8 Still not saying anything, Zhi Wei thinks to herself “Perhaps I understand more than you would guess.
Still not saying anything, Zhi Wei thinks to herself “Perhaps I understand more than you would guess.” You lost your mother at a
The blood on his fingers seems exceptionally red against the smooth and pale skin on her neck. Her eyes were wide open but
there were no fear and pleading in them. A mist slowly covers those eyes but it wasn’t because of tears but just how her eyes
naturally were. A mist that is like a dream, like a flower that blooms right before sunrise…a flower in the dark…lonely.
His fingers trembled suddenly.
His heart is at war.
She knows too many secrets. She is so cunning that she could possibly spoil all his plans. She is the poison that he has to get rid of
at all cost. Yet, faced with her silent and steady gaze, his fingers seem to have lost all their strength to tighten their grip.
If she begged, he would kill her.
If she cried, he would kill her.
But when she does nothing and just calmly accepts his intention to kill, he suddenly remembers everything he has seen since the
day he met her.
Like him, fighting all alone, a soul unwilling to accept her fate.
His fingers slowly let go…like a gust of storm that had suddenly slowed itself when passing through a field of flower, giving up the
destruction that should’ve come to the tender and beautiful.
When his fingers finally left her neck completely, he lets out a silent sigh in his heart as he comforts himself with the excuse that
he can’t kill her right now, there are too many people outside, he wouldn’t be able to explain…hmm…yes, that’s the reason.
Gingerly touching her own neck. There was no finger marks, no feeling of suffocation, in fact, she didn’t even feel any hint of
malice from him. However, Zhi Wei knew for a certainty that out of all of their many interactions, this is the one time he truly
wanted to kill her.
Just now, when she was closest to death than she has ever been, Zhi Wei’s mind was a complete blank. All her strength and quick
wit gone, she had simply stared at him, wanting to know what he was thinking.
With no clue why he gave up on killing her, Zhi Wei was unusually silent for a long moment before she picks up the medicine
bottle and slowly walks over to Ning Yi’s side.
Silent the whole time while Zhi Wei helped him take off his outer robe then carefully put the medicine on him, Ning Yi was
extremely cooperative. The tense and dangerous atmosphere suddenly switched to one of comfortable silence, Zhi Wei pulls
down the robe until the man’s smooth silky skin is exposed, revealing the taut strong muscle that hides the explosive power of
one who is a trained fighter. It is a beautiful body but Zhi Wei’s whole attention is focused on the gaping wound on the man’s
shoulder where the bone is almost exposed. Unconsciously drawing a sharp intake of breath at the bloody sight, Zhi Wei has no
idea how Ning Yi chased after the assassins after suffering such a severe wound.
His dark expression receding slightly when he sees the grimace on Zhi Wei’s face, Ning Yi’s eyes brightens a bit.
Carefully, Zhi Wei dumps a bit of the medicine powder on the wound causing Ning Yi’s body to jerk in response. Zhi Wei
immediately asks “It hurts?” then bends down to blow softly on the wound.
So amused by Zhi Wei’s unexpected response, Ning Yi whose mood has lightened considerably by now asks “What are you
doing?”
Mildly embarrassed, Zhi Wei explains “I remember when I was little and scraped my knee, my mom would blow on my wound…”
His smile fades as Zhi Wei’s voice trail off and he remembers why she ran away from her uncle’s manor.
After a few moments, Ning Yi gently replies “It’s good that someone blew on your wound…”
Taken aback, Zhi Wei casts a disbelieving glance towards Ning Yi- Is he trying to comfort her?
Promptly regretting his words the second he said them, a somewhat frustrated Ning Yi coughed and stopped talking. Biting her
lips, Zhi Wei bends down to continue on what she was doing, unaware of the wisp of hair that has fallen on Ning Yi’s shoulder
while she did so. Slightly ticked by the wisp of hair, Ning Yi instinctively wants to move his shoulder away…but then he suddenly
doesn’t want to.
The sound of loud arguments from the outside floated in. Ning Yi knows he should pay attention to it but the words have become
gibberish to his ears and he is feeling too lazy to care.
Not giving heed to the arguments outside either, Zhi Wei’s attention is still focused on the gaping wound and the reason for it.
Pierced by a sudden ache in her heart, Zhi Wei blurts out without thinking “Why come!”
His body stiffens, Ning Yi turns slowly to stare at Zhi Wei.
Zhi Wei doesn’t say anything more- Why come? Why such an elaborate trap, why go to the extent of hurting yourself when there
is no one around who would even ask you if it hurts? To sit on top of this world, on the throne, the glory of it all…is it really worth
it?
Reading everything she wanted to say in her eyes, Ning Yi didn’t get mad but instead replies after a long moment of silence “You
don’t understand.”
young age. You are harboring some sort of illness. You are extremely smart but is suppressed by your older brothers. You are
good friends with Xin Ziyan but have to pretend to be strangers. You had control of Qing Ming college first but then were forced
to turn it over to the Crown Prince. The Emperor’s indifference to you means you have to give the Crown Prince your allegiance
but then thanks to his foolishness, you are constantly his scapegoat. You have too many secrets and hidden wounds but no one
has ever cared so you learned to be even more ruthless towards yourself.
Reaching for the fabric strips on the table, Zhi Wei slowly wraps it around Ning Yi’s wound and says in a nonchalant voice “You
have let me go today so one day, I will also let you go once.”
Unfazed when Ning Yi looks at her with a stunned expression, Zhi Wei returns his gaze calmly.
After a moment, Ning Yi laughs and shakes his head without saying anything.
He has vowed to control his life in his own hands. And what he wants, he will get. She is extremely intelligent but even then, how
could she possibly have the chance to control his life?
Reading the doubt in his expression, Zhi Wei doesn’t bother to argue with him but just smiles as she finishing tying the last knot
and says “It’s all done.”
9
 As Zhi Wei guessed, the Crown Prince promptly threw Ning Yi out as his scapegoat when he belatedly realizes that all
evidence seems to be pointing to him as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt. (An assassin testified
against the Crown Prince who then turns around points at Ning Yi as the one who had vouched for the assassin before
and that’s why he had mistakenly allowed the assassin to join in as one of his guards. In reality, Ning Yi had warned the
Crown Prince that the assassin looked fishy and advised him against hiring the guy but the Crown Prince ignored him.)
 Exchanging a knowing glance with Zhi Wei right after the Crown Prince turned against him (Remember, everyone
knows Ning Yi as the Crown Prince’s “faithful” sidekick, so the Crown Prince’s action comes through clearly as a
ruthless leader who has no qualms sacrificing those who are loyal to him.), Ning Yi meekly accepts everything the
Crown Prince said and drags his forlorn self away…but faints after taking only a few steps.
 Feeling a bit sad for Ning Yi as she watches all of his other older brothers gleefully joining in to malign him in front of
the Emperor, Zhi Wei nonetheless applaud silently when Ning Yi “faints” at exactly the right time to remind the
Emperor for whom his obedient son was hurt.
 Impressed with Zhi Wei after conversing with her, the Emperor quickly decide that Zhi Wei could be a very useful pawn
to him and promptly rewards Zhi Wei handsomely as the Nation’s Scholar and gave her a surprisingly high office in the
Royal Court.
 While a severely wounded Ning Yi is locked up, things quickly spin out of control for the Crown Prince and his brothers.
A maid was caught by the guards attempting to poison Ning Yi. The Crown Prince was summoned by the Emperor and
judging by the number of cups thrown, the Emperor was immensely displeased. (Everyone would’ve assumed the
Crown Prince had tried to kill Ning Yi to cover his own crime.) To show his displeasure, the Emperor transfers an army
that was under the Crown Prince’s control to the 5th Prince which starts a fiery feud between the two brothers.
Depressed by how badly things are going, the Crown Prince confides in the 10th Prince (who is too young to be in the
fight for the throne) who then encourages him to show everyone that a Crown Prince can’t be messed with. Bolstered
by the 10th Prince’s encouragement, the Crown Prince begins to gather corruption evidence against the 5th Prince and
much to his joy, finds evidence against the 5th AND the 7th Prince.  Quite pleased to have a chance to shoot two birds
with one stone but afraid his two brothers would do something drastic to fight back, the Crown Prince orders his own
armies to surround the two Prince’s manor. Still lost in the glee of having shown off his mighty powers, the Crown
Prince finally gets the rug pulled out right under him when the Emperor appears.
So Ning Yi’s goal has always been the Crown Prince right from the start…along with his greedy older brothers.
Sitting under the early summer sun, Zhi Wei laughs as she cracks open walnuts with a small golden plier.
“What a great plan! Such an elaborate plan with a carefully planned chain of events!”
Gu Nan Yi sits in front of Zhi Wei, completely focused on eating the walnuts.
“This is the Crown Prince” Zhi Wei takes a handful of walnuts and starts making a diagram. “This is Ning Yi, the one everyone
believes to be Crown Prince’s loyal follower.”
Gu Nan Yi immediately grabs the Ning Yi walnut and eats it.
Blinking in surprise, Zhi Wei puts out another walnut to represent Ning Yi…but it was no use, Mr. Gu promptly eats that one too.
Zhi Wei finally resorts to using a brush pen to represent Ning Yi so it could escape the fate of getting eaten.
“Because he is considered to be on Crown Prince’s side so he can never get rid of the Crown Prince personally. Anything happens
to the Crown Prince will also drag him down as well.”
“So what should he do?” Pulling out a bunch more walnuts, Zhi Wei throws it over by the Ning Yi and Crown Prince’s corner so the
walnuts bump into each other, flying all over. “Get himself out of the whole situation then use outside force to drag everyone
down leaving him completely untouched.”
Grabbing Ning Yi, the brush pen, Zhi Wei uses it to jab the Crown Prince walnut “That assassin was the first step. The assassination
goal was never the Emperor but it was to frame the Crown Prince.”
“He had purposefully introduced the assassin to the Crown Prince in full view of his older brother. He knew how selfish the Crown
Prince is, so there is no doubt the Crown Prince would make him the scapegoat.” Zhi Wei cocks her head to the side, thinking for a
moment “If I am guessing correctly, Ning Yi must’ve used some special way to let the Emperor know where the assassin came
from. Even if he didn’t, based on the Emperor’s personality, there is no way he is clueless of what his sons are up to. So that’s why
when the Crown Prince pushed all the responsibilities onto Ning Yi and all the other princes joined in, the Emperor’s expression
was so dark.”
“He was obviously innocent but out of concern for his family he held his tongue. In comparison, his brothers who all knew he was
innocent,  had no brotherly affection at all and had instead jumped eagerly on the bandwagon to step on him.”
Picking up the Crown Prince walnut to break it open, Zhi Wei eats half of it while giving the other half to Gu Nan Yi “The old
Emperor is really not one to underestimate.  He pretended ignorance the whole time and locked up Ning Yi as a way to test
everyone. How ironic is that those royal princes were too busy congratulating themselves that they got rid of their younger
brother, completely clueless that the real test had just begun.”
“What followed after was still part of Ning Yi’s plan. But by this time, he can no longer be counted as one of the Crown Prince’s
people. Plus, he was locked up while confined to bed because of his wounds so none of it could possibly fall on his head.” All
smiles, Zhi Wei muses “A little poison, move the armies around a bit, dig here and there for evidence…by the time the Crown
Prince and his brothers had finished battling one another, his royal highness has recovered from his wounds, proven his
innocence and just in time to rejoin the party.”
 Realizing the Emperor is really going to take away his title, the Crown Prince starts a rebellion. However, before the
Crown Prince’s army could even get close to the palace, the Emperor is already far away from it. Thanks to Gu Nan Yi’s
super fighting ability, Zhi Wei is also one of the few officials that accompanied the Emperor.
  Receiving words of where his father is, Ning Yi immediately seeks an audience with the Emperor. No one knew what
the Father and son talked about that night, but by the next morning, Ning Yi is seen backing out of the royal tent
respectfully with his eyes obviously red from emotions.
Sensing something, Ning Yi rises his head towards the hill. Under the breaking dawn, the woman in disguise as a man stares at
him from afar…seemingly with a smile or perhaps not.
From the first time they met when her life is completely in his control to now, staring at each from afar, they are each calculating
their own plot within their smile.
He knows she knows everything about him, just as she knows that he knows what she knows.
Ning Yi suddenly has a strange premonition – from this point on, she will start to approach him in a manner that no one could
guess.
Suddenly filled with a desire to go over and say something. As to what he would say…he doesn’t know, but he thinks he would
figure out what he really wants to say as he crossed the short distance to her.
Just as he is about to step forward, she suddenly turned around. Far off, standing on the green hill by her side, the man’s chin
could only be seen peeking out of the vail on his face. as the sunlight danced around them.
She had looked away to say something to the man. Whatever she said didn’t elicit a response from the man as he continued to
look towards the sky. Unconcerned, she bends down, searched for a few moments until she plucked a blade of sweet grass, broke
it in half, stuck the grass into her own mouth and hands the other to the man with eyes full of smile.
The jade like young man stares at the blade of grass for a long moment then finally copied her and stuck it into his own mouth.
Tranquil and peaceful, she smiled at that person.
This is a different side of her he has never seen.
What he gets from her is cunning, ruthless, full of trickery, eager to get away.
Suddenly annoyed, the sunlight seems too bright and the air too stuffy to Ning Yi.
Rising his hand, Ning Yi points his finger at Zhi Wei.
Returning a short nod in reply, Zhi Wei sees Ning Yi’s expression turns a shade darker seemingly harboring a trace if resentment.
Your highness looked quite peaceful a second ago, so how did you get in such a bad mood in the blink of an eye?
After pointing at her then at the Captial, Ning Yi stomps off without another backward glance.
“Behave yourself.”
Bowing slightly, Zhi Wei smiles as she watches him leave.
“As you wish.”
10
 So this next scene picks up from when the Crown Prince takes his little sister Princess Shao Ning and 10th Prince as
hostages. Zhi Wei is sent by the Emperor to get his favorite daughter back safely. (It makes more sense in the novel
why the Emperor would send Zhi Wei. The Emperor had seen first hand what a good fighter Gu Nan Yi is, so sending
Zhi Wei who is good with words along with her guard who would be very useful if the negotiation goes south make a
lot of sense.)
A conversation between our two leads before their confrontation with the Crown Prince:
“Certain people can’t stay alive.” Ning Yi says after a moment of silence.
“It is not good for certain people to die either.” Zhi Wei smiles up at him “For example, the hostages.”
“Rescue 10th.” Ning Yi frowns “That’s enough to report back to the Emperor.” After a short pause, Ning Yi continues “I will make
sure you are alright.”
Zhi Wei trusts Ning Yi’s words but she stayed silent. This is the first time she negotiated with Ning Yi…it leaves her heart feeling
cold. A few words are supposed to determine who live and die. It is only natural that Ning Yi thinks nothing of it. But why does she
too feel so calm and matter of fact about it?
In the end, she is a naturally ruthless sort of person after all.
“Don’t disappoint me.” Under the light of the torch, the man’s smile is dazzling “Or else, you will despair.”
The smile was full of meaning, his eyes filled with things even Zhi Wei is unable to discern.
Pulling her horse around, Zhi Wei flashes a grin towards Ning Yi “Don’t let me despair.”
“Or else, I go crazy.”
 Unlike in the drama where Princess Shao Ning is all about her older brother, in the novel Princess Shao Ning and the
Crown Prince had a huge argument over what the Crown Prince is doing and his plan to kill 10th Prince. Furious when
Princess Shao Ning tries to protect the 10th Prince, the Crown Prince would’ve killed Princess Shao Ning himself if
things didn’t get chaotic from there. (So while Princess Shao Ning will certainly mourn for the Crown Prince, she is not
as attached to him as in the drama.)
 In trying to save the Princess, Zhi Wei and princess both fell over the palace wall. Gu Nan Yi manages to save Zhi Wei
but thanks to a mysterious man in a black cloak, the Princess is saved as well.
Rising his head, Ning Yi’s mind is going over all the suspicious things…purposefully avoiding looking at the (Zhi Wei and Gu Nan
Yi’s) intertwined hands…and Feng Zhi Wei.
He has to appear calm, so no one would see the real emotions behind them.
When she fell, he was terrified. When he saw her protecting the princess, he was stunned. After the terror and shock, then it was
a furious rage…but there was also a sense of bleakness that refuses to be suppressed.
It hasn’t even been more than half of a day since they parted after their negotiation, yet the next time he sees her is to watch her
break their deal right in front of him.
She is always like this. Uttering gentle words while wearing a mask but promptly forgetting all her promises the second she turns
around. Forever pointing a knife towards him with the most alluring and charming smile.
And him…how much longer is he going to be soft-hearted?
Until when? How much longer is he going to let this ever changing hidden scourge fester?
In the past, he could convince himself that as a useless prince there is no need to create more troubles for himself. But now,
everything is about to change. He is already walking on a path of no return. A cutthroat battle for the throne is about to
commence, tens of thousands of lives are dependent on him, there is no more room for hesitation and retreat.
No matter what had caused him to hesitate all this time, fate has determined the outcome.
Wei Zhi, Feng Zhi Wei.
Me and you, from now,
are enemies.
Feng Zhi Wei stares at Ning Yi from a long distance away.
That man sits on a strapping horse, with an army behind him seemingly taking in everything under the heaven with his eyes…
except her.
Quiet for a long while, Zhi Wei finally lets out a sigh.
She doesn’t do certain things on purpose but for some reason, it’s like fate has other ideas and she always ends up standing on
the opposite side of him.
She doesn’t plan on attempting to explain herself to him.
Some things can’t be explained. When she fell off the palace wall with the Princess, he had shown up at that exact moment,
witnessing everything…and it’s too late.
 In the drama, our heroine saved Princess Shao Ning out of a moral responsibility…but as we have established, the Zhi
Wei in the novel is nowhere as idealistic as the heroine in the drama. Zhi Wei had fully intended to keep her promise
to Ning Yi but changed her mind when she saw Princess Shao Ning’s face. (They met in Qing Ming college before but
the Princess had some disguise on back then.) So what’s the big deal about Princess Shao Ning’s face? Remember Ning
Yi being shocked the first time he saw Zhi Wei’s face? Yap, those are connected but I am going to leave it at that for
now.
 Before he died, the Crown Prince had asked Princess Shao Ning to do two things for him. 1. Kill the Emperor. 2. Kill
Ning Yi. Certain that Ning Yi is the one that had set her brother up, Princess Shao Ning decides that while she is not
going to do the Crown Prince’s first request but she will avenge her brother’s death by accomplishing his second
request.
 Like in the drama, Princess Shao Ning has a crush on Zhi Wei and asks our heroine’s help in killing Ning Yi. In the drama,
under Princess Shao Ning’s watchful eyes, Zhi Wei is forced to draw Ning Yi into a room pretending that she is going to
help the Princess assassinate our hero. In the novel, however, it was Princess Shao Ning who was meeting Zhi Wei in a
room trying to persuade our heroine to join her and that’s when Ning Yi’s assassins attacked.
 Zhi Wei saves the Princess yet again and convinces Gu Nan Yi to take the Princess back to the palace. Left alone in the
room like a sitting duck, our heroine calmly plans her escape.
Tossing the candle in her hand into the air, Zhi Wei quickly jumps backward but instead of hitting the hard wall, her body smacks
into a warm embrace.
The embrace wasn’t tight but she still couldn’t move at all. The scent of the man come rushing towards her as he nestles his lips
next to her ear, sending a cold sweat through her body.
Giving up any attempt of struggling, Zhi Wei’s finger twirls until a blade silently drops into her palm.
The man behind her suddenly lets out a low sigh.
The sigh was drawn out, like the wind that swept across fallen leaves. So low that it almost can’t be heard but seemingly also as
loud as a thunder. Zhi Wei’s body jerks slightly in response, as the movement in her fingers freezes suddenly.
During the brief few seconds Zhi Wei’s body stiffened, the man has already reached out a hand with stunning preciseness grabbed
hold of the hand that held the blade. Playfully yet gentle, the hand caress the surface of the blade before snapping it in half.
Letting out a soft laugh, the man sends the broke blade flying off into the only peek hole in the room with a flick of his fingers,
getting rid of the last remaining light as he plunges the room into darkness.
The blade is gone, but the hand has not left as it traces each one of her fingers repeatedly until it reaches her palm.
Silent, Zhi Wei is utterly still, paying no attention to what should have been a sizzling seductive moment- because while he is
holding her, one of his hand is rested right on a fatal pressure point over her chest.
Seemingly completely unaware that a move of his hand could kill, the man is hovering so close until their breaths are mixed and
even their hair are entangled, soft yet cold…like their mood at that moment.
Tipping his head to the side slightly, the man’s lips brush across her silky smooth cheek, like a fallen leaf that floated across the
water, sending small ripples across.
Sending a shiver through both of them.
In the dark, the man stilled his own quickened breath until it is calm again then silently backed away.
Like a dragonfly’s fragile transparent wings that are powerless to lift the heavy darkness, Zhi Wei’s heart is abruptly filled with a
sorrowful ache.
The dark silence in the room is finally shattered by hurried footsteps and yells of “Wei Zhi! Wei Zhi!”
Zhi Wei moved slightly but is not sure how to respond to the commotion. The man chuckles again then suddenly pushed her
forward, sending her towards the door. She felt the cool and soft fabric brush against her cheek, carrying with it that familiar
scent. She reached out her hand towards it but it only flew past her fingers like water.
11
 The next time our two leads meet is in the royal court in front of the Emperor who was greatly troubled over how to
control the nomadic nation next to his own country. Fierce fighters by nature, the nomadic people has been a
persistent thorn to Tian Sheng.
