At the same time, Xiao Meier was also working overtime.
But she wasn't studying the art of seduction. She was studying the more advanced Husband Taming Technique.
She lightly tapped the scattered documents on the table with her fingertips. Her keen gaze seemed intent on seeing through the words and into that man's soul.
"Three years ago..."
She murmured under her breath, her finger stopping on one of the records:
"Three years ago, Zhang Yu was nothing but a mediocre coward who was afraid of everything.
Three years later, he could stir up storms in the Capital City."
She looked up at Prince Qi, who was sitting restlessly nearby, and curled her lips into a meaningful smile:
"Father King, do you believe in ghosts and spirits?
Or do you believe a person can transform completely in such a short time, as if someone else had taken his place?"
Prince Qi was taken aback by her question, then shook his head:
"Well... I only believe in power and influence, not ghosts and spirits.
But Zhang Yu is indeed a strange one."
"Indeed. Strange."
Xiao Meier picked up the topmost sheet of paper. It recorded Zhang Yu's breathtaking actions at the Marquis Estate, how he had repeatedly escaped danger, only to turn the tables in the end.
"His methods, his scheming—how could the old, timid Zhang Yu ever have been capable of any of this?"
She rose and slowly paced around the study, her skirt trailing across the floor like drifting clouds.
"That fool Xiao Fenghua thinks she can conquer a man with a heart as deep as an abyss using nothing but her pretty face."
Xiao Meier gave a cold laugh, a trace of disdain flashing in her eyes. "She really doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth."
She stopped and regained her composure, her expression calm but radiating unshakable confidence. "Father King, there's no need to worry. No matter how extraordinary Zhang Yu is, your daughter has a way to bring him beneath her pomegranate skirt."
The next day, in the Imperial City's Heavenly Prison.
The empire's once gloomy and fearsome stronghold now reeked of bizarre luxury.
To keep the matter quiet, the imperial family had not only replaced all the guards but also cleared out the prisoners. The vast Heavenly Prison held only Zhang Yu, Xiao Sheng, and Xiao Yun, who was kneeling in a corner and trembling.
Even more astonishingly, in just one night, the place had been transformed into an extravagantly luxurious private club.
The black-iron cell doors and heavy gates had all been removed and replaced with exquisitely carved rosewood doors.
Soft Persian carpets covered the gloomy corridors, and ever-burning lamps set into the walls bathed the place in daylight-bright illumination.
There was a kitchen, a living room, and a study, along with maids and servants on standby in every "cell."
Although Zhang Yu himself had objected, the imperial family had not dared neglect him in the slightest. Everything he ate, wore, and used was of the finest quality, as if he hadn't come here to serve a prison sentence but to live in seclusion as some hidden master.
Zhang Yu, for his part, took it all in stride. He lounged against a couch draped in white tiger fur, a book in his hands, as if the luxury and commotion around him had nothing to do with him.
Xiao Fenghua had already heard about all this, but seeing with her own eyes how the "Heavenly Prison had become an imperial palace" still sent shock waves through her.
She suppressed her astonishment and, following Concubine Liu's plan, began her "performance."
She had traded her usual County Princess's crown, a symbol of her status and power, for a pink dress that was all softness and grace.
The outfit not only accentuated her shapely figure but also concealed all her usual sharpness.
She abandoned her usual bold, domineering Western Steps and instead tried the "Graceful Lotus Steps" that Concubine Liu had taught her the night before.
She swayed as she walked, each step light and delicate. She carefully controlled the sway of her waist, striving to appear as fragile as a willow bending in the breeze.
Though the steps felt terribly awkward, she gritted her teeth and carried on.
To be fair, Xiao Fenghua was indeed a genius; she learned everything quickly.
In just one night, she had mastered all the lessons Concubine Liu taught her. Now she only needed to put them into practice to make them her own.
Her crisp yet somewhat strange footsteps echoed through the vast, luxurious Heavenly Prison.
Xiao Sheng had just been carrying a plate of freshly peeled crystal grapes, hoping to offer them to Zhang Yu with an ingratiating smile. At the sound, he turned around without thinking.
The instant he saw her, he froze as if someone had cast a binding spell on him.
The fruit plate clattered to the ground, and the glistening grapes rolled everywhere, splashing juice across the floor.
His mouth fell open and his eyes went round, as though he had seen some unbelievable monster.
"E-Elder Sister?"
His voice turned shrill and warped with shock.
"Y-You... are you possessed by some vile spirit?
Or did you go mad practicing your martial arts yesterday and damage your brain?"
Xiao Fenghua stood before him in a pink dress, taking dainty lotus steps, looking like a delicate, helpless young woman.
She was so utterly different from the sister he remembered—the one who could wrestle a tiger barehanded and dominate the battlefield—that she might as well have been another person.
Faced with her younger brother's undisguised shock and doubt, the gentle smile on Xiao Fenghua's face stiffened at once, and a familiar murderous glint flickered in her eyes.
It was the intimidating aura of the Jing Prince's eldest legitimate daughter, forged over years of authority—the psychological shadow left by all those times this older sister had "taught him a lesson."
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