The two of them stood frozen in place like that. Tao Chuyi was completely oblivious, but countless possibilities flashed through Nangong Yunshang’s mind in an instant.
“You’re a girl?”
Nangong Yunshang was utterly shocked. Had the young master of the Tao Mansion somehow become a young lady right here in her presence?
The person in question belatedly shrank back into the water, curling up into a pitiful ball.
“Don’t let the Old Monster catch me. I’ll be good.”
Nangong Yunshang approached the pool step by step. Along the way, she pieced together the causes and effects. No wonder Tao Siqing had opposed the marriage so vehemently at the start.
She sat down at the edge of the pool and lifted her hand to gently stroke Tao Chuyi’s cheek, her touch soft and tender. The little fool looked especially endearing now that she had reverted to her girl form, exuding an innocent charm.
“Good girl, tell me—why were you disguising yourself as a boy?”
Her voice was exceedingly gentle, half coaxing and half prying the truth out of her.
Tao Chuyi unconsciously nuzzled into her palm. “Daddy said that if anyone finds out I’m a girl, the Old Monster will come and grab me.”
She gazed up at Nangong Yunshang. The Fairy Sister was so gentle, but she still felt a little scared.
Almost overnight, a secret order went out from the Third Princess Mansion, prompting Tao Siqing to rush over in a panic. Yinghong led him to the study, where he entered to find Xichan kneeling on the floor.
“This subject greets Your Highness the Princess.”
After bowing, Tao Siqing lifted his eyes to take in the scene in the study.
Tao Chuyi lay heartlessly dozing on the daybed, while Nangong Yunshang sat solemnly behind the desk, her gaze icy cold.
“Tao Siqing, don’t you have something to say to This Princess?”
Nangong Yunshang glanced at the sleeping figure. “About how This Princess’s Prince Consort is actually a girl.”
At those words, Tao Siqing swept back his robes and dropped to his knees.
“This subject is guilty! Please, Your Highness the Princess, grant this subject a chance to explain.”
Deceiving the sovereign was a crime grave enough to wipe out an entire family. Could mere words undo such a severe offense?
Yet Nangong Yunshang harbored no murderous intent just then, so she afforded him a bit more patience.
“Speak, Tao Siqing. Let This Princess hear it.”
Tao Siqing hurriedly agreed and began to recount the tale. The story dated back eighteen years, to a time when he and his wife, Lady Tao, shared a loving marriage. She had become pregnant, filling him with uncontainable joy.
But on the day of the birth, Lady Tao suffered a difficult labor and tragically passed away, leaving behind a tiny infant who was barely clinging to life. The physician poured every ounce of his strength into saving the child. It was the first day of the first month, so they named her Tao Chuyi.
Tao Chuyi was not only simple-minded but also frail of body. The physician said she wouldn’t survive past her eighteenth year. Unwilling to lose another child, Tao Siqing sought a cure in desperation and consulted a Daoist priest. The priest claimed that Tao Chuyi’s fate clashed with that of the Capital City until she turned eighteen and that she needed to recuperate elsewhere. And so, Tao Siqing sent the newborn to their ancestral home, assigning servants to care for her.
“That Daoist said her fate carried a great calamity and that she needed to be raised in reversal—girl as boy, boy as girl.”
Tao Siqing hung his head with a sigh. “This subject announced to the world that Chuyi was a boy. With official duties keeping this subject in the Capital City, visits home grew rarer and rarer. Managing one trip a year was considered fortunate.”
Later, when Tao Chuyi turned sixteen, Tao Siqing returned to the ancestral home and discovered to his horror that the servants had been abusing his child, leaving wounds all over her body. In a rage, he had them flogged and dismissed every last one.
“My daughter came down with a grave illness that year and nearly lost her life. Fortunately, a traveling physician saved her, though she remained simple-minded. This subject harbors no greed for more—as long as the child is healthy, that’s enough. Even if she stays foolish her whole life, this subject will care for her.”
