The leaves rustled in the darkness. Xie Zhi walked to the door, the blade at the small of his back glinting with a cold white gleam. He drew the bolt and slowly pulled the door open.
With a creak, a slender figure lunged forward. The night was pitch-black, and his face was indistinct, but his snow-white teeth flashed as he called out cheerfully, "Brother!"
Xie Zhi stared at him with a dark expression.
The one outside calling him "brother" was no one sent by Prince Qi—it was the little follower who used to trail after him everywhere back in the capital.
The taut muscles in Xie Zhi's body slowly relaxed.
The young man had a bundle slung over his shoulder and grinned. "Brother, I got your letter. Everything's been taken care of. I've come to find you!"
Xie Zhi's face remained grim. "Why did you knock with such force?"
The young man chuckled. "It's the middle of the night. I was afraid you'd be sound asleep, Brother—if I knocked too softly, you wouldn't hear."
Xie Zhi kicked him squarely in the rear and slammed the door shut with a bang.
The young man scrambled up from the ground, rubbing his backside in bewilderment, and pounded on the door. "Brother, Brother, open the door!"
From inside came a few icy words: "Shut up. Knock again and I'll cut off your hands."
The knocking finally ceased.
Xie Zhi turned back into the room and returned the blade to its place at the small of his back.
"A-Nu, who's at the door?" Yuan Yingti asked him, her voice trembling.
Xie Zhi looked at her. Startled as she was, she was standing barefoot on the floor, her clothes on inside out, her face drained white with fright. Her slender figure was half-hidden by the doorframe, and her thin fingers were clutching a rolling pin held out in front of her.
"It's not Prince Qi's men at the door, my lady. Don't be afraid." Xie Zhi stepped forward and gently pried the rolling pin from her grip.
Hearing the calm in his voice, Yuan Yingti relaxed a little.
"Then who is it?"
"A friend of mine from the capital. Last time, my lady asked me to write back to the capital to make inquiries. Now my friend has brought word."
So that was it. Only then did Yuan Yingti truly breathe easy, her weak body breaking out in a thin sheen of sweat.
Xie Zhi looked at the pair of pale bare feet on the floor. "My lady, the floor is cold. Go put on your shoes first. I'll have my friend wait outside, and once you've tidied up, I'll let him in."
"Mm." Yuan Yingti answered and was just about to turn around.
Xie Zhi added, "My lady, your clothes are on inside out too."
Yuan Yingti touched her collar and indeed felt the embroidery turned inward. She nodded in embarrassment and quickly shut the door.
Xie Zhi lit a lamp in the main room, and the candlelight flickered to life.
From within came the rustle of changing clothes, and soon the door opened again.
Yuan Yingti had tidied herself up—her long hair simply pinned up, her clothes neat and proper, the long hem of her skirt covering her embroidered shoes.
"Quickly, let your friend in," she said, eager to hear news of the capital.
Xie Zhi went out, and the main gate opened once more.
The young man was leaning quietly against the door like a well-behaved chicken. Seeing him come out, he leaned in with a grin. "Brother, can I go in now?"
Xie Zhi narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. "When I ask you something, you answer. Nothing else—not one extra word."
His face was expressionless. The young man studied his expression and nodded hurriedly.
"Don't worry, Brother!"
Xie Zhi led him into the main room. When the young man got a clear look at the person sitting properly in the room, his eyes suddenly went wide.
He never would have imagined that his brother, in this shabby little courtyard, had hidden away such a great beauty!
"This is the young lady of the household," Xie Zhi said, casting a warning glance at him. "When the marquis's residence fell that day, the young lady was in danger, and I helped her escape."
The younger brother had always been quick-witted. Though he hadn't participated in the bet that day when Xie Zhi made it, he had been watching from the side. His mind raced, and he looked seriously into Yuan Yingti's eyes. Seeing that her beautiful eyes were utterly unfocused, he immediately guessed her identity.
Before a startled cry could escape his lips, he clamped his hand tightly over his mouth and raised his other hand in a high thumbs-up toward Xie Zhi.
