A sweet, delicate fragrance suddenly drifted toward him, making Qin Ye’s breath catch.
Before he could say anything, an anxious voice came from outside the study door. “Your Highness, Miss Lin’s fever has become very high. She’s been calling your name the whole time. Please go see her.”
The speaker was Lian Xin.
When Lin Shuyan had first arrived in the capital and sought refuge at Prince Xiao’s residence, Nanny Qian had assigned Lian Xin to serve her. In less than two months, she had already become Lin Shuyan’s trusted personal maid.
Yun Si straightened up and silently looked at Qin Ye.
Qin Ye looked at her too. Their eyes met, but the atmosphere was no longer as calm as before.
One woman had taken a knife for him. The other had stabbed him in the heart. Any normal person would choose the former.
“Don’t involve yourself any further in investigating the mysterious person behind Shen Qian.” Qin Ye finally spoke. Then he rose and headed for the door.
Yun Si remained where she was and gave no response. When Qin Ye reached the doorway, he opened the door, then turned back to look at her. “This prince will assign people to keep watch. If there is any news, I’ll inform you. Don’t act recklessly.” With that, he left the study.
Yun Si quickly followed him outside. She saw him say something quietly to Lian Xin. After bowing, Lian Xin hurried away, while Qin Ye himself headed in the opposite direction.
Wasn’t he supposed to visit Lin Shuyan? Why was he going the other way? Still, he had promised to send people to investigate, so the trip had not been in vain.
Yun Si returned to her quarters and continued studying medicine.
…
Three days later.
Qiangwei Courtyard.
Lin Shuyan sat before her dressing table in her nightclothes, slowly combing her hair. Her demeanor was gentle and graceful, calm and composed.
Three days had passed. She had risked her life, yet all she gained in return was the chance to recuperate in Prince Xiao’s residence. Qin Ye had not come to see her once. What a heartless man.
Looking at herself in the bronze mirror, Lin Shuyan saw a young and beautiful woman with graceful bearing and dignified manners. Aside from the lingering paleness caused by blood loss, she was no less attractive than any other woman.
When Qin Ye first agreed to take her as a secondary consort, she thought things were progressing far too smoothly. Sure enough, something had gone wrong.
Although his mother had once wished Qin Ye would marry her, Qin Ye had never agreed. She had always known that Qin Ye did not love her. But so what? By marrying Qin Ye, she could one day become the most exalted woman in the world.
In her previous life, she had failed to seize the opportunity. She had remained merely Qin Ye’s sworn younger sister and eventually married the son of a noble family. On the surface, her life had seemed glamorous and enviable, but in reality it had been hollow. That entire family had been nothing but sanctimonious hypocrites. Her married life had been miserable beyond words. Half her life had been wasted away, and when she died, there had not been a single person by her side. She had never expected Heaven to grant her another chance and send her back to the moment when Qin Ye had become completely disillusioned with the young woman from the Marquis Manor.
As for the prime minister’s legitimate daughter, she would not appear for another six months.
This was the perfect opportunity to change her fate. She had carefully calculated the timing and rushed from her hometown in Jiangnan to the capital, arriving precisely when Qin Ye had been hurt most deeply by Yun Si.
She had taken advantage of that opening. Although she still didn’t know exactly what had moved Qin Ye enough to finally agree to take her as his secondary consort. He had even bought her a residence in the southern part of the city, intending for her to marry into Prince Xiao’s household in grand fashion. Yet the sudden cancellation of the wedding had completely caught her off guard.
Lin Shuyan set down her comb. Her fingertips lightly traced the edge of the dressing table as her eyes darkened slightly.
“Yun Si.” She softly repeated the name, a cold smile curling at the corners of her lips.
In her previous life, Yun Si had been nothing more than a foolish abandoned wife. After Shen Qian had squeezed every last bit of value from her, she died a miserable death. But in this life, why had she suddenly returned to Prince Xiao’s residence? According to the timeline, she should have been dead by now.
Lin Shuyan felt that something was very wrong. She could not afford to sit still and wait.
Ever since the wedding had been canceled, Qin Ye had sent her many gifts as compensation, but beyond that, there had been no further contact.
She had no choice but to resort to risky measures. Fortunately, that gamble had worked. She had been allowed to remain in the prince’s residence to recover from her injuries. But that was far from enough.
Her wounds were healing quickly. Once she recovered completely, she would have no excuse to stay. She needed a way to stay in the residence permanently.
For now, however, the most urgent matter was figuring out what had happened with Yun Si. Only after dealing with that woman could she move on to her next plan.
Meanwhile…
Inside the apothecary, Yun Si held a silver needle between her fingertips. A cold gleam shone along its poisoned tip.