With that, Tao Siqing lowered his gaze respectfully and awaited his judgment.
Nangong Yunshang studied both him and Xichan. She had questioned them separately, so any inconsistency would have led to immediate arrest. Yet their accounts matched perfectly—either because they spoke the truth or because they had rehearsed their story.
Tao Siqing was renowned for his worldly cunning. His words could neither be fully trusted nor entirely dismissed.
Nangong Yunshang approached the daybed and suddenly placed her slender hand on Tao Chuyi’s neck.
“Princess! You mustn’t!”
Tao Siqing pleaded frantically. “It’s all this subject’s fault. Chuyi had no part in it.”
Nangong Yunshang turned back to him. “If Tao Siqing swears that everything you just said is true, This Princess will believe you. Bear in mind, Tao Chuyi is in the Princess Mansion now. This Princess can do with her as she pleases.”
Cold sweat broke out on Tao Siqing’s brow as he once again realized how differently the Third Princess behaved from the rumors.
“Every word this subject spoke is the truth. Should there be any deception… may I be struck by lightning and meet a gruesome end.”
Nangong Yunshang withdrew her hand at the same moment and thoughtfully tucked the blanket around Tao Chuyi.
“This Princess believes you, Tao Siqing. Thank you for making the trip. From now on, we’re all grasshoppers on the same string—one flourishes, all flourish; one falls, all fall.”
“Thank you, Your Highness the Princess!”
Tao Siqing bowed deeply, though his heart remained heavy. He knew the Dali Temple was now firmly in the Third Princess’s grasp. If anyone moved against her in the future, he could no longer stand idly by.
Once the others had been sent away, Yinghong returned to the study to report.
“Princess, should this servant have someone keep tabs on Tao Siqing?”
Nangong Yunshang, as if no one else were there, toyed idly with Tao Chuyi’s hair.
“What’s the use in watching him? Send a few people to Tao Siqing’s ancestral home instead. Find out exactly what happened there two years ago.”
“This servant will see to it right away.”
The door closed softly behind her. Tao Chuyi was still asleep, her mouth twitching as if dreaming of something delicious.
Nangong Yunshang patted her cheek. “Tao Chuyi, wake up.”
Tao Chuyi woke reluctantly from her slumber, blinking sleepily at Nangong Yunshang and pouting in clear displeasure.
“Take off your clothes.”
“Huh?”
Still groggy from sleep—and having already undressed for her bath earlier—Tao Chuyi didn’t understand why she had to do it again.
Nangong Yunshang issued the cold command once more. “I said, take off your clothes.”
With no other choice if she wanted to get back to sleep, Tao Chuyi complied. She shed her outer layers until only her undergarments remained. Just as she reached to undo more, Nangong Yunshang stopped her and turned her around.
The room was warmed by the underfloor heating, so it wasn’t cold at all, but Tao Chuyi still felt strangely exposed. Did the Fairy Sister have some issue with her back?
Nangong Yunshang’s eyes widened as she stared fixedly at Tao Chuyi’s back.
What had always seemed like smooth, tender skin hid a horrifying truth. The crisscrossing scars were a silent accusation against the past. Nangong Yunshang couldn’t even identify them all—she recognized the whip marks, but there were three or four other kinds, leaving not a single patch of unmarred skin.
Could everything Tao Siqing had said be true? Had Tao Chuyi truly been abused back home, forcing her father to bring her to the Capital City?
Lost in thought, Nangong Yunshang didn’t notice Tao Chuyi turning around and waving a hand in front of her face until it snapped her out of it.
“Tell me, what do you remember? Anything from before you came to the Capital City—two years ago.”
Tao Chuyi immediately pouted in grievance. The Fairy Sister was gripping her arm so tightly that it hurt.
She shook her head. She really didn’t remember.
Nangong Yunshang didn’t let up, gently prodding further. “Did anyone bully you? Were they good to you? Besides your daddy and Xichan, can you recall anyone else?”
