Chapter 5: This... Is a Eunuch?
How do you break a losing game?
When you know you’re facing certain defeat, why continue playing?
You might as well flip the board and start anew. This time, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top.
Though a princess’s status is noble, a princess who is nothing more than an unfavored pawn is far too weak.
However, groveling and showing your enemy weakness simply because you are weak is a cardinal sin in this game. Not only will you never get the chance to lie low and gather strength, you will also be bullied to death.
Once you get used to being bullied, even a final, desperate counterattack won’t leave a single scratch on your opponent.
The fate of this body’s original owner is the best example of this.
The weaker you are, the crazier you must become. You have to show others your resolve to risk it all, to burn your boats. Only by making them fear you can you carve out a space for survival.
And so, Xiao Li’s current gambit was proving quite effective.
To others, this might have seemed like a Pyrrhic victory—injuring the enemy by a thousand at the cost of eight hundred to herself. But Xiao Li wasn’t the body’s original owner; she couldn’t care less about some pristine reputation. The damage to her was negligible. As for Lu Yanzhi, however, he could kiss any hope of an easy life goodbye.
Sure enough, Lu Yanzhi, who already had a head injury, passed out cold from the intense provocation.
An Imperial Physician was hurriedly summoned. Between applying acupuncture needles and administering medicine, he finally managed to revive the man.
The Empress Dowager seized the opportunity to have the physician check if Lu Yanzhi was... physically deficient. As it happened, that Imperial Physician had some ties to the Lu family, and after learning the whole story, he decided to do them a favor.
He performed a meticulous examination of Lu Yanzhi’s physical condition and, in the end, declared in no uncertain terms that there was nothing wrong with him.
He knew full well that accusations of impotence could destroy a man, especially a celestial, high-born talent like Lu Yanzhi. The damage from such slander would be immeasurable. He was essentially staking his entire future on his words, all to clear Lu Yanzhi’s name. "If there is even a hint of falsehood in my words, this humble servant will sever his own hands and never practice medicine again."
"So, Lu Yanzhi is perfectly healthy... he just plain doesn’t like my Imperial Sister, huh?" The one who spoke was the young Prince Wei.
He was young and fun-loving, with little capacity for scheming or intrigue. He said whatever came to mind, giving no thought to the implications of his offhand comment.
Upon hearing this, Vice Minister Lu immediately fell to his knees. "Yanzhi is guilty! I beg Your Majesty to be lenient!"
A moment ago, the Princess had struck the Prince Consort; she was the one at fault. Now, however, the blame had shifted to Lu Yanzhi.
To be married for three years without consummating the union, all while giving the Princess the cold shoulder—he could not escape the charges of feigning compliance and showing contempt for Imperial Power.
Though the Lu family was powerful enough to make the Emperor wary, they could not, in the end, defy Imperial Power. This matter was now clearly the Lu family’s fault. If the Emperor chose to press the issue, they wouldn’t dare utter a peep.
The Emperor’s mood at that moment was rather complicated. Chief Minister Lu was his esteemed former tutor and the head of the Assistant Ministers left to him by the late Emperor. Because of this, he always felt a step below the Lu family.
The Lu family had always been aloof and fiercely protective of their reputation, never giving anyone an opportunity to find fault. This was the first time they were at a disadvantage, looking for all the world like they were offering their necks to the executioner’s block.
’Princess Xuanyang has actually done me a favor. I have to seize this chance to take the Lu family’s arrogance down a notch.’
Xiao Li knew nothing of these court politics. In any case, she had already figured out how to escape.
She knew the Empress Dowager was furious and would surely torment her upon her return. Only a fool would wait around to be punished.
So, when the Empress Dowager returned and ordered someone to fetch Princess Xuanyang, all she learned was that the princess had already left, leaving a single message behind.
"The Princess said that, knowing her own guilt, she dared not linger here and trouble the Empress Dowager, so she has returned to her residence to wait."
The Empress Dowager suppressed her fury. "Wait for what?"
The Palace Attendant replied, "To await the Empress Dowager’s sentence."
The Empress Dowager was so enraged, she truly wanted to punish her severely. "Someone..."
"Mother!" The Emperor strode in, unconcealed delight on his face, and dismissed the Palace Attendants with a wave of his hand. "All of you, withdraw."
No one knew what the Emperor and the Empress Dowager discussed. In any case, the Empress Dowager never again brought up the matter of punishing Princess Xuanyang.
Meanwhile, Xiao Li had shaken off the Palace Attendants and was heading for the palace exit, but she didn’t know the way and had no idea where she’d ended up.
The body’s original owner knew how to get out of the palace, but she had never taken these side paths and back alleys.
There were quite a few Palace Attendants on the paths. Upon seeing Xiao Li, they merely bowed from a distance, though some sized her up with furtive glances. Xiao Li knew exactly why—it was surely because of the incident with the Prince Consort.
Gawking at drama is human nature, especially a bombshell like the Prince Consort’s impotence.
Though she was one of the people at the center of the drama, Lu Yanzhi was the one with more to be ashamed of. She wasn’t angry at all; in fact, she wished they would publicize it even more.
"You, come here..."
Xiao Li casually pointed to a little eunuch, planning to have him lead her to the palace gates.
He glanced up at her reflexively, and in the next instant, his pupils constricted. Looking as if he’d just seen a ghost, he scrambled backward in terror and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Li heard a heavy thud behind her. She turned around slowly, only to see a man covered in blood lying on the ground not far away. His body twitched after he fell, and he reached a trembling hand toward her, his eyes pleading for help.
"Over here!"
Two men dressed as eunuchs came running over, looking fierce and menacing. The moment they saw Xiao Li, however, they stopped short, exchanged a look, and knelt in unison. "Greetings, Princess."
A tall figure followed them around the corner. The dark, purplish-black jacquard robes of a Chief Eunuch enveloped his tall, slender frame, cinched neatly at the waist with a belt.
What was most eye-catching, however, was his long, slender, deathly pale hand. The fine-boned hand held a horsewhip covered in barbs, which was currently dripping blood—the man on the ground’s, no doubt.
"You may rise..."
Xiao Li was just about to excuse the two little eunuchs from their salutes when she was so stunned by the newcomer that she forgot what she was saying.
’This... is a eunuch?’
The man was tall and slender, exuding an intimidatingly cold aura that made him seem difficult to approach.
But what truly surprised Xiao Li was his appearance. He had an exceptionally handsome face with delicate features, thick brows, phoenix eyes, and a high-bridged nose. His eyes, however, were somber, and his skin possessed an unnatural pallor, making him appear exceedingly androgynous.
Yet this androgyny did not seem effeminate; he was no sissy. Instead, he exuded an ineffable sense of cold, powerful danger.
He was clearly no ordinary man, but his clothes were unmistakably those of a eunuch!
"Greetings, Princess."
His gaze, devoid of any warmth, landed on Xiao Li. He saluted her, his expression placid—respectful, but not the least bit servile.
"Is the Princess lost? This servant shall have someone show you the way."
After speaking, he immediately assigned a eunuch to come before Xiao Li.
Xiao Li glanced at the blood-soaked man on the ground, who was on his last breath, then back at the eunuch who seemed like a pillar of ice. Her brow twitched slightly, but she said nothing and turned to leave.
Once Xiao Li was a good distance away, the other eunuch looked nervously at his superior.
"Your Excellency, the Princess saw..."
The eunuch in purple lifted his foot. With a sickening CRACK, the man on the ground’s neck twisted, and he breathed his last.
"It is of no consequence." ’She’s just a princess who can barely protect herself.’