As night fell, Prince Yi’s residence was ablaze with lights.
Inside the bedchamber, candlelight flickered.
Xiao Ying stood there with his arms spread, bored out of his mind as several attendants helped him into layer after layer of an elaborate, luxurious brocade robe.
Yet his usually handsome, rakish face was as pale as rice paper. Only his cheeks and the corners of his eyes carried a faint flush brought on by the heat of his fever.
Lan Ningcheng stood to one side, his hands folded inside his sleeves, his brows drawn so tightly together that they could practically crush a fly.
His eyes remained fixed on Xiao Ying’s sickly face.
Xiao Ying caught his gaze in the bronze mirror and teased him carelessly, “Chief Adviser Lan, your brows are furrowed so deeply you could practically clamp a note between them.”
Lan Ningcheng secretly sighed, his breath full of helplessness and worry.
He finally couldn’t hold back any longer. “Your Highness, your body is already weakened. Why not postpone tonight’s music gathering?”
Xiao Ying fiddled with the jade pendant at his waist and said unconcernedly, “If we cancel, getting all these people together again will be too much trouble. Don’t worry. I’m not that delicate.”
Lan Ningcheng mentally took that statement—not that delicate—and heavily discounted it.
If he wasn’t delicate, then there probably wasn’t a delicate person anywhere in the entire capital.
At that moment, someone hurried in from outside to report, “Your Highness, Young Master Yue Xi has arrived.”
“I know.”
Xiao Ying lifted his eyes slightly.
“Have him wait in the carriage first. I’ll be there shortly.”
Seeing that further persuasion was useless, Lan Ningcheng knew how stubborn his master could be and could only settle for the next best thing.
“Since Your Highness insists on going, then please take the captain of your personal guard unit with you. In addition, your alcohol intake tonight must be reduced to one-third of your usual amount. Absolutely no excessive drinking.”
By now, the attendants had finished arranging Xiao Ying’s appearance. His hair was secured beneath a jade crown, and his tall, elegant figure once again looked like the dazzling young prince known for his extravagant lifestyle.
Xiao Ying smiled helplessly.
“Taking the captain with me on a pleasure cruise will make people suspicious.”
As he spoke, he strode toward the outside.
“I’ll have people pay more attention. That’ll do.”
Lan Ningcheng refused to yield even an inch and followed behind him, solemnly delivering his final ultimatum.
“If Your Highness refuses, then I have no choice but to accompany Your Highness onto the pleasure boat.”
Xiao Ying’s steps stopped.
He turned around and stared coldly at him.
“…”
The two stood silently facing each other in the corridor for a moment.
The night wind brushed past them. Xiao Ying suppressed an itch in his throat and finally conceded first.
He sighed.
He didn’t want Lan Ningcheng setting foot in that sort of place of wine, women, and pleasure. Even less did he want Lan Ningcheng’s upright reputation tainted by even the slightest trace of the rouge and powder of the pleasure quarters.
After all, this was the last shred of dignity he could preserve for Lan Ningcheng.
And Lan Ningcheng knew this perfectly well, which was why he had deliberately used it as a threat.
Xiao Ying himself couldn’t tell who was more stubborn.
“Fine. We’ll do exactly as Chief Adviser Lan arranged.”
Xiao Ying spoke with resignation.
When Xiao Ying stepped out of the prince’s residence, he saw six or eight elite personal guards standing beside the carriage.
To avoid attracting attention, only the captain and two others wore armor and carried swords. The rest were dressed like ordinary household guards and boatmen.
This was already the greatest concession Lan Ningcheng was willing to make.
Besides the people from Prince Yi’s household, several unfamiliar attendants and guards were also standing outside the carriage.
Xiao Ying sneered inwardly.
On the surface, these people had come to “serve and protect” Yue Xi.
In reality, they were watchdogs sent by Shuyu Pavilion to protect its “valuable asset,” making sure Yue Xi did not overstep his bounds or attempt to escape.
He lifted the carriage curtain and stepped inside.
Inside, Yue Xi was once again dressed in a moon-white robe fading into pale purple, the sleeves flowing like those of an immortal.
