Bai Shuangshuang reluctantly climbed onto the bed.
As soon as she lay down, she felt a hand reach over.
“Promise me, a head rub before sleep~”
Zhao Qingyue’s voice came from the pillow, with a hint of eager excitement.
“…Go ahead, rub it.”
Zhao Qingyue’s hand landed on top of her head, pressed gently, then her fingertips traced a small circle and rubbed her crown.
The movement was very light, like petting a cat curled up on a lap.
Bai Shuangshuang hadn’t thought much of it at first, but the moment that hand came down, her entire body inexplicably relaxed.
The touch of fingertips passing through her hair was warm and soft.
Something inside her seemed to be smoothed away bit by bit by that hand, a feeling of comfort flowing from her scalp down her spine.
She even unconsciously narrowed her eyes.
No, no—she had to suppress that nice feeling quickly!
“Are you done?”
“Just one more.”
Zhao Qingyue didn’t wait for her agreement and rubbed again.
This time was even lighter than before.
The pads of her fingers lingered on the top of Bai Shuangshuang’s head for a moment, as if confirming something, as if reluctant to let go.
Bai Shuangshuang was about to tell her that was enough, when she suddenly felt the hand on her head tremble slightly.
She turned her head to look.
Zhao Qingyue’s eyes were rimmed red, her lashes wet with glistening tears, but she was still struggling to control the corners of her mouth.
“You… it’s not that serious, is it?”
Bai Shuangshuang was startled.
“It’s just a head rub. Why are you crying?”
“Who’s crying?”
Zhao Qingyue turned her face away, her voice muffled.
“Got sand in my eyes.”
“There’s no sand in the room.”
“Then there’s dust.”
Bai Shuangshuang opened her mouth but ultimately didn’t press further.
She averted her gaze, staring at the bed curtains above, but a small thought surfaced in her mind.
‘The expression on Zhao Qingyue’s face just now—it didn’t seem fake. She must have thought of something.’
‘Whatever. Everyone has things they don’t want to talk about. I’m not the kind of person who has to dig to the bottom of everything.’
The candle was blown out.
In the darkness, it was quiet for a long while.
Bai Shuangshuang was just starting to feel drowsy when she felt a hand reach over from behind and rest on her waist.
Her whole body stiffened.
“What are you doing?”
“Sleeping~ Holding you keeps me warm.”
Zhao Qingyue’s voice was lazy, but her hand didn’t stop.
Her fingertips gently contracted, as if testing Bai Shuangshuang’s reaction.
Bai Shuangshuang instinctively jerked away.
Zhao Qingyue’s hand paused.
Instead of clamping down forcefully like before, she loosened her grip and rested it loosely, as if waiting for something.
“Go easy…”
Bai Shuangshuang squeezed out two words through gritted teeth.
“Okay~”
That hand came down again.
This time it was so light it was almost imperceptible, just loosely encircling her waist, palm warm against the fabric of her clothes.
Bai Shuangshuang stayed stiff for a good while before slowly relaxing.
She told herself this was a promised condition.
She was just fulfilling the spirit of the contract.
Besides, they were both girls now.
A hug wouldn’t make her lose a piece of flesh…
But she still felt a bit strange inside, as if she had done something to betray her senior sister.
Bai Shuangshuang silently added a small line in her heart.
‘This wasn’t my idea. Zhao Qingyue forced me. Senior Sister, please bear witness…’
On Zhao Qingyue’s side, it was perfectly quiet.
Her breathing gradually became long and deep.
Because Bai Shuangshuang’s body was warm.
The heat seeped through the thin sleeping clothes, like embracing a little heater.
Holding this warm, soft body in her arms, Zhao Qingyue suddenly felt her nose sting.
It had been a very, very long time since she had held someone like this while sleeping.
Before, every night before bed, her younger sister would burrow into her blanket and refuse to close her eyes unless she was patted on the head and coaxed.
That little girl’s crown had also been soft, and when rubbed, she would make sounds like a cat.
She hadn’t held anyone like this in years…
Zhao Qingyue gently pressed her forehead against the back of Bai Shuangshuang’s head and closed her eyes.
She held her very lightly, as if afraid of breaking something, or as if holding too tightly might wake her from this dream.
This sleep was the most peaceful and sweetest she had had in three years.
Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the window lattice, falling on the two sleeping girls embracing each other.
One slept deeply, a slight smile on her lips.
The other was still awake, eyes open, staring at the bed curtains, her ears red like boiled shrimp, her mind a mess of thoughts like ‘Senior Sister, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I haven’t changed my heart. This is just forced labor.’
Thinking and thinking, she didn’t know when she finally fell asleep…
—
Council Hall of the Prince’s Mansion
Zhao Qingchuan hadn’t slept.
He couldn’t sleep.
He sat in his chair, the tea table in front of him steaming with water vapor.
Across from him sat a man in blue robes, his face gaunt, his build thin, but his brows carrying a natural heroic spirit.
“Hengyang Xiansheng, in your view, how do we deal with those life-or-death officials from the Imperial Court?”
Zhao Qingchuan’s tone carried his usual reliance on this advisor.
Hengyang Xiansheng’s brows were slightly furrowed.
