In her room, the Ninth Princess wore a red dress, bright and lovely.

The Ninth Princess had grown up pretty. For looks alone she was no worse than Yudie… but set beside Yudie’s figure, the gap between them was heaven and earth.

Still, the Ninth Princess was young yet. There was room to grow. The future looked promising.

Just now the Ninth Princess stood with both hands on her hips, looking at the paper and bamboo splints laid out on the table, her fine brows drawn together a little. “Father is really something. I know how to make a paper hawk. Why does he need Ning Chen to help me?”

“Princess. Ning the Silver Coat is here!”

The maid’s voice came from outside the door.

“Send him in!”

Ning Chen lifted the curtain and came inside.

“Ning Chen, presenting himself to the Ninth Princess!”

The Ninth Princess looked at Ning Chen and thought privately that he seemed a good deal more handsome than the last time she had seen him.

The training over these months, and enough to eat at last… Ning Chen’s looks really had changed a great deal, and he had grown some height besides.

Before, he had been a little taller than the Ninth Princess. Now he stood half a head above her.

“Ning Chen. Why did Father send you to help this princess make a paper hawk? Don’t tell me yours are better than mine?”

Ning Chen was taken aback. “Can the Princess make a paper hawk?”

“Of course!” The Ninth Princess lifted her small chin, pleased with herself. “I studied under a master here in the palace. Mine will certainly be better than yours.”

Ning Chen’s forehead filled with question marks.

The Princess could make a paper hawk herself, and the palace had no shortage of master craftsmen. Why had His Majesty sent for him?

What in the world was His Majesty playing at?

Was he trying to match him up with the Ninth Princess?

The thought startled Ning Chen badly… Surely not. The Ninth Princess was still a child. Only fourteen.

“Ning Chen, come here!”

“I won’t, I won’t… there isn’t a drop left!”

Ning Chen said it before he thought, and then went stiff himself at the sound of it.

Fuck!!!

What am I saying?

The Ninth Princess looked at him, all puzzlement. “What are you talking about? What isn’t there a drop left of?”

“Uh… I mean, the paper hawk I make certainly won’t be as pretty as the Princess’s.”

The Ninth Princess lifted her pointed little chin, pleased. “Good. You know your place… But since Father sent you, you must be pretty good at it too. Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll have a contest and see whose paper hawk comes out prettier.”

“If you win, I’ll reward you with a hundred taels of gold. If you lose, you write me a poem… That’s settled, then.”

Ning Chen’s eyes brightened. A hundred taels of gold… Should he throw the match? Better not let the Princess lose too badly.

“Very well. As the Princess wishes!”

The Ninth Princess said happily, “Then let’s begin… Heye, you’ll judge for us in a little while.”

She loved nothing better than a wager with somebody.

The Ninth Princess’s personal maid, Heye, said quietly, “Yes!”

Being the Ninth Princess, she naturally could not be left alone with a man; somebody had to be there with her.

Ning Chen and the Ninth Princess sat down facing each other.

The two of them set to work on their paper hawks.

The imperial study.

Eunuch Quan came in and said quietly, “Your Majesty. Ning Chen has reached the Fallen Phoenix Court.”

The Xuan Emperor set down the memorial in his hand and thought it over for a moment, and a smile came onto his face. “Come. To the Fallen Phoenix Court.”

Back in the room, Ning Chen was quite confident. A paper hawk only needed a well-placed pivot and an even catch of the wind.

He soon discovered that theory and practice were two different things.

He could strip a precision sniper rifle down to its parts in an instant, or put it back together… but this little toy had him beaten.

Either the bamboo splint snapped, or the paper tore… he was all thumbs.

“Ha… I’ve finished!”

The Ninth Princess held up her paper hawk to show off, though it was not entirely done yet — it still needed a design painted on it.

She picked up a brush, dipped it in paint, and was about to add the color… when her eye happened to fall on Ning Chen, and she burst out laughing.

“Ning Chen, what is that thing you’ve made?”

