After spring began, Li Hanyuan would be eleven years old. The Empress began treating her seriously as a young princess of marriageable age and educating her accordingly. In the past, she had only spent all day following her brothers to listen to lessons at the academy, but now she had to spend most of her time in her mother’s palace learning needlework and calligraphy. The teaching nanny no longer treated her as a child and was much stricter than before, so Li Hanyuan’s days had truly become rather difficult lately.

The Empress had originally planned to cancel her academy classes and focus on teaching her in the palace. But now, in Li Hanyuan’s eyes, compared to the teaching nanny, the academy teachers all seemed incredibly kind and amiable. Moreover, there her brothers were willing to dote on her because of her young age, and it was no different from going to play. Now that she suddenly wasn’t allowed to go and could only study embroidery and needlework in the palace daily, she naturally refused with all her might.

Li Hanyuan was adorable and usually quite favored. After acting coquettishly before Emperor Xuande like this, she gained His Majesty’s support. He waved his hand grandly: “Reading more books is always good. If Little Nine wants to go, let her go.” The Empress could do nothing about this and could only agree to let her go three days out of five, with the remaining days spent in the palace.

The little princess was overjoyed and took the opportunity to ask Emperor Xuande to find her a study companion. Since she wasn’t going to the academy to study seriously, the companion naturally didn’t need to be a serious study companion either—it was just finding someone to play with her. As it happened, Li Hanyuan liked Qiu Xinran very much, so this business fell on her.

Early this day, Li Hanyuan sat on the high platform beside the training grounds, chin in hand, watching the academy youths playing polo on the field. Qiu Xinran sat beside her, head lowered, copying texts. Li Hanyuan had forgotten to memorize her text yesterday. When the teacher called on her this morning, she couldn’t answer a single word. The teacher held the disciplinary ruler but before striking, seeing her small face on the verge of tears, ultimately sighed and punished her by having her copy this essay ten times today. So during this polo lesson, Qiu Xinran sat with her on the sidelines, helping her copy texts together.

It was mid-spring, and the weather was gradually warming. After copying twice, Li Hanyuan grew impatient. She threw down her brush and, while watching the competition below, shared with the person beside her the recent happenings in the palace.

“Xiao Ling came to the palace yesterday to see me and told me that painting a flower ornament between the eyebrows is popular outside now. I saw she painted one, and it was indeed very distinctive. She promised next time she comes to the palace, she’ll paint one for me too!”

Xiao Ling was the Empress’s grandniece and also the Ninth Princess’s close friend. The two were similar in age and very close, often gathering together to share private conversations. From these scattered details, Qiu Xinran sketched in her mind an image of this Miss Han—probably a shy, demure yet clever-minded young lady who also happened to have a little crush on Young Master Xia…

When Qiu Xinran first learned of this, she was truly somewhat surprised and couldn’t help but ask curiously: “What did Miss Han see in Young Master Xia?”

“Last time when Xiao Ling came to the palace, she accidentally lost her handkerchief. Later it seems Brother Xia found it and returned it to the head nanny. Xiao Ling later wanted to see what Brother Xia who found her handkerchief looked like, and she even asked me to help cover for her at Mother’s palace. Unfortunately, she only saw his back.”

So it was such a matter. Qiu Xinran nodded and added another label to this Miss Han: “In her leisure time, she probably enjoys reading romance novels.”

“But Brother Xia seems somewhat different lately…” Li Hanyuan said, chin in hand, watching the youths playing polo on the training grounds below. Hearing this, Qiu Xinran raised her head and also looked over. She saw the youths on the field divided into two sides—one group wearing red, the other white, holding wooden mallets while mounted on horses.

In the past, Xia Xiuyan never participated in such activities. For some reason, since the assassination attempt at the autumn hunt, he had become dedicated to martial arts, riding, and archery. Today he had actually joined the match too.

