Chapter 4 – The Prince Actually Keeps a Beauty!

Xiao Xun took out a box and put away the undergarments, then instructed, “Send over three sets of spring clothes.”

Li Ruyi said, “Wouldn’t that be blatantly…” …telling Pei Zhuo that it was His Highness who took the underpants?

Xiao Xun replied, “It’s fine.”

Li Ruyi looked at him with deep respect—Xiao Xun was a gentleman through and through, never afraid of gossip.

But Xiao Xun, staring at the box, was thinking on a deeper level. Today, he was more convinced than ever of one thing: the craftsmanship of the clothing Pei Zhuo wore was superior to anything in Great Xuan. Even the master weavers of Jiangnan would be astonished.

If their textile skills were so advanced, what about their weapon forging? Could the place where Pei Zhuo’s clothes came from also possess sharper blades and deadlier weapons than Great Xuan, eyeing them with hostile intent?

He needed to meet Pei Zhuo himself.

Li Ruyi interrupted his thoughts. “Your Highness, Consort Li’s Peach Blossom Pavilion was razed by Noble Noble Consort Yan today. She must hate her to the bone. Why don’t we wait for the second prince to take revenge for Consort Li, then we can swoop in after and catch him in the act, to keep him from—”

Xiao Xun opened a letter and said indifferently, “Stick to the original plan.”

***

At Yuetao Palace.

Consort Li was a stunning, seductive beauty, born with a pair of naturally flirtatious fox eyes. After Emperor Xiao Jieyuan ascended the throne, he married her—daughter of a court official—to stabilize the regime. Within a year of entering the palace, she gave birth to the second prince, Xiao Fei, and enjoyed over a decade of favor.

But beauty fades, and love wanes. The newly favored Noble Consort Yan was young and beautiful—one dance was enough to charm the emperor. Since spring began, Consort Li had not seen him once.

Xiao Fei, having inherited his mother’s fox-like eyes—narrow and eerily striking—had dark circles from staying up all night copying scriptures and facing reprimands early in the morning. His lips turned downward in displeasure, his face dark and gloomy.

After morning court, he followed routine and went to greet Consort Li, only to find her looking even worse than he did.

She had tripped a few days ago and now lay weakly in bed. Seeing Xiao Fei, she gritted her teeth bitterly. “That fox spirit constantly persuades His Majesty to eat vegetarian. If he eats it for one day, the entire palace eats it for seven! I just want some meat.”

If the emperor ate vegetarian once every seven days, that meant the palace was eating it practically every day of the lunar month.

“No meat, and now all the palaces are forced to donate money and goods to build a golden pagoda in the palace to bless His Majesty.”

This was initiated by Noble Consort Yan, who took all the credit. Anyone who donated too little was subjected to passive-aggressive remarks.

Xiao Fei looked around and noticed many of the gold items were gone from his mother’s palace.

The Golden Pagoda Sect had become all the rage in Great Xuan. In recent years, its followers had been building temples at an alarming rate, each featuring golden spires. The purer the gold, the more devout the belief.

The Ministry of Works used golden roofs as an excuse to amass wealth.

And now this trend had reached the palace?

“And His Majesty gave the Peach Blossom Pavilion to that fox Yan.” Consort Li’s fingers, painted with cinnabar-red polish, nearly dug into her own flesh.

The Peach Blossom Pavilion was a reward from the emperor after she gave birth to a prince. She adored peach blossoms and had tended that garden diligently for over ten years, even spending her own money to build a white jade corridor. In spring, the blooming peach blossoms and white jade complemented each other beautifully.

This year, just as the peach blossoms were budding, Noble Consort Yan mentioned liking white jade corridors and suggested replacing the trees with albizia flowers to help the emperor sleep better.

So the emperor ordered the peach trees cut down and gave the garden to Noble Consort Yan.

Hearing the sound of the trees being chopped, Consort Li had nearly grabbed a knife to cut Yan down instead.

The Peach Blossom Pavilion was near the empress’ Qingjia Palace, and had traditionally been part of the empress’ garden. But since the empress disliked flowers, Consort Li had quietly cultivated it for years without issue.

Xiao Fei narrowed his eyes with a sinister glint. “I’ll poison her.”