He sat quietly in one corner of the carriage.
The dim yellow lamplight illuminated his flawless profile, making him look like an exquisitely carved glass figurine—cold, aloof, and utterly beautiful.
Seeing Xiao Ying enter, he merely gave a faint nod.
His voice was as cool and clear as a spring.
“Yue Xi greets Your Highness.”
Xiao Ying’s gaze inadvertently dropped downward, and he noticed that despite going out on this slightly chilly spring night, Yue Xi was still barefoot.
He wasn’t even wearing shoes or socks.
“Would you like me to have someone bring you a few pairs of shoes?” Xiao Ying asked.
Yue Xi’s expression didn’t change.
“I appreciate Your Highness’s concern. But Shuyu Pavilion has a rule: Yue Xi does not step into the mud and dust.”
Xiao Ying couldn’t help laughing softly when he heard that.
It was probably another rule Shuyu Pavilion had imposed on him.
It could create an image of him as an otherworldly beauty untouched by the mortal world, thereby raising his value, while at the same time conveniently restricting his ability to move around.
Truly killing two birds with one stone.
Xiao Ying picked up a cushion beside him and placed it beneath Yue Xi’s feet.
Then he tapped the carriage wall twice with the ivory-carved fan in his hand.
The carriage immediately began moving smoothly.
The wheels rolled forward, shutting out the noise from outside.
Xiao Ying put away his usual irreverent smile and lowered his voice.
“Most of the people attending tonight’s music gathering are young heirs from powerful families in the capital. They don’t know how to hold their tongues, so some of what they say may make you uncomfortable. Just bear with it.”
Yue Xi merely smiled indifferently when he heard this. There wasn’t the slightest warmth in his eyes.
“Your Highness is being too serious. Living among flowers and willow branches, serving others with my looks—what could possibly be more humiliating than that?”
Xiao Ying fell silent.
He knew that Yue Xi had originally been the son of a prestigious aristocratic family.
But because of the case three years ago, his family had been destroyed. He had been reduced to slave status and eventually sold to a place like Shuyu Pavilion.
Now, a proud young man with a head full of learning had to smile and perform before the sons of powerful families who perhaps had once been beneath him.
There was no doubt that it meant grinding his pride into the mud.
“The Jiangnan grain-transport embezzlement case from back then implicated a great many people.”
Xiao Ying’s tone was calm but grave.
“If we really want to reopen the case and investigate it, it won’t be solved in a day or two. The Ministry of Revenue is deep water. Right now, the enemy is hidden while we are exposed. We can’t touch the Ministry of Revenue directly. We’ll have to think carefully and proceed gradually.”
Yue Xi’s expression did not change in the slightest, as though he were listening to someone else’s story.
Three years ago, on that day, he hadn’t even had time to understand what was happening before the warm, ordinary life he knew collapsed in an instant.
His parents and the elder brother he deeply respected had all been executed.
Because he had not yet reached adulthood, he had narrowly escaped death.
As for his young sister, she had probably been exiled somewhere like him. He had spent the past three years enduring humiliation and secretly asking around for news, yet had never received even a single word about her.
He knew that what had been lost could never be recovered.
He had clung desperately to life until now for only one reason—
to learn why.
Yue Xi lowered his long lashes and leaned slightly closer, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear.
“The night before everything happened, I saw my father personally burn a ledger in his study.”
Xiao Ying’s gaze sharpened slightly.
Yue Xi still remembered the flickering firelight that night.
“At the time, I asked him, ‘Father, didn’t you say the ledgers must never be burned?’”
Back then, his father had thrown the final page into the brazier and turned to look at him.
The expression on his face had contained despair and resolve—an unfamiliar expression Yue Xi had never seen before in his entire life.
Yue Xi’s voice remained flat, yet carried a suffocating weight.
“My father only said one thing. He said, ‘Jiuling, remember this. The words written in a ledger can be false, but grain never lies.’”
Yue Xi raised his eyes and looked directly at Xiao Ying.
“I know my father better than anyone. He was never someone who would embezzle public funds.”
Xiao Ying was silent for a moment, lightly tapping his fan against his palm.
