Qi Zhen was just about to storm the Eldest Princess Residence with his men when Qi Jingren appeared—fully armored, astride a warhorse—blocking his path.
“What are you doing?” Qi Zhen asked, displeased.
Qi Jingren’s expression was calm. “I should be the one asking you that. You haven’t even met with Her Highness yet—you don’t know whether she can fulfill her promise. Are you seriously treating a casual remark made over alcohol as binding?”
“You’re protecting her?” Qi Zhen asked in disbelief.
Qi Jingren said, “Yingguan is now Her Highness the Eldest Princess’s fief. She is the rightful master of this land. For you to try to drive out the rightful lord without even a proper discussion—Father, as a soldier of the Qi army, I cannot stand by and watch you make such a foolish move.”
“You insolent—!” Being rebuked by his own daughter in front of his subordinates, Qi Zhen was so angry his fingers were trembling. “Do you even understand what you’re doing?!”
Qi Jingren stared at him for a long moment. When she next spoke, her tone had changed: “Your subordinate understands perfectly. But does the Marquis?”
As the two of them stood locked in confrontation, a crowd of commoners had gathered nearby. They didn’t understand what was happening, but Qi Jingren glanced around and then raised her voice:
“Since Her Highness came to Yingguan, rice prices have increased by ten percent. Many people have gotten rich from making cloud paper, bought new coats and charcoal before winter. Has the Marquis truly not noticed the improvements in people’s lives?”
“Yes indeed, ever since Her Highness arrived, life has gotten much better.”
“My man’s got no real skills, just knows how to make paper. In past years, he couldn’t even buy me a wooden hairpin. This year alone, he bought me two gold bangles!”
“Her Highness is really a good person. Just a while ago, some crooked merchant cheated me out of my money, and she had someone return it to me…”
The murmurs of the gathered townspeople were like one slap after another across Qi Zhen’s face—merciless and stinging. His face burned with shame, and he gritted his teeth. “Since she made a promise to the soldiers, she ought to keep it. If she can’t, then she should leave Yingguan as agreed!”
Qi Jingren let out a soft laugh. “And what if she can’t keep it? Most of the Qi Army soldiers are sons of Yingguan. Why don’t you ask them—whose household hasn’t benefited from Her Highness? Even if their pay hasn’t increased this year, aren’t their families doing far better than before?”
The soldiers exchanged silent looks; there was no way to refute her words.
“Father, I know you still hold a grudge against Her Highness over what happened when Brother fell into the water all those years ago. But no matter how much you resent her, that’s no reason to take it out on the people and hurt their livelihoods.” Qi Jingren’s voice was righteously firm, as if Qi Zhen were no more than a petulant child.
Qi Zhen took a deep breath and was just about to argue back when the gates of the Eldest Princess’s residence suddenly opened.
“What’s all the commotion today?” Feng Lezhen asked in surprise.
Everyone outside fell still at once, and before anyone could answer, Feng Lezhen suddenly remembered, “Ah, right—today is the promised day. I’ve been busy and completely forgot.”
With that, she turned to Fan Gonggong. “Take the account books to the prefecture office and go over them with the Governor.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Fan Gonggong replied and took his leave.
Feng Lezhen smiled and looked at Qi Jingren. “Canjiang Qi, could you please dismount first? It tires me just to look up at you like this.”
Qi Jingren frowned and locked eyes with her for a moment before leaping down from her horse. “Your Highness.”
“The income from rice sales hasn’t been fully accounted for yet,” Feng Lezhen said, “but to fulfill my promise to the soldiers, I borrowed a sum of silver from elsewhere. I’d like to trouble you, Canjian, to assist the prefecture office with organizing the rosters…” She glanced up at the position of the sun and sighed. “Just going through the ledgers will take a whole day. We won’t make it in time—let’s distribute the soldiers’ wages tomorrow instead.”
“R-really? There’s really pay coming?” a younger soldier couldn’t help but ask.
Feng Lezhen chuckled. “Of course. It’ll just be one day late. Will that be acceptable to you all?”
“O-of course…” The soldier started to reply, but when he caught Qi Zhen’s displeased stare, he immediately fell silent.
“Does Your Highness truly have all the silver prepared?” Qi Zhen asked.
