After enduring the night, Chu Li could finally take a bath.
She soaked in the water and scrubbed herself furiously with soapberry pod, rubbing every inch of skin, every possible spot, as though she wanted to scrub her very skin off.
Until her skin was bright red.
She washed away every last trace of scent.
She took a deep breath and dipped herself beneath the water. When she suddenly resurfaced, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Beyond the hazy silhouette cast by the folding screen, someone was standing there.
Chu Li immediately ducked lower into the water, hiding her chest.
“Who’s out there?”
“This servant has come to attend you, Your Highness.”
The woman’s voice was soft and alluring.
It was none other than Nuan Yu, the woman the Prince Regent had given her.
Chu Li furrowed her brows.
This woman was the Prince Regent’s spy. Yet Chu Li had no legitimate reason to send her away, which meant having her underfoot every day would force Chu Li to watch her every word and action.
It was unbearably inconvenient.
This was her palace. How could she allow someone else to keep an eye on her?
A thought flashed through Chu Li’s mind, and she immediately shouted.
“How dare you! You actually dared to spy on me while I was bathing!”
“Someone, come here! Drag this audacious woman to the Bureau of Punishments and give her 20 strokes of the rod!”
Nuan Yu was dumbfounded.
“……Huh?”
Beat her?
What had she done wrong?
If it were a woman being watched, her reputation would be as precious as her life, so severe punishment would naturally be warranted.
But the Ninth Prince was a perfectly healthy young man who was supposed to have wives and concubines by the dozen. She had deliberately come while he was bathing, wearing nothing but a thin veil to show off her figure and entice him.
How had that somehow become a crime of “peeping”?
Wasn’t this supposed to be flirting?
She was truly being wronged!
After taking 20 strokes of the rod, Nuan Yu ended up just like Chu Li had once been—lying face-down on the bed, unable to move.
At the same time, rumors began spreading throughout the palace and beyond.
“Have you heard? The Prince Regent presented the Ninth Prince with a beautiful woman, but the Ninth Prince had her beaten so badly she can’t even get out of bed.”
“With a beautiful woman right there in his arms, the Ninth Prince didn’t even bat an eye. He even beat her that severely. Could it be that he…… can’t?”
“Could he have some kind of hidden ailment……?”
“What? The Ninth Prince is impotent?!”
The gates of Zhaolan Palace remained firmly shut. Chu Li had no idea what people were saying outside.
With Nuan Yu no longer under her nose, she finally enjoyed several days of peace and quiet, and her injuries recovered considerably.
One day—
Chu Li was lounging in the courtyard in the sunlight, engrossed in a romance novel titled “Divine Doctor’s Wife: Twins in One Pregnancy, Beloved by the Domineering Prince,” when Eunuch Fu, who served at the Emperor’s side, came to deliver a message.
The gates of Zhaolan Palace remained firmly shut, except for a small hatch in the gate that allowed communication between inside and out.
Eunuch Fu’s wrinkled yet still soft-featured, fair face poked through the little hatch.
Like someone peering into a prison cell.
“Oh my, Your Highness! You’ve sealed up your palace so tightly. Are you guarding against thieves?”
Chu Li was sitting in the courtyard, basking in the sun while reading her novel.
“Eunuch Fu, is something the matter?”
“His Majesty wants you to go to the Imperial Study. He says he has a reward for you.”
“Huh?”
Did I accomplish something worthy of a reward?
Chu Li hesitated before shaking her head.
“I don’t want a reward.”
For the past several days, she had kept the palace gates shut and refused to leave, avoiding countless troubles.
And she hadn’t run into the Prince Regent either.
She didn’t want to go out.
She knew that on the night of the victory banquet, someone had used her as a pawn to target the Prince Regent and frame her in the process. But to keep her true gender hidden, she had no intention of investigating the matter, nor did she intend to compete with her elder brothers for anything.
She would simply hide.
If she could endure another two or three years, then once she turned 18, she could leave the palace, establish her own residence, and live in peace and freedom.
Eunuch Fu anxiously made a delicate little gesture with his fingers.
“Oh, my little ancestor! You’re the first person in history bold enough to refuse an imperial reward!”
“Tell Father I’ll donate my reward to the state treasury.”
“But His Majesty wants to give you gold.”
Chu Li immediately looked up.
Wait!
Great Chu had vast wealth and a well-stocked treasury. Surely the state treasury wouldn’t miss a little gold.
