Ji Mingchen took Ning Chen out to an open piece of ground behind the offices.

Ning Chen had a look around, made sure there was nobody around, then took out a grenade, pulled the safety pin, and yanked the ring. Smoke began to spread.

As a precaution, Ning Chen had designed a safety pin into it.

Ning Chen threw the grenade fast.

It was the first time the thing had been used and there was no telling how stable it was, so getting it out of his hand early was the better plan.

The grenade landed on the ground, hissing smoke.

Ji Mingchen craned his neck, puzzled. That’s it?

In all honesty, he thought a rock would be more use.

Meanwhile Ning Chen had quietly covered his ears.

Boom!!!

The grenade went off.

The sound was a thunderclap, and the powder smoke went up.

It blew a great pit straight into the ground and threw the earth ten-odd meters into the air.

The blast set Ji Mingchen’s ears ringing. He went white, beads of sweat the size of peas stood out on his forehead, and he was struck dumb, and a long time coming back to himself.

Ning Chen wore a dirty grin, looking at Ji Mingchen frozen stiff. “Lord Ji. Are you all right?”

Something moved in Ji Mingchen’s blank eyes, and he swallowed in spite of himself.

His gaze went to the pit not far off, and his whole face was still shaken… If a thing like that landed at a man’s feet, would it not blow him to pieces on the instant?

In fact, with both the grenades and the cannon, Ning Chen had kept something back.

There were no steel balls packed inside the grenades.

No explosive shells had been made for the cannon. They were all solid shot.

Whatever you did, you kept something back. You could not give freely of everything you had, the way he did with women.

Ji Mingchen looked at Ning Chen and felt the cold go down his back.

“My lord marquis, how did you come up with these things?”

Ning Chen smiled. “You wouldn’t understand the world of a genius.”

Ji Mingchen did not think Ning Chen was full of himself. His admiration was real. “My lord marquis, this official is beaten!”

Ning Chen smiled and went over to look… In the end this world’s methods and materials were too far behind, and the grenade killed over a smaller area than he had expected.

The killing radius was only a little over three meters.

Still, packing in steel balls would raise it sharply.

Ji Mingchen looked at the pit in the ground, in awe of Ning Chen and afraid of him at once.

“Lord Ji, let’s go back. I’ll teach the craftsmen how to put them together.”

The two of them went back, and once Ning Chen had taught the craftsmen the method he left.

When Ning Chen went he took five grenades with him, to keep for his own protection.

Out of the Ministry of War, Ning Chen went straight to the palace and came to the Fallen Phoenix Court.

The Ninth Princess was in red as always, like a bright flower on some high and lonely peak, brimming with youth and blazing with life.

A girl truly does change eighteen times as she grows. She was better-looking every day.

Ning Chen used to think that he and the Ninth Princess were evenly matched. Which was to say: she supplied the even.

But now the Ninth Princess’s chest was coming up like a balloon on a pump.

The Ninth Princess was not especially pleased to see Ning Chen, though. He had been back several days and had not come near her.

“Have you business with this princess?”

“Fighting padding fraud is everyone’s duty. I need to inspect.”

Ning Chen suspected the Ninth Princess of padding, and had let the thought out by accident.

The Ninth Princess’s willow brows drew together slightly. “What does that mean?”

“Ah… What I mean is that in the two months and more since I saw her, the Ninth Princess has grown more radiant than ever.”

The Ninth Princess’s face went red. “Take liberties with this princess again and I will have Heye throw you out!”

Ning Chen rolled his eyes.

The Ninth Princess and the woman emperor were cut from the same cloth in this.

Perhaps it came with their rank. They both liked to put on a show of reserve.

The woman emperor was carrying his child and still warned him not to take liberties, in a voice that tried to be fierce with nothing at all behind it.

The Ninth Princess was the same. They were about to be married and a compliment counted as taking liberties.

Yudie was better. Good and obedient and understanding, never going against what he wanted, never making trouble for him.

