Xiao Yanxi shook her head. "This man cares an awful lot about Kang Luo... and it just hit me that Kang Luo had a full elder brother... except that man should have been executed over ten years ago."

Ning Chen blinked. "Should have been executed more than ten years ago? What happened?"

Xiao Yanxi said, "He claimed just now to be Kang Luo's distant uncle on his mother's side, and you worked out that he isn't... But he really does care about Kang Luo, and it made me think of Kang Luo's own elder brother.

From what I know of the Nanyue royal family, a little over ten years ago that brother, Kang Xiao, was sixteen—peerlessly handsome, brilliantly gifted, and a master of brush and ink.

But at his own coming-of-age banquet, that dazzling young man slipped off to meet one of his father the emperor's consorts in secret... The ruler of Nanyue flew into a rage and had him beaten half to death."

Ning Chen scoffed. "The oldest frame-up in the palace. Kang Xiao must have been set up, right?"

Xiao Yanxi shook her head. "No, this time you're wrong. Kang Xiao used his talent and his good looks to seduce the consorts of the inner palace himself."

The corner of Ning Chen's mouth twitched. "Fuck... Sixteen and already that much of a lecher?"

Xiao Yanxi gave him an odd look. "Ning, dear, I heard you weren't even sixteen the first time you went to the courtesans' quarter... At least Kang Xiao was of age."

Ning Chen's face went stiff. Then he said awkwardly, "Ahem, ahem-ahem... Well... I was actually only a few days short of being of age back then, hahaha... So what happened to Kang Xiao in the end?"

Xiao Yanxi's face turned serious. "Kang Xiao was the Nanyue ruler's favorite child. His father had meant to name him heir apparent at that coming-of-age banquet... and then this happened.

But the ruler of Nanyue didn't kill him. He only ordered thirty strokes of the rod and sent him home to shut himself in and reflect on what…