On the third day of being locked in the courtyard, Pei You was bored.
Lying leisurely on a bamboo recliner, she pulled the blue-covered book she had read countless times over her face to block the sun, feeling as though the warmth was soaking clear down to her bones.
Nanny Xu walked over carrying a bowl of apricots chilled in cold water, and upon seeing Pei You sprawled out in the shape of the Chinese character for "big," she couldn't help but chuckle—her young miss still had the heart of a child.
Her gaze then drifted anxiously toward the tightly closed courtyard gates. Not a single person from the Ninth Prince's Mansion had come all this time; she wondered if some unexpected trouble had arisen.
Meanwhile, upon hearing that another of his suburban medicinal farms had been completely plundered, Cheng Yunyin finally couldn't help smashing his third teacup of the day. Ever since he heard the news three days ago that Pei You had been placed under house arrest at Feiyi Workshop, the medicinal herb businesses under his control had begun suffering inexplicable attacks.
Even though he had previously been able to supply a portion of the herbs from the prescriptions Pei You provided, at the rate this mysterious organization was looting, he feared he wouldn't even have those left.
It felt as though everything was forcing him to approach Pei You. At first, he hadn't taken it to heart, figuring that since the prescription was already in his hands, gathering the herbs was only a matter of time. Yet, as it happened, his medicine farms had suffered consecutive disasters over the past two days.
A playful, mocking smile curved the corners of Cheng Yunyin's lips. It seemed his little fiancée had quite a few others standing behind her.
"Come here." Turning his wheelchair toward the door, Cheng Yunyin exposed his pale face to the sunlight, his dark eyes carrying a hint of ruthlessness. "This Prince is going to pay a personal visit to his fiancée."
***
Chen Boyuan had no idea which wind had blown this prickly Ninth Prince—whom he could ill afford to offend—straight to his doorstep, but he had no choice but to put on a smiling face and play the gracious host.
"Please, have some tea, Your Highness." Chen Boyuan offered a slight bow. "I wonder what brings Your Highness here today?"
Cheng Yunyin fixed Chen Boyuan with a sinister glare that made one's skin crawl, then calmly withdrew his gaze. "I heard that the Marquis has placed my fiancée under house arrest. I wonder what heinous crime she committed."
Looking at his expression, which was neither a smile nor a sneer, Chen Boyuan secretly wiped away a sweat. When he had betrothed Xiner to him in her early years, he had never seen the man show this much concern. Other princes of the imperial family could be offended and still leave a path for survival—even the Crown Prince was like that. But the Ninth Prince before him right now was a madman who would dare run a court official straight through with a sword!
Chen Boyuan carefully weighed his phrasing. "It was merely a trifling matter of young girls letting jealousy get the better of them. How could it possibly warrant troubling Your Highness..."
"Is that so? It is rather difficult to determine right and wrong when young girls squabble out of jealousy."
Up to this point, Cheng Yunyin's attitude remained mild, and Chen Boyuan nodded along with his words.
"If that is the case, why is only Pei You being punished?" Cheng Yunyin casually set down his cup. The porcelain clashed against the fine sandalwood table, producing a sharp ring.
By now, Chen Boyuan understood Cheng Yunyin's meaning: either lift Pei You's confinement, or place Chen Yunxin under house arrest right along with her.
Xiner had suffered grievances in the palace and remained sullen to this day; as her father, how could he possibly shut her away in confinement now? Figuring out the connection, Chen Boyuan gave the order: "Release Pei You."
"It seems the one in the wrong is not my fiancée after all," Cheng Yunyin dropped the remark in an even, indifferent tone. "Lead the way then. My fiancée has suffered such great grievances; it would hardly be fitting for me not to go see her."
Chen Boyuan choked back a mouthful of blood, but stuck with this imperial prince—an ancestral deity whom one could neither scold nor reason with—he had no choice but to keep up a smiling face and politely have the Marquis's Mansion servants lead the way over.
The wooden bolt sealing the door was pulled out from the outside. Pei You hastily used a handkerchief to wipe clean her hands, which were somewhat messy from eating apricots, thinking to herself about how she should convince her father that she hadn't even seen Chen Yunxin in the palace, when she heard the sound of wheelchair wheels grinding across the ground.
Lifting her head, she locked eyes with Cheng Yunyin's dangerous expression. Pei You looked surprised for a moment, then stood on tiptoe to peer behind him, searching for something.
"The Marquis Wangyuan didn't come." The look Cheng Yunyin gave Pei You grew even more intrigued. "I did underestimate you."
Disappointed, Pei You withdrew her gaze, letting her eyes fall back onto Cheng Yunyin without giving a second thought to the deeper meaning behind his words. After all, these high and mighty people always spoke in riddles that ordinary commoners like them couldn't possibly understand.
Instead, her gaze lingered on his paralyzed legs, and Pei You heavily furrowed her brow. "You didn't brew and drink the medicinal decoction according to the prescription I gave you."
