Chapter 5: See, Your Highness, She’s Beautiful And Lovely…

Candlelight flickered, the night wind was slightly cold, and the black and white pieces on the Go board had already begun a new game. Two great dragons fought to the death, with no end in sight.

“Your Highness, the meal has already been sent to that delicate guest,” the old eunuch, seeming used to it and unfazed by the bone-deep chill, smiled, “I guarantee it’s delicate and tasty, it won’t embarrass you.”

Zhao Cong pinched a black piece between his fingers. “No need to tell me.”

The old eunuch looked a little worried. “Miss Tang is slight and pale, she seems very fragile. The fact that she’s asked for something at this time… perhaps she’s still shaken, terribly frightened.”

With a light sound, the piece fell. Zhao Cong made his move without speaking.

The old eunuch glanced at his lord, thinking the explanation didn’t quite hold. If she were really fragile and frightened, how could she have any appetite to eat? He hurried to patch it up: “Women aren’t like men. When they’re especially scared, they need special ways to feel safe.”

“Eunuch Tian.”

“Yes.”

Zhao Cong’s gaze shifted over. In his narrow eyes, frost seemed to congeal, every cold glint was terrifyingly lethal. Though he meant no reproach, he could silence people into not daring to look up. “Do not recommend any more women to me.”

Eunuch Tian felt a chill in his heart. “Yes, Your Highness.”

He was truly worried: His Highness was twenty-five this year. Others that age ran wild, mischievous and making trouble. His Highness had not even a confidant. In his early years he was off fighting, that delayed things. Later… in the palace Consort Xin rose up against the prince, and His Highness himself was picky, finding no one suitable. If this continued, how could he answer to the late empress? If the eunuch hadn’t been the one constantly attending him and seeing everything clearly, he’d fear His Highness would grow disheartened and… take a lover of the same sex.

So whenever there was a chance, he tried subtly to mention women from this or that family before His Highness. In the past His Highness showed no reaction, only a particularly indifferent expression. This time was different: he had been willing to let someone stay in his private residence. How could this Miss Tang be someone ordinary? When had His Highness ever cared for someone like this?

The old eunuch struggled on boldly, unwilling to be defeated, “But tonight after all that’s happened, Miss Tang must be very unsettled, too frightened to sleep…”

Before he finished, the guard on duty came to report, “Reporting to the Crown Prince, the lights in the western annex have gone out.”

Eunuch Tian suddenly didn’t know what to say.

He never imagined the slap to the face would come so quickly.

Zhao Cong twirled a white piece between his long fingers and gave the old eunuch a meaningful look. “Too frightened to sleep, you said? Hmm?”

Eunuch Tian forcibly tried to salvage his dignity, “P-perhaps she was just very tired.”

Another piece landed on the board. “The daughter of Tang Minglie; how could she be as timid as a mouse?”

Eunuch Tian protested, “But the rumors before…”

Zhao Cong didn’t speak and he didn’t have to. The eunuch realized on his own: she must have been pretending!

“The Tang family bullying people? Daring even to go after a meritorious man’s orphan?”

Zhao Cong said, “She wasn’t given to Zhao Yan, that’s not a bad thing.”

Eunuch Tian sounded surprised, “So originally, the one the Second Prince was to marry today was her?”

Zhao Cong turned his gaze back, cold clarity shone in his eyes. “Eunuch Tian, you’re old.”

Eunuch Tian sighed, “Ah… nothing compares to youth, His Highness despises this old servant.”

Zhao Cong said, “What I mean is…you’re old, even your acting doesn’t look convincing anymore.”

Eunuch Tian didn’t know what to say to that.

Indeed, tonight’s matters were clear as a mirror in the prince’s mind. Of course he himself saw everything clearly. He knew who they arrested down the mountain, which girl they’d invited into the house…

“Ah, I’m just playing the fool for laughs, stirring up some fun to let His Highness relax. Who would have thought His Highness so wise? This old servant is embarrassed.”

“No need to do that in future, I’m long accustomed,” Zhao Cong said, pushing his wheelchair, reaching for a teacup from the table and sipping to moisten his mouth.

Eunuch Tian looked at His Highness’s hands resting on the wheelchair, the calluses at the thumb, faint scars on the fingers, and sighed deeply.

Not long after, Fang Jiwu returned.

Zhao Cong looked at the unfinished game. “Earlier than expected. Did someone help you?”

“Indeed,” Fang Jiwu said after bowing to His Highness, eyebrows twitching with excitement, “Miss Tang helped me a great deal!”

Zhao Cong’s brow lifted slightly but he said nothing.

Eunuch Tian’s interest was piqued. He immediately urged, “Miss Tang actually helped you? But isn’t she resting here? Our household is truly curious. Quick, tell us all about it!”

He even thoughtfully handed over a cup of tea.