As she spoke, disjointed fragments of memory flickered through Tao Chuyi’s mind—bloody images that were anything but pleasant. She recoiled from them on instinct.
Tao Chuyi suddenly clutched her head, the pain overwhelming her. She collapsed onto the daybed, rolling about in agony.
“Tao Chuyi? Tao Chuyi!”
Nangong Yunshang pinned her down to keep her from hurting herself.
Yet in the space of just a couple of phrases, Tao Chuyi burst into heartbroken sobs.
“They beat me… wuwu… hungry…”
From her halting, incoherent words, Nangong Yunshang pieced together the picture.
“You mean someone beat you? And starved you?”
Tao Chuyi’s cries only grew more fierce at that. Nangong Yunshang stroked her head soothingly. “There, there, good girl. Let’s not think about it anymore. No one will ever beat you again, and you won’t go hungry either.”
Tao Chuyi choked back her sobs for a while, sniffling as she blinked up at Nangong Yunshang with wide, tear-filled eyes. “Really?”
“Really.”
Nangong Yunshang sighed inwardly. What was the point in tormenting a simpleton like this? She didn’t even understand.
All at once, Tao Chuyi’s plight reminded her of her own childhood.
Pity welled up in Nangong Yunshang’s heart—much to her own surprise. She had thought herself long past such softness, her heart turned to stone.
“From now on, call me Your Highness the Princess in front of others. In private, just call me Sister. Say ‘Sister’ once, and no matter who you turn out to be, I’ll protect you with my life.”
Tao Chuyi blinked in confusion—she didn’t quite get it—but obediently chirped, “Sister.”
Nangong Yunshang rewarded her with a pat on the head. “Good girl. Say it again.”
“Sister!”
Tao Chuyi rolled over to her side, latched onto her arm, and cooed the word several more times, each one melting Nangong Yunshang’s heart a little more.
“From now on, you mustn’t let anyone besides me and Xichan see your true form as a girl. Got it?”
Nangong Yunshang flicked her nose playfully, putting on a stern face.
Tao Chuyi nodded vigorously. “Got it!”
From that day forward, she rampaged through the Princess Mansion unchecked, with no one daring to intervene. Everyone below knew the Third Princess treated this Prince Consort differently. She might feign disdain on the surface, but in truth, she indulged her completely, never rebuking her no matter what mischief she got into.
Nangong Yunshang spent a while reading in the study. When she looked up, half an hour had passed. She heard Little Eight chattering away and Fifteen barking enthusiastically, but their owner was nowhere to be seen.
“Yinghong, where’s the Prince Consort?”
Yinghong stood at the door, giggling slyly. “The Princess can’t go even a moment without asking after the Prince Consort. He’s out in the front yard playing cuju with Liuzi and the others.”
Nangong Yunshang shot her a glance. She herself wasn’t exactly free from worry that the little troublemaker might stir up some mischief.
Just then, Liuzi came rushing breathlessly into the back yard.
“Princess! The Second Prince is here. He spotted the Prince Consort at the gate and wants to drag him off to bathe at the new Jade Spring Tower!”
At the grand entrance to the Princess Mansion, the Second Prince had grabbed Tao Chuyi and was trying to pull her along, but Tao Chuyi clung to the doorpost for dear life, refusing to budge.
“Hey, come on, Third Sister’s Husband—is it really that serious? It’s just a bath. You’re acting like you’re about to hang yourself.”
Without another word, the Second Prince tugged at her.
Tao Chuyi dug in her heels, determined not to go. “Your Highness the Princess said I should bathe right here in the mansion. I’m going to listen to Your Highness the Princess.”
The Second Prince laughed at her. “A fine, strapping man like you, turned into a henpecked husband. This prince scouted several spots, but none were good enough to visit with this prince—except you, Third Sister’s Husband. Stop struggling.”
Tao Chuyi gripped the pillar with all her might, not budging an inch—like a koala wrapped around a tree trunk.
“Your Highness the Princess, save me!”
