Inside the private room on the second floor of the pleasure boat, the lamplight swayed gently.
Yue Xijun sat by the window, his slender fingers unconsciously rubbing the bloodstained silk handkerchief.
Over and over, he reminded himself that this was nothing more than playing a part, a means of leaving a deeper impression on his patron.
In a place like Shuyu Pavilion, the greatest taboo was developing genuine feelings for a patron.
He knew perfectly well that Xiao Ying felt no affection for him either.
Those peach-blossom eyes, always carrying seven parts tenderness and three parts amusement, were nothing more than the most perfect disguise in the world.
They were both acting—
One playing the pleasure-loving prince who threw around fortunes and was madly infatuated with love.
The other playing the aloof, untouchable immortal who had fallen from the heavens into the mortal world, now a male courtesan.
The two of them, each carrying their own secret cards, were using one another at this absurd banquet.
“Bang—splash!”
A deep, enormous splash suddenly tore through the tranquility of the night.
Down in the banquet cabin, the music and laughter continued without pause. The ordinary young aristocrats merely assumed that some large fish had leaped from the water and paid it no attention.
But Yue Xijun immediately sensed something was wrong.
The splash had been far too loud.
He pushed open the window lattice. Near the stern, the river, which had been as smooth as a mirror, was now covered in enormous ripples rapidly spreading outward.
The corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure.
Someone was quietly leaving from the inner side of the observation corridor at the stern.
Separated by dim lamplight and layers upon layers of gauze curtains, Yue Xijun could not make out the man’s face. He could only barely tell that he was tall and broad-shouldered.
What startled him was that the man was not fleeing in panic.
His steps were calm and unhurried.
The man paused for a moment, raised a hand, and brushed over his sleeve as though straightening fabric ruffled by the wind. Then he shifted sideways, avoiding the heavy gauze curtain with astonishing precision without catching even the edge of his clothing.
Even more strangely, his footsteps were exceptionally light, as though he were deliberately avoiding the wet and slippery patches on the deck.
An overwhelming sense of unease suddenly seized Yue Xijun’s heart.
Without the slightest hesitation, Yue Xijun shot to his feet and rushed out of the private room.
The silver bells around his ankles rang with unprecedented urgency beneath the corridor as his hurried footsteps shattered the silence.
At the same time, the Prince Yi household’s personal guards patrolling the perimeter also heard the commotion. The squad leader immediately led his men into the banquet cabin, only to find no trace of Prince Yi.
“Where is His Highness? Where is Prince Yi?!”
The squad leader’s authoritative shout jolted everyone out of their drunken haze.
One young aristocrat pointed blankly toward the stern.
“His Highness said the cabin was stuffy and went to the observation corridor for some air.”
The squad leader’s eyes widened in horror as he sprinted toward the stern.
But the observation corridor was completely empty. Only several layers of gauze fluttered forlornly in the chilly night wind.
And the surface of the water, which should have been calm, still bore the lingering ripples.
A terrifying thought slammed into the hearts of every guard—
Prince Yi might have fallen into the river!
“Get into the water and search for him immediately!”
The squad leader roared the order.
At the same time, he ordered the boatmen to light every torch and lantern aboard the pleasure boat, illuminating the surrounding river.
“The rest of you, seal this entire boat! Don’t let a single fly out!”
Privately, he prayed that this was all some misunderstanding, that perhaps Prince Yi had merely passed out somewhere in a hidden corner.
By the time Yue Xijun rushed down to the first floor, the scene had already descended into chaos.
He grabbed a guard who was running around like a headless fly.
“Where is His Highness?”
“We don’t know where His Highness is!”
The guard threw out the words before hurriedly running toward the railing.
The young aristocrats around them finally realized what had happened, and panic spread like a plague.
“His Highness… couldn’t have fallen into the river, could he?”
Those words were like a lit fuse.
If a prince were to suffer an accident during their drinking party, the emperor’s wrath would undoubtedly burn every family represented here to the ground.
The young men who were friendly with Xiao Ying, as well as those harboring political motives, were scared out of their wits. They immediately shouted for their own guards to jump into the water and help search for him.
The moment Yue Xijun heard the words “fallen into the river,” his breathing stopped for an instant.
He remembered the enormous ripples he had seen earlier.
Without asking for any further details, he pushed through the chaotic crowd and ran straight toward the stern.
“Yue Xijun, you can’t go!”
The attendants from Shuyu Pavilion were horrified. They hurriedly reached out to grab him, but managed to catch only the moon-white outer robe slipping from his shoulders.
While running, Yue Xijun deftly undid his sash.
