Chapter 11 Sincerity

Silence filled the waterside pavilion.

The wind rustled through the long corridor, causing ripples on the water's surface, mirroring someone's current mood.

*What a naive girl!* Ye Chuxiao thought, facing the silent Eldest Princess.

A seasoned politician would probably mix lies with a touch of truth, spouting them out to obscure the reality in a cloud of obfuscation, making it impossible to discern the truth.

Even Ye Chuxiao could only rely on his experience and ability to control the situation, painstakingly sifting through a pile of garbage to pick out a small amount of useful information.

But the Eldest Princess's silence was already the best answer.

If her biological father really was just the late Emperor, why would she be silent?

Her passive silence, her refusal to answer, already provided the best answer.

"Thank you! I understand!" Ye Chuxiao nodded to the Eldest Princess, still speaking ruthlessly.

He knew that continuing would only further upset the girl.

However, that was his position. Cherishing beauty and showing compassion... were not part of Ye Chuxiao's nature.

The unknown opponent lurking in the shadows made Ye Chuxiao feel both danger and a faint sense of excitement.

"No, it's not like that!" the Eldest Princess blurted out, then blushed crimson.

She wasn't good at lying, but she was very good at blushing.

"Yes, I understand! I understand!" Ye Chuxiao nodded, his face conveying the message: *You can explain all you want, I won't believe a word of it.*

The Eldest Princess hesitated in silence for a moment before saying somewhat sluggishly, "He's been gone for years. Why do you still have to look for him? I beg you, please don't expose his identity, okay? Anything you want, as long as I have it, I can give it to you."

Her words were excessive and irrational.

People who usually say such things are either liars spouting nonsense, or truly simple and pure to a certain extent.

Of course, generally speaking, there are more of the former.

Ye Chuxiao stared intently at the Eldest Princess, trying to detect any traces of deliberate misleading.

But with Ye Chuxiao's cultivation level, with his control over the realm, he could perceive subtle changes in the other party's breathing, heartbeat, and facial expressions, all of which were consistent with the Eldest Princess's current emotional fluctuations.

She was really anxious.

And desperately trying to prevent Ye Chuxiao from exposing the late Emperor's 'true identity'.

The information gap, the version difference, between Ye Chuxiao and her was like comparing the Stone Age to the Space Age.

If all of this was acting, then Ye Chuxiao would gladly admit defeat.

*Could it be her?*

*Xiao Chi left behind a coordinate for himself, an unwitting pawn,* Ye Chuxiao thought.

But he said casually, "Since you don't want your father to be discredited, then you need to show some sincerity."

As he spoke, Ye Chuxiao planned to take the opportunity to make her confess all her knowledge about Xiao Chi, so as to combine it with the official court records to create a more complete simulation of Xiao Chi, and then use it to deduce the entire plan, the process and details of the setup.

This was of course very mentally draining, but Ye Chuxiao was used to it, preparing as much as possible.

Cultivating the Great Dao, of course, required a spirit of vigorous progress, but preparing more, making more contingency plans, and being prepared for anything was also appropriate.

Reckless impulsiveness and excessive calculation, leading to inaction, were both obstacles to climbing to the peak.

The Eldest Princess seemed to misunderstand Ye Chuxiao's meaning, and almost turned into a steam-powered automaton.

Her unconscious, innate charm was almost fully unleashed.

If Ye Chuxiao's will wasn't firm, he might not have been able to withstand it.

Ye Chuxiao moved his body back slightly, maintaining a polite distance from the Eldest Princess.

*Such a naive beauty, still able to live well in this harem, without being thrown out as bait by the little Emperor and the Empress Dowager, either because there aren't any valuable enough prey yet, or she has a trump card for self-protection, and this trump card is likely left behind by Xiao Chi,* Ye Chuxiao thought.

The Eldest Princess gripped the hem of her dress tightly, then looked at Ye Chuxiao stubbornly, her face flushed red, and her eyes suddenly reddened, with tears seemingly swirling in her almond-shaped eyes, yet stubbornly refusing to fall.

"What... what do you want?"

"I won't let you succeed!"

"You bad fish!" the Eldest Princess said.

Ye Chuxiao couldn't help but rap the Eldest Princess on the head with his knuckles. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm just curious about your father, I have a sincere admiration for his legendary life, so I want to get more specific information about him from you."

The Eldest Princess took a few steps back, clutching her head, and accidentally bumped into the large potted flower behind her. Although it didn't hurt, her ignorant and flustered appearance made people couldn't help but want to bully her.

"Mature body, loli face, toddler brain?" Ye Chuxiao simply summarized.

"Really... is that all?" the Eldest Princess asked hesitantly and suspiciously, her distrust written all over her pretty face.