“Perhaps… he discovered something back then, or touched something he shouldn’t have. If any concrete evidence had been left behind, it would actually be easier to follow the clues. But the Wu family’s estate was searched so thoroughly that nothing remains.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a burst of lively noise.
The carriage had already come to a slow stop beside the dock.
Beyond the curtain, the surface of the Xinghan River shimmered beneath the night sky, breathtakingly beautiful.
The river was broad, with drooping willows lining both banks.
There was no wind on this spring night. The water was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the countless stars above so that there seemed to be a river of stars both overhead and below.
At this moment, pleasure boats blazed with lights all across the river, decorating the darkened water like a glittering sea of stars.
And the most conspicuous vessel at the dock was the largest pleasure boat Xiao Ying had specially reserved for tonight.
The pleasure boat stood two stories high, with sweeping eaves, upturned corners, carved beams, and painted rafters.
Layers of gauzy curtains hung around the hull, fluttering gently in the night breeze.
Several glazed palace lanterns hung from the bow, their warm light diffusing through the gauze and adding a seductive, romantic atmosphere.
Xiao Ying got out of the carriage first and turned around, intending to offer Yue Xi a hand.
But he saw Yue Xi standing on the carriage step, staring at the slightly muddy flagstones of the dock from the rain earlier that day, his handsome brows faintly furrowed.
One of the highly observant personal guards immediately stepped forward and bent down, ready to carry him across.
But Xiao Ying blocked him with his fan.
“No need. I’ll do it.”
The guard was horrified.
“Your Highness? That would be highly improper—”
Before he could finish, Xiao Ying had already stepped forward.
He reached out, swept an arm around Yue Xi, and lifted him horizontally into his arms, then strode steadily toward the pleasure boat.
He quickly whispered into Yue Xi’s ear,
“Bear with it for a moment.”
Yue Xi quietly let himself be carried, like a tame cat.
Aside from their first meeting, when Xiao Ying had used his fan to lift Yue Xi’s chin and said something rather rude, Xiao Ying had otherwise treated him with the courtesy of a gentleman and had never touched him improperly.
It was almost as though…
he regarded him as a person.
Yue Xi rested lightly against Xiao Ying’s chest, the scent of incense lingering beneath his nose.
He spoke softly.
“You wouldn’t think it from Your Highness’s refined, pampered appearance, but you’re rather strong. I suppose you must have had plenty of practice carrying beauties around in places like these?”
He had always hated being touched too closely by others.
He also disliked the lecherous gazes people directed at him.
Yet he found that he didn’t seem to dislike this embrace very much.
He couldn’t explain why.
Xiao Ying lowered his eyes and glanced at him, the corner of his lips curling upward.
“That’s not true. You’re the first person I’ve ever carried in my life. So, how does this embrace compare with Young General Li’s?”
Yue Xi didn’t seem bothered that Xiao Ying had deliberately brought up the old incident.
He simply replied calmly,
“Just a man with brute strength who couldn’t even cross the Moonfall Terrace’s water bridge. He’s hardly worth mentioning.”
Xiao Ying couldn’t help laughing softly.
Being this close, Yue Xi noticed something strange.
The temperature of the body in his arms, even through their clothes, was somewhat too hot.
He had noticed earlier that Xiao Ying’s complexion seemed unusual today.
“If Your Highness really can’t manage it, you should put me down,” Yue Xi said quietly. “Don’t force yourself.”
Hearing the words can’t manage it, Xiao Ying raised a brow.
He carried Yue Xi steadily across the gangplank.
“Don’t worry. I only look a little frail on the outside. Carrying someone your weight onto a pleasure boat is still well within my abilities.”
Only after reaching the deck did Xiao Ying gently set Yue Xi down.
But the sight of him personally carrying Yue Xi aboard had already been seen clearly by all the young noblemen waiting on the boat.
A wave of suggestive laughter broke out.
Someone boldly teased, “We’ve long heard that His Highness Prince Yi is exceptionally fond of Yue Xi, even spending a fortune to purchase exclusive rights to his company. Seeing it today, it seems the rumors were true!”