 All eyes turn to Zhi Wei when the Emperor asks for her opinion out of desperation. Stunning everyone in the royal
court, Zhi Wei comes up with a way to “tame the wolves”. 1. Open the borders so other than weapons, the nomadic
nation would have access to all the goods Tian Sheng’s citizens enjoy. 2. Allow Tian Sheng’s women to marry men from
the nomadic nation. (Once the nomadic people learn to enjoy the finer lifestyle of Tian Sheng and learn to farm after
settling down with women from Tian Sheng…would they still want to go back to their warring lifestyle?) 3. Help to
spread the nomadic nation’s original religion which encourages celibacy and not killing. (Celibacy= less kids, Not
killing= less men willing to go fight.) 4. Encourage the nomadic nation to grow sheep for fur which will lead to a more
economic advantage to Tian Sheng (for trade) also makes the nomadic nation have more to lose if they do get in a war.
 While trying to demonstrate to everyone her third point, Zhi Wei asks Ning Yi to borrow something from him:
Their eyes met and each quickly looked away. Glancing down at his hand, Ning Yi replies “Alright.”
He didn’t ask what, seemingly having already guessed what she wanted.
Confused by their exchange, everyone looked eagerly towards Zhi Wei as she points towards Ning Yi’s wrist “If I could borrow
your highness’ prayer bead?”
Ning Yi is wearing a white robe with large wide sleeves so people couldn’t see the prayer bead on his wrist. The Emperor asks with
amusement “6th, I have never heard of you being particularly religious, so how come you have suddenly taken an interest in
Buddism?”
“A few days ago, 7th brother invited everyone to drink together.” Ning Yi smilingly explains “On the party, all of us received a
prayer bead that supposedly helps the wearer stay cool during the summer. I am extra sensitive to the hot so that’s why I started
wearing it.”
Holding out his hand, Ning Yi pulls up his sleeve, revealing the black prayer bead that is obviously rare and precious just by the
look of it. The exquisite black bead resting against the equally exquisite wrist, somehow giving off an air of seduction…despite the
fact it’s a prayer bead.
Keeping his hand stretched, Ning Yi doesn’t take off the prayer bead himself but is full of smiles as he stares at Feng Zhi Wei.
Zhi Wei looks at him.
He looks at Zhi Wei.
The hand is still outstretched in the air, seemingly without any intention of moving.
Gritting her teeth in secret, Zhi Wei knew that the longer they are at a standoff the more awkward it will be. Without any choice,
Zhi Wei reaches out a hand with fingers carefully extended so that she would not touch him at all. Breaking out into a chuckle,
one of the officials muses “What’s with Official Wei’s fingers?! That’s a woman’s gesture.”
Everyone else joins in on the laughter as Zhi Wei explains with mild embarrassment “I am my family’s only son. My parents were
too worried after losing a couple of male babies, so they raised me as a girl from young in hopes of keeping me alive.”
Zhi Wei quickens her movement but jerks in surprise when she suddenly feels Ning Yi’s finger lightly scrapes across her palm.
Caught off guard by the feathery light touch, Zhi Wei instinctively retracts her hand, almost dropping the prayer bead in process.
Feeling her face flashing hot, Zhi Wei silently worries. She is wearing a mask so her face would be fine, but she bet her ears are
bright red.
With a soft laugh, Ning Yi says “Official Wei is such a meticulous person to be so careful with a simple prayer bead.”
Staring back at Ning Yi’s cool laughing eyes, Zhi Wei smiles and answers with ease “Wei Zhi comes froma lowly background so I
am excited and cautious at the same time to have such a great honor of being in the presence of the Emperor and your highness.”
Still all smiles, Ning Yi assures her “No worries. I am also happy when I see you. So happy that I am anxious.”
Skipping over the next bit which is just Zhi Wei using the prayer bead as a way to say that religion is a powerful tool they can be
very useful to them.
 Zhi Wei’s new manor is actually right next to her uncle’s. Thanks to her new status, Zhi Wei can finally waltz back into
her old home in style, no longer the powerless girl that can be stepped on by anyone and everyone. However, there is
still one person that can hurt her deeply- Mama Feng. Knowing that with Feng Hao’s personality staying in the Capital
will only mean big trouble ahead, Zhi Wei offers to send Feng Hao off far away for school. Unwilling to be sent off on
what he sees as an exile, Feng Hao throws a tantrum and declares that he will not leave even if it means he will die in
the Capital. Zhi Wei was too busy dealing with Feng Hao that she doesn’t notice Mama Feng’s body had trembled
slightly when Feng Hao had mentioned death. Disappointed and furious when Mama Feng agrees to Feng Hao’s
pleading to stay in the Capital, Zhi Wei storms out as a triumphant Feng Hao yells that he is the precious son of the
family and Zhi Wei is nothing. Poor Zhi Wei. She so blinded by her desire for Mama Feng’s love and the trauma of
believing Mama Feng only loves her brother that she misses all the clues… clues that her usual self would’ve easily
caught, that Mama Feng’s attitude towards her son is terribly suspicious.
 Like in the drama, Princess Shao Ning does try to use Zhi Wei again while Ning Yi was “drunk” during a small drinking
party at Zhi Wei’s house with his older brothers. (Episode 30). The only difference is that instead of the raised blood
vessels, it was Ning Yi’s blood that was supposed to turn into the color of gold if he was the royal blood of this certain
tribe. It didn’t take much for our heroine to figure out that whatever thing the Princess had her put on Ning Yi mixed
with whatever is on the knife that is to be used to draw his blood will make our hero’s blood turn into a golden color.
 Since it wasn’t quite as easy as raising her hand and asking “Why is my blood vessels puffed up as well?”, our heroine
in the novel volunteers to be the one to make a cut on Ning Yi, then while everyone is getting over the shock that Ning
Yi’s blood is indeed the color of gold, Zhi Wei accidentally slips on some spilled water (from the basin that was used to
catch Ning Yi’s blood) and cuts herself on a knife- proving Ning Yi’s innocence since her own blood as everyone else
there, is the color of gold as well.
 Helian Zheng finally shows up and like in the drama, decides to marry Zhi Wei so he can teach her a lesson after their
unfortunate first encounter. So… Helian Zheng is really a super awesome character in the novel. Not only is he
hilarious but he is also a great leader. Extremely smart yet still pure in heart, Helian Zheng treats all his men like they
are his own so his men are extremely loyal to him and would not hesitate to die for him. In the drama Helian Zheng
ended up kinda annoying towards the end, but in the drama he was awesome from beginning to the very end.
 The scene in Episode 31 when Helian Zheng fights Gu Nan Yi is actually even more hilarious in the novel. Helian Zheng
has eight elite guards who followed him everywhere. The bet in the novel was that one of Helian Zheng’s men would
be able to beat Zhi Wei’s fragile maid- Gu Nan Yi. Completely dazzled by the willowy figure of Gu Nan Yi, Helian Zheng
men start hollering that there will be two weddings nights that day. Pleased, Helian Zheng proudly declares that once
his guard wins the bet for him then Zhi Wei’s maid will be rewarded to him as his new wife. Obviously, things don’t go
as Helian Zheng expected and his man was beaten to a pulp by the “fragile maid.” This scene was especially touching
because Helian Zheng guard refused to concede defeat since that would mean his master would have to suffer the
humiliation of calling Zhi Wei “aunt.” Willing to fight until death, the man fights on until Helian Zheng steps in,
intercepts what might’ve been a killing blow from Gu Nan Yi and promptly calls Zhi Wei “aunt.” Helian Zheng’s action
greatly improved Zhi Wei’s opinion of him. Here is a man who is willing to keep his promise and who obviously has
earned great loyalty from his men because he treasures their life more than his own pride.
12
 This particular chapter appeared in episode 32 in the drama. Before we get into the translation, there are a few points
we have to go over. 1. The Emperor in the novel is a real sleazeball all around but especially when it comes to women.
I mean…the icky sort of sleazeball who thinks just because he is the emperor, every woman should welcome his
advances. 2. As a total jerk, the Emperor didn’t love Ning Yi’s mother at all. The only reason Ning Yi’s mother had a
special meaning to the Emperor was because the first time he met her, she fell right into his arms from the sky (yap,
you read that right) while prophesying (she actually sang it). No one knows what the prophecy said but it was
obviously something the emperor is very wary of. (Ning Yi’s mother was the sacred priestess of a mysterious tribe that
has since then been wiped out.)
 Like in the drama, Zhi Wei runs into Ning Yi at his mother’s previous dwelling. Zhi Wei accidentally discovers a hidden
passage behind a crystal figure of a woman. Realizing the crystal figure’s identity when Ning Yi breaks down in tears at
the sight of it, Zhi Wei watches in silence as Ning Yi’s initial joy of seeing his mother’s likeness turns to fury when he
belatedly registers the disgustingly suggestive posture of the crystal figure.  In a rage, Ning Yi smashes the crystal figure
until it shatters into pieces. (The Emperor is obviously the one who had the crystal figure made…like I said, he is a real
sleazeball.)
Standing in the utterly silent underground passage, the only sound Zhi Wei would hear is the sound of her own breathing. Her
heart filled with unease by the deafening silence and the extreme paleness of his face, Zhi Wei couldn’t help but walks forward,
wanting to do something. However, the moment she reaches Ning Yi, he suddenly falls unconscious.
Amidst the pouring rain and the raging thunder, Zhi Wei struggles with much difficulty as she carries Ning Yi on her back, carefully
treading on the moss covered path. Instantly drenched the moment she took a step out of the underground passage, Zhi Wei
wipes the dripping water off her face as she curses herself. Why did she run into the underground passage to avoid the rain? All
that work for nothing when she was destined to get drenched anyway. And what’s up with Ning Yi?! What happened to his
perpetual calm? He has to go crazy today of all days? Guess he still has a lot to learn from her!
Blinded by the fierce rain, Zhi Wei almost had to rely completely by touch as she puts her hand to the wall to figure out which way
to go. After what seemed like forever, covering only a small distance, Zhi Wei finally makes it to an abandoned palace area that
despite looking old, the place is still clean and dry.
Zhi Wei didn’t dump Ning Yi on the bed right away. He is completely drenched as well, so he would’ve ended up just laying in a
water puddle. Setting Ning Yi on a chair, Zhi Wei wraps him from head to toe with a blanket then took his pulse.
Frowning, Zhi Wei quickly realizes that Ning Yi’s condition wasn’t as simple as getting rained on or overwhelmed with emotion.
Ning Yi’s body has obviously been harboring an old malady and it is about to get much worse if she doesn’t figure out a way to
protect him from the cold first.
Standing in the dark room, Zhi Wei raised her face to the ceiling, thought for a moment before finally closing her eyes.
Reaching under the blanket, Zhi Wei resolutely begins to undress Ning Yi.
Long robe, belt, outer garment, inner garment, pants, underwear…
Initially, Zhi Wei’s movement was brisk but it soon slowed down as her ears turn bright pink yet her hand never stopped.
A small pile of wet clothing quickly appeared on the ground. Judging by the size, the clothes that should’ve been off, are off…and
the ones that should not have been off…are also off.
While pulling her hand out underneath the blanket, Zhi Wei suddenly stopped when her fingers felt a bump. Tracing the bump
with her fingers, Zhi Wei is certain that it is a scar, a very ghastly one at that.
This was probably the old malady that caused him to fall unconscious. But, how would a prince sustain such a severe injury?
Slowly feeling the bump again, the scar is long, wide and jugged. Making it easy for Zhi Wei to imagine how dreadful it must have
been.
Remembering the rumor about him in the Capital…an almost fatal illness at the age of seven, undergoing a drastic change of
personality after… what if it wasn’t an illness but a wound?
Belatedly remembering what she is doing when her finger reached his smooth skin, a red faced Zhi Wei promptly pulls her hand
back, trying to not let her imagination go wild.
Trying to distract herself to think about anything but what she is doing, Zhi Wei savagely dried Ning Yi’s whole body with a towel.
Replacing the wet blanket on Ning Yi with a dry one, Zhi Wei picks Ning Yi up and deposits him on the bed.
Using the blanket to forcefully rub a still unconscious Ning Yi’s body all over to encourage his blood circulation, Zhi Wei is soon
rewarded to see the grey in his face fading away. Sweaty after all her hard work, Zhi Wei fumes as she stares at the man who
is sleeping in comfort. With great jealousy, Zhi Wei pats Ning Yi’s face none too gently and mutters “Having a nice dream are
we?!”
Feeling vindicated, Zhi Wei decides that she should use the chance to beat Ning Yi a few more times…after all, she might not get
another chance.
Searching around the room for anything to start a fire, Zhi Wei couldn’t help but admire the room full of exquisite furniture and
decorations. Dragging a fire basin from underneath the bed, Zhi Wei starts a fire then turns her attention to drying and brushing
Ning Yi’s hair.
Waking up just as Zhi Wei is leaning over him gently brushing his hair away from his forehead, Ning Yi felt like he has been
trapped in a dark abyss struggling to find an escape from the perpetual cold and stormy world. When he was finally able to open
his eyes, the only thing he saw was a delicate hand brushing across. Raising his eyes, Ning Yi could see the corner of a dainty chin
and soft pink lips that seem to glow brightly in a world that is otherwise completely grey.
Under the faint glow of the fire that warms him right to the bone, the dark and cold endless torment just now seemed to all be a
dream.
Or, is this the dream now?
His vision a bit blurry as the hand above is still moving around busily, Ning Yi looks around in a daze. Everything feels so familiar.
He seems to remember that years ago, there is such a place with such a person who had gently and carefully tended to him.
His heart instantly filled with overwhelming joy.
Has everything that was lost, finally back?
Letting out a soft moan, he grabs the hand, pressed his face gently against it.
“Mother…”
The hand felt warm against his cool face, a warmth that spread through his whole body.
Her body freezes in mid-motion, Zhi Wei stares at the hand that is in Ning Yi’s grasp and couldn’t decide if she should pull her
hand away or just let Ning Yi be. The guy is obviously not completely awake yet so if she abruptly pulls her hand away, she risks
waking him up and have him so embarrassed that he gets mad. But…if she leaves her hand, then is him going to get even madder
when he eventually wakes up?
Jerking awake when Zhi Wei’s hand quiver ever so slightly, Ning Yi’s eyes that were dazed a moment ago instantly come back to
focus. Narrowing his eyes when he sees who is in front of him, Ning Yi lets go of her hand and demands “Why are you here?”
There wasn’t any embarrassment on his face, just an instant recovery of his usual sharpness and serene composure. Once the
confusion in his eyes was gone, the perpetual caution and alertness came rushing back.
Wiping her fingers on her skirt, Zhi Wei turns away to dry Ning Yi’s clothes over the fire and says with a smile “I came in to avoid
the rain. It was unintentional.”
13
Still slightly disoriented after just waking up, Ning Yi stares at Zhi Wei blanketly feeling too warm and too lazy to think about
moving as he watches her nimbly dry his clothes over the fire: Outer robe, inner robe, pants, undergarments…
Undergarments….
Undergarments?
Jerking up the blanket in a hurry, Ning Yi glances down before immediately pulling the blanket back down.
Ignoring Ning Yi who seems to be in a daze after his little discovery, Zhi Wei nonchalantly raise up the undergarments to check for
wet spots.
Apparently jolted out of his daze by Zhi Wei’s behavior, Ning Yi barked angrily “Put it down!”
Turning around to give Ning Yi an innocent look, Zhi Wei lets out a sigh. Seriously, why is he acting so awkward? Am I not trying to
make him comfortable? If not, then what do I care if your undergarments are dry or not? I just need to make sure your outer
robes are dry enough that others can’t tell it was wet.
Gathering up the dry clothes, a very considerate Zhi Wei even have them all folded up in a pile…with the silky undergarments
resting on the very top.
Almost choking on a gasp when he sees what is on top of the clothes pile, Ning Yi couldn’t help but glance up at Zhi Wei. The
woman’s expression is completely innocent. There is even a hint of shyness in her expression…but he just feels certain that she
did it on purpose.
Still, embarrassment aside, Ning Yi could feel the sorrow pressing on his heart dissipating. Letting out a sigh, Ning Yi checks over
his own condition and discovers that despite his old ailments acting up, his health hasn’t worsened and he didn’t catch a cold in
that torrent rain. All this was thanks to her.
His clothes in a neat pile beside him, Ning Yi stares up at the woman in front of him blankly. The storm rain had washed away the
disguise on her petite face and messed up her hair as well so she had simply let her hair down. Feeling the silk like hair falling on
the back of his hand as she bends down, something soft seems to wiggled itself deep into his heart. Yelping in surprise when Ning
Yi unexpectedly presses down on her hair with a flip of his hand, Zhi Wei pulls out her hair and chides “Stop messing around.”
Her voice was gentle with a hint of laughter in it. The gentleness in her voice is her trademark but this time, there was also a rare
hint of indulgence and attentiveness in it…lighting a small candle in the corner of Ning Yi’s frigid heart.
After quickly putting on his clothes underneath the blanket, Ning Yi frowns when he finally get a good look at his surrounding
“Where did you get the things to start a fire? You used her stuff?”
“I just know you needed them.” With her back to him, Zhi Wei voice doesn’t give any hint that she has picked up the displeasure
in his question “No matter how valuable something is, nothing compares to staying alive.”
Falling silent, Ning Yi looks around again and finally mutters after a long moment “Nothing has changed…”
Too busy sneezing, thanks to the wind that swept in from the window, Zhi Wei didn’t pay any attention to Ning Yi’s forlorn
reminiscence.
Pressing a hand to his chest, Ning Yi pulls out a pill from his robe pocket and throws it into his mouth. His attention caught by Zhi
Wei’s continuous sneezes, Ning Yi says after hesitating a moment “You can take down the bed veils and burn them as well.”
“You are willing now?” Amusement in her eyes, Zhi Wei looks back at Ning Yi.
“I just don’t want you to draw suspicion by sneezing up a storm during tonight’s feast.” Sitting up in bed with the blanket around
him, Ning Yi replies with an aloof expression.
Not about to pay any mind to a certain someone who is forever unwilling to simply admit what he is thinking, Zhi Wei turns her
attention back to the fire only to hear Ning Yi demands “Pull that over to the bed.”
Do you really think I am your maid?? Despite her silent mutterings, Zhi Wei who is too used to always showing her good-natured
side still ended up pulling the fire basin over to the bed with a smile.
“Come over here for a moment.” Ning Yi commands again.
Walking over, Zhi Wei sits down by the edge of the bed.
The man pulls back the blanket and commands yet again in his impassive voice “Get in, I will share half of it with you.”
Jumping up in an instant, Zhi Wei says “My hair is messed up, I am going to go brush it.”
A hand suddenly shoots out, grabs her by the waist. The hand didn’t exert much force but somehow Zhi Wei felt her body
immediately going limp as she is pulled into a warm bed.
Her heart pounding hard, Zhi Wei doesn’t dare to move as she gives Ning Yi a friendly smile “Your Highness, this is not proper.”
“What are you thinking?” The man replies as his ever minty cool fragrance mixed with the faint smell of medicine envelops Zhi
Wei. The hand on her waist ignores her resistance and pulls her deeper into the bed inch by inch “Did you think you are so
beautiful that I wouldn’t be able to control myself?”
Her hand grabbing onto the edge of the bed, Zhi Wei thought for a moment and replies “I think I am.”
Choking on a cough, the hand finally just pushes on a pressure point to incapacitate her, pushes her all the way into the bed then
demands angrily “How are you suppose to get dry when you are still wearing wet clothes?! What are you grumbling about when I
should be the one worrying about getting the bed wet?”
“I am grumbling?!” Finally unable to keep on her calm fascade anymore, Zhi Wei glares at the man in front of her “Is this how you
repay the one who saved you? How am I suppose to get married later if you do this?”
“Marry?” All the anger on his face dissolving into something much more complex, Ning Yi asks with a dangerous smile “I guess you
really were dreaming of becoming Helian’s bride.”
Returning an equally fake smile, Zhi Wei retorts “At least not yours.”
Glaring at Zhi Wei for a long moment, Ning Yi abruptly breaks into a laugh then ignores her completely as he begins to undress
her.
14
Hopeless as she lays in bed, Zhi Wei thought about the story of the farmer and the snake. Certain that Ning Yi is the snake in the
fable, Zhi Wei knows full well the man is taking his revenge. *Sigh* What goes around certainly comes around very quickly. If she
knew what was going to happen, then she would have at least left him his underwear.
A woman’s clothing was more troublesome so it took Ning Yi quite a while before he finally took off Zhi Wei’s outer garments.
After draping the clothes on the bed rail to dry by the fire, Ning Yi turns around only to see the woman has shut her eyes tightly as
she mutters something over and over repeatedly. Leaning closer, Ning Yi listens as Zhi Wei mutters “He is a eunuch, he is a
eunuch, he is a eunuch…”
Glaring at the woman, Ning Yi really wants to just smack her dead right then. However, after glaring at the woman for a while, the
blushing cheeks and the jade like smooth skin begins to look delicious to the taste… if one ignores the words coming out of those
red puckering lips. But then, it is due time that those lips have a rest.
Suddenly leaning down, Ning Yi captures those muttering lips with his own.
…Whose lips could be so sweet? As if it was a hot spring that has been suppressed for the last thousands of years, the first touch
stuns the soul immediately followed by a total loss of reason so that he could do nothing but presses forward until he captures
her small tongue with his own. Perhaps all he wanted at first was to stop the mouth that won’t stop its mutterings, or perhaps he
had wanted to scare her but the moment he touched that world’s tenderest softness he is like an exhausted traveler who has
suddenly arrived at the warmest refuge and is unwilling to leave.
After twenty-three years of endless struggle, he has finally tasted a sweetness he has never imagined existed. Unwilling to bridle
himself anymore, the only thing Ning Yi wants at that moment is to be drunk with her sweetness forever. His fingers digging even
deeper into Zhi Wei’s hair, Ning Yi wraps his other arms around her slender shoulder as he pulls her even closer to deepen the
kiss until they can no longer tell where their body begins and ends.
Outside, the storm rages on but even the clamor doesn’t stop them from hearing each other’s breathing. They are so close, so
very close that there is not even an inch for them to escape from one another.
The fire in the basin suddenly lets out a pop, sending a flare of flame upwards.
The flame of fire dust was like a grand firework that promptly jerks awake Ning Yi. His eyes clearing of the daze that was in them
just a second ago, with a flip Ning Yi backs away.