After a long moment to steady himself, he managed to suppress his excitement and, with a composed demeanor, bowed respectfully. "This one greets the young lady." Curiosity clawed at his chest—he desperately wanted to know why the eldest daughter of the marquis's household was living with his elder brother, but this was clearly not the time to ask.
Xie Zhi then said to Yuan Yingti, "This is my friend. You may call him Qing Shao."
Yuan Yingti nodded lightly and spoke first. "No need for such formality, Brother Qing Shao. How is Mama Fang?"
Who was Mama Fang? Qing Shao looked at Xie Zhi in confusion. Xie Zhi answered on his behalf: "The moment I saw him, I asked about my mother. She's well and has already returned home."
Qing Shao chuckled and said, "Right, right, right."
Yuan Yingti let out a long breath of relief, as though a stone had finally been lifted from her heart.
She composed herself and hurriedly asked again, "And how is the capital now? Do you know what crime the Marquis Yong'an's household has committed?"
Qing Shao glanced at Xie Zhi again, and only after Xie Zhi nodded did he speak. "In reply, young lady, the capital has been in chaos lately. When I received Brother's letter, I went to investigate. Prince Qi confiscated the Marquis Yong'an household because the marquis had colluded with traitors and plotted rebellion!"
"Rebellion?" Yuan Yingti murmured to herself.
Xie Zhi looked at her, expecting her to argue or cry out that it was unjust. Instead, she wore a look of utter bewilderment—as if she herself couldn't tell whether her father had actually rebelled.
Xie Zhi asked, "Which traitors did Marquis Yong'an collude with?"
Qing Shao shook his head. "That I couldn't find out. But word on the street is that the marquis was wronged."
Wronged? Yuan Yingti still looked confused.
Qing Shao continued, "Everyone knows the marquis was a man of the Shu King. Prince Qi sees the Shu King as his mortal enemy. This is Prince Qi making an example of the marquis—killing the chicken to scare the monkey."
Yuan Yingti listened in a fog, her expression growing more and more lost. "Who is the Shu King?"
Qing Shao was stunned. His face filled with surprise, and he exclaimed, "You don't even know who the Shu King is—" At that moment, Xie Zhi shot him a look. Qing Shao quickly covered his mouth, gave himself two light slaps, and changed his tone to something more deferential. "Young lady, you don't know the Shu King?"
Yuan Yingti shook her head.
"Then you know who Prince Qi is, surely?"
Yuan Yingti was silent for a moment, then shook her head. She knew only that Prince Qi was the one who had seized the marquis's household—nothing else.
As for why her father was a man of the Shu King, or why Prince Qi and the Shu King were mortal enemies, she knew even less.
Qing Shao couldn't help but chuckle. "Even a three-year-old child knows these things, yet you, the eldest daughter of a marquis's household, have no idea."
Yuan Yingti clutched her sleeve, lowering her eyes in embarrassment.
She truly knew nothing. Her father had raised her in the inner chambers, sheltered from the world. She had no close friends—only her nursemaid and a group of maidservants, who spent their days discussing silks and satins, meals and daily routines, never once mentioning anything about Prince Qi or the Shu King.
She was not close to her father either. They met only a handful of times each year, and her father did not even allow her to leave the house. In previous years, she was permitted to go out only once a year, but this year, during the Shangyuan Festival, when she went out, her veil hat was blown off and she embarrassed herself. Her father took away even that single outing.
She was ignorant and narrow-minded, less knowledgeable than even a three-year-old child…
Yuan Yingti's eyes began to well up with tears.
Xie Zhi's voice rang out at that moment: "The young lady doesn't concern herself with worldly affairs. What business is it of yours? Say what you were saying."
His tone carried a fierceness, and Qing Shao's smile immediately vanished. He hurriedly said, "Big Brother is right! I was talking nonsense! The young lady is a fairy maiden—fairy maidens don't concern themselves with mortal affairs!"
His tone was truly comical, and Yuan Yingti blinked.
The tears inexplicably receded.
