Ning Chen inclined his head slightly. Yudie is right. Acting the fool really is easier than acting clever.

But for a man to act the fool for more than ten years is no easy thing. It takes enormous will.

He decided to keep a close watch on the Fifth Prince.

Ning Chen ate a little, drank a bowl of the Nine Yang Decoction for Nourishing the Source, and then bathed and went to bed with Yudie waiting on him.

In the small hours Ning Chen thought of what Yudie’s body could take, and went no further. He had his arms around her and was about to sleep when Uncle Chai’s voice came from outside.

“Fourth Young Master. Are you asleep?”

Ning Chen answered, rose and threw a robe over himself and came out… because Uncle Chai would not disturb him at this hour unless it was important.

Uncle Chai saw Ning Chen come out and said quickly, “Fourth Young Master, come and look at this.”

Puzzled, Ning Chen followed Uncle Chai to one of the guest rooms.

There was a faint smell of medicine in the room.

On the bed inside lay a woman, very beautiful, and white in the face.

Gu Yichun was standing watch beside her.

Ning Chen was at a loss. “Who is she?”

Gu Yichun said quickly, “Somebody left her at our gate.”

“Who left her?”

Gu Yichun shook his head. “Somebody knocked with the ring. When we went out there was nobody to be seen, only this girl, hurt, lying at the gate.”

Astonishment came over Ning Chen’s face. He was the court’s rising man now, and there was no shortage of people sending him presents, but this was the first time anyone had sent him a wounded woman.

Ning Chen asked, “Has her wound been dressed?”

Gu Yichun nodded. “Her wound has been dressed.”

Ning Chen thought for a moment. “Get a physician for her… Set men to watch her. Tell me when she wakes.”

Gu Yichun bowed. “Yes.”

Early the next morning Gu Yichun came to report that the woman had woken.

“Come on. Let’s take a look.”

“Yudie, come with us. It is easier for women to talk to each other.”

Yudie nodded gently.

She had heard from Ning Chen that somebody had sent a wounded woman, and she was curious too.

On the way Gu Yichun said, “The physician says the girl’s wound is an arrow wound. She was lucky. It missed the heart, which is how she kept her life.”

“An arrow wound?” Ning Chen was surprised. “Somebody from the jianghu?”

Gu Yichun shook his head. “She doesn’t look like a fighter.”

Talking as they went, they reached the place.

The woman was awake, but her face was as pale as ever.

At the sight of Ning Chen and the rest, her expression turned plainly to panic.

Ning Chen came to the bedside and looked down at her. “Who are you? What is your name?”

Her eyes were full of fright and she did not make a sound.

Yudie came forward and soothed her quietly. “Don’t be afraid. This is the marquis’s house. You are safe here.”

The woman’s expression turned to astonishment.

Yudie pointed at Ning Chen. “This is Ning Chen, the Idle Marquis of our Great Xuan. He is a good man. You have nothing to fear.”

The woman looked at Ning Chen, and hope came up little by little in her eyes, as if she had caught hold of the last straw there was.

She had never seen Ning Chen, but she had heard Ning Chen’s name.

“Guan Rongrong greets my lord.”

Ning Chen asked, “Who are you?”

“I am from Cangzhou.”

“Why were you at the gate of the marquis’s house?”

Guan Rongrong shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Ning Chen: “???”

“Where did your wound come from?”

Guan Rongrong looked as though she had thought of something terrible, and her face filled with terror.

Yudie said quietly, “Miss Rongrong, don’t be afraid… This is the marquis’s house. Nobody can hurt you here. If a wrong has been done to you, you may say it out boldly and without fear.”

It was a long moment before Guan Rongrong spoke, and she spoke slowly. “I am from Cangzhou. I was taken and carried off, and in the end I was brought to the capital.”

“Not only me. There were many others, shut up in a house, to… to be used for his pleasure.”

“When that man has had enough of us, he kills us, and then a new batch comes.”

Ning Chen’s face darkened at once.

Yudie and the others were filled with anger.

Ning Chen said heavily, “That man you spoke of… who is that man?”

“I don’t know. His people all call him Young Master.”

Ning Chen frowned. “Do you know where that house is?”

Guan Rongrong shook her head gently. “I was put in a box and carried in. All I know is that the house is very large.”

“Then how did you come to be at the gate of the marquis’s house?”

“I don’t know. That man put an arrow in my chest, and after that I knew nothing. When I woke again I was here.”

Ning Chen frowned slightly.

Yudie asked quietly, “Do you still remember what the man looked like?”

Guan Rongrong nodded, and hatred showed in her eyes. “If he were burned to ashes I would still know him… He is very pale and very fat, in his twenties, with thin eyebrows and small eyes. He dresses splendidly, so he must have great power behind him.”

The light shifted in Ning Chen’s eyes. A pale, fat man in his twenties, with thin eyebrows and small eyes.

That picture puts me in mind of somebody… the Fifth Prince.

Ning Chen said, “Gu Yichun. Find me a painter.”

“Ning, dear, let this girl do it.”

“Hm?” Ning Chen’s face filled with surprise. “You can do that too?”

Yudie smiled faintly. “The zither, chess, calligraphy and painting. This girl has dabbled in all of them.”

Ning Chen nodded, smiling.

Yudie had paper and brush brought, and began to paint from Guan Rongrong’s description.

Ning Chen waved a hand to say that everyone should wait outside and not disturb Yudie.

About a quarter of an hour later, Yudie came out.

“Finished?”

Yudie nodded with a faint smile and handed the painting to Ning Chen. “Miss Rongrong has confirmed it. She says this is the man.”

Ning Chen took the painting, opened it, and his eyes shrank hard.

Then he folded it and put it away inside his robe.

“Gu Yichun. Do many people in the house know Miss Rongrong is here?”

Gu Yichun said quickly, “It was the dead of night when Miss Rongrong was brought here. Not many know.”

Ning Chen said heavily, “Tell them to keep their mouths shut, or they will find I have no feelings to spare for them.”

“Nothing about Miss Rongrong being in the house is to get out.”

Gu Yichun bowed his head. “Yes.”

“Uncle Chai, set people to look after Miss Rongrong.”

“The Fourth Young Master may set his mind at rest.”

Ning Chen left the Ning residence.

He did not ride Diaochan. He rode an ordinary horse, and went out by the back gate.

“I greet my lord.”

In a room in the Carefree Escort House, Silence made his bow.

Ning Chen waved a hand. “No ceremony. It was you who took that girl to the marquis’s house, wasn’t it?”

Silence nodded, and then explained, “If the girl were to see my lord and me together, it would be very easy for our connection to come out.”

“So the only thing to do was take her to the marquis’s house first.”

Ning Chen nodded. “I understand. Where did the girl come from?”

“Outside the city. The burying ground.”

Ning Chen was slightly taken aback. “Give me the details.”

Silence went on. “My lord had me put men on the Fifth Prince… My men found that late last night one of the Fifth Prince’s personal bodyguards left the Fifth Prince’s house quietly.”

“He went this way and that and then into a house… And before long several boxes were carried out of it, and taken all the way to the burying ground outside the city and buried there.”

“My men dug the boxes up. There were bodies in all of them, and one of the girls was still breathing.”

(End of Chapter 412)