Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Under your attentive care, Li Mu’s injuries have almost completely healed.

You are ready to take him away from here and return to the capital.

He, in a rare moment of compassion, worries that your injured leg might suffer lasting damage from the long journey.

Your leg was injured by your elder brother, about an inch above the ankle. The injury worsened when you rolled down the mountain; the bone likely cracked, and although it wasn’t broken, it couldn’t bear much weight.

Without a knife, you could only use branches that you could break off by hand to splint the injury. It was flimsy to begin with, and you also had to take care of Li Mu, a noble who could not tell vegetables from weeds. You had no chance to rest and recover, and after all these days, it likely wouldn’t heal.

But you didn’t feel bad.

A limp is good. This crippled leg will become a mouth; when you cannot speak, it will remind Li Mu that you saved his life, that you are his most loyal servant.

“Your Highness has been missing for many days. The capital must be in chaos, waiting for Your Highness to return and salvage the situation. How could my leg compare to Your Highness’s great cause?”

Li Mu suddenly laughed and said, “I finally understand why emperors all favor sycophantic officials. Knowing they are false words, yet because they sound pleasant, one cannot bring oneself to blame them.”

You also laughed: “They say honest advice is harsh to the ear, but harsh words are not necessarily honest. Malicious words wound the heart, kind words build good relations. I have always been kind to others.”

You left the great mountain with Li Mu, without looking back.

When you boarded the carriage, Li Mu hypocritically asked, “Leaving your homeland this time, do you feel sorrowful?”

You played along with his sighs and lamentations, but in your heart, you only sneered.

As long as one is not base, one will not cling to places or people that cause one suffering.

But at this moment you must appear gentle and kind. A subordinate who is smart, ruthless, and without weaknesses would keep a superior on edge, both loved and hated.

Having no weakness, in turn, becomes the greatest weakness.

When the fine horses bolted forth, listening to the hoofbeats, your heart surged with excitement.

You do not fear the storms of the capital, not slaughter, not even schemes and intrigues. What you fear most is walking into a life of helping a husband and raising children without any power to resist.

When you were thirteen, you were betrothed to someone-an old bachelor in the village, because he offered the highest bride price.

After that, you were like a living banknote at home. Your father and elder brother finally deigned to show you some pleasant faces.

Indeed, who isn’t happy to see money?

From this, you concluded that what people value most is profit.

But after your elder brother tore up that proverbial banknote, your parents didn’t mourn the lost silver; they only feared your death would drag him down, and without hesitation, they disposed of you.

Looking at it this way, the human heart is even more unfathomable.

When you were a daughter, money was more important than blood ties.

When you were a son, blood ties were worth more than any gold.

But when that son is a prince, a different set of rules applies: if he threatens the dragon throne beneath him, even a son can be killed.

After learning this lesson, you repeatedly weighed profit against sentiment, and finally reached a conclusion: In this world, there is no true heart that cannot be swayed; there is only insufficient temptation.

You thought, Heaven did not grant you a noble birth, a beautiful appearance, or self-sacrificing virtue, only a clever mind.

When opportunities are poor, this is a curse; when struggling for three meals a day, dullness is easier to live with.

When opportunities are good, it is a blessing. For example, now, after turning things around overnight, achieving top honors in the exams, standing in the great hall, you are the sole blemish under the upright and honorable Crown Prince.

And also, the most useful vicious hound under his command.