Chapter 35 Speaking I’m afraid you’ll leave soon.

Chapter 35: Conversation

I'm afraid you're about to leave.

Madam Zhong had initially been unwilling to return to their ancestral hometown to lay low. After all, it was a small riverside town, where news traveled much slower than in the capital. Should anything befall Zhong Huaizhi or Zhong Shu, it would take a long time for news to reach them.

She was also worried about leaving Zhong Lan alone in the capital to face the Fourth Prince’s harassment.

But letting Zhong Yao go back alone was out of the question, fearing she might encounter dreadful bandits again, just like last time.

It was no easy task for Zhong Yao and her brothers to finally persuade her.

“I’m still uneasy,” Madam Zhong worried aloud inside the carriage. “After I see you home, I’ll come back.”

“Alright,” Zhong Yao agreed verbally, but in her heart, she planned to feign illness once they reached their hometown.

Their family had thoroughly crossed the Fourth Prince this time. If the Crown Prince slipped up and failed to keep him in check, the Fourth Prince would likely first come after her family, followed by Chen Luoling.

Minister Chen had “lost” his eldest daughter, and his second daughter had publicly admitted to being involved with Zhong Lan, causing him immense humiliation.

Chen Luoling had been slapped in public, and one could well imagine her life wouldn’t be easy after returning home.

No matter if there was a plot that day, the established facts couldn’t be changed. The Zhong family members were sensible people and wouldn’t shirk their responsibilities.

Since Chen Luoling was destined for the Zhong family sooner or later, Madam Zhong thought there was no need to stand on ceremony. They should hasten the wedding and bring her into the household. Firstly, at least no one in their household would harm Chen Luoling; secondly, it would avoid gossip from outsiders; thirdly, since both were targets of the Fourth Prince, bringing her in early would mean an extra ally.

Unfortunately, she had to return to their hometown to seek refuge, so she couldn't oversee this.

Madam Zhong sighed. “Among your three siblings, the eldest is the most level-headed, yet he did such a thing. You’re also quite sensible, but you were implicated by your two brothers, your engagement was called off and your reputation tarnished. If your second brother can safely get through this crisis, his marriage will actually be the one that gives me the least headache…”

That wouldn’t do. No matter what they compared before, Second Brother always came in last.

Zhong Yao quickly said, “What if Second Brother has gotten someone pregnant outside?”

Madam Zhong drew a sharp breath, her face turning pale.

Zhong Yao giggled. “I’m just joking. Second Brother wouldn’t do that. He said he wouldn’t consider marriage until after he turns thirty-five.”

It took Madam Zhong a while to recover. She gave Zhong Yao a light slap on the back. “You can't joke about things like that! It’s fine at home, but don’t say such things outside. Watch what you say, or it might get around again…”

At this point, both mother and daughter thought of Fei Anxuan.

If only Zhong Yao hadn’t said those words to provoke him into breaking it off back then.

Madam Zhong told Zhong Yao not to talk nonsense, but in reality, she didn’t want to crack down on her too hard.

After pondering for a moment, she sighed again. “In the future, we’ll find you a live-in husband instead. Bring him into the household; it’ll be safer. What do you think?”

Zhong Yao wasn't particularly invested in the idea of marriage. After thinking, she said, “Then he has to be good-looking.”

“Of course!” Madam Zhong said. “Find someone handsome with a good nature, who can make you happy and keep you company. As for family background, it doesn’t matter if he’s poor or lacks scholarly honors. After all, you have your two brothers to rely on; you’ll be well taken care of. I’ll prepare a generous dowry for you too… We might as well start looking during this trip back.”

Zhong Yao didn’t expect her mother to act so quickly, already planning to start scouting for candidates as soon as they returned home. She suddenly felt flustered.

She remembered what Xie Chi had said when they parted, telling her to carefully observe the character of any future husband she considered.

Men were very good at pretending. For example, Fei Anxuan, and Xie Chi himself. Even Zhong Yao’s own brothers put on a show of doting on their sister in public. How was she supposed to observe properly?

What if she ended up with a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Wouldn’t Xie Chi laugh at her if he saw?

Not only that, if she married someone not particularly outstanding in looks, Xie Chi would probably laugh at her too.

Zhong Yao’s thoughts wandered for a while before she shook her head, shaking off these silly thoughts. She hugged her mother’s arm. “There’s no hurry. Let’s wait until Eldest Brother and Second Brother’s matters are resolved. I want to take my time and choose myself…”

Madam Zhong nodded and was about to say something else when the coachman pulled on the reins with a “Whoa!” and stopped the carriage.