Rising a hand to his chest, a suffocating feeling comes over Ning Yi forcing him to cough out loud until a trace of red appears on
his lips.
Darn his wounds. The medicine was surprisingly strong that he almost lost control.  (Ning Yi had taken out a bottle of medicine
and popped a pill in the last post…but he is probably just looking for excuses here.)
Fang Zhi Wei herself is having some difficulty controlling her breathing as well. Her face still red and her body still immobilized, Zhi
Wei stares at the bed curtains above her, imagining it’s a certain someone’s face and using her laser beam glare to burn a hole
into it. Zhi Wei figures there is no longer a reason to dry her clothes anymore since the heat alone on her body would be able to
dry them.
Calming his breathing, Ning Yi finally turns around only to break out in a smile when he sees Zhi Wei’s calm but very fierce
expression.
The smile disappeared as soon as it appeared. Ning Yi pulls Zhi Wei closer to him and pulls off her inner clothing at the same time,
leaving only a white garment on her. (In case you all are wondering, Zhi Wei is not naked. The white garment would’ve still
covered her completely.) Settling Zhi Wei on the crook of his arm, Ning Yi laments nonchalantly “That was fortunate…or else you
would’ve made me do something inappropriate in my mother’s place, that would’ve been terrible.”
Look who is talking like she was the one that seduced him…there is nothing wrong with Zhi Wei’s voice but she is so angry that
she doesn’t even want to say anything. Zhi Wei vows that if one day she sees his dead body on the street then she would just step
over it and step on his face while she is at it.
With Zhi Wei in his embrace, Ning Yi gently caresses her hair feeling a sense of peace he has never felt before even as the storm
rages on outside. Suddenly filled with the urge to confide in her something he has never told anyone else, Ning Yi says softly “This
is the place my mother lived after she “died”. For ten years.”
Still huffy, Zhi Wei replies indifferently “Oh…” as she prepares to take a nap…am I suppose to listen just because you are willing to
talk?
Her eyes snapped open as soon as she had closed them…wait, what did he just say?! Lived here after she died?!
Suppressing a shiver, Zhi Wei belatedly remembers what everyone knows about Ning Yi. His mother was the princess of some
small tribe and was captured by the Emperor before he established the Tian Sheng empire. The rumored to be exquisitely
beautiful woman died a few months after giving birth due to hemorrhaging. Tian Sheng empire wasn’t established until Ning Yi
was seven years old.
Zhi Wei remembered the first time she heard of Ning Yi’s story something had felt off. It wasn’t until this moment that she finally
realizes something sounds fishy- hemorrhaging a few months after giving birth? Hemorrhaging usually happens during labor and
the chance of it happening after becomes less the longer time passes. When Ning Yi was born, the Ning family was one of the
most powerful family in Da Cheng with access to countless precious medicines so how could it be possible that a woman would
die from a cause that usually happens in poor peasant families? The truth is that woman didn’t die and lived for another ten
years…but why did she have to live in hiding and in such a manner?
15
“She was Da Yue tribe leader’s daughter. Da Yue had two tribes, the Sun tribe and the Moon tribe. Both tribes were very
mysterious and both lived deep in the mountain range. The women of the Moon tribe specialize in the art of seduction but the
women of the Sun tribe were called the “Emperor’s favorites” which of course just feeds my father’s dream and ambition.
Capturing my mother, however, was not my father’s doing. She showed up in a rather unique fashion. She fell right on top of my
father’s horse while singing”
Unable to suppress her surprise, Zhi Wei exclaimed “Eh?”
“There was a snow storm that day. As my father’s army trek through the snow blanketed forest, my mother fell from a tree at the
cliff top, singing the whole time while holding a chipmunk in her arms. Everyone looked up and thought for sure they had seen a
goddess descending out of the sky.”
Zhi Wei closes her eyes half way and thought of how beautiful and stunning the young girl must’ve been.
“Unsure of what to make of my mother’s unique grand entrance, a group of people in my father’s army said it was bad omen but
another group said it was a good omen. A fight almost broke out between those two different opinions but my father finally
insisted on keeping her. At that time, no one understood my mother’s language so no one knew the meaning of the song she sang
either. My mother eventually learned some of our language but she was still one with very few words.”
“The next year after that, while my mother was pregnant with me, the Emperor of Da Cheng escaped to Da Yue which is why my
father ended up in a war with Da Yue again. The battle wasn’t going well and the soldiers began to panic…that’s when the rumor
started.”
“Spy?” Zhi Wei couldn’t help but asks.
Giving Zhi Wei a sidelong glance as his lips twists into a bitter smile “Yes and no. It was back on the topic of “Emperor’s favorite”.
Some government officials with Da Yue background said that “Emperor’s favorite” doesn’t necessarily mean the woman would be
the Emperor’s woman but that the women from Sun tribe have the gift of prophecy- to predict their own or their descendants’
future. At that time, the song she sang when she fell into my father’s arms was also translated.”
“What did the lyrics mean?”
“Don’t know.” Ning Yi shakes his head “Those who knew all died. My father is the only one who knows the lyrics now.”
“It probably was not a good prophecy then…” Zhi Wei mutters.
“Yes.” Ning Yi’s hand flex unconsciously and accidentally brushes his cold finger against Zhi Wei’s face making her shiver.
Noticing Zhi Wei’s shiver, Ning Yi taps on her pressure point and frees her. Zhi Wei scoots a little away from Ning Yi but then after
thinking for a moment, pulls the fire basin closer.
“Are you worrying about me being cold?” The man behind her whispers in a low and gentle voice.
“No.” Zhi Wei refuses to admit it ” The clothes are not dry yet. I just wanted them to dry faster.”
Ning Yi smiles when he sees Zhi Wei tried to put a pillow between them to form a barrier. Embarrassed when she looks up to see
Ning Yi’s smile, Zhi Wei changes the subject “Then what happened?”
“Then that’s that.” Ning Yi says calmly, “All the soldiers begged my father to get rid of my mother. It was a critical time for my
father so two months after I was born it was announced that my mother had died of blood hemorrhaging.”
“All this was told to me by my nursemaid. I have no memory of mother so I had believed that she died as well. At that time, my
father was still considerate of the fact that I lost my mother at a young age and took me over to the Empress…well, my father
wasn’t the Emperor yet so she wasn’t the Empress at that time. After 10 days time, I started to be deathly ill and everyone,
including my father had given up hope on me. But on the night when I was about to die, the Empress’ place suddenly started to
have sightings of ghosts. There was an old nursemaid who was dozing off as she watched over me. The nursemaid spotted a white
figure drifting by and started to scream loudly. When everyone rushed over they discovered that I was covered in sweat but was
no longer at death’s door.”
“It was a strange circumstance but people didn’t think too much about it either. While I was with the Empress’, her servants
didn’t pay much attention to me so I got hurt often. The Crown Prince was also at a rambunctious age and liked to stick various
strange things in my mouth. There was nothing my nursemaid could do so she often sat outside and cried while holding me in her
arms.”
Ning Yi’s voice was calm as if he was telling someone else’s story. A story where all the characters’ sorrow has long since been
frozen in the past, like a crystal that was shattered on the path forward.
“One night my nursemaid fell asleep after crying, only to wake up to see me laying on the step beside her. She was terrified
because she clearly remembers holding me in her arms. That was the same night the Empress’ place started to have sighting of
ghosts again.”
“Ghosts are often from people’s own heart.” Zhi Whi whispers softly
A warm smile flashes across Ning Yi’s face and he continues “After a few more rounds of ruckus with the ghost business, the
Empress finally gave me over to Royal Concubine Chang where I grew up without much incident until Tian Sheng Empire was
established when I was seven.”
The fire in the basin slowly dies down, making the room even darker. The air is filled with a dusty smell, the extravagant
ornaments abandoned in the dark shadows- as bleak and sad as the story.
“You…when did you see her again?” After holding the question in for a long while, Zhi Wei finally asked.
“You are very smart, just too smart…” Ning Yi gently caresses her hair and lets out a sigh “I was nine years old at the time, still
lived in the palace. The palace of Tian Sheng is the old Da Cheng palace renovated so the whole renovation project was quite
extensive and there were many places I had never been. One time while I was fetching a kite for the Crown Prince I hurt my leg.
My brothers took the kite and ran off telling me that they are going to find my a physician but no one ever came. Unable to stand
the pain, I accidentally rolled down a hill but ended up discovering a small manor. Supposedly it was an old manor that has been
abandoned and normally, everyone is forbidden to go there but for some reason that day, the door was open.”
A smile formed on Ning Yi’s lips as his expression unconsciously filled with happiness at the memory “…the door opened, a long
haired nun walked out…that was the first time I saw her…” (So, Buddhist nun are usually bald but there are those who considers
themselves nuns but not shave their hair. In novels, this is often the route for royal women when they are outcasts or as a way to
get away from all the intrigue.)
Ning Yi coughs twice, turns his face away but not before Zhi Wei caught sight of something glistening in the corner of his eye.
“I didn’t know who she was at that time.” Ning Yi quickly recovered his composure and continues calmly, “I just thought she was
extremely beautiful with eyes that were filled with kindness and warmth. Up to that point in my life, I have never experienced
that sort of warmth so I completely forgot to be guarded and even allowed her to get close, carry me into the house and took
care of my wound. She made a special sort of cake for me. I was already nine years old but she still tried to feed me like a young
kid. I stayed there for about two hours and she didn’t say a word during all that time but cried when I politely bid her goodbye.”
It was Zhi Wei’s turn to turn her face away to hide the rush of tears.
The heart of a mother!
“…After I went back I couldn’t forget her so I snuck back a few more times. I knew it was forbidden to go to her place so I was
always extra careful when I went. However, my schooling was intense and my brothers kept a close watch on me so I could only
find a few times a year to go. But every time I showed up she is always overjoyed and rushed around to prepare things for me.
One time I was too tired and accidentally fell asleep. When I woke up four hours later her wrist was swollen from fanning me the
whole time to keep me cool.”
Ning Yi paused, softly touching his own wrist seemingly trying to imagine the ache his mother must’ve felt. His movement was
gentle but his eyes slowly turns cold.
“Seven times… I went seven times…the eighth time…the place was empty.”
He was nine that year. He met his mother for the first time at nine then lost her forever at the age of ten.
He remembers vividly every joyful stolen moments he spent with her. Seven times, each time a mark on the heart to be counted.
Seven times, for a lifetime.
The journey before and the journey after was all so bleak and lonely but this was the only time that was vibrant, filled with colors
that will never fade.
Zhi Wei stares at him and can’t bring herself to ask the ending. Beauty has always die young…history has never changed.
Perhaps she had struggled to stay alive for ten years just to have a chance to see her child again, wanting her love to shine on her
child who is destined to walk down a long unforgiving path, to give her child the only light in his heart…a heart that will  slowly
darken by the ruthless palace life.
“I found out later, her death anniversary, is today.”
16
“While this day is feasts and celebrations for some people, no one remembers her death.”
“When I finally found out the truth…I was beset with regrets. If I had known she was waiting for me, no matter how
overwhelming my study was, no matter how difficult my conniving my brothers were, I should’ve gone and visited her more even
if it meant sacrificing food and sleep…. But then, the pill of regret can’t be bought in this world. The most precious year of my life
was wasted.”
“No, it wasn’t a waste.” Zhi Wei said sincerely, “You did see her. You spent precious time with her. She was happy on those days,
as you were, then that’s worth it.”
“Happy?” Ning Yi paused, then repeated “Happy?” Suddenly breaking out in a low laugh, Ning Yi wipes away the speck of blood
on his mouth with the back of his hand. Staring at the blood, Ning Yi mutters “I once thought she was happy. That’s what I
believed this past ten years! But just now, I finally found out how wrong I was!”
Zhi Wei froze as she remembers the statue and the seductive position it was in.”
“See that secret passage?” Ning Yi angrily points towards the passage’s direction “My father. That father of mine still wanted to
satisfy his own carnal desire after all. He couldn’t risk other people seeing him coming here so he had this passage built, had the
statue made…made THAT!”
Getting more furious as he spoke, Ning Yi finally coughed out a mouthful of blood, followed by more incessant coughing.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhi Wei slowly reaches out a hand and direct a bit of her energy to run through his body. Thinking
back to the statue she saw, Zhi Wei can understand why Ning Yi is so furious. Someone like the Emperor who built such a passage
with such a statue, there was simply no chance a man like that would allow Ning Yi’s mother to truly devote herself to her belief.
As for Ning Yi’s mother… What and how did she endure for a chance to spend a few precious moments with her son? Perhaps she
had remained silent out of fear that if she opened her mouth then the tears couldn’t be stopped.”
“…She is a very pious person. If she was going to do something, then she would do it sincerely…” Supporting himself by holding
the bed frame with his hands, Ning Yi mutters “She was a nun but she still had to…how tormented she must’ve been…”
Silence fall as Ning Yi voice trails off as he stares at the fire basin.
Zhi Wei’s hand is still pressed against his back…and for a second, she started to reach towards his shoulder but finally slowly pulls
back after the hand hangs mid-air for a long moment.
Turning to stare at Zhi Wei as the fire cast a gentle amber light on her face along with the slightest sign of pain hiding in her
brows, Ning Yi suddenly grabs her hand and says after a long moment of silence “Zhi Wei…”
This is the first time he called her by name, Zhi Wei looks up in surprise.
Shaken by her clear transparent gaze, eyes that seem to hold the world…a world he wants to spend his whole life in, Ning Yi
finally blurt out the words that have been hiding deep within.
“Zhi Wei, even if the whole world is against me, the only thing I care about is that you are not one of them.”
Her body trembles at Ning Yi’s words. In contrast to the paleness of his face, Ning Yi’s eyes seem especially dark as if a deep
bottomless abyss is hiding in them…instantly making Zhi Wei’s heart quiver. She has never seen such expression nor has she ever
imagined that he would say such heartfelt words to her one day. From the moment they met, they were instantly mired in each
other’s conspiracy, suspicion, probing, avoidance, everything under the sun. Except for trust…they have never had.
 Yet, right at this moment he is holding her hand, earnestly, at the most intimate distance, calling her name.
The rain is pouring outside, she is enveloped by the warmth from the fire basin even as the smoke seems to be fanning the
turmoil in her.
Returning his stare, the words “How could I!” almost burst out of her but suddenly loud yells from a crowd of people breaks
through the sound of rain and silence.
As the sound of steps come closer, the yells also became clear “Check over here!”
Zhi Wei and Ning Yi both jumped with alarm.
What chaos would it raise if Prince Helian’s fiancée and Ning Yi were found together in a room in a state of undress?!
In one smooth move, Zhi Wei jumps up, grabs her clothes and begins to put them on as she darts over to the window only to see
a group of guards has already arrived.
Quickly buttoning up her clothes, Zhi Wei suddenly remembers the other day Princess Shao Ning had said “The best is yet to
come…” while standing at the palace garden. Come to think of it, this place is behind the palace garden and Princess Shao Ning
was looking right towards this direction when she said it.
It’s her own fault that she got distracted first by the rain then Ning Yi so she didn’t even make the connection.
Princess Shao Ning’s laugh can be heard now as the crowd gets closer “Prince Helian, I have been here once when I was young. It
has long been abandoned but it will probably be good to check anyway. Who knows perhaps Zhi Wei mistakenly came this
way….”
Zhi Wei abruptly turns around, her gaze meeting Ning Yi’s who has been putting on his clothes as well and they both instantly
realize what Princess Shao Ning is planning. The plan is quite simple really. The only thing Princess Shao Ning wants is to catch
Ning Yi at this place. As long as she can catch him here, then there is nothing Ning Yi could say to clear his own name. On the day
when everyone is celebrating Royal Concubine Chang’s birthday in the palace, if Ning Yi is found here then the Emperor, who
knows the real meaning of this place will be displeased and become suspicious of Ning Yi.
Ning Yi knows full as well that he can’t be found here or else he would not have chosen to show up here without a single guard on
the day when the whole palace is preoccupied with the festivities.
As for Zhi Wei…no one expected her to be here. She was just the unlucky gal at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, if she was
to be discovered with Ning Yi, then the damage to her reputation is a small matter but she won’t be able to escape unscathed
either if something else worse resulted from it.
Their gaze meets again, both know clearly what’s at stake.
17
Both diving back to the bedside, Zhi Wei quickly kicks the fire basin under the bed while Ning Yi ripped the bed sheets apart and
makes sure all the chairs are scattered around on the floor instead of standing upright.
Confused by Ning Yi’s actions of making the place a big mess, Zhi Wei looks up only to see Ning Yi casting a look towards the
backyard before promptly diving out of the window.
Stunned, Zhi Wei looks around in surprise- Did he just abandoned her and ran off by himself? But they are surrounded so where is
he going?
By the time Zhi Wei followed Ning Yi out of the window she could hear the guards coming in the outer gates but Ning Yi is still
calmly searching the garden for something as he tells Zhi Wei “Get your disguise on your face again.”
Hastily taking out the various makeup and fake eyebrows she often has with her, Zhi Wei quickly turns her face back to the
yellowish and ugly appearance.
“Found it!” Ning Yi suddenly lets out a low cheer as he grabs a small red fruit from a half dead plant, “Eat it!”
Taking the fruit, Zhi Wei swallows the fruit without asking a single question.
A gush of heat rushes through her body the moment she swallows the fruit, making her face flashing bright red even as she gives
Ning Yi a reassuring smile.
Taken aback, Ning Yi froze for a moment before reaching out to grab Zhi Wei’s hand to take her pulse. Frowning, Ning Yi says “We
are a bit short on time…” before sending a burst of energy into Zhi Wei’s body.
Getting a general gist of what Ning Yi is planning now, Zhi Wei leaves her body completely unguarded and allows Ning Yi’s energy
to course through her vein causing havoc.
Behind them someone pushed the door open, followed by a clatter of sounds as someone yells “It looks like someone was here
before!”
Her lips forming into a small smile when she sees Ning Yi searching all over his own body for something, Zhi Wei suddenly grabs a
rusted garden shovel that was by the wall.
“I am going to kill you!” Letting out a loud strange sounding howl, Zhi Wei swings the shovel towards Ning Yi’s head.
Ning Yi dodged out of the way as a hint of laughter flashes across his face followed by amazement.
This woman…is smarter than he could have ever imaged. Her intelligence is almost frightening!
Hearing the commotion, the guards all rushed over and someone yells “There are people in the garden!”
Princess Shao Ning, Fifth Prince, and Helian strolls into the garden past the long line of guards. Fifth Prince laughs “Sixth brother,
you were here? Why are you dallying about when the party is about to begin. Come quickly with me, Father has been asking after
you.”
Her eyebrow raised, Princess Shao Ning’s eyes gleam with excited anticipation.
Far from amused, Helian’s brow knitted into a deep frown- he had originally been planning to go searching for Zhi Wei at Royal
Concubine Zhang’s place when he heard she was being bullied but then a palace maid said she went over to the Princess’ place so
that’s where he went instead. However, he didn’t find Zhi Wei and ended up getting dragged by Princess Shao Ning over here.
Mighty pleased with herself, Princess Ning Yi commands “Why are you all just standing about! Go get that…” before her voice
suddenly trails off.
Inside the tattered garden, things have just heated up. A woman with dark yellowish skin with a big mess of hair is chasing Ning Yi
around with a rusted garden shovel while yelling “I am going to kill you! You disgusting reprobate!”
It is obvious from the woman’s hacking and chopping movement that she is just an ordinary person without any skills in fighting.
With his hands at his back, Ning Yi frowns as he gracefully avoids the woman. The ground is littered with all the flowers and
branches, victims of the woman’s wild hacking but she has yet to touch even the corner of Ning Yi’s robe.
His brows knitted in deep displeasure, Ning Yi warns in a low shout “Enough! Stop! Cease your crazy antics! What is going on?!”
“What’s going on?” Stunned by the sight, Princess Shao Ning asks.
“Zhi…” Equally stunned, Helian promptly joins the chaos “Fong Zhi Wei! Why are you here! What are you doing!”
Her hand pulled unexpectedly by Helian, the shovel in Zhi Wei’s hand jerked back and makes a loud “Bang” sound when it makes
contact with Helian’s head.
“Ahh!” Remembering to keep hold of Zhi Wei with one hand while putting his other hand on the bump that had instantly formed
on his head, Helian asks nervously “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”
Seemingly as if she hasn’t heard him, Zhi Wei continues to wield the shovel around “Kill him! Kill him!”
Coming up with a story to fit the scene in front of him, a bright eyed Fifth Prince asks gleefully “This is Prince Helian’s fiancée?
Why would Prince Helian’s fiancée be chasing my Sixth brother around trying to kill him? Could it be…”, then turns to look
suggestively at the messed up bedroom and ripped bed sheets.
Helian’s expressed turns dark while the shock expression on Princess Shao Ling’s face is replaced by one of glee “Sixth brother
doesn’t look well. Is there something wrong?”
She had only planned on catching Ning Yi at this place to rouse her father’s dissatisfaction against him, but who would’ve guessed
a much better surprised was waiting for her.
“Demon! Demon!!!!” Her eyes vacant of expression, Zhi Wei wildly waves the shovel around before suddenly brings it down on
top of Helian’s head “Death! Go away!”
Jumping out of harms way in shock, Helian quickly darts back to try to catch Zhi Wei again but she has already run off and is
pointing her shovel at a guard yelling “Death, you want to catch me too don’t you? Die!”
Wielding the shovel around erratically, her movement obviously that of one who is not only untrained but perhaps even
deranged, everyone speedily dodged out of Zhi Wei’s way.
By this point Princess Shao Ning and Fifth Prince belatedly figured out something is not quite right as they exchange a glance.
With Zhi Wei chasing someone else, Ning Yi finally has a chance to stop darting around and says “This woman is plain crazy! I had
ducked into the palace garden to avoid the rain and this woman suddenly showed up. I didn’t want any trouble so I tried to avoid
her but who knew she would chase me all the way to here…is she Prince Helian’s companion? That’s great, please take your thing
away.”