With a snap, Xiao Ying opened his folding fan and gave it a graceful wave.
“Of course. How could I possibly let my own man get even a speck of mud on his feet?”
Seeing that all the guests had arrived, the manager of the pleasure boat hurried forward and respectfully asked,
“Your Highness, everyone is here. Shall we set sail?”
“Go ahead. Set sail.”
Then he turned to the personal guards behind him and ordered,
“You two go guard the entrance to the pleasure boat and the area around the lower deck. I’m here to enjoy myself. Don’t stand around in front of me like wooden posts and spoil the mood. Unless I summon you, don’t come near.”
The captain of the personal guards understood Chief Adviser Lan’s instructions perfectly well.
But he also knew that once the pleasure boat reached the middle of the river, there was no way for anyone to escape.
Prince Yi’s orders could not be disobeyed.
So he accepted the command and withdrew beyond the banquet hall’s line of sight.
Xiao Ying led Yue Xi and the others toward the banquet hall on the first floor.
The banquet officially began.
The fattest river delicacies of spring, tender young bamboo shoots picked that very morning, melt-in-your-mouth water shield soup… one exquisite dish after another was brought out, and the fragrance of fine wine immediately filled the cabin.
At the bow, several beautiful musicians gently plucked their pipa, singing the most popular decadent melodies in the capital at the moment, their voices soft and coquettish.
The pleasure boat slowly left the noisy shore and anchored in the middle of the Xinghan River, allowing the guests to admire the stars and listen to music.
There was no moon in the sky tonight, but countless stars glittered overhead like scattered diamonds, creating a breathtaking sight.
Yue Xi sat quietly beside Xiao Ying with his eyes lowered slightly.
He looked like an exquisite decorative figurine, yet his eyes were secretly observing every person at the gathering.
His ears caught every guest’s family background, every word they spoke, and every connection of patronage and alliance between them.
Every aristocratic young master attending this music gathering represented a powerful family behind him.
Xiao Ying was a prince of the imperial family. Even though he was merely an idle prince without real authority, his astonishing wealth posed no tangible threat, so some families still maintained friendly relations with him.
After several rounds of wine, the atmosphere gradually became livelier and even somewhat uninhibited.
Xu Haoyang, son of the Assistant Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, had drunk until his cheeks were flushed.
He stared at Yue Xi’s excessively beautiful face and aloof bearing, and a twisted jealousy began to rise within him.
Suddenly, he raised his wine cup toward Xiao Ying.
“Your Highness, you may not know this, but although this male courtesan looks so high and mighty, he’s actually nothing more than the son of a criminal.”
The atmosphere inside the cabin instantly froze.
Xiao Ying raised his eyes slightly and stopped the jade-green wine cup just before his lips.
His voice carried a carefully measured hint of confusion.
“Oh? How so?”
Xu Haoyang’s eyes were filled with undisguised contempt.
“Back then, Wu Junqing, a Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue, colluded with the Jiangnan grain-transport officials, falsified grain losses, altered the disaster-relief grain accounts, and embezzled grain funds from the imperial treasury. My father personally participated in the trial of that major case!
“And this Yue Xi is none other than Wu Junqing’s second son, Wu Jiuling.
“Your Highness, keeping the son of such a heinous criminal by your side is likely to sully your good name!”
As soon as he said this, Yan Bingwen, son of a Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice, sneered with his wine cup in hand and hurriedly chimed in.
“Xu is right. When the Wu family was confiscated, my father also assisted with the case. Wu Junqing was stubborn right up until the day he died.
“Under Dasheng law, for a serious crime involving such a massive amount of embezzlement, all male members of the family should have been executed in the autumn. For the Wu family’s second son to have survived and even sit here today with his head and limbs intact, playing music and seducing nobles, he really must have benefited from the blessings of his ancestors.”
Yan Bingwen looked Yue Xi up and down, his gaze shamelessly lingering over his slender body.
“But looking at that delicate skin and foxlike, seductive appearance of his… if he really had been sent to the Imperial Music Bureau back then, I imagine he would have been even more popular than the women, wouldn’t he?”
A wave of drunken, suggestive laughter erupted around the table.
