After my father was sent to marry into the princess's household, I became the darling of the en

Fengming stroked the messy stubble on his chin and walked to the huge star map on the wall.

Rong Jing's gaze followed.

When he was thirteen, Fengming stood in front of the star chart in the same way, teaching him to use numerology to predict destiny.

At that time, he was a hostage of the Great Yan Kingdom and had just survived his seventh assassination attempt in a foreign land.

His body was covered in old and new knife wounds, and even when he closed his eyes at night, he gripped the short dagger tightly.

Fengming told him, "Kid, if you want to live, you have to see the future before everyone else."

So he learned how to deduce.

Each time the horoscope was manipulated, the only result was a cold, prophetic statement.

—The hidden dragon, though far away, returns to the capital in its prime.

This foreshadows that one day he will break free from his predicament and return to the vast world from his period of dormancy.

These eight words became his only belief during countless bloody nights.

Until three months ago.

His originally clear and predetermined destiny chart was as if a drop of thick, indelible ink had been poured into it.

The trajectory of the stars shifted at a certain point, and their subsequent course became completely chaotic.

For someone accustomed to being in control, this loss of control is fatal.

Tingfeng Pavilion's intelligence network searched almost the entire Dayong Dynasty for two whole months, but to no avail.

It wasn't until the Flower Festival that he had a chance encounter with Shen Jingque.

They initially thought she was just an unconventional young girl, but upon further investigation, they discovered that her fate was completely unpredictable.

Like a blazing fire.

The blazing fire is invisible yet has light without shadow; there is no other person like it in this world.

Besides her, Rong Jing couldn't think of anyone else who could be that variable.

Mr. Fengming turned his head and looked at his disciple, who was always so shrewd and resourceful, with a rare serious expression.

"The secrets of heaven are truly unreasonable."

"I predicted back then that you had the countenance of an emperor, but I never expected that such a little girl would suddenly appear out of nowhere."

"Now that your fate is completely in chaos, what do you plan to do?"

Rong Jing turned his gaze away from the star map.

"If our fates are destined to be intertwined, since we can't see clearly..."

His eyes were filled with a deep, dark light, and a faint smile played at the corners of his lips.

"Then... let's wait and see."

……

Shen Jingque led Tian Jiu and jogged out of the Hundred Herbs Garden until they reached the end of the bamboo forest path, where they bent over, braced themselves on their knees, and took a couple of breaths.

"Why did you run away, Miss?" Tian Jiu remained expressionless, though a hint of confusion appeared on her face.

"The old man looked at me strangely; it gave me the creeps."

Shen Jingque squeezed the cold key in her palm, feeling that things weren't so simple.

But now is not the time to dwell on this.

She closed her eyes and sank into the Shennong space. The semi-transparent system panel appeared immediately, with the score number in the upper right corner steadily displayed: 50/50.

[Ding—Congratulations, host! The upgrade requirements for the alchemy furnace have been met. Upgrade now?]

System 001's voice rang in my mind, unusually without any attempt to promote Xiao Jingchen's related tasks.

"Lift!"

Without a second thought, the image of the alchemy furnace in Shen Jingque's mind began to vibrate violently, and a golden light shone from the originally dim patterns on the furnace body, as if it had been infused with new life.

Upgrade complete.

[New Feature: Powder Formation – This feature allows you to grind pills into a fine powder, suitable for various applications such as sprinkling, mixing, and applying.]

[New Feature: Ointment Formation – Pills can be condensed into an ointment, suitable for external application, application, and carrying.]

[Friendly reminder: The powder form supports mass production, with a maximum of ten batches per batch. The ointment has a shelf life three times longer than the pills. We wish you a pleasant experience using it.]

Shen Jingque's eyes lit up.

The newly upgraded function means that her bizarre pills will no longer be limited to the form of pills and must be fed to people orally.

Instead, you can throw it directly at someone's face, sprinkle it into tea, or stuff it into a sachet.

Some pharmacies that cause itching all over the body or diarrhea can even be used for self-defense.

From this day forward, Shen Jingque will be a walking biological weapon.

Hehehehehe!

"Miss?" Tianjiu saw her smiling strangely at the air and cautiously took half a step to the side.

Shen Jingque snapped out of her daze and patted Tian Jiu's shoulder forcefully.

"Xiao Jiu, you can go back and report to your elder brother now. The Hundred Herbs Garden is safe. Rong Jing didn't lay a hand on me."

After saying that, she thought for a moment and then changed her mind, "Never mind, I'll tell him myself that Rong Jing's master's arrival was suspicious, and it would be better to have my brother investigate."

Shen Jingque happily stuffed the key into her sleeve pocket and hopped towards the school as if she were walking on clouds.

As I approached the teahouse entrance, I saw Xu Wanying anxiously looking around.

Seeing her return, he patted his chest and said, "You scared me to death! If you hadn't come back, I really would have gone to call for help."

Shen Jingque walked over and patted his head. "Alright, alright, a little pat won't scare you. I'm fine."

Hearing this, Xu Wanying chuckled carelessly, "Tell me quickly what's in that Hundred Herbs Garden..."

……

She didn't hear a word of the afternoon's scripture class; her mind was full of thinking about the newly unlocked medicine powder formula, and she wished she could go back to her space and start the furnace right then and there.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and the students began to pack up their books one after another.

Shen Jingque stuffed the brush and ink into the box and was about to get up.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shen Tingyun in the back row looking at her, hesitating and looking like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Helan Qing leaned closer, "Does Que'er want...want to come along?"

Shen Jingque smiled and shook her head, "You go first, I'll wait for Xu Wanying, she said she needs to go to the toilet."

Without much thought, Helan Qing took the book box and went ahead.

After most of the students had left the classroom, Shen Tingyun finally got up and walked over from the back row, carrying a box of books.

She stopped in front of Shen Jingque's table, her expression hesitant, as if she had mustered a lot of courage before speaking: "Que'er."

Shen Jingque looked up, a polite smile on her face. "Sister, what is it?"

Shen Tingyun's gaze swept over her face for a moment, then he lowered his eyes and softened his tone.

"I noticed you didn't eat lunch at the teahouse; you went to the back hill again?"

coming.

Shen Jingque's heart tightened, but she remained expressionless.

She rested her chin on her hand and tilted her head to look at Shen Tingyun. "How did you know I went to the back mountain, sister?"

Shen Tingyun seemed stumped by the question. Her fingers curled slightly, then quickly relaxed. "I saw you walking in that direction, so I just asked casually. Don't take it personally."

Shen Jingque didn't reply, but just smiled, stood up from her seat, picked up her book box, and walked out. "Let's go."

The two left the school one after the other, with Tian Jiu trailing behind in the shadows of the trees about ten steps away.

Shen Tingyun followed beside Shen Jingque, as if he was carefully considering his words.

After walking a few steps, she casually asked, "Are you still seeing Young Master Rong lately?"

Shen Jingque glanced at her, a half-smile on her face: "Sister, aren't you with Rong Jing every day? Don't you know whether I've seen him or not? What's the point of asking when you already know?"

As her gaze shifted downwards, Shen Jingque noticed a section of light pink tassel peeking out from under Shen Tingyun's skirt.

Above the tassel is a jade plaque, with the carved pattern of twin lotus flowers faintly visible.

Something in my memory seemed to be suddenly struck.

Jade pendant featuring twin lotus blossoms.

Good heavens, it's actually a jade pendant featuring twin lotus blossoms!

Isn't this the love token and exclusive PUA tool that Xiao Jingchen gave to the original owner in the original book?

Every time the original owner was tortured to the point of death, she would use this broken stone to brainwash herself into thinking, "He cares about me."

Unexpectedly, after the core was replaced by her, she refused to accept this "poisonous milk" (a Chinese idiom for bad luck).

Xiao Jingchen then handed the pancake to Shen Tingyun.

Sigh, her silly older sister is completely fooled by this scumbag and even has to work for him.

For a moment, she felt a little reluctant.

But she quickly calmed down.

This was the first time Shen Tingyun had taken the initiative to talk to her since she enrolled, and the first thing he asked about was the back mountain and Rong Jing.

That's too deliberate.

She was deliberately trying to get information out of me.

She has been brainwashed by Xiao Jingchen.

Shen Tingyun noticed her gaze and subtly tugged at her skirt to cover the jade pendant.

Shen Jingque also looked away and said reluctantly, "Don't ask anymore. I won't be seeing Rong Jing often in the future."

A glint flashed in Shen Tingyun's eyes as he tentatively asked, "Has something happened?"

"My older brother won't allow it," Shen Jingque snorted. "But what my older brother said isn't wrong; his background is complicated."

"What kind of secret base is this foreign hostage setting up behind the academy? If I hadn't seen it, I would have been kept in the dark."

Shen Tingyun paused for a moment, then subtly followed, his voice now tinged with concern, "A secret base?"

Shen Jingque stopped in her tracks, gently covering her mouth with an expression of regret for accidentally letting something slip.

Then he sighed and said, "Never mind, there's no harm in telling you. My older brother is investigating too."

Shen Tingyun's breathing quickened, but she tried her best to keep her voice calm. "I won't say anything nonsense, don't worry, I'm just worried about you."

Shen Jingque lowered her voice and approached Shen Tingyun in a mysterious manner.

"It's nothing serious, it's just that Rong Jing... he hid a lot of things in the Hundred Herbs Garden in the back mountain. I went in to take a look once out of curiosity."

"There were many letters and maps in the Great Yen script inside, but I didn't have time to look at them carefully before he discovered them and kicked me out."

Shen Tingyun's pupils suddenly contracted.

The hostage prince of Great Yan, who hid Great Yan's letters and maps.

Her mind raced. What did this mean? Rebellion? Collusion with the enemy?

Almost simultaneously, another thought popped into her head: Why did Shen Jingque suddenly tell her all this?

The sisters were no longer close; Shen Jingque had even warned her about it to her face that day.

Now, they are carelessly leaking this deadly information.

Shen Tingyun's gaze fell on Shen Jingque's face.

She seemed completely unconcerned, as if she were just talking about something trivial.

That's right. Her younger sister is just a twelve-year-old girl after all, unlike her, who was reborn and has memories of her past life.

Although she died young in her previous life, she had heard the beggars in the dilapidated temple talk about the old stories of the Yan Kingdom and Dayong.

Her heart raced, but she only frowned slightly and said, "Then...then isn't that very dangerous?"

"That's right." Shen Jingque sighed. "So I probably won't look for him for now. I'll wait until my older brother has found out the truth."

After saying that, she pointed a finger at Shen Tingyun menacingly: "Sister, you don't want to tell the Third Prince, do you? If Rong Jing finds out I told anyone about this, he might kill me to silence me."

Shen Tingyun quickly waved his hand and said, "I won't."

This news is extremely important. With this news, she no longer needs to worry about not being able to explain herself to the Third Prince.

She couldn't wait to go to the White Crane Tower.

Shen Jingque chatted casually about some trivial matters at the academy before waving goodbye.

The moment she turned around, the innocent smile on her face vanished.

Tian Jiu silently followed and walked to her side.

As Shen Jingque watched Shen Tingyun's hurried departure, the corners of her mouth slowly curled up.

If Shen Tingyun is truly devoted to Xiao Jingchen, she will definitely pass these words on to him verbatim.

That man was suspicious, controlling, and scheming at a young age.

With intelligence in hand that the hostage of Great Yan might be colluding with the enemy, how could they possibly remain inactive?

He will definitely send someone to investigate.

But once his men touch the Hundred Herbs Garden...

Let alone Rong Jing, the traps inside would probably give him a run for his money.

On one side is the unfathomable hostage prince of the Great Yan, and on the other is the male protagonist favored by destiny.

If they were to clash head-on... tsk tsk tsk.

Shen Jingque shook her head.

"Trying to trick me into revealing information?"

"Then let's present His Highness with a grand gift."

……

In the Hundred Herbs Garden, the wind rustles through the bamboo fence.

Rong Jing squatted in front of the herb garden, resignedly helping his master pull weeds.

My nose suddenly felt itchy—

Achoo!

He rubbed his nose with his sleeve, frowned, and muttered, "Strange, I'm catching a cold even though it's spring?"