A drenched Feng Zhi Wei speedily took Gu Zhi Xiao back to her bedroom and was about to go around a flower wall to go back to her own room to change clothes when someone suddenly said with a smile on top of the flower wall “Official Wei, long time no see.”

Feng Zhi Wei looked up and took a sharp intake of breath. After looking left and right, she muttered, “The guards are getting more and more careless…” 

The person on the wall sat comfortably as his robe fluttered leisurely in the wind and flashed an equally leisurely smile at her, “Strange, I am sitting on the wall of my own house so why should the guards have any problem with it?”

“The wall of your own house?” Feng Zhi Wei turned around and laughed, “I remember the plaque hanging on the gate of my house is still my name and has not been replaced with Prince Chu’s manor plaque.” 

“Official Wei has been busy.” The man on the wall leaned down amiably and put his mesmerizing face close to hers, smiling like a spring gentle breeze, “So perhaps you have not had the opportunity to ask whose manor this was before it became yours.” 

“Whose?” Feng Zhi Wei kept her arms crossed, on high alert.

“This used to be general Han Xin’s property in the Capital.” With his eyebrow raised, Ning Yi examined her messy state with half satisfaction and half dissatisfaction, “Han Xin got embroiled in Fifth Prince’s mutiny and was exiled. Before Han Xin, it belonged to Chang Kai, who worked for the engineering department. Chang Kai was a distant relative of the Chang family, and ended up losing his life after the Chang family was wiped out by the emperor’s decree. This manor supposedly had great feng shui, but after losing both of its previous owners, people in the capital started to avoid it so the deed went back to Internal Ministry. A while ago I passed by it and thought the place was still quite good and figured that those things only happened because the owners weren’t good enough for it. So I told the Internal Ministry (over housekeeping and such) that I wanted the house and bought it. I had just bought it when your house burned down. His Majesty asked the Internal Ministry to find you a new place and after looking all around, this place was the only one that was the best fit for you which is how they ended up coming to me about it. If it was for anyone else, I would for sure not have agreed but since it was you who needed it, then I naturally couldn’t be stingy, don’t you think so?

Looking at a certain someone’s bright smiling face, Feng Zhi Wei instinctively felt that this was probably not a coincidence. She smiled through gritted teeth and said, “Are you not afraid that His Majesty would say you are colluding with the ministers?” 

“Tenth (Prince) is over the Internal Ministry right now.” Ning Yi brushed his sleeves absentmindedly, “His Majesty doesn’t know that the deed of this house is still in my possession.” 

Feng Zhi Wei stared at him suspiciously, still feeling that something was off. Although her manor has not yet hired all the guards it needed yet, but Zong Chen had placed many secret guards around. How did he get in through all those checkpoints? 

Her eyes shifted to the wall of flowers, searching all around. On top of the wall, Ning Yi was already smiling slightly as he said, “Indeed, my Zhi Wei is smart.”

He floated down and whispered in her ear, “I have an advisor who is skilled in terrains and traps. He had been here before and told me that this house is very interesting. He said that there is another manor underneath, that extends in all directions, like a maze…the furthest it leads, want to guess where it leads?” 

Feng Zhi Wei said after a few moments of silence, “I only know, there must be one route that leads to Prince Chu’s manor.”

Ning Yi smiled, and suddenly raised a hand, and pulled. 

A long white cloth appeared in his hand. 

Feng Zhi Wei who had been hugging her chest all this time, suddenly felt an emptiness on her chest. She looked to see that her chest wrapping cloth had been snatched away by that jerk Ning Yi, who was even now shamelessly wrapping the wet cloth around his hand slowly. 

The good-tempered Feng Zhi Wei finally lost it. 

Everyone treats a tigress who doesn’t show her claw like a sickly cat! Poke when you want, snatch when you want! 

She opened her mouth to send a signal to Zong Chen and his men to attack but suddenly a warmth covered her mouth. Ning Yi had covered her mouth with his palm and laughed as he whispered in her ear, “Don’t call them, I came to you with serious business tonight.” 

Feng Zhi Wei was unmoved, but Ning Yi said with a grin, “Second brother has an event tonight…don’t you want to have some fun with him?” 

Feng Zhi Wei’s eyes flashed– the person she most wanted to tear to pieces right now was Second Prince. She hated him so much that she could feel her teeth itching to tear into him. Although ten years is not too late to exact revenge for a gentleman (this is a Chinese saying, meaning it is never too late to get one’s revenge) but she doesn’t mind at all if it turns out to be sooner rather than later. 