“That was plainly a compliment. How does it become taking liberties? And anyway, who throws her own husband out?”

The Ninth Princess’s face went scarlet. “You— you… We are not married yet.”

Ning Chen smiled. “A matter of days. In a few more days we’ll be sharing a bed and a pillow, and seeing each other with nothing hidden!”

“You— you…”

The Ninth Princess was red enough to drip blood.

“If you talk nonsense again I really will have Heye throw you out.”

Ning Chen frowned slightly, then went forward in one long stride, caught the Ninth Princess around her slender waist, and pulled her against him.

The Ninth Princess went rigid, like stone and wood.

Ning Chen lowered his head and covered her red lips with his.

The Ninth Princess’s eyes flew wide, her head rang, and for a moment her brain crashed outright.

Heye, standing beside them, was struck dumb, and it was some time before she came to.

Then, a second later, her eyes went wide with horror… because of where Ning Chen’s hand was. He dared… he actually dared put his hand there, on the Ninth Princess?

The Ninth Princess was a complete novice at this. What chance did she have against an old hand like Ning Chen?

Before long the kiss had her lost and dizzy. Her eyes closed without her deciding to, and every part of her went soft. If Ning Chen had not been holding her she would have gone down on the floor long since.

“You— the nerve of you… I’ll tell His Majesty. I’ll have His Majesty punish you.”

Heye had come to herself and screamed it out.

As the princess’s personal maid, she knew the palace rules and ceremonies by heart.

What Ning Chen was doing was rank treason.

He might be the future consort of a princess, but they were not married yet… and even married he could not do this. A princess was a princess, and Ning Chen was only a subject.

Once a thing like that is interrupted, there is no going on with it.

Ning Chen turned his head to Heye, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Do you know there’s a Butcher Zhang out in the outer city?”

Heye had no idea what he meant.

Ning Chen smiled wickedly. “Butcher Zhang is built like a barrel and hideous past describing, and he never washes and never brushes his teeth… And he has a hobby. He likes to eat human flesh. Young women especially.”

“Heye, you’re of an age to marry too… Once the princess and I are married, I’ll marry you off to Butcher Zhang.”

Heye’s face went white by degrees. She stared at Ning Chen in terror, her eyes reddened, and the tears came down in fat drops.

He had frightened her into crying.

Seeing Heye frightened into tears, Ning Chen’s mood improved considerably.

Only now did the Ninth Princess come back to herself. Her face was red enough to drip blood. She shoved Ning Chen away and glared at him, furious.

Ning Chen gave a slight smile. “Not bad, was it, Princess? This is the pleasure between husband and wife. You’ll get used to it by degrees.”

As he spoke he drew a beautifully worked gold hairpin out of his robe.

“I met a fine craftsman while I was in the Wu Kingdom, and had this pin made to order for the princess.”

And he slid the pin gently into the Ninth Princess’s hair.

Ning Chen stepped back a few paces and nodded, satisfied. “The princess is beautiful by nature, and with this pin there is simply nothing to compare her to.”

“Does the princess like it?”

The Ninth Princess snorted. “No.”

Ning Chen smiled. “I’m glad the princess likes it. I’ll be going, then. I’ll come and see the princess another day.”

The Ninth Princess: “…”

Ning Chen took a few steps, then suddenly came back, walked up to the Ninth Princess, and under her blank stare bent his head and gave her red little mouth a quick peck.

By the time the Ninth Princess came back to herself, Ning Chen was long gone.

“Ah— ahh… Wicked man, wicked man. I’m going to my imperial father to complain. I’ll have him give Ning Chen the rod. I’m going, I really am…”

Ning Chen went out the door, took two steps, and then his foot stopped in mid-step. What had he come to see the Ninth Princess about?

Ah, yes. To ask where she had landed on taking Yudie as a concubine.

Ning Chen was about to go back and ask when he heard the Ninth Princess declaring she was going to complain to His Majesty, and he cleared out smartly. Today was not the moment. He would ask another time.

(End of Chapter 369)