Chapter Seven: The Princess's Secret

The noisy crowd fell deathly silent at these words. A few moments later, a more intense wave of denunciation erupted.

"I knew the Princess wouldn't come to a place like this! She’s clearly a fraud!"

"Little lady, you’re quite a beauty. I wonder if the real Princess is as lovely as you."

"Did you come here looking for a man? We don't have much at this mine, but we have plenty of men! Hahahaha!"

Dongyang swung his long whip, the lashes slicing open the skin of the men at the front.

"Open your dog eyes and look clearly! This is Princess Chaoyang, the granddaughter of His Majesty himself! If any of you dare to be disrespectful again, I will cut out your tongues and feed them to the dogs!"

Dongyang’s dozens of guards stepped forward in a line, shielding Shen Jifeng. They drew their long blades with a sharp, metallic *shing*, the cold, glinting steel instantly cowing the crowd.

The prisoners were so terrified they dared not breathe, their arrogance vanishing in an instant. Some clutched the welts on their faces, grimacing in pain, but too afraid to utter a sound.

Shen Jifeng stepped forward slowly, indifferent to the dust clinging to her hem. Lifting her gaze, she swept her eyes across the crowd.

"Who was it that called me a fraud just now? Step forward."

The crowd remained deathly silent.

Shen Jifeng chuckled. "Guards, give everyone twenty lashes."

"It was him! It was him!"

Cries of accusation rose from the crowd. The prisoners instinctively parted, revealing a middle-aged man with a jagged scar on the outer corner of his left eye.

The scarred man glared at those who had pointed him out, but as his gaze met Shen Jifeng’s, his knees buckled. He collapsed to the ground, slamming his forehead into the dirt.

"Spare me, Your Highness! This lowly one has eyes but failed to recognize a person of importance! Please, show mercy!"

Shen Jifeng walked up to him. After studying his face, she said coldly, "This man has slandered me; without severe punishment, there is no authority. Guards, gag him, lock him in solitary confinement, and give him fifty lashes at noon tomorrow as a warning to others."

The prisoners didn't care what happened to the scarred man; they were more concerned about being fed.

The burly man who had spoken first acted as the group's backbone. He sneered, "Your Highness is quite imposing, but we are all desperate criminals sentenced to hard labor. The one thing we aren't short on is lives and blood. Death is just a light matter; your threats don't scare me."

Dongyang, seeing his insolence, moved to punish him, but a glance from Shen Jifeng stopped him.

"I heard you say just now that the previous manager withheld your rations and left you starving?"

Before the burly man could answer, the others chimed in, "They only give us a bowl of corn mush a day. It’s thinner than piss; it’s like eating nothing at all."

"We’re so hungry our legs shake; we can’t even lift a pickaxe."

Shen Jifeng turned to the bailiff who had reported to her. "You let this happen? Who is in charge here?"

The bailiff looked uncomfortable and stammered, "Well, um, Foreman Lin had some family matters..."

"I'm back, I'm back." A lazy voice called out from nearby. A man ran toward the crowd and knelt before Shen Jifeng.

"Lin Congjun, Head Bailiff of the Xijing Prefecture, pays respects to the Princess."

"I ask you, where are the craftsmen of this mine? And do you know that the former manager was withholding rations from these miners?"

Lin Congjun kept his head low and his back hunched, feigning respect. "Your Highness, the silver mine falls under the Ministry of Works, and the previous manager was appointed by them. We at the Xijing Prefecture are only responsible for guarding the prisoners to ensure they don't escape. It isn't a matter of whether I knew or not; it is simply outside my jurisdiction. I wouldn't dare meddle in affairs that aren't my own."

With a single sentence, he had neatly absolved himself of all responsibility, slippery as an eel.

Shen Jifeng didn't bother wasting more time on these lazy officials. Tomorrow, when she went to the Xijing Prefecture, she would get to the bottom of this with Prefect Huang Bai.

She instructed Dongyang to purchase rations and made a promise to the miners. "I am taking over the Xijing silver mine from now on. I guarantee that as long as you work hard, you will have three full meals a day, with improved rations every ten days. If the mining progress goes well, there will be further rewards."

The miners murmured among themselves; some looked pleasantly surprised, while others were skeptical.

"Is she lying? Just dangling a carrot in front of us. That Manager Zheng said the same thing to us back then."

"You can wait and see for yourselves. Dongyang has gone to buy food. I promise you will have a full meal tonight."

As the food arrived, the restless crowd finally quieted down.

Just past midnight, the scarred man heard someone approaching his cell. He curled his bound body and peeked through the door gap.

He saw a figure in night-clothes knock out the guard, push open the door, and whisper in his ear, "Come with me, and I’ll give you a chance to live."

The scarred man hesitated, but the thought of the fifty lashes tomorrow steeled his resolve. If he left, he might have a sliver of hope; if he stayed, he was as good as dead.

The two made their way out of the mining camp and deep into the Tianmeng Mountains.

"Who are you? Why save me?"

Shen Jifeng spoke in a gruff, disguised voice. "No reason. Just doing a good deed. I ask you: when you said the Princess was a fraud today, did you have proof?"

The scarred man waved his hands frantically. "I just said it off the cuff! I didn't think she was actually the Princess."

"Is that so?" Shen Jifeng sounded slightly disappointed. "I thought you had evidence. To be honest, the identity of Princess Chaoyang is indeed suspicious. Great figures have long doubted it, but there is no proof. If you had any, it wouldn't just be a matter of me letting you go—wealth, titles, high office, you could have whatever you wanted."

Upon hearing this, a glint of greed flashed in the scarred man's eyes. He stared at the eyes visible beneath her mask, trying to gauge the truth.

Shen Jifeng watched him calmly, patiently waiting for his reply.

"She isn't a Princess at all. Her father was Shen Xi, a former garrison commander in Xijing. Ten years ago, she got lost with a little boy. I was the one who sold them to the human traffickers."

"Oh?" Shen Jifeng’s voice remained neutral. "Ten years have passed, and a girl changes much as she grows. How could you recognize her as Shen Xi’s daughter at a glance?"

"I used to run a noodle stall near the Shen household. She had a brother who often brought her over for noodles. Though so many years have passed, her appearance has barely changed—she just grew up. Her features are exactly the same as when I sold her. I couldn't possibly be mistaken."

"Is that so? Aside from you, does anyone else know of this?"

The scarred man shook his head like a rattle. "Of course not! If I hadn't seen her today, I would have forgotten all about selling her. Benefactor, look at my situation..."

Before he could finish, he felt a chill at his throat.

The dagger in Shen Jifeng’s hand had silently sliced across his windpipe. The scarred man’s eyes widened in disbelief as he clutched at the gushing blood, stumbled back two steps, and finally collapsed heavily to the ground.

The night wind swept through the forest, the shadows of the trees swaying. She stood up and looked toward the distant lights of the mine, her eyes filled with chilling frost.

—In this world, there must never be another soul who knows this secret.