After Zhong Yao’s previous dangerous encounter, they had brought many people on this trip home. There were three carriages alone.

The mother and daughter were in the middle carriage. Just as they lifted the curtain to see what was happening, the steward from the front carriage had already gotten down and ran back, trembling. “Madam, Miss… it’s the Fourth Prince…”

The mother and daughter were scared out of their wits.

The Fourth Prince, accompanied by only six guards, sat astride his horse and urged it closer. “Leaving the capital in such a hurry? Are you afraid I’ll take revenge?”

His voice was icy, sending chills down their spines.

Madam Zhong shielded Zhong Yao, trying her best to remain calm. “Your Highness jokes.”

“I’m not here for you.” The Fourth Prince’s gaze fell on Zhong Yao, who was half-hidden behind her. “You betrayed me long ago, didn’t you?”

Zhong Yao was terrified of him. “I…”

“No need to deny it hastily.” The Fourth Prince interrupted her and continued, “And Xie Chi. He investigated for so long, firmly believing it was those bandits from that mountain plotting a rebellion. He made me think those bandits also planned to revolt and that he had caught wind of it, which was why he rushed to the capital to stop it, unintentionally ruining my plans… Now that I think about it, the bandits were just a smokescreen. It was you who leaked the information to him from the start, wasn’t it?”

Madam Zhong turned to look at Zhong Yao in surprise. Zhong Yao’s lips were pressed tightly together, not daring to speak.

“Xie Chi knew everything. He didn’t dare confront me directly, so he pretended not to know, just waiting for Zhong Lan and Chen Luoling to use Chen Ruofeng’s matter to frame me, to provoke the Crown Prince, hoping the Crown Prince would deal with me. After dumping this bucket of dirty water on me, he left without a care. Zhong Yao, tell me, who should I settle this score with?”

Zhong Yao didn’t dare answer, nor could she.

For a while before, she had thought the Fourth Prince, though frightening, was also somewhat naive. Now she realized he understood everything; he was just occasionally muddle-headed or didn’t bother to think deeply, feeling it didn’t matter.

Now the Fourth Prince had figured it out and had come to settle accounts with her.

Xie Chi was gone. Eldest Brother was in the capital. No one could help her. She had to step forward and face it herself.

“I… it’s all my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me…”

“Of course it’s your fault.” The Fourth Prince’s expression turned sinister. He drew a long sword from a guard’s hand and urged his horse even closer.

Madam Zhong’s face turned deathly pale as she hugged Zhong Yao, trying to retreat.

But the carriage interior was only so big. Where could they hide?

Zhong Yao took a deep breath, pushed her mother aside, and shouted, “Xie Chi guessed long ago that you’d come for me! If you dare lay a hand on me, he will definitely have you brought before His Majesty!”

“He left the capital long ago. You’re lying to me again. You always lie to me, making me look like a fool.” The Fourth Prince slowly advanced, speaking coldly. Then, suddenly, his expression relaxed. “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t blame you.”

As he spoke, he raised the sword—

—The Fourth Prince raised the sword and lifted the half-drawn carriage curtain. “Zhong Yao, come back with me. Be my advisor.”

“…What?” Zhong Yao thought she had misheard.

“So many people are ganging up on me. Of course I can’t win!” The Fourth Prince’s demeanor changed again, his tone turning almost petulant, like a child throwing a tantrum. “But with you, it’s different. Last time, the method you taught me for acting pitiful really worked. This morning, I calmed down and put on an act for Father, and he immediately softened and let me out. Come back with me and teach me more.”

“…”

The turn of events was too abrupt. Zhong Yao was completely stunned.

The Fourth Prince, seeing her stunned, repeated, "As long as Father protects me, no matter how many they are, they can't touch me. Zhong Yao, come back with me and teach me how to win Father's pity, and I'll forgive your family."

"You'll forgive my family and let it slide?" Zhong Yao couldn't believe it.

"I'll let it slide," the Fourth Prince said, his face actually showing a hint of innocence. "Anyway, Father won't do anything to me."

Zhong Yao didn't know what to say for a moment.

He was imperial royalty, the emperor's favorite. No matter how much trouble he caused, he would only be placed under house arrest for a few days. But those who followed him or were dragged down by him didn't have such powerful protection.

If Chen Luoling hadn't impersonated the Eldest Miss of the Chen family, the one involved with Zhong Lan would have been the future crown princess. How would the Chen and Zhong families ever show their faces in the capital again?

If Xie Chi hadn't stepped in in time, the ministers and their families, forced to help him rebel, would have had no chance of survival.

