The Ninth Prince said again, “Rumors really can’t be trusted. In Princess Rongle’s words and bearing, where is there even the slightest trace of willfulness or unruliness? Eh, Seventh Brother, I think this princess… is rather interesting. Why don’t we go sound her out and see exactly how ugly she is?”
Zongzheng Wuyou glanced at him indifferently, clearly uninterested.
The Ninth Prince curled his lip. “You’re so boring. Ah! Right, Seventh Brother, in the future, stop opposing Father Emperor and making him angry. Every time, you scare me into a cold sweat. You’re usually not like that, but every time you attend court, it’s as if you become a different person. Seventh Brother, why exactly do you hate seeing Father Emperor so much?”
The Ninth Prince’s voice was full of curiosity. Manyao was also deeply puzzled by this. She had noticed that in the great hall that day, Zongzheng Wuyou had addressed Emperor Lintian as “Your Majesty” rather than “Father Emperor,” while Emperor Lintian was extremely indulgent toward Zongzheng Wuyou. Even in the midst of fury, his eyes had still carried a deep helplessness. What could be the reason? As Manyao was thinking, Zongzheng Wuyou’s voice came again from next door. “So this is the tea you were so certain I would like?”
His voice was very cold, with a hint of disappointment too faint to detect.
The Ninth Prince said, “Seventh Brother doesn’t like it? The flavor of this tea is quite special!”
Zongzheng Wuyou said, “This is fragrant wheat tea from Beiyi. Its flavor is indeed different from ordinary tea, but it is not what I wanted.”
The Ninth Prince gave an “oh,” unable to hide his disappointment. “Seventh Brother likes drinking tea most. All these years, you’ve been searching everywhere for varieties with unusual flavors. I thought you would like this one.”
Manyao was startled when she heard this. Zongzheng Wuyou liked drinking tea?
“Hey, Seventh Brother, you rarely leave your residence. Since you’re out today, why don’t I have Chenyu come in and play a piece? Her qin playing is truly excellent.”
Zongzheng Wuyou did not respond. The Ninth Prince took it as tacit consent and, in high spirits, called outside, “Someone!”
Someone answered and entered, respectfully calling, “Ninth Master.”
The Ninth Prince asked, “Where is Chenyu? Hasn’t she come out yet? Go see who exactly is next door. Ask how much silver he paid. This young master will pay him ten times—no, a hundred times that. Hurry, hurry!”
The person replied, “In answer to Ninth Master, Miss Chenyu went back to her room to fetch her qin. She will be here very soon.”
“Ninth Master.” Before that person had finished speaking, Chenyu had already arrived and said apologetically, “Chenyu did not know Ninth Master had guests and was remiss in her reception. Please forgive me, Ninth Master! To express my apology, Chenyu is willing to offer a dance. I wonder what Ninth Master thinks?”
The moment the Ninth Prince saw a beauty, his mood immediately improved. He raised his brows and smiled at once. “Good. This young master didn’t know Chenyu could dance as well. Then I must watch carefully and see whether your dancing is as wonderful as your qin music.”
The sound of the qin rose leisurely, its winding, lingering melody making one feel as though they had entered an illusion. Manyao could almost imagine Chenyu’s exquisite figure dancing as she played the qin. She wondered whether, after watching her, Zongzheng Wuyou, who had never been close to women, would still remain unmoved. As Manyao thought this, that perfect handsome face appeared in her mind, his wicked, unrestrained gaze seeming to be right before her eyes. Manyao turned around, preparing to close the window, when she suddenly heard the sound of a window shattering from next door, accompanied by a scream. Manyao was greatly alarmed. Thinking that something was wrong, she hurried out of the room and saw Chenyu on the first floor, caught by Xiao Sha, vomiting blood and in unbearable pain.
“You touched him?” Manyao went downstairs and asked.
Chenyu’s eyes flickered, her gaze vacant.
Xiao Sha felt Chenyu’s pulse and said to Manyao, “Her meridians and internal organs haven’t been injured.”
Manyao breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Zongzheng Wuyou had a rule against personally killing women. Otherwise, with his internal force sending Chenyu flying out the window, Chenyu would certainly have died on the spot.