He took a sip of tea and didn’t answer.
Zhao Qingchuan didn’t press either.
He picked up his teacup and drank slowly, waiting.
After a long while, the other finally spoke slowly.
“Your Highness, why not just let them audit the accounts?”
“Audit the accounts?”
Zhao Qingchuan was startled.
“The ledgers of the Southern Region can’t withstand an audit, Xiansheng!”
Everyone knew the Ministry of Revenue officials were sent south to target the accounts of the Spirit Fields and Spirit Mines.
Spirit Rice from the Spirit Fields could raise stronger soldiers.
Spirit Stones from the Spirit Mines could forge better armor and weapons.
The Imperial Court’s investigation of these two things was essentially to prevent Zhao Qingchuan from secretly raising a private army and one day marching north to purge the court.
What was worse, the Imperial Court had long planted countless spies throughout the three prefectures of the Southern Territory.
His fief was filled with court agents from top to bottom.
The ledgers couldn’t be falsified.
The storehouses couldn’t withstand an audit.
But Zhao Qingchuan didn’t say it outright.
He knew Hengyang never spoke without reason.
“Your Highness, don’t worry—”
Hengyang Xiansheng set down his teacup.
“Allow me to use an analogy.”
“Suppose one mu of spirit field can actually produce fifty dan of spirit rice.”
“But the local government colludes with the great clans, skimming ten dan, and only reports a yield of forty dan to the Prince’s Mansion.”
Zhao Qingchuan nodded.
“The Prince’s Mansion receives these forty dan. Thirty of them are used for obvious, legitimate purposes—livelihood, disaster relief, city wall repairs. Everything is documented and matches the numbers reported by the court’s spies in various industries, proving our mansion did not inflate the figures.”
“The ledger records: forty dan in, thirty dan out, with a book surplus of ten dan.”
“But Your Highness used that surplus of ten dan to raise private soldiers. Although only trusted confidants handled it, and there is no record of this transaction, there isn’t a single grain of spirit rice in the storehouse. That ten-dan gap is real, and someone has to take the blame.”
Zhao Qingchuan’s expression darkened slightly.
Hengyang Xiansheng was speaking a bit too bluntly.
But since the words had come this far, there was no need to hide anymore.
“Now the imperial envoy comes to audit the accounts. The storehouse is empty, yet the ledger records a surplus of ten dan. How do we explain that?”
Hengyang Xiansheng picked up his teacup, unhurried.
“Your Highness can say the local government reported forty dan, but only delivered thirty. Now the Prince’s Mansion has spent all thirty dan on legitimate matters, so naturally the storehouse is empty. As for the extra ten dan surplus on the books? That was fabricated by the local government in their reports. The Prince’s Mansion is also a victim.”
Zhao Qingchuan’s eyes flickered.
“Then Your Highness can take the opportunity to request the court’s authorization for a thorough investigation of corruption in the Southern Region. When we check the local governments’ hidden treasuries, we will indeed find an unexplained surplus of ten dan.”
“In this way, the local government falsely reported ten dan, and the gap in the Prince’s Mansion’s accounts is reconciled. That ten dan wasn’t used by Your Highness to raise private soldiers—it was embezzled by the local authorities. Your Highness comes out clean, and even takes the initiative to expose the misconduct.”
“Of course, the numbers are just an example. The exact figures will be the accountant’s job.”
Hengyang Xiansheng paused, then added.
“Furthermore, if the Prince’s Mansion cooperates with the audit, even proactively requesting it, then the Commandery Princess loses her motive for assassinating the imperial envoy. Those slung accusations will naturally be washed away. At worst, the mansion bears the crime of inadequate protection—a minor inconvenience.”
Zhao Qingchuan listened, his brows gradually relaxing.
Yes.
The local gentry of the three Southern prefectures had long been colluding with local officials to skim spirit rice and spirit stone yields.
The figures reported to the Prince’s Mansion were already the result of one round of embezzlement.
As long as they could verify that actual yields were far higher than reported, and that hidden treasuries indeed contained concealed goods, this blame could be smoothly shifted away.
Then they would not only pass this test but also uproot the court’s spies.
Two problems solved at once.
But Zhao Qingchuan wasn’t completely at ease.
“This plan likely faces obstacles in implementation.”
The Prince’s Mansion’s spies were not idle.
He knew exactly which officials were court spies and whether any prefecture or county had falsified yields.
But he hadn’t moved against these people for so long, not because he didn’t want to, but because it wouldn’t work.
Those local gentry were too deeply rooted at the grassroots.
If the Prince of Jingnan investigated, every household would put up layers of resistance, yielding little result, and would alert the others, making it even harder to gather evidence.
Unless—
Unless they had help from immortal cultivators.
Cultivators could observe qi and calculate yields.
With their assistance, the Prince’s Mansion could easily obtain irrefutable evidence.
Actual yields, where the hidden spirit rice was stored—all of it could be found.
But those cultivators were all afraid of getting too involved in worldly karma, and the Imperial Court had long strictly prohibited regional princes from privately contacting immortal sects.
“We need to think this over carefully—”
Zhao Qingchuan let out a long sigh.
“If only we could find a helper who understands both the secular and cultivation worlds, and can move freely in both…”