These young noblemen who usually prided themselves on being refined had now shed their masks under the influence of alcohol.
Yet amid the uproar, Xue Yan, son of an Investigating Censor, merely rotated the wine cup in his hand without saying a word.
He was naturally suspicious and cautious, deeply familiar with the art of reading people in the political world.
At this moment, his gaze discreetly moved back and forth between Xiao Ying and Yue Xi.
He keenly noticed that despite Xu and Yan’s humiliating remarks, the supposedly reckless and debauched Prince Yi merely remained silent.
There was not the slightest trace of anger or disgust in Xiao Ying’s seemingly drunken, peach-blossom eyes at having his “good name sullied.”
Instead, there was an unfathomable depth within them.
Xue Yan knew very well that disaster came from careless words.
Wisely, he chose to remain silent and observe, even quietly shrinking farther into the shadows.
Faced with such unbearable humiliation, Yue Xi’s fingers clenched inside his sleeves, his nails nearly digging into his palms.
Yet his expression remained as cold as frost.
It was as though the blades formed by every cruel word were not cutting into his flesh at all.
He was merely a jade carving without sensation.
Listening to the laughter around him, Xiao Ying slowly rotated the jade-green wine cup in his hand.
“I see.”
His voice was not loud, yet somehow carried an invisible force that instantly overpowered the noise around the table.
Everyone involuntarily fell silent.
He turned his head slightly toward Yan Bingwen and Xu Haoyang, a faint, ambiguous smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
“But since the Wu family case has already been concluded, and the appropriate punishments have already been handed down, then the matter should be settled.
“You two seem remarkably familiar with such an old case. It reminds me of an interesting rumor I once heard in the streets…”
He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice, as though sharing some forbidden secret.
“I once heard that on the night before Wu Junqing’s downfall, he secretly handed something over to someone. Supposedly… that something was related to the grain-transport accounts from back then.”
The corner of Xiao Ying’s eye swept discreetly across the three men at the table.
Of the three, Xu Haoyang was the first to speak.
His face was filled with surprise, and he even gave an incredulous snort.
“Your Highness, where did you hear such nonsense? The Wu family were criminals. The evidence against them was ironclad. What hidden circumstances could there possibly have been?
“Wasn’t this just something some storyteller invented?”
Xu Haoyang’s father, as Assistant Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, had merely followed orders and conducted the investigation according to the official script.
He had no reason to be wary.
He even found the rumor utterly absurd.
Yan Bingwen, however, seemed as though an invisible hand had suddenly closed around his throat.
The wine cup he was holding froze in midair. Several drops sloshed out and splashed onto the back of his hand.
The color drained visibly from his face.
A sentence his father had muttered after getting drunk suddenly flashed through his mind.
“That Wu family case… was decided too quickly. The people above were pressing us as though they were demanding someone’s life…”
Yan Bingwen immediately reined in his earlier arrogance and fell silent.
Meanwhile, Xue Yan, the son of the Investigating Censor who had been quietly observing from the corner, reacted even more subtly.
The moment he heard the words the accounts, his pupils contracted sharply.
He instinctively turned his head and glanced at Yan Bingwen beside him before quickly lowering his eyes to the wine cup in front of him.
He had once inadvertently caught sight of something inside a hidden compartment in his father’s study.
The first confidential memorial his father had submitted back then was completely different from the version later formally sent to the Censorate and used to establish the Wu family’s guilt.
This meant that before the case had even reached the joint review by the Three Judicial Offices, someone had already tampered with it at the source.
Xiao Ying took everything in.
He already had his answer.
He laughed lightly and casually leaned back into his chair, once again assuming his usual carefree, frivolous expression.
“I only heard it as a rumor from the streets. Look how nervous I’ve made you all.
“Come now. It’s a beautiful night. Let’s not discuss these tiresome affairs of the imperial court. What’s past is past. In this moment, we have wine, so we should enjoy it. That’s what matters.”
With that, he lifted the untouched jade-green wine cup in his hand to Yue Xi’s lips and asked softly,
“Isn’t that right?”
Yue Xi had seen the changes in those three men’s expressions clearly.
