That night, all was silent.
Suddenly, bright yellow flames erupted from the flatbread shop at the crossroads. The fire quickly spread to neighboring buildings, and in the blink of an eye, thick smoke billowed as flames shot toward the sky.
The guards from Wuhou Station and the patrolling Golden Tiger Guards rushed to fight the fire. The cacophony of gongs, drums, footsteps, shouts, and curses filled the air.
An ox cart waited in the shadows at a street corner, separated by one ward block. A ram’s horn lantern hung at the front of the cart, bearing the Zheng family crest.
The cart driver, looking tense, helped Du Sinan, whose face had turned ashen, onto the cart while urging repeatedly, “Young Master, hurry! You can’t stay in the Prefecture any longer!”
Du Sinan was disheveled, his long hair loose, his headscarf crooked atop his head with its ties knotted messily, looking altogether wretched.
Before mounting the cart, he turned to look one last time at the distant residence being mercilessly devoured by the flames, his palms ice-cold.
The Crown Prince had tried to kill him.
Du Sinan knew the Crown Prince suspected his deep involvement with the Second Prince, but he had believed in the Crown Prince’s magnanimity and was confident he could win his recognition.
He hadn’t expected to miscalculate so badly—the Crown Prince had moved to eliminate him so quickly.
Was the Crown Prince so wary of the Second Prince?
Or perhaps… was the Seventh Princess the one he truly feared?
Having escaped death, Du Sinan’s mind raced as he lifted the cart’s curtain to look at the sturdy guard standing beside it.
Earlier that night, as he had been sleeping soundly, Xie Qing had suddenly burst into his room, yanked him straight from his bed, and carried him over his shoulder. They had escaped by climbing over the ward wall. Just as Du Sinan was about to cry for help, he caught the acrid smell of smoke on the wind and instantly understood, terrified to his core.
As a strategist who had never seen battle, he feared death.
Having survived this ordeal, Du Sinan didn’t want to lose his life in the Prefecture. He decided to first flee the capital to avoid danger, then seek better opportunities later.
Before leaving, he had one question.
“Does the Princess have any instructions for me?”
Since the Seventh Princess had sent someone to save him, she would surely use this life-saving grace to force him to assist the Second Prince.
Xie Qing replied expressionlessly, “No.”
Du Sinan gave a cold laugh.
He had ended up in this awkward predicament entirely because of the Seventh Princess—why was she now putting on this pretense?
Xie Qing handed a waist token to the cart driver: “Leave through the western gate. If anyone asks, say you’re a Zheng family servant delivering a letter on orders from Her Highness the Crown Princess.”
The cart driver, terrified of being burned to ashes if they delayed, nodded repeatedly.
Du Sinan sat in the carriage, a mocking smile on his lips, waiting for Xie Qing to feign reluctance and try to persuade him to stay.
The wheels turned and the cart left the main street. Having finished giving instructions, Xie Qing simply turned and left.
Du Sinan waited for a long while before lifting the curtain, his expression rigid.
The driver advised, “Young Master, the Princess means you no harm. If she hadn’t sent someone to wake us in time, we’d have been burned alive! Next time you see the Princess, don’t be so cold toward her.”
The Princess had snow-white skin and the beauty of flowers and jade. Wherever she stood, her graceful smile would outshine all the flowers in Chang’an.
Every time he saw the Princess, he was so frightened he dared not breathe a sound. Yet the Young Master was so cold to her—truly failing to appreciate beauty!
Du Sinan couldn’t understand what Li Yaoying was trying to do. She neither recruited him nor eliminated him, yet saved his life… what game was she playing?
“What exactly does she mean by this?”
The driver asked, “Young Master, haven’t you heard the rumors in the capital?”
Du Sinan frowned. “What rumors?”
The driver sighed and said quietly, “Everyone in the capital says the Seventh Princess admires your talent, but you’re just a commoner scholar of humble birth.”
Du Sinan rolled his eyes heavenward—he most despised others discussing his background.
The driver knew his master hadn’t understood his hint and shook his head: “Young Master… Xue the Fifth and the others all say the Seventh Princess wants you as her consort!”
Du Sinan’s pupils contracted sharply as he froze like a wooden chicken.
The next moment, he turned as red as a shrimp thrown into boiling water, his handsome face flushing crimson.
…
After seeing Du Sinan off, Xie Qing returned to the prince’s mansion to report.
Li Yaoying sat cross-legged before the corridor, checking the mansion’s accounts. She wore a pale blue gauze robe and pomegranate red skirt, her fair bosom half-visible, her skin like snow.
Xie Qing asked, “Your Highness, why did you save Du Sinan?”
Yaoying straightened up and rubbed her waist, the gold vine-pattern bracelet on her wrist making a light tinkling sound.
“No particular reason, it was a simple matter.”
Nothing had happened yet, and she didn’t want someone to lose their life over events that hadn’t occurred. The Du Sinan of her previous life had acted on orders, but in this life, he would never gain Li Xuanzhen’s trust and wouldn’t pose a threat to Li Zhongqian.
Yaoying hadn’t expected Li Xuanzhen to move so ruthlessly against Du Sinan.
In people’s eyes, the Crown Prince wasn’t a narrow-minded person. He was approachable, treated his subordinates well, respected his strategists, and appointed talent regardless of background. That was why so many military leaders of humble origins were willing to follow him.
Why did he hate Consort Xie so much?
Yaoying was lost in thought for a moment.