Sheng Huaian's gaze rested on the girl's stubborn face.
Black ink stains smeared across Jiang Rongyin's fair complexion. She lowered her head after speaking and said no more.
"Sixth Princess damaged a fellow student's book, and Ninth Princess laid hands on a fellow student at Xuezhiguan. As a minor punishment and warning, you will each copy the Analects ten times."
Hearing Sheng Huaian's words, Jiang Xueping's eyes flew wide open. "Master! The one at fault is clearly Jiang Rongyin…"
"Geese leave traces in their passing, wind leaves sounds in its wake—everything a person does leaves a mark."
"If Sixth Princess wishes for me to investigate this matter thoroughly, that is not out of the question."
The corners of Sheng Huaian's lips curved slightly, yet the look he gave Jiang Xueping carried a hint of pressure.
Jiang Xueping's gaze flickered away for a moment before she ultimately said nothing more.
And so the farce at Xuezhiguan came to an end.
Sheng Huaian assigned their coursework and dismissed them.
As Jiang Rongyin walked out of Xuezhiguan, she saw Jiang Xueping shoot her a vicious glare.
"Princess, what… what happened to you?"
Baoyin looked at Jiang Rongyin's disheveled hair and the tender green dress now dotted with ink stains.
Had she come to study or to brawl?
"It's nothing. Let's return to Guanghua Dian."
Jiang Rongyin reached up and wiped her face, her fingers coming away covered in ink.
Yet her mood was considerably lighter.
Jiang Xueping had been bullying her at Xuezhiguan for quite some time. In the past, Jiang Rongyin had always endured it, not wanting to make a scene.
"I'm actually quite happy."
Jiang Rongyin's eyes curved slightly as she smiled at Baoyin.
The spring day was bright and clear, and the girl's relaxed brows seemed to hold fragments of scattered light.
Baoyin hadn't seen Jiang Rongyin smile in a long time.
It seemed that ever since the Crown Prince had returned, the princess hadn't had a single moment of such ease and contentment.
The two returned to Guanghua Dian, where Baoyin attended to Jiang Rongyin's bath before stepping out to fetch her a change of clothes.
Jiang Rongyin rested her head against the edge of the bath tub, closing her eyes in comfort and calling out, "Baoyin."
Footsteps approached slowly—not with Baoyin's light tread, but Jiang Rongyin didn't think much of it.
Someone grasped her arm where it rested at the side.
"Your grip is too hard. It hurts."
Jiang Rongyin frowned and opened her eyes in an instant—Jiang Yun's dark pupils were right before her.
He was seated on the flower stand beside the bath tub.
The man was tall and imposing, and the waist-high flower stand, once Jiang Yun sat upon it, completely blocked Jiang Rongyin from view.
Seeing Jiang Rongyin open her eyes and shrink back, trying to pull her arm away, Jiang Yun curled his lips in a faint smile. His fingers loosened, then tightened again, pulling her directly before him.
He bent down, his gaze sweeping over Jiang Rongyin's submerged form. "Did you fight with Jiang Xueping at Xuezhiguan?"
Jiang Yun's gaze shifted back, landing on the scratch marks on her fair, clean face.
Though Jiang Rongyin's fighting prowess was superior—she had pinned Jiang Xueping down—she hadn't come away entirely unscathed either.
Wet hair clung to Jiang Rongyin's face. Steam rose around her, and a drop of water fell with a soft plink into the bath.
"Is Your Highness here to punish me on Sixth Princess's behalf?"
Jiang Rongyin's voice was somewhat tight. Just how many people had Jiang Yun planted? It hadn't even been an hour since the incident at Xuezhiguan, and he already knew.
"Yes, punishment is due."
"Lest Little Nine forget her place and keep stirring up trouble."
Jiang Yun released her, a hint of coldness seeping into his gaze.
The spring light that fell into the room seemed to turn gray and pale in that instant. She had never been the one stirring up trouble.
Jiang Rongyin lowered her eyes. "She touched my things first."
A book, an inkstone—Jiang Rongyin could overlook those.
But what Jiang Xueping wanted was to see her humiliated, to see her mocked, to grind her dignity into the ground.
That was what Jiang Rongyin could not tolerate.