Feng Lezhen raised her brows. “Would I lie to the Marquis?”
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?” he pressed.
Feng Lezhen smiled sincerely. “I was in the study practicing calligraphy and didn’t hear the commotion outside. The servants here are all too literal-minded—they know I don’t like to be disturbed while writing, so they didn’t even inform me the Marquis had come. If I’ve slighted you, Marquis, then I must apologize.”
She even bowed slightly, adopting the posture of a junior.
Qi Zhen looked at her smiling face and suddenly realized—she had the silver all along but delayed distribution on purpose, just to let him make a fool of himself. His expression darkened as he glanced at Qi Jingren beside her, then left without another word, leading his men away.
“It’s nothing serious. Everyone, disperse,” Feng Lezhen ordered.
The townsfolk looked at one another, hesitated a moment, and then began to leave.
The front of the Eldest Princess Residence soon returned to quiet. Feng Lezhen gently brushed her sleeve and was about to turn to leave when she met Qi Jingren’s sharp, scrutinizing gaze.
“You did it on purpose.”
Feng Lezhen’s eyes arched faintly.
“You clearly had the silver, yet you delayed distributing it, just to humiliate my father today,” Qi Jingren said, her voice low and cold.
Feng Lezhen glanced around to ensure no one was near, then slowly replied, “You’re only half right.”
Qi Jingren paused, then suddenly realized something. “You guessed I would come?”
Feng Lezhen smiled. “I’m not a deity—of course I can’t predict everything. But if you did come, the people would see you as principled and just, someone who truly considers the people and the soldiers. I’d also entrust the task of distributing the pay to you, so all the Qi soldiers would be grateful you stopped Zhenbian Marquis at a critical moment.”
And if she hadn’t come? Then none of those benefits would’ve been hers. Fortunately, she hadn’t let Feng Lezhen down—she came and stopped the farce.
Qi Jingren’s gaze turned colder. “Do you realize the trouble my father will give me after this?”
“I do. That’s why you need to learn to turn the passive into the active,” Feng Lezhen said calmly.
Qi Jingren frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Let me ask you: if Zhenbian Marquis weren’t your father, had nothing to do with you, and you were simply working under him—would you still argue with him at the drop of a hat?”
Qi Jingren was caught off guard and didn’t answer right away.
“You wouldn’t,” Feng Lezhen said with a smile. “Because you’d know he wasn’t your father, and he wouldn’t dote on you like one. I know you feel you’ve been treated unfairly at home, that all their care goes to your brother. So you rebel, argue, compete… If you were born into an ordinary family and denied inheritance, I’d actually support you in making a fuss—the louder the better—just so they understand that treating you unfairly isn’t something they can get away with by tossing you a few scraps and pretending they’ve been generous, then shamelessly asking for more from you in return.”
“But Qi Jingren, even if your father spent more care on Qi Jingqing, when it comes to the family estate, his preference is actually for you. It may be a reluctant decision, but regardless of motive, the fact that he has that intention already puts him above countless others. I’m not saying you should be blindly grateful, only that—if I were you—I wouldn’t cause too much discord at home. I’d yield when needed, compromise when necessary, and secure control of the estate first. Compared to military power over the Qi Army and the entire Yingguan fortress, your parents’ little favoritism… what does that amount to?”
Qi Jingren stared at her, for once showing a rare trace of confusion.
After a long moment, her expression turned cold. “You’ve said everything already. You delayed your appearance today, let my father charge into the Eldest Princess’s residence unchecked—wasn’t that just to force me to take a side and break with him? And now you come to persuade me to reconcile with my family? Feng Lezhen, what exactly are you scheming?”
“How stupid can you be?” Feng Lezhen, eager to get back to Shen Suifeng, had run out of patience. “I had you come so the common people could see you as more rational and capable than your father. I want you to make peace with your family so your parents won’t start thinking of giving the military power to someone else instead of their ungrateful daughter. What do those two things even have to do with each other?”
Qi Jingren’s lips parted slightly, but before she could say anything, Feng Lezhen waved her hand to cut her off. “I did say you don’t have to break with your family to get military power—but that’s only if you have some ability to understand things. If you need me to chew everything up and spit it into your mouth, then you might as well go home and wait to be married off.”
With that, she turned and headed back into the residence.