When the people around saw that this brothel’s top courtesan had been injured, they all gathered around. Mama Qin cried out in shock, “Who is making trouble here? How dare you injure my precious daughter! Quickly tell Mama, and Mama will uphold justice for you.”
Chenyu lowered her eyes and coughed while clutching her chest, but she did not speak.
At this moment, someone upstairs asked, “How do you intend to uphold justice?” That voice was truly cold to the bone, enough to make one’s heart chill.
Zongzheng Wuyou stood with his hands behind his back, looking down from above. Beside him, in addition to the Ninth Prince, there was now another cold-faced guard.
It was not that Mama Qin did not know how to judge people; it was only that she had always relied on having someone backing her and had grown used to being rampant. Thus, though she knew their identities were extraordinary, she did not take it too seriously. Mama Qin looked at Zongzheng Wuyou, then swayed forward, smiling without really smiling. “Oh my, I wondered who it was. So it turns out to be Ninth Master’s guest! I know Ninth Master is a person of status. I only don’t know in what way our girl failed to serve you properly and provoked you into such a rage that you injured her like this! Tell me, how should this matter be handled?”
“How do you want to handle it?” Zongzheng Wuyou asked slowly, his tone indifferent, his face expressionless.
Mama Qin said, “You all know that Chenyu is our establishment’s top courtesan. Many high officials and nobles come here and spend lavishly all for her sake. Now that she is injured, she won’t recover without ten days or half a month. During this period, our business will certainly plummet. As for this loss…”
“You want me to compensate you?” Zongzheng Wuyou remained expressionless and added faintly, “The amount.”
Seeing him so easy to talk to, Mama Qin immediately beamed with joy. She counted on her fingers for a moment before saying, “Not much. Fifteen thousand taels will be enough.”
Fifteen thousand taels! That was enough for an ordinary family to live on for several lifetimes. This Mama Qin was indeed insatiably greedy. Manyao glanced at Zongzheng Wuyou and saw his thin lips slightly pressed together, his face deep and unreadable, his eyes half lowered so that she could not see the emotion within them. He slowly stepped down the stairs, and the crowded people spontaneously made way for him. He slowly walked past Mama Qin without glancing sideways and asked indifferently, “A mere fifteen thousand taels is enough?”
Mama Qin’s eyes shifted, the greed in them obvious. She was just about to say, “If you are willing to reward a little more, that would be even better.” But before she could say it, she saw Zongzheng Wuyou stop, slightly turn his head, and suddenly lift his eyelids. The cold, wicked arrogance in his eyes was like Yama reborn, making Mama Qin’s body tremble involuntarily. Just as she wanted to retreat, Zongzheng Wuyou was already standing with his hands behind his back and said coldly, “Half a month, fifteen thousand taels of silver—it is not much. It is merely this prince’s salary for fifteen years.”
Everyone was stunned.
He said “this prince”?! In all of Lintian, there was only one person who dared call himself that. Mama Qin froze in shock, unable to react for a long while. When she finally did, her mouth fell open and her face turned deathly pale. She had not forgotten her master’s repeated warnings, telling her that no matter what, she must never provoke one person—and that person was Prince Li, Zongzheng Wuyou!
“You, you… you are Prince Li!?” Mama Qin stammered, and before she had even finished the sentence, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Manyao could not help laughing. Mama Qin could be considered someone who had seen great scenes, and she even had the Crown Prince backing her. Who would have thought she would be so easily frightened?
“Greetings to Prince Li, may Your Highness live a thousand years!” With a whoosh, the surrounding crowd all knelt. Their reaction was extremely swift.
Zongzheng Wuyou swept a glance at Chenyu and ordered indifferently, “Leng Yan, chop off this woman’s fingers, one by one… every single one of them, for this prince.” No joy or anger could be heard in his voice, but the words he spoke chilled people from head to toe.
When Chenyu heard this, her body trembled, and she nearly fainted as well.
None of the people around dared lift their heads. In the entire building, apart from Zongzheng Wuyou, the Ninth Prince, and the guard Leng Yan, the only one still standing was Manyao.
