Xia Xiuyan loomed over her, half his body pressing down close against her, resting his head on her shoulder. Being this close, Qiu Xinran indeed caught a faint fragrance of pear blossoms from him: “What… what is the Young Lord doing…” She forced herself to maintain a composed appearance. Then she heard the person leaning on her shoulder ask: “Do you know why Li Hanru had you come here?”

“I… I don’t know.” Qiu Xinran accidentally stuttered.

Xia Xiuyan seemed to let out a soft laugh. He tilted his head slightly, and his scorching breath fell upon the skin behind her ear: “Someone put melting pear fragrance in my wine, then helped me to this Sujiao Palace to rest. And then the Seventh Princess also came alone to this side hall. What do you think was the intention of the person who arranged all this?”

Qiu Xinran couldn’t answer. In fact, her ears were buzzing right now, and she couldn’t hear anything clearly at all. Xia Xiuyan continued: “Li Hanru herself was foolish enough to be tricked into coming. Are you now even worse than her?”

Qiu Xinran did hear this sentence clearly. She frowned, still knowing to get angry: “I wasn’t tricked into coming by her. I was worried you’d have an accident alone in this room.”

The person leaning on her paused, then said caustically: “Wouldn’t you be happy if I had an accident?”

Qiu Xinran was baffled: “What would I have to be happy about if you had an accident?”

“Right now the whole palace is saying you’ve offended me. If I truly had some kind of accident, you wouldn’t need to worry about me seeking revenge on you later. Wouldn’t that be worth celebrating?”

Hearing this, Qiu Xinran actually gave it serious thought, then sighed: “The Young Lord has saved me several times after all. I still hope the Young Lord will be well.”

Xia Xiuyan laughed mockingly: “You really don’t hold grudges.” His hand supporting her back seemed unable to hold on, slowly sliding down until it finally landed on the bed behind her waist. He pressed even closer to her, his voice like a snake hissing by her ear, coiling around her. Qiu Xinran’s face flushed bright red, and she grabbed his hand: “You—”

The drug’s effects seemed to surge again. Xia Xiuyan clutched his chest and let out a low gasp, scaring her into freezing completely still. The room seemed somewhat stuffy, the melting pear fragrance spreading with its cloying sweet heat. Qiu Xinran had just come down from the Observatory Platform, her body still carrying the coolness of the night wind. Xia Xiuyan placed one hand on her shoulder with such force it seemed like he could crush her shoulder blade.

The young Daoist gritted her teeth without making a sound, probably knowing he was also trying hard to stay conscious. But why did he have to do it by pinching her?

Xia Xiuyan’s jawline tensed into a sharp line. Cold sweat ran down his cheek, stinging his eyes and creating a layer of mist that blurred even his vision. He could only see, in the dim candlelight, a stretch of snow-white neck before him, with a vermillion beauty mark near the collar. The cold sweat from his cheek dripped onto it with a “plop,” like a spark splashing into snow, burning an imprint.

The person beneath him trembled imperceptibly. Xia Xiuyan’s gaze grew dark, as if using tremendous willpower just to press his lips together and move his tongue tip slightly.

Qiu Xinran was completely oblivious. She only felt that if Xia Xiuyan pinched any harder, she’d be able to let out a loud wail. So with tears pooling in her eyes, she carefully asked: “Should I go find someone to help?”

Xia Xiuyan laughed coldly: “Don’t worry, they’re more anxious than you.”

He propped himself up to create some distance between them, fumbled on the bed for a while, then after a moment placed something cold and hard in her hand. Qiu Xinran looked down and discovered it was the jade pillow that had been on the bed.

“?”

“When people come, what should you say—do I need to teach you that too?”

That jade pillow was quite heavy, substantial when held in hand. Qiu Xinran wasn’t quite certain of his meaning and probed: “The Young Lord’s meaning is?”

Xia Xiuyan smiled faintly: “I had you fined a year’s salary. You must harbor quite a grudge in your heart. Today I’m giving you a chance to pay it back. You’d better treasure it well.”

