Dantai Yunhan knew what Dantai Xihe told him, and also knew about the stratagems inside the Prince Palace. For a while, he felt a little sorry for Chu Qiao because it must have been a hard time for her. He even felt “guilty”, which was unbelievable.
He had never felt this way for anyone at any time.
Dantai Yunhan walked to Chu Qiao's place in a trance, and a servant said happily, "Your Highness, are you going to see the Princess?"
Dantai Yunhan gave him a subtle look and said: "You’ve became smart now, huh? How dare you casually guess what I’m thinking of. Do you have any idea of death or danger?"
The young servant shivered at those words and said as if he had been wronged: "Your Highness..."
"Shut up." Dantai Yunhan then decided to go into Chu Qiao's palace. When he entered the door, he found that she seemed to be reading a book while chewing something. He shook his head with resignation, thinking to himself that Chu Qiao could never stop eating no matter how serious the situation was.
Chu Qiao rubbed her forehead. She could not understand this paragraph she was reading, so she just put a piece of food in her mouth, "Ah, I don't know what you are looking at, standing outside when you could have come in and say hi. Are Your Highness a peeper?"
Chu Qiao said with a teasing smile. Hearing what she said, Dantai Yunhan coughed and walked in: "You are getting bolder now. Do you know that with one word, I can kill you and leave you no peace even after you are gone?"
Chu Qiao tilted her head and looked into his eyes without avoiding eye contact: "Your Highness, I believe that you have ultimate power, which can really frighten me."
Dantai Yunhan recognized the teasing in her words, and of course, he didn't buy what they literally meant. He turned to look at her: “Do you know that you almost lost your life at the banquet?”
Chu Qiao didn't panic at all. She looked directly into Dantai Yunhan's eyes, who was surprised at her reaction: "You are not surprised?"
"Why should I be surprised? I knew someone was plotting against me, so I also knew that one day you would figure it out. So why shouldn't I just take it easy?"
Chu Qiao's thoughts became more and more unreadable. He was quite uncertain about who she really was now. But one thing he could be sure was that it had never been a wrong decision to investigate her. Instead, it was rather wise.
"Your Highness only came here today for this incident? If you are, I’d like to say that it has been properly handled by me and Zhong Jinchun."
Dantai Yunhan was surprised by how straightforward Chu Qiao was although he knew that she had always been frank, and he now understood why those concubines would find fault with Zhong Jinchun. He decided to pay more attention to things happening in his Palace in case he should get thrown into trouble without being warned.
"How much do you know about it?" Dantai Yunhan looked into her eyes and asked carefully.
Chu Qiao looked into his deep eyes, and she saw her own reflection in their blaze. She turned away and said leisurely.
“In fact, I know a lot about everything.”
Dantai Yunhan looked at Chu Qiao in surprise because he really couldn’t understand how Chu Qiao could be so indifferent. He thought that Chu Qiao didn’t hear clearly what he said, so he repeated: "Someone plotted against you, and in the future trouble will continue to come. I wonder how you got out of it safely this time."
Chu Qiao took a look at Dantai Yunhan deliberately and said impatiently, "I'm not deaf. I've heard what you said. If someone is plotting something against me, let it be. I'll have my counter measures ready. I am not afraid of her. What's more, I have my discretion about what to do, so Your Highness don't need to worry about me."
In Chu Qiao’s view, she would never give in to anyone, let alone these trifle frame-ups. She believed in her own capability to solve these problems.
"Who on earth are you?" Dantai Yunhan suddenly asked her with a poker face, for he was sure that the true Chu Qiao wouldn’t be able to deal with the trouble so calmly.
Chu Qiao smirked and said, "I am just me. Who else can I be?"
Having said that, Chu Qiao's smirk grew bolder. She was just Chu Qiao to start with and could not be anyone else.
What's more, although the body belonged to the former Chu Qiao, the soul inside the body was hers. Although the former Chu Qiao who managed everything, it is assumable that she made decisions using her best judgement since no one would put their own life at risk!
Dantai Yunhan could’t help saying: "Aren't you afraid that you might get murdered? You know that you have no one to rely on here!" He thought that if it was in the past, Chu Qiao wouldn’t act so freely, nor would she be so brave facing the forthcoming danger, so he was getting more and more suspicious about who she really was.
Hearing Dantai Yunhan's words, Chu Qiao laughed loudly: "As long as I want to stay alive, no one can stop me from living my life, and no one can stop me from doing what I'd like to do. This is me!"
Looking at Chu Qiao's confident smile, Dantai Yunhan was slightly shocked. Perhaps she was indeed different from other women.
However, Dantai Yunhan was very angry that Chu Qiao didn't appreciate what he did for her. He came here with good intentions to warn her about the danger that awaited. It was beyond his expectation that she didn't care about it at all.
"Anyway, thank you for warning." After all, Chu Qiao was not an ungrateful woman. Seeing the look on Dantai Yunhan's face, she knew what Dantai Yunhan was thinking so she expressed her gratitude, although it was not heartfelt.
But Dantai Yunhan heard no appreciation in her monotone, so he stormed out in anger. He came here to inform her of the danger as soon as he could, but this was what he got. What an ungrateful woman!
Chu Qiao gazed at Dantai’s receding figure, shook her head and sighed, feeling confused.