Qi Jingren stood outside the gates, her brow tightly furrowed. She remained there for a full quarter of an hour before finally walking away.
On the way to the barracks, she kept turning Feng Lezhen’s words over in her mind. Just as she neared the city gates, something clicked. She turned her horse and rode straight back to the Marquis’s manor.
Inside the Marquis’s residence, chaos had already broken out. With Qi Jingqing out for the day, Qi Zhen no longer held back. He stormed through the house, kicking and smashing everything in sight. Even Song Lian, who had tried to stop him, was nearly injured in the scuffle.
“Ungrateful brat! Ungrateful brat!” Qi Zhen roared, whipping a decorative rockery so hard that it left a deep gash.
It was just then that Qi Jingren stepped into the courtyard. Song Lian, seeing her, rushed to push her back out, but in the very next second, she and Qi Zhen locked eyes.
“You still have the nerve to come back?!” he shouted.
Qi Jingren said nothing. She dropped straight to her knees.
The courtyard fell into sudden silence. Even Qi Zhen froze in shock.
“I disgraced my father in front of so many people for the sake of the greater good, and defended Feng Lezhen, who caused my brother’s ruin. I deserve to die. I beg Father to punish me.”
Qi Zhen was utterly stunned.
This daughter of his had been competing with her brother since they were children. If anything ever didn’t go her way, she’d raise a fuss. Even after growing up, she still clashed with everyone—like the whole family owed her something. True, they had indeed wronged her in some ways, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was—this was the first time she didn’t argue or cause a scene, but instead admitted fault. And even kneeled to do it.
Qi Zhen stood there for a long time, unable to react. The anger that had been burning in his chest seemed to dissipate as he stared at the dirt on her knees. Song Lian snapped out of her daze and gave him a push. “Your daughter’s apologizing to you.”
“Apologizing?” Qi Zhen came back to his senses and let out a cold laugh. “This Marquis doesn’t deserve it. Canjiang Qi is known for being strict and unyielding—daring even to rebuke me in front of soldiers and civilians alike. How could I dare accept her apology?”
“If Father won’t forgive me, I will remain kneeling,” Qi Jingren replied calmly.
Qi Zhen wasn’t buying it. “You want to kneel? Fine, kneel! I’ll see how long you can keep it up!”
With that, he turned and walked back inside. Song Lian hurried to pull Qi Jingren up, but she wouldn’t budge. Left with no choice, Song Lian went after Qi Zhen to speak on her behalf.
There were many servants bustling about in the front courtyard, but Qi Jingren knelt motionless, her expression calm. Her thoughts had never been this clear.
An hour later, someone rushed to fetch Qi Jingqing back to the manor. When he arrived and saw Qi Jingren kneeling on the ground, his face turned even paler. “Did Father break your legs?”
Qi Jingren: “……” Not worth answering.
“No, Young Master. The young miss chose to kneel herself,” a nearby servant quickly explained.
Qi Jingqing’s anxious face relaxed into composure, and by the time the servant finished, he even chuckled. “Since little sister is sincerely apologizing, let her keep kneeling.”
He glanced at his pageboy, who immediately wheeled him toward the main house.
“Young Master, she’s been kneeling for an hour. Aren’t you going to speak up for her?” the pageboy whispered.
Qi Jingqing’s lips curved slightly. “She doesn’t need me to.”
The pageboy was even more confused, but Qi Jingqing wouldn’t say another word.
Inside the front hall, Qi Zhen was peeking through the window. Seeing Qi Jingqing leave without saying a word, he grew anxious. “What’s wrong with that boy? Isn’t he usually the one who dotes on her the most? Why won’t he plead for her today?”
“Well, you’re not forgiving her. What good would it do if he did?” Song Lian, who was just as heartbroken, couldn’t help responding with biting sarcasm.
Qi Zhen gave a cold laugh. “She had the gall to defend Feng Lezhen. Why should I forgive her?”
“Then let her kneel. If she kneels to death, all the better. If she ends up crippled, then we’ll have two invalid children. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Song Lian clapped her hands mockingly.
Qi Zhen snorted and continued staring at Qi Jingren through the window.
After a while, he muttered under his breath, “To be honest, she’s actually being reasonable this time. She even knows how to admit she’s wrong.”
