The plot officially began (minor revisions)

"Your Highness, you're back! We were about to report this to the authorities."

Hearing movement at the entrance, Eunuch Li came over with a lantern. He was overjoyed to see Xie Huizhou and hurried toward him.

"These kidnappers are so brazen even in the Imperial City, abducting someone right off the street! We'll report them to the authorities and have them arrested. Let's see who's behind this."

Quite a few people in Capital City had seen Xie Huizhou being abducted, and word had reached the Detached Palace.

A perfectly safe prince had been abducted in the Imperial City. If the emperor learned of it and held them responsible, they would be in serious trouble.

Xie Huizhou stood dazed at the entrance, not taking in a word Eunuch Li said. He was still reeling from the shock of having a snake demon latch onto him.

I'm done for. I've gone straight from a question of sexual orientation to nonhumans.

Seeing that Xie Huizhou said nothing, Eunuch Li approached and noticed his lips, red from kissing, and his disheveled clothes. He looked as though someone had just devoured him.

Had His Highness encountered a sexual predator?

Concern was visible in Eunuch Li's eyes, and his resentment toward the villain who had lusted after Xie Huizhou's beauty deepened.

Someone in Capital City, right under the emperor's nose, had actually harbored defiling thoughts toward a prince. Such criminals deserved to have their entire families executed.

Poor Ninth Prince, suffering like this simply because he was beautiful. They did not even dare summon an imperial physician to check him for injuries.

"No need. It was just an acquaintance fooling around with me. He took me out for a bit of wild fun, and now I've come back perfectly fine. It was only a misunderstanding."

Because of the deadly poison in his body, Xie Huizhou deliberately concealed this person's existence. For now, he did not trust the people in the Detached Palace, nor did he want to mention the snake demon.

"Do not bring this up again."

Besides, Xie Huizhou did not think he could have much of a good reputation if word spread that a snake demon had latched onto him.

No one would believe him if he said there was a demon, and the demon really was saving his life. What a dilemma.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Eunuch Li wondered whether the young woman from that scandalous incident had come looking for their prince again.

It seemed they would soon have a Ninth Prince's Consort, and a baby before long!

Once bitten by a snake, one feared even a well rope for ten years.

For quite a long time, Xie Huizhou did not dare visit any restaurants. That perverted snake sent him letters and gifts day after day, but he never replied.

Many of the gifts were priceless treasures, and he had no idea where the snake had brought them from. Occasionally, he sent him some beautiful silver scales, just as though he really were courting his beloved.

Faced with someone else's tokens of affection, Xie Huizhou could neither throw them away nor comfortably keep them.

"When I find the snake demon, I still need to make things clear to him. I'm grateful to him for saving my life, but you can't force affection. Humans and snakes are different; we might not be very compatible."

Every so often, the unknown snake demon came for a nighttime ambush and a kiss, claiming he was helping suck out the poison. Yet Xie Huizhou could never see who the snake demon actually was.

The snake demon refused to show himself and disguised his voice, too. He was very familiar with Xie Huizhou.

Xie Huizhou grew increasingly certain that they knew each other, or had met somewhere in Capital City before.

Capital City was so large and had so many people that Xie Huizhou could not work out who it was.

He had to admit that his health really was steadily improving. It was just that this great kiss-the-poison-out method made him rather embarrassed.

It was one thing for some novels to favor unspeakable methods of detoxification, but why did even sucking out poison have to involve this? It made absolutely no sense.

Still, looking on the bright side, at least they did not need to use that sort of method to remove the poison.

Xie Huizhou shuddered whenever he thought of that powerful snake tail wrapping around him, leaving him unable to escape and forced to endure the kisses.

Even if he were as bent as a mosquito coil, he had no interest in trying anything with a nonhuman for now. The thought of being with the snake demon made his scalp prickle.

He really wanted to find someone to ask for guidance.

Just then, Zhang Lanhe arrived with a brand-new set of official robes. "Your Highness, has anything been troubling you lately?"

The specialist in mystical matters had arrived.

At the sight of Zhang Lanhe, a sense of security welled up in Xie Huizhou. "Imperial Preceptor, do you have any protective talismans or anything like that? I'd like one."

At least when the snake demon pushed his luck, he would be able to refuse him. Things that should not happen must not happen.

He had no interest in having overly intimate relationships with several different men.

The Imperial Preceptor was still the best. Though he did not look quite human, he always restrained himself and observed propriety. He would never do something as perverted and stalkerish as kissing someone like that.

"I'll draw Your Highness a protective talisman right away, to ward off evil. Your Highness may have anything you wish." Zhang Lanhe's expression was unreadable as he feigned tenderness and consideration, drawing a protective talisman for him. "With me here, no one will be able to harm Your Highness."

You little rascal. You're guarding against me.

The protective talisman Zhang Lanhe drew could ward off other people with ill intentions, but it could not ward off him.

As he watched, he also secretly kept an eye out for whoever was poisoning Xie Huizhou behind the scenes.

