"If he dared send someone over with a poem, he must not fear offending the Third Prince! If even the Third Prince doesn't frighten him, I doubt I can afford to offend him either..."
Si Lili sighed at how little control she had over her own life, then sent a small boat to fetch him from shore.
This time, she did not show herself in public as she had in the original plot. She merely sent a small boat to bring Fan Xian over.
Her thinking was that as long as her pleasure boat stayed put, the repercussions would be much smaller. Keeping things this discreet meant she could still decide whether to spend the night with him, leaving herself as much room to maneuver as possible.
Fan Xian knew none of this, of course. He simply followed the person who had come for him, boarded the boat, and entered the pleasure boat.
As soon as he left, Li Hongcheng gave the guard behind him a meaningful look.
The guard immediately withdrew, slipped into a secluded spot, and released a carrier pigeon he had prepared earlier into the night sky.
At Prince Cheng's Residence, candlelight flickered crimson inside the Bedchamber.
Chen Quan knocked on the door, left a secret letter, and withdrew to a distance.
Leaning against the couch, Zhou Cheng unfolded the letter by candlelight. His eyes passed over the words, "Fan Xian entered the Drunken Immortal Residence and sent Si Lili a poem." There was no full signature at the bottom, only the character "Cheng."
Sang Wen, her face still deeply flushed from their intimacy, wrapped her arms around him from behind.
"Your Highness, what is it?"
Zhou Cheng handed her the letter and chuckled. "Hongcheng is an amusing fellow. He only signed half his name. While the letter is with me, he can acknowledge it. If it ends up with anyone else, I imagine he'll deny it."
Sang Wen took the letter and read it, her brows immediately drawing together. "The heir took Fan Xian to the Drunken Immortal Residence? And what is wrong with Fan Xian? At noon, he was begging Your Highness to find his 'Drumstick Girl,' and by evening, he's sending poems to a pleasure boat? Who doesn't know Miss Si Lili is the woman Your Highness has your eye on?"
"Someone is probably using Fan Xian as a weapon," Zhou Cheng said lightly. "They want to use him to humiliate me!"
Sang Wen's expression darkened. "If Fan Xian sends 'Climbing High' to her pleasure boat, Miss Si Lili will hardly have grounds to refuse to meet him. But if Si Lili meets Fan Xian... wouldn't that damage Your Highness's dignity?"
"Then let it," Zhou Cheng said, utterly unconcerned. "My reputation is already scandalous enough. There are plenty of far more outrageous stories about me. This is nothing."
"But those are all false!" Sang Wen knew Zhou Cheng did not care what outsiders thought, but as his woman, she could not help caring about her man's reputation.
Yet Zhou Cheng remained far too composed.
She looked up at him in puzzlement. "But this is Miss Si Lili. Does Your Highness truly not care?"
Zhou Cheng reached back and pulled Sang Wen around into his arms, kneading her soft warmth. "Si Lili and I have only met once. How much could I possibly care?"
He smiled. "What I want most is the Northern Qi intelligence network behind her. Her body comes second. Besides, if someone else had boarded her pleasure boat, I might worry a little. But Fan Xian? We can wash up and go to bed as usual."
Sang Wen vaguely sensed there was more to his words, but she still did not quite understand. "Why aren't you worried about Fan Xian? He may be devoted to his Drumstick Girl, but he's still a man, isn't he?"
Zhou Cheng smiled and shook his head. "He is a man, yes, but more importantly, he's a good man. Sometimes a good man puts my mind at ease even more than a palace eunuch!"
Sang Wen was speechless. In her prince's mouth, "good man" sounded like an insult, and he had even put good men on the same footing as eunuchs. That was quite an insult to good men...
While the two of them speculated about who was using Fan Xian, elsewhere, our "good man" finally met Si Lili.
One glance was enough for Fan Xian to admit that, in terms of beauty, the top courtesan so highly praised by the Heir of Prince Jing was every bit the equal of his Drumstick Girl.
After sizing up her visitor, Si Lili invited him to sit, all the while speculating about his background.
After a simple conversational opening, Si Lili began probing him indirectly. Fan Xian, however, was far more concerned with Teng Zijing's affairs. His answers were distracted, and he kept changing the subject.
After several exchanges, Si Lili found that nothing got through to him. She simply raised her cup and urged him to drink, planning to loosen his tongue with wine.
Little did she know that this suited Fan Xian perfectly.
With his exceptional skill in using poisons, he took the opportunity while pouring the wine to flick his fingertip, slipping a sedative into it without anyone noticing.
Si Lili had drunk only two cups when she suddenly felt dizzy.
As a Northern Qi spy, she was no stranger to sedatives and had undergone rigorous training to resist them.
The instant she felt something amiss, she realized Fan Xian had drugged the wine.
Not knowing his purpose, she let the cup tilt in her hand and slumped forward, pretending to lose consciousness so she could see what he intended to do.
To her surprise, Fan Xian merely helped her onto the couch. Without doing anything else, he quietly left the cabin.
Once Fan Xian was gone, Si Lili opened her eyes and sat up. Watching the gently swaying beaded curtain, she racked her brains but could not fathom what was going on with him.
Meanwhile, after slipping off the pleasure boat under cover of darkness, Fan Xian changed into the dark clothes he had prepared in a secluded alley.
Like a shadow, he sped through the night.
Before long, he intercepted Teng Zijing along the route Guo Baokun would have to take home.
When Teng Zijing saw Fan Xian coming, he could not shake him off. Left with no choice, he agreed to act together.
They hid in the shadows beneath the eaves, waiting until nearly midnight before a sedan chair finally came swaying toward them.
