Eunuch Qi laughed heartily. “Alright, don’t get angry with him.” He pulled Eunuch Zhu inside, saying in a low voice, “He must have offended someone and been assigned here—when you go back, ask Young Master Yang and the others. You’ll probably learn his background.”
If he had offended someone and been thrown here to wait for him to cause trouble and be taught a lesson, then Eunuch Zhu wouldn’t want to be the one teaching that lesson. He could discipline people, but he wouldn’t be used as someone’s whip—not even by the National Uncle Yang’s household.
“Not just anyone can come to this palace gate,” he said angrily. “This servant will tell His Highness the Crown Prince to investigate them properly. This is outrageous!”
The two gradually walked away, disappearing into the deep palace.
Deng Yi bent down to pick up the jade pendant from the ground, then looked at the surrounding officials. Their expressions were complex.
“Apologies for startling everyone,” Deng Yi said with a smile, shaking the jade pendant. “Let me pawn this, and tonight I’ll help everyone recover from the shock.”
The officials felt both exasperated and amused. They now understood how Deng Yi conducted himself, and understood why despite giving gifts everywhere, he couldn’t keep any position.
“What are you after?” they said helplessly.
Deng Yi smiled. “After? No matter what happens, one cannot retreat without fighting, right?”
If you can’t win the fight, then bow your head.
This way, though some would mock you, some would also remember you.
He glanced toward the deep palace.
……
……
Compared to Deng Yi, this petty official dutifully guarding the gate, the Imperial Guards patrolling the palace were far more tactful. They stood at attention, eyes straight ahead, allowing the eunuchs to come and go freely.
A phoenix-eyed youth standing on the city wall yawned boredly and glanced at the Imperial Guards gathered nearby.
“Hey, is there any fresh news recently?” he asked.
The Imperial Guards shook their heads. “Where would there be so much fresh news?”
“Not necessarily.” The phoenix-eyed youth frowned, his long eyebrows rising. “Have you heard about that incident at Elegant Interest Pavilion in the city? A woman—”
Before he finished speaking, these Imperial Guards looked unbearable, surging forward to pinch his arms and press his shoulders, while others repeatedly bowed.
“My Ninth Master, spare us please. You’ve told this story how many times already?”
“You saw one spectacle, but you can’t talk about it for a lifetime, can you?”
“Yanlai, please go out again. Maybe you’ll see new entertainment.”
Go out? Absolutely not. Xie Yanlai scoffed. As the group was laughing and joking, an Imperial Guard watching nearby suddenly remembered something.
“Hey, speaking of new entertainment, there really is some,” he said. “Everyone knows about that incident at Elegant Interest Pavilion in the city—”
The Imperial Guards immediately wailed. “We’ve all heard it!” “I’ve already memorized it!” “I dream about Miss Chu—”
At this point someone kicked him. He couldn’t see who, and could only cry out in pain.
That Imperial Guard waved his hand. “No, I mean because of the Elegant Interest Pavilion incident, it’s caused a new incident, also involving the Third Prince.”
Involving the Third Prince? The laughing crowd stopped and looked at him.
Xie Yanlai also looked over, his eyes focusing sharply. Then he seemed to understand something and muttered gleefully, “Serves them right. I knew it would be like this.”
Others were asking one after another, “What incident?”
“It’s that Miss Chu,” the Imperial Guard said. “After competing with her own brother, now the Third Prince is making her compete with everyone.”
Though there was no physical fighting like at Elegant Interest Pavilion, what Miss Chu was suffering was far more painful than being beaten.
“Bowing her head in surrender over and over, writing statements and affixing her seal for people—the humiliation is carved into her body. She’ll never wash it off in this lifetime.”
The other Imperial Guards imagined this scene happening to themselves—better to just die, or never show their face in public again.
They were at least men. How would this Miss Chu, a young lady, manage in the future?
“This Miss Chu is also to blame. The Third Prince clearly just wanted her to apologize,” one Imperial Guard frowned. “If she had admitted defeat and apologized from the start, said she couldn’t compare, wouldn’t that have been fine? What scholar would really make things difficult for her?”
Another nodded. “Exactly. She’s still too arrogant. Since it’s admitting defeat either way, what’s the point?”
Someone laughed derisively.
“Nonsense.”
Who? Everyone’s gazes followed the sound to see the phoenix-eyed youth leaning lazily against the city wall in the back.
“Retreating without fighting is admitting defeat,” he said. “Fighting and losing is not losing.”
If it’s not losing, what is it? The Imperial Guards frowned.
“Besides, losing and losing, who knows—maybe she’ll win eventually,” the phoenix-eyed youth said, laughing heartily. “Once that happens, she can be arrogant.”
……
……
In a row of ten seated positions, the girl stood slightly bent before one of them, her expression thoughtful. Then she picked up a chess piece and placed it down.
With this piece’s placement, the situation on the board instantly reversed. The complexion of the young man sitting across also instantly paled. Above his head fell the girl’s clear laughter.
“Young Master, you’ve lost.”
The onlookers watching the entire process all shook their heads, indicating there was no way to salvage the situation. The young man was quite straightforward—he abandoned his pieces in surrender and rose to leave, but was stopped by Chu Zhao.
“Young Master, please wait,” she said. “Your calligraphy is inferior to mine. Just now you were also less incisive on the discussion topic. Now you’ve also lost at chess. So I’ve beaten you, haven’t I?”
The young man turned to look at this girl. Her eyes sparkled brightly, her lips curved in a smile—she truly was pleasing to the eye. Forget it, consider it making a beauty smile.
He nodded and cupped his hands. “I’ve lost.” He was about to leave again, but was still called back by Chu Zhao’s “please wait.”
A maid also appeared, blocking his path with a menacing glare.
“Young Master Zhang,” Chu Zhao looked at him. The girl was only thirteen years old, shorter than these men, but at this moment she raised her chin slightly, her gaze falling from on high, her expression haughty and cold. “Though many witnessed this, verbal statements have no proof. Please write it down on this paper: Zhang Liang of Yuancheng is inferior to Chu Zhao in calligraphy, chess, and talent.”
Young Master Zhang was stunned, then his whole face flushed red. The others around also frowned.
She was actually throwing back at them what others had said to her before.
This woman—these past few days she had continuously admitted defeat with a respectful and humble attitude. Who knew that after winning just once, she would be so arrogant?
“Miss Chu, you’ve only won once,” someone said sarcastically.
Chu Zhao smiled. “Winning once is still winning.”
Her gaze swept over the crowd, her smile mocking.
“What? I can accept defeat, but you can’t?”