Notwithstanding being preoccupied with pretending to be a crazy woman chasing random guards around with a shovel, Zhi Wei
took the time to glare at Ning Yi– You are a thing! No, you are not even a thing!
Princess Shao Ning could hardly hide the look of disappointment on her face. Fifth Princess suddenly grabs Zhi Wei’s wrist in a
lightening speed and frowns when he put his fingers on her pulse. This woman’s internal energy is indeed a mess with signs of
madness.
Turning around, Fifth Princess gives Helian a questioning look. He of all people should know if his own fiancée has issues or not.
Instead of answering Fifth Prince’s questioning look, Helian’s attention was focused on Fifth’s Prince’s hand on Zhi Wei’s wrist
“Your Highness, my fiancée has mistakenly put her hand in yours.”
Embarrassed, Fifth Princess’ face turns bright red and promptly lets go of Zhi Wei’s hand. Watching the whole thing, a few palace
guards quickly swallow their laughter.
Paying Fifth Princess’ embarrassment no mind, Helian wraps his arm around Zhi Wei’s waist and pulls her to him. Standing across
from them, something flashes across Ning Yi’s eyes before he quickly turns his head aside.
“Your Highness’ fiancée suffers from episodes of madness? It’s something she had in the past?” Not mincing words, Princess Shao
Ning asks directly.
Still wielding her shovel around, Zhi Wei is mildly nervous. She is not certain what Helian would say. If he expresses his doubts
then even if she and Ning Yi could cover this up today, they will still have more trouble ahead of them in the future.”
18
“She…” Helian tightens his arms around Zhi Wei, “lovingly” caresses her hair and says suggestively “She…”
A bit unnerved by Helian’s suggestive stare, Zhi Wei’s body is soon covered with goosebumps. This guy…he didn’t really guess it,
has he? Is he that smart?
“She…” Helian is still dragging his answer out as everyone stared at him expectantly until even the seemingly disinterested Ning Yi
begins to frown.
Unable to take it anymore, Zhi Wei secretly pinched Helian hard.
Promptly turning serious, Helian answers “Yes.”
“Oh….” Princess Shao Ning says with disappointment.
“As you guys know,” Helian continues to pat Zhi Wei’s head while she continues her pinching. With eyes bright and even a hint of
shyness, Helian explains “Last time I went over to Qiu manor to ask for her hand and was chased out…um…in actuality, it was
because of this…”
“OH…” Everyone replies in unison this time.
The whole capital knows that Prince Helian was chased out of Qiu Manor and there were many versions of what happened.
Among the many versions, one of them was that Miss Feng had gone crazy but no one believed it…until now. Judging by the
situation in front of them, Miss Feng really suffers from insanity! No wonder Prince Helian was too embarrassed to say anything.
“Your Highness is really devoted to Miss Feng.” Fifth Princess laughs awkwardly “Devoted…”
Smiling proudly, Helian replies “Of course, the men on the grassland like their women special.”
Standing across from Helian, Ning Yi who has stayed silent the whole time suddenly smiles “Your Highness’ taste is indeed
particular, I applaud you.”
Why do those words sound a bit strange? Still keeping up with her pretense, Zhi Wei continues to wave her shovel around and
tries to shakes off Helian’s hand on her but he just stubbornly tightens his hold on her waist and whispers by her ear “Stop
pretending, aren’t you tired?”
So he knows! Zhi Wei thought with shock.
Taking a look at Zhi Wei then secretly casting a glance towards Ning Yi who seems unconcerned but actually has been observing
them the whole time, Helian suppresses the slight displeasure inside him and makes sure to place his hands on Zhi Wei’s waist in
such a position that Ning Yi could see clearly. Grabbing the shovel from Zhi Wei’s hand, Helian tosses it away offhandedly. “Clink!”
the shovel lands right by Ning Yi’s foot, missing it just by a few inches.
Not moving at all, Ning Yi doesn’t look at the shovel nor does he bother to look at Helian. Not look at Ning Yi either, seemingly as
if where the shovel landed was a complete accident, Helian says with a frank smile as he turns to Princess Ning Shao and Fifth
Prince “My woman is not feeling well, so I am going to go find a palace physician.” Not waiting for an answer, Helian grabs Zhi Wei
and walks off with her.
Watching Helian marched off with Zhi Wei, Fifth Prince and Princess Shao Ning look at each other blankly until Fifth Prince finally
says after a long moment “Where is this anyway, I have never been here.”
Too disappointed to say anything, Princess Shao Ning stays silent but Ning Yi laughingly replies “Never been here but you were
able to find it with such speed, Fifth Brother is certainly concerned about me.”
A bit embarrassed, Fifth Prince decides to change the subject, “Who would’ve thought that girl from Qiu family is not only ugly
but also crazy as well. Guess only the wild grassland men would be interested in her.”
Fifth Prince is usually the quiet type so he was only trying to cover up his own embarrassment with small talks but who would
have thought Ning Yi’s expression turned even colder upon hearing his words and walks off immediately after saying “There are
lots of vision impaired people in this world!”
Princess Shao Ning and Fifth Prine exchange a disappointed glance.
—————————————
Carried all the way out by Helian, Zhi Wei pinches him hard “Let me down, let me down.”
“Why, you are not pretending anymore.” Finally letting Zhi Wei down once they came to an empty hallway, Helian leans against a
column and taunts gleefully “Come on, come hit me.”
His expression was one of laughter but there was no amusement in his eyes.
Calmly fixing her clothes, Zhi Wei sits down on the railing “How did you discover it?”
“You ate the fruit of Huichun?” Sitting down by Zhi Wei, Helian continues “Did you forget that back where I am from, I would’ve
seen those kinds of plants. Who would’ve thought one lone plant would survive in the abandoned corner of Da Cheng palace. This
stuff is named Huichun (back to life) but in reality, it just pumps up the circulation of blood for a short time. Usually, it is given to
those who are dying but still has something left to say or do. If normal people take it then it only messes up their body with no
benefit at all.”
Helian then adds slowly “Not good for pretending to be crazy.”
Zhi Wei smiles then stretch lazily “It certainly is difficult to pretend to be insane, very exhausting.”
“Even if you didn’t recognize the fruit of Huichun,” Helian stares at Zhi Wei closely “I am certain you would not go mad suddenly.”
“Oh?”
“How would someone like you go insane?” Twitching his mouth to the side, Helian retorts “Even if the whole world goes insane,
you would not.”
Laughing out loud, Zhi Wei pats him on the head “Child, thanks for your help today.” (Remember Helian lost their bet so he
technically has to call her aunt?)
“I only did what a man should do.” Grabbing Zhi Wei’s hand, Helian tries to rub his face against it, “Except Ning Yi that jerk, he is
not a man!”
“Oh?” Zhi Wei says with amusement as her finger lightly flicks Helian’s eyelid making his eye twitch rapidly so he could only let go
of her hand.
“He was the one who had you take the fruit right? Didn’t he know this sort of fruit harms the body? He told you to pretend to be
crazy as well right? So now, he got off scot-free, but what about you? Aren’t your people super concerned about a woman’s
reputation?”
“If you knew we are most concerned about a woman’s reputation then why did you confirm that I suffer from madness just
now?” Instead of answering, Zhi Wei asks.
“Because you needed me to.” Helian’s answer was short and simple.
Her heart shaken for one beat, Zhi Wei quickly puts on a smiling face “We also have a saying, between two bad outcomes one
should choose the least harmful. In this world, it is impossible to have a perfect ending to everything.”
Zhi Wei silently calms down the chaotic energy inside her. The Huichun fruit had indeed caused havoc but the burst of energy
Ning Yi sent into her body not only quickly took care of the damage but actually provided lots of benefits to her.
No matter what, in this case, Ning Yi did everything he could. If she was in his place, she would’ve done the same thing.
Letting emotions make one indecisive is useless when it comes to critical situations like this.
Ning Yi is such a person, so is she.
“You are just taking his side.” Still huffy, Helian stands up and accuses “Something is fishy!”
Speechless, Zhi Wei could only change the subject “My skirt got dirty, what to do?”
“You will have to go back to the Princess’ place.” Helian replies “The maid had already cleaned off your other skirt and dried it so
you can just switch back to your original outfit. By dinner time, we can show up together.”
Twitching his eyebrows happily “As a perfect couple!”
Zhi Wei had already turned around but almost stumbled after hearing Helian’s last word.
19
After the torrent of rain, everything under the sun seems extra bright and clear under the sun. His spirit high, the Emperor
spontaneously decides to move the feast out into the palace’s big public square. The main table of the feast is set in a pavilion by
a small lake surrounded by countless lanterns.
Sitting by Helian, Zhi Wei slowly sips her wine enjoying herself immensely. Of course she would enjoy it even it more if she wasn’t
the recipient of so many stares.
In one short hour the news that Miss Feng suffers from bouts of madness attacks that has been witnessed by Prince Helian once
already and just now by Prince Chu as well has circulated throughout the palace. Be it nobleman or their wives, all stare at Zhi Wei
with curiosity…while Helian gets looks of pity and perplexity. Perplexity over why he would be interested in a crazy and ugly
woman. Pity that men from the grassland wilderness are indeed a bit lacking in the head so that even their taste in women is odd.
Of course the unmarried misses’ feelings are not so forgiving and mild. They might not necessarily be interested in marrying into
the far distance of grassland wilderness but that doesn’t stop them from admiring Helian’s handsome looks. After all, Prince
Helian still fit a lot of girls’ idea of a dreamy hero and it is never pleasant to see something lovely being taken by someone else…
especially by someone so unworthy.
Taking more personal offense the more they glare at Zhi Wei, the misses pull out their petite mirrors secretly in unison and
silently lamented– oh, how could girls as lovely as us lose to someone as ugly as Feng Zhi Wei?!
Taking in all the various not so discrete stares, Zhi Wei calmly sips her wine and wonders silently how glorious it would be if this
impressive speed of spreading rumor could be used on the battlefield.
The birthday star has yet to arrive so the seat at the top remains empty. Seated a step lower is the 2nd Prince and his wife,
followed by 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th Prince. Other than the youngest 10th Prince and Ning Yi, all the other princes are married.
According to the rumor, there are two reasons why Ning Yi is still single. First, due to his bad health Ning Yi himself has asserted in
the past that it would be unfair to marry someone’s precious daughter. Second, thanks to Ning Yi’s habit of frequenting brothels,
all the government officials are afraid that his “other function” might be bad as well. However, Ning Yi’s influence has increased
since the Crown Prince’s death so his marriage has become a hot topic. Judging by all the rumors, it seems like the Hu’s, the
Chang’s and the Hua families are the biggest contenders. (They are all families who hold important government positions.)
Her lips forming into a wry smile as she glances over at the almost nonexistence transparent screen dividing the women from the
princes, Zhi Wei wonders which one is Miss Hu and which one is Miss Chang. Sensing Zhi Wei’s gaze, Ning Yi looks up and
promptly caused all the girls to puff up their chest, each certain that Ning Yi was looking at her.
Hmm… Prince Ning Yi’s attention is certainly all encompassing causing the roomful of flowers to bloom in unison…Zhi Wei smiles
in amusement as she looks away to pour herself another cup of wine. Hmm…the wine in the palace is indeed full of flavor and rich
in taste.
Pleasantly surprised to discover that not only does Zhi Wei drink wine but she exudes a carefree manner while doing so, Helian
quickly pours her more wine and encourages her enthusiastically “Drink more, drink more! This wine is even rare for the palace.”
To prevent drunken misconducts, during palace feasts each table is only served one kettle of wine. Swallowing hard as he pours
more wine into Zhi Wei’s cup, Helian ignores his own empty cup and continues to make sure Zhi Wei’s cup is always full.
The kettle is more than half gone, Helian pours again and watches Zhi Wei tosses back the cup in one smooth move. Longingly
peering at the empty cup then at Zhi Wei’s clear gaze that is as sober as when she drank her first cup of wine, Helian expression
turns to one of disbelief.
… Why is she not drunk, how can she not be drunk? He sacrificed his own yearning for the lovely wine in order to get her drunk
but how can she not be drunk?!!!!
“Your Highness.” Zhi Wei tosses back another cup of wine before she laughingly says “I forgot to tell you a secret.”
“Ah?” Helian eagerly leans close.
“This level of alcohol.” Zhi Wei points at the kettle as she smilies tenderly “Under normal circumstance, I can drink two kettles.”
Helian, “……..”
Appearing quite intimate as they whisper with their heads together, Ning Yi lowers the wine cup that he had raised to his lips as
his gaze once again sweep across the room. However, this time, all the girls feel like his icy look was for them individually and
quickly shrink back into their seats.
Their sensibilities hurt by Ning Yi’s icy gaze, the noble girls become even more enraged when they turn around to see Zhi Wei is
still leisurely enjoying her wine as Prince Helian personally fills her cup. They might not be able to vent their anger out on other
noblemen and royalities but they could still bully an ugly crazy woman!
“Eunuch Wang!” A girl sitting not far from Zhi Wei abruptly stands up and calls out to the lead eunuch “The air in this area is too
foul, please find me another seat.”
Lazily turning a cup in her hand, Zhi Wei looks over at the snooty woman. Hmm…the woman is pretty. She is probably an intellect
as well judging by the haughty look on her face. After all, intellects tend to be that disagreeable to everyone around them.
Right after the woman finished speaking, someone else stood up “Please change my seat as well. That crazy woman stinks too
much!”
Zhi Wei looks up again and laughs silently. Great! This one is no stranger. The 3rd daughter of Qiu Manor, Qiu Yu Luo. For
someone who sat so far away, how sensitive her nose must be to be a victim of her foul smell. Plus, if you are so mad at me, then
why do you keep eyeing the princes’ area?
Jumping on the bandwagon, a chorus of complaints quickly came, all from young women who want the lead eunuch to change
their seats as well. Amidst the voices, Qiu Yu Luo complained the loudest, declaring that the dignity of the Emperor would be lost
if they were to allow a crazy woman to have an audience with him. Her face flushed and her chest puffed up from “righteous”
anger Qiu Yu Luo looks extra lovely, catching the attention of many of the princes…much to the ire of their wives.
Out of all the princes, Ning Yi was the only one who didn’t spare a single glance towards Miss Qiu. Seemingly completely
unaffected by the impressive act put on by the preening girls, Ning Yi leans over to talk 7th Prince as he secretly pulls out a
beautifully drawn scroll. Hiding behind the wine kettles, the two brothers look over the erotic pictures on the scroll with bright
eyes…until they were caught by 7th Prince’s wife.
Severely disappointed, Qiu Yu Luo loses her temper, pushes away the lead eunuch and her mother who have been trying to calm
her down, “If you won’t change my seat then I will change it myself.” However, that’s easier said then done. Qiu Yu Luo knows full
well that in a palace feast all the seating are already assigned so she was only trying to show off to catch Ning Yi’s attention.
The head eunuch tries to calm her down again but someone suddenly butts in while holding a wine kettle “Don’t stop her, don’t
stop her. I too think the air smell foul here. Everyone is wearing pounds of powder on themselves that I can’t breathe anymore.”
Waving the eunuch away, the laughing voice continues “Go, go change seat for this miss who weighs 70 pounds herself with 30
pounds of powder, 40 pounds of jewelry totaling 150 pounds…There, that looks good to me over there. Airy, high and spacious.
Great for looking and being looked at…the perfect place.”
Everyone follows his finger to look at where he is pointing…
To the rooftop of the pavilion…
Adding fuel to the fire, Zhi Wei rises her wine cup and grins “Your Highness, you are terrible at arithmetic, it is obviously 140
pounds.”
“Plus 10 pounds for the pimple.” Helian rises his own wine cup towards Qiu Yu Luo’s forehead, pointing out a small pimple that is
almost invisible under the thick cover of powder “A toast to the pimple.”
The whole place was dead silent, completely stunned by Prince Helian’s harsh words.
Her secret hopes exposed for all to see, a humiliated Qiu Yu Luo froze not knowing what to do next. Not bothering to wait to
see Qiu Yu Luo’s response, Helian has already turned away and smiles triumphantly at Zhi Wei. Sighing silently, Zhi Wei laments
that she wasn’t even given a chance to show off. However, who knew Prince Helian could be so eloquent?
The silence drags on and makes Qiu Yu Luo’s humiliation seemed even more pitiful. Feeling bad for Qiu Yu Luo, 7th Prince looks
questioningly towards Ning Yi but he just says nonchalantly “What an impertinent woman! Who is she calling foul smelling? I have
long heard some women in the Capital would jokingly call the men from the grassland as barbarians but she dares to ridicule
Prince Helian publically? If Father hears of this he would surely be angered immediately.”
————————————————————————-
Question for you all. Would you guys rather I: 1. Skip over the most boring parts (political intrigue, unimportant secondary
characters) but try to give you most of the story OR 2. Just translate the highlighted scenes of our two leads and skip over
everything else?
Choice #1 would mean you guys will need to be patient through some scenes that might not directly have both of our leads
interacting with each other but will give you a better overall picture of the story. However, I have to warn you, this novel is quite
long so you will need to wait through some posts that are not as “exciting.”
Choice #2. You will have the juiciest parts of the story but will only get a general sense of the story- a great way to get a fill of our
two leads’ story without all the fussy details.
I had started this translation project with choice #2 in mind but as more and more people expressed interest in the story’s details
(in the questions via comments) I started leaning towards #1 and begin to translate scenes I might’ve chosen to skip such as
today’s post. (The scene was mostly between Helian and Zhi Wei so I might’ve just summarized it in a sentence or two.) However,
as I was translating this post I wondered if more of you would’ve rather if I just focused on our two leads so that’s why I am
throwing out the question.
20
The silence drags on and makes Qiu Yu Luo’s humiliation seemed even more pitiful. Feeling bad for Qiu Yu Luo, 7th Prince looks
questioningly towards Ning Yi but he just says nonchalantly “What an impertinent woman! Who is she calling foul smelling? I have
long heard some women in the Capital would jokingly call the men from the grassland as barbarians but she dares to ridicule
Prince Helian publically? If Father hears of this he would surely be angered immediately.”
Alarmed, 7th Prince quickly realizes that as the one who is partially responsible for the palace feast he can’t ignore this and
quickly gives his wife a look. Catching 7th Prince’s meaning right away, 7th Prince’s wife quickly waves Zhi Wei over.
Knowing full well that the 7th Princess is going to fawn all over her in order to show how much the royal families respect Prince
Helian, a resigned Zhi Wei walks over obediently. Eagerly grabbing hold of Zhi Wei’s hand, 7th Princess compliments Zhi Wei’s hair
then her clothes. After complimenting Zhi Wei’s clothes, 7th Princess moved onto her hands…omitting her face the whole time.
The poster child of meekness, Zhi Wei listens patiently while silently daring the 7th Princess to compliment her face. Go ahead! I
dare you to compliment my face. If you can do it then you will earn my complete admiration!
Before Zhi Wei could finish her thoughts, she hears 7th Princess says next “…your complexion is sure nice. Although not exactly
white the yellow is quite even.”
Zhi Wei couldn’t suppress a shudder.
A mouthful of wine come spewing out of 7th Prince.
Ning Yi who was sitting right at the next table starts to cough.
After blinking speechlessly for a few moments, Zhi Wei exercised all her discipline to replied calmly “Not as evenly white as you.”
It was 7th Princess’ turn to suppress a shudder.
The wine kettle was knocked over on 7th Prince’s table.
Ning Yi’s fit of cough became worse.
Finding his voice after a bit, 7th Prince laughs “Such an interesting person.”
7th Princess pats Zhi Wei’s hand and says “I really like you, why don’t you come to sit by me.”
Zhi Wei was about to politely refuse but Ning Yi suddenly interjects “7th brother’s table is already plenty crowded how would you
be able to fit one more person? Why not come sit over at my table instead, there is an empty seat anyway.”
Everyone who has been eavesdropping, including Qiu Yu Luo could hardly believe their own ears. Her face drained of color, a
dejected Qiu Yu Luo drops into her chair.
All the women stare at Zhi Wei in disbelief and confusion, unable to understand how the ugly and crazy woman not only captured
Prince Helian’s heart but has even caught the attention of Prince Chu who despite his reputation of being a lover of women is
actually extremely picky. To add insults to injury, this woman dares to look annoyed after hearing Prince Chu’s invitation!
Zhi Wei’s facial expression is indeed not great at the moment as she glares at Ning Yi, wondering silently how he can get himself
to say such shameless words.
“How can you manage to say such shameless words…” For a second there, Zhi Wei thought she had accidentally said out loud
what she was thinking until she turns around to find Helian. Pulling Zhi Wei over, Helian grins and continues “This is my fiancée so
how could she sit at your table? After dallying around with half of the women in the Captial, you are eyeing my woman as well? If
you have that time then you should deal with those delicate girls first.” Pointing his chin towards Qiu Yu Luo’s direction, Helian
laughs and pulls Zhi Wei away.
Knowing that even the Emperor has to treat Helian politely, all the princes just laugh at Helian’s words and tease Ning Yi.
Responding to his brother’s teasing only with a slight smile, Ning Yi’s gaze meets Helian’s.
Walking right next to Helian, Zhi Wei suddenly feel like there are sparks of fire in the air.
As per tradition of the feast in the past, after opening the various princes’ gifts it will be the chance for all the single girls to show
off their talents- this was a sort of an unwritten rules in the palace…in the past, most of the princes’ wives were chosen out of
these “talent shows.”
Neither Ning Yi and Ning Ji (the Emperor’s youngest son) are married yet, so today was a sort of matching making feast as well.
Suddenly realizing that fact, Zhi Wei finally figures out why so many single girls have dressed up and gathered at this feast.
Abruptly reminded of her days as a servant at the brothel, Zhi Wei instantly saw a resemblance between the preening girls and
the brothel ladies waiting in their tiny room for their customers…don’t those two princes sitting up there look like wealthy and
generous brothel patrons? The two groups of girls are obviously drastically different in status but the excited glint in their eyes are
the same.
Amused by the images in her head, Zhi Wei couldn’t help it but let out a grin.