Like a nimble white fish, he slipped out of his moon-white outer robe, leaving himself in nothing but a thin white undergarment. Without the slightest hesitation, he planted both hands on the railing, vaulted over it, and plunged into the black, icy river beneath the stars.
Splash!
The bone-chilling river water swallowed him instantly.
The spring river still carried the lingering cold of winter. The chill pierced his body like sharp needles of ice.
Yue Xijun opened his eyes beneath the murky black water and immediately followed the direction of the underwater current, diving deeper.
The blazing torches aboard the pleasure boat could barely illuminate the thin layer of water at the surface. Far below, however, lay an endless, abyssal darkness.
The pressure of the water mercilessly compressed his chest. He clenched his teeth and kicked hard with both legs.
Xiao Ying couldn’t die!
If Xiao Ying died here, no one in this world would ever dare touch that ironclad case again, and no one would be able to help clear the Wu family’s name.
In truth, he should have noticed much earlier.
When Xiao Ying had pulled him into his arms tonight, the temperature of those hands and that chest had clearly been feverishly hot. Yet he had still forced himself to come to this chaotic pleasure boat, putting on the appearance of a carefree young aristocrat who had everything under control just to shield Yue Xijun from humiliation.
The air in his lungs was gradually being squeezed away, forcing Yue Xijun to surface for breath.
All around his ears were the chaotic cries for help from the boat nearby and the crackling of burning torches, yet he remained extraordinarily calm.
His eyes precisely judged the position of the pleasure boat in the darkness, the center of the ripples, and the direction of the underwater current.
After taking a deep breath of the icy air, he plunged into the dark depths once more.
This time, he went even deeper.
As the current surged around him, he saw a faint blue-green glow in the distance on the riverbed, like the dim trailing light of a firefly.
He remembered seeing a luminous-pearl Buddhist bead bracelet around Xiao Ying’s wrist earlier.
In the darkness, he seemed to see a shadow slowly sinking downward.
His heart skipped a beat.
Yue Xijun immediately swam toward it like an arrow released from a bow.
It was Xiao Ying!
His eyes were tightly shut, his handsome brows drawn together in pain, as though he had already lost consciousness.
The luxurious brocade robes on his body had been torn. Beneath the water, they fluttered like the ragged wings of a broken butterfly, helplessly carrying him toward the deeper abyss with the current.
Yue Xijun swam behind him, quickly slipping his left arm beneath Xiao Ying’s armpit and wrapping it around his chest while kicking upward with all his strength.
But an unconscious adult man was simply too heavy. And with the elaborate brocade robes soaked through with water, Yue Xijun felt as though he were dragging a massive stone. Every stroke took an enormous amount of effort.
Just as he was about to exhaust himself, a dark shadow suddenly approached rapidly from above—
One of the Prince Yi household’s guards, an excellent swimmer, had finally spotted them. In the darkness of the water, he had vaguely seen a flash of white and swum over to investigate.
The guard swam forward and hooked Xiao Ying’s arm from the other side.
Together, they pushed upward.
At last, they broke through the surface with Xiao Ying.
Splash!
The instant he regained access to air, Xiao Ying opened his eyes.
His chest heaved violently as he greedily gulped down air, only to erupt into a wrenching fit of coughing, expelling a mouthful of river water.
“We found him! His Highness is here!”
The guard shouted excitedly toward the pleasure boat.
Seeing this, the squad leader immediately ordered the boatmen to lower a rope ladder.
Yue Xijun silently supported Xiao Ying’s back in the water. Only after watching the guards push Xiao Ying onto the rope ladder did he follow.
His fingers, purple with cold, gripped the rough hemp rope as he climbed step by step back onto the brightly lit deck.
A gust of night wind swept over them, and the cold instantly engulfed their entire bodies.
Both of them were in an utterly miserable state.
Amid his violent breathing after surviving the ordeal, Xiao Ying gradually regained his senses and forced himself to calm down.
He turned his head and immediately saw Yue Xijun beside him.
The thin white undergarment was completely soaked through, clinging tightly to the young man’s lean body and revealing his pale skin, leaving him nearly naked as he shivered uncontrollably in the night wind.
Xiao Ying’s eyes darkened.
He turned to the Shuyu Pavilion attendant who was still standing there stupidly with Yue Xijun’s outer robe in his hands and snapped,
“What are you standing there for? Take Young Master Yue upstairs to the second floor and get him changed!”
The attendant came to his senses and hurried forward, wrapping the outer robe tightly around Yue Xijun before helping him upstairs.
Xiao Ying drew a deep breath.