Over the past few days, following the instructions in the notebook, she had not only prepared several commonly used medicines but had also concocted several deadly poisons capable of killing on contact with blood. By soaking silver needles in different medicinal solutions, she could produce various effects.
Some would paralyze. Others would kill.
In one corner of the room stood a target made of coarse cloth. Seven or eight silver needles were already embedded in its center.
Yun Si stepped back three paces and flicked her wrist. Whoosh!
The silver needle shot forward and struck the target. It missed the bullseye by only half an inch. She narrowed her eyes and drew out another needle.
“Mistress…” Lan Xin came again, standing in the doorway to report the latest happenings in the residence.
“Mistress, Miss Lin’s injuries have only just started to improve, yet she’s already giving gifts to everyone in the manor. Even Lu Yu and I received some. At this rate, everyone in the residence will end up on her side. What are we supposed to do?”
As she listened, Yun Si adjusted her stance, recalculated the distance, and threw another silver needle. This time, it struck the exact center of the target.
“Mistress!” Lan Xin stomped her foot in frustration. “Are you even listening to me?”
“I heard you.” Yun Si smiled reassuringly at her. “There’s no need to pay attention to it. What she chooses to do is her business. We’ll just let things take their natural course.”
These past few days, it had been impossible for Yun Si not to hear about Lin Shuyan.
If Lan Xin didn’t bring it up, then Lu Yu would.
When Lin Shuyan had first arrived in the capital, Yun Si had happened to be away from the prince’s residence. Lin Shuyan had come seeking refuge with Qin Ye and had stayed in the manor for a period of time. Everyone in the residence had liked her. When she ultimately failed to marry into Prince Xiao’s household, many of the servants couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Furthermore, most of them had never liked Yun Si as Princess Consort in the first place. Because of what had happened, their resentment toward her had only deepened. The only reason they didn’t show it too openly was because of Qin Ye’s attitude.
Yun Si understood all of this perfectly well. But who could she blame? Only herself. She had done too many foolish things in the past. Even toward Qin Ye, her attitude had been terrible. As for the servants in the residence, she had rarely shown them a pleasant face. It was only natural that they disliked her.
She had dug this pit for herself. Now that she had to face the consequences, she really had nothing to say. Rather than wasting energy trying to win others over, she would rather focus on improving herself.
“Mistress,” Lan Xin asked helplessly, “aren’t you worried at all?”
Seeing Yun Si’s reaction, Lan Xin couldn’t help growing anxious. “Even though that Miss Lin does seem like quite a nice person, she’s affecting your position, Mistress. Otherwise, should Lu Yu and I come up with a way to drive her out?”
Yun Si paused. “You think she’s a good person?”
Lan Xin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “She really does seem very nice.” After saying that, she secretly glanced at Yun Si. Only when she saw that Yun Si wasn’t angry did she relax.
That afternoon, Yun Si rested for half an hour. Over the past two days, with the medicine and the nightly medicinal baths, she could already feel her body becoming much lighter. When she woke up, she felt more energetic than she had in years.
Lu Yu waited outside the door. As soon as Yun Si came out, she eagerly shared more news. “Mistress, do you know why His Highness went to the palace on the night he was ambushed?”
Yun Si shook her head. “I don’t.”
“This servant just passed by the martial training grounds and overheard several guards talking. It turns out that when you and His Highness divorced, he never reported it to the palace. But somehow, someone leaked the news, and it reached the Emperor’s ears.”
He hadn’t reported it to the palace? Then what about the imperial family registry? Yun Si’s heart tightened slightly.
Lu Yu continued, sounding both angry and worried. “They said someone accused His Highness of harboring the daughter of a convicted official inside the residence. The Emperor summoned him to the palace for questioning. No one knows exactly how His Highness explained himself, but in the end, the Emperor only reprimanded him and punished him by making him kneel outside the Imperial Study for more than two hours before allowing him to leave.”
After hearing this, ripples disturbed Yun Si’s previously calm state of mind. She didn’t even need to think about it to know how much pressure he must have endured to secure this peaceful refuge for her. He was always like this. Quietly giving and never asking for anything in return.
That evening, Yun Si made a special effort to dress herself carefully. Carrying a jug of wine, she headed for the main courtyard.
Recently, Qin Ye had been occupied with inspecting a newly manufactured batch of repeating crossbows. Over the last two years, several batches had already suffered from serious quality problems.
Shen Qian, the Vice Minister of War, should have supervised these matters. However, Shen Qian had been missing for days, and the Minister of War had shifted all responsibility onto the craftsmen. As a result, the issue remained unresolved, provoking the Emperor’s fury. No one dared volunteer to handle such a troublesome situation.
