Bai Zhi suddenly leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "His Highness is very pleased. He has scheduled the meeting for tomorrow night at midnight."
Jiang Henian looked up at Bai Zhi.
For a brief moment, Bai Zhi felt that her young lady's gaze held a strangeness she had never seen before—one that made her legs want to tremble.
But when she looked more carefully, she realized she must have been mistaken.
Her young lady's eyes were still as innocent and naive as ever. Where was the strangeness?
"Then I'll follow the Crown Prince's arrangement. But you must not let anyone know that I'm going out!"
The smile at the corners of Bai Zhi's eyes could barely be contained. "Rest assured, miss. This servant will handle everything properly. No one will know a thing!"
Jiang Henian nodded without speaking, but just as Bai Zhi was about to reach the door, she called out to her.
"Bai Zhi."
Bai Zhi turned around. "Does miss have any other instructions?"
Jiang Henian closed her eyes briefly before looking at her. "You and Qingju have grown up with me. Though we are mistress and servants, we are no different from family. I have always trusted you, so please—don't ever disappoint me or break my heart."
Hearing this, Bai Zhi looked up in alarm.
But when she saw only an innocent smile on Jiang Henian's face, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Rest assured, miss. This servant will not disappoint you!"
Jiang Henian nodded. "Mm. Go on, then."
Only after Bai Zhi disappeared through the doorway did Qingju step out from behind the folding screen.
"After all these years of miss treating her like a sister, she still betrayed your trust, completely disregarding more than a decade of mistress-servant bond!"
Though Qingju said this, her heart was filled with disappointment and grief.
Jiang Henian's face showed little emotion, but inside, her heart was churning like a storm.
The person she trusted most had destroyed her life in the previous lifetime. In this lifetime, she had nearly destroyed her again. When one scheme failed, she devised another—determined to push her into the abyss!
How could she not feel fury?
If one were to trace the beginning of her past life's tragedy, Bai Zhi was the one who had handed over the knife!
"Qingju, go to Huaiyang Wangfu and deliver a message."
Jiang Henian turned her face slightly, and Qingju leaned in to listen.
The next night, Jiang Henian sat before the candlelight, unhurriedly flipping through a book, occasionally asking Qingju to straighten the wick.
Jiang Henian's composed demeanor nearly drove Bai Zhi to distraction.
"Miss, it's late."
Bai Zhi reminded her cautiously, torn between fearing that Qingju might understand and fearing that Jiang Henian might not. It was truly difficult.
Only then did Jiang Henian reluctantly set down her book and turn to look at Bai Zhi.
"What time is it now?"
Seeing that Jiang Henian still remembered the matter, the urgency on Bai Zhi's face eased somewhat.
"It's past the hour of Si."
This was a reminder to Jiang Henian that the time to meet Lu Heng was drawing near—she should prepare to depart.
Jiang Henian then looked at Qingju. "Let Bai Zhi keep watch tonight. You may go rest now!"
Qingju suspected nothing. "Yes."
As soon as Qingju left, Bai Zhi immediately closed the door.
"Miss, we should go now. His Highness must be getting impatient."
As she spoke, Bai Zhi draped a cloak over Jiang Henian's shoulders and fastened the ties.
Jiang Henian said nothing, allowing Bai Zhi to lead her out through the back gate of the Jiang residence, where a carriage was indeed waiting.
"Miss, please board quickly."
Bai Zhi carefully lifted the curtain, gesturing for Jiang Henian to enter the carriage.
But with that slight movement, a faint, elusive fragrance drifted out from within.
The moment she caught the scent, her entire body went rigid.
This was the very fragrance that had rendered her helpless in her past life, leaving her at Lu Huan's mercy.
Jiang Henian instinctively looked at Bai Zhi—but Bai Zhi's gaze was fixed on the incense burner inside.
So Bai Zhi knew everything!
Jiang Henian clenched the hem of her skirt, took a deep breath, and desperately forced herself to calm down.
Clenching her jaw, Jiang Henian boarded the carriage, but stopped Bai Zhi just before she could take her seat on the driver's bench.
"Bai Zhi, I'm still a little worried… Why don't you go ahead and see if the Crown Prince has arrived?"
Seeing that Jiang Henian seemed genuinely nervous, Bai Zhi interpreted it as her being afraid that Lu Heng might break his promise.
"If miss is worried, this servant will go ahead and check. Have the carriage travel slowly, and I'll catch up by the time you arrive!"
Jiang Henian bit her lip and nodded, and only then did Bai Zhi leave with peace of mind.
After Bai Zhi was gone, Jiang Henian raised her hand to extinguish the incense burner with tea—but then a thought struck her, and she merely covered it with a thick cloth instead.
"Quickly, go to Zixin Lane now."
The coachman had originally been arranged by Bai Zhi, but Jiang Henian had long since secretly replaced him with Uncle Kuan.
When the carriage arrived at Zixin Lane, someone was already standing in the alley waiting.
Jiang Henian stepped down from the carriage, pulled her hood tight, and hurried over.
"Your Highness."
Lu Huai turned his face from beneath the moonlight, his hands clasped behind his back, and looked at her.
Seeing Jiang Henian hide her entire person within a cloak, a light chuckle escaped him.
"Since this is a collaboration, I naturally have the ability and confidence to protect you. Wrapping yourself up so tightly—are you doubting me?"
Only then did Jiang Henian realize that Lu Huai tonight wasn't just without a cloak—even his attire was conspicuously ostentatious.
After all, few would dare wear princely robes while out to scheme against others.
She gently lowered her hood, revealing her delicate and lovely features: "This humble woman has always been timid. Please forgive me for making Your Highness laugh."
When Jiang Henian claimed to be timid, the skepticism in Lu Huai's eyes was nearly spoken aloud.
"They should be arriving soon. What do you plan to do?"
Jiang Henian turned to look at the carriage curtain gently swaying in the wind. On the tabletop inside sat the incense burner she had covered with thick cloth.
"This humble woman has changed her mind."
Jiang Henian looked at Lu Huai and spoke word by word: "Merely making them misunderstand may hardly yield the results we want. Better to let all those baseless rumors truly come to pass."
Lu Huai hardly needed to ask another question before guessing what Jiang Henian intended to do.
"You want to repay tit for tat?"
After Jiang Henian nodded, she offered no explanation.
Lu Huai stared at Jiang Henian's face for a moment, then raised an eyebrow.
"As you wish."
The moment the words fell, Lu Huai's attendant immediately took the carriage from Uncle Kuan's hands, then disappeared at the end of the street.
Looking at the now-empty street, Lu Huai lowered his gaze to Jiang Henian.
The hatred carried in her eyes hardly seemed like the grudge of someone merely tricked into losing her virtue.
It was more like an irreconcilable, life-and-death enmity.
So what exactly was the history between Jiang Henian and Lu Heng?
"This move of yours is rather ruthless."