The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

Tangxi Xue need not say more; Mu Liang naturally understands—those whom His Highness intends to protect must not be left with even the slightest potential for trouble.

She was raised by Tang Xiye from a young age, immersed in the art of imperial rule.

While other princesses learned needlework and poetry, she sat in the front row of the Wenhua Hall with her elder brother, the Crown Prince, listening to the Grand Tutor lecture on "Imperial Edicts" and watching how her brother reviewed cases and weighed the affairs of the court.

Tang Xiye never avoided her; sometimes she would even push memorials in front of her and ask her:

"What do you think should be done about this, Zhizhi?"

Those ruthless decisions and scheming tactics were already etched into her very being.

She has always been protective of her own people—once they're under her wing, she won't allow anyone else to touch them.

"Where does Yan Chuan live?" Tang Xixue asked.

"Your Highness, let me drive the carriage."

Pei Yanchuan's voice came from outside the carriage curtain, sounding somewhat hurried.

"My dwelling... has no name, it's just a shanty in the slums of the South City."

He was penniless, and although his clothes were old, he still stood straight among the students of Lintai.

Poverty is not a disgrace, but a whetstone given by fate.

But at this moment, for the first time, he had the thought of running away.

He didn't want her to see the drafty roof, the disheveled and wretched state of the dust, which now made his cheeks burn.

He turned the carriage around, leaving behind the bright lights of the long street, and headed towards the most silent corner of the capital.

As the wheels rolled over the increasingly bumpy road, Tang Xixue lifted the curtain and sat on the carriage shaft beside him.

The night wind swirled with snowflakes and blew against her face. She pulled her cloak tighter and her gaze fell on Pei Yanchuan's slender profile.

The fortune-telling book states that he "has a chronic illness from his youth and his lifespan is not long."

In retrospect, that so-called "old ailment" is probably the result of the beating he suffered tonight.

The future Prime Minister Pei is now nothing more than a frail scholar. Although he has a strong and proud spirit, he is like a white plum tree growing on the edge of a cliff, which may be broken by wind and snow at any time.

Even tigers don't eat their cubs.

She suddenly spoke.

"Yanchuan, has your...father always treated you so harshly?"

Pei Yanchuan's fingers tightened slightly on the reins.

After a long silence, he answered in a low voice:

"He... isn't exactly my father. He was originally a guard for the Pei family."

He paused, as if he had made up his mind.

Five years ago, the Pei family of Beichuan suffered a great calamity. The entire family... only my mother and I escaped. All the other guards died on the way to protect us, but he alone... survived.

He omitted the bloody details, but his suddenly darkened eyes betrayed the brutality of that escape.

Pursuers, slaughter, betrayal, and the ugliest fangs of humanity in dire straits.

"We fled to Yujing under assumed names, but he, relying on his knowledge of our situation, grew increasingly arrogant... right up to this day."

After he finished speaking, his lips pressed into a pale line, a gesture of humiliation and helplessness.

Tang Xixue listened quietly.

I suddenly realized something.

She observed that Pei Yanchuan's demeanor and refinement were in no way inferior to Shen Xian's, and his appearance was so outstanding that he bore no resemblance to the crude and vulgar brute from before.

"So Yanchuan came all this way and went through so much hardship to get to where he is with me."

Her voice was soft, like the first ripple of spring water melting in early spring, gently flowing over a frozen riverbed.

Pei Yanchuan suddenly looked up.

In that instant, he seemed to see butterfly wings brushing against the strings of a zither on the desolate snowfield, and heard the soft sound of peach blossoms breaking through the ice beneath the ice.

All the suffering, the humiliation, the misery...

Suddenly, her words were filled with warmth.

It turns out that all that wind and rain along the way wasn't to fall into the mud.

It is so that we can go to the place where there is light.

He walked up to her.

"Your Highness, the Hidden Dragon Guards have already dealt with the tails behind them."

The sound of clothes being brushed against the eaves drifted gently from outside the car window, like a snowflake falling on the corner of the eaves.

