Chapter 30

The Fourth Prince was not in his usual quarters at the Yihe Palace; he was in his study. Because he was a boisterous child who was easily distracted and lacked self-discipline, Consort Zhen had specifically moved his study to the most remote and quiet corner of the palace, even installing numerous rockeries and artificial hills in the courtyard to isolate him and minimize the space available for him to cause trouble. Whenever he did something wrong, Consort Zhen would punish him by making him study there for a full day.

After being scolded by the Emperor at the Imperial Study yesterday, his mother had said nothing upon her return. However, he knew he had been in the wrong—he shouldn't have acted so recklessly on such an important occasion—so, for once, he hadn't lingered in bed and had conscientiously come to the study to read.

Consort Zhen, who had spent the entire night copying scriptures in the Buddha hall, had paused for a long moment as she passed by. By the time the Fourth Prince noticed her, she had already turned and left. He caught only a glimpse of her slender back, draped in a plain silk cloak embroidered with clouds, the fabric glistening faintly with dew. Yet, judging by the fact that his lunch lacked those green, leafy vegetables he despised, it seemed his mother was satisfied with his behavior.

"Good, I must continue to perform well," the Fourth Prince declared, clenching his fists with ambition.

However, experience proved that those who cannot sit still will never succeed, no matter how hard they try. When one has no desire to study, watching ants fight can occupy an entire day, complete with a meticulous count of every soldier and general on both sides.

Of course, he dared to sprawl on the windowsill to count ants so brazenly only because Consort Zhen was not at the Yihe Palace. To slack off more effectively, he had sent all his attendants as far away as possible—far enough that if he were to scream for help now, they would likely only arrive in time to collect his corpse.

Looking around his empty, solitary study, the Fourth Prince was filled with tears, regret, and the chilling realization that his life was at an end. He did not doubt for a moment that Xue Jin'an had the ruthlessness and the ability to strike; this was, after all, the same person who had stabbed the Fifth Prince in public and had gone toe-to-toe with assassins!

Conversely, the Fourth Prince deeply doubted whether he would even have the chance to plead for his life. After all, he had deceived Xue Jin'an previously. Despite promising not to speak of their encounter, he had screamed for the Imperial Guards the moment he escaped, only to be framed in return. He had been so terrified by Xue Jin'an's madness that he had suffered nightmares every night—though, wait, that wasn't from fear; his nightmares were caused by the tainted incense, and the culprit was Cui Yun!

Though the Fourth Prince remained stubborn in his mind, his body was honest, trembling uncontrollably. He did not know how Xue Jin'an had bypassed everyone’s notice to enter the Yihe Palace, nor how he had managed to track him down. His mind went blank as he watched Xue Jin'an land with a light, agile grace.

Xue Jin'an rested a hand on the hilt of the sword that had already tasted the blood of imperial kin, stepping over the rocks in the courtyard and strolling toward him with such leisure that he moved as silently as a cat. The Fourth Prince felt a surge of despair; he realized that even if his attendants Shunxin, Shunyi, and Shunde were present, they would merely be offerings for Xue Jin'an’s blade. How could he have been so foolish in the past? He had actually thought Xue Jin'an was just a cub that would only bite if cornered, when in truth, he was a Yama, a soul-reaping King of Hell. The Fifth Prince had been right all along!

The King of Hell approached with his dragon-slaying sword, and the Fourth Prince retreated in a panic, hugging his trembling frame until his back hit the warm, brick wall. Yet, he felt icy cold. Watching Xue Jin'an climb in through the window, he stood on his tiptoes and pressed himself against the wall, desperate to become a piece of human-shaped masonry.

*My life is over!* As the Fourth Prince waited in terror for the sword of death, he saw Xue Jin'an open his small cloth bag and pull out a strange, handle-like wooden object.

"Fourth Brother," Xue Jin'an asked, "where did you put the knife?"

It took the Fourth Prince a moment to realize he was referring to the kitchen knife.

The man was clearly carrying a weapon; even someone as ignorant of arms as the Fourth Prince could see that the lotus-engraved sword was no ordinary blade. Yet, this person refused to use his lethal, blood-thirsty edge, choosing instead to use that kitchen knife—which he had scavenged from somewhere, full of nicks from long use, with a handle polished smooth by grime—to kill him.

The Fourth Prince was bewildered, then realized something. He was incredulous, then overcome with indignation.

"Why aren't you using that sword? Am I not worthy?!" the Fourth Prince protested.

Xue Jin'an glanced at him and nodded with perfect justification: "Yes."

The Fourth Prince’s breath hitched.

"You have very good self-awareness," Xue Jin'an praised.

The Fourth Prince clutched his stung heart.

"Where is the knife?" Xue Jin'an asked again.

The Fourth Prince wanted to say he had lost it, but under the gaze of those lightless black eyes, he immediately wilted and answered truthfully, "The Imperial Guards took it..."

Besides, who would keep such a thing? The mere sight of it was enough to cause days of nightmares! he screamed in his heart. The Imperial Guards had some sense of propriety. Although they avoided the infighting of the princes like the plague, acting deaf and blind, they still had to do their jobs. If they allowed a clear murder weapon like that kitchen knife to circulate among the princes, it would be a dereliction of duty. Even the Seventh Prince’s decree that the Fourth Prince should keep it didn't matter; they had confiscated it immediately with respectful tones but firm actions, which served as a convenient explanation for the "assassination attempt on the Fourth Prince."