Chenyu looked at Leng Yan striding toward her. Her face was ashen. No longer caring about the intense pain in her chest, she broke free from Ling’er and Xiao Sha, grabbed the hem of Manyao’s robe, and pleaded, “Young master, save me. You must have a way, right? I only… only touched His Highness’s clothes with my fingernail, that’s all… Young master…”
Manyao sighed. Even if Chenyu had not begged her, she would not have stood by and done nothing.
“Wait!” Manyao raised a hand to stop him.
Zongzheng Wuyou slanted his eyes, his gaze as cold and wicked as an icy pool in hell as it fell upon Manyao.
Manyao could not help drawing in a breath. Striving to remain calm, she said, “Your Highness Prince Li, what monstrous crime has Miss Chenyu committed that her ten fingers must be chopped off? You should know that for one who plays the qin, destroying her hands is even crueler than taking her life.”
Another one unafraid of death—this was the conclusion the Ninth Prince made about Manyao.
Zongzheng Wuyou looked into Manyao’s eyes. They were clear and composed, as if he had seen them somewhere before. He said, “She violated this prince’s taboo, so naturally she must pay the price.”
Manyao smiled and asked, “May I ask what Your Highness Prince Li’s taboos are?”
Zongzheng Wuyou’s gaze was icy, turning sharp. Manyao seemed not to notice and answered herself, “Your Highness Prince Li’s taboos are wine and women? Then… may I ask Your Highness Prince Li, where are you standing at this moment?”
“A brothel, of course.” The one who answered was the Ninth Prince. He still wore his usual expression of watching a good show.
Manyao smiled. “Ninth Highness is right. This is a brothel! What kind of place is a brothel? A place of romance, pleasure, and ecstasy. This kind of place may lack many things, but women are not among them. Since Your Highness Prince Li has such taboos, you should not have come. If you insist on coming, that is also fine, but at the very least, you should have your subordinates hold up a large golden placard, preferably marked in conspicuous colors: Prince Li has arrived; women and wine must not approach. Only then would it be proper. Otherwise, with guests coming and going every day like countless hairs on an ox, who would know that you are the famed Prince Li who abstains from wine and women?”
The surroundings were deathly silent. Even breathing was almost inaudible.
Among the kneeling crowd, someone’s mouth fell open as he raised his head and stared at this handsome young master, whose courage was greater than the heavens, as if he had seen a ghost.
An invisible current gathered and swelled in the air, as if it might explode at any moment. Suddenly, a fearless “haha” of loud laughter rang out, frightening everyone into a shudder. In an instant, they broke out in cold sweat.
Manyao raised her dark brows and looked strangely at the Ninth Prince, asking, “Ninth Highness, your intimate beauty is about to have her fingers chopped off. Is that truly worth laughing so happily over?”
The corners of the Ninth Prince’s grinning mouth stiffened slightly. When he saw the bright red blood at the corner of Chenyu’s mouth and her resentful gaze turned upon him, he felt that laughing just now had truly been too heartless. The Ninth Prince quickly restrained his smile and coughed lightly. “This prince was not laughing at Chenyu. I was thinking of that placard you mentioned.”
Manyao deliberately pretended to be confused. “Placard? What placard?”
Without thinking, the Ninth Prince said directly, “Of course the golden placard you mentioned, the one that says…” As soon as he got to this point, he sensed something was wrong. Turning his eyes, he saw that at some point, Zongzheng Wuyou had narrowed his phoenix eyes, his gaze fixed on him as cold as frost. The Ninth Prince’s heart jolted, and he hurriedly stopped speaking. He reached up and rubbed the bridge of his handsome nose, letting out two dry laughs.
Zongzheng Wuyou asked expressionlessly, “Very funny?”
The corner of the Ninth Prince’s mouth twitched. He could neither laugh nor not laugh. He angrily glared at Manyao, who had dug such a large pit for him, then waved his hands repeatedly at Zongzheng Wuyou. “No, not funny. I wasn’t laughing at that either, cough, cough…”
“Oh… then Ninth Prince was still laughing at Miss Chenyu?” Manyao crouched beside Chenyu, lifted Chenyu’s slender, graceful fingers, shook her head, and sighed. “What a pity for such a beautiful pair of hands. In the future, we will never again hear such lovely qin music or see her graceful dance… Ah, truly a pity!”