Although his head was splitting with pain and the fever and chill were intertwining to leave him nearly drained of strength, he still forced himself to stand upright, maintaining the dignity expected of royalty.
He accepted the heavy cloak handed to him by a guard and took the dry cloth offered by the boat steward, wiping his soaked black hair.
He raised his head, and his pale face naturally settled into the same gentle yet distant smile he always wore.
“I have alarmed everyone. I had a few too many drinks earlier and somehow slipped into the river. I am fine now.”
His gaze casually swept over every suspicious, uncertain face present.
At the observation corridor just now, he had not even had time to see his attacker.
The man’s presence had been concealed exceptionally well, and the timing and angle of the attack had been extremely precise.
This was absolutely not something an ordinary wastrel’s hired killer could accomplish.
Murdering a prince was a crime punishable by the extermination of nine branches of the family, yet the attacker had dared to strike aboard a pleasure boat in full view of everyone.
This was not simply an attempt to silence him.
It was more like a deliberate warning—
The other side was telling him that they could reach him at any time.
Seeing the relieved expressions on everyone’s faces, Xiao Ying changed his tone. His voice remained gentle, but an unmistakable pressure lay beneath it.
“However… I did fall into the river and nearly lost my life. If word of this reaches the palace tomorrow, Father will certainly ask questions. So before this pleasure boat docks, I will have to trouble everyone to cooperate for a little while and leave a proper record.”
He turned toward the squad leader, his gaze instantly turning cold, each word striking heavily into everyone’s hearts.
“Seal the pleasure boat immediately. Check the railings for any looseness or fresh marks.
“Reinvestigate the boatmen and their backgrounds from beginning to end.
“Determine exactly who knew that I had gone to the observation corridor during the fifteen minutes before and after the incident.
“Record everyone’s exact location at the time of the incident and take detailed statements.
“Cross-check every person aboard tonight, regardless of status, against the boarding manifest.
“Register everyone again. Do not miss even a single flying insect!”
The squad leader solemnly acknowledged the order and immediately led his men away like a pack of wolves.
One young aristocrat’s face went pale as he cautiously tested the waters.
“Your… Your Highness… are you saying you suspect that someone among us…”
Xiao Ying chuckled softly, his brows and eyes curving.
“How could that be? You are all my close friends. How could I suspect you? This is merely procedure, so that there will be an explanation later. Don’t be nervous. Rest comfortably, and answer truthfully when the guards question you.”
Everyone looked at Prince Yi’s gentle expression, which was almost indistinguishable from his usual demeanor, yet for some reason, an inexplicable chill crept down their spines.
Was the man standing before them really the same Prince Yi they knew?
During the suffocating wait, a Shuyu Pavilion attendant hurried downstairs and respectfully said,
“Your Highness, Young Master Yue asks that you move to the private room on the second floor. He was worried that Your Highness would catch cold and has prepared a clean change of clothes.”
Xiao Ying glanced at the ruined brocade garments dripping water from his body and felt the heat inside him growing increasingly fierce.
He did not refuse and followed the attendant upstairs.
Inside the private room, Yue Xijun had already changed into dry clothes, though his black hair was still half-wet and hanging loosely over his shoulders.
He was accustomed to preparing several spare outfits whenever he went out, just in case.
“If Your Highness doesn’t mind, please temporarily change into these ordinary clothes. They are not as luxurious as Your Highness’s brocade robes, but at least they will keep you warm.”
Yue Xijun held the clothes out.
The accompanying Prince Yi household guard frowned at the sight. He was just about to protest that how could a dignified prince wear the clothes of a male courtesan?
Yue Xijun gave him a cool glance, his calm voice edged with a barb.
“These are my private everyday clothes, not what I wear when receiving clients. Given His Highness’s current condition, if he continues wearing these wet clothes, I’m afraid he won’t make it back to the residence.”
Xiao Ying raised a hand, stopping the guard before he could speak.
“It’s fine. I’ll wear them. I’ve had enough of smelling like river weeds anyway.”
He picked up the clothes and walked behind the screen.
Yue Xijun immediately followed.
“I’ll help Your Highness change. The wet clothes are clinging to your body, and it will be difficult to take them off alone.”
Xiao Ying silently allowed him to do so.
Behind the screen, as the layers upon layers of heavy, waterlogged brocade were removed, Yue Xijun’s gaze paused slightly.
The pale body hidden beneath those luxurious clothes was not nearly as delicate as it appeared on the surface.
He was not exceptionally muscular, but his muscles were firm and smoothly defined, clearly the result of years of training.
This was absolutely not the physique of an idle prince who knew nothing but wine, women, and pleasure.