Consort Li said, “No. Noble Consort Yan is always sowing discord between your father and others. You must not be the first to act. I just heard that His Majesty opened the empress’ storage room and took out all the gold and silver she’d collected in her lifetime to melt down for the golden pagoda.” She said meaningfully, “Do you think the crown prince will sit by and do nothing?”

When the empress died of illness, Consort Li had secretly been delighted. But no sooner had she rejoiced than Noble Consort Yan appeared out of nowhere. The empress had been dignified and virtuous, while Noble Consort Yan stirred up storms.

Consort Li had begun to miss the empress’ presence—at least she hadn’t emptied her pockets.

Xiao Fei’s eyes darkened. “I’ll get revenge for you, Mother. No need to wait for the crown prince.” This time, he would move faster than the crown prince.

Consort Li shook her head. “You mustn’t.”

Among the three adult princes in court, each had their own power base—the crown prince was not the sole power. Both the inner palace and court officials were watching closely, waiting to see which prince Noble Consort Yan would bring down and reset the game.

Consort Li straightened up. “His Majesty gave you charge of the Yong’an Horse Farm—you must hold onto it. Your uncle commands soldiers. You have warhorses. A single cavalry unit can match five infantry.”

Xiao Fei said, “What’s the point of raising horses? It’s just some unwanted task the crown prince pushed off on me.”

Consort Li asked, “Why do you say that?”

Xiao Fei explained, “The court imported ten horses from the Western Regions. Father ordered that within a year, we must produce three hundred offspring from them.”

Taking into account infertility, miscarriages, and early deaths, that meant arranging over a thousand matings this spring—each stallion would be used over a hundred times. They’d be exhausted to death.

Hmph. Out of the emperor’s three thousand concubines, only four sons had survived, and yet he demanded this much from horses?

If he failed to produce three hundred Western foals within a year, he would be accused of embezzlement and harboring treasonous intent.

Xiao Fei didn’t spell it out too clearly, but hinted that the task was impossible.

Consort Li’s eyes twinkled. “Then do what that fox does—feed the horses some medicine. Your father doesn’t work in my chambers, but he sure does over there.”

Xiao Fei frowned. “These Western Region horses were brought in at great cost. If we feed them medicine this year, they’ll be ruined by next year. Then what?”

“Next year?” Consort Li let out a mocking laugh. “There is no ‘next year’ for drugged Western horses—do people have one? You just need to take control of the horse farm.”

As mother and son spoke, a young palace maid came running in. “Your Grace, good news!”

Consort Li asked, “What news?”

The maid replied, “Just now, His Majesty placed Noble Consort Yan under house arrest.”

Consort Li sat up excitedly. “What happened?”

The maid said, “I’m not too sure either. I heard from the eunuch sweeping the imperial garden that this morning, Noble Consort Yan was feeding birds by the pond, and the fourth prince was painting in the pavilion. Suddenly, the sparrows and swallows she lured over with birdseed turned and attacked the fourth prince, pecking his forehead until it bled! Luckily a palace maid protected him, and His Majesty happened to witness it. He flew into a rage!”

Everyone in the palace knew Noble Consort Yan loved feeding birds, and the birds were very close to her.

“What poetic justice—swallows pecking at a royal heir!” Consort Li was so thrilled she felt she could get out of bed. Who would have thought Noble Consort Yan would be bitten back by the very birds she raised!

The emperor had risen to power in Zezhou, where a famous opera tells the story of a woman named “Flying Swallow” who enters the palace as a consort, harbors a wicked heart, and harms the imperial heirs—ultimately leading a foolish emperor to die without an heir. “The swallow comes, pecks the heir”—that line was known in every household.

For an emperor to be left without heirs and endanger the ancestral line—that was Xiao Jieyuan’s greatest taboo.

Added to Noble Consort Yan’s constant scheming and manipulation, today’s scene of swallows pecking the royal heir sparked real alarm in Xiao Jieyuan. He was no foolish emperor from a stage play—he immediately saw Noble Consort Yan as ominous.

The fourth prince, already sick from copying scriptures, had forced himself to study painting while ill—only to get pecked on the head by sparrows. Xiao Jieyuan was stirred by a rare flicker of fatherly love and rewarded him with a bounty of tonics.