At that very moment, Qin Ye stepped forward and took over the hot potato himself.
“Your Highness, there’s a problem with this batch of repeating crossbows again.” Inside the study, Mu Ze handed over a crossbow mechanism, his expression grave.
“The trigger assembly has the same issue as the batch from last month. After about thirty shots, the string jams.”
Qin Ye took the crossbow and ran his thumb over the newly cast bronze component. His eyes grew colder. The quality of this bronze was clearly wrong. It should have been high-grade red copper, but impurities had been mixed into it. He was all too familiar with this sort of trick. Back when he lived on the streets of Jinzhou, those unscrupulous blacksmiths used the same method to cut costs.
“Has the source of this copper been investigated?”
“This subordinate has already looked into it,” Mu Ze replied in a lowered voice. “The copper came from a mine owned by the Shen family. However, there was nothing wrong with the material before it entered the Armaments Bureau. The problem only appeared in the finished products.”
That made the matter even stranger.
“Perhaps we’ve been investigating the wrong thing.” A man dressed in black, seated in a corner of the room, suddenly spoke up.
“Mu Ze, stop focusing on the copper supply. Over the next few days, arrange for a few informants to enter the Armaments Bureau and keep an eye on the master craftsmen.”
“Master Qu, you mean the problem might still lie with the craftsmen?”
“Whether it does or not, we’ll only know after we’ve investigated.”
“Understood. I’ll handle it immediately.” Mu Ze was about to leave when Qin Ye noticed the bloodstain on his collar and frowned.
“Hasn’t your wound healed yet? Later, have Physician Ji prescribe you some better medicine.”
“I’m perfectly fine, Your Highness. There’s no need to worry.”
After Mu Ze left, Qu Yun also rose to his feet. Yawning broadly, he patted the dust from his clothes and looked ready to head out as well.
“I’m exhausted. The new branch in Liangzhou just opened, the restaurant in Jinzhou is being renovated, and the newspaper business in the capital still needs my approval. I’ve been running back and forth every day and haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in days. Unless the sky is falling, don’t come looking for me.”
The two men left one after another and ran into Yun Si at the door.
Mu Ze pretended not to see her and walked right past. Qu Yun, however, greeted her cheerfully. “Princess Consort, you’re here. Go on in.”
Yun Si nodded to him. “Safe travels, Master Qu.”
Qu Yun was stunned. The Princess Consort was being this polite today?
Smiling brightly, Yun Si entered the study and walked straight to the desk.
Looking at Qin Ye, she asked, “Your Highness, have you finished your work?”
“Mhm.” Qin Ye’s expression remained indifferent.
“You’ve come at the right time. Let’s talk about that mysterious person.”
Yun Si’s gaze settled on his nearly flawless face. Ever since she had returned to the residence, he had been distant and cold toward her, leaving her feeling deeply frustrated. If he truly didn’t care about her, she could turn around and walk away without hesitation. But clearly…
A mischievous thought suddenly surfaced in Yun Si’s mind.
“No rush.” She set the wine jug aside and leaned forward. Her fingertip lightly touched the back of his hand, tracing slowly along his wrist before finally stopping at his tense jawline. Her soft lips drew close to his ear, her breath carrying a delicate fragrance.
“Your Highness…”
Qin Ye’s eyes darkened. His body stiffened slightly. Suddenly, he grasped her slender wrist. His palm was scorching hot, yet his force was restrained, only pushing her a short distance away.
“Yun Si…”
“It was you who provoked me first.”
Yun Si gave him no chance to speak. Instead, she shamelessly turned an old grievance against him and struck first.
“You drugged me and ruined my reputation. What, has it only been a year, and you’ve already decided you don’t want to take responsibility anymore?”
“…”
Qin Ye froze. His eyes darkened with unreadable emotions. After a long silence, he finally said in a low voice, “It was you who didn’t want me to take responsibility.”
Bitterness spread through Yun Si’s heart, though none of it showed on her face. Her eyes shimmered as she looked at him, alluring without realizing it. “I was wrong. Does Your Highness still want me?”
A lesson she had learned from spending a year with Qin Ye in her previous life: Be honest. Be direct.
Qin Ye stared at her face, which, in that moment, seemed especially enchanting and beautiful. His gaze grew dark and burning.
Their warm breaths mingled.
Wherever his eyes swept across her, Yun Si felt as though her skin were on the verge of catching fire. A faint tremor ran through her heart. This position was really uncomfortable. The desk between them forced her to stretch forward, making her waist ache.
Just as Yun Si started to lean back, Qin Ye suddenly grabbed her and pulled her closer. “After teasing me, you’re trying to run away?”