They struck like lightning, swiftly knocking out the bearers, then hauled Guo Baokun out and shoved a sack over him before he could react.
Making no attempt to disguise his voice, Fan Xian landed several vicious punches through the sack before demanding answers about Teng Zijing's family.
But when Guo Baokun recognized his voice, he not only refused to cooperate but began threatening him.
Naturally, that earned him another round of punches and kicks from Fan Xian.
Guo Baokun screamed repeatedly. "Stop hitting me! Stop! Any more and I'll be practically dead!"
Fan Xian kicked him. "You think I'll stop just because you say so?"
Wailing, Guo Baokun shouted, "Fan Xian, I admit I was wrong to run off early. But is a bet really worth all this? If you want me to kowtow, just say so! I'll even throw in a few extra! Beating someone to death is against the law!"
Fan Xian crouched and slapped him across the head. "So you do know beating someone to death is against the law!"
Then he slapped him again. "I don't need you to kowtow. I just have something to ask you!"
From inside the sack, Guo Baokun's voice came out muffled and tearful. "Then ask already!"
Fan Xian then asked why he had killed Teng Zijing's wife and child, but Guo Baokun vehemently denied it.
After another savage beating, Guo Baokun burst into tears. "I really didn't! Even if you beat me to death, I can't take the blame for something like that!"
Guo Baokun weakly protested his innocence a few more times, then passed out.
Teng Zijing emerged from the darkness nearby. His eyes were still bloodshot, but uncertainty had begun to creep into them.
Fan Xian stood. "He might not be lying."
"But the file..." Teng Zijing's voice was hoarse. He had watched the entire beating, and he too had begun to feel that a wastrel like Guo Baokun was unlikely to have done it.
His heart felt as though it were being sliced apart. He hated himself for not even knowing who his enemy was.
"The file could be fake too," Fan Xian suddenly said, looking up.
"Impossible!" Teng Zijing instinctively objected.
But Fan Xian's next words left him with no answer. "Aren't you a dead man in the Overwatch Council's records too?"
They exchanged a glance. If there was something wrong with the file, the most likely problem lay with Wang Qinian, who had delivered it to them.
No longer concerned with Guo Baokun, who was still bundled in the sack, they immediately set off to find Wang Qinian.
They had only turned through a few streets and alleys when a light cough sounded behind them.
Wang Qinian stepped out from a corner, rubbing his hands with an awkward chuckle. "You two... were you looking for me?"
Seeing the look on Wang Qinian's face, Fan Xian desperately wanted to punch him. But he held back.
Wang Qinian then explained himself to them, looking thoroughly ashamed.
It turned out that the Overwatch Council's files recorded that Xu Yunzhang, acting on someone's orders, had sent Teng Zijing to Danzhou to assassinate Fan Xian, only for Teng Zijing to be killed instead.
Wang Qinian had not known Teng Zijing had faked his death. When he saw Fan Xian enter the Overwatch Council to investigate Teng Zijing's family, he assumed Fan Xian was ruthless enough to wipe them all out.
Moved by pity, he had stalled for a day to fabricate the file, deliberately pinning the blame on Guo Baokun, the son of the vice minister of rites.
After hearing Wang Qinian's account, Fan Xian and Teng Zijing both breathed sighs of relief, privately thinking how fortunate it was that this had only been a false alarm.
Teng Zijing hurriedly asked where his wife and child were.
Wang Qinian scratched his head and chuckled.
"If you'd asked a day earlier, I wouldn't have known either. But after investigating all day today, I finally uncovered a clue!"
"Where?" Teng Zijing seized his wrist in excitement.
Wang Qinian hissed in pain. Enduring the crushing grip on his wrist, he swallowed and said quietly:
"Prince Cheng's Residence!"
Chapter 18: A Nighttime Visit to Prince Cheng's Residence
The night was deep, and the hoarse clacking of a watchman's wooden clapper drifted from the distant mouth of an alley.
"Prince Cheng's Residence?"
Fan Xian and Teng Zijing exchanged a look, both shaken. Neither had expected the trail to lead there.
"How could it be Prince Cheng's Residence?" Teng Zijing's voice tightened, and his fists clenched instinctively. "When did Prince Cheng take my wife and child? And why would he do that?"
His first reaction was disbelief.
He was only a lowly operative in the Overwatch Council's Fourth Bureau. His only noteworthy quality was his seventh-rank strength.
But what could a seventh-rank fighter possibly have to offer that would warrant such action from Prince Cheng?
Wang Qinian spread his hands with a wry smile. "How would I know? It took me all sorts of trouble just to find a lead. I checked it over and over before confirming that Prince Cheng's personal guard had taken them away. As for why, you shouldn't be asking me. I ought to be asking you."
Teng Zijing fell silent.
Yes, he was the one who should know the answer.
But no matter how he considered it, he himself was hardly worth mentioning. The only possibility was that it had something to do with someone close to him.
Before he could speak, Fan Xian patted his shoulder.
"We may not know why Prince Cheng took your family, but we've met him twice. We can't claim to know him well, but judging by his words and actions, he doesn't seem like a ruthless man. Let's not assume the worst just yet. Perhaps... like Wang Qinian, he was moved by pity?"
Moved by pity?
Teng Zijing smiled bitterly to himself.
Could a prince... feel pity?
He had met his share of people in lofty positions. But which of them ever treated those beneath them as human beings?
Seeing his gloomy expression, Fan Xian said sincerely, "Prince Cheng and I got along quite well when we spoke. It's too late tonight. First thing tomorrow morning, I'll go with you to his residence and ask him what happened!"
"...All right," Teng Zijing answered hoarsely.
Before you continue