Consort Li exclaimed, “Heaven truly has eyes. Zizhu, where’s my wooden fish? Bring it, let me knock it a few times.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Seeing his mother in such high spirits, Xiao Fei didn’t spoil the mood.

As he left the palace, his expression was dark. His attendant Ah Si saw and asked, “Did something upset you, Master?”

Xiao Fei replied, “The crown prince beat me to it again.” The swallow-pecking incident was ninety percent likely orchestrated by the crown prince. He had seen the crown prince’s trained bird—a peregrine falcon—swift and silent. Orchestrating a show with sparrows would be child’s play.

The crown prince clearly had a way to warn Noble Consort Yan earlier but only acted after the empress’ private treasury had been plundered.

Truly… infuriating.

When their father had been swayed by Noble Consort Yan’s slander and was harsh to all his sons, the crown prince hadn’t lifted a finger—so much for brotherhood.

Ah Si didn’t fully understand what had happened—only that the crown prince had once again displeased his master. And whenever he could stir up trouble for the crown prince, Xiao Fei would be pleased.

“Master,” said Ah Si, “yesterday I found out that Li Er, one of the crown prince’s attendants, was secretly delivering food to an empty building. I followed and saw—he’s keeping a beauty!”

Xiao Fei said, “Impossible.”

Ah Si insisted, “I saw it with my own eyes. An absolute beauty—a man.”

A stunning man?

Xiao Fei was sure. “He must be a key pawn of the crown prince.”

What kind of scheme was the crown prince setting up against him and the third prince this time?

Maybe it would be better to just steal the pawn.

“Take me to see him.”

***

Pei Zhuo lay on the bed, utterly baffled. The black underpants had no aesthetic value—why would anyone steal them?

Without underpants, he didn’t even want to get out of bed—walking felt completely wrong. He couldn’t find any ancient-style underpants in the wardrobe, and even if there were… the thought that someone might have worn them before made him cringe.

“It’s lunchtime.” As usual, Li Er opened the door to deliver food. This time, besides the food box, there was also a bundle.

“There’s chicken legs today,” he called out before closing the door.

Pei Zhuo lifted his eyelids. He’d spent the whole morning searching for underwear and hadn’t eaten yet. The allure of chicken legs was real. 

He opened the box—two chicken legs.

Next to it was a bundle. He opened it to find three brand new sets of clothes made from excellent fabric—the same material worn by Xiao Xun. Only wealthy households could afford such luxury.

Pei Zhuo flipped through the layers and found three pairs of underpants underneath—modern-style briefs.

It was now obvious who the thief was. The most suspicious had always been Li Er, since he hadn’t seen a second person enter these days. The only uncertainty had been whether he was acting on someone else’s orders.

Now he was sure: he was.

That thick-browed, righteous-looking guy actually did something like this—and then even offered open compensation. Was this supposed to be a decent thing? Was he testing his bottom line?

Pei Zhuo took a deep bite of the chicken leg, face serious. He couldn’t stay here any longer.

After eating, he immediately packed his things—his “textbooks,” peanuts, and the new clothes. He didn’t have the skill to scale walls. The only way out…

Was to set a fire and escape in the chaos.

He scoped out the wind direction and hid his bundle behind the east wing, propped a chair under the wall, then pretended to head into the west wing kitchen to boil water for a bath. He always bathed at this hour, so it wasn’t suspicious.

“Fire!” Pei Zhuo, with two streaks of soot across his face, stumbled out coughing and disheveled. “Help!”

Flames burst out from the kitchen. Fire-response officer Li Er immediately appeared, drawing water from the well. “I’m here!”

Pei Zhuo ran to the base of the wall, clutching his chest and bracing against the bricks, pretending to cough violently. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Li Er stay absorbed in firefighting. Seizing the moment, he picked up the bundle, stepped onto the chair, and climbed up the wall.

Just as he was about to jump down in one go, a striking figure in red suddenly appeared at the end of the alley, giving off an almost terrifying, startling aura.

Pei Zhuo hesitated, considering pulling his foot back, when the red-clad figure leapt into the air and, in one swift move, carried him across five or six courtyards, landing him in an unfamiliar garden.

Pei Zhuo said, “Thank you—”

Looking at the expensive red robes and the flamboyant appearance, he suddenly recalled the system’s introduction—it had described this talented and striking youth twice: Second Prince Xiao Fei.