He raised his eyes and looked deeply at Xiao Ying.
He understood.
The chessboard had already been laid out.
This was not merely a music gathering.
The appearance of these key figures together here was no coincidence either.
Xiao Ying had deliberately set up a game.
And he himself was one of the pieces.
Then he slowly tilted his head back.
With Xiao Ying’s hand holding the cup, he raised his elegant neck and drank the entire cup of wine in one go.
On his face, which had always been covered in frost, there finally appeared a faint smile.
And for once, there was genuine sincerity in it.
“Your Highness is absolutely right.”
It was said that Yue Xi rarely smiled.
Even when facing nobles or clients, he seldom revealed such an expression.
He was already extraordinarily beautiful, and this smile was like an epiphyllum blooming suddenly beneath the moon.
In an instant, the inexperienced young noblemen were completely captivated, forgetting the conversation from moments earlier.
At last, they understood why Prince Yi, who supposedly had little interest in men, had suddenly paid an enormous sum to reserve Yue Xi exclusively.
If they had that kind of wealth, they would want him too.
Under Xiao Ying’s deliberate guidance, the atmosphere quickly became lively again, and the little incident was soon forgotten.
Everyone began playing drinking games, pitching arrows into pots, and playing guessing games, while laughter rose and fell throughout the boat.
After three rounds of drinking, someone took advantage of the alcohol and suggested,
“I’ve heard that Young Master Yue Xi plays the qin beautifully, with musical skill unrivaled throughout the capital. Would we be fortunate enough to hear a piece tonight?”
The words appeared to be addressed to Yue Xi, but everyone’s eyes turned inquisitively toward Xiao Ying.
Quite a few people had originally wanted to follow Prince Yi to Shuyu Pavilion to see Yue Xi for themselves, but had been shut out because the number of places was limited.
Now that they had finally found an opportunity, naturally they didn’t want to let it pass.
Others, however, simply wanted to watch this fallen aristocratic young master make a fool of himself.
Xiao Ying turned and glanced at Yue Xi.
Although he had paid a huge sum to buy the right to keep Yue Xi from accepting clients for an entire year, that did not mean he intended to force Yue Xi to do whatever he wanted.
He had never intended to force him to do anything.
Yet Yue Xi slowly stood.
“We left in a hurry today, so I didn’t bring my qin.”
Then he turned toward the pipa held by one of the musicians at the bow.
“Perhaps I can play the pipa instead.”
He slowly walked toward the bow.
As he moved, the silver bells tied around his ankles gave off a soft, delicate jingling sound, unusually ethereal within the cabin.
He took the pipa from the musician and gracefully sat down.
His fingertips lightly plucked the strings twice, testing the tuning.
His slender, pale fingers settled gently over the strings.
The next instant, his fingertips suddenly exerted force.
The music erupted.
“Zheng—!”
A single note, sharp as tearing silk, split through the night sky.
This was not one of the soft, decadent melodies being played earlier.
From the very first note came the murderous atmosphere of battle—iron and horses, swallowing mountains and rivers.
As his fingers swept across the strings, it was as though tens of thousands of armored cavalry were charging forward, blades and spears clashing, surrounded on all sides, with the mournful songs of Chu rising everywhere.
The music was stirring, even carrying a tragic intensity.
It was filled with despair, grief, and the overwhelming momentum of a counterattack.
The contrast with his cold, delicate appearance was extreme.
Every young nobleman who had come here to indulge in pleasure was left staring in shock, sobered by half in an instant.
Whether they had come to admire his performance or to watch him make a fool of himself, all were stunned by the power of the piece and his extraordinary skill.
Xiao Ying merely tapped his fingertip against the jade-green wine cup, a faint smile curving his lips.
Just as the melody climbed toward its most devastating peak, when the final heavy note was about to fall—
A sharp cracking sound suddenly rang out.
Snap!
One of the strings broke violently.
It recoiled like a whip, the taut string lashing across Yue Xi’s cheek.
A thin line of blood appeared instantly.
Bright red droplets seeped from the wound, stark against his pale skin.
Yet Yue Xi didn’t even blink.