Xiao Ying changed into the plain white robes.
He looked down at himself but said nothing.
Yue Xijun took a heavy cloak trimmed with sable fur at the collar and carefully draped it over him, tying the straps securely.
Then, quite naturally, he raised a hand and touched Xiao Ying’s forehead.
The instant he touched him, he felt an astonishing heat.
Yue Xijun frowned slightly and was about to speak, but Xiao Ying reached out and caught his wrist.
With his other hand, he gently pressed a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet.
“Don’t say anything.”
Xiao Ying’s voice was extremely low, hoarse with illness, and even his breath was scorching.
“If the squad leader learns that I’m running a high fever, he’ll immediately order the boat to make a forced full-speed return to shore.”
The investigation was not yet complete. He could not let anyone discover his physical condition.
“Your Highness didn’t accidentally fall into the river. Someone—”
Xiao Ying’s finger moved gently to Yue Xijun’s lips, silencing the unfinished words.
There was no trace of amusement in those peach-blossom eyes now, only unfathomable darkness.
“I know. That person wasn’t trying to kill me. They were warning me.”
The corner of Xiao Ying’s lips curled into a smile as sharp as a blade.
“But they were kind enough to hand me a very useful knife themselves.”
Now he had the perfect justification—
A prince had fallen into the river under suspicious circumstances, and an assassin was suspected.
With that, he could legitimately turn this entire group of aristocratic young men upside down and investigate them from top to bottom. No one would dare object.
Yue Xijun found it chilling that Xiao Ying could even turn his own accident into something useful.
But this also confirmed even more firmly that Prince Yi Xiao Ying truly possessed the ability he needed.
Outside the screen, the attendant noticed that the two had been inside for quite some time and gave a worried little cough.
Only then did Xiao Ying withdraw his hand, straighten his collar, and walk downstairs with Yue Xijun.
The atmosphere on the first floor had dropped to freezing point. No one was still in the mood to drink or enjoy themselves.
But when they saw the dignified Prince Yi walking downstairs wearing Yue Xijun’s plain white everyday clothes, the expressions of the aristocratic young men in the banquet cabin became complicated, and countless meaningful glances passed silently between them.
This blatant “lack of concern for appearances” would surely spread throughout the capital tomorrow, completely confirming the rumor that Prince Yi was hopelessly infatuated with Shuyu Pavilion’s top courtesan.
The boat steward knelt on the floor, his face bloodless as he underwent questioning, as though he could already see his own head rolling from his shoulders.
When he saw Xiao Ying, the squad leader hurried forward and reported in a low voice.
“Your Highness, everyone aboard has been checked against the manifest, and the numbers match. However, although everyone has someone to corroborate their statements, their accounts are not completely airtight. Several young masters and attendants have roughly a quarter-hour gap in their movements that cannot be mutually verified. Furthermore, when the incident occurred, some of the young masters ordered servants who were good swimmers to enter the water and join the search. It’s impossible to rule out the possibility that someone mixed in with them and used the opportunity to escape.”
He was worried that the real culprit might already have escaped in the chaos.
Xiao Ying’s eyes darkened, but he did not blame the squad leader.
Yue Xijun stepped forward and lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear.
“I was in the private room on the second floor. After hearing the splash, I immediately opened the window to look. I saw a tall man leaving from the stern. His movements were completely unhurried. He even avoided the water on the deck before leaving through the side corridor.”
Xiao Ying’s heart tightened when he heard this.
Avoiding the water?
Walking calmly?
That meant the assassin was not only highly skilled, but intimately familiar with the structure of this pleasure boat. He might even have had an accomplice on board.
This was not some spur-of-the-moment attack.
It had been planned with extreme composure.
But Xiao Ying no longer had the strength to keep these people detained and continue the investigation.
His body had already reached its limit.
“Give the order. Return at full speed immediately.”
Xiao Ying’s voice deepened.
“Seal all the statements from everyone who boarded this pleasure boat today for further investigation…”
Before he could finish, his body swayed.
Yue Xijun reacted faster than the squad leader. He firmly caught Xiao Ying’s arm and helped him to a nearby chair.
Several young aristocrats immediately crowded around him, smiles plastered across their faces as they asked with concern,
“Your Highness, you don’t look well. Are you feeling unwell anywhere else?”
Xiao Ying slowly raised his eyes and looked coldly at their ingratiating faces.
He knew better than anyone that they were not concerned about whether he lived or died.
They were afraid that if he died aboard the boat, their families would be implicated.
“I am fine.”
He uttered the four words flatly.