“I’ll throw on some clothes. I’ll be there right away!”
She had absolutely no interest in things like vases, paintings, calligraphy, or antiques.
But gold?
Now that was something worth getting excited about.
Who could refuse something that glittered?
The prerequisite for living life as a carefree slacker was having enough food and clothes.
Only by saving up enough money could she enjoy the rest of her life in peace and comfort.
***
Imperial Study.
Chu Li had not stepped outside her palace for a full six days.
But for the sake of gold, she bravely marched into the Imperial Study.
“Your son pays his respects to Father!”
Chu Li knelt upright on the floor, but her eyes were already darting around the tables, desks, and shelves, searching for the gold.
The Emperor of Chu personally helped her to her feet and solemnly patted her shoulder.
“Little Ninth, you truly are the son who pleases me most!”
“?”
Chu Li’s heart skipped a beat.
Whenever Father said something like that, she got an ominous feeling……
Sure enough, the Emperor said.
“Ever since the Prince Regent returned to the capital, he has acted arrogantly and done whatever he pleases. No one dares oppose him. Yet Little Ninth alone wasn’t afraid of his authority. You personally had the beauty he gave you beaten, and you vented quite a bit of my anger for me.”
“Taking advantage of this opportunity, I punished the Prince Regent on the grounds that he had presented a beauty to a prince in an attempt to corrupt him. He will surely behave himself for a while now.”
Chu Li’s vision went black, and she nearly lost her bearings.
She had beaten Nuan Yu because the Prince Regent had beaten her first. She had merely returned the favor and vented some of her anger.
But now Father had punished the Prince Regent and was using her as an excuse.
Wasn’t that basically the same as making her offend the Prince Regent?
She’d been sitting safely at home, and somehow the pot had fallen from the sky onto her head.
The Emperor was delighted and extremely pleased with his youngest son.
“Little Ninth, although you’re neither particularly accomplished in literature nor martial arts, unlike your elder brothers, you don’t understand court affairs, you’re timid, you eat too much, and you’re short……”
“Yet you are still the son I favor most.”
Chu Li: “……”
Was that supposed to be praise?
She received a small gold bar as her reward.
Before she had even made it through the night, before she’d had time to warm the little gold bar in her hands, she received news that the Prince Regent had entered the palace and was heading straight for Zhaolan Palace.
Heavens!
Could the Prince Regent really think that she and Father had joined forces against him?
She had absolutely no such intention.
Heaven itself could bear witness!
“Master, the Prince Regent is almost here. Should we open the palace gates?”
Gou Ba asked.
No!
The Prince Regent had come looking for trouble. How could she possibly survive?
But if he forced his way in, wouldn’t that just mean she’d be caught red-handed?
Chu Li hurriedly tucked away her little gold bar.
“Secure the palace gates. Hold them for as long as you can. I’m going to hide in the Empress Dowager’s Palace and wait for things to blow over.”
With that, she immediately climbed over the wall.
“Master, your injuries have only just healed. Be careful not to fall—”
“Go guard the front hall. Don’t worry about me!”
“Yes.”
Chu Li planted a foot on a stone and climbed up the wall with ease.
With her martial arts training, scaling the 3-meter-high wall was no difficult feat.
“Why are you climbing the wall?”
Who was that?
Chu Li turned her head.
To her horror, the Prince Regent was standing at the foot of the wall, looking up at her.
His sudden appearance was so ghostlike that she slipped on the spot and fell backward.
“Ah!”
This is it.
Her freshly healed backside was about to hit the ground from 3 meters up. She would probably end up back in bed for another 10 days or half a month.
He really is cursed to be the bane of my existence!
Chu Li shut her eyes and let out a long sigh, ready to accept her fate.
But instead of crashing to the ground, she felt herself sink heavily into a pair of powerful arms.
Huh?
She opened her eyes.
She had fallen straight into the Prince Regent’s arms, held as though in a bridal carry.
And purely on instinct, she had wrapped her arms around his neck.
She tilted her head up slightly, her petite figure looking even smaller in his embrace.
He lowered his head. Two loose strands of black hair fluttered gently beside his face, making his features look even colder and more striking.
It was early autumn.
A gentle breeze stirred the air, carrying the intoxicating fragrance of osmanthus from the branches overhead. A few tiny golden flowers landed on the man’s shoulder.
For a moment, the two of them were so quiet that they could hear each other’s breathing.
It was a scene of perfect stillness, beautiful as a painting.