He simply pressed down on the broken string.
Xiao Ying’s brows furrowed.
He immediately stood and strode forward to inspect the injury.
Fortunately, it wasn’t deep. It was only a superficial cut, and with proper treatment it would not leave a scar.
He took a clean handkerchief from inside his robes, leaned slightly closer, and gently wiped away the blood on Yue Xi’s cheek.
Then he took a fine medicinal ointment from the personal guard who had hurried over, dabbed a little onto his fingertip, and carefully applied it to the cut.
“When we return, I’ll have the physicians at my residence take another careful look and treat it properly.”
There was a tension in Xiao Ying’s voice that even he himself did not notice.
Yue Xi raised his eyes slightly, his expression still completely calm, as though it were someone else who had been injured.
“It’s only a minor wound. Your Highness needn’t trouble yourself.
“Besides, my face and body technically still belong to Shuyu Pavilion as its ‘property.’ Although Your Highness purchased certain rights over me, if I’m damaged, the Pavilion Master will demand compensation from Your Highness according to my value.”
Xiao Ying’s tense expression relaxed slightly, and he couldn’t help laughing despite himself.
“I’ll pay. Do you really think I can’t afford to compensate Shuyu Pavilion?
“Just don’t let it scar. After all, I rather like this face.”
Yue Xi did not answer.
His gaze fell upon the handkerchief in Xiao Ying’s hand, stained with his own blood.
“Your Highness,” he suddenly said, “might you give this handkerchief to me?”
Xiao Ying glanced at the bloodstained cloth.
“It’s already covered in blood. If you want one, I can give you a whole stack of new ones later.”
“Yue Xi wants this one.”
His voice was calm, but there was a trace of stubbornness in it.
Xiao Ying looked deeply at him but did not ask any further questions.
He simply handed over the bloodstained handkerchief.
Yue Xi carefully folded it and tucked it into his robes.
After this little incident, the night grew deeper.
It was now midnight.
Yet the number of pleasure boats on the Xinghan River had not decreased.
If anything, more had appeared as the night’s revelry grew livelier, and the sounds of strings and pipes continued without end.
Xiao Ying held the jade-green wine cup as his friends deliberately flattered him and urged him to drink.
One cup after another went down.
He knew that he was not in good condition tonight.
He still had a low fever, and Lan Ningcheng’s warning remained fresh in his mind.
But if he refused at this moment and drank nothing at all, that would actually arouse more suspicion than getting drunk.
For the sake of maintaining this “frivolous young prince” persona, he had to pay this small political price.
Just as he was about to raise his cup again, a slightly cool hand suddenly pressed against his wrist.
Yue Xi discreetly took the wine cup from his hand and turned toward those who had been repeatedly urging Xiao Ying to drink.
His voice was cool but left no room for argument.
“This cup will be Yue Xi’s impertinence. I’ll drink it in Your Highness’s place.”
With that, he tilted his head back and drained the cup.
When everyone saw the long, slender neck he revealed as he raised his head, even fairer and more alluring than a woman’s, together with his already妖冶 appearance made even more striking by the faint streak of blood on his cheek, a malicious urge to tease him immediately arose.
“Since Young Master Yue Xi is going to drink in his place, how can one cup be enough? Drink this one for His Highness too!”
Laughing, they filled another cup.
Yet after several cups in succession, not even the slightest flush appeared on Yue Xi’s cheeks.
His eyes remained as clear as water, as though what he had just swallowed were nothing more than plain water.
Instead, the people trying to get him drunk were left staring in astonishment.
Seeing this, Xiao Ying stepped in at exactly the right moment and stopped the malicious drinking game.
“That’s enough. You all drink yourselves.
“All the expenses here tonight will be charged to my account. Don’t hold back.”
With that, he gestured with his eyes toward Yue Xi’s attendants.
“Take your young master upstairs to one of the private rooms to rest.”
Yue Xi glanced at him but did not refuse.
He stood and followed his attendants upstairs.
After dismissing everyone, Xiao Ying rubbed his temples.
The headache he had finally suppressed during the day had returned with a vengeance.