And yet, at precisely that moment, Xu Haoyang, who had always harbored resentment toward Yue Xijun, suddenly appeared from somewhere and loudly pointed at him.
“Your Highness! We were all in the banquet cabin when it happened. Only this male courtesan was nowhere to be found! He clearly wasn’t in the banquet cabin when Your Highness fell into the river. For all we know, he was the one who did it!”
The instant the words fell, the entire cabin fell silent.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Yue Xijun with suspicion.
Yet Yue Xijun’s expression remained completely calm as he looked coldly at Xu Haoyang.
“Be careful with your words, Young Master Xu. I was in the private room on the second floor at the time. The attendants and guards from Shuyu Pavilion can all testify to that.”
“What a joke!”
Xu Haoyang snorted coldly, pressing forward step by step.
“They’re all people under your command. Who knows whether they accepted some benefit from you and are helping you give false testimony?”
Yue Xijun’s gaze darkened, his voice cold as ice.
“Then may I ask, Young Master Xu, what reason would I have to harm His Highness? If I truly intended to hurt him, why would I risk my life by jumping into the water to save him?”
Xu Haoyang was momentarily speechless.
His face flushed red before he stubbornly argued,
“M-Maybe it’s because your family was destroyed all those years ago! Maybe you hold a grudge against the court and against nobles like us, so you deliberately sought revenge! Who knows whether you jumped into the water to save him or to make sure of something else!”
Yue Xijun fell silent.
When someone wants to frame you, any excuse will do.
But he was not silent because he felt guilty.
It was because Xu Haoyang’s use of the words “nobles like us” made him feel utterly sick.
Ever since his family had been destroyed and he had been forced into Shuyu Pavilion, he had seen through the hypocrisy and greed hidden beneath the faces of these people.
Whenever he imagined that one day he might truly be forced to submit himself to one of these men, his stomach churned with nausea.
Xiao Ying slowly raised his eyes.
The peach-blossom eyes that had looked languid from the fever were now as sharp as a hawk’s.
“Young Master Xu.”
Xiao Ying’s voice was soft, yet carried a chilling pressure.
“My fall into the river happened in an instant. Everyone here only realized what had happened after hearing the splash. Since you were in the banquet cabin enjoying yourself at the time… how exactly did you know that at the very moment I fell into the river, Yue Xijun was ‘just so happened’ not in the banquet cabin?”
Xu Haoyang froze.
His face instantly went as pale as paper.
He was speechless for a long while before finally stammering,
“I—I heard it from someone else!”
He immediately looked around, seemingly hoping someone would come forward to confirm his words.
Instead, one young aristocrat stepped forward and honestly admitted,
“After the splash, I saw Yue Xijun rushing down from the private room on the second floor in a panic. He nearly fell.”
He remembered it clearly.
The frantic ringing of those silver ankle bells had caught his attention at the time.
His words actually proved that although Yue Xijun had not been in the banquet cabin when the incident occurred, he could not possibly have been the culprit.
After all, the private room on the second floor was farther from the scene than the banquet cabin.
Xu Haoyang glared furiously at the young man.
But the latter was perfectly clear-headed about which side held greater status: the son of the Vice Minister of the Dali Temple, or a prince of the imperial family.
He merely looked away.
“…Enough.”
A hoarse yet oppressive voice interrupted the farce.
Xiao Ying leaned back against the chair, his long fingers wearily rubbing his temples.
He could not even be bothered to spare Xu Haoyang another glance. His voice was unusually cold.
“Young Master Xu seems to have forgotten that the person you are pointing your finger at and interrogating is one of my people.”
In the past, Xiao Ying had rarely used his status to intimidate others in order to maintain his facade as an idle prince.
That was why these young aristocrats had grown so insolent, completely unaware of the limits of heaven and earth.
But at this moment, the aura of authority he exuded without even displaying anger instantly made Xu Haoyang realize that he had crossed a line.
No matter how stupid Xu Haoyang was, he could hear the murderous intent hidden in the words “one of my people.”
His legs went weak with fear.
He hurriedly found an excuse and slunk back into the crowd.
But the corner of Xiao Ying’s eye remained coldly fixed on him.
Xu Haoyang might not have been the assassin, but his desperate attempt just now to shift the blame elsewhere proved that there was more than one group watching Xiao Ying at this banquet.
The musical gathering, which had originally been filled with decadent revelry and noise, finally ended hastily amid an atmosphere of extreme unease and strangeness.
The moment the pleasure boat docked, everyone practically fled as though granted a pardon. They hurriedly bid Prince Yi farewell, scrambled into their carriages, and fled the pier as if for their lives.
