could endure it.

“I suddenly understood that seeking benefit and avoiding harm is human instinct, it’s subconscious, doesn’t require thinking at all. Even for someone like me who claims to fear neither heaven nor earth.”

Dong Chengfeng laughed self-mockingly, his speech suddenly slowing.

“Three days later, I looked at Zhao the Fox differently. I thought, this man truly deserves to be Crown Prince—he knows so much, thinks so deeply, and understands so clearly.”

Yan Sanhe smiled: “Then you obediently stayed in the Crown Prince’s residence and stopped causing trouble.”

“Girl, you guessed it again.”

Dong Chengfeng sighed:

“He used one copper coin to cage me, one sentence to make me accept my fate. Only then did I realize—what was Xiao Ze? The old fox was the most formidable, killing without a trace!”

“It depends on who you compare to.”

Yan Sanhe said, “Compared to you, naturally he’s formidable. But compared to the current Emperor, he’s still a move behind.”

The current Emperor only needed one word—”kill”—to make Dong Chengfeng obediently submit, with no need to waste several sentences on a nobody.

Dong Chengfeng looked at Yan Sanhe with some shock. This was a principle he only understood later, yet she knew it right now.

Truly intelligent!

Unable to out-scheme him, unable to be brazen enough, Dong Chengfeng could only obediently stay.

Because the days were so boring, he made a request to the old fox—could he get two beautiful women to keep him company? Water-spirit young male attendants would work too.

For some reason, the old fox agreed.

The next day, Xiao Ze brought people to his courtyard—actually one man and one woman. Seeing their looks, his mouth watered.

With someone to warm his bed, he brazenly asked the old fox for wine, and the old fox agreed to that too.

With fine wine in hand and beauties in his arms, his days suddenly became comfortable.

Once a person becomes comfortable, even his complexion improves.

With improved complexion comes good mood, and clearly his qin music carried a few notes of satisfaction.

But this satisfaction only lasted three months. One sentence from the old fox made him lose sleep for three days and nights again.

That day was the Double Ninth Festival. He arrived at the sleeping chamber on time and found Jiao Yu and Taiping serving the old fox his meal.

The old fox waved at him, telling him to wait by himself for a while.

Dong Chengfeng had spent half a year in the Crown Prince’s residence and had long figured out the old fox’s routine. Eating at this hour meant he had just returned from the palace.

He was curious what the Son of Heaven ate, so he craned his neck to look.

This look left him stunned.

One bowl of plain congee, two small dishes of vegetables.

He thought: Not to that extent—even if afraid of indigestion and eating light, you can’t be this austere.

Taking advantage of Jiao Yu pouring tea for him, he covered his mouth and asked, “What does he usually eat for dinner?”

Jiao Yu had grown familiar with him and didn’t hide anything: “This.”

“Do the Crown Princess and heir also eat this with him?”

Jiao Yu gave him a “are you stupid” look and walked away without turning back.

After finishing this piss, he returned as agreed to collect the silver, but the man pulled a single coin from his pocket and placed it on the table.

Dong Chengfeng, whose mind was now full of questions, couldn’t hold back. When the old fox finished eating, washed, and changed clothes, then reclined in bed, he boldly asked:

“Why eat so plainly? Your Highness is the current Crown Prince!”

The old fox, not expecting him to speak, paused slightly and said, “Those who feast daily—besides becoming fat-headed and thick-gutted, what else can they contain?”

Dong Chengfeng thought the old fox was indirectly calling him stupid.

Wild cubs born on the grasslands all drank wine from large bowls and ate meat in big chunks. One reason his master wanted to drive him away back then was his enormous appetite.

That night, even with a beauty lying in his arms, he had no taste for it.

What’s wrong with eating more?

As long as I play the qin and lull you to sleep, I don’t need to contain anything else.

Life is short—seize the day. Even denying yourself food—what’s the point of living?

The next day when the meal was served, thinking of the words “fat-headed and thick-gutted,” Dong Chengfeng couldn’t bring himself to use his chopsticks.

For that meal, he ate only half full.

Strangely, that day his spirits were particularly good, and he spent the afternoon studying qin scores.