His body already carried a low fever, and with the alcohol accelerating it, it felt as though a ball of fire were burning inside him.
He made an excuse and went alone to the side of the pleasure boat near the stern.
There was a partially enclosed viewing corridor here. Heavy gauze curtains and banners hung along the outer side, forming a dim, quiet space far removed from the noise of the first-floor banquet hall.
And because he had previously ordered his personal guards not to approach, the area was completely deserted.
Only the faint sounds of music and laughter from inside the boat could be heard.
The night wind, carrying the coolness of the river, struck his burning face and gave his foggy mind a brief moment of clarity.
He leaned against the railing and gazed at the scattered lights on the river like countless stars.
His mind rapidly sorted through Xu Haoyang’s reaction when he heard about “something related to the ledger,” as well as the reactions of everyone else present.
Suddenly, he caught the faintest sound of clothing brushing together behind him.
Although Xiao Ying was seven parts drunk, three parts of his alertness remained.
He sensed someone approaching from behind.
Just as he was about to turn around—
His body, weakened by fever and numbed by alcohol, was ultimately a beat too slow.
A powerful force suddenly slammed into his back.
The push was enormous.
Xiao Ying’s balance instantly broke.
His entire body went over the railing and plunged toward the black surface of the river.
In the instant before he fell into the dark water, Xiao Ying instinctively held his breath.
“Crash—splash!”
The freezing river water swallowed him whole.
Even in the sudden life-or-death crisis of falling into the water, Xiao Ying forced himself to remain calm.
Ever since childhood, his mother had secretly taught him many skills for staying alive.
He knew how to swim well, so even after falling into the river, he did not panic.
But once he actually sank beneath the surface, he realized the situation was far worse than he had anticipated.
The surface of the Xinghan River looked calm and romantic, but powerful currents churned beneath it, mercilessly carrying him farther and farther away from the pleasure boat.
The spring river at night was freezing cold.
It instantly drained the warmth from his body.
Beneath the surface, there was almost no visibility.
The deep darkness was like an abyss.
He opened his eyes.
Through the moving water, he could faintly see the weak lights shining from several other pleasure boats on the surface, allowing him to determine the direction.
However, his body was already running a low fever, and the shock of the cold water caused his muscles to tense and stiffen instantly.
His limbs were beginning to show signs of cramping.
Combined with the effects of the alcohol, he tried to push himself upward, but his hands and feet could barely exert any strength.
Even worse, the elaborate princely ceremonial robes he had specially dressed in for the banquet had become waterlogged.
They clung to his limbs like countless strands of freezing waterweed, dragging him toward the depths.
The current pushed him farther and farther away.
Xiao Ying made a split-second decision and drew the short sword hidden on his body.
Underwater, he swung the blade and cut through the heavy jade belt.
Then he slashed several openings into his wide outer robe and sleeves, allowing water to pass through the fabric and reducing some of the resistance.
Even so, the air in his lungs was rapidly running out.
The suffocating pressure followed him like a shadow.
His vision began to darken in waves.
He forced himself to remain conscious, swimming instinctively toward the light.
But he was already beginning to lose track of whether he was swimming upward or being dragged deeper into the river by the current.
As his consciousness gradually blurred, an absurd thought intruded at the worst possible moment.
Am I really going to die here today?
As an idle prince who, in the eyes of outsiders, knew only how to indulge himself and cared nothing for politics, dying by drowning on a pleasure boat while out with a male courtesan…
It would certainly be a suitably absurd end for the frivolous reputation he had spent all these years painstakingly cultivating.
But…
If he died, how heartbroken would his mother in the imperial palace be?
That old-fashioned Chief Adviser Lan Ningcheng—without this reckless prince dragging him down, perhaps his career would finally proceed smoothly.
And then there was Yue Xi…
The promise he had made to help him uncover the truth would probably have to go unfulfilled.
As for his seventh brother, stationed in the Northern Border…
He was such a brave and accomplished commander.
Even without Xiao Ying maneuvering things for him in the capital, surely he would be able to overcome his difficulties on his own.
The light in his vision grew darker and darker.
The short sword slipped from his powerless fingers and sank into the endless darkness.