“Come with me, you can change your clothes there. I have prepared everything, but there is no need for this chest wrap.” Ning Yi took her hand and pulled her away, “I need a woman tonight. Are you willing to let other women stand by my side?” 

“Your Highness has asked a strange question.” Feng Zhi Wei thought for a moment, but did not try to pull her hand out of his as she said with a smile, “The wind suddenly picked up, and wrinkled a pool of spring water, what does it have to do with me?” (She is quoting a poem that describes when one’s heart is stirred by someone. She is essentially asking why it has anything to do with her if his heart is swayed by some lady.)

Ning Yi walked along the flower wall for a few steps, seemingly counting his steps, and stopped at a certain place. The place faced the corner of the roof edge and under it, there was a well. 

He turned his head and said with a smile, “But this prince’s wind, is only willing to wrinkle Miss Feng’s pool of spring water.” 

Feng Zhi Wei smiled and narrowed her eyes, “Good wind, so crazy!” (This one is a play on words. In Chinese, good wind and so crazy sound exactly the same. She is telling him to dream on.)

Ning Yi looked at her, shook his head with a smile, and raised a hand to press a few times on the flower wall. There was a series of squeaks behind him, followed by the faint sound of water gurgling. The water in the well receded slowly, flowing out from either side of the well wall, revealing a path to the bottom of the well. 

“An ingenious mechanism.” Feng Zhi Wei praised, “I thought it was on the side of the well wall, but it was actually at the bottom of the well.”

“This manor of yours, there are many intriguing things, it remains to be seen how many you can find in the end.” Ning Yi led her to the bottom of the well, raised his hand to flip a mechanism, the door opened, and the two disappeared into the darkness. 

After the mechanism returned to its original state, the well water slowly flowed out from the two walls again, returning to the original water level, sparkling, reflecting the gentle moonlight in the well.

There was a figure shimmering in the reflection. 

The person stood at the mouth of the well, silently watching the turbulent water surface, his large robe covered with silver moonlight. 

Behind him, a gray-cloth figure with his head bowed was also looking at the surface of the well. Seemingly unable to hold back anymore, he said in a low voice, “Grand Commander, why didn’t we stop Prince Chu just now?”

Zong Chen put his hands on the edge of the well, carefully examined the moss on the edge of the well, and said, “This manor is really interesting… why should we have stopped him?” 

“Ah?”

“Don’t underestimate miss.” Zong Chen turned around and said, “She absolutely has the ability to protect herself and absolutely has superb discernment.” 

“But…” The person couldn’t help but argue, “That Ning Yi…”

“Remember our responsibilities.” Zong Chen’s tone was mild but it caused the person to lower his head, “Miss has the freedom to do whatever she wants. We are just assisting and have no right to interfere…as for your worry about Ning Yi, I think it’s okay for now.”

He stared at the reflection of the moon in the well water and said softly, “I will never agree with Madam Feng’s viewpoints. I will also forever respect Dacheng’s founding emperor and empress who truly have seen and experienced the rise and falls of this mortal world. They were in possession of true wisdom, who did not pursue the elusive, nor tried to force their might. You need to remember well, the founding emperor and empress’ three saving pouches were not left behind to be a knife in Miss’ hand but simply there to pave the way for her.” 

He held out his fingers like a scissor, pointed toward the moon, and made a cutting motion before letting out a slight smile. 

“The path of cutting love.” 

If this last part is confusing…it’s meant to be. To summarize, Madam Feng would like our heroine to be enemies with Ning Yi and his whole family since she wanted our heroine to bring back the Empire of Dacheng. To Madam Feng and to some people, the purpose of the Bloody Pagoda was to bring back the Empire of Dacheng with Feng Zhi Wei as their calling card. Zong Chen is reminding his man that Bloody Pagoda’s mission has never had anything to do with the Dacheng Empire. Bloody Pagoda had only one mission- to help Feng Zhi Wei live the life she wants when she finally decides what that is.

The three pouches were left by Dacheng’s founding emperor and empress to help Feng Zhi Wei to be used at certain points. We haven’t been told a lot about them yet. 

As for Zong Chen’s last cryptic words about cutting love…my personal guess he is referring to our heroine’s current path regarding love. 

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