Ning Chen waited a while at the gate of the Fallen Phoenix Court.

The little palace maid who had gone in to announce him came back out. “Young Master Ning, please follow this servant.”

“My thanks.”

Ning Chen followed the little palace maid into the Fallen Phoenix Court.

The Ninth Princess sat at the stone table in red, sweet and lovely to look at.

In her hair was the gold hairpin he had given her.

The Fifth Prince ate his cakes and gave him a simple, honest smile.

“This humble commoner Ning Chen greets the Fifth Prince and the Ninth Princess.”

Ning Chen bowed as he said it.

“No need for ceremony.” The Ninth Princess’s eyes were shining, full of delight as she looked at Ning Chen. “When did you get back?”

“I only arrived today.”

The Ninth Princess’s heart leaped. He had come to see her the moment he was back.

“Ning Chen, come and sit.” The Ninth Princess pointed at the stone stool beside her, then told Heye, “Bring Ning Chen tea.”

Ning Chen went over and sat down, and smiled at the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince reluctantly picked up a cake and held it out to Ning Chen.

“My thanks, Fifth Prince.”

Ning Chen took it and tossed it into his mouth… he had not eaten his fill at the Xuan Emperor’s table.

Then he took the Ninth Princess’s fine hand gently where it lay at the edge of the table. “Did you miss me?”

The Ninth Princess’s small face went scarlet through and through. “You — you are too bold… Let go at once.”

Ning Chen gave a slight smile. “You are going to marry me sooner or later anyway. I had thought we would do it first and love afterward. Now it turns out we can love first and do it afterward.”

He was not holding her tightly. The Ninth Princess could have pulled her hand back without any trouble.

But the Ninth Princess did not, which meant she was very pleased inwardly.

“Ning Chen, this is the palace, and there are people watching. You must not be so forward.”

The Ninth Princess’s small face was flushed pink. She held her shyness down and made herself look reserved and severe.

Ning Chen said with a smile, “So when nobody is around, this humble commoner may be forward?”

Ning Chen let go of the Ninth Princess’s hand and grinned wickedly. “This humble commoner will remember that.”

“No — that is not what I meant.”

The Ninth Princess was shy and vexed together.

Ning Chen took a paper packet out of his robe, and said as he opened it, “This humble commoner has been wandering the four quarters, and passing through Quanzhou he found a very beautiful flower called the red kite.”

“The red kite grows on high mountains and sheer ridges, and not only is the flower itself lovely beyond compare, the stem and the leaves are as red as fire too… Can the princess guess what the first thing was that came into this humble commoner’s mind when he saw the red kite?”

The Ninth Princess shook her head. “I don’t know. What did you think of?”

“The first thing that came into this humble commoner’s mind was the Ninth Princess… This red kite is very much like the beautiful and moving Ninth Princess.”

The Ninth Princess was shy and happy together.

Ning Chen opened the paper packet and set it down in front of the Ninth Princess.

“Your subject gathered some seeds of the red kite at the time, and composed a poem too, thinking that one day when he came back to the capital he would give the princess both together.”

The Ninth Princess’s eyes were full of expectation. “What poem?”

Ning Chen looked at the Ninth Princess’s flushed little face and said with a smile,

北方有佳人，絕世而獨立。 一顧傾人城，再顧傾人國。

In the north there is a beautiful woman, peerless, and standing alone. One glance from her and a city falls; a second, and a kingdom.

The Ninth Princess’s eyes shone, and she gave up her reserve altogether. She laughed aloud in delight.

She stood up, put both hands on her hips, and recited the poem over and over to herself.

The more she said it the more she felt the poem had been cut to her measure, and she lifted her sharp little chin like a proud little hen.

“Does the princess like it?”

The Ninth Princess laughed happily. “I do. Ning Chen, thank you.”

“Wait a moment. I have a present for you too.”

The Ninth Princess turned and ran off with a light, quick step, her skirts flying.

Ning Chen was surprised into a smile.