This was the first time Zhong Yao had met someone like this—willful, naive, arrogant, straightforward, sometimes adorable, and sometimes utterly cruel.

Her thoughts raced, and she cautiously asked, "I want to ask one thing... was what happened to my second brother also your doing?"

The Fourth Prince tilted his head, as if recalling, and said, "I was planning to have someone frame him, but before I could, he disappeared along with Xu Su."

Zhong Yao let out a long sigh of relief, reached out to comfort her mother, and then tentatively said, "A great-uncle on my mother's side has fallen gravely ill and may not have much time left. Could Mother and I visit him first before returning to the capital?"

"No," the Fourth Prince said, twirling the sword in his hand. "You're trying to stall for time. I won't fall for it. Either come back with me now and help me win Father's favor, or I'll kill all of you."

Zhong Yao was terrified of him. She didn't want to go back with him but was afraid he might actually kill someone, so she didn't dare to refuse.

She hesitated a moment too long, and the Fourth Prince grew displeased, puzzled, "I'm not even holding it against you for teaming up with Xie Chi to trick me. What are you hesitating for?"

His demeanor seemed somewhat naive, as if he could be easily fooled. The Zhong family's steward, standing by the carriage and seeing his master in a difficult position, tried to intervene, saying, "Your Highness, please forgive..."

He had only uttered these four words when the sword the Fourth Prince was twirling suddenly lifted.

The blinding glint of silver made Zhong Yao instinctively shut her eyes.

Then she heard the sound of a sharp weapon slicing through flesh, screams, and felt something warm splatter onto her face.

Zhong Yao instinctively wiped her face, opened her eyes, and saw a smear of crimson on her fingertip.

"Did I ask you to speak?" the Fourth Prince, still sitting astride his horse, twirled his sword and grumbled unhappily, "I hate it when people interrupt!"

Zhong Yao looked at the trembling steward, supported by a servant, and the blood-soaked robe on his chest, her face turning pale.

"I, I..."

Just as she was about to agree, ignoring Madam Zhong's attempts to stop her, there was a sharp *twang*, and something came whistling through the air. The next moment, the Fourth Prince's horse reared up with a pitiful whinny.

The Fourth Prince, caught off guard, frantically dropped his sword to grab the reins but was too late. He fell backward, tumbling heavily from the horse's back and landing right under the hooves of the frenzied animal.

Zhong Yao, inside the carriage, was so startled by the accident that she clung to Madam Zhong. Amid the chaotic sound of hooves, she heard a scream, followed by the guards' exclamations. When she looked again, she saw the horse had bolted madly into the woods, while the Fourth Prince, supported by his guards, was covered in dust, pale-faced, and trembling slightly, as if in immense pain.

"Xie Chi!" the Fourth Prince bellowed in fury.

Zhong Yao was stunned for a moment. Leaning against the carriage wall, she peered out and actually saw someone riding toward them from a distance. The one at the front was tall and slender, sitting steadily on horseback, holding the reins with one hand and a bow and arrow with the other—it was Xie Chi.

Zhong Yao's eyes lit up, and she quickly waved at him.

Xie Chi didn't respond. He rode straight to the carriage, reined in his horse, turned it around, and then leaned down toward Zhong Yao.

He leaned in quite close, and Zhong Yao instinctively drew back a little. Seeing him frown intently at the spot below her eye, she hurriedly wiped her face and then opened her palm, saying, "It's not mine, it's the steward's. He's hurt..."

Xie Chi glanced at her palm, then scrutinized the remaining bloodstains on her face, gave a soft "Hmm," and turned away.

After a quick scan of the scene, Xie Chi faced the Fourth Prince and said, "What a coincidence to meet Your Highness here."

The Fourth Prince was furious, "The way to Misty Mountain isn't in this direction at all. This is no coincidence!"

"Is that so?" Xie Chi replied. "Then perhaps I took a wrong turn. I've never been good at directions."

After this indifferent dismissal, he tapped on the carriage wall where Zhong Yao was and asked, "Do you have anything to bandage wounds?"

"Yes!"

Zhong Yao quickly had someone fetch medicine and bandages. After having the old steward helped into the carriage to be bandaged, she handed another portion to Xie Chi and whispered, "Are you injured?"

"Hmm."

"Where?"

"On the arm, I suppose," Xie Chi said.

Whether riding or taking the items, his movements were agile and unrestrained, and his left arm moved freely, showing no sign of injury.

But Xie Chi took the bandage and began wrapping it around himself without even tearing open his sleeve, and no wound was visible.

Zhong Yao couldn't understand what he was doing, and neither could the Fourth Prince, who asked angrily, "Xie Chi, what are you up to now?"