Sorrow rose in Chenyu’s heart, and tears fell in streams as she began to sob softly.
When the Ninth Prince thought of the dance just now, he could not help saying, “It is rather a pity. That dance wasn’t even finished! Seventh Brother, one who does not know is not guilty. Why don’t you give me some face and spare her this time?”
Zongzheng Wuyou glanced at him coldly. “Have I given you little face?”
He snatched the jade-ribbed folding fan from the Ninth Prince’s hand and slowly walked up to Manyao. Manyao stood, and the folding fan in Zongzheng Wuyou’s hand struck her shoulder. Her shoulder sank; that folding fan, infused with internal force, seemed to weigh a thousand jin, and Manyao could scarcely stand steady. She turned her head to the side while using the folding fan in her own hand to block. One white and one blue-green, both jade-ribbed with silk surfaces. Only, on the jade rib of the fan in her hand, apart from the three characters “Wuyin Tower,” it was smooth and flat, while the fan in his hand also bore a design, like a dragon yet not a dragon, and only half of it.
Zongzheng Wuyou looked at the folding fan in her hand and paused slightly. The strength in his hand actually loosened a little. His thin lips curved faintly, seeming to smile yet not. “Do not play these petty tricks before this prince. Since you think it is a pity, then today this prince will show rare mercy and use your hands… in exchange for hers.”
Manyao’s heart sank, but her expression did not change as she smiled. “It is rare for Your Highness Prince Li to be so merciful. I should gladly obey, but I also treasure these hands of mine dearly. If they were simply gone like this, I truly would be reluctant.” She spoke lightly and smiled calmly.
Even Zongzheng Wuyou could not help admiring her courage. In all these years, there truly had not been many people who dared speak to him so easily and casually. Zongzheng Wuyou withdrew the folding fan and casually tossed it behind him. The Ninth Prince hurriedly caught it. Zongzheng Wuyou turned and paced a few steps. When he looked back, his eyes were half narrowed, his gaze probing. “In the things this prince wants to do, no one has ever dared say even half a ‘no.’ Who are you, and exactly what are you relying on to dare be so fearless before this prince?”
With the weight gone from her shoulder, Manyao’s entire body felt much freer. She recalled Zongzheng Wuyou’s words and conduct in the great hall, and the faint hatred in his eyes when he looked at the emperor. Her gaze shifted, and she said mildly, “I am only a businessman, with nothing to rely on. I am simply used to speaking this way. Your Highness has a noble status and is most favored by the emperor. Everyone who sees you is fearful and reverent, scrambling to approach. But Your Highness, can you distinguish who is sincere and who is false? In truth, being born into an imperial family may not necessarily be a blessing. Though one’s status is certainly noble, it cannot compare to an ordinary household, where people share coarse tea and plain rice, and the family loves one another in harmony and warmth.”
These words were originally meant for Zongzheng Wuyou, but by the end, much sorrow had arisen in Manyao’s own heart. Bits and pieces of the past surfaced in her mind. In her previous life, if her father had not been the president of the Man Group, busy every day with social obligations, her mother would not have left so early. She clearly had family, yet she was more like an orphan. Apart from demanding how she should be and what she should do, her father had never cared what she wanted or whether she liked that kind of life. When she was ill, the one who took care of her was always only the nanny. When her mother passed away, her father was abroad and did not return. She presided over her mother’s funeral alone. That year, she was twelve. If she had not been the only daughter of the president of the Man Group, no one would have used her identity to deceive her feelings. If she had not been the sole heir of the Man Group, no one would have harmed her life in order to fight over the family property, causing her to come to this unfamiliar world and live every day in fear…
Zongzheng Wuyou’s gaze changed slightly, deep as a pool. He stared fixedly at Manyao. In their eye contact, Manyao saw emotions seeming to surge in the depths of his eyes—a trace of sorrow, a kind of helplessness, a touch of desolation… Before she could see clearly, those emotions had already been suppressed and erased by him. Manyao was slightly stunned. In that instant, it was as if she had seen herself in a mirror. Zongzheng Wuyou, a man standing at the peak of power, arrogant and conceited, who could even act as he pleased before the emperor, was actually accustomed to pressing all emotions deep into his heart. This person’s heart must hold secrets unknown to others.