Cheng Yunyin was almost angry enough to laugh. He *had* wanted to drink that medicine as quickly as possible, but the prescription consisted entirely of ultra-rare herbs among which even a thousand-year-old ginseng didn't look particularly precious.
"Dragon-marrow grass, foundation-solidifying herb—these have been extinct for many years. How could they possibly be gathered in such a short time?" At the mere mention of it, Cheng Yunyin tightened his grip on the wheelchair armrests. There had originally been a thousand-year-old ginseng hidden in a secret room at his medicine farm, yet he had no idea how those people who came to loot had managed to find that exact ginseng with such precision.
Hearing this, Pei You looked momentarily dazed, her lips—still stained with apricot juice—parting slightly. "These things are extinct? How is that possible?" She clearly remembered there being so many of them in her village, and the back mountains were completely overgrown with them.
"Why would this Prince lie to you?" Cheng Yunyin forced his grip tighter. While this woman was truly hateful, after all, his leg injury had only just shown a glimmer of hope; he must on no account give up now.
Seeing that his expression didn't seem feigned, Pei You believed him by half, and then let out a helpless sigh. Bringing medicinal herbs over from the mountains would also take a long time; it seemed she would just have to use other treatment methods for the time being.
Yet, being a doctor with a benevolent heart, Pei You still didn't forget to soothe the patient's emotions under these circumstances. "It's fine. Let's try other methods first."
Having exhausted himself searching for herbs over the past few days, Cheng Yunyin felt somewhat incredulous upon hearing this. When he had first seen that long list of rare medicinal herbs, he had actually felt relieved, because his leg was a chronic ailment of many years, and only such heavenly treasures offered any possibility of a cure. Now that Pei You was saying there were other methods, Cheng Yunyin subconsciously felt that he was in for yet another exhausting ordeal.
"Take them off."
The casual two words slipped out, and Pei You turned around to instruct Nanny Xu to fetch a basin of boiling water. Turning back, she saw Cheng Yunyin sitting stiffly in his wheelchair without the slightest reaction. With a knowing look, she walked over and squeezed past the robust guard pushing the wheelchair.
Wufeng subconsciously yielded his place, shifting his gaze away when he met his master's intensely resentful eyes. He looked at the sky, he looked at the earth, but he simply refused to look at his master—who was currently at the mercy of others. *Master, you aren't going to lose out anyway, there's really no need to act so much like a blushing virgin.*
The wheelchair beneath him rolled toward the room, and Cheng Yunyin seemed to snap out of a trance as he angrily rebuked, "What are you trying to do?!"
Pei You was surprised that he was having such a strong reaction. "We can do it in the courtyard too, it's just that there are too many distractions out there, and I wouldn't be able to concentrate very well."
Concentrate on *what*?! As the dignified Ninth Prince of the present day, when had anyone ever dared say the words "take them off" to his face? How did this differ from a brothel attendant?
Cheng Yunyin once again cursed his inability to walk properly, which was why he was now being pushed inside by this woman without the slightest power to resist.
Just as he was struggling internally, Pei You suddenly stopped, calling out to the guard who was still standing in the courtyard, "Big brother, you come in too."
Wufeng was suddenly singled out, his expression twisting into a strange grimace. "This kind of thing... does this subordinate need to be involved as well?"
Pei You nodded matter-of-factly. "Of course. Otherwise, whose pants is he going to take off?" Seeing Wufeng's stiff face, Pei You offered a reassuring comfort, "Don't be nervous. When necessary, just hold him down so he doesn't thrash around."
Watching his master being pushed into the room, Wufeng took a deep breath, his expression turning somewhat resolute. *Master, getting your legs healed is the priority; for now, we still can't afford to offend Miss Pei, even if you punish this subordinate when we get back.* With that, he followed into the outer room wearing a look of resigning himself to death.
Once inside, Pei You turned her back to steep a packet of silver needles in a basin of piping-hot water, and casually said to Wufeng, "Take off his pants."
Wufeng built up his psychological defenses for two seconds right where he stood, then marched toward Cheng Yunyin. The expression on Cheng Yunyin's pale face became even more distorted. "Get lost!"
Hearing the roar from behind her, Pei You turned around in annoyance, launching straight into a stern lecture: "Do you want to be cured or not? Last time you soaked in ice water, and this time you're straight-up refusing treatment—where on earth is there a disobedient patient like you?"
Cheng Yunyin exerted force with his hands, turning the wooden armrests directly into splinters beneath his grip.
"What kind of treatment requires taking off..." Cheng Yunyin ultimately couldn't bring himself to say the word *pants*.
Pei You carried the small basin of soaking silver needles over to the table beside Cheng Yunyin, her delicate brows furrowing slightly, her clear apricot-blossom eyes filled entirely with disapproval. "How are we supposed to pierce with needles if you don't take your pants off?"