Xiao Ying was helped into the spacious carriage belonging to the Prince Yi household by his guards.
Yue Xijun silently followed him inside.
The carriage slowly began to move.
Inside, Xiao Ying rested with his eyes closed, his brows tightly furrowed. His chest rose and fell slightly with suppressed coughs, clearly enduring tremendous discomfort.
Looking at his pale profile, Yue Xijun spoke softly.
“If Your Highness doesn’t mind, you can lie down. Resting against something may ease your headache.”
He calmly pointed to his own thighs.
Xiao Ying opened his eyes and stared at him for a moment before pulling out a weak, bitter smile.
“Then I shall accept your kindness.”
He truly could not hold on any longer.
The jolting of the carriage made his stomach churn, while his head throbbed violently.
Drunkenness, high fever, and inhaling river water had left this pampered prince so miserable that his face was utterly bloodless.
He simply let himself fall backward, resting his head on Yue Xijun’s lap and closing his eyes.
Yue Xijun pressed his cool hand against Xiao Ying’s forehead, trying to ease the heat even slightly.
He lowered his eyes and looked at the man who, even in the midst of drowning and illness, seemed to take on a strangely beautiful, almost sickly quality.
His long eyelashes trembled faintly, like butterfly wings fluttering gently.
He could not help remembering their first meeting, when Prince Yi had arrogantly declared,
“Compared to me, you’re still a little lacking.”
Indeed, Xiao Ying was extraordinarily handsome.
From what Yue Xijun had observed, during today’s musical gathering, quite a few of the fascinated gazes in the room had not even been directed at him, but at Prince Yi instead.
Yet Xiao Ying seemed to have long since grown accustomed to being the center of everyone’s attention.
Only…
Among all those people, there was no one who genuinely cared about Xiao Ying.
At least, Yue Xijun had not seen anyone.
The carriage remained quiet for a long time, with only the rumbling of wheels rolling over the bluestone road.
“How did you… decide to jump into the water?”
Xiao Ying kept his eyes closed, his voice extremely hoarse.
“I certainly couldn’t tell that you were such an accomplished swimmer.”
He remembered the suffocating darkness beneath the water while he had been half-conscious, and the pure white figure that had swum desperately toward him without regard for its own safety.
For an instant, he had almost thought he was looking at a legendary merfolk.
“I am from Lizhou. I grew up beside the water, so naturally I know how to swim.”
When Yue Xijun mentioned his hometown, a dark thought flickered through his cool eyes, only to be frozen over in an instant.
He lowered his gaze to the man resting on his lap.
“If Your Highness died, who else could help me reopen the old case?”
Xiao Ying opened his eyes slightly and met his gaze before looking away again.
Yue Xijun truly was an excellent swimmer, but swimming ability and courage alone were not something one would expect from a seemingly delicate male courtesan.
That body might look fragile, but it was far from powerless.
“…Then how did you find me?” Xiao Ying asked curiously.
It had been so dark beneath the water, with strong currents besides. Finding him underwater had not been easy.
Yue Xijun pointed at Xiao Ying’s wrist.
“I saw the light from the luminous pearls in the darkness. That’s how I found Your Highness.”
Xiao Ying froze slightly.
He raised his hand and looked at it.
He had never expected that the luminous-pearl bracelet he wore would be what saved his life.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
“These Buddhist beads were prayed for by Mother Consort. She said they would keep me safe. I’ve always worn them.”
As he said this, his gaze softened slightly.
Hearing that, a faint shadow fell across Yue Xijun’s eyes.
He spoke softly.
“It seems Your Highness’s mother treats you very well.”
He thought of his own mother, and of the warmth he had lost.
Now, he did not even possess a single object left behind by his family.
Xiao Ying vaguely sensed the change in his mood.
“Don’t ever be this impulsive again. If you threw your own life away trying to save me, then you would truly cut off every remaining path to the truth.”
He shifted his head slightly, finding a more comfortable position on Yue Xijun’s lap. His tone remained lazy, but there was seriousness beneath it.
“I made arrangements long ago. If I truly die, someone will take enough banknotes to Shuyu Pavilion and buy your freedom. I have also sent people to search for your younger sister. It’s just that without me, you’ll have to walk the road toward clearing the case yourself.”
Yue Xijun’s fingertips trembled slightly.
“If Your Highness already made such arrangements…”
He bit his lower lip and finally asked the question that had troubled him.
“Then why didn’t you buy my freedom now?”
What shocked him even more was how highly Xiao Ying thought of him.
It was as though Xiao Ying had placed his own life and death outside his consideration and arranged everything in advance, including Yue Xijun’s future.
