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

Helian Jing spoke in a low voice, but the smile in his eyes, which were pressed in his palm, was warm and shimmered slightly in the lamplight.

Xi Yueli's wrist stiffened for a moment in his palm. Her fingertips were still pressed against his cheekbone, and she could feel his jaw move slightly as he spoke, brushing against the thin calluses on her palm. That touch made the tips of her ears start to turn red again.

She tried to pull her hand back, but Helian Jing held her wrist firmly.

Xi Yueli raised her eyes and glared at him, but the strength in that glare had been worn away by her weakness over the past few days. What remained was like a kitten that had just learned to extend its claws, scratching her fingertips without even leaving a red mark.

"Helian Jing!" she called his full name in a fit of rage, "You are the dignified Prince Chen of Daying, the Lord of the Heavenly Pivot Bureau, whom all the civil and military officials of Daying would bow down to. And yet you are someone's male concubine in the Northern Shuo royal court..."

"To be the Imperial Advisor's male favorite." He interrupted her, adding a prefix naturally, as if correcting a document that had been wrongly approved.

"King Chen of Daying has died at the bottom of the cliff in Daying. Doctor Lian was just a traveling doctor from the south. He was tired on the way and was taken in by the Imperial Advisor."

He released her wrist, raised his hand and placed it on the back of her head, gently pulling her forward so that her forehead rested back in the crook of his shoulder.

His voice came down from above her head, with a smile even thinner than before, "Xi Yue Li, when I was in Daying, I thought of many ways to come back."

"I considered appearing directly at the Northern Shuo royal court as Prince Chen, I considered delivering a letter of state in the name of the Tian Shu Division, I considered keeping an eye on Tuoba Lie from the shadows, but each of these options would put you in greater danger. Only this one—"

He glanced down at the top of her head, which was resting on his shoulder. "Only if the Imperial Advisor takes in a doctor of unknown origin can the Empress's people stop targeting you."

She nestled against his shoulder for a while before speaking, "...What if people say you use your looks to seduce men?"

Helian Jing's lips curved slightly, the curve spreading from the corner of his lips to the depths of his eyes. He lowered his head and leaned close to her ear, his lips almost touching her earlobe. "Let them talk. I'll show them—using your beauty to please others isn't something I can't do."

Xi Yueli's ears burned as he spoke. She abruptly lifted her head from his shoulder, her face flushed red under the lamplight.

Helian Jing looked at her face, which was flushed in the lamplight, and the smile on his lips deepened. He moved his hand away from the back of her head and took her hand back in his, their fingers intertwined.

"...Then you'll live in the side courtyard, and you're not allowed to climb through the window at night."

Helian Jing watched as she tried to suppress her blush in the lamplight, and his heart felt like it had been gently squeezed. He lowered his head and chuckled, a very short laugh.

"I don't climb through windows at night," he said. "I use the main entrance."

Xi Yueli pulled her hand out of his palm, then rubbed it under her other hand, as if she were kneading the remaining warmth from her palm into her entire hand.

"Whatever the side courtyard is lacking, have Liu San Niang get it tomorrow morning. Also... the winter nights in Bei Shuo are cold, and your stove isn't burning bright enough. I'll have someone replace it with a bigger one."

Helian Jing sat on the edge of the couch, looking at her lowered eyes and reddened ear tips in the lamplight. "Alright, I'll do as the Grand Preceptor says."

The following afternoon, King Tuoba Zhao personally visited the Imperial Preceptor's bedroom.

She did not ride in a palanquin, but only brought two eunuchs who came around from the side corridor. When she entered the courtyard, she first asked the Left Chancellor to leave, and then she pushed open the door and walked in herself.

Today she wore a plain-colored casual dress, with only a white jade hairpin in her hair ornament. She looked less regal than usual, but more youthful than one would expect at her age.

She walked to the bed and sat down on the low stool. She looked Xi Yueli up and down, then reached out to check Xi Yueli's wrist pulse, her fingertips touching it very lightly.

"Yue Li," she said, her voice slightly thinner than usual, "you scared me to death."

Xi Yueli looked at her, a slight smile curving her lips: "Your Majesty, I am much better now."

Tuoba Zhao withdrew his hand, remained silent for a moment, then suddenly changed direction and spoke, his voice slightly deeper than before: "While you were ill these past few days, Tuoba Lie made a move."

Xi Yueli remained in the same position leaning against the back of the couch, but her eyes narrowed slightly, and the clarity that had just returned was rapidly gathering.

"Liu Zhang, the chief clerk of the Ministry of War, submitted a memorial regarding the change of garrison, with a side note saying that the king's reply was slow and that military affairs might be delayed—his words circulated in the court for two days, and a few opportunists rejoined the movement."

"Sun Jing, the Inspector of the Ministry of Justice, altered the filing date of the case file, delaying the disbursement of a sum of money by two days. Zhou Ping, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, suppressed three accounts for the reimbursement of winter grain, and the final destination of each account pointed to a private treasury in Xijun."

Tuoba Zhao listed out the events of the past few days one by one, tapping her fingers lightly on her knee after each item. "The Left Prime Minister has already secured three locations, and your men should have delivered the message as well. But what I want to say is—Tuoba Lie hasn't stopped; he's just changing his approach."

Xi Yueli nodded. She had already read those things in the secret report that Liu Sanniang had handed her, but when the king said them now, she noticed the rhythm and tone of his words as he listed the items, which carried the certainty that he was finally beginning to figure out his own strategy.

"He still has two paths left to take," Xi Yueli said, her voice still hoarse, but very calm and clear.

"The private treasury in Xijun is one, but there is another hidden one—his staff in his household have a direct line of communication with the south. That line is not recorded in any government records. Fu Yuan investigated it back then, but it was cut off before he could even get halfway there."

Tuoba Zhao listened, her fingers pausing on her knees. She looked at Xi Yueli, "So someone in the court has to block all the entrances for him to rebuild bridges."

"The Left Chancellor submitted a memorial today." Tuoba Zhao took out a scroll of documents from his sleeve.

The document recommended Shen Qingya, the eldest son of the Left Prime Minister, to serve as a "Military Attendant" in the palace, in charge of the patrol and dispatch of the royal court's inner guards. He was a fifth-rank official and directly under the command of the King.

Xi Yueli looked at the few lines of text, then raised her eyes to look at Tuoba Zhao, "The Left Prime Minister's recommendation?"

"It was I who ordered him to write it." Tuoba Zhao put the folded paper away, folded it neatly, and put it back into his sleeve.

"The attendant military officer is in charge of the inner guard patrol and dispatch. The entire royal court's guard duty schedule is in his hands. If Tuoba Lie wants to send more people into the royal court, every gate, every shift, and every night patrol route will first pass through Shen Qingya's hands."

Xi Yueli looked at her. The king's gaze was still fixed on the window when he spoke, but the hand resting on her knee was unconsciously twirling a thread from her sleeve, wrapping it once and then unwrapping it, unwrapping it and then wrapping it again.

"Your Majesty," Xi Yueli said tentatively, "After he entered the palace, Your Majesty saw him every day after court."

When Tuoba Zhao took the teacup, it shook slightly for no apparent reason. She picked it up, took a sip, and then put on her usual imperial expression again.

"Yueli," she said, turning her head to look at Xi Yueli as she stood up, "I heard from the Left Prime Minister that your Doctor Lian is quite skilled. Let him stay a little longer so he can fully recover before we talk about anything else."