However, by the next day, Yin Xun inevitably had dark circles under his eyes.
With his pale skin, the bruised tint beneath his eyes stood out so sharply that at a glance, he looked as though his vital energy had been drained by a spirit. Even Ming Li, usually so composed, wore a trace of unease on her face at the sight.
Clearly, one still needed to sleep early and rise early.
Xing'er's expression was also rather delicate. Her gaze drifted back and forth between the two of them, and she hesitated, wanting to speak.
She probably wanted to tell Ming Li to show him some mercy and not go too far.
Ming Li rubbed the bridge of her nose.
If she told them she hadn't done a single thing, probably no one would believe her, right?
Yin Xun had no intention of explaining either. After all, although he held the status of an imperial prince, once he entered the Jiang Family he could only be considered a matrilocal husband. Letting others believe that he and Jiang Li shared a deep affection would only make his life smoother in the future.
However, this notion of Yin Xun's was destined to never be realized.
Because just a few days after the two of them moved back to the Chancellor's Estate, that Fourth Miss lost no time in separating their bedrooms. She even solemnly designated a specific area for him, restricting his activities strictly to those zones.
Her exact words were, "Do not wander around, or else bear the consequences yourself."
With that, she had also cast a meaningful glance at his legs, the threat hanging heavily in the air.
A Ruo, who had originally harbored some expectations for Ming Li, grew so furious upon hearing these words that she burst into tears and turned to rail against her:
"And here I thought this Fourth Miss Jiang was someone we could count on! How could she humiliate His Highness like this! Not letting him go out to be seen by others—how is that any different from the kept male favorites raised in the back courtyards of certain notoriously disgraced women!"
"This Fourth Miss is simply rotten to the core!"
"A Ruo, do not speak nonsense." Yin Xun coughed twice, though in his heart he thought ungratefully that there probably was a difference.
A kept male favorite could at least occasionally hum a tune or play the zither, whereas he could do none of those things, left only to drag his sickly body through dark corners until he died of illness.
Yet, so what? "At least now, we don't have to worry about palace servants skimming our food portions." Nor did he need to fear being plotted against by others, and whatever he wished to do, he could pursue freely.
He only wondered how much longer his body could hold out.
In truth, Yin Xun had not been born weak. It was simply that in his childhood, he accidentally ingested poison intended by someone else for his mother. Though he narrowly escaped with his life, it left him with a chronic root of illness.
Yet thanks to this chronic illness, he had spent years in the Cold Palace, ignored while the storms of the imperial court raged and political ambitions burned bright—not a single tongue of flame could touch so much as the hem of his robe.
He could only blame Yin Yuan for setting his sights on him. In the past, he had only wanted to survive, but now, he no longer did.
The Divine Stone gleamed with sharp eyes, piercing straight to the heart: "His Highness wants to stir up trouble now."
Ming Li, who had just beaten back a wave of assassins and was observing him from a high vantage point, let out an "en" and replied offhandedly, "Hasn't he always been quite capable of stirring up trouble?"
With enemies scattered everywhere and assassins as common as stray dogs, dealing with them was both troublesome and energy-consuming.
Yet this fellow possessed not the slightest self-awareness and was still making a fuss here...
Recalling the other group of people who had stepped in to help when she was clashing with the assassins just moments ago, Ming Li's eyes deepened with utter helplessness. "Knowing how to defend oneself is a good thing, but if the trouble piles up any higher, he won't be very cute."
"Phew—it seems to have gotten a bit cold again recently. Tomorrow, I'll have Xing'er send over a few autumn garments and some bedding so he doesn't freeze."
***
Meanwhile, the people on the other side could not figure it out for the life of them.
"An imperial prince born to a palace maid, sequestered in the Cold Palace for over a decade without any contact with the outside world—how could he possibly have experts guarding his side?"
General of the Household Cavalry Xiao Ning gripped the secret intelligence report sent by his underground agent. His expression was a mix of alarm and bewilderment, but more than anything, it defied easy description. "At first, I thought he was just out of his mind for latching onto the Jiang Family and trying to use empty threats to intimidate me. But looking at it now, that Yin Yuan is the truly foolish and hopeless one!"
"A litter of wolf cubs, yet he insisted on treating them like dogs. Now that these wolf cubs have grown hard bones and bitten back, they've dragged me down into the mud!"
He had painstakingly spent years gathering compromising evidence on various court factions, and before it had even warmed in his hands, that worthless wretch had turned around and handed it over, effectively binding him tight to the pirate ship of that palace maid's son!
The retainer seated opposite him shook his head as well. "The Second Prince is hot-headed; he is indeed hard to mold into greatness."
"Speaking of which, the person Second Highness planted by our side to steal the account books has also been found—in a dry well at a northern courtyard."
"His limbs were bound, and he was drowned."
With a soft *clack*, a teacup landed on the tabletop, and both men's gazes grew heavy. The retainer's voice became increasingly stifled. "If we hadn't prepared beforehand by feeding poison pills to those closest to us—whereby a faint fragrance in their blood attracts venomous bugs—who would have ever guessed that he actually died at the hands of the Seventh Highness, whose days are numbered?"
They had busied themselves for the Second Prince for so long, even plotting to target the Jiang Family on his behalf in the near future, only for the duck cooked and ready at their lips to be sabotaged by their own people and snatched away by someone else. Even Bailang, who was always calm, felt utterly aggrieved to the core!
"Fortunately, we haven't completely offended this Yin Xun yet. Bailang, my friend, it looks like we truly need to change masters." After raging for a while, Xiao Ning realized such emotions were entirely useless and finally drooped his head to accept his fate.
"Since Second Yin looks down on a martial brute like me anyway, I'll just have to show him what this martial brute is capable of."
Bailang repeatedly pressed a hand to his forehead. "How have you *not* offended him completely? Didn't you still refuse to listen to my advice last night and go personally assassinate him? Yin Xun has a mind as sharp and clear as crystal; he probably guessed you were General Xiao without breaking a sweat. It's a miracle he hasn't fought you to the bitter end—you should burn incense and thank the buddhas!"
At the mention of this, Xiao Ning was suddenly wide awake.
Blinking his eyes with coquettish flair, he leaned languidly against the edge and flashed a row of white teeth. "Hey now, Bailang, you're wronging me here. Who says I went there last night to assassinate him?"
"I clearly went there to protect our new master!"
"?"
"You wouldn't know—the moment I exchanged blows with that expert outside Yin Xun's room, I knew a bunch like us could never kill him. So I played along, teamed up with that expert, and turned around to wipe out the men sent by that dog-pup Yin Yuan!"
"That shows goodwill and lets off steam at the same time. Tell me, am I brilliant or what?"
Bailang: You really are a brilliant idiot!
You haven't even finalized your new master yet, and you've already thoroughly alienated the old one.
You couldn't engineer a stroke this fast even if you tried for a few years!