The eunuchs and palace maids in the Detached Palace were expressionless, making it impossible to tell who was suspicious. If Xie Huizhou had not valued his bonds with others, and if these people had not always looked after him, Zhang Lanhe would have killed them all long ago.

As that malicious thought flashed through his mind, the poison he had suppressed flared up instantly with his agitation, making his complexion turn unpleasant.

Xie Huizhou suddenly noticed that Zhang Lanhe's complexion had looked a little off lately. "Imperial Preceptor, are you ill?"

Zhang Lanhe prayed for the nation's blessings, so his illness was an inauspicious sign. Someone who had always been healthy had actually fallen ill.

"Just a slight chill. I've already had an imperial physician prescribe medicine."

It's only a deadly poison. Nothing serious.

Zhang Lanhe did not mention it and took out the official robes. "A minor illness, nothing more. A few days' rest will set me right. These are newly tailored official robes from the Imperial Household Department. Your Highness can wear them during the examination."

He had come to deliver the clothes.

"Thank you, Imperial Preceptor."

Xie Huizhou had almost forgotten about that. The Imperial Examination was approaching, and the plot was about to get back on track.

Xie Huizhou tried them on to see whether they fit. Dressed in red official robes, the young man looked like a newly crowned top scholar, riding high on success, his horse's hooves flying as he took in all the flowers of Chang'an in a single day.

Xie Huizhou had always favored cool colors, and his bearing was cool as well. Now, dressed in fiery red, his features looked all the more exquisite and utterly captivating.

Xie Huizhou asked, "Imperial Preceptor, what do you think?"

"Exceedingly beautiful."

Zhang Lanhe could hardly bear to let anyone else see his treasure. Such beauty would surely draw many covetous eyes.

"Your Highness, I wish you great success this time."

The Imperial Examination began.

Dressed in red official robes embroidered with cranes, Xie Huizhou sat in the examination hall as an invigilator. The red robes set off his graceful bearing; simply sitting there, he made his peerless elegance unforgettable.

Quite a few candidates stared dumbfounded before remembering they were still taking the Imperial Examination and hurriedly returning to their answers.

After watching for ages without seeing anyone dare cheat, Xie Huizhou felt that he had never been so bored in his life. He could only keep watching his modern civil service examination questions, which had taken him so much time, make the candidates tremble.

He saw the candidates racking their brains over the new questions, writing furiously and muttering something. From their lips, they appeared to be cursing.

Xie Huizhou strolled around from time to time and heard them cursing him.

"Don't let me find out who set these questions. I've been taking this examination for thirty years, and I'm going to fail again."

"Whoever set these questions is sure to die without descendants!"

"Why is it so thick? Can anyone finish this in two hours?"

Xie Huizhou: "..."

Well said. That would be me.

After the Imperial Examination ended, the candidates returned to their inns to await the results. Xie Huizhou, too, was waiting for the storyline to officially begin.

In a restaurant, the candidates discussed the splendor of their invigilator, Xie Huizhou.

"The Ninth Prince truly has the bearing of a gentleman." Remembering how breathtaking Xie Huizhou had been during the Imperial Examination, Zhou Yanqing thought even more highly of him. Seeing Fang Yuanke's strange expression, he asked curiously, "Why do you always have such a problem with the Ninth Prince?"

Whenever Zhou Yanqing thought of the handsome young man dressed in red during the Imperial Examination, he felt increasingly motivated to become a court official.

With the person he loved constantly talking about Xie Huizhou, how friendly could Fang Yuanke possibly be toward him?

Whenever Xie Huizhou, with whom he ordinarily had no dealings, came up, Fang Yuanke grew inexplicably restless. "I wouldn't exactly say I have a problem with him. It's more that I don't know how to face him. I'd rather never see him again in this life. Perhaps there wouldn't be so many worries then."

Too much of the past was entangled in this, and he was not certain whether things really were as he imagined.

Zhou Yanqing frowned, suddenly feeling that Fang Yuanke had a secret.

That secret might have something to do with the ninth prince, Xie Huizhou.

Fang Yuanke said, "If you place in the top three, you'll be able to see him at the Qionglin Banquet. Then we can invite him in person to our residence for a gathering."

There was something important at his marquis's residence. He could use it to test Xie Huizhou's reaction and see whether he knew anything about what had happened back then.

"Don't underestimate me. I'll definitely place in the top three. Perhaps one day you'll even have to address me as 'my lord.'"

"You can certainly do it."

Soon, it was time for the results to be posted.

Just as in the original novel, Zhou Yanqing took Third Place in the Imperial Examination.

The emperor planned to host everyone at the Qionglin Banquet and invited court officials to attend as well.

Xie Huizhou's name was prominently on the list, too.

When Xie Huizhou received the news, he was so delighted that he drew several extra books of erotic pictures to celebrate. His eyes were filled with anticipation at the prospect of watching the drama unfold in person.

"It's starting! It's starting! The romantic battlefield of chasing each other around is about to begin!"