She used her light-footed skills to keep a distance from the carriage, neither getting too close to disturb it nor disturbing it, while still being able to protect it at any time.

When the princess left the palace, she was outwardly accompanied only by Mu Liang and Fu Yi, but in secret, she was always followed by a hidden Dragon Guard.

That was personally assigned by Emperor Shengchen.

"Hmm." Tang Xixue nodded. "Although Shen Wujiu doesn't like me very much, he's quite reliable when it comes to getting things done."

The Hidden Dragon Guard is under the command of Commander Shen Cuo. Over the years, most of the secret orders that this cold-faced commander has received have been related to Princess Jing.

He was either secretly protecting his subordinates or cleaning up their messes, to the point that Shen Cuo once privately scoffed at his deputy:

"It seems as if this Hidden Dragon Guard was set up specifically for that little ancestor."

Emperor Shengchen rarely used the Hidden Dragon Guards around him—the emperor himself was at the peak of the ninth rank, and ordinary assassins would die as soon as they got close.

Therefore, it is said that Commander Shen's resentment towards this extra task was three times greater than that of the wronged souls in the City of the Dead.

A short while later, Mu Liang silently returned to the carriage and whispered:

"It has been properly handled."

He had just left a moment ago to meet with the Hidden Dragon Guards.

The carriage had stopped at the edge of a shantytown.

Before me lay a dense cluster of low, crooked shacks, their roofs weighed down by filthy snow, and dim light from yellow oil lamps seeping through the cracks in the walls.

Sewage froze into jagged icicles in the alleyways, and the air was thick with the stench of cheap charcoal and decaying matter.

"Your Highness, that's my humble abode over there..."

Pei Yanchuan's voice was very soft, with an undisguised embarrassment.

"Thank you so much for tonight."

Tang Xixue's gaze swept past him and fell on the woman who was still asleep in the carriage.

Even though she looked haggard and pale, one could still see the elegant features that Pei Yanchuan inherited in her eyes.

That was a once-illustrious family, their prestige etched into their very bones.

"Yanchuan, go pack your things. We're moving tonight."

She looked away, her tone calm yet unquestionable.

"move place?"

Pei Yanchuan was taken aback.

"Although that person is no longer here, are you truly at ease letting your mother and sister continue living here?"

She looked into his eyes.

"With so many troublemakers around, I can't sleep soundly at night. You have to go to Lintai tomorrow; can you stay here all the time?"

"Your Highness is right."

Pei Yanchuan lowered his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously curling up.

"I will find a proper place for my mother and sister to stay tomorrow. The money I earned from hunting falcons today should be enough to rent a small house for them to live in temporarily..."

"No need to look elsewhere."

"Lintai has a special resettlement area for students' families, which is quiet and safe. Moving there will make it convenient for you to take care of your family and save you the trouble of traveling back and forth."

Tang Xixue did not suggest bringing them into the Hall of Longevity.

After all, she had made too many enemies, each of whom was ruthless and vicious.

No matter which enemy it is, it is something that the poor little white flower family can withstand at present.

For Pei Yanchuan now, Lintai is the most secure place to settle down.

Pei Yanchuan remained silent for a moment, then finally bowed deeply: "Thank you, Your Highness."

"Go ahead," Tang Xixue said gently, "we will wait here."

Pei Yanchuan turned around and strode quickly into the dark depths of the shantytown.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he returned carrying two old wooden boxes.

The box was small, with mottled paint and worn-out edges—this was all the belongings left behind by the once illustrious Pei family of Beichuan.

He carefully placed the wooden crate into the carriage.

"Let's go."

The carriage once again rolled over the snow, this time heading towards the majestic academy in the capital.

"Brother, where are we going?" the little girl asked.

"Going to the new house."

Pei Yanchuan looked at his two remaining relatives, then glanced at Tang Xixue, who had condescended to help him, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart.

Despite being covered in wounds, a small smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

He felt cared for and protected.

Such beauty made him feel that Princess Mirror was shining brightly.

It even made him greedy, wanting to get a little closer to her.