Her smile was discreet but it still caught Ning Yi’s attention right away. Casting a quick glance over at Zhi Wei’s direction, Ning Yi
frowns. What’s up with this woman? She is this happy even though she knows full well this party is like a matching making feast?
Ning Yi’s mood suddenly turns sour.
Despite her mother’s warning to leave Zhi Wei alone, Qiu Yu Luo is still determined to teach Zhi Wei a lesson. Conspiring with Miss
Hua (the one who was the first to demand a change of seat by claiming that our heroine stinks), Qiu Yu Luo and Miss Hua decide
that the best way to embarrass Zhi Wei publically is to force her to participate in the talent show. Qiu Yu Luo sees Zhi Wei as a
poor relative who has lived more like a maid in Qiu Manor so she figures there is no way Zhi Wei would have any talents that could
win over all the noble girls.
Madam Qiu, our heroine’s uncle’s wife/Qiu Yu Luo’s mother knows Zhi Wei’s double identity because Zhi Wei came right out and
told her. Zhi Wei is not worried about Madam Qiu exposing her secret because of couple reasons 1. If the Emperor found out Zhi
Wei and Wei Zhi is the same person then not only would our heroine be in trouble, but her uncle, as part of her family would also
be in trouble. 2. Zhi Wei had used her influence to switch Madam Qiu’s son into another post…one that is under our heroine’s
control. Madam Qiu understood that as a warning that even if Zhi Wei couldn’t hurt her uncle directly, she could easily do
something to her cousin. 3. Madam Qiu is truly intimidated by Zhi Wei’s ability and how she has climbed to such a position of
influence in such a short time.
After all the princes have given their gifts, the Emperor signals the “talent show” can officially begin and suggests that each of his
sons should add a prize to the pot for the winner. All the princes gave their token prize but of course what everyone was most
interested in is what Ning Yi will put in. To the joy of all the single girls there, Ning Yi puts a special jade pendant into the pot as his
prize. (Each of the princes has a special jade pendant that is meant for his wife.
Many ladies little heart begin to pound like crazy.
Prince Chu might leave broken hearts all over the Captial but he seems to have little interest in bringing women into his own
house. There might be constant rumors of which brothel Prince Chu frequents and which brothel lady he has spent generously on
that day but it is very rare to see Prince Chu marrying concubines or wives. In fact, up until this day, in Prince Chu’s house there
are only two or three concubines and they were all given by the Emperor and his brothers.
According to the rumors, Prince Chu used to have more concubines but somehow one or two would die every so often.
Nowadays, the remaining few concubines have become experts at laying low, making certain their presence is all but forgotten.
Many people had wondered if Ning Yi had lost his pendant but they will finally get to see it after all.
“Yi Er (a term of endearment for Ning Yi) sure are feeling generous today.” Intrigued, the Emperor looks over the preening girls
with speculation in his eyes. Based on what he knows of this particular son, if there wasn’t someone he is interested in, he would
not have pulled out his pendant. Of course, every girl was considered a possible candidate… except Zhi Wei. As someone who is
already “engaged”, ugly and crazy, no one thought this “matchmaking” feast has anything to do with her.
21
 The Emperor accepts Miss Hua’s suggestion that they (the girls) should challenge each other with questions and out of
remembrance for the soldiers’ bravery, someone could beat the drums as a count down for the amount of time
someone has remaining to answer the questions.
Smiling sweetly at Ning Yi, Miss Hua inquires “I was wondering if us ladies have the pleasure of inviting Princess Chu to personally
beat the drums for us?”
Ning Yi raised the wine cup to his lips then smiled.
Miss Hua’s little heart lurched in joy.
“No.”
……
Embarrassed, Miss Hua stood there awkwardly until the 7th Prince quickly interjects “How could Sixth Brother be the one to beat
the drums? What if he was secretly helping a certain lady and slows down purposefully while beating the drums?”
Smiling gracefully, Miss Hua quickly accepts 7th Prince’s excuse as the room burst into laughter “Yes, Your Highness is right.”
Turning to bow towards the Emperor, Miss Hua promptly asks the Emperor to appoints someone to be in charge of the drums.
Looking around, the Emperor decides to ask Helian.
Reluctant, Helian mutters “If I am going to beat the drums then I am going on the battlefield. Why would I do it for a bunch of
chicks?”
Giving Helian a side glance, Zhi Wei reminds him “Your Highness, a chick is sitting right next to you.”
Unabashed, Helian replies “You are an aunt. Aunts are elders.”
“Go.” Zhi Wei gives Helian a push, “It’s not worth it to go against the Emperor on something so minor.”
Draining his wine cup, Helian jumps up and strides away but not before he turns to admonish Zhi Wei “Don’t you get mixed up in
this. They are picking wives so it has nothing to do with you.”
Waving him off, Zhi Wei replies “Why would I? No matter who is doing the picking, it would have nothing to do with me.”
Pouring herself another cup of wine, Zhi Wei thought: Do what? The Emperor obviously favors Miss Hua. Or else he would not
have agreed to such difficult rules…rules that give Miss Hua a clear advantage. Of course, Miss Hua is the logical choice as the
Emperor’s daughter-in-law. While the Hua family has a high status, it doesn’t hold much actual power in court. The Emperor
wouldn’t want Ning Yi to marry a woman from an influential family. (Miss Hua is well known for her scholarly abilities so everyone
assumes she will win.)
 Not willing to let Miss Hua get all the attention, Miss Hu jumps up and offers her own suggestion that instead of select
girls getting up to face the drum challenge, ALL the girls should instead write down a question before the drum stop
beating. Out of all the questions, the Emperor will choose the best three and those three girls will then have the
opportunity to answer their own questions. (Miss Hu figures that this way, instead of having Miss Hua as the ONLY
winner, she too will have a chance to be one of the three winners…thus a chance at being chosen as Ning Yi’s wife.)
Miss Hua shrugs. What does it matter if the rules are changed? Can they change the fact that she is the best in the whole Captial?
After pondering for a moment, the Emperor agrees and directs the servents to pass out pens and paper to all the ladies. Even if he
wants to favor Miss Hua he can’t be too obvious about it.
Suddenly stepping froward, Ning Yi smiles “This sounds great. I will drink a toast to thank all the ladies for their hard work.”
Following along with all the blushing girls, Zhi Wei raises her own cup and sees a ball covered in candle wax floating in it.
Just now, while everyone tipped their head back to drink their wine, Ning Yi had shot the candle wax covered ball into her cup.
Keeping her expression blend, Zhi Wei disceretly takes out the ball and opens it within her sleeve. The note hidden inside the ball
reads “The way to deal with Prince Youngning”
Is this the so-called cheating? Zhi Wei destroys the note and ponders thoughfully. Prince Youngning is this nation’s only prince
that was awarded and not by birth. Back in the day, Prince Youngning’s father had single handily helped the Emperor become
who he is today. It could even be argued that the man could’ve easily become the emperor himself but instead, he had let the
Emperor ascend to the throne. So of course at that time, Prince Youngning’s father was amply rewarded for everything he has
done for the Emperor. However, as the saying goes, what was given must be taken back eventually and what you ate must
be regurgitated later. Since the young Prince Youngning has inherited his father’s title, the Emperor has watched silently as Prince
Youngning begins to grow his army and try to oust the Emperor’s influence within his land.
So Ning Yi wants her to win by using this question?
This question?
Zhi Wei laughs in derision. Looking up, Zhi Wei notices Miss Hua, who was sitting across the aisle from her is visibly excited for
some unknown reason. Faced flushed, Miss Hua’s eyes are even brimming with tears of excitement.
What’s going on with her? Did she drink too much?
His patience long gone, Helian yells impatiently ” Drums!”
The ladies grab the papers in unison.
“Boom…. boom….boom….”
The sound of the drum came slowly but no matter how slow it eventually slowed.
Sipping her wine lazily, Zhi Wei finally wrote a few words on the paper when the second drum sounded.
The papers were gathered and presented to the Emperor.
Other than the sound of rustling of papers, the place was dead silent as everyone eagerly watches the Emperor’s expression.
Well…everyone except two people whose expression remained disinterested.
One of them is Ning Yi who behaves as if he wasn’t the one choosing a wife and is still reading his erotic scrolls.
Another is Zhi Wei…who noticed her next table has not touched her wine kettle because of nervousness and is in the process of
sneaking the wine onto her own table.
She swears the wine is not for her. Turely. Poor Prince Helian only had a few small mouthfuls.
Under the many candle lights, the Emperor’s expression remained calm and unmoved until he suddenly lets out a slight sound of
“Eh?” as he looks over a paper.
Someone tightens her grasp on the handkerchief.
Someone sits up taller.
The Emperor looks over the paper a few more times and finally puts the paper down. The crowd lets out a sigh that might’ve been
disappointment or relief.
The speed of the Emperor flipping through the paper become faster and faster, playing with everyone’s nerve with each turn of
the page…until the Emperor studdenly stopped.
Pulling out a piece of paper, the Emperor reads over it a few times then finally lets out a laugh.
Curious, Royal Concubine Chang looks over at the paper and promptly pulls out a handkerchief to cover her mouth.
Everyone else is equally curious but could only look at each other blankly. Armed with the title as the most favored princess,
Princess Shao Ning runs up to the Emperor’s seat, looks at the paper then runs back to her seat all the while laughing wildly.
Up to this point Ning Yi had been focused on reading his own erotic scrolls but even he is unable to ignore the ruckus by now.
Before Princess Shao Ning could get back to her seat, 7th Prince is already out of his own seat. Reading over the paper, 7th Prince
walks back with a strange expression…one that is obviously twisted from the difficulty of trying to suppress a laugh.
Ning Yi looks over at 7th Prince. 7th Prince remains silent as his eyes darts first to the left then the right. Jumping in surprise when
Ning Yi smashes his cup onto to the table causing the wine to spill all over, 7th Prince realizes that Ning Yi is at boiling point and
quickly runs over to whisper in his ear.
Ning Yi’s expression turns several shades darker. If one looks closely, one could see the pure golden cup in Ning Yi’s hand has
slightly changed shape.
Peering at the wine cup with pity, Zhi Wei feels great sympathy for all the stuff that is unfortunate enough to be close enough to
Prince Chu.
Laughing with amusement for another few moments, the Emperor finally sets the paper aside, placing it in the first place.
Royal Concubine Chang grabs her handkerchief again, Princess Shao Ning who just manages to sit up straight doubles over again.
7th Prince is busy whispering to his wife…who promptly starts searching for her handkerchief as well. All the other princes rush up
to read the paper before scattering away to find a place to burst out in laughter.
The poor wine cup in Ning Yi’s hand has become a thin gold leaf…
Glancing over the tables, Ning Yi’s eyes fall on Zhi Wei who stares back at him with a completely innocent expression– she was
channeling Gu Nan Yi.
Taken aback, doubt flashed across Ning Yi’s eyes.
By now, the Emperor had picked out three winners. Looking over the three questions again, the Emperor’s expression looked
conflicted for a second before letting out a smile as he says “All the questions were pretty good today. Who knew our empire had
so many women scholars.”
22
Her expression full of cocky self confidence, Miss Hua begins to fuss with her clothes to ready herself to receive the award.
“These three.” The Emperor ties gold, silver and white ribbon respectively on the three scrolls according to their status and signals
to his servant for the winners to be announced.
Eager with anticipation, the crowd sits up taller as their eyes blaze with curiosity.
Pulling out the three paper scrolls, the servant begins with the third place winner.
“Daughter of Official Shang, Miss Hua.”
An uproar reverberates through the crowd as Miss Hua’s expression turns a ghastly shade of gray.
How could she possibly not be the winner?!
Miss Hua”s placement was of course a shock to everyone in the room. After a moment of stunned silence, a majority of people
quickly thought this was a pleasing turn of event.
Qiu Yu Luo knew her own ability well enough to know that she has no hope of winning. A bit gleeful also a bit worried at the sight
of Miss Hua’s overwhelming disappointment, Qiu Yu Luo asks her “What do we do? Is my crazy sister going to win instead?”
Miss Hua naturally wasn’t concerned about Zhi Wei. After all, other than being a bit huffy at how much attention Zhi Wei has
gotten, to Miss Hua Zhi Wei is already engaged to Prince Helian so she is not her competitor. Sneering at Qiu Yu Luo’s question,
Miss Hua replies “Even if everyone in this world is dead, your sister still wouldn’t be the winner.”
“Second place up,” the servant continues “Granddaughter of Official Hu, Miss Hu.”
Miss Hua smiled gracefully but there was a hint of mild disappointment and surprise on her face. She came prepared and even
had some help with her question so how could anyone else win over her?
“The winner…” The servant dragged the word out long and loud, making everyone’s eager anticipation jump as they held their
breath- the best and most well known scholarly girls both took the second and third place so who else could surpass them?
The ladies look at each other thinking it could be any one of them…but then none of them seem likely either. Of course no one
spared a look towards Zhi Wei’s direction.
Ning Yi is back to drinking in his leisurely manner as his expression returned to their usual calm…with even a hint of glee in it.
Twirling the drum hammer in his hands, a bord Helian has little interest in what’s going on. It wouldn’t be Feng Zhi Wei anyway.
She wouldn’t compete in something like this…that woman’s heart is not in such things.
Zhi Wei is still immersed in her own drinking as well– it wasn’t going to be her anyway…since what she wrote…let’s just say it will
be fortunate if someone doesn’t explode in anger.
The high pitched voice of the eunuch vibrates through the dead silence. “Feng Zhi Wei!”
Astonished yells.
Restless commotion.
Countless people who stood up in shock then sit down once they belatedly realized what they did.
All sat down…except two who still stood, unable to recover from their shock. Tugging on their daughter, Miss Hua and Qiu Yu
Luo’s mothers forecefully make the two girls sit back down.
Not hiding his glee now, NIng Yi picks up his speed of drink until his face is tinged with a red glow, somehow making him more
handsome if that’s possible… much to the bitter disappointment of all those ladies who were not lucky enough to be one of the
three winners.
The drum hammer in Helian’s hand falls, nearly hitting his feet.
Zhi Wei too, accidentally crushed her wine cup into a golden leaf.
How did this happen? Her question? The winner?!
Full of smile, the Emperor says “A woman without talent is a virtue. It’s not the blessings of a nation to have women dally into
politics. Although some of the questions were good but it would not be appropriate to bring them to attention. Women should be
concerned with women affairs. Therefore, despite the fact that the winner’s question might seem like a vulgar joke at first glance
but in actuality, it is refreshing, creative and daring. I liked it very much.”
Her face turned pale when the Emperor said “women dally into politics”, Royal Concubine Chang promptly agrees “Yes, I also
thought the winner was very much worthy of the first place.”
This made people that much more curious of how the crazy and ugly Miss Feng gained the approval of both the Emperor and
Royal Concubine Chang. How could she win over Miss Hu and Miss Hua? Not to mention Royal Concubine Chang’s niece didn’t
even make it into the top three winners.
While everyone is amazed at her good fortune, Zhi Wei is drowning in a sea of regret, so much so that she wants to bang her head
against the wall.
She was wrong!
Eager to prove themselves, all the misses had focused on the grandiose and important political affairs but instead of gaining the
Emperor’s approval it had instead made him uneasy and irritated. So of course, in contrast, her joke of a question promptly
become the shining example the Emperor is using as a warning to his restless wives for overstepping their bounds.
What a mistake!
 Once the three winners were announced, then the rest of the ladies are given the chance to challenge a question of
their choice. (They had to choose who to challenge first before the question was read. The three winners had already
answered their own questions on the paper scrolls but the challengers will have a chance to answer the question first
before the winners’ answers are read.)
 Miss Hua’s question was the first one to be challenged. Much to Zhi Wei’s surprise, Miss Hua’s question was pretty
much the question Ning Yi had written on the waxed covered paper. Apparently, Ning Yi had shot a wax covered ball
into Miss Hua’s cup as well when he had walked past her. Overjoyed, Miss Hua read the paper and the question NIng
Yi had written on it. Instantly assuming that Ning Yi as the Emperor’s son would know his own father’s preference,
Miss Hua’s little heart almost exploded with joy since she figured this was Ning Yi’s way of telling her that she is the
one he wants as his wife. Remembering back to the Emperor’s words now, Miss Hua’s face pales as she belatedly
guessed what Ning Yi’s real intention might’ve been.
Guessing the truth when she saw Miss Hua’s expression, a faint smile appeared on Zhi Wei. Miss Hua indeed have some real
knowledge and talent in her. She didn’t lose her head completely and instead of writing the question exactly as Ning Yi had given
her, she knew enough to disguise the question a bit. If she had not, she might’ve been thrown into the dungeon by now. On the
surface, everything is still friendly between Prince Zhang Ning and the Emperor. Prince Zhang Ning is just a hidden worry right
now to the Emperor so how could it be bandied about publically? In order to show the Emperor’s “trust” in Prince Zhang Ning,
whoever dared to bring up the prince’s loyalty would’ve been quickly thrown into the dungeon. Fortunately for Miss Hua, she was
smart enough to disguise her question so the Emperor was able to give her another chance.
Playing with her fingernails as she lazily worked out all the details, Zhi Wei has a guess that she herself was also tricked by Ning Yi.
Ning Yi is extremely skilled at reading people. He had seemingly set up two identical traps for her and Miss Hua but there were
completely different. For Miss Hua, it was to drag her off the winner’s seat and defeat her. For herself, it was to make her the
winner.
He knew the proud Miss Hua who is infatuated with him will without fail use his wax ball to cheat.
He also knew she would refuse to meekly listen to him and would figure out the dangers within the question so there is no way
she would use the question he gave. Moreover, not only would she not use it but because she would be suspicious that he has
intentionally laid a trap for her so instead, she would do the complete opposite and make fun of him somehow.
Indeed, she couldn’t resist the temptation and made fun of him.
Which caught the Emperor’s attention.
Just as he had predicted, just as he had wanted.
Gritting her teeth, Zhi Wei silently fumes Prince Chu and Silly Gu (she is talking about Gu Nan Yi here) are both difficult to live
with! (That’s a jab at the common Chinese saying that both women and scoundrels are hard to live with.)
Skipping over the second question which is something about how to combat a much troublesome weapon from their enemy
nation. Our heroine of course had some thoughts about that but she kept her answers to herself. It’s finally time to reveal our
heroine’s question.
“I will challenge it!” Miss Hua stands up proudly as she casts a provoking glare towards Zhi Wei’s direction.
Zhi Wei returns an innocent smile. Answer it. I hope you can answer it.
The eunuch glances over the question quickly and after a moment of surprise, lets out a laugh. Realizing right away that he is in
big trouble, the eunuch falls down on his knee and pleads for forgiveness. Impatient everyone lets out a frustrated sigh in unison.
Unable to hold back any longer, Prince Helian walks over and grabs the scroll “Let’s see what impressive thing she wrote…”
His voice suddenly trails off before bursting out in a loud laugh “Yes! Yes! This is so true!”
Everyone looked at each other and wondered in exasperation if this one is going to be too busy laughing to read the question as
well.
Thankfully, Helian didn’t forget the waiting crowd as he keeps a laughing eye on Ning Yi and reads “What does a woman hate the
most?”
Miss Hua blinks in surprise along with everyone else. Who would’ve though the winning question would be one that sounded
more like a joke?
What does a woman hate the most?
To be from an ordinary family?
To be plain in appearance?
To lose youth and beauty to time?
To have one’s husband fall in love with another?
To have the concubines flaunting about?
To have the mistress’ children grow up better than one’s own?
To have the person you like show up but after searching through your closest only to discover you don’t have a single piece of
clothing that is pretty enough?
To run into someone who is wearing the exact same outfit you had special ordered? Or someone who had the exact same make
up you had just learned?
To run into an old nemesis only to discover that her clothes are prettier than yours and her husband has a higher government
position than your husband’s?
In that instant, everyone thought they knew the answer but then also felt the inadequacy of their answers in the next instant.
There are simply too many answers– women have never been creatures of contentment. To ask a woman to be content it
would’ve been easier to ask Prince Helian’s foot to not stink. (There have been a few jabs at how stinky Helian’s foot are in the
previous chapters. There is one funny scene when Helian lost a shoe in the academy’s pound and made the fishes float to the top
due to how stinky the shoe was.)
Miss Hua stood in shock. She had thought of many possibilities including political, historical, astronomical, geographical,
horticultural and so on. She is confident that she can answer any of those but who knew the question would be so encompassing
but then nothing-at-all sort of question? The simplest question is the most difficult because the answer could be everything or
nothing.
Lost in her own thoughts, Miss Hua thought about the wax ball from Prince Chu, thought about the strange question then looking
at Zhi Wei who is still drinking elegantly. Perhaps…she was wrong about this woman…
“What women hate the most…”
“What women hate the most…” With a cloud of sadness around her, Miss Hua says “…it’s the deception of a beloved.” (Another
translation could be the deception of a good man)
Ning Yi smiles and pours another cup of wine for himself as if it all has nothing to do with him.
Zhi Wei smiles and raises her cup towards the courageous but unlucky woman.
You are wrong.
One who lied to you can never be your beloved. (with the alternate translation then this would be “Once the man lies to you then
he is no longer your good man.”)
Prince Helian shakes his head as he drags out his voice and reads the answer in a funny manner “As a woman, what does one hate
the most?”
“…….to have Prince Chu more beautiful than her!”
I was extra good today! This post was quite a bit longer than my usual translation but I didn’t have the heart to leave you guys
hanging for another week before you guys find out what Zhi Wei’s question was. Next week Ning Yi will personally reward the
winner but of course our hero is not going to let Zhi Wei off so easily…
23
There was an instant silence as everyone looked at the brownish yellow face of Zhi Wei then turns to gaze at the porcelain like
countenance of Ning Yi, all the while turning over the phrase “Prince Chu is more beautiful than women” in their mind as their
own faces contorts from the effort to suppress the laughter that threatens to bubble out.
