Such naked praise made Zanxing feel a bit uncomfortable, and she was also somewhat puzzled. She asked: “Does the late ruler have no flaws at all?”

Princess Lizhu looked at her in surprise: “Why would you ask such a thing?”

“As long as someone is human, they will have flaws. Even though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and those harmless little flaws appear adorable to their partner, there should still be some shortcomings. Your Highness and the late ruler were husband and wife—didn’t the late ruler have any areas where he didn’t do well, even just a little bit?”

Princess Lizhu shook her head: “No.”

Zanxing looked thoughtful.

Gu Baiying simply said, “From what you’re saying, Emperor Shengning was a man without the strength to truss a chicken. How could such a man subdue a demon shark?”

His words were quite impolite.

However, Princess Lizhu didn’t get angry. After a while, she slowly spoke: “In fact, I don’t know either. Perhaps it was because of the demon-slaying formation.”

“Where is the cultivator who arranged the demon-slaying formation now?”

“The cultivator left after eliminating the demon shark that year. Over these years, I haven’t heard any news of him in the palace, and he left no words behind. Otherwise, with the current chaos in the city, we would just need to find him to set up another demon-slaying formation.” After Princess Lizhu finished speaking, she looked at Zanxing: “You two immortals have asked me so many questions—what exactly is your purpose? Could it be that you think there’s something wrong with my husband?”

This woman was alarmingly perceptive. Zanxing quickly said: “Your Highness needn’t overthink. We don’t mean that at all. It’s just that the records about the demon shark from that year were written extremely carelessly, so we’ve asked more questions.” She wanted to change the subject, and looking up, she saw the horn bow hanging on the opposite wall, so she smiled and said: “That bow looks very impressive. Is it yours, Your Highness?”

Princess Lizhu followed Zanxing’s gaze and smiled gently: “This is my bow. When I came here from Linshi Kingdom that year, afraid I would miss my homeland, I brought it along.”

Gu Baiying raised his eyebrows slightly: “So Your Highness knows archery.”

“Linshi Kingdom has many mountains and forests, and everyone is skilled in riding and archery. I am the princess of Linshi Kingdom—I grew up handling bows and arrows.” Speaking of this, Princess Lizhu’s eyes lit up somewhat, and her expression became more animated. She smiled: “The feeling of galloping through the forest with a bow and arrows is much more comfortable than sitting in a palace.”

Her attending maid, hearing this, also chimed in: “Our Princess’s archery skills even drove off pirates back then.”

“Pirates?” Zanxing asked: “Your Highness encountered pirates?”

Princess Lizhu smiled: “Those are all things of the past. When I came from Linshi Kingdom to Li’er Island that year, while passing through the Western Sea by ship, I saw pirates robbing ships and killing innocents indiscriminately, so I led my dowry attendants to help. Those pirates were just bullies who picked on the weak—they later abandoned ship and fled.”

“What do you mean, picking on the weak?” The maid heard this and refuted: “They were startled by Your Highness’s archery skills and fled in panic. The immortals don’t know—back then, when our Princess stood at the bow holding her bow and shooting arrows, she was truly majestic.”

Princess Lizhu looked somewhat lost in thought.

Back then, she wasn’t yet eighteen, already feeling much unease and anxiety about the marriage alliance, and then that ship of pirates happened to appear before her. Women of Linshi Kingdom had always been brave and resolute, never having hearts that would shrink back in fear. So she took her accompanying horn bow, and in the night led several attendants to sneak into the water, boarding the ship in darkness and catching those pirates completely off guard.

Those pirates had plundered many passing ships, keeping women for their pleasure and killing all the men. Princess Lizhu still remembered how grateful those women looked after she rescued them. Among them was even a frail young man. The youth seemed very timid and extremely frightened. Before Princess Lizhu could question him, he leaped into the sea. When she had the guards search for him, they couldn’t find him anywhere—whether he was dead or alive remained unknown.

“Sounds very impressive.” Gu Baiying picked up the tea in front of him and took a sip, speaking in an indifferent tone: “However, your Li’er Kingdom’s records don’t mention your heroic deeds at all. Could it be that they’ve attributed all of Your Highness’s bravery to Emperor Shengning?”

This person specialized in saying things that cut straight to people’s hearts. Zanxing smiled and tried to smooth things over: “That might be because we didn’t see the records about Your Highness.”

Princess Lizhu was silent for a long while before smiling: “That’s not the case. It’s just that after I married here, I rarely touched a bow again. Li’er Kingdom is different from Linshi Kingdom—women need to be gentle and refined, tender-hearted and delicate, not wielding weapons and being unconventional.”

“Wielding weapons is called being unconventional?” Gu Baiying snorted with laughter: “They wouldn’t even let you hold a bow, yet you say your husband treated you very well and had no flaws whatsoever. Princess Lizhu, you’re truly generous.”

Zanxing wanted to kick Gu Baiying.

Hearing this, Princess Lizhu was stunned. She didn’t refute Gu Baiying’s words, only looked out the window, not answering for a long time.

The atmosphere became awkward.

Seeing that they couldn’t learn anything more, Zanxing put down her teacup and stood up: “We came today just to ask casually. Thank you, Your Highness, for telling us so much. It’s getting late, so we’ll head back first. If we have other questions, we’ll come seek Your Highness’s guidance again.” After speaking, Zanxing desperately winked at Gu Baiying. Seeing that he ignored her, she could only grab Gu Baiying’s arm and drag him forcibly out of Princess Lizhu’s side palace.

After returning to their courtyard, Gu Baiying shook off Zanxing’s hand that was holding his arm and said: “Yang Zanxing, what were you winking about just now?”

“Master Uncle, why do you keep mocking the late ruler in front of Princess Lizhu?” Zanxing looked at him: “The man is already dead—let the dead rest in peace. There’s no need to say so much.”

“Hypocritical people deserve to be called out.” Gu Baiying sneered: “Li’er Kingdom’s records are all falsified—they should just be burned.”

Just as Zanxing was about to offer more persuasion, she suddenly heard Tian Fangfang’s voice from outside the courtyard: “Master Uncle, Sister Zanxing!”

“They’re back?” Zanxing turned around and saw Tian Fangfang and Mendong running breathlessly into the courtyard from outside.

After everyone entered the house, Tian Fangfang grabbed a teacup from the table and gulped down a couple of mouthfuls. Zanxing asked: “Why were you running so urgently?”

“Master Uncle,” Mendong looked at Gu Baiying and spoke excitedly: “We have findings—this trip yielded results!”

Gu Baiying asked: “What did you discover?”

“Those women who were victims forty years ago were indeed all eighteen years old. Today we went to those five households and asked for their birth dates and times. We discovered that those women were all born in yin months, on yin days, at yin hours!”

Tian Fangfang slammed her teacup heavily on the table: “It’s not coincidental, Master Uncle. Those women were all pure yin bodies!”