Teasing an innocent little thing like the Ninth Princess with poetry — one line and she’s yours, and getting her wet is no trouble at all.

Ning Chen put out a hand and snatched a cake from the plate in front of the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince was all reluctance. He looked ready to cry over it, and hurried the plate into the shelter of his arms.

Ning Chen’s forehead filled with black lines.

“Fifth Prince, don’t be so stingy… Next time I’ll buy you melon seeds.”

Only then was the Fifth Prince happy again, a simple grin all over his face.

A pity the Fifth Prince is a simpleton, Ning Chen thought. The way things stand now, the seat of heir apparent ought to be the Fifth Prince’s.

After a while the Ninth Princess came running back with a jar of wine held in both hands.

“I kept it just for you.”

Ning Chen took the wine jar, and the corner of his mouth twitched hard.

Immortal Dew. Twenty years in the cellar.

“This… perhaps the princess does not know that the owner of the Immortal Dew wineshop and I are friends.”

The Ninth Princess said, “I know that. But this is the twenty-year cellar. They only put out fifty jars every other day, and they are snatched up the moment they go on sale. The demand outran the supply, and having money does not mean you can get one.”

Ning Chen smiled bitterly, inwardly.

The Ninth Princess stared at him with her fine big eyes. “You don’t like it?”

“Er… I do. Thank you, Princess.”

Ning Chen sat and talked with the Ninth Princess a while, then rose and took his leave.

He carried the jar of wine out of the palace.

He had not expected the present the Ninth Princess had ready for him to be his own wine.

Still, his poem was freeloaded and the seeds had been picked up offhand at the Ghost-Shadow Sect, so he had not come off badly.

By now it was late in the day.

Ning Chen rode his beloved Diaochan, and did not go straight back to the Ning residence but made directly for the Carefree Escort House.

At the Carefree Escort House he circled once, made certain there was no tail on him, and only then went in by the back door.

When he saw Silence, Ning Chen tossed him the wine. “For you.”

“My thanks, Young Master Ning.”

Once he had taken a seat, Ning Chen came straight to the point. “How has the business I gave you gone?”

Silence nodded.

Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed. “Who is the man behind Fan Taihe?”

Silence said, “Your Great Xuan’s Right Chancellor.”

Ning Chen was greatly startled. “You are certain?”

Silence said, “Certain.”

Ning Chen said nothing for a long while. He was genuinely shaken.

He had guessed the man behind Fan Taihe might be one of the princes or a prince of the blood. He had never expected it to be the Right Chancellor.

The Right Chancellor leaned toward the military men, and had no quarrel or grudge against him. Why should he work to have him demoted?

The only explanation was that there was somebody behind the Right Chancellor too.

He looked at Silence. “The Right Chancellor is not the real big boss, is he?”

“The real big what?”

Ning Chen said, “I mean there ought to be somebody behind the Right Chancellor.”

Silence nodded.

“Who?”

Silence said, “I don’t know.”

Ning Chen raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

Silence said, “We followed Fan Taihe and found he was in close contact with the Right Chancellor… Then we followed the Right Chancellor, and traced him to the Elegance Garden.”

“What is the Elegance Garden?”

“A residence in the inner city. The Right Chancellor comes and goes at the Elegance Garden often, always in disguise, always by the Elegance Garden’s back door… But we cannot find out who it is he meets there.”

Ning Chen asked, puzzled, “Why not?”

Silence said, “The Elegance Garden looks like an ordinary house, but the guards inside it are all masters, and the defenses are tight. Our people do not dare go near it carelessly.”

“And the man the Right Chancellor meets has never once shown his face, so there is no finding out who he is.”

Ning Chen asked, “Who owns the house?”

“A man called Lu Jiang, but he died some years ago… Lu Jiang’s family left the capital, and only an old steward and some servants were left behind to look after the place.”

Ning Chen frowned. “Is there any thread to follow on Lu Jiang’s family?”

Silence shook his head.

(End of Chapter 400)