Ye Chutang strode swiftly away from Ningchu Courtyard, heading toward a dense thicket of shrubs.
"Your Highness, come out now."
Qi Yanzhou emerged from the bushes, curiosity flickering in his eyes. "How did Miss Ye know I was here?"
Not to boast, but his concealment skills were unmatched.
Ye Chutang’s gaze dropped to the muddy ground beneath Qi Yanzhou’s feet, her lips curving slightly.
"I sensed Your Highness’s presence. After all, we’ve once been... intimately acquainted."
The cold-faced prince stiffened at her teasing, his expression turning awkward.
He cleared his throat and glanced toward Ningchu Courtyard, where indecent moans still drifted through the air.
"Aren’t you afraid Eunuch De will retaliate later?"
"If he has a death wish, he’s welcome to try. As for whether he’ll make trouble for my father—that’s not my concern."
Ye Chutang steered the conversation back. "Your Highness, time is limited. Extend your wrist for the pulse reading."
Qi Yanzhou rolled up his sleeve and offered his left wrist, palm up.
Ye Chutang cradled his wrist with her left hand, resting her right fingers lightly on his pulse.
"Relax your body."
She closed her eyes, focusing intently.
Her long lashes cast delicate shadows under her eyes, and the breeze teased loose strands of her hair, carrying a faint floral scent.
Qi Yanzhou studied her serene, concentrated expression, gradually easing his guard.
He had hoped to glean something from her demeanor, but her face remained unreadable.
Nearly half an incense stick’s time passed before Ye Chutang withdrew her hand.
She opened her eyes, frowning at him.
"Your Highness, are you aware there’s a gu worm inside you?"
Qi Yanzhou gave her a startled look, then nodded.
"I was severely wounded in Nanjiang once. The injury triggered a fire toxin, leaving me near death. A Nanjiang witch doctor saved me with a gu king she’d nurtured for over a decade."
But it was only a temporary fix. As the fire toxin seeped deeper into his heart and lungs, the gu king could no longer suppress it.
"If not for the gu king, I could purge the fire toxin from Your Highness’s body in a month. But now, the witch doctor who planted the gu must be summoned. The gu and the toxin must be dissolved together."
Gu was poison by nature, and a gu king’s venom was fiercer still.
Few Nanjiang witch doctors succeeded in cultivating one in their lifetime.
Now, the gu king and the fire toxin maintained a precarious balance.
Removing one without the other would endanger Qi Yanzhou’s life.
Had it been an ordinary gu worm, Ye Chutang could have dealt with it easily.
But a gu king? Only the one who bred it knew how to undo it.
Qi Yanzhou had expected this.
The witch doctor, A’man, had warned him when she implanted the gu: if he ever rid himself of the fire toxin, the gu poison must go with it.
"Miss Ye, if you can neutralize the fire toxin, I’ll send a carrier pigeon to summon the Nanjiang witch doctor to the capital."
Gu-raising was a secret art, never shared. Since he couldn’t leave the capital, A’man would have to come to him.
Ye Chutang arched a brow. "Nanjiang is far from the capital, and witch doctors wander without fixed abodes. How soon does Your Highness think she’ll arrive?"
He answered honestly, "Three months at the earliest, half a year at the latest."
"Your Highness, truthfully, I can only guarantee your safety for three months. So the best course is this: while you send for the witch doctor, we set out for Nanjiang ourselves."
Qi Yanzhou’s lips quirked. "How long until the toxin kills me?"
"Six months."
"Perfect timing," he murmured.
Ye Chutang stared at him, baffled by his disregard for his own life.
"Your Highness is gambling with death!"
"The Emperor won’t permit me to leave for Nanjiang."
In other words, he could only wait in the capital and bet on fate’s mercy.
"Your Highness, if I knew how the gu king was cultivated, I could dissolve it myself."
"The witch doctor saved me once. I won’t demand her secrets."
Ye Chutang nodded in understanding.
"I’ll do my utmost to preserve Your Highness’s life until the witch doctor arrives."
She retrieved an ink-green jade plaque engraved with a four-clawed python design from her spatial storage and handed it to him.
"Your Highness, this belongs to you."
Qi Yanzhou tucked it into his robe.
"Miss Ye, there’s something you should know. The fire toxin was planted by the Emperor."
The implication was clear: aiding him meant defying the throne.
"I guessed as much. Distancing from the virtuous, cozying up to sycophants, persecuting the loyal—the imperial family truly excels."
Qi Yanzhou: "..."
This Ye family’s eldest miss truly feared nothing!
"Walls have ears," he reminded her dryly.
Ye Chutang wasn’t foolish—she’d ensured no one was nearby before speaking her mind.
Just as she was about to schedule their next meeting, the sound of approaching footsteps reached them.
"Your Highness, send word in ten days. I’ll come to you to begin the treatment."
"Agreed."
Before leaving, Qi Yanzhou added, "If you need assistance, seek me directly."
Ye Chutang did have one request.
"Could Your Highness provide a detailed layout of the imperial palace?"
Eunuch De had dared covet her. Now he’d pay—with everything he owned.
After a brief hesitation, Qi Yanzhou nodded. "Done."
"Quickly. It’s urgent."
"You’ll have it before the homecoming banquet ends."
"Good. Now go."
Once Qi Yanzhou vanished, Ye Chutang returned to Ningchu Courtyard.
She listened to Ye Anling’s agonized wails, then lifted the window curtain for a peek.
"Tsk. So eunuchs can be this depraved."
With that, she took out a brick and struck the back of her own head—not hard enough to cause serious injury, but enough to raise a bump and draw a little blood.
Satisfied, she lay beneath the windowsill, feigning unconsciousness—the perfect picture of a snoop caught and knocked out.
Soon, Kong Ru’s frantic voice rang out.
"Princess, you must be mistaken! Chutang may lack manners, but she’d never stoop to seducing Eunuch De!"
Princess Anping scoffed. "Are you implying this princess is blind?"
"Your Highness, I only mean a woman’s reputation is her life. We must speak carefully."
"Whether I’m wrong will soon be clear!"
As the group neared Ningchu Courtyard, the wretched cries within reached their ears.
The voice was too hoarse to recognize.
Princess Anping’s face lit with barely contained glee.
"See? I told you! The Ye family’s eldest miss must be desperately lonely!"
The noblewomen flushed with scandalized embarrassment.
"This—this—in broad daylight! How shameless!"
Kong Ru insisted, "It can’t be Chutang!"
Her flustered demeanor only made her denial seem hollow.
Ye Jingchuan chimed in, "Chutang may be unruly, but she’d never disgrace herself like this!"
Then he bellowed, "I’ll see for myself who dares defile my daughter’s courtyard to frame her!"
The crowd surged into Ningchu Courtyard.
Ye Jingchuan and Kong Ru marched straight to the bedchamber, Princess Anping hot on their heels.
Inside, clothes lay strewn across the floor.
The golden bed curtains trembled.
Moans—part pain, part pleasure—spilled from the canopy bed.
Kong Ru yanked the curtains open—
Just as a shrill scream pierced the courtyard.
"Ah! Miss Ye is on the ground—bleeding! Is she dead?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, a sense of foreboding rose in Kong Ru's heart, and she immediately turned her gaze to the bed.
When she saw Ye Anling pinned beneath Eunuch De, being ruthlessly violated, her vision darkened, and she fainted.