Heye could not help covering her mouth to hide a giggle.

Ning Chen looked helplessly at the thing in his hands, neither one animal nor another. He would not have believed it himself if somebody told him this could fly.

He sighed. He had thought too much of himself.

Ning Chen got to his feet and said with a rueful smile, “Princess. Your subject concedes!”

“Yay… I won, I won…”

The Ninth Princess was delighted, her face a blossom of joy.

“Ning Chen, a bet’s a bet. You owe me a poem.”

Ning Chen nodded. “Let the Princess set the subject!”

The Ninth Princess looked around the room, and all at once her face lit up. “The first snow just fell. Let’s take snow as the subject.”

There were a great many poems about snow. Ning Chen turned them over in his mind, working out which one would fit.

“Ning Chen, if you can’t think of one, this princess can give you a few days. Take your time.”

The Ninth Princess really was very understanding. Composing a poem was not like boasting — it did not come the moment you opened your mouth.

Ning Chen said, smiling, “No need. Your subject already has one.”

The Ninth Princess’s clear eyes lit up at once, and the corners of her mouth turned up, delicately as though carved. “Say it, say it…”

Ning Chen put his hands behind his back, and under the Ninth Princess’s expectant eyes, said, “Flake by flake, and then a flake, two flakes, three flakes, four flakes, five.“

The smile on the Ninth Princess’s face froze by slow degrees.

Was this supposed to be a poem?

Not only the Ninth Princess — outside the door, the Xuan Emperor, listening in, could not help frowning either.

Ning Chen was brimming with talent. This was plainly making a fool of Huai’an.

This worthless wretch. It had taken him more trouble than he cared to count to arrange this chance for the two of them to be together, and Ning Chen would not even make the effort.

The Ninth Princess glared at Ning Chen, indignant. “You… are you making a fool of this princess?”

Ning Chen’s face was all innocence. “Don’t rush me, Princess… Your subject isn’t finished yet.”

“Hmph. Isn’t the next part going to be six, seven, eight flakes?”

Ning Chen’s face was all astonishment. “The Princess really is clever. Got it in one guess!”

The Ninth Princess’s cheeks puffed out with anger, like a lovable little goldfish.

“And you dare admit it? Do you take this princess for a three-year-old? Are you trying to teach me to count?”

“You just wait…”

The Ninth Princess said it, gathered up her skirts and ran into the inner room.

In a moment she came back out carrying a feather duster. “You, Ning Chen. How dare you take this princess for a fool… I’ll give you flake by flake. I’ll give you two, three, four, five, six…”

“Calm yourself, Princess. Mind your bearing!”

Ning Chen saw the Ninth Princess come at him with the feather duster and bolted around the table at once.

“You stand still!”

Ning Chen shook his head. He was no fool.

“This princess commands you to stand still.”

Ning Chen said with a rueful smile, “Put the duster down and I’ll stand still.”

“You stand still and I’ll put it down.”

“Little brat. You think I’m stupid?”

The Ninth Princess’s small face went red with anger. “How dare you call me a little brat?”

“Aren’t you? You little terror. If you weren’t a princess I’d have settled you long ago.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

The Ninth Princess chased Ning Chen around the whole room with the feather duster.

But a princess is delicate by nature, and after a while of chasing him she could run no more, and stood bent over, gasping for breath. “Wait… I can’t run anymore!”

Ning Chen laughed. Just a little brat after all.

“You’re a princess. Mind your bearing… Be this fierce and nobody will marry you.”

The Ninth Princess was thoroughly worked up now, and kept coming after him with the duster. “Don’t you run, how dare you call me fierce? If nobody marries me, I’ll marry you, and beat you every day.”

Ning Chen was struck dumb, running and talking at once. “Princess, even an executioner only kills you once… Isn’t that a bit vicious of you?”

That line went too far. The Ninth Princess’s eyes went red with anger, and she flung the feather duster on the floor and said furiously, “Get out… I never want to see you again!”

(End of Chapter 133)