Ning Yi of course is already passed the stage of being angered by Zhi Wei. Sitting languidly under the crowd’s speculating gaze,
Ning Yi somehow manages to exudes a matter of fact air of– well, at least you admit my good point, being prettier than you is
better than being dummer than you.
Judging by what he knows of Zhi Wei, if it wasn’t because of where they are right now, she could’ve totally come with something
even more harsh than what she wrote.
The Emperor was about to give out his reward but Miss Hua suddenly steps forward and with anger in her voice demands “Your
Majesty, this question doesn’t demonstrate knowledge at all nor does it have depth. This is a royal feast. If a question such as this
one takes first place then how would people laugh at our country? ”
“It was all for entertainment.” The Emperor laughs “It was simply a game between you young ladies so why take it so seriously?”
Everyone was puzzled at the Emperor’s abrupt change of attitude.
Zhi Wei taps her fingers on the table while wearing the slightest smile. She has figured out the Emperor’s thought process by this
point. The Emperor had originally been set on Miss Hua and was planning to use this feast as an opportunity to make her Ning
Yi’s fiancée but things didn’t work when Miss Hua fell for Ning Yi’s trap. There was no way the Emperor could’ve given Miss Hua
the first place with the question she wrote. As for Miss Hu, her family is supportive of Ning Yi (to become the next emperor) so
she is out. Royal Consort Chang’s niece wouldn’t do either (too powerful of a family). Fortunately, she showed up. As “Prince
Helian’s fiancée” she is the perfect choice so that’s how she got the first place and give the Emperor the perfect excuse to glaze
over this whole thing as a joke. The marriage match during royal feast has always been something understood but not officially
announced anyway, so now that the Emperor wants to pretend it never happened then everyone could only choose to go along
with it. Ning Yi never intended to choose a wife today but he certainly planned on using the opportunity to get himself out of a
bind.
“Yes.” Ning Yi laughs as he casually takes back his jade pendant to replace it with an ordinary pendant instead “It was just a game
to entertain everyone.”
Belatedly realizing where the Emperor and Ning Yi is going with their talks of “just a game”, everyone turns to look at Miss Hua
with pity.
“Still, a reward is in order.” Ning Yi beckons at Zhi Wei with the pendent in hand.
Seeing no way out of this, Zhi Wei thank Ning Yi and puts out her hand for the pendent. While handing over the pendent, Ning Yi
uses the opportunity to pinch her fingers and asks with a small sly smile “Do you really dislike it that I am more beautiful than
you?”
Giving Ning Yi a fake smile, Zhi Wei laughs “How could I!” Why is the pendent not moving? Zhi Wei forcefully tugs on the pendent
but Ning Yi refuses to let go.
“I can become ugly for you, just so I can be worthy to stand next to you.” The pendent firmly in his grasp, Ning Yi’s smile is
dazzling…just like his words, making it difficult to discern the truth of it.
Keeping her fake smile firmly in place, Zhi Wei repeats “How could I!” as she tugs forcefully at the pendent again.
“You keep not trusting me.” Ning Yi complains through his smile. The pendent refuses to budge.
“How could I!” Losing her patience, Zhi Wei pulls on the pendent with her all her might.
Ning Yi suddenly lets go.
Losing her balance, poor Zhi Wei falls backward.
Helian runs forward to catch her but he wasn’t faster than Ning Yi whose hand has already grabbed Zhi Wei’s wrist as he chides
with a laugh “Miss Feng, don’t get carried away by your happiness.”
Ning Yi’s fingers briefly touches Zhi Wei’s wrist then promptly lets go as a faint smile appears on his face.
Surprised at first, Zhi Wei quickly figures out that Ning Yi was worried about the affects of the fruit he had given her and had
created this opportunity to check on her. (In Chinese medicine, physicians’ method of making a diagnosis is by placing their
fingers on the patient’s pulse, so that’s what Ning Yi was doing.)
Feeling a faint blush creeping up her face, Zhi Wei averts her eyes to disguise it.
Since they both had their backs to the crowd no one saw the little exchange but Miss Hua who had been standing there all along.
Anger flashed across Miss Hua’s eyes, she marches up to Zhi Wei and demands “Since this is a game anyway, I would like to play
another round with Miss Feng. Miss Feng, dare to accept my challenge?”
Zhi Wei slowly turns around, making Miss Hua stiffen when she meets Zhi Wei’s steady gaze.
“I don’t dare.” comes Zhi Wei’s nonchalant replay.
Surprised by the unexpected reply, Miss Hua’s lips twist into a jeering smile and is about to say something when Zhi Wei walks
past her and grins “I am afraid that you will lose again, become too embarrassed and tries to take me out.”
Zhi Wei eventually agrees to have a poetry contest with Miss Hua where each of them takes turn coming up with a poem on the
spot. Certain that Zhi Wei is just some ugly girl with no scholarly abilities at all, poor Miss Hua finds out the hard way that our
heroine can beat her in the very thing she is most proud of.
Skipping over the back and forth tit for tat poetry contest until the very last bit where Zhi Wei finishes Miss Hua off with her final
brilliant poem. 
Ning Yi rests his chin on his palm as his twinkling gaze never moved an inch from Zhi Wei’s smiling face.
“To plead for ten blissful perfections. Nine, to forget the dangerous game. Eight, to look seemingly dazzling on the surface. Seven,
to in reality completely at a loss. Sixth, to forgets one’s family. Five, to be so torture that your very organs are twisted. Four, to be
exhausted of all your strength. Three, to lose the desire to even eat a single meal. Two, to end with only being able to yarn for
your love from afar. One, so why not toss away your foolish heart!”
Zhi Wei’s number poem stunned the crowd into silence by its sheer brilliance. Miss Hua stumbles back a few steps, lost in her own
thought for a long moment before droplets of tears begin to trickle down her face.
(The numbers are incorporated right into the poem so in Chinese the poem flows brilliantly. I was only able to give you guys a
general gist of the meaning but the poem would’ve made Miss Hua feel like it was describing all her suffering and sacrifices due to
her one sided crush on Ning Yi. Which then makes the last part “Toss away your foolish heart” a direct advise to Miss Hua that it’s
meaningless to put herself through so much pain for a man.)
Playing with the wine cup in hand, Ning Yi’s smile thinned. Why not toss away your foolish heart. Why not toss away your foolish
heart
That wily devious woman is using this method to reject him.
But then, the rejection also allowed him a peak into her shrouded heart…letting him a glimpse into what she wants to hide from
him.
There are women who are like the lone flower growing high on the mountain top. If one wants to get close, one would have to
pass through the layers of fog first.
However, no matter what obstacles are in the way, he just needs to make certain that he is always at the highest mountain point
so why should he be worried about the layers of fog in the way?
Holding up his cup towards Zhi Wei’s direction, Ning Yi smiles his acknowledgement.
Rising an eyebrow, Zhi Wei returns a slight bow then walks back to her seat without another word.
The crowd’s gaze followed Zhi Wei the whole way, amazed how this seemingly ordinary Miss Feng is actually a pearl whose
brilliance has been hidden until now. Belatedly remembering Qiu Ming Ying, Feng Zhi Wei’s mother who is beleaguered by
rumors, the crowd recalls now how famously talented she was before she became the revered female general. Her fame on the
battlefield was so great it caused people to forget her previous fame in the scholarly area. There is no question now that Miss
Feng must have learned everything from her talented mother who tutored her carefully since she was young.
“You are indeed worthy of being the daughter of the Fire and Wind General.” (That’s Qiu Ming Ying’s title as the female general)
After a long moment, the Emperor finally says slowly “Well learned and truly talented, deserving of her fame.”
Her eyes bright as something threatens to burst from her heart, Zhi Wei is suddenly overwhelmed with the craving for another
cup of wine but her wine cup has already been tossed away by her to add to the dramatic affect of her poem.
A cup with wine filled to the brim unexpectedly appeared in front of her as Helian says with a chuckle “Hey, it’s just a cup of wine.
You don’t have to be moved to tears.”
The trace of glistening tear gone by the time she turns around, Zhi Wei flashes Helian a smile “Thanks.”
Momentarily taken aback by the smile, Helian quickly reverts back to his usual carefree manner. Thumping his hand on his chest,
Helian declares “Auntie is my heart and my most precious so this cup of wine is nothing, even if you want me to not marry the
nine other wives I would do as you say.”
What nine wives? Catching Helian’s meaning after a moment, Zhi Wei rolls her eyes and grins “Don’t worry. Since auntie is your
heart and your most precious I will surly make sure my precious nephew has all ten wives, without missing a single one.”
Helian returns her smile without saying anything more as he pours himself another cup of wine…but the cup lingers by the side of
his mouth…untouched.
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but Helian is actually NOT the second male lead, Gu Nan Yi is but he is such an awesome character
that I think it is really difficult to not fall for him.  before Zhi Wei’s eyes, making her snapping her eyes shut.
24
 In the drama (ep. 38) the feast ended with the emperor fainting after hearing one of his royal concubines confessing to
the fact that our hero’s mother was falsely accused years ago. In the novel, the feast also ended with the Emperor
passing out but it was an assassination attempt instead. Royal Concubine Chang had two golden pet monkeys and after
they were brought out during the feast they suddenly attacked the Emperor. Ning Yi threw out his wine up at the last
second to stop the monkeys but the Emperor was still scratched in the process and fell unconscious from the poison
that was on the monkeys.
Now that the Emperor is unconscious, the well known “kind” 7th Prince took charge of the national affairs. Rumor has it that a
few royal concubines also died of no apparent reason.
Amidst the chaos, the one who should’ve been the most restless seems complete still and silent. Day after day, Ning Yi just does
his own thing–before passing out, the Emperor had told him to investigate the matter (assassination) so that is exactly what he is
doing, seeminly utterly ignorant of the wild rumors circulating the Capital.
“There are a lot of issues with this thing.” Sitting in her own house, Zhi Wei tells her Yi Yi (that’s the author’s nickname for Gu Nan
Yi. I say the authors because I don’t think our heroine actually calls him that) “Two possibilities. One, Ning Yi did it. Two, the
Emperor did it himself.”
Sensing another session of political analysis is about to commence, Master Gu (also another nickname from the author) slowly
takes out a small bag of walnuts then pulls out a large and a small walnut.
Taking the walnuts without a second thought, Zhi Wei cracks the small one “Do you still remember that day when the princes
came over here to drink? Fifth prince had brought out the golden money to show off and I remember its golden shiny fur.
However, when I saw it last, their fur were dull. It’s impossible that those two monkeys could go hungry in the palace so there is
no way it could be malnutrition. If nothing else the Emperor touched was suspicious then it must be the monkeys. But then too
many people came it contact with those monkeys so it would be near impossible to follow that lead.”
“Ning Yi.” Master Gu takes the walnut from Zhi Wei and eats it. Who knows if he meant the real culprit is Ning Yi or that he wants
to eat the walnut Ning Yi.
“Or maybe it is the Emperor.” Zhi Wei cracks open the bigger walnut “He wanted to use this opportunity to test his sons…this
makes some sense judging from how Ning Yi is acting right now. Everyone is starting to make their move but he is still keeping up
his act. So who is he acting for? Who can still see? Doesn’t it have to be the Emperor? But then again, I can’t see someone as
selfish as the Emperor would hurt himself just to test his sons. There are plenty of other ways to do it so why hurt himself? Then,
who is Ning Yi putting on a show for?”
“If Ning Yi was the one behind this then why would he stay put after he finally succeeded?” Her mind focused on unraveling the
puzzle, Zhi Wei starts to put the walnut into her mouth without thinking.
A hand suddenly shot out, grabbed her chin and snatched away the walnut that was already halfway into her mouth.
All thoughts of conspiracies evaporating, Zhi Wei blinks in shock as she watches Mr. Gu toss the walnut…the walnut that still has
her saliva on it…into his mouth.
“Mine.” Master Gu says with satisfaction.
No way to know what he meant by that.
Zhi Wei “……..”
After the burning sensation on her face receded a bit, Zhi Wei pats Master Gu on the shoulder and puts on her patient face
“Master Gu, I tell you, this is not right. It’s not clean.”
“You are not clean?” Master Gu asks?
Zhi Wei “…….”
“I am not clean?” Master Gu asked again.
No one is cleaner than you! I would know since I am the one who has to wash your clothes every day!
“The walnut is not clean?” His tone turned serious, this question was obviously more important to Master Gu compared to the
previous two.
“…………” Zhi Wei takes a deep breath.
“What is not clean?” Confused, Master Bu mutters.
“This…” Still trying to explain, Zhi Wei feebly explains “It’s not clean to snatch something that is already in someone’s mouth……”
Master Gu abruptly leans close.
He usually keeps big distances from other people and has never approached people on his own. This is the first time he has gotten
so close to someone, causing Zhi Wei to freeze in mid-motion forgetting everything as the snow white fabric gently sway in the
light breeze, almost revealing the face hidden behind it. As he gets closer and closer, a flash of bright brilliant light seems to flash
The next instant, Zhi Wei feels cool fingers lightly touching her lips. The fingers movements are very light, with a sense of
hesitation in them as they first gently caressed then seemingly surprised by the soft smoothness, went back to check again.
Her body gives an involuntary shiver, Zhi Wei quickly jerks her head to the side but by the time she opened her eyes Master Gu
has already gone back to where he was before. Speechless Zhi Wei stares at Master Gu inspecting his own fingers, seemingly
trying to find signs of dust on them, Zhi Wei was about to distract him from the “unclean” issue but who knew the guy would then
move his fingers to his own lips.
Elegant fingers against fiery red lips…
Too embarrassed to look at those fingers anymore, Zhi Wei jumps up and dashes out.
She has decided!
She will not eat another walnut in this lifetime!
I had mentioned in my previous post that Gu Nan Yi’s character is a lot more eccentric of a character than he was portrayed in the
drama. In the novel, Gu Nan Yi is someone who truly does not comprehend most human emotions. Therefore, he is not your usual
second male lead who competes with the hero for the heroine’s heart because it will take Zhi Wei most of the novel to teach Gu
Nan Yi the most complicated human emotion of all- Love. 
That’s the end of that scene and we will jump to a small exchange between our heroine and her mother back in the uncle’s house.
“You did well.” Mama Feng looks up at her, with a hint of a smile “I heard what happened at the palace feast.”
Zhi Wei coughs to cover up her embarrassment. For once, she is actually at a loss for words. All these years, her mother has
seldom complimented her, Mama Feng has always been a severe mother. From the time she could remember, she was
continually forced to learn many things. Poems and scholarly works aside, she was also taught astronomy, geography, and
military strategy. Mama Feng would even bring out thick volumes of history on the former dynasties and use them as examples to
learn from.
What her mother didn’t teach her are the things a woman should learn like sewing and such. She had once assumed that her
mother didn’t know those things but before her mother went on the battlefields, she was THE daughter of Feng manor so how
could she have possibly not learned those things with her high status.
Her face flushed from hearing her mother’s compliment, Zhi Wei’s little heart is filled with joy.
“But…you shouldn’t act like that.” The abrupt change of the direction of Mama Feng’s words made Zhi Wei look up with surprise.
Standing up, Mama Feng looks towards the palace’s direct with concern “I have told you since a long time ago that you should
remember not to get ahead of yourself, don’t show off, and don’t get into competitions with others…but how could you have
forgotten all that…”
So stunned that Zhi Wei fell back a step- how could she say that?!
When did she get ahead of herself? When did she like to show off? When did she compete with others? Why would she say that?
She just had a teeny tiny wish. A wish she had ever since she heard stories of all the glorious deeds the Fire and Wind General
did long long ago. She hoped that through herself that once brilliant woman would once again be able to raise her head proudly.
She wanted her to be accepted by everyone again. For her, she wanted to gain back all the respect and glory that was lost. Even if
she could not rise above all again, it would be enough to at least be treated as equal by others.
But in the end, is that how mother thinks of her?
In the end, no matter what she does, this is who she is in mother’s eyes?
Her heart sinking inch by inch… it’s always like this. It is always like this. She offers up her whole heart only to this one person but
her heart is tossed aside like trash every time.
Looking down, Zhi Wei’s eyes fall on a gold colored handkerchief with a half unfinished embroidery of an eagle with its wing
spread open. It was obviously a handkerchief Mama Feng had been working on for Feng Hao.
“Ha……” Zhi Wei lets out a laugh filled with self-derision. Really, why is she even upset? She was the one who was stupid to expect
anything different so how could she place blame on someone else.
“Understood.” No longer avoiding her mother’s gaze, Zhi Wei stares into Mama Feng’s eyes deeply for a long moment “Don’t
worry. There won’t be a next time.”
Walking out of the door immediately after she finished speaking, Zhi Wei leaves without another backward glance.
In the darkened room, a figure stood alone, left there by Zhi Wei without any hesitation so she never heard the sigh that was as
soft as a drop of rain falling.
Just a reminder, both Zhi Wei and her brother Feng Hao know that Mama Feng adopted them. Feng Hao likes to taunt Zhi Wei
that Mama Feng treats him differently because he is the son who will carry on the Feng family name. Without any way to explain
to herself the difference in treatment, Zhi Wei herself believes Feng Hao is right about Mama Feng.  to leave. They didn’t come to destroy the academy. Their mission was accomplished the moment Zhi Wei granted them
25
Helian finally doesn’t have to climb the academy wall anymore. (He keeps sneaking in to see Zhi Wei/Wei Zhi in the academy and
gets tossed out not so gently by Gu Nan Yi) He has figured out the one weakness his “aunt” has– alcohol! Showing up frequently
with some sort of rare wine that Zhi Wei simply can’t resist, Helian’s “aunt” AND Gu Nan Yi are all smiles lately.
Helian was all smiles as well at first…but then the smile slowly turns to a frown– “Aunty” lied to him again! Aunty’s doesn’t get
drunk on two wine kettles– she doesn’t get drunk at all!
Poor Prince Helian who had really hoped that he could get his “aunt” drunk and have some sort of sizzling “incestuous” encounter
ended up getting disappointed day after day…
In a sour mood, Helian naturally needs to find someone to vent his frustration on and who else is better suited than his beloved
aunty’s precious brother? Which is why whenever Helian drinks with Zhi Wei he always hollers at Feng Hao to do this and that.
Feng Hao has always been spoiled so how would he be used to being ordered around like a servant but much to Zhi Wei’s
surprise, other than looking displeased, Feng Hao is actually obediently doing Helian’s bidding. There is one more thing that has
been bothering Zhi Wei, a question she was finally able to ask one night while drinking with the boys in the academy. Zhi Wei
asked one of the students how they ended up getting to know Feng Hao. Patting Zhi Wei on the shoulder, a student says with
amusement “Why would we be interested in that kid? There was one time we were out with Prince Chu (Ning Yi) and we noticed
the kid poking around. We wanted to chase him off but Prince Chu was in a good mood and told as to leave him be. Taking pity on
him, Prince Chu told us that we might as well show him around the Capital so he could be introduced to the city. The kid of course
had no money so we thought we would just pay for him but then Prince Chu wouldn’t allow it saying Qiu Manor is plenty rich and
pawning something randomly from his house would be plenty for him to spend… The kid disappeared after that somehow but
then he popped up here again. I have no interest in being friends with the kid but who knows what about him had caught Prince
Chu’s interest…”
Ning Yi again!
Zhi Wei remembered right away how she met Ning Yi in the Qiu Manor, remembered the gold under her uncle’s concubine’s bed,
remembered how Feng Hao had kept asking their mother for money so he could go play with the important boys….all of this
seems to have some connection to Ning Yi, as if he is hidden in the background…everywhere.
Is he trying to find something?
What secret could Feng Hao has that Ning Yi would be interested in?
These last few days, while Feng Hao has been ordered around by Helain, there was a hint of excitement in his expression…what
has he done now?
Playing with the wine cup in hand, Zhi Wei looks relaxed but her mind is swirling with the unanswered questions. Before the
questions could be sorted out though, the uninvited guests have already shown up.
“Assistant Director Wei!” A man rushes in with panic in his voice “The Ministry of Justice and the guards are here. They said the
academy is harboring a criminal and they have come to arrest us.”
Calming the man down, Zhi Wei promises that she will not let anything bad come to their precious Academy.
Awed, by Zhi Wei’s confidence, one of the students mutters out loud that whatever Zhi Wei says seems to be correct.
“Of course!” Helian opens his arms wide toward the sky “My aunty…oh, no, my Wei Zhi is the most ferocious! Like the eagle
lurking in the dense forest, vicious and fierce. The most gentle deadly hunter!”
“…..” Watching Helian excitedly runs off, the student stood dumbfounded wondering if Helain’s words were actually compliments.
 Zhi Wei meets the officials from the Ministry of Justice and realizes her hands are tied when they demand to search
the academy for an escaped criminal. If Zhi Wei was to allow the Ministry of Justice to search the school then she will
lose all the respect she had gained from the students and be forced out of the school soon. However, if she was to
forbid the search then she is willingly hiding a criminal thus landing herself in jail anyway. After weighing her options,
especially thinking over the fact that Ning Yi must be behind all this (Both the Ministry of Justice and the Academy are
under Ning Yi’s control so there was no reason for Ning Yi to pit his own people against one another unless he is trying
to get rid of her.), Zhi Wei calmly agrees to the search despite the students’ angry protests. To make matters worse,
when the guards go to apprehend the criminal who has been hiding inside the academy with a fake name as one of the
students, they found the guy long gone and instead found Feng Hao in the man’s room with a bag of money obviously
given to him by the criminal.
 Amidst the chaos, Zhi Wei turns to whisper a few words to Gu Nan Yi. Gu Nan Yi nods and immediately disappears. The
search was obviously just for show since it ended almost as soon as it began.
“Did you find something?”
“No. We apologize for disturbing you. You all can continue with what you were doing.” Giving Zhi Wei a nod, the two officials turn
permission for the search.
“There is no more problems really?” Zhi Wei asks in a very polite voice.
One of the officials give Zhi Wei a look filled with pity– this kid is still too young. No matter how polite you are, you can’t save your
status in the Academy.
“No.” A bit impatient, the man turns to leave.
“Wait.” Zhi Wei stops the men. “You don’t have any problems but I do.”