"Can't you tell?" Xie Chi's gaze swept over the blood left by the old steward, and he lifted his chin, saying, "Framing you."

The Fourth Prince was confused, "Framing me for what?"

Xie Chi sighed and said, "I discovered that Your Highness is colluding with the Misty Mountain Bandits, plotting a rebellion. To preserve the royal family's dignity, I didn't make this public. But Your Highness, fearing exposure, sent people to ambush me on my way to suppress the bandits, luring me here to take my life."

These few simple sentences left everyone present stunned.

It took the Fourth Prince a while to react, and he angrily retorted, "Father won't believe you!"

"Normally, he might not, but today he will," Xie Chi had already finished bandaging his arm and said, "Because in his heart, no matter how important you are, you can't compare to the stability of the realm."

A willful, arrogant prince with a tarnished record, and a loyal general who endured humiliation for the sake of the royal family's reputation and enjoyed the emperor's deep trust—if they clashed over other matters, the emperor might show some bias. But now, Xie Chi was on his way to suppress the bandits at Misty Mountain, while the Fourth Prince had secretly left the capital, evading the guards watching him. The emperor couldn't possibly side with the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince realized this and snorted, "So what? It's just a few more days of confinement."

Xie Chi replied lightly, "So what? No matter how much His Majesty favors you, he can't pass the throne to you."

These words clearly struck a nerve. The Fourth Prince panted heavily, unable to speak.

"All these years, Your Highness has gotten everything you wanted by throwing tantrums, so you thought you could get the one thing you wanted most the same way. But you don't realize..." Xie Chi stopped halfway, chuckled softly, and said, "Why am I telling you this? I'll save it for the Crown Prince another day."

The blatant disdain and comparison in his words drove the Fourth Prince to the brink of madness. "You, you..."

Before he could finish, more people galloped over from a distance. Upon closer look, it was Zhong Lan, who had brought his servants in pursuit, along with several men dressed as Imperial Guards.

When the group arrived, the first things they saw were the pool of blood on the ground, the blood-stained sword at the Fourth Prince's feet, and the bloodied bandage on Xie Chi's arm. Their faces all turned pale.

"Mother! Little sister!" Zhong Lan hurried to the carriage, about to speak, but both mother and daughter waved him off.

They were both waiting to see the Fourth Prince humiliated.

Sure enough, one of the Imperial Guards asked, "Heir Xie, what is this..."

"It wasn't me!" the Fourth Prince shouted angrily. "Xie Chi framed me!"

In contrast, Xie Chi remained calm. "It's just a scratch, nothing to fuss about."

The few Imperial Forest Army soldiers looked troubled. After exchanging glances, one of them asked, "Heir, could you tell us what happened? We need to report this to His Majesty."

Xie Chi thought for a moment and said, "Just report exactly what you saw."

They exchanged looks again, nodded, and agreed.

The Fourth Prince was nearly driven mad with rage and tried to shout again, but the Imperial Forest soldiers ignored his protests. They just hauled him onto a horse, said a quick goodbye, and galloped away.

Once they had disappeared, Xie Chi turned his gaze back to Zhong Yao.

Zhong Yao and Madam Zhong were talking with Zhong Lan. Catching Xie Chi's gaze, Zhong Yao pushed her big brother aside and jumped down from the carriage.

That whole scene left her legs shaky, and she stumbled, nearly falling. Xie Chi caught her briefly before quickly letting go.

"Why the hurry?" he asked coolly.

Zhong Yao pursed her lips into a smile. "I thought you were about to leave. I wanted to come and talk to you."

Xie Chi paused, putting on a cool front. "Talk about what?"

"About..." Zhong Yao also paused, a laugh in her voice as she whispered, "About how, after not seeing you for a few days, Heir Xie, you're looking even better than last time."

Xie Chi's face darkened. "My patience has also gotten shorter. Would you like to experience it?"

Zhong Yao didn't answer, just kept laughing, her cheeks flushing red, which looked utterly adorable.

Xie Chi shot her a sidelong, annoyed glance, then looked away. "Be careful from now on."

"Mhm."

They didn't have much more to say. After a few words, they were about to part ways again when someone suddenly spoke up: "Would you like to come with me?"

Zhong Yao turned in confusion and saw Xue Fang, who had popped up out of nowhere.

Xue Fang was still wearing that set of women's clothing. Pouting, he repeated, "I said, you've caught the Fourth Prince's attention. Returning to your ancestral home might not be safe. Wouldn't it be better to stay with me, this Marquis's 'adopted daughter'?"