Ye Chuxiao said, "Of course, that's all!"

The Eldest Princess breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay... alright! I can tell you something, but you're not allowed to spread it, and you have to keep your promise not to expose his identity, otherwise... otherwise... I'll curse you, I will definitely curse you!"

As she spoke, she clenched her small fists, expressing her abundant determination.

"Judging from the lifespan and growth of dragons, she's really not that old. Converting it, it's equivalent to a ten-year-old human girl..." Unconsciously, his gaze shifted down impolitely.

"No! No! No! This is definitely not ten years old, this is not ten years old at all!" Ye Chuxiao decisively abandoned such an absurd idea.

Making a "please begin" gesture, Ye Chuxiao walked to a chair beside him and sat down as if he were in his own home, even pouring himself a cup of tea.

Watching Ye Chuxiao drink tea with her favorite teacup, the Eldest Princess hesitated, but still chose to swallow her anger due to Ye Chuxiao's 'tyrannical' nature.

"Where... where should I start?" the Eldest Princess asked cautiously.

Until now, she hadn't screamed, hadn't randomly summoned the guards, and hadn't panicked. Instead, she had successfully stabilized the 'bad fish's' emotions. The Eldest Princess was very satisfied with her wit.

Ye Chuxiao said, "Start from the beginning, from the most memorable, from what you cherish the most. You can tell it however you want."

Perhaps understanding someone from another person's memory would inevitably lead to distortion.

But those past events, mixed with strong emotions and strong memories, would be more real.

Moreover, the Eldest Princess was so naive, and her purity ensured that the information conveyed would be preserved to the greatest extent possible.

If it were the Empress Dowager, if eight out of ten words she said were believable, that would already be considered her being conscientious and moral.

"Daddy's hands were very warm."

"When I was still in the dragon egg, I could often feel the warmth of his palm, warm, broad, and full of vitality. He gave me his life force, forcibly prolonging my life, allowing me, who was supposed to die in the egg, to successfully survive time and time again."

"So, when I hatched, Daddy looked very old." Speaking of this, the Eldest Princess felt a little sad, but not too self-pitying.

"But his smile was still very warm, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning in spring. As long as you stood in the sun, you would feel warm all over." The Eldest Princess was initially just reminiscing, but then gradually entered the mood, and her eyes revealed a look of reminiscence.

Ye Chuxiao did not interrupt.

Cunning, planning for a century, decisive and ruthless, daring to think and act... these were Ye Chuxiao's vague impressions of Xiao Chi, based on the information he already had.

And these impressions were more or less influenced by Jin Buyi, and would inherently have a negative feeling.

But putting those aside, Ye Chuxiao actually had no real concept of the real Xiao Chi.

What kind of person he was, what kind of personality he had, these were all vague.

The 'Xiao Chi' in the Eldest Princess's memory was perhaps one side of him.

Anyone can have many sides, and Xiao Chi would certainly be no exception.

"When I was a child, I chased butterflies in the garden. I accidentally stepped on a butterfly and killed it, and I cried very sadly. Daddy, in order to make me happy, did not hesitate to consume his vital energy to revive the butterfly."

"At that time, he was actually very, very old, but I was ignorant and used such things to deplete his life force."

"Another time, I accidentally fell into a hole in the garden. The Empress wanted to execute all the eunuchs and maids who were responsible for taking care of me, but Father punished me instead, believing that I was ignorant and did not listen to advice, and played in places where I shouldn't have gone, which caused such a result. Later, those eunuchs and maids were all transferred to other palaces, and their salaries were deducted for three months."

The Eldest Princess kept rambling on, mostly about trivial matters, with no specific timeline or logic.

More than anything, she was expressing a girl's deep longing for her father.

She seemed to have not been exposed to the rampant rumors from the outside world, or she simply didn't believe them at all.

She didn't believe that her kind, gentle father, as warm as the morning sun, would use a fake death to fool the world, and would refrain from seeing her, his most cherished daughter.

Ye Chuxiao also listened quietly, and occasionally took out the official court records to look at the contents.

In comparison, Xiao Chi's originally vague and unclear face seemed to gradually become three-dimensional in front of him.

He should have a kind face, handsome and upright when he was young, and graceful even when he was old, with a straight and slightly thin figure, he liked to wear loose, dark clothes, he was very gentle to others, and he was polite and generous to everyone, he never punished anyone for trivial matters, and when people offended him for some reason, the first thing he did was to find reasons to excuse them.

In an originally cold and indifferent world, he really seemed like a ray of light.

"Such a person is either extremely treacherous or extremely compassionate."

"Combined with the other information I have, perhaps I can only say that Xiao Chi is... extremely terrifying!" Ye Chuxiao thought, but he wouldn't tