Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

After the court officials dispersed, Xi Yueli was sent back to the guest courtyard. She sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her hands folded and resting on her knees. She maintained a steady posture, and only Helian Jing could see that her clasped fingers were trembling slightly.

He walked in and sat down next to her, about half a fist's distance away, without saying a word.

After a long while, Xi Yueli spoke, her voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible: "Your Highness, I actually only remember three things: the blue cloth strip, the back of the map, and the King's sleeve."

Helian Jing turned his head to look at her.

"I know nothing else." As she said this, the shell that had been holding up inside and outside the palace all day finally cracked. "But they think I know everything."

Helian Jing stared at her for a long time. Then he reached out, took the outer cloak, unfolded it, and draped it over her shoulders.

"Then let them think," he said, "that I'll cover for you."

Xi Yueli buried her face in the collar of her cloak, smelling the crisp, cold scent of fir. She closed her eyes, slowly loosening her ten fingers, leaving four shallow crescent-shaped marks on her palms.

"Your Highness, what do I need to do tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow—" Helian Jing's voice came from the side, with a hint of suppressed laughter, "Keep pretending tomorrow."

After the guest courtyard quieted down, Xi Yueli leaned against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) with her eyes closed, her outer cloak wrapped around her shoulders. She mentally reviewed every word she had said on the stone platform that day, making sure that none of them revealed any flaws before slowly exhaling a breath of stale air.

Helian Jing sat on a wooden stool not far away, and pulled out a whetstone from somewhere, slowly rubbing the blade of the curved sword.

He sharpened the knife very lightly, without making a sound, only occasionally making a faint rustling sound.

"Someone's coming," he said.

Less than five breaths after he finished speaking, someone knocked on the gate of the side courtyard from the outside. The knocking was neither too fast nor too slow, three times, then a pause, then three more times.

Xi Yueli sat up straight and adjusted her cloak: "Come in."

The person who pushed open the door was the Left Prime Minister. He had changed into a dark brown casual outfit, which made him look less official than the purple robe he wore during the day. However, the white jade pendant with the wolf head at his waist was still there. His hands were behind his back, and he was holding an unsealed letter between his knuckles.

He was alone, without any guards behind him. After entering the room, he first bowed to Xi Yueli, his bows deeper than the ones he had made outside the palace during the day. His back was bent down by about three-tenths of an inch, and his gaze was solemn when he stood up.

"Young lady, I am disturbing you so late at night, but I have something to ask you."

Xi Yueli nodded. "Please speak, Prime Minister."

The Left Prime Minister's gaze shifted from her face, over her shoulder, and landed on Helian Jing behind her.

Helian Jing was still sharpening his knife, the whetstone turning half a circle between his fingers, the blade reflecting a thin, cold light from the lamplight.

"This guard," the Left Prime Minister began, "I felt he looked familiar during the day. I just went back and looked through some old files, and compared him with a few other people..."

He took out an extremely thin scroll from his sleeve, unfolded it, and on the paper was a portrait in profile. The candlelight illuminated the portrait, revealing high brow bones, slightly upturned eyes, and a sharp, angular jawline, almost identical to the profile of Helian Jing as he bent over sharpening his knife.

"Helian Jing, the Prince of Tian Shu Si Chen, is the sharpest knife hidden in the shadows of the Great Ying imperial family." The Left Prime Minister closed the dossier, not handing it over, but simply placing it on the table, his fingertips pressing against the corner.

"Young lady, you brought the Lord of Tian Shu into the Northern Shuo Royal Court. I need an explanation."

Xi Yueli's heart skipped a beat; the thing she had been most worried about during the day had finally come to pass.

She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, a very soft sound came from the wooden stool behind her.

Helian Jing put down the whetstone, stood up and walked to Xi Yueli's side, standing half a step behind her shoulder, looking at the Left Prime Minister at eye level.

"If the Left Prime Minister wants an explanation, then I will give you one," Helian Jing said decisively.

"Four years ago, a heavy snowstorm blocked the mountains on the border of Northern Shuo. I was ambushed and seriously injured, but was rescued by a person. That person's face was covered by a black robe, only her eyes were visible. I searched for that person for four years. The clues found by the Tian Shu Division pointed to Fu Yuan, and I followed her..."

He tilted his head slightly, raising his chin very gently in Xi Yueli's direction, "It's because she has clues left by Fu Yuan on her."

"The Left Prime Minister also saw it today: the back of the map, the crack in the jade plaque, the blue cloth strip—what she held pointed directly to Fu Yuan. This prince is looking for Fu Yuan, and the Northern Shuo Royal Court is also looking for Fu Yuan. Since our goals are the same, why should we be enemies?"

The Left Prime Minister listened without much change in expression, but the fingertips on the dossier loosened slightly by half an inch.

He was silent for a moment, then his gaze fell back on Xi Yueli. He didn't look at Helian Jing; he looked at Xi Yueli.

"Young lady," the Left Prime Minister began, his voice softening slightly, a hint of gentleness he himself might not even realize beneath his solemnity, "I would like to ask you a question—to you, what kind of person is the Imperial Preceptor Fu Yuan?"

This question is harder to answer than "How do you know those things?"

Xi Yueli met the Left Prime Minister's cloudy yet sharp old eyes and sensed the disbelief in his words. The Left Prime Minister was asking, "What makes you think you can do this?"

She paused, her fingertips slightly clenching within her sleeve: "The Left Prime Minister asked me who she was to me, and I couldn't answer. I only knew I had to find her."

The Left Prime Minister looked at her, and a sense of relief appeared in his cloudy old eyes. He pushed the unsealed letter in front of Xi Yueli. The envelope was inscribed with the four characters "To be opened by Fu Yuan" in strong and vigorous handwriting, which was the Left Prime Minister's own handwriting.

"This is a letter I wrote to the Imperial Preceptor." The Left Chancellor's voice suddenly became a few octaves hoarse.

"She left without telling anyone. I want to ask her, after all these years of managing the Northern Shuo Royal Court, she just says she's not going to take responsibility anymore? She should at least give me an explanation."

He looked up at Xi Yueli, his once sharp old eyes now glistening with a thin layer of moisture.

"Since you were able to find Beishuo by following the traces she left behind, I trust you. If you want to find her, I will give you the list of all the Beishuo royal court's secret agents in the northern border. If you want people, the people of the Left Prime Minister's mansion are at your disposal. I only have one request—"

He paused, lowering his voice even further, "If you find her, deliver this letter to her in person for me. She doesn't need to reply; I just want her to know that there are people in Beishuo waiting for her to return."

Xi Yueli reached out and took the letter, carefully folded it and put it in her bosom. She then looked up and gave the Prime Minister a slight smile.

"Rest assured, Prime Minister, the letter will be delivered."

As the Left Prime Minister watched her accept the letter, he suddenly felt a string in his heart loosen.

He had seen the way the girl lowered her eyes, folded the letter, and carefully tucked it into her bosom when she sat under the lamp tonight to receive the letter.

Fu Yuan always did this when he received a secret report: first fold it into three sections, then press down on the corners, and then put it into his bosom.

Only he had noticed this habit in the Northern Shuo Royal Court, because only he had seen Fu Yuan open secret reports under the lamp late at night.

The Left Prime Minister didn't say it aloud, but the last layer of doubt in his heart disappeared in this one action, and he even had a bold guess.

Could she be Fu Yuan, but for some reason they can't recognize each other?