Ignoring the man’s narrowed eyes, Zhi Wei asks with a friendly smile “Did you searched all the rooms?”
“Yes.”
“Including the Biling Yuan?” That’s the area where the academy director and VIPs live.
After a moment of hesitation, the man wants to say no but since he had just said all rooms were searched he had no choice but to
answer “Yes.”
“Then I have a problem.” Holding out her arms to indicate she is forced to do this, Zhi Wei continues ” I don’t care if you search
the student’s rooms but all those who live Biling Yuan are not here right now. So as the one who is in charge of the academy, I
have a duty to them. You searched their rooms and if something goes missing…I feel uneasy.”
You feel uneasy? Then why didn’t you go with us on the search? The officials complained silently to themselves but outwardly
they still assured her “We didn’t touch anything in the room….”
“Seeing is believing.” Taking no arguments, Zhi Wei gestures with her hand for them to follow “Pease.”
Seeing the officials hesitation, Zhi Wei says dryly “I do have to report to Director Xin. (Xin Ziyan, our hero’s advisor who is the
dean of the school)”
Exchanging a glance, the two officials remember Prince Chu’s order that other than the search they are not to be rude to Assistant
Director Wei. In fact, they were told that they were forbidden to use force even if Assistant Director Wei insists against the
search. Knowing well that Assistant Director Wei is somehow special to Prince Chu, the two officials reluctantly nods.
The crowd could smell that something is afoot especially after seeing the two officials’ reluctant expression, everyone follows
after Zhi Wei eagerly.
Before the group has even arrived at Biling Yuan they could already see that its door is wide open.
The officials let out a surprised exclamation when they finally see the front yard of Biling Yuan.
“Ah, ah! What’s this?!” Taking one look at the chaotic mess in the front yard Zhi Wei immediately lets out a loud wail as if the sky
has fallen ” Ah! You guys…”
Standing in the middle of the mess, with a pained expression, Zhi Wei’s body visibly “shakes” from anger.
Blinking in disbelief as they look over the mess of overturned furniture and stumped on flowers, the two officials exchanged a
silent questioning glance “You did this?”
“AH!!! You….” Zhi Wei’s scream came again from the second floor, sending everyone rushing upstairs. Letting out a silent sigh of
relief when they run into Xin Ziyan’s room only to see a mess of books tossed about, the two officials figures that throwing a few
books on the ground can’t be that bad…right?
Belatedly noticing the strange expression on the crowds’ face the two officials finally realize something is terribly wrong.
“The 38 Ways of Succeeding in Bed”, “Da Cheng’s Glorious History”, “The Way to Conquer a Virtuous Lady”, “108 Ways of Flying
Into Ecstasy Together”. Under the books that have a bunch of footprints on them, a letter is poking out with the prominent title
“From Prince Chu…”
Prohibited books of the worst kind, check. Secret communication letter, check.
Completely stunned, the two officials are about to go crazy. Why are these books here?! “Da Cheng’s Glorious History” is a book
that is supposed to be destroyed eons ago. The writer of the book, including his whole family was all killed so how could Director
Xin just nonchalantly leave a book like that in his room?!  And those letters…Director Xin’s alliance with Prince Chu is a secret only
a few confidants know so how can it be exposed like this in front of everyone?!
Exchanging another glance, the two officials step forward but before they could try to shield the letters, Zhi Wei has already put
her foot on the letters. Much relieved, the two officials were thankful that Zhi Wei knew the importance of hiding those letters.
Unfortunately, Zhi Wei only has two feet so while the letters were covered, the prohibited books were left out for all to see. “Ah!
Wow!” Came the immediate responses from the students.
“Ah! You!” Startled by Zhi Wei’s yelp, the two officials look up to see a vase on the shelf broken in half.
“That’s worth ten thousand gold!” Zhi Wei hollers as the two officials’ heart sink to the bottom of their feet.
Stumbling out to the next room, Zhi Wei screams again after a moment “Ah! You…”
The two officials feel their legs buckling every time Zhi Wei yells…
Holding a sword shelf that is broken in half, Zhi Wei bows towards the palace’s direction and says with a solemn expression “This
is 10th Prince’s room. There is a lot of items in the room that were bestowed by the emperor. Among them, this sword shelf was
the 10th Prince’s favorite…”
Staring at the broken sword shelf, the two officials begin to discreetly back away as Zhi Wei rush off to another room.
Stepping out to block the two men’s escape path, Prince Helian smiles brightly as he whispers “We have not checked my room
yet. The emperor gave me stuff too. A lot!” Master Gu didn’t say anything but the short sword in his hand is quite bright and
pointy.
“Ahh…. You!” Came another one of Zhi Wei’s yell.
Giving up hope completely by now, the two men turn around to see Zhi Wei’s newest find.
Holding a cracked rose glass mirror, Zhi Wei calls out “The princess’ most beloved possession!”
“…………”
“Assistant Director Wei.” Wiping the sweat from his forehead, the official knows there is no way to escape the snare Zhi Wei has
set for them. Who would believe them now that they had simply poked their heads into Biling Yuan’s front door and not touched
a thing?! The only one he could blame is himself for underestimating his opponent. “This is our mistake. We will go back and
report to our superiors, apologize to the Princess and 10th Prince. We will also make the appropriate compensations.” Giving Zhi
Wei a nod, the officials turn to leave.
“Wait!”
With obvious reluctance and dread, the men turn back around.
“You wanted to do a search, I allowed it.” Zhi Wei sneers coldly as she slowly walks around the two men “But did I allow you to
smash the academy, break precious possessions and destroy items bestowed by His Majesty?”
“Did you allow you to barge into Biling Yuan?”
“Did I allow you to barge into 10th Prince’s room?”
“Did I allow you to touch an unmarried Princess’ possession?” (No man other than family members is supposed to touch an
unmarried noble lady’s possession or it could be seen as tarnishing the lady’s virtue.)
“Coming in is easy! Searching for a criminal, sure! To search the whole place? As you please!” Standing in the middle of the
crowd, Zhi Wei declares “But I want you to know, you can search but you can’t leave! Close the door!”
 
No interaction between our two leads this week, but this post is an important set up for the next awesome scene so I couldn’t skip
it. Plus, I feel this scene is a great one to showcase how smart and scary our heroine is. In the drama, Zhi Wei is more of an
innocent idealistic girl who while certainly smart is not one to enlist fear in her opponents. In fact, I feel the Zhi Wei in the drama
often seems to be rather helpless because of the various situations she is in. In the novel there are obviously many things that
require our heroine to step very carefully and situations that are out of her control, but one thing that the drama left out of her
character is that she is as dangerous as she is smart. Be it foes or friends, those who know Zhi Wei well knows that she has a
hundred ways to make you regret crossing her. That’s also why in the novel none of the male leads would be dumb enough to
force Zhi Wei to do something against her will because they all know that while they might win for the time being, they would not
be able to handle the consequences of getting on Zhi Wei’s bad side.
26
The crowd of students lets out a hoot of excitement as they rush over to close the academy’s door before bursting out in
laughter.
“The crime of destroying their precious possessions will be up to the Princess and 10th Prince to take up with you.” Zhi Wei says
coldly “I will ask for their forgiveness too after reporting what happened here today. However, the academy is still responsible for
those possessions so of course we have to demand compensation from you.”
“Even if you want compensation, then you need to let us go back to get the money.” One of the officials sneers angrily “Or what?
Are you going to detain us?”
Zhi Wei gives the man a glance, the expression in her eyes were so fierce that the man involuntarily shrank back “You are right.”
With a derisive smile, Zhi Wei continues “Those in the ministry are always quite sly. Honest scholars such as us can never win. If
we let you go today and you guys deny everything later, what am I supposed to do then? Am I going to be left paying for
everything myself? So of course we have to inconvenience you a bit.”
“You dare!”
“Unfortunately.” With a wolfish smile, Zhi Wei promises “You will find out right now. I dare.”
“Come, help our officials undress and grab the valuable stuff as deposits.” Zhi Wei orders.
The “honest scholars” give a shout of excitement and throws themselves on the officials…Helian was at the very front.
Thanks to the students, the yard is soon filled with a bunch of half-naked men.
Zhi Wei turns and casts her eyes towards the direction of the palace.
“The servants’ mistake is the fault of their master. If a child did wrong, of course it will fall on the adults to apologize.”
“You.” Zhi Wei points to a guard who only has his trouser left. “Go get your biggest Master to come pay up.”
Stunned, the guard thought silently, Are you crazy? Who am I to go get Prince Chu? 
“Go get Prince Chu to come talk to me.”
Go get Prince Chu to come talk to me. That is probably the most arrogant sentence a subordinate has said to his/her superior
since the establishment of Tian Sheng empire.
“Are you not going?” Turning to smile at the stupified guard, Zhi Wei reminds the man “If you wait until I have to repeat myself
the second time then you might not even have your trouser by the time you go find Prince Chu.”
Jumping up, the guard dashes out of the door in a flash.
One of the officials yells angrily “Wei Zhi, you dare to insult government officials?! You dare to demand His Highness to come see
you?! You just wait! When His Highness comes you will be dismissed from your post and thrown in prison! ”
“Oh? Is that so?” Zhi Wei says offhandedly “Then let’s wait for His Highness.”
“You think His Highness will come to see you?” The other official sneers “After doing something like this you still want His
Highness to come? Do you imagine that you would be rewarded?”
“Who knows.” Zhi Wei smiles as she stretches her back “Ah, my back hurts.”
Someone quickly runs off to bring her a chair.
“Ah, I talked too much, I am thirsty.”
A fistfight broke out amongst the student over who got to go get her a drink.
Sitting in a bamboo chair underneath the shade of a tree, Zhi Wei is all smiles as she admires the view of the half-naked group of
men in front of her while sipping a fragrant cup of tea. On one side of Zhi Wei is Master Gu who is eating his walnuts and on the
other, is Helian who is busy gambling with the other students.
With only their trousers left, the ministry officials and their guards are all squatting together, freezing in the fall wind.
This is the sight that greeted Ning Yi when he walked in the academy.
“Your Highness!” The officials call out in surprise when they saw Ning Yi walking in and promptly stood up to pay their respect…
until they realized the state they are in and quickly squat back down. Crowding into the shadow in an attempt to hide their
nakedness, the officials glare at Zhi Wei triumphantly. His Highness really came! Wei Zhi will finally get what’s coming to him!
With a slight wave of his arm, Ning Yi dismisses the students. Bowing as they leave, the students gave Zhi Wei a worried look but
she just gave them an assuring smile.
“How it shines gloriously now that Your Highness is here.” Zhi Wei gleefully gestures with her hand “The place is filled with
delightful fragrances (body odor) and refreshing views (his naked subordinates).”
Helian who had stubbornly refused to leave broke out in a chuckle- fragrant indeed, the government officials were especially
stinky.
Wearing his full court ensemble (this shows Ning Yi had come right after his daily morning meeting at the palace instead of going
home to change out of his official palace outfit), Ning Yi seems more dignified instead of his usual cool elegant self. Looking over
the few dishes of snacks in front of Zhi Wei and the half-naked men, a hint of a smile appears on Ning Yi’s lips.
It is indeed Feng Zhi Wei’s style.
First politeness then shocking boldness.
Only her. In all the world, she is the only one who can hide her claws behind an appearance of harmlessness, seemingly giving in
yet in reality not moving a single inch.
“Since we are to sit and enjoy tea together then there is no need for so many other “fragrant” guests to be around. That’s not
how one treats guest wouldn’t you say?” Ning Yi says with a not so harmless smile.
The two very unlucky officials along with their equally unlucky guards all stared at Ning Yi with shock. Wait, isn’t His Highness
supposed to yell angrily and demand their release and condemn Wei Zhi??
Isn’t Wei Zhi supposed to be let them go immediately and be on his knee begging for Prince Chu’s forgiveness?
How can His Highness just ignore them and even be chatting in such a friendly manner with that reprobate?!
And how is Wei Zhi acting so naturally and even inviting His Highness to have tea together?
Sparing Ning Yi a look, Zhi Wei slowly turns around and says “If I could trouble Prince Helian and Brother Gu (just a common polite
reference between men) to show these “fragrant” men to another place.”
“No.” Helian rejects immediately “I can’t leave you to dance with a wolve.”
“I actually think I am the one dancing with a wolve.” Sitting down gracefully, Ning Yi matter of factly takes Zhi Wei’s cup into his
own hand.
A fierce light seemingly bursting out of Helian’s eyes as he demands “Would Your Highness care to “fight” with me.” (Helian used
the word for fight that sounds the same as dance in Chinese so this is a play on words.)
“Crown Prince, please let me remind you one thing.” Not bothering to look at Helian, Ning Yi continues “You are not crown prince
here but merely a common student at the academy. If Wei Zhi can’t even get a student to leave when she is about to discuss
important matters with this nation’s prince than how is she supposed to command other students later.” (Remember in Chinese,
he and she is the same sound. They do differ in writing but not in sound so Ning Yi is not giving away Zhi Wei’s identity. Of course
by this time both of our male second leads know Zhi Wei’s identity as well so it would not have mattered.)
Sneering, Helain retorts “Then I won’t be a student then.”
“Alright.” With a wave of his hand, Ning Yi says “Please go and retract your status as a student at the academy. In a bit, you can go
back to the palace with me. Oh, I should also tell you that anyone who voluntarily retracts their status as a student at the
academy is no longer allowed to set foot into the school again.”
“There is such a rule?” Helian asks with a raised eyebrow.
“There will be.” Ning Yi replies with a smile “Director Xin will be adding that rule.”
Helian glares at Ning Yi. If looks could kill, Ning Yi would’ve been shredded by now.
Of course, Ning Yi is still wearing that unwavering steel like smile, completely unaffected.
After a long moment, Helian stumps off and drags those two unlucky officials away with him. Gu Nan Yi drifts over (he is supposed
to be such a good fighter that he can appear and disappear like the wind so the author likes to describe his movement with words
that reminds one of ghosts), herd the half-naked guards away like sheep but not before he cracks a few walnut shells open and
places them right in front of Ning Yi.
Of course Ning Yi had no clue what Master Gu meant by that and thought simply that Master Gu was gifting the walnut to him to
eat. Quite pleased, Ning Yi tossed one of the walnut into his mouth “This walnut is actually pretty tasty.”
Zhi Wei stares at him with much interest until Ning Yi finally got weirded out and puts the walnut down “What’s with your
expression? Are you that stingy with one walnut?”
Lieasurly brewing more tea, Zhi Wei says slowly “To see that walnut shatter in your mouth, what a great feeling…”
Not waiting for the utterly confused Ning Yi to ask what she meant, Zhi Wei turned serious and says “Your Highness certainly
surprised me just now with so much concern for my ability to establish my authority at the school.”
“Are you interrogating me?” Ning Yi asks.
Giving him a fake smile, Zhi Wei replies “I wouldn’t dare.”
“Are you angry at me?” Ning Yi asks placidly but somehow Zhi Wei keeps feeling that there is a trace of hopeful enthusiasm in
there.
“Do you wish for me to be angry at you?” Zhi Wei responds back to the Prince of Trickery.
“To be angry at me is better than ignoring me completely.” Ning Yi gives Zhi Wei a side glance, his eyes bright and mesmerizing.
Zhi Wei doesn’t respond– she is deaf to anything that remotely sounds like flirting.
27
“You don’t care if I am angry.” Ignoring her lack of response, Ning Yi continues “So I don’t have to be concerned with what you are
thinking either, right?”
“Your Highness is trying to dredge up an old score?” Narrowing her eyes, Zhi Wei asks with a most sincere smile “The other
purpose of having you come today is to also explain to you that I didn’t purposefully save the Princess before.”
“But you never planned to help me kill her either.” Ning Yi cuts right to the chase “You had planned to deceive me right from the
beginning.”
After a long moment of silence, Zhi Wei replies “I couldn’t let someone with that face die in front of me.”
Both of them knew what her words meant. Rising her eyes to look at Ning Yi who has stayed silent “That is a question that I have
been trying to figure out all this time. Do you have an answer?”
Ning Yi was silent for another long moment, Zhi Wei even saw an expression of confusion flashing across his eyes but then he
shook his head “When I first met you I was also very surprised.”
So that means he doesn’t know the answer either. Zhi Wei peers closely at Ning Yi, feeling like there is something else he is not
saying but then also feels that he is not lying to her either.
“I am sorry the fact that the Princess is still alive has brought you a lot of trouble.” After a bit, Zhi Wei mutters in a low voice “But I
could only do that then.”
“Things between us are always like that.” Ning Yi laments with a somewhat bitter smile “Don’t want to be on the opposite side
but always is because of various reasons.”
“But I don’t understand why it needs to be so?” Zhi Wei stands up and leans close as she fixates her eyes on him “Tell me, why
limit my growth here? Why put me under someone who will hinder me at every turn? (She is not talking about Xin Zi Yan, but a
minor character) Why are you certain that I will stand against you? And, why are you so interested in Feng Hao?”
She is so close. Even though there is a mask on her face but her eyes are sparkling like morning dew and her eyelashes seem
unbelievably long…Ning Yi couldn’t help himself and reaches out a hand to touch it but Zhi Wei moved away like she has been
zapped by lightning.
“We are discussing official business.” Zhi Wei chides with a serious expression “Focus.”
Silently thinking that her annoyed expression is quite cute, Ning Yi’s eyes linger on Zhi Wei’s face longingly for a few more minutes
until he finally says “You saved Shao Ning twice, you seem to be connected to her somehow, even your appearance is stunningly
identical to her, you know too many of my secrets but you are not necessarily on my side. If you were someone in a position as I
am in, wouldn’t you try to constrain you, kill you even?” (The Shao Ning/Princess and Zhi Wei thing is THE big mystery of the story
so I am not going to answer any questions concerning it since that would be a huge spoiler. You are of course welcome to ask
questions about what we would know by this point concerning the mystery or any clarifying questions of what had happened in
the past.)
“Your Highness never thought about getting me, the “nation’s scholar” on your side?” Something about Ning Yi’s answer seems
off, Zhi Wei asks with a frown.
Ning Yi doesn’t reply as he raised the cup up to his mouth but makes no move to drink it, his expression hard to see behind the
light steam of water vapor.
Zhi Wei didn’t speak either. Her fingers softly caress the edge of the teapot, her finger could feel the warmth but it couldn’t warm
the coldness seeping into her heart.
After a moment, Ning Yi says softly “Zhi Wei, listen to my advice on this. Leave this and go back to Qiu manor. I will figure out a
way to get Helian to give up on you. In the future, then you will be my…”
Ning Yi reaches into his pocket seemingly ready to pull out something but a hand stopped him in midmotion.
Looking down at the long slender fingers on his hand, Ning Yi asks “This is your rejection?”
Pulling her hands away, Zhi Wei says with a leveled voice “Let’s finish our discussion first, there is time for that later.”
Slowly pulling his hand out of the pocket, Ning Yi smiles forlornly and finally says after a bit “Alright, then tell me first, why as a
woman you are unwilling to get married and have kids like all the other women but instead wants to climb the dangerous ladder
as a government official?”
“There are probably very few people who have seen my father in the capital.” Silent for a long moment, Zhi Wei finally begins to
talk, seemingly starting a completely different subject “In my memory, before the age of four, he existed.”
“He was very busy, very aloof, never really around sort of existence.”
His gaze on Zhi Wei, Ning Yi has a vague feeling that the man who was once the subject of wild rumors in the Capital, the man
who caused the legendary female general to elope then return to the Capital in disgrace might be the crux of the problem.
“Before the age of four, my family’s circumstance was quite good. We lived deep in a mountain that is far away from the Capital.
Even though the area didn’t have much but we had plenty for our needs. Father is often gone and would be home once in a long
while. When he is home he didn’t pay too much attention to me or my brother. There didn’t seem to be much joy in my mother
when she sees him either. Sometimes, there are even traces of sadness in her expression.”
Ning Yi brows knitted into a frown. Something doesn’t add up. After throwing everything away to elope together then becoming
the parents of a son and a daughter, this couple should’ve been blissfully happy so why did it turn out like that instead?
“Because of that, I slowly stopped having the desire to have father home. When he is around the house became suffocatingly
depressing, without any trace of the warmth that is shared by the three of us when he is gone. To me, a man like that, a man who
left my mother alone with the sole responsibility of raising her children, a father who is as if he didn’t exist and when he is back
only brought unhappiness…it might as well be better to not have him.”
“Ever since I can remember, mother keeps on telling me that many women in this world live their lives being dependent on others
but some are not lucky enough to find a man who they can rely on. So instead of waiting for fate to decide which group you
belong to, you might as well learn to rely on yourself and love yourself.”
“That’s why mother taught me many things. She tried to teach my brother too but it didn’t really work. Mother said since my
brother can’t be counted on then as the older sister it is my responsibility to provide for both of them. I have always remembered
that.”
“Nonsense!” Ning Yi couldn’t help but protests “Why would it fall on a fragile woman to support the whole family?” (The Chinese
wording “fragile woman” here is more like a common adjective often used by both men and women to describe the female sex. It
sounds pretty offensive in English but just know that it is not necessarily the case in Chinese.)
“Feng family does not produce fragile women.” Zhi Wei’s gaze was calm and clear “If the women in Feng family are weak then
they would’ve long been crushed into dust.”
Holding Zhi Wei’s gaze, Ning Yi suddenly puts his hands over hers. The hands in his are soft and smooth with spots of callus…callus
that sends dull stabs of pain into him.
Lowering her eyes to stare at their intertwined hands, Zhi Wei smiles then pull her hands away.
“The year I was four, he really stopped coming back.” Zhi Wei continues “Without his support, the family eventually had difficulty
making ends meet. Mother had no other choice but to bring us back to the Capital.”
“This is my beginning in the Capital.” Zhi Wei flashes a smile at Ning Yi “It began with kneeling in front of Qiu Manor during the
dead of winter and being drenched with a bucket of dirty foot-washing water after they refused to open the door to us. My never-
ending battle with the Capital, with Qiu Manor, with the society’s rejection and humiliation began then. There is no going back.”