The Fourth Prince had no desire for it anyway; he hadn't bothered to ask what they did with it. Once he recovered from the shock of Xue Jin'an’s madness, he had fled back to the Yihe Palace without looking back. He dared not return to the Prince's Quarters, nor did he attend his lessons. Although he had fallen ill upon his return, the high fever had lasted only two days. Apart from the nightmares, he was eating, running, and jumping just fine.

He insisted on staying with his mother despite the rumors, thinking he would be safe at the Yihe Palace. Who could have guessed that Xue Jin'an would stroll right in? He didn't know whether to curse the eunuchs and maids of the Yihe Palace for being useless or to marvel at how deep the infiltration of the seemingly omnipresent Xue Jin'an went.

However, the Fourth Prince couldn't help but mutter a small protest, "To climb over the wall into a consort’s palace without even announcing yourself... that is completely against the rules..."

"When you come looking for me, you also climb the walls," Xue Jin'an said, having processed his voice. He accessed all the memories of his past interactions with others.

In the original host's memories, his interactions with other princes were always mediated by Consort Zhen. The rare moments without her were during palace banquets where the princes and princesses gathered to play, but even then, they were always accompanied by wet nurses—the children were unruly, and he had been too young to be left unsupervised. By the time he was old enough to socialize independently, Consort Zhen was dead. He lived in the most remote courtyard of the Prince's Quarters, a ghost in the palace. No one invited him to banquets, and the only brother who ever thought to seek him out was the Fourth Prince. Because the Fourth Prince was ostentatious, he always appeared with no fewer than three eunuchs in tow, making a grand spectacle of himself.

Thus, every memory Xue Jin'an had associated with "private social interaction" was actually the face of the Fifth Prince.

"Isn't this how princes meet in private? Fifth Brother always does it this way," Xue Jin'an countered with perfect logic, citing examples to prove his point.

As for avoiding the attendants at the Yihe Palace, he simply felt it would be troublesome if Consort Zhen found out he was there. He only wanted to "repair" the Fourth Prince today; he didn't want to use his skills to engage in passive-aggressive banter with Consort Zhen.

*Xue! Jun! Jue! It really was you! You gloomy, cunning, meddling bastard!* The Fourth Prince clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he mentally added a heavy debt to the Fifth Prince’s account.

The Fifth Prince, who had no entertainment to watch and was confined to the Minghua Palace under the guise of "recovering from his injuries," where he was left to sit in his room like a mushroom, suddenly let out a loud sneeze.

He touched the wound on his side, murmuring thoughtfully, "If one sneezes, someone is speaking of you. Is Seventh Brother badmouthing me behind my back?"

Xue Jin'an, who was not thinking of his dear Fifth Brother, learned the whereabouts of the kitchen knife. He looked at the lotus sword at his waist and, without a second of hesitation, chose the blade he was currently accustomed to and did not want to ruin.

He regretfully put away the handmade drill he had spent time crafting for nothing, flexed his hand to test his maximum strength, and looked at the Fourth Prince with a blank expression. "Then I have no choice but to open your skull by hand."

"I don't have much experience, but my hands are very steady. Don't worry, I won't make a mistake. I will open your skull in one go and reattach it perfectly," Xue Jin'an said, offering his standard, friendly smile.

The Fourth Prince, growing more terrified by the second, watched him approach and shrieked in a pitch an octave higher, "Wait, wait! You said open what? What skull?"

"Are you talking about my head? You want to remove my head? Decapitate me?" He pointed at his own head, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Just lift your cranium," Xue Jin'an corrected. "To repair your brain."

"No! Why do you need to repair my brain? Didn't we agree you were just going to dig out my heart?" The Fourth Prince was so shocked he was incoherent.

Xue Jin'an looked at his head calmly, his tone certain. "Because you need it. If necessary, I will replace it with a better one."

Xue Jin'an did not explain why it was needed, but the Fourth Prince’s intelligence suddenly flickered to life, and he understood the implication quite clearly.

The Fourth Prince was extremely indignant. He forgot his fear, climbed down from the wall, and took two steps toward Xue Jin'an, rolling up his sleeves and placing his hands on his hips to defend his brain. "I just don't like reading those tedious Four Books and Five Classics; it doesn't mean I'm stupid! My mathematics is the best in the Imperial Study. Even the First Prince’s tutor couldn't out-calculate me, and even Father the Emperor has praised me!"

The First Prince's tutor was the youngest son of the Minister of Revenue, Feng Yinshou. He had grown up listening to the sound of his father’s abacus. Although he was only a child scholar, he had already decided to choose the *I Ching* for his imperial examinations and had a considerable reputation for his skill in arithmetic.

In the original novel, Chu Wenjing had stood too clearly on the wrong side of the succession struggle. After the First Prince fell, he could not escape the purge; the Chu family’s titles were stripped. With only Chu Wenjing, the Minister of Justice, holding the family together, they rapidly declined. The Fourth Prince, as his nephew, was inevitably implicated and repeatedly slighted by the Emperor.

The other princes saw that he was neither a threat nor worth courting, so his residence became desolate. Even the Fourth Princess, who loved socializing, stopped going out. It wasn't until the other princes fell one by one that the Fourth Prince returned to the forefront. By then, however, the protagonist—the Eighth Prince—had already gained significant power. The Fourth Prince was merely pushed out as a pawn to balance the court, and no one cared about his feelings, let alone whether he possessed any particular talents.