Qiu Xinran saw him wearing white robes—nomadic-style narrow sleeves and black boots, dressed neatly and efficiently. His complexion was fair and his features handsome, quite eye-catching in the crowd. However, once the match started, he rode his horse at the very back, not rushing forward to compete with the others. At the very front as always were Li Hanyi and Zheng Yuanwu. Zheng Yuanwu in red robes, swinging his mallet and riding with beautiful form, always drew everyone’s attention. Li Hanyi wasn’t willing to be outdone either. He wore white and pulled the reins tight to catch up, exchanging several rounds with Zheng Yuanwu. The small polo ball rolled on the ground as if in boiling water, bouncing up and down continuously. The others surrounded the two, both sides defending tightly, fighting fiercely without yielding an inch.

Suddenly, Zheng Yuanwu seized an opportunity and swung his crescent mallet. The ball curved around, escaping from Li Hanyi’s reach and flying through the air! This shot was truly cunning, and the striker had used great force. One strike actually sent the ball flying across more than half the field, heading straight for the white team’s goal!

The red team’s cheer of approval was already at their lips when they suddenly saw someone flash out from near the goal. With one strike, he intercepted the ball about to enter mid-air and with a “whack” hit it back. This turn of events came so suddenly that before everyone could react, the ball had already reached Li Hanfeng’s hands at the outer edge of the field. Receiving the ball without waiting for others to recover, he quickly spurred his horse toward the red team’s goal in a mad dash. By the time others caught up, he had already seized the opportunity to raise his crescent mallet and strike the ball into the hole!

For a moment, cheers and sighs of regret arose together on the field.

Li Hanyi’s expression was unpleasant because he’d lost that ball, but fortunately, it was his own side’s Li Hanfeng who scored in the end, so his mood improved somewhat. As for Zheng Yuanwu in the center of the field, he looked back at Xia Xiuyan who had fallen to the rear, raised his mallet toward him, and sincerely praised: “Good shot.”

Xia Xiuyan’s expression showed no ripples. He only nodded faintly at him, then turned his horse around and rode to the sidelines to wait for the next round to begin.

Qiu Xinran turned her gaze back and asked Li Hanyuan: “Was there any follow-up to the assassination incident at the autumn hunt?”

Li Hanyuan thought for a moment: “I don’t think so. It seems they said it might have been an accidental injury from a stray arrow.” Thinking Qiu Xinran was worried about Xia Xiuyan’s injury, she didn’t forget to console her: “But the imperial physician examined him too. Brother Xia’s injury is nothing serious. You can see he’s riding and shooting better than before now!”

Qiu Xinran didn’t know what she was thinking and shook her head. She had already copied the essay three times. She said to Li Hanyuan: “Princess, you still have lessons in the palace this afternoon. You should hurry and copy more while you can.”

Hearing this, Li Hanyuan felt the same way and could only withdraw her gaze from the training grounds and focus on copying again.

After copying for a while, they heard quarreling sounds from the field. Li Hanyuan quickly put down her brush and craned her neck to look, seeing Li Hanru seemed to be arguing with someone. Some time ago, she seemed to have been confined by Noble Consort Chen and hadn’t appeared for a long time. This was her first appearance at the training grounds.

From such a distance, the two couldn’t hear clearly what they were arguing about, but it seemed Li Hanru and Li Hanyi were having a dispute. Zheng Yuanwu stood to the side, at first trying to mediate with a word or two, but somehow this only made the siblings’ emotions more heated, so he quickly frowned and stopped saying anything.

Qiu Xinran glanced at everyone’s reactions in the crowd and suddenly asked: “Is the Seventh Princess having a conflict with Young Master Zheng?”

Li Hanyuan said blankly: “With Brother Zheng? But Seventh Sister is clearly arguing with Second Brother…” As she spoke, she remembered something and leaned in close to whisper: “But something did happen a while ago.”

Seeing her cautious manner, Qiu Xinran also couldn’t help but lean over and lower her voice to ask: “What happened?”

“On New Year’s Eve, Imperial Father brought up Seventh Sister’s marriage and asked if she had someone in mind…” Li Hanyuan vaguely recounted that evening’s events, then added: “I heard that after returning that day, Seventh Sister cried terribly in the palace. Noble Consort also got very angry and raged in the palace, then ordered Seventh Sister confined to the hall and forbade her to go out.”

Qiu Xinran nodded. This was the first time she’d heard of this matter. Li Hanyuan leaned in close and couldn’t help but ask in a low voice: “Xinran, do you think Seventh Sister likes Brother Zheng?”