"One would think your temper has grown."
"She is a princess. What are you?"
Jiang Yun's hand landed on top of Jiang Rongyin's head, his fingers threading through her raven-black hair.
Hearing this, Jiang Rongyin looked up to meet Jiang Yun's gaze. She did not answer.
A pair of glistening eyes—stubborn, unwilling, yet unable to resist.
"I only get to stay because Your Highness is kindhearted…"
"You are Gu's Little Nine. That is all."
Jiang Yun cut off Jiang Rongyin's words, and the word "counterfeit" was forcibly choked back in her throat.
Jiang Rongyin turned her head away. She was nothing at all.
Not Jiang Yun's Little Nine, not Dayong's Ninth Princess.
She was herself. She was Jiang Rongyin.
"No need to go to Xuezhiguan tomorrow."
Jiang Yun dropped this statement flatly. He had made a trip to Jiangnan, and upon returning, she had bred no small number of different thoughts.
"Why? I—I mean, my studies are not yet finished…"
Jiang Rongyin turned back, unsure which of her words had angered him just now, that he would strip her of the right to attend lessons at Xuezhiguan.
"Not just tomorrow. You won't be going until after the Yanshe Yan."
Jiang Yun stood up. Jiang Rongyin watched as he undid his waist sash, jade pieces clinking against each other with a tinkling sound.
Then the outer robe, the coat, the inner garments…
"But I want to go to Xuezhiguan. If I can't read, I can't serve Your Highness properly either."
Jiang Rongyin listened to his tone that brooked no argument, her heart growing more anxious. Going to Xuezhiguan was her only chance to come into contact with the outside world.
She wanted to escape the palace, to live in the world outside. Jiang Rongyin could not afford to know nothing.
Jiang Yun removed the guard from his wrist and turned to walk toward her.
"Do you serve Gu with your hands?"
The implication: whether she could read or not did not matter.
"This past year, your horsemanship and archery have not improved, but other areas have improved a great deal. Do you want to be used as a live target at the Yanshe Yan?"
As he spoke, Jiang Yun had already entered the bathing tub, the overflowing water spilling across the floor. His gaze was, as always, steeped in desire.
The tub was only so big. Jiang Rongyin had nowhere to retreat. She was directly pulled into Jiang Yun's embrace.
"Your Highness wants to teach me horsemanship and archery?"
Jiang Rongyin's eyes widened slightly. Jiang Yun lowered his head, his kiss falling by her ear: "Qin Shiyan will be there too. Doesn't Little Nine have something to say to him?"
Before Jiang Rongyin could speak again, Jiang Yun made her shut her mouth.
It did not matter. Whatever thoughts Jiang Rongyin harbored, he would snuff them out one by one.
That night, when Jiang Rongyin opened her eyes, the half-bright, half-dim lamp flickered back and forth. She tugged at the blanket, and Baoyin, who had been keeping watch outside, opened her eyes, rose, and came in.
"Is the princess thirsty?"
On the bed, Jiang Rongyin's back was once again a mass of purple and blue—old wounds not yet healed, new ones added on top.
Hearing Baoyin's words, Jiang Rongyin nodded.
When Baoyin brought the water over, Jiang Rongyin drank the cup down using her hand for support.
"What time is it?"
"It is already the hour of Yin. When His Highness left, he said the princess need not go to Xuezhiguan today, and to rest well in Guanghua Dian."
Baoyin tucked the corner of the blanket in for her. Remembering how she had listened to Jiang Rongyin's crying from outside the hall, her feelings were somewhat complicated.
These days His Highness had become more and more unrestrained—he had even followed her all the way to Guanghua Dian.
"Baoyin, help me fetch a book from Xuezhiguan."
"It's the one Miss Lin lent me before; I left it under the desk."
That was the Pengxi Xianzhi of Tingzhou.
It was brought from Tingzhou by Miss Lin.
Jiang Rongyin had thought that if she were to flee, she should go far, and Tingzhou was a thousand li away from the capital.
Miss Lin had said that the people there were unenlightened but simple and easy to get along with, so even without her Guanjice and Luyin, she could survive in Tingzhou.
As long as she didn't need the Guanjice, Jiang Yun would never find out where she had gone.