For a moment, Yue Xijun was almost overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
But he quickly regained his composure and became guarded again.
Xiao Ying did not open his eyes. He merely sighed softly.
“With your intelligence, how could you not understand? If I publicly bought your freedom now and brought you back to the prince’s residence, then for the rest of your life you would be forever branded with the disgraceful title of ‘Prince Yi’s male concubine.’”
Yue Xijun’s heart shook violently, as though struck by a heavy hammer.
In an instant, he understood Xiao Ying’s painstaking intentions.
If Xiao Ying bought his freedom now, then even if the Wu family’s name were eventually cleared, Yue Xijun would forever remain a hidden favorite in Prince Yi’s household, someone who had to depend on another man’s favor for the rest of his life.
But Xiao Ying had only bought him one year of the right not to receive clients.
That meant that, officially, he was still a courtesan who had never received a client.
As long as the truth was uncovered and the Wu family’s name cleared within that year, he could leave his status as a slave with a clean name and legitimate standing.
Although his experience in the pleasure district would still invite gossip and condemnation, at least he could hold his head high without shame and retain the right to choose his own future, rather than becoming someone’s possession.
He lowered his eyes and silently stared at the man lying on his lap as though asleep.
What exactly did Xiao Ying want?
Was he truly paving the way for Yue Xijun’s future?
Or was all of this merely another enormous gamble by this unfathomable man, designed to completely destroy Yue Xijun’s defenses and win his trust?
He did not dare believe it.
Nor could he afford to gamble.
Before this, they had merely been two parallel lines that could never intersect.
In the end, however, he did not ask the question weighing on his heart.
He was afraid that the deeper he asked, the more he learned, and perhaps the more completely he would fall into the gentle dreamscape Xiao Ying had woven around him.
The carriage raced onward and soon arrived at the Prince Yi residence.
Lan Ningcheng had already received the urgent report from the guards. He was waiting anxiously outside the main gate with the household physician and a group of servants.
When he saw Xiao Ying emerge from the carriage with a deathly pale face, almost being half-carried by the guards, and wearing Yue Xijun’s clothes, Lan Ningcheng’s usually gentle and refined expression instantly became frighteningly cold.
“Take His Highness to the Main Courtyard immediately! Have the household physician examine him at once!”
Lan Ningcheng issued the orders sharply.
Then his gaze, sharp as a blade, swept toward Yue Xijun following behind.
“Someone escort Young Master Yue back to Shuyu Pavilion. Make absolutely certain he arrives safely. Not the slightest mishap is permitted.”
Yue Xijun stood in the night wind and watched Xiao Ying disappear into the distance, surrounded by people as though he were the center of all their attention.
He knew there was no place for him in the prince’s residence at this moment.
Without saying anything, he obediently followed the attendants into the carriage he had arrived in and returned along the same route under the protection of the Prince Yi household guards.
Inside the bedroom of the Main Courtyard, the scent of medicine filled the air.
The household physician withdrew his hand after taking Xiao Ying’s pulse and nervously reported,
“Chief Adviser Lan, His Highness was already suffering from a slight chill. Tonight, he drank too much, then fell into the river, suffering both cold exposure and shock. The cold pathogen entered his body, triggering this severe fever. He must be given medicine immediately to induce sweating, and he absolutely cannot be exposed to more wind.”
Lan Ningcheng waved his hand and ordered someone to prepare the medicine immediately.
He turned and looked at Xiao Ying lying on the canopied bed, his face pale as gold leaf.
His brows drew tightly together, and at last he could not help letting out a heavy sigh.
Hearing it, Xiao Ying barely managed to lift his heavy eyelids and tug weakly at the corners of his mouth.
“Chief Adviser Lan, could you stop sighing every time you see me as though you’re attending my funeral?”
Lan Ningcheng did not glare at him, but his cold, expressionless eyes were filled with reproach.
“I heard from the squad leader that His Highness drank quite a lot aboard the pleasure boat tonight?”
“I had no choice…” Xiao Ying defended himself weakly. “How else was I supposed to fool those people?”
“So Your Highness would rather gamble your own life just to put on an act, allowing someone to push you into the river?!”
Lan Ningcheng finally could not suppress his anger.
He knew Xiao Ying too well.
If it were not for these oversights, how could someone with Xiao Ying’s vigilance possibly have approached him from behind without being noticed?
“This time, you really can’t blame me.”
Xiao Ying smiled bitterly.
“I didn’t expect the other side to be so brazen as to simply push someone straight into the river…”
Lan Ningcheng merely sneered, his eyes looking at him as though he were listening to someone making excuses.