As soon as she finished speaking, before Qiu Xinran could answer, she saw the very person they’d just been discussing climb the ladder up to the high platform.

Li Hanyuan’s face showed guilt as she closed her mouth. Qiu Xinran quickly stood and greeted him with a bow. Zheng Yuanwu didn’t know they had just been discussing him. Seeing Qiu Xinran stand, he gently waved his hand for her to sit down, explaining with a bitter smile: “I’m coming up to sit for a bit. You don’t need to mind me.”

Qiu Xinran turned to see that indeed someone else had taken the field below. Li Hanru had changed into red robes, her hunting garments fluttering. Even from afar, one could feel the heavy killing aura about her. She charged and attacked no less fiercely than any man, and even several youths from both sides were intimidated by her murderously solemn bearing, unable to dodge in time.

Qiu Xinran sat down. She didn’t ask why he’d left the field, and even Li Hanyuan obediently began copying her essay again this time.

For a moment, there were only the three of them on the high platform. Zheng Yuanwu sat to the side for a while with nothing to do, picked up the essay Qiu Xinran had just finished copying, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud with a “pfft.” Li Hanyuan’s handwriting was round and cute, while Qiu Xinran’s usual script tended toward elegant. Since she was copying on behalf of the princess, she naturally had to imitate her handwriting. But how could handwriting be changed in a moment? The result on paper was completely nondescript and looked rather comical.

Qiu Xinran brazenly pretended not to know, then heard him ask: “Aren’t you afraid the teacher will blame you for this?”

Li Hanyuan quickly said: “He won’t. The teacher knows I’ve been studying hard in the palace lately. He won’t make things difficult for me over such small matters.” That look suggested she feared Zheng Yuanwu would scare away the ghostwriter she’d worked so hard to find.

Hearing this, Zheng Yuanwu actually nodded, deeply agreeing: “Since that’s the case, I’ll copy one for you too.”

As soon as he finished speaking, both people at the table looked up at him with surprised delight—though Qiu Xinran was surprised while Li Hanyuan was delighted. The Ninth Princess made room and handed him her brush, looking touched: “Brother Zheng is indeed the best to Yuan’er. I…”

“Since Young Master Zheng is being so kind, why not replace me instead?” Qiu Xinran cut in halfway, brazenly handing over her brush without blushing or skipping a heartbeat. “Ghostwriting shouldn’t be taken too far after all. Though the teacher can turn a blind eye, if more than half isn’t copied by the princess herself, it would be rather hard to justify. If the teacher gets angry and adds more punishment, that would be counterproductive.”

She made quite a bit of sense. Li Hanyuan bit her lip and withdrew the brush she’d extended, having no choice but to continue dejectedly copying the remaining essay in her hands. Zheng Yuanwu looked at her reluctant appearance and showed some amusement. He glanced at Qiu Xinran still holding out her brush and suddenly said: “Qiu Sichen makes a good point. In that case, I’d better not add to the confusion. Otherwise, if the teacher sees three different handwritings, he’ll probably be even angrier.”

Qiu Xinran was stunned. She hadn’t expected him to go back on his word so righteously. For a moment, she stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief until the person before her laughed out loud again, and only then did she realize he was joking with her.

Zheng Yuanwu reached out to take the brush from her hand when suddenly something came flying toward the high platform. With a “thwack,” it struck the pillar below the platform, causing quite a loud commotion.

Qiu Xinran’s hand holding the brush trembled. She heard Li Hanyi from afar, sitting on his horse, loudly mock toward them: “You can’t even hit the ball properly. Li Hanru, why don’t you just get off the field?”

The three people on the high platform looked down following the sound and saw a group of people on horseback on the field. Only a woman in red robes at the edge of the field looked up at them, her gaze carrying a hint of coldness. When a palace servant trotted over to the base of the platform to retrieve the polo ball and return it to the field, she finally turned her horse around and returned to the field.

Qiu Xinran instinctively looked at the person beside her. Zheng Yuanwu’s expression was somewhat unpleasant, but he quickly lowered his eyes and recovered his earlier composure.

“Forget it, I’ll copy it myself,” Li Hanyuan said miserably. “There’s not much left anyway.”