Chapter 4

“My younger sister is off-limits, too!”

He massaged his forehead helplessly. “I have to go out on business tomorrow and need someone by my side. Have your younger sister come. This is her pay.”

I stared at the large bag of silver, lost in thought.

Earlier that day, I’d told him how hard it was to make ends meet in the capital and how my younger sister needed to work to help support the family. Now he was using this excuse to give money to my family.

And I had just betrayed him.

In the middle of the night, I was lying beside Fu Nangui when I suddenly sat up and slapped myself.

I really was despicable!

8

And so I began a life of working as a maid by day and serving as an official by night.

Fu Nangui had brought me along to accompany him again today.

The moment I saw where we were going, I was stunned.

The Wind-and-Moon Pavilion.

It was full of male courtesans.

Fu Nangui took me to a private room on the second floor, ordered a table piled high with melon seeds and snacks for me, then went alone behind a screen.

Before long, a handsome young man in a pink robe walked in. I was stuffing grapes into my mouth as he passed by.

He looked me up and down and raised his chin arrogantly.

“Your Highness, why do the maids you hire keep getting uglier?”

I spat out my tea.

He swayed his hips as he went inside. “Your Highness, it’s been so long since I last saw you!”

Fu Nangui’s voice was indulgent. “Don’t be naughty.”

Come on—what kind of scene was this?

I stared at the screen, eyes wide.

But they were speaking too softly for me to hear anything. I was so anxious I felt as though my heart and lungs were about to crawl out of me.

“The wine His Lordship ordered is here.”

A waiter came in carrying a tray of wine. I was busy imagining what Fu Nangui and the courtesan were doing behind the screen when I suddenly remembered that Fu Nangui didn’t drink. When had he ordered wine?

“Wait!”

Before I could finish, the waiter who had just bent down sprang up, pulled a gleaming dagger from beneath the tray, and thrust it straight toward the screen.

“Assassin!”

I shouted and ducked under the table without thinking. But I stepped on a wine cup on the floor and crashed forward, wrapping my arms around the assassin’s leg.

Me: “…”

The assassin glared at me. “The Regent even has a loyal servant like you!”

Huh? No, wait—let me explain!

The assassin raised his sword toward me. At the last possible moment, Fu Nangui burst through the screen and blocked the blade with his fan.

“Get back!”

He left me with those words and rushed to fight the assassin.

Seeing Fu Nangui’s guards flooding in, the assassin turned his gaze toward me and darted over.

My eyes widened.

Big brother! If you can’t beat Fu Nangui, run! Why kill me?

“If it weren’t for you, I’d have succeeded! If I’m going to die, I’m taking someone with me!”

I scrambled backward with all my strength, but the tip of his sword was already right before my eyes.

I shut my eyes in despair. Yet the pain I’d imagined never came.

When I opened them, Fu Nangui was standing in front of me, the assassin’s sword buried in his shoulder.

The guards, late to arrive, finally captured the assassin.

I watched Fu Nangui’s straight back and let out a breath of relief.

As expected of the Regent. A little wound like this wouldn’t bother him.

The next second, Fu Nangui collapsed against me.

Before he fainted, he murmured in my ear, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here…”

I stood frozen, my thoughts in a tangle.

Fu Nangui was burning hot. I caught him as the guards shouted in confusion.

“His Highness has been poisoned! Call the imperial physicians!”

9

One court physician after another hurried into Fu Nangui’s manor, only to leave with a sigh.

They all said the poison was a rare one from the Western Regions, and only a miracle doctor from there could cure it.

I panicked. “Then can’t we invite that doctor here?”

The physician sighed. “That Western Regions doctor likes to roam the world. No one knows where he is. The prince’s poison is dangerous. It has already spread to his lungs. Unless the miracle doctor appears at the manor right now, there’s little hope of saving him.”

“Ha. The odds of that are even lower than the odds of Lord Pei being a woman!”

Me: “…”

Just then, a graceful figure walked into the manor.

It was Qingyun, the courtesan from the Southern Pleasure House.

He’d changed into another pink outfit, looking even more dazzling.

“Where is His Highness?”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Qingyun glanced at me with interest. “Are you and the maid the prince brought along siblings?”

I didn’t deny it.

“You’re both equally ugly.”

I said, “His Highness isn’t available to see you right now.”

The prince was on the brink of death. How could he be in the mood for a dalliance?

Qingyun arrogantly flicked his sleeve. “Oh? I don’t believe you.”

I was about to tell him to leave when a page hurried in and said Fu Nangui had agreed to see him.

I was stunned.

Come on! At a time like this?

Take care of your health!

I sat beneath the corridor, questioning everything. Before long, the page came back out—this time, he told me to go in.

I flatly refused. “I won’t be part of their little game.”

But… Fu Nangui had taken a sword for me.

Maybe he wanted to say his last words!

I rushed straight into his room. Fu Nangui was leaning against the bed, drinking medicine.

Qingyun tucked a silver needle into his robe.

“One more treatment tonight, and the poison will be gone.”

I was confused all over again.

Fu Nangui saw me and beckoned. “Come here.”

Qingyun asked, “It’s him?”

Fu Nangui replied, “Yes. He’s my colleague at court, Pei Feng, a Supervising Censor.”

He pointed at his head.

“There’s something wrong up here.”

Fu Nangui introduced Qingyun to me. “He’s a physician from the Western Regions.”

Huh?

He was the miracle doctor from the Western Regions?

My eyes widened. “Then, at the Southern Pleasure House…”

“A personal hobby,” Fu Nangui said. Then he paused and gave me a probing look. “How do you know Qingyun was at the Southern Pleasure House?”

I was speechless, then laughed nervously. “My younger sister told me.”

I was done for. I was so done for.

Even in this state, Fu Nangui hadn’t forgotten to have the miracle doctor treat my “madness.” But I’d made it all up! If the doctor took my pulse, wouldn’t everything be exposed?

I immediately made an excuse, saying my stomach hurt so I could get away.

“I can treat stomach pain, too.”

Qingyun gripped my wrist. I couldn’t pull free, so I could only anxiously watch his expression.