“There is no one to stand by you or to shield you when you most needed it. It’s up to you to protect your family from all the
malice attacks, humiliation, hindrance, and bullying. You are tired of having to always be your guard with every step you take but
no matter how tired you are there is no stopping. If you stop then that means others will gain control of your life and decide your
fate at their whim.”
“We are the shame of the Qiu Manor, a shame everyone wish would simply disappear. If we don’t want to disappear then we
have to pay the price.” Her eyes lowered, Zhi Wei continues “I have spent the last ten years like this. Eating the most meager
pitiful New Year’s meal in our little room while listening to the festivities in the main hall. I vowed then that I will never rely on
anyone. I will never place my hope on anyone else. I vowed one day I will use my only abilities to rise above all and triumph over
all those who used to look down on me.”
“Do you think you are someone who can be depended on?” Zhi Wei’s voice was no higher than a murmur but her tone was
piercing “You were taught to ascend to the highest point, you practice the art of trapping dragons (dragons are usually a
reference to the royal family- especially the emperor in Chinese), your mission is to destroy the dragon with the dragon killing
knife held in your hand.  Win, you will stand at the highest sumit gazing down on all those below. Lose, blood with stain all those
who have the slightest connection to you. Your life has always been and will always be like walking on a thin steal wire. Lose, I will
lose my life with you. Win, I am just a number among your three thousand concubines. (Three thousand is a common number
when one refers to how many women an Emperor have but it is just a saying since obviously various emperors could have much
less…or more than that.) What do you have to promise me a life of bliss?”
Her questions right to the point and unforgiving, Ning Yi who was caught completely by surprise, sat stunned.
28
“Do you believe you are someone who can give up or sacrifice for someone else?” Her smile was soft but sharp as a knife “Your
heart is as hard as steel with an unwavering determination. You would never change your direction because of someone else. See,
you wouldn’t even allow me to show my abilities in such a small place as this. Even someone as small and unimportant as me
could make you uneasy, become the subject of your constant testing. In the future, even if I did end up being one of your three
thousand concubines, what sort of freedom would you give me?”
“Based on all the points above, if it was a test at the academy…” All smiles, Zhi Wei fills Ning Yi’s cup with tea “Prince Chu, Ning Yi.
Fail.”
His hand on the cup, after a moment of silence, Ning Yi suddenly bursts out in a loud laugh.
“I was wrong.” Putting down the cup, Ning Yi continues with eyes bright with laughter “Even if I would like to embrace you, but
how be it that the lady is unwilling. I realize now that no one could put a woman such as you in a cage. At least not before you are
tamed!” (Tamed is the best word I could find here but it is not quite the right translation. The Chinese word here doesn’t have the
bringing a wild animal to heel implication as the English word does. The word is more like impressing someone enough that they
willingly decide to follow you.)
Zhi Wei smiles without replying.
“You have to be willing after all.” Ning Yi sighs “It’s just…”
Pausing suddenly, a look of unease and helplessness showed up on Ning Yi’s face. Zhi Wei has seldom seen such expressions on
him but before she could say anything he had already changed the subject.
“I failed, then what about them?” Glancing towards the back, Ning Yi finally showed a bit of the chagrin he felt at her rejection
“Excellent, extraordinary?”
Blinking innocently, Zhi Wei asks “Who?” Her acting of a confused damsel impeccable.
His expression turned another shade darker, Ning Yi silently sips his tea.
Pleased for some reason by his expression, Zhi Wei smiles “Prince Helian might be the soaring eagle of the wild grassland but he is
not without troubles. The 12 tribes are not one heart so the distribution of the resources are often uneven which means there are
never-ending conflicts. His Highness might be the rightful heir but marriages are messy and complex in the wild grasslands,
creating many complicated and intricate family relations. Just counting those who have some tangible claim to the heir seat, there
are already over 10 possible candidates! Even if he could make it so that his seat is secure but then one would only be one of the
many concubines. After a few decades, he dies, one would have to worry about the wild grassland’s tradition of having sons
marrying step-mothers or brothers marrying sisters-in-law… Fail!”
Ning Yi glances over at a tree that is a bit of distance away from them…a tree whose leaves are waving wildly despite the fact
there is no wind.
His mood improving considerably, Ning Yi laughs “Gu Nan Yi?”
Zhi Wei fell silent. Her silence made Ning Yi’s expression fall and the tree leaves stopped moving.
After a long moment, Zhi Wei slowly answers “You asked the wrong question.”
Tapping his hand on the table, Ning Yi smiles “I hope my question was wrong. It would be better if that’s the case for all of them.”
The author doesn’t elaborate on what exactly Zhi Wei meant by that answer. My take is that while Gu Nan Yi could arguably be
our heroine’s best friend/family/trusted guard he is not someone Zhi Wei had ever considered romantically. Gu Nan Yi’s emotional
state is so pure and non-existent that it would be like asking our heroine to fall in love with a child. Zhi Wei said Ning Yi had asked
the wrong question because that question was not for Gu Nan Yi to answer in the very first place. 
His turn to top off Zhi Wei’s cup with tea, Ning Yi’s expression has returned to his usual calm “Zhi Wei, you are exceedingly smart
but love (the Chinese word is not love, but more like affection. However, affection in English doesn’t have strong enough of
romantic sense to it so that’s why I used love here instead) is not an emotion that can be dissected like politics. If love becomes
something like a mathematical problem that could be added on or subtracted, then what fun would it be?”
“Your Highness is going to teach me?” Rising an eyebrow, Zhi Wei silently thought you who are the most ruthless of all want to
talk to me about love? 
“Not talking about gains or losses, nor about the future, just emotions of the heart.” Ning Yi reaches for Zhi Wei’s hand “Your
heart.”
Zhi Wei lowers her eyes to stare at her hand that is completely enveloped. His grasp was firm, blocking her retreat. This man,
even in such a simple action does not like to leave a person any possibility of escape.
He values her and even indulges her. She knows. However, how much value and indulgence could there be? Once self-interest is
on the line then how fast would those evaporate?
To give one’s heart, to ordinary people, is bliss. To someone like him or her, it is venturing into danger.
Moreover…
There is still that face that’s shockingly similar to hers. As long as she doesn’t get an answer, she doesn’t dare to ignore it.
“My heart is where it should be.” Zhi Wei pulls her hands away with a soft smile “Perhaps one day there will be a tempest that
will overturn it.”
“I don’t want to overturn it, I just want to have it.” Ning Yi flashes a confident grin “You just wait and see, not every man in this
world is as cold as  your father.”
Zhi Wei lowers her head to hide a smile as she silently thought, you are not cold? Your older brother (she meant the crown prince)
is probably crying in the underworld right now. 
Turning back to the business at hand, Ning Yi asks “Fifth is making a ruckus lately. After the stunt you pulled today you have
backed yourself into a corner. Tomorrow he will show up to lure you to his side, what are you going to do then?”
“If I had the guts to offend you I obviously have a way to make it up to you.” Zhi Wei replies with a laugh “You spent so much
energy on those monkeys, you just lack a fire now. This fire, I will light it for you.”
Ning Yi doesn’t answer but looks at her with half of a smile.
“I am the “nation’s scholar”. The whole world knows the prophecy of Da Cheng. To gain the nation’s scholar is to gain the world.
Going by the situation right now, Fifth prince needs me so he will surely come to persuade me to be on his side. Before that
happens, I need to make my stand obvious…”  A glint sparkling in her eyes, Zhi Wei leans close to Ning Yi ear and says with a laugh
“Now…let’s put on a show!”
Zhi Wei abruptly bites Ning Yi’s earlobe!
29
It was as if Ning Yi had been struck by lightning. As one who never loses his composure no matter what happens, Ning Yi stood
dumbstruck.
Before Ning Yi snaps out of his shock to form a coherent thought, Zhi Wei has already flipped the table to the ground!
“You Highness insults!” Zhi Wei yells as the teapot and cups fall to the ground, spilling tea everywhere. Ignoring the mess, Zhi Wei
rips her own sleeve and pops open the knot on her shirt before jumping into the tea water so it splashes on Ning Yi and her
clothes. Picking up a broken porcelain piece, Zhi Wei dashes out as she waves the broken piece around before finally holding it to
her own neck “The shame! One can be killed but one cannot be humiliated!”
His mind still stuck on savoring the pain and titillating thrill of that one bite, Ning Yi can’t stop replying the soft velvety feel of her
lips and the electrifying shots it sent into his body. In a blink of an eye, the woman has already flipped the table and finished
putting on a whole show.
If someone was slower in the head, how are they supposed to keep up with her.
The ruckus soon drew everyone out. A crowd gathered as people rush out from all directions. Completely stunned by the sight of
a disheveled Zhi Wei making a scene crying that she doesn’t want to live anymore, everyone wondered silently: Weren’t those
two just having a lovely time chatting? So how did everything fall apart in such a short time?  “Nothing, my ear itches.” (Referring to common saying that one’s ear will start to itch if someone has been talking about you
Some in the crowd with especially keen eyesight soon spot the teeth mark on Prince Chu’s earlobe. The teeth mark was not hard
to discover because that particular spot even has a tiny tea leaf on it.
The newfound discovery set off a wave of excitement as everyone’s inner love for gossip is awakened.
Teeth mark! Open collar! Something smells fishy!!!
 
Scholars apparently have great imaginations as everyone quickly “figured out” the whole story in their head in the next instant:
Ah, so the reason why Prince Chu is extra nice to Assistant Director Wei is because of his “preference for men” which is why he
jumped on the chance to use this opportunity to threaten/seduce Assistant Director Wei. Of course Assistant Director Wei refused
but how could Prince Chu let such a perfect opportunity go and rips Assistant Director Wei’s collar while attempting to force a kiss.
Furious, Assistant Director Wei bites Prince Chu on the ear in his determination to guard his virtue. Someone as pure as Assistant
Director Wei couldn’t stand being humiliated in such a manner and that’s why he wants to kill himself. Yap, that must be what
happened!
A few in the crowd with the tendency of being worriers are already thinking about the rumor of Princess Shao Ning also liking
Assistant Director Wei. So…does this mean the two siblings are going to share? Or are they going to duke it out?
“The snare of beauty…” A white elderly man sighs heavily. (It took me a while to figure out how to translate this one here. The
Chinese phrase here is a play on words in that the original wording is usually referring to beautiful women becoming great men’s
downfall but here, the wording is changed to beautiful men being the source of trouble.)
Besides the small number who are too busy gossiping, most of the people rushed up to grab the broken porcelain from an
“anguished” Zhi Wei and joining the chorus of consoling voices.
“Director, nothing is more important than being alive.” This one is the optimistic sort.
“Director, in truth, this is really nothing…” This one is an honest sort.
“Director, in truth, you might come out ahead on this…” This one is the uninhibited sort. (This one is especially funny because the
guy is suggesting that since Ning Yi is actually the better-looking one of the pair Zhi Wei might as well enjoy the attention. Hmm…
now that I wrote that sentence out it seems rather offensive. Oh, well. I guess you guys just have to trust me that the sentence is
actually pretty funny in Chinese.)
“Director, you are forever pure and virtuous in my heart…” This one is just using the opportunity to blurt out a love confession.
While “reluctantly” letting go of the broken porcelain, Zhi Wei doesn’t forget to use her “anguished” teary eyes as a further
confirmation of a certain someone’s crime. Her eyes twitching violently in her effort to send secret signals to our still
thunderstruck hero for him to leave, Zhi Wei complains silently in frustration.
Go! Go! Why are you not using this chance to get mad and stomp off? Why are you just standing there in a daze? And why are you
caressing your earlobe while looking like you are remembering some cherished memory? I know you are touching your earlobe to
make sure people notice the teeth mark but do you have to drag on the show for this long?
Why is it always such bad luck whenever she meets Prince Chu?  She either has to pretend to be crazy or she has to throw a
tantrum for all to see. Sigh! Her good name…
“You dare!” Ning Yi very reluctantly comes down from the heavenly cloud he had been floating on. Casting a longing glance at Zhi
Wei’s red lips, Ning Yi thought to himself that they should put on a show like this again sometime. “How dare you sprouting
nonsense! You wait, I am going to submit a formal complaint to the royal court!”
“Go ahead, anytime!” Standing in the crowd, Zhi Wei yells back, acting as if she would rather die than be humiliated.
“You just wait! You will lose your official post and end up in jail!” Leaving behind a yell of threat, Ning Yi stomps off.
“I will be waiting!” Zhi Wei jumps up to hurl herself forward after Ning Yi but was restrained by the death grip of everyone around
her.
To think that their assistant director was willing to go head to head with a prince and even almost lost his virtue in the process, all
the students’ gaze upon Zhi Wei turned to ardent admiration.
A “furious” Ning Yi took the half-naked officials and guards with him. Happy to be rescued but not feeling vindicated at all, the
officials silently mutters- Ah, so His Highness really like that scrawny kid. Sigh…I guess we will never get that kid to pay for what he
did to us.
Ning Yi took Feng Hao with him as well. Zhi Wei made it very clear to Ning Yi– He is not suspicious? Then make him (Feng Hao)
suspicious and lock him up for a year or two to keep him out of trouble.
The academy soon returned back to normal. Master Gu was slightly displeased when he went back to find his walnut and found it
missing. (Remember Ning Yi ate the walnut Ning Yi?) As for Helian…the guy was grumpy and refused to talk to Zhi Wei the whole
day.
The next day, Helian finally talked and the conversation was as followed:
“What’s wrong with you?”
behind your back.)
“………..”
“What are you thinking about?”
“I am pondering if my dad dies, should I marry my stepmother or my sister-in-law.”  (This is a jab at Zhi Wei for what she said to
Ning Yi about him.)
“………….”
30
With the rumor mills working over time, in one short day, the story of how Prince Chu and the Academy’s Wei Zhi scandalous
fight that ended with both vowing to be enemies from that day on soon spread across the whole capital. The rumor evolves from
battle of jealousy to intimate ear biting, to group fight as the story goes through various revisions each time it was told.
Rumor has it that Prince Chu has declared that he is too worried about the Emperor’s health right now so he has no time for a
certain arrogant official. However, the day the Emperor wakes up is when someone will pay!
Rumor has it that Assistant Director Wei has declared that he will never bow down to riches nor power. If a certain someone tries
to exert pressure on him using his status, then he will rather die to prove his innocence!
When the two meet in the palace, the conversation supposedly starts and ends with “Humph!”
By that night, Zhi Wei received Fifth Prince’s personal gold embroiled invitation to attend a feast. Two hours later, a half-drunk
Assistant Director Wei was personally escorted out by the Fifth Prince himself.
“Xiao Wei,” (A way of referring to our heroine to signal a close relationship) Fifth Prince picks up Zhi Wei’s hand and says with the
sincerest expression “Rest assured, I will make sure Sixth won’t be able to do anything to you.”
“Your Highness.” A teary Zhi Wei grabs Fifth Prince’s hand gratefully “Thank you so much…”
“Sixth is becoming more and more ridiculous!” Fifth Prince says with indignation “How can he do such a thing! How can he treat
the treasure of our country, the nation’s scholar this way?!”
Blinking back tears, Zhi Wei gratefully replies “Your Highness is too kind!”
Patting Zhi Wei’s shoulder sympathetically, Fifth Prince whispers “So…the favor I had asked…”
“No problem!” Zhi Wei quickly agrees “Your Highness would like to to see a book in the library (the Emperor’s). That something I
can easily do as long as Your Highness returns it quickly.”
“You don’t have to worry at all.” Fifth Prince gives Zhi Wei his most sincere smile “While it is true that the Golden Chest is
precious to Emperors but my father had once planned on lending it to me but had simply forgotten due to his busy schedule. 
Now that my wife is sick I desperately need the book in it but then the Emperor is not well so that’s why I had to ask you for this
favor. I just need to find some medical information in the book, copy it then I will return it to you right away.”
“I of course have full confidence in Your Highness’ words.” Zhi Wei promptly replies.
“Be careful…” Fifth Prince “This is a small matter but it might still affect you so the fewer people know of it the better. You
understand.”
After chatting like best friends for another moment, the two finally bid a reluctantly goodbye.
 
 
The horse carriage makes its way through the lonely street. Zhi Wei sits in the dark carriage as she slowly uses a white
handkerchief to wipe her hand again and again. Her face half hidden by the shadows so only the glint in her eyes sparkles in the
moonlight. A smile…one that chills to the bone.
The “Golden Chest” is like the one Zhi Wei was given to watch over in the drama but in this particular scene Zhi Wei would not
have known what the chest contains. Or at least Fifth Prince would’ve believed Zhi Wei is clueless of what’s actually in it so that’s
why he made up this whole thing about his wife being sick and he needed the medical book in the chest.
 Someone else is sitting herself up lazily, pulls out a bun filled with Hoisin sauce and bites into it with much savor. The bright red
Jumping to the scene when Fifth Prince goes into the palace late one night to meet Zhi Wei. sauce drips down her mouth while she leisurely licks the sauce from her fingers. (I know the Hoisin sauce most of us are used to is
“Do you have it?” The light from the lantern reveals Fifth Prince’s face as his stares at the box in Zhi Wei’s hand fervently. usually black but here it is red.)
“Your Highness came personally?” Zhi Wei asked with surprise. Stumbling back a step back, a pale faced Fifth Prince stares at the three people until he finally breaks out in a hopeless laugh
Fifth Prince doesn’t answer her question but looks around and asks “Master Gu didn’t come?” “Good! Good! What a great show!”
“How would he be able to?” Zhi Wei laughs “The list of those who watch over the library is set and that’s not part of his duty so Alarmed by the desperation she saw in Fifth Prince’s eyes, Zhi Wei wondered why Fifth Prince is lashing out angrily when he
he can’t stay overnight in the palace.” should be running away or begging the Emperor to forgive him.
Fifth Prince nods, his eyes sparkle with some hidden meaning in it. Zhi Wei suddenly remembered something Fifth Prince had said.
Zhi Wei smiles again “You didn’t have to go to the trouble of coming here late at night. I could’ve delivered to your place “You will die by the hand of the guard for stealing important secrets.”
tomorrow morning.” Why was he so certain that the guard would help him cover up his crime and kill me again? What guard would be able to make
“This way…” Fifth Prince takes the box from Zhi Wei. After making sure the box is indeed what he wanted, Fifth Prince says with a sure that he is the first one to discover my body?
grin “…it is more convenient for you to die here.” Unless…
Zhi Wei’s head shot up in surprise. Zhi Wei jumps up abruptly and runs towards Ning Yi’s direction…but it was too late.
“Shoo…” A strong force pushed her to Fifth Prince. With a mocking smile, Fifth Prince grabs Zhi Wei by her hair and holds his sword against
The slightest noise, like a fire spark that had accidentally flown overhead sounds as Zhi Wei let out a yelp and slowly falls against her waist.
the railing behind her. Through her scalp’s screaming pain, Zhi Wei could still hear the Emperor’s furious shout and Fifth Prince’s loud taunting laugh.
Her expression full of pain and hopelessness, Zhi Wei looks up at Fifth Prince with shock. “Ning Yi!” Fifth Prince yells “The Emperor and this kid, you can only save one!”
“You…” “Who are you going to save?”
“I thank you.” Fifth Prince says with a gentle laugh. His usually mild expression twisted into a strange and hideous one under the
moonlight “I thank you for the sacrifice you made for my ascension to the throne”
“You…” Zhi Wei raised her hand to point at Fifth Prince, her finger completely covered with blood.
“When I leave I will make a bit of noise and you will die by the hand of the guard for stealing important secrets.” Fifth Prince is not
usually the talkative sort but he can’t suppress the excitement bubbling up inside him “The least I can do is not leave you
confused before you die. What this box holds is not the rare medical scrolls.”
“How can it be…” Using what seems to be the last of her breath, Zhi Wei questions, determined to not die when she is not
supposed to.
“I knew someone like you would’ve opened the box to check. At first look, there is indeed a book in the box and it is even a
medical book. However, this book hides the biggest secret in the palace.”
Fifth Prince opens the box, takes out the book, after flipping through the first few pages his fingers pulls on the spine to reveal a
single page that is actually made of jade not paper. Extracting a gold fabric out of the gap in the jade, Fifth Prince sneers as he
reads what’s written on it.
“The Crown Prince’s name is still on it.” Fifth Prince scoffs “Just as I had guessed they haven’t had time to change it yet.”
“This is the Emperor’s edict of who will be his successor.” Shaking the golden fabric in his hand, Fifth Prince continues “This looks
like a simple piece of fabric but it is actually made with a special yarn. This is the only one in the whole world. The words on this
were all embroidered in such a way that it could only be read at a special angle. No one in this world can duplicate this. Years ago
my mother found out by chance and told it to me. I spent quite a few years to figure out what kind of embroidery is on it and
spent another few years to finally find someone who knew how to do that kind of special embroidery. I have prepared everything
and the only thing I was waiting for was a chance to get my hand on this so I can re-do the embroidery on it. And then…”
Holding up the gold fabric with a grin, the Fifth Prince laughs “The name on this should’be been changed a long time ago so I will
not be shy in helping myself to it!”
“Ah…that how it is….” Letting out the appropriate sigh of amazement, Zhi Wei says “You really are not shy…so now everyone else
doesn’t need to be shy either.”
Fifth Prince was about to leave but turns back abruptly when he notices Zhi Wei’s speech is actually getting more effortless.
“Pop.”
Fire torches suddenly flare up all over, shedding lights on everyone’s stony expression.
“Click”
Countless bows appeared with the metal tips of the arrows shining under the moonlight…all pointing at Fifth Prince.
Someone walks out from the dark long corridor. His smile gentle as he claps and compliments “Fifth brother is certainly clever.”
On the other side, standing by the hall banister is someone else whose whole body is shaking even as he leans against the
palace’s grand eunuch.
“You reprobate!” The man yells furiously “You tried to kill me with poison first, plotted to get your hands on my edict, then tries
to kill to cover up your track! All for the throne! You are an abomination! ”