Song Lian raised an eyebrow at that and walked away.
With the last person willing to give him an out now gone, Qi Zhen furrowed his brow. After a while, he begrudgingly went outside.
“What are you doing, kneeling there like an idiot? Think this’ll make me soften up?” he snapped. “Get up and go back inside! Stop making a fool of yourself!”
Qi Jingren had mentally prepared for a long kneeling session and was surprised when it ended after only an hour. She looked up at him in slight disbelief.
“What are you looking at?!” Qi Zhen growled and turned sharply away.
A quick-witted servant rushed forward to help Qi Jingren up. Seeing she still wouldn’t rise, he began to gently persuade her: “Miss, don’t argue with the Marquis anymore. Parents’ hearts are always full of love—every extra minute you kneel is another minute of pain for him!”
“I’m not sulking, I just…” Just what, Qi Jingren couldn’t say herself. All these years she’d been too caught up in fighting them to consider that this time she had made him lose such face—and yet he forgave her so easily.
This really was… Qi Jingren furrowed her brows, faintly beginning to grasp what Feng Lezhen had meant.
The extra pay for the soldiers had been fronted by Shen Suinian. Only after that did the proceeds from the rice sales trickle back in. Half a month later, Feng Lezhen finally paid him back in full—and there was still a decent surplus left in the government treasury, enough to make Hu Wensheng so thrilled that he drank a whole pot of alcohol in broad daylight.
“Y-Your Highness, you really are incredible!” As a civil official who barely drank once a year, Hu Wensheng was already slurring. “You’ve only been here a year and already repaired several roads, increased tax revenue by nearly thirty percent… From now on, I’ll follow only Your Highness’s lead—never again will I question any of your decisions!”
Feng Lezhen gave him a glance. “Drinking during daylight?”
Hu Wensheng jolted upright immediately.
“At the very least,” Feng Lezhen added unhurriedly, “you should’ve waited until evening and invited the other colleagues too, right?”
Hu Wensheng cried out miserably, “Can Your Highness not scare me like that? I’ll go—I’ll go right now and inform everyone! Tonight we go nowhere else, we drink right here, in this very hall—we won’t leave till we’re drunk!”
Feng Lezhen chuckled but didn’t stop him.
Winters in Yingguan were bitterly cold, and many people liked to drink to warm themselves. Over time, men and women alike developed strong tolerances. Though they didn’t dare push drinks on Feng Lezhen the way they did with others due to her status, plenty still came to toast her.
After three rounds of drinks, it was already deep into the night. Tipsy, Feng Lezhen walked alone beneath the eaves to look at the moon.
It was the fifteenth of the month—the full moon. But a patch of dark clouds obscured part of it, as if a piece had been bitten away. She leaned quietly against the doorframe, head hazy with alcohol, as if her mind was full of thoughts—and yet somehow empty.
Hu Wensheng was the first to notice her absence. After glancing around and spotting her by the door, he started walking toward her with concern—but as he approached, his steps slowed.
Her silhouette exuded distance and loneliness, as if some invisible wall separated her from the rest of the world, making it hard to approach.
Feng Lezhen sensed someone behind her. She slowly gathered her thoughts and turned to see Hu Wensheng, offering a smile. “You all keep drinking. I’ll head back first.”
“I’ll have someone escort you—”
Feng Lezhen waved her hand and walked off alone. Hu Wensheng paused, watching helplessly as her figure vanished into the night.
She walked steadily, not too fast. The passing servants bowed quickly when they saw her, but she said nothing and kept walking until she reached the gate of the government office—where she saw Shen Suifeng waiting.
A trace of a smile finally appeared on her face.
“Your Highness, I’ve come to take you home,” Shen Suifeng greeted her with a warm smile.
Feng Lezhen reached out her hand to him. Shen Suifeng smiled and stepped forward to take it—but she dodged.
“This princess can’t hold her liquor. I’d like to ask Mr. Shen for a piggyback ride,” she said.
Shen Suifeng was surprised. “Here?”
Though they were very close in private, they usually maintained propriety in public. This was the first time she’d made such a bold request in the open.
“Is Mr. Shen unwilling?” Feng Lezhen asked.
Shen Suifeng laughed softly. “How could I be? As long as Your Highness doesn’t mind.”