“The Young Lord goes too far. That time the Young Lord was also resolving trouble for me—how would I dare hold a grudge?” Though she said this, Qiu Xinran still couldn’t help licking her lips, saying insincerely: “Besides, the Young Lord has a body worth a thousand gold. Using such a desperate measure probably isn’t appropriate…”

Xia Xiuyan raised his hand to loosen his own topknot, saying lazily: “Since it’s a body worth a thousand gold, you’d better aim carefully.”

Qiu Xinran hefted the jade pillow in her hand, unable to help confirming with him once more: “But this matter concerns the Young Lord’s reputation…”

Xia Xiuyan glanced at her, amused, and couldn’t help leaning close to say in a low voice: “You’d better worry about your own reputation instead—” In the hall, the bed curtains hung low and the candlelight was dim. Qiu Xinran’s heartbeat inexplicably skipped a beat, and she couldn’t help pressing even closer to the wall. Today’s Xia Xiuyan was vastly different from usual, as if he’d removed the pretentious mask he usually wore, revealing the three parts rakish and flirtatious nature underneath.

Faint sounds came from outside—it looked like people had all arrived. Xia Xiuyan laughed coldly, raised his hand to grip her chin, his thumb forcefully dragging across her lips. Watching her lip color turn bright red, his gaze darkened inscrutably: “Though your mouth is usually eloquent, I wonder how well you can act?”

Qiu Xinran instinctively tried to grab his hand, but he deftly evaded. Immediately after, she saw him reach out and rip open her outer garment. With a “rip,” the outer robe had already been torn by him. Qiu Xinran cried out in surprise, caught completely off guard. The footsteps outside paused, then immediately became urgent, arriving at the courtyard in moments—from the sound, there was quite a large group.

Xia Xiuyan stared at that stretch of fair, smooth neck below her collar, his eyes flushed red with desire. He reached out to press the back of her neck and brought his head close—

When the people outside burst through the door, they heard a heavy “thud,” immediately followed by the sight of a youth-dressed woman with disheveled clothing curled up on the bed, looking in panic at the man collapsed beside the bed, as if just realizing what she’d done, hastily throwing the jade pillow in her hand under the bed.

The room fell silent. The eunuch who had just received the news and rushed over hadn’t expected such a scene inside. After recovering his senses, he quickly had people go forward to check. The room instantly descended into chaos.

By the time Qiu Xinran had changed clothes and was kneeling in Ciyi Palace, it was already the second watch of the night.

The banquet hadn’t dispersed, and Xia Xiuyan’s whereabouts were unknown. When people were sent to look for him, they discovered him unconscious in the side hall, with the woman sharing the room in disheveled clothing. If this matter got out, it would truly disgrace the imperial family. One could easily imagine what tomorrow’s censors’ memorials would say.

Thinking of this, Emperor Xuande’s face couldn’t help turning iron-blue: “You tell me yourself—what exactly happened?”

Several imperial consorts sat to the side. Kneeling in the hall, Qiu Xinran’s eyes were red, still looking shaken, prostrating on the ground to report: “This subject was returning from duty at the Observatory Platform tonight and passed by Sujiao Palace when I heard unusual sounds inside. That’s why I entered the hall to check, not expecting…”

“Not expecting what?”

Qiu Xinran showed a troubled expression. After a long while, she finally bit out: “As soon as this subject entered… I was immediately grabbed by the throat by Young Lord Xia. The Young Lord looked very different from usual, as if he’d lost his reason, with an appearance like he wanted to devour someone. This subject… this subject struggled with all my might. In desperation, I injured the Young Lord and deserve ten thousand deaths.” Saying this, she kowtowed heavily on the ground.

Imperial Consort Shu sat to one side, frowning: “Young Lord Xia is usually cold in temperament. How could he suddenly act this way for no reason?”

The head eunuch Kong Tai beside Emperor Xuande came forward to report: “Just now we had the imperial physician examine the Young Lord’s injuries. Fortunately, he only fainted. When checking the Young Lord’s pulse, it didn’t seem like symptoms of poisoning, but rather… like he’d been given melting pear fragrance.”