Fang Jiwu took it, downed it in one gulp, and grew more eager to talk. “Wasn’t there an uproar earlier? We weren’t in official dress, moving in the dead of night. We scared them, didn’t we?”

Eunuch Tian laughed. “Indeed, you must have! If it were me, I’d think you were bandits and I wouldn’t open the door for you!”

Fang Jiwu cupped his hands toward Zhao Cong. “It was thanks to our wise and martial His Highness that the issue was resolved. Miss Tang wasn’t angry, and before she left the house, she tipped me off, saying it would be best to search carefully near the west corner gate… Guess what? We didn’t know at first, but when we went over we were shocked. That bastard was hiding right there!”

Eunuch Tian played along professionally, “Ho, that precise!”

Fang Jiwu beamed. “All of it was arranged by Miss Tang!”

Eunuch Tian was surprised. “How so?”

Fang Jiwu explained, “I jumped onto the roof to look around and found the west corner gate’s position very delicate. The angle was odd, bulging outward. No matter how you posted guards, it’s easy to be exploited. And at that time there weren’t many guards at the estate. When we asked the servants about it, they didn’t know either, saying their Young Mistress was the one who made the arrangements this way… savor that, think it over!”

Eunuch Tian ‘suddenly realized,’ pounding his palm into his fist. “Then Miss Tang intentionally left that gap so the man would slip through!”

Fang Jiwu likewise punched his fist. “Exactly! But that fellow was clever too. After getting in, he pretended to be a servant at the estate. Knowing he was a stranger, he didn’t run. When questioned he said he was on night duty. To confuse the search he even changed into women’s clothes. He posed as a maid bringing tea and water!”

Eunuch Tian’s eyes widened. “That would make it hard to tell!”

Fang Jiwu laughed loudly. “But what did he know! Miss Tang, worried that we might be bandits, had ordered the women at the estate to change into trousers early and smear ash from the bottom of pots on their faces, all dirty-looking. That one ‘maid’ stood out as a result. His skirt looked like a skirt, his embroidered shoes were really embroidered shoes, not a speck of ash on his face. No matter how well he mimicked a woman’s figure and voice, he wasn’t a leaf hiding in the trees. I could tell. Before we even tore at his clothes, the steamed bun on his chest fell off and that settled it. No need to search elsewhere! The mission was complete and we could stand down. Had I known it would go so smoothly, why would I have brought so many men? What a waste!”

Eunuch Tian smiled with his eyes, stole a glance at His Highness. “So Miss Tang is this clever…”

“Isn’t she?” Fang Jiwu, having just completed the mission and caught a long-sought nemesis, was genuinely excited. “Clearly worried we were bandits, but Miss Tang wasn’t afraid at all. When that door opened… Gosh, you didn’t get to see it. That momentum, that radiant glow behind her, that incisive intelligence in her brows and eyes… Let me put it plainly: I only felt such sharpness when fighting alongside the Crown Prince.”

Pak! The white piece settled and the game ended. Zhao Cong warned, “Be careful what you say.”

He was no longer the Crown Prince. He was now merely the Prince of Xiangyang.

“Yes…”

Fang Jiwu hurriedly apologized, and seeing no displeasure on His Highness’s face he relaxed and asked Eunuch Tian, “It’s not been long, has Miss Tang gone to rest already? If she isn’t used to it and can’t sleep, I can send her back at once.”

Eunuch Tian promptly stopped smiling. “No, she has put out her light.”

Fang Jiwu scratched his head. “Then… very well. I’ll hurry off to question that whelp. This time I must see Li Hongsu fall from power!”

Eunuch Tian nodded. “Allow me to see you out.”

The room fell silent. Zhao Cong turned his wheelchair, moved to the bookshelf, twisted another candlestick and the wall slid open soundlessly. Inside was an ancestral altar, upon which stood a memorial tablet. Before the tablet, besides fruits and pastries, lay a stack of papers with writing. The top one bore Li Hongsu’s name, marked in vermilion with a large ‘X’, as if some vast debt of blood awaited the man to pay it.

…

The Prince Ping Manor.

The bride entered, the three bows performed and rites observed before being escorted into the bridal chamber. The guests exchanged auspicious words and streamed away, so now, only the newlyweds remained in the room.

The Second Prince, Zhao Yan, resembled his birth mother Consort Xin. Thin brows, long eyes, elegant temperament, warm and bright as jade. He carried the Xin family’s scholarly air, so his hand holding the bride’s was especially fair and slender, without any calluses or scars. “At last this moment has come. Ning’er, are you happy?”

The bride gave a slight nod, seeming quite shy.

Zhao Yan smiled softly and reached to lift the bride’s veil. “My Ning’er must be very beautiful tonight—”

But the bride dodged. “I… Your Highness, please wait a moment?”

“Why is your voice so tight?” Zhao Yan laughed aloud. “Marrying me and you’re this nervous?”

The bride clenched her fingers.