Feng Lezhen laughed. Once he turned and knelt slightly, she leaned forward onto his back. Shen Suifeng gathered her legs into his arms, lifted her up, and slowly walked past the carriage, heading toward home.
“Am I heavy?” Feng Lezhen asked, arms wrapped around his neck.
“You are,” Shen Suifeng replied.
Feng Lezhen laughed and buried her face in the back of his collar. “My hairpiece alone weighs two catties today.”
“Your Highness really has it hard,” Shen Suifeng said with quiet emotion.
Then the two of them fell silent.
The long night stretched on. The moonlight cast their shadows on the ground, the two figures merging into one elongated shape. Neither spoke again, just quietly watched as their shared shadow crept forward bit by bit.
“This princess suddenly remembered,” Feng Lezhen said softly, “back in Lijia Village, didn’t you carry me like this too?”
Shen Suifeng let out a silent laugh. “Your Highness must be mistaken. You disliked me quite a bit back then—how could you have let me carry you?”
“Did I?” Feng Lezhen closed her eyes, surrendering to the haze of drink. “Then it must be you who remembered wrong. How could this princess possibly have disliked you? Clearly, the moment I first saw you… I was intrigued.”
A white-robed figure, waving a fan, carefree like the wind in the mountains. One knows they shouldn’t try to catch him—knows they can’t—but still, the desire to hold on arises.
Feng Lezhen tightened her grip around his neck. “I’ve always liked you.”
“Then I must thank Your Highness,” Shen Suifeng said with a gentle laugh.
Feng Lezhen’s eyelashes trembled slightly but, for once, she said nothing more.
From the government office to the Eldest Princess’s residence, even by carriage, the trip took over a quarter of an hour. And he carried his beloved step by step the whole way.
At first, his wrists ached and his back couldn’t straighten. Eventually, his breath grew heavy, sweat beaded at his nose. The chilly winds of Yingguan in October quickly dried it away. Shen Suifeng walked slowly, steadily. Each time he heard the even rhythm of her breathing behind him, his heart felt at peace, and even the road seemed less long.
It seemed like Feng Lezhen slept for a while, but maybe not long at all. She stirred slightly on his back, and Shen Suifeng paused, waiting for her to settle before continuing forward.
“How much farther to home?” she asked.
“Almost there,” Shen Suifeng replied.
Feng Lezhen looked at his temples, damp with sweat, and after a moment, whispered: “I’m not good.”
“Why would Your Highness say that?” Shen Suifeng was so exhausted that his breath trembled and his mind nearly shut down, but each step he took remained steady.
“For my own selfish reasons, I kept a bird that should never have been caged,” Feng Lezhen said, resting her forehead against the back of his neck, letting his sweat stick to her face. “And I never truly cared for him. When I remembered, I’d give him a little something to eat, coax him a bit. When I forgot, I’d leave him waiting at home. I was wrong. I let him down.”
At her words, Shen Suifeng’s lips curved faintly. “The bird wasn’t good to Your Highness either. Knowing Your Highness had lofty ambitions, he still ignored it all, offered no help, just let her suffer through everything alone. When his own brother made things difficult for her, he was the last to find out. He… feels ashamed.”
“He’s already done very well.” Feng Lezhen pulled out a handkerchief from her robes and gently wiped the sweat off his face. “He gave up everything and gave all that he could. That’s already more than enough.”
“Your Highness has done very well too. So don’t always feel like you owe something.”
As they spoke, they had already arrived at the gates of the Eldest Princess’s residence.
The main doors were tightly shut, the two stone lions on either side looked honest and endearing, each with a lamp perched atop its head for light.
Shen Suifeng gently lowered Feng Lezhen, wanting to touch her face, but his arms trembled from exhaustion and he couldn’t lift them, so he gave up. “I’ll go knock.”
He turned to leave when Feng Lezhen suddenly grabbed his hand.
Shen Suifeng paused slightly, looking at her in confusion.
“Mr. Shen, you’ve worked hard. Just see me off to here,” she said, eyes lowered.
Shen Suifeng gave a soft, incredulous laugh. “What does Your Highness mean by this?”
“Just to here.” She met his eyes.
The smile in Shen Suifeng’s eyes slowly faded, replaced by an unnamed fear.