“All right, all right. It was my mistake. I underestimated them and let my guard down.”
Seeing Lan Ningcheng’s dark expression, Xiao Ying hurriedly raised his hands in surrender.
“Next time—next time I’ll be more careful.”
“Next time?”
Lan Ningcheng raised an eyebrow.
“There absolutely will not be a next time.”
Xiao Ying immediately changed his answer.
At that moment, an attendant brought in the freshly prepared medicine.
After confirming that the medicine contained no poison, Lan Ningcheng handed it to Xiao Ying.
Xiao Ying stared at the bowl of thick black medicine, frowning repeatedly, but could only helplessly drink it.
Lan Ningcheng did not continue arguing with him.
Instead, he pulled the manifest and investigation statements that the squad leader had just handed over from inside his robe. His expression was grave.
“I carefully reviewed the statements just now. On the surface, they appear airtight, but there are serious problems underneath. Several people’s testimonies overlap, yet there are gaps of roughly fifteen minutes before and after Your Highness fell into the river that cannot be mutually verified. And then there’s Xu Haoyang’s excessive reaction toward Young Master Yue…”
“…Then that makes sense.”
The playful expression disappeared from Xiao Ying’s face. His eyes turned cold and sharp.
His recent movements really had been too conspicuous.
Not only had he secretly interfered with grain supplies and grain prices between Jiangnan and the northern frontier, he had also deliberately released some ambiguous information about the northern frontier to muddy the waters.
A few days ago, he had just noticed something suspicious about Sheng Yuanli in the Ministry of Revenue.
Now he had openly kept Yue Xijun, someone connected to the Wu family case, at his side.
Every single thing had struck someone where it hurt.
“Tonight’s push was less an assassination than a warning.”
Xiao Ying spoke slowly.
“They’re telling me that they’re right beside me.”
“But then again…”
Xiao Ying returned to his usual irreverent manner and chuckled.
“Perhaps it’s because I stole someone’s love and monopolized Yue Xijun, the most famous courtesan in the capital. Maybe some lovesick fool became jealous and decided to make a desperate attempt on my life?”
He made it sound casual, but Lan Ningcheng could not laugh.
In the past, Xiao Ying had played the role of an incompetent, idle prince to perfection. In the struggle for the throne, he had been almost completely invisible and had never encountered a genuine assassination attempt.
But the icy river water tonight had made one thing brutally clear—
He had been completely exposed beneath the enemy’s blade.
The threat to his life was now imminent.
Tonight it had only been a fall into the river.
Next time, it might be something far worse.
Lan Ningcheng drew a deep breath, his eyes filled with regret.
“No matter what, I should have personally accompanied Your Highness aboard the boat tonight. If we continue investigating those secrets that should never be touched, we’ll only place Your Highness in greater danger.”
“So, Chief Adviser Lan thinks we should stop here?”
Xiao Ying raised his eyes and looked at him with a faint, unreadable smile.
Lan Ningcheng tightened his grip on the manifest.
His gaze suddenly turned cold, and a chill completely at odds with his gentle appearance curled around the corners of his lips.
“No. If Your Highness suddenly stops investigating and stops touching the Ministry of Revenue, they’ll know that this push worked.”
He snapped the manifest shut.
“Not only will we continue investigating, we’ll investigate the river incident as well. But from today onward, we’ll deliberately leak a few false leads and see exactly which big fish come bursting out of these muddy waters.”
The discomfort brought on by the high fever, combined with the exhaustion from the night’s ordeal, now swept over Xiao Ying like a tidal wave.
His consciousness was already beginning to blur.
“Good… ‘Build a plank road in the open, cross through Chencang in secret.’ I’ll leave this matter to you… Have someone inform Mother Consort that I’m fine… Don’t let her worry… And Yue Xijun…”
Lan Ningcheng calmly replied,
“Your Highness need not worry. I will arrange everything.”
Xiao Ying finally closed his eyes.
“Whatever happens, we’ll discuss it tomorrow…”
The moment the words left his mouth, he sank into a deep sleep.
In the flickering candlelight, Lan Ningcheng tightened his grip around the manifest, his gaze like a poisoned blade.
Since someone had dared to turn a blade against a prince, then from here on, it would be a matter of seeing who could withstand the reckoning of Prince Yi’s household.
He spoke quietly to the shadow hidden in the darkness.
“Investigate every pleasure boat on the Xinghan River tonight. Their backgrounds, their passenger manifests—don’t overlook a single one.”
“Yes.”
The shadow immediately disappeared into the darkness.