The Ninth Prince looked at Manyao with great interest. Everyone in the world envied their noble imperial status, destined from birth to stand above others, yet the person before him said they were not even as fortunate as common folk? Although their lives were indeed not as perfect as people imagined, such words could not be spoken carelessly. If handled badly, one could lose their head.
The surroundings returned once more to silence. No one dared even breathe loudly.
Zongzheng Wuyou looked at her for a while longer, then suddenly glanced left and right and frowned. “Why isn’t there even a stool?”
Everyone was stunned. At his sudden change, they were somewhat at a loss. Mama Qin, who had already regained consciousness, was the first to react and hurriedly cried, “There are, there are… What are you all standing there for? Hurry and bring His Highness a stool—no, bring a chair!”
The servants in the building hurried off. In less than a moment, dozens of chairs had been placed in the hall.
Mama Qin climbed up from the ground, bent at the waist, and smiled obsequiously. “Your Highness, please sit. What would you like to drink?”
Zongzheng Wuyou ignored her. Lifting the hem of his robe, he sat down nearby and leaned lazily against the back of the chair. His pair of wicked eyes once again fixed on Manyao, though the expression in them was no longer as icy as before. He said, “You are very bold! Just for those words of yours, dying ten times would be enough.”
Manyao sat down opposite him without ceremony, crossing her legs, her posture casual yet elegant. She smiled. “As long as Your Highness Prince Li pardons me, I need not die even once.”
Zongzheng Wuyou’s thin lips curved slightly. Leaning forward, he asked, “You want this prince to pardon you? Reason?”
Instead of answering, Manyao asked, “I hear Your Highness likes drinking tea. Is that true?”
Zongzheng Wuyou said, “It is true that this prince likes drinking tea, but I do not like every kind of tea. Moreover, ordinary tea is plentiful in this prince’s residence.”
Manyao smiled. “Naturally. However, appreciating tea is not only about the tea itself… If Your Highness is interested, then in three days, please honor the Longyue Tea Garden by Tianshui Lake in the western city with your presence. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. However, I ask Your Highness to prepare one thing.”
Zongzheng Wuyou waited for her to continue.
Manyao paused, then said, “A state of mind. A state of mind for appreciating tea.”
Zongzheng Wuyou’s gaze as he looked at her froze slightly. In a daze, he remembered that someone had once said to him, “Appreciating tea, appreciating tea—tea itself is secondary. Most important is a person’s state of mind! Wuyou, I hope you can become a person with inner peace, like this clear tea, and not be entangled by the hostility of the imperial clan…”
“One needs to prepare a state of mind to drink tea? Truly unheard of.” The Ninth Prince disapproved and laughed loudly.
Manyao smiled without speaking. From Zongzheng Wuyou’s expression, she could tell that he understood.
Zongzheng Wuyou rose. With a strange look in his eyes, he glanced at her. Before flicking his sleeves and leaving, he said, “I hope that in three days, you will not disappoint this prince. Otherwise, what gets chopped… will not be your hands, but your pretty neck! Men—notify the capital prefect: after tomorrow, if this prince sees this brothel still operating, tell him to bring his head to see me. Also, I hear this brothel earns at least a thousand taels of silver every day. Investigate how many years they have been operating, calculate the total profit from all these years, and send it to the Crown Prince’s residence.”
The surrounding people were just feeling puzzled by these instructions, but Manyao smiled faintly. Lintian’s borders had been plagued by constant warfare these past two years, so the national treasury must already be empty. This Zongzheng Wuyou—perhaps deep inside, he was not as cold and heartless as he appeared on the surface. Poor Crown Prince. He was going to bleed heavily!