Due to her past life in the modern world, Yun Shu had always held soldiers in the highest regard.
These heroes bled and sweated on the battlefield to protect their homeland. That much was expected. But to suffer through bitter cold with tears frozen on their cheeks, simply because they didn't have enough warm clothing?
That was outrageous.
In the past, there had been little that could be done. One couldn't weave cloth from thin air.
But now that cotton seeds had a known source…
She had to figure out a way to get more of them before spring planting began.
Yun Shu leaned on one hand, deep in thought about how to extract more seeds from the gullible Bei Xiang delegation.
Meanwhile, in the Bei Xiang diplomatic residence, their Eldest Prince—still unconscious—suddenly sneezed loudly in his sleep.
"Achoo!"
"Your Highness!"
The son of Prince Lian rushed over, thinking the Eldest Prince had finally awoken, only to find that his eyes remained tightly shut. There was no sign of consciousness at all.
Agitated, the prince's heir began pacing in frustration. Then, unable to restrain himself any longer, he grabbed the attending physician by the collar for what was likely the sixth time that day.
"Did you not say he'd wake up today?
It's nearly dark. When exactly will His Highness regain consciousness?"
"My lord, the Eldest Prince was afflicted with two overlapping poisons. The stronger of the two alone takes at least a full day to clear from the body," the doctor explained with practiced patience. "It is not unusual for his sleep to extend into tomorrow. Please, do not be alarmed. He will surely wake by then."
"First you said today, now you say tomorrow?"
The prince's heir was outraged. He had barely finished his question before the physician shifted his stance again.
"You quack!"
The physician: "…"
With Prince Lian's son—an impulsive, loud-mouthed man who knew nothing but acted like he knew everything—making a commotion day and night, the Bei Xiang residence had been in constant turmoil for two straight days.
Finally, by midmorning on the third day, the Eldest Prince began to stir.
Seeing him open his eyes at last, the prince's heir all but collapsed in relief. He rushed forward, half-crying and half-laughing as he tried to take credit for the ordeal.
"Your Highness, you're awake at last! You have no idea… When Emperor Xuanwu found out that you and the Empress conspired to drug Princess Sheng An, he was so furious his hair practically stood on end!
He expelled the Empress from the palace on the spot! We were this close to being executed on the spot!
If not for my quick thinking, I don't know if we'd have made it out alive!"
"What are you saying?" The Eldest Prince's expression darkened. "Emperor Xuanwu knows I tried to drug Yun Shu?"
He had only just regained consciousness. His memories ended at the banquet, right at the moment he had toasted Emperor Xuanwu. Everything after that was a blur.
Now, with this idiot loudly bawling and sputtering in his ear, he felt an enormous headache coming on.
"Stop crying and explain clearly. What happened?"
"On that night…"
Startled by the sharp tone, the prince's heir quickly stopped his theatrics and got to the point.
His overly dramatic flair vanished, and in a much more subdued tone, he laid out the full story from start to finish.
When the Eldest Prince learned that the drug he had intended for Yun Shu had been slipped back to him by her, and that she had known about the poisonous mushrooms yet said nothing to warn him—
His hand clenched tightly around the edge of the bedding, veins bulging with fury.
And then came the real insult: hearing how Emperor Xuanwu had declared to the court,
"Our Xiao Wu is innocent and kindhearted. Never before has she encountered such cruel malice."
The Eldest Prince laughed in disbelief. His anger had reached its peak and broken straight through.
"Innocent and kindhearted? So you're telling me that a pure-hearted princess not only saw through the scheme, but managed to turn it back on me without batting an eye?"
"This…"
The prince's heir had no response.
Truth be told, during that confrontation with Emperor Xuanwu, the emperor's presence had been too overwhelming. From the first moment, he hadn't been able to think clearly.
Even if he had noticed this contradiction, what could he have done?
They were the ones at fault. Emperor Xuanwu only needed a pretext to deal with them. Whatever he chose to say, they had no room to argue.
"You!"
The Eldest Prince's face twisted in disgust at the sheer uselessness of this man.
But then again, this wasn't new. The fool had brawn for days and barely a spark of wit.
Yelling at him would accomplish nothing.
The Eldest Prince forced himself to calm down and asked, "Then what of the gift you delivered to Yun Shu yesterday? Did she give any response?"
"I've been here with you since yesterday, Your Highness. I haven't had the chance to ask," the prince's heir replied, flustered.
"But I did assign someone to keep watch."
Sensing the Eldest Prince's expression darken further, he quickly turned away and called for the attendant he had stationed at the palace gates.
"I told you to keep an eye on Princess Sheng An's movements. Report any news immediately.
So? What have you found?"
"News did come," the attendant said hesitantly, lowering his head and stepping forward. "But not from the palace."
"Not from the palace?"
The prince's heir looked bewildered. "The princess lives in the palace. If not from there, where else would news come from?"
"From this." The man held out a folded paper booklet—larger than a typical book, but unmistakable in appearance.
"This week's edition of the Capital Weekly," he said with a wince. "There's an article about the Eldest Prince."
"An article about me?"
The Eldest Prince's eyes narrowed instantly.
He remembered all too well the mocking headline from last time—The World Falls Silent to Hear the Screams of Prince Lian's Son.
Had they already exhausted that fool's embarrassment, and now turned their ridicule on him?
Face darkening, he snatched the Capital Weekly from the attendant's hands and opened it.
The first page was dominated by bold, attention-grabbing headlines:
Three Days Left: Tian Waitian's Grand Opening Countdown!
Five Hundred Wen for a Hundred Dishes!
Even the Emperor Says the Food Is Excellent!
Imperial-Style Cuisine – Dare You Not Try It?
Opening Day Raffle – Win a Free Meal for Just One Wen!
"Five hundred wen? One hundred dishes?"
Seeing the Eldest Prince pause on that page, Prince Lian's son leaned in to scoff.
"Princess Sheng An must truly be out of touch with the common world. At those prices, her restaurant will be lucky to survive three days."
The Eldest Prince said nothing. His expression remained cold as he flipped to the final pages.
There, near the back, he found it—the article about himself.
Shocking! The Eldest Prince of Bei Xiang Mistakes Prince Lian's Son for a Giant Frog and Publicly Beats Him at the Palace Banquet!
The Eldest Prince: "!!!"