“Outrageous!” Emperor Xuande slammed the low table beside him. Everyone in the room fell silent as cicadas in winter.

Today’s Qixi banquet had been arranged entirely by the Empress. Now that such an incident had occurred, she had no choice but to rise and accept blame: “Your Majesty, please calm your anger. This subject has already sent people to investigate urgently. There will surely be a result soon.”

Imperial Consort De cleared her throat: “Could it be that the youngsters who play well together drank some wine tonight and were just fooling around?”

Imperial Consort Shu shook her head: “I think the princes and princesses also know propriety. The Young Lord is already in poor health—they shouldn’t joke about such matters.”

Seeing that nothing more could be investigated this late at night, Emperor Xuande waved his hand with a headache: “Enough, enough. Wait until Xiuyan wakes up to discuss everything.” He glanced at Qiu Xinran still kneeling below, finding himself in a dilemma, truly not knowing whether to treat her as victim or suspect. Kong Tai was thoughtful and came forward: “This matter has not yet been clarified. If it spreads, it would be bad for both the Young Lord and Supervisor Qiu. Now the Young Lord hasn’t awakened, and the Supervisor has also suffered a fright. Why not have the Supervisor return to the Bureau of Astronomy to rest for a few days? After the matter is investigated, we can make further plans.”

That Qiu Xinran would only be confined to the Bureau of Astronomy could truly be considered imperial grace. That night’s events indeed weren’t publicized. When Zhou Xianyi heard the news and came to see her, he found her sitting upright at the table in proper attire with a serious expression, holding a divination disc and casting hexagrams.

“What are you divining?” Zhou Xianyi curiously leaned over to look. Qiu Xinran stared at the divination disc with a grave expression for a while, sighed, then reached out to scatter the hexagram, saying dejectedly: “I was combining mine and Young Lord Xia’s fate charts.”

Zhou Xianyi paused, then nodded: “You really should divine that. What was the result?”

“Can’t tell—I’ve never been able to divine my own fate accurately.” Qiu Xinran said listlessly. “Why did you come?”

“To see you.” Zhou Xianyi chuckled twice. Qiu Xinran immediately understood: “What did you hear?”

“It doesn’t really count as hearing anything.” Zhou Xianyi was stubborn at first, but after a while still surrendered under her silent scrutinizing gaze, scratching his face embarrassedly: “There really isn’t much talk outside, but the academy only has so many people, and Young Lord Xia just happened to take leave after Qixi…”

Qiu Xinran pressed her hand to her forehead with a headache, interrupting: “Alright, alright. First tell me what they’re saying outside?”

“You don’t know yet?” Zhou Xianyi seemed somewhat surprised. Seeing her expression didn’t seem fake, he then stammered: “Actually, they’re not saying much. Just heard that Young Lord Xia was drunk that night and happened to encounter you. Remembering the jade pendant incident from before, he humiliated you thoroughly, and you accidentally injured him.”

“Did they say how Young Lord Xia humiliated me?” Qiu Xinran probed carefully.

Zhou Xianyi thought her question strange but didn’t think much of it, only answering truthfully: “Probably just harsh words. After all, Young Lord Xia really doesn’t seem like someone who would physically fight people. He couldn’t have actually hit you, right?”

“…”

“Did he really hit you?” Zhou Xianyi was greatly shocked. Qiu Xinran had to say: “Well, not exactly—”

“Then what exactly did he say?”

Qiu Xinran hesitated: “He said I was stupid…”

“Oh, well he’s certainly—” Zhou Xianyi paused. He probably wanted to stand on her side and criticize the other party, but after a long moment couldn’t say it, only managing: “But you hit him just because of that?”

Qiu Xinran thought about it: “He choked me first.” She tilted her head back, pointing to the bruises on her neck for him to see. “Look, and he tore my collar too.”

“Oh my—” Zhou Xianyi leaned in to look. This time he was indignant: “He went too far!”

“Exactly,” Qiu Xinran straightened her collar. “He scared me badly, so I accidentally hit him in the moment.”