Xie Zhi looked at her and explained, "Prince Qi and Prince Shu are the current Emperor's two full brothers. The Emperor has no sons, so the next emperor will be chosen from these two princes. That is why the two princes have always been on bad terms."
Yuan Yingti took a moment to react, trying hard to digest this. After a pause, she asked quietly, "Prince Qi is pressing charges against the Marquis Yong'an household right under the Emperor's nose—does the Emperor not intervene?"
This matter involved imperial gossip, and Qing Shao's interest was piqued. He looked at Xie Zhi expectantly, and seeing no sign of restraint, he poured everything out like beans from a bamboo tube.
"The Emperor can't intervene anymore. He's gravely ill now—they say he won't live more than a few days and will die soon. State and political affairs have long since shifted into the hands of Prince Qi and Prince Shu. How long he lives now depends entirely on how long Prince Qi and Prince Shu let him live. He wouldn't dare defy either prince."
Yuan Yingti understood. She was silent for a moment, then asked, "How do you know my father is one of Prince Shu's men?"
"Marquis Yong'an also holds the post of Grand Marshal of the Ministry of War at court. Last year, he privately mobilized thirty thousand troops and gave them to Prince Shu. This became known to everyone. It was only because the Emperor was neglecting state affairs at the time, and Marquis Yong'an had Prince Shu's backing, that the matter was temporarily suppressed. But I think that's when Prince Qi began to harbor a grudge against Marquis Yong'an."
Yuan Yingti finally pieced everything together.
To her, this was good news.
It seemed the revival of the Marquis household was not entirely hopeless. If Prince Shu ultimately ascended the throne, her father would have the merit of following the dragon, and the Marquis household would surely regain its former glory. She could return to being the noble eldest young lady of the Marquis household.
Yuan Yingti's heart was filled with hope: "What are Prince Shu's chances of winning?"
When she asked this, Qing Shao seemed to recall something and suddenly fell silent.
His eyes began to dart around, drifting left and right. Xie Zhi noticed and said calmly, "Whatever the young lady asks, you answer."
Qing Shao rubbed his nose and had no choice but to answer truthfully: "I know a few soldiers who just came back from the south. According to them, Prince Shu has been repeatedly assassinated in Yizhou and is now too busy dealing with his own troubles."
Yuan Yingti's heart clenched. Prince Shu was in Yizhou, and her father was also in Yizhou. So her father had not gone to Yizhou on official business—he had gone to pay respects to Prince Shu.
If Prince Shu was assassinated, then…
"Is there any news of my father?"
"This…" Qing Shao began to hem and haw again.
A bad premonition immediately surged in Yuan Yingti's heart. Her voice began to tremble: "Has something… happened to my father?"
Qing Shao scratched his head and looked at Xie Zhi.
He had originally heard this matter as a joke, but he never expected the eldest young lady of the Marquis household to be sitting right here. He truly did not know whether he should speak.
Seeing Xie Zhi's expression, which seemed to permit him to continue, Qing Shao took a deep breath and swallowed.
He struggled to make his voice sound mournful. "It's said that when the Prince of Shu was assassinated, the Marquis Yong'an took a blade for the Prince of Shu… and died."
"What did you say…"
Qing Shao had no choice but to repeat in a heavy voice: "Your father, Marquis Yong'an, he is dead."
Yuan Yingti's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
Xie Zhi's brow furrowed: "Is the news certain?"
"Certain. Everyone who came back from the south says so."
Yuan Yingti's tears immediately fell like beads from a broken string, pattering down.
Xie Zhi's eyes narrowed slightly. To him, this too was dire news.
Marquis Yong'an was dead—who would give him ten thousand taels of gold now?
Xie Zhi's gaze turned sharp as he looked straight at Yuan Yingti.
Yet he saw her weeping hesitantly and haltingly, tears like a great flood that in an instant smeared her face beyond recognition.
Xie Zhi's gaze grew dark and unfathomable.
He paused, pinched the space between his brows, and took out a handkerchief to hand to her: "Miss, restrain your grief. Don't cry for now."