And the moment he escaped, he ran straight into a future emperor candidate?

“Thank you, kind sir, for rescuing me. A drop of kindness shall be repaid in floods.”

“Rescue?” Xiao Fei rolled the word on his tongue. “Who was imprisoning you? I’ll get justice for you.”

Pei Zhuo answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t kno—” Xiao Fei looked him over. Even with a dirty face, his refined beauty was unmistakable. Could it be that the crown prince had taken a liking to his looks?

Absolutely not.

The crown prince had no need to go through all this trouble to hide someone—if he liked someone, he could just openly bring them into his side residence. But the crown prince’s guard had been so eager to put out the fire. This person must be important.

“What’s your name?”

“Pei Zhuo.”

Xiao Fei raised an eyebrow. “That playboy is no good. He has some influence in the capital. If you don’t want to be captured again, it’s best to come with me. But I don’t take in useless people. Tell me—what can you do?”

Pei Zhuo eagerly tried to integrate into the second prince’s political circle. “I’m skilled in arithmetic—dare I say, the best in Great Xuan. I could easily serve as an accountant.”

Xiao Fei pondered. Arithmetic? It was true that the crown prince liked numbers, but if he wasn’t assigning any posts, why keep someone with such a skill locked up? For daily abacus recitals?

Actually… maybe. A beautiful man who could work an abacus—perhaps that would stir the crown prince’s heart.

“We don’t need another accountant.” 

Pei Zhuo quickly changed tactics. “If Your Highness has any difficult problems, perhaps I can help.”

Xiao Fei immediately thought of the horse farm. He didn’t know what the crown prince wanted Pei Zhuo for, but if he sent this beauty off to raise horses, the crown prince surely wouldn’t know where he had gone.

“I do need someone to manage horses. If you can breed three hundred Western Region horses in a year, that would be a great merit—and I’ll reward you accordingly.”

Pei Zhuo asked, “How many do you have now?”

Xiao Fei said, “Ten stallions.”

Pei Zhuo understood. This was about introducing a new breed, and the challenge lay in the mating.

He recalled a high school classmate who had studied animal husbandry in college. His thesis had been about horse reproduction—6,000 words in total—and it was rejected by his advisor for being “too vulgar,” saying he didn’t need to describe the psychological reactions of male and female horses!

That classmate had been aggrieved and asked the straight-laced Pei Zhuo to help him clean it up.

Pei Zhuo had deleted 4,000 words—but in the process, the key concepts were burned into his brain. He cautiously asked, “Do you have a teaser stallion at the horse farm?”

Xiao Fei frowned. “What’s that?”

Pei Zhuo’s eyes gleamed—good, that meant Great Xuan’s breeding techniques were still rudimentary.

“Western Region horses are incredibly valuable. You can’t just let them roam freely among the mares. You need a healthy, strong, highly libidinous ordinary stallion to first identify which mares are in heat.”

Mares in early estrus will avoid or attack stallions. If a stallion picks the wrong one, he might get injured. So the teaser stallion’s job is to detect the right ones first—boosting efficiency. To prevent actual mating during the process, a cloth strip is tied around the teaser stallion’s… area. His job is only to detect, not to perform.

“This method is even more effective with sheep. After identifying the right mares…”

Pei Zhuo explained fluently. But as he struggled to convey modern technical terms, he realized that his classmate’s original, unedited version was actually more understandable to ancient people. His wording grew more and more… unrestrained.

Xiao Fei’s ears turned red. The whole teaser stallion process seemed oddly cruel.

Suddenly, he began to suspect: perhaps his imperial brother really was attracted to Pei Zhuo. Even the clothes Pei Zhuo was wearing were made from Snow Cloud Silk—offered exclusively to the crown prince by Jiangnan weavers. Not even a prince like himself had access to that.

But with the crown prince’s mother having just passed, he couldn’t marry due to mourning rites. So instead, he kept the beauty hidden in a secluded courtyard. The beautiful man couldn’t understand the crown prince’s restraint and tried to escape.

If Pei Zhuo had such skills with horses, imagine what he could do with people. There’s no way he could be sent to manage horses—he might just become the future crown princess consort.

He had to be well-fed and pampered—used to stir up discord between the brothers.

Xiao Fei formed a wicked plan. The storm in his gaze lightened ever so slightly.