Pei Yuan, who had been struggling to find an excuse, suddenly sat up straight and nodded vigorously.
"Third Brother is absolutely right! I've been thinking about that batch of Western Region horses for days."
Pei Yuan turned to look at Chu Mingzhao, grinning widely to reveal two sharp canine teeth.
"Miss Chu, would you be so kind as to lead the way?"
Chu Mingzhao was overjoyed—it was as if a pillow had arrived just as she was feeling drowsy. She barely stopped herself from giving Pei Lin a "good person" card.
She feigned restraint, pressing her lips together demurely, her eyes shimmering with calculated hesitation as she looked toward Pei Lin. "And what about you, Third Prince?"
"I shall not join you."
Pei Lin lifted his hand to cover a light cough, his brow tinged with just the right amount of frailty.
"The wind is strong today, and my throat cannot bear the cold. Besides, stables are full of harsh smells—it would only dirty my clothes. I'll stay here in the front hall to admire the wintersweet. You two go ahead."
Chu Mingzhao was secretly relieved. She exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries before leading Pei Yuan out of the front hall.
The heavy felt curtain dropped, sealing off the cold wind outside.
The moment the curtain fell, the warm smile on Pei Lin's face receded like an ebbing tide, vanishing completely.
He stood up, walked to the latticed window, and rested his hands behind his back. Through the carved window frame, he coldly watched the two figures walking side by side into the distance.
Pei Lin had always been a man of great patience.
Back in the deep palace, he once knelt in freezing snow for three hours just to coax a smile out of the Old Emperor. Now here in the Prime Minister's estate, he was naturally willing to stoop to playing the eavesdropper to uncover a mystery.
He turned, swept aside the heavy felt curtain, and slipped out—not through the main door, but along the shadowed veranda, pacing unhurriedly toward the stables in the rear courtyard.
...
In the rear courtyard of the Prime Minister's estate, rockeries stood in clusters, and withered lotuses filled the frozen pond.
As soon as they turned past the moon gate, Pei Yuan dismissed all the attending servants without hesitation.
The Seventh Prince, who moments ago had been striding with arrogant confidence, slumped his shoulders the instant he confirmed no one was watching.
He ran his hands through his meticulously styled hair in frustration, all traces of his former rebellious sharpness gone.
"Alright, drop the act. There's no one else here," Chu Mingzhao said softly.
Pei Yuan glanced around to make sure they were alone, then lowered his voice.
"We've got a huge problem! Seven days from now, the Old Emperor is holding the Imperial Winter Hunt at the Western Mountains."
Chu Mingzhao looked bewildered.
"Winter Hunt? Was that in the original novel? I don't remember it at all."
Pei Yuan growled in irritation. "Of course you don't. You weren't part of that storyline. The script I can see only shows scenes related to me. I suppose it's the same for you."
Chu Mingzhao's heart sank.
"So what's your part in it?"
Pei Yuan's face twisted as if he'd bitten into a fly. "At the Imperial Winter Hunt seven days from now, the script demands that I shoot an arrow straight through Pei Yan's chest."
Chu Mingzhao gasped.
Was this shoddy novel world not only obsessed with steaminess but also with murder?
Pei Yuan clenched his teeth and continued his rant. "Even if I had to shoot him, it'd be fine—I could just close my eyes and fire randomly. But in the original story, this was a trap Pei Yan had set from the start!
He'd already calculated that I would make a move. He padded his chest with a protective mirror beforehand. Not only did he survive, but he turned the tables and pinned the charge of attempted patricide and fratricide on me."
Pei Yuan grew more hysterical as he spoke.
"And you know how paranoid the Old Emperor is. That move alone stripped me of my military command and put me under house arrest. I wouldn't even have a chance to fight back!"
Chu Mingzhao listened, utterly stunned.
It was a classic scheme—the down-and-out protagonist staging a comeback.
Feigning injury with a bitter ploy and a chain of schemes, not only did he neutralize the crisis, but he also crushed the antagonist who had been bullying him, stepping over the fallen villain's corpse to begin his revenge.
"Calm down first. Can't you just fake an illness to avoid it?"
"You think I haven't considered that?"
Pei Yuan ground his teeth in frustration.
"The script is enforced. Once the plot is set, no one can change it! That's why I came to you—your golden finger can rewrite the script, right? Can you tweak mine too?"
Chu Mingzhao didn't answer immediately. She knocked on the dormant system in her mind.
[Can I modify Pei Yuan's script?]
The system replied in an emotionless tone: [Insufficient host authority. Modification not permitted.]
[Script modification requires three prerequisites:
First, the host must be present at the scene of the plot;
Second, the roles involved in the scene must include the male lead, Pei Yan, and the host herself;
Third, the modification content must meet the ambiguous Po-value criteria.
If any link is missing, the modification panel remains locked.]
Chu Mingzhao couldn't help recalling the scene from the Lantern Festival.
Back then, Pei Yuan's script forced him to humiliate Pei Yan with pastries, but because Chu Mingzhao happened to be watching from the sidelines, she had the qualifications to intervene and make changes.
She quickly explained the system's restrictions to Pei Yuan.
After hearing her out, Pei Yuan's shoulders sagged.
"So I have to bring you to the Western Mountains?"
He tugged at the withered grass beneath him in agitation. "But the Imperial Winter Hunt is traditionally limited to imperial clan members and close ministers. You're an unmarried daughter of the Prime Minister's house—how could the Old Emperor possibly allow you to come?"
Chu Mingzhao clasped her hands inside her sleeves, staring at the thin ice on the pond.
"Rules are dead, but people are alive."
She lowered her voice. "Is there any plot before the Winter Hunt that I could get involved in?"
Pei Yuan thought for a moment.
"About three days from now, there's a small plum-viewing banquet at the palace. For some reason, the Old Emperor got it into his head to test the princes' archery skills in the plum grove.
In the script, I show off and shoot down the most red lanterns. The Old Emperor is so pleased that he grants me the treasured black iron bow used by the founding ancestor."
Pei Yuan nearly slapped himself in the face as he said this.
"That bow is the one I'm supposed to use to shoot Pei Yan at the Winter Hunt! If I can avoid getting that bow, half the deadlock might be broken!"
"Technically, there's no role for me—an outsider's daughter—at a palace banquet."
Chu Mingzhao lifted her eyes, fixing Pei Yuan with a burning gaze. "But what if a prince personally asks His Majesty for the favor of inviting me to enjoy the plum blossoms?"
Pei Yuan froze for a moment, then smacked his thigh.
"Right! If you're there, and you bring Pei Yan along, maybe you can break into the plot!"
But he quickly frowned again.
"Going to my father and making that request myself won't work. He sees me as a martial oaf who knows nothing about romance between men and women. If I suddenly have the sense to invite the Prime Minister's daughter, that old man will get suspicious."
Chu Mingzhao adjusted her cloak and whispered a reminder.
"You can't go, but your brother can."
Pei Yuan stared at her as if she were a strange creature.
"You're out of your mind? My Third Brother—he might seem polite and amiable to everyone, but in truth, he never lifts a finger without profit. Why on earth would he help you with this favor?"
Chu Mingzhao rolled her eyes internally.
Why? Because he's a black-hearted dumpling in disguise.
The Prime Minister's household held enormous power. Pei Lin dreamed of tying Prime Minister Chu to his own cause. If she handed him a ladder, he'd be overjoyed to climb it.
