The mechanical voice in her head sounded like a spectacular, joyous display of electronic fireworks.
The rapid-fire chimes were so exhilarating that Shen Yu felt a surge of vitality wash over her. Before her, on the semi-transparent blue system panel that only she could see, gold light was flashing wildly.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! You have successfully exposed the hidden traitor in the Prince’s manor and completed your first “Gossip and Slap-in-the-face” mission!]
[The rewards are being calculated… Calculation complete!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 100 Gossip Points! You have successfully graduated from the Novice Protection Period, and your System Level has increased from LV0 to LV1!]
[The Gossip Radar function has been upgraded in sync! The detection radius has officially expanded from a five-meter radius to a fifty-meter radius!]
Watching the balance on the panel change to “100” Gossip Points, the corners of Shen Yu’s mouth curled upward in a way that made her happier than if she had won the lottery.
A fifty-meter radius!
What did this mean? It meant that from now on, as long as she sat in the center of the courtyard, the gossip and dark secrets of half the manor would drift into her mind automatically, like snowflakes.
For a veteran “salt-fish” gossip enthusiast, what could be more exciting than having a super-wide-range gossip radar?
Shen Yu happily brushed the caramel-coated melon seed crumbs off her hands and stood up from the rickety little stool. She stretched contentedly, feeling as though even the air this morning had become exceptionally sweet.
Meanwhile, Chu Xiao, who had been sitting steadily in the shadows of the long corridor, was quietly watching the happy, petite figure on the steps. In those bottomless black eyes, the bone-chilling, icy intent to kill had faded away at some point, replaced by a faint, almost imperceptible sense of indulgence and curiosity that even he hadn’t realized was there.
Of course, Chu Xiao had also heard that series of rapid-fire “system broadcasts” in his mind. Although he didn’t understand what “Gossip Points” were, nor did he grasp the significance of “LV1,” he was incredibly sharp and caught the core message: the strange “divine object” inside this little girl’s head had become more powerful because she had rooted out Steward Li today. Furthermore, her sensory range had expanded to a full fifty meters.
Watching the slight, joyful flush on Shen Yu’s cheeks, Chu Xiao couldn’t help but let a tiny, unnoticeable smile grace his lips.
He had spent three full years in the Ninth Prince’s manor pretending to be a cripple. The manor was like a tomb, filled with spies planted by various factions and cold, calculating plots. Every day, the moment he woke up, he was met with either poison, assassination attempts, or the most hypocritical, probing schemes.
Yet today, this Second Miss of the Marquis’s estate—who had been sent here as a sacrificial pawn for a substitute marriage—had cleared out his house in the most absurd, ridiculous, and unexpected way.
She wasn’t just a lucky star bringing earth-shattering intelligence; she was a delight, someone whose quirky train of thought could instantly relieve the tension of his frayed nerves.
Chu Xiao’s long fingers gently rubbed the sandalwood armrest of his wheelchair. He suddenly felt that keeping this silly yet vibrant woman in the manor was a genuinely good decision. At the very least, life from now on shouldn’t be too boring.
Chu Xiao withdrew his gaze, his voice returning to its usual flat, indifferent tone, yet it carried an unquestionable majesty.
“Someone.”
As soon as he spoke, a deputy steward named Old Wang, who wore a cyan long-gown and was usually responsible for miscellaneous chores in the outer courtyard, came running over in fear and trepidation. Old Wang was a simple, honest man who had often been bullied by Steward Li. Seeing the tragic fate of the former steward—being dragged away to shovel manure—he was now even more awe-struck and terrified of Chu Xiao.
Old Wang knelt on both knees, his voice trembling: “What are your orders, My Lord?”
Chu Xiao didn’t waste words. He cold-bloodedly spat out three words: “Prepare the carriage.”
Old Wang froze, his brain quickly calculating the dates. Today was the second day of the new marriage; tomorrow… wouldn’t it be the day for the bride’s customary “return to her maiden home”?
The Great Chu Dynasty prioritized etiquette above all else. Three days after a bride’s wedding, she must return home to visit her family with her husband. This signaled the husband’s esteem for the bride and provided a chance for the bride’s family to save face.
But who in the entire capital didn’t know the situation of this new Princess? She was a fool the Dingguo Marquis’s estate had stuffed into the bridal sedan chair as a scapegoat; they hadn’t cared about her at all. Moreover, the Prince himself was known for being cold toward women and having a volatile temper. How could he possibly be willing to accompany a fool back home and endure such mockery?
Old Wang swallowed hard, and, daring greatly, he carefully raised his head to ask for clarification.
“My Lord, according to custom, tomorrow is indeed the day for the Princess to return home. But… what level of carriage should our manor use to send the Princess back?” Old Wang weighed his words carefully, probing. “The Marquis’s estate clearly doesn’t hold the Princess in high regard. Should we… just prepare a regular blue-curtained carriage and send two guards to take her back as a mere formality?”
In Old Wang’s view, even providing a carriage was an act of mercy from the Prince.
However, when Chu Xiao heard this, he let out a heavy, cold snort. The sound wasn’t loud, but it carried an overbearing, protective authority that made Old Wang tremble and slam his head to the ground.
“A regular carriage? A formality?” Chu Xiao’s eyes narrowed, his gaze piercing with a sharpness and arrogance that made one afraid to look directly at him. “She is the Princess I married through proper channels, brought through the main gates in an eight-bearer sedan chair. She represents my dignity!”
Chu Xiao stared at the shabby little stool on the ground, his tone final and iron-clad. “Tomorrow, I will personally accompany the Princess back to her maiden home.”
At these words, Old Wang forgot how to breathe. Personally accompany her?! The Prince hadn’t stepped out of the front gates in three years, skipping even the most critical imperial banquets. Now, he was going to visit that cesspit of a Marquis’s estate for a substitute-bride fool?!
What made Old Wang’s jaw drop even further was yet to come.
Chu Xiao tilted his head back, his voice cold and heavy with weight. “Open the manor’s inner treasury. Bring out the carriage bestowed by the late Emperor—the one pulled by eight pure-blooded snow-white horses with a gilded cloud-pattern canopy. Wash it clean and have it ready! Tomorrow morning, I am going to bring the Princess back to her maiden home in grand style!”
Old Wang’s brain went numb. Eight pure-blooded white horses! A gilded canopy carriage! That was the highest level of ceremony, reserved only for Princes! Aside from the Emperor and the Crown Prince, who in the entire capital dared to put on such a display? The Prince wasn’t just going for a visit; he was clearly going to stand by his new bride and slap the Dingguo Marquis’s estate in the face!
Old Wang was stunned, but so was Shen Yu, who had just been preparing to head back to her room for a nap. She whipped her head around, staring in disbelief at the handsome man sitting in the wheelchair under the corridor. Countless little shining stars erupted in her clear, wide eyes.
[Holy cow! Eight white horses! A solid gold roof! What kind of top-tier golden thigh have I latched onto?!]
[Husband, you are too cool! From this day forward, you are the living Bodhisattva in my heart!]
Shen Yu shrieked with excitement in her heart. The gap between being an “easily bullied, substitute-marriage pathetic girl” and a “top-tier big shot protected by a tyrant” made every cell in her body cheer. It felt great! It was absolutely satisfying! With such a display, she would definitely swell the faces of that wicked mother and daughter tomorrow when she returned to the Marquis’s estate!
Hearing those crisp, sweet mental cries of “Husband,” Chu Xiao’s earlobes turned a faint, imperceptible shade of red again. He turned his wheelchair with a cold face and headed into the study, leaving Shen Yu with a cool, inscrutable back. Yet, that back view somehow looked a bit like he was running away.
At this moment, the scene shifted.
At the other end of the capital, at the end of a bustling, noisy street, sat the grand and impressive Dingguo Marquis’s estate. Unlike the hidden warmth in the Ninth Prince’s manor, a cold and smug air of calculation permeated the backyard of the Marquis’s estate.
In a spacious, bright, heated chamber, the floor heating was burning hot. The wicked eldest daughter, Shen Youran, was leaning comfortably on a grand armchair covered in pure white fox fur. She wore an extremely luxurious cloud-brocade dress, her hair adorned with pearls and jade, and she held a bowl of premium blood-bird’s nest soup.
Having knocked out her annoying, foolish sister yesterday and stuffed her into the death-trap sedan chair, Shen Youran’s mood was sweeter than honey.
The mistress of the Marquis’s estate, Shen Yu’s stepmother, sat on a nearby couch. She held a scented silk handkerchief, her well-maintained face twisted with undisguised smugness and spite.
“Youran, that swap of yours was truly brilliant,” the stepmother said, her voice sharp and grating. “That little wretch was an eyesore from the start, just like her dead-beat mother—born with cheap, impoverished bones. Now that she’s married off to that ‘Living Yama’ in your place, it’s a fitting end for her to die there.”
Shen Youran stirred her bird’s nest with a silver spoon, a malicious, cold light flashing in her eyes. “Mother is right. Who in the capital doesn’t know the volatile, violent nature of that cripple, the Ninth Prince? That fool who can’t even recognize a single character was tied up and sent over; she probably didn’t even make it past the bridal chamber door last night before the ‘Living Yama’ chopped her in two.”
Shen Youran set down the white jade bowl and elegantly wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief. She stood up, walked to the window, and watched the desolate autumn wind outside, the cold smile on her face growing wider.
“Counting the days, tomorrow is the auspicious day for that fool to ‘return home.'” Shen Youran turned back to look at her stepmother, her eyes filled with high-and-mighty contempt and cruel mockery.
“Mother, tell the gatekeeper immediately. Tomorrow morning, have them use heavy wooden bars to bolt our Marquis’s estate gates shut from the inside! That fool was surely thrown out like trash by the Prince’s manor tonight, or else her cold, stiff corpse was dragged out. If she’s lucky enough to have a breath of life left and is thrown at our doorstep…”
Shen Youran’s expression distorted completely as she announced what she considered to be the perfect plan. “Then tell her that if she wants to enter, she can. She’ll have to crawl in, inch by inch, through the dog hole where we pour the slop!”
A show brimming with extreme malice and mockery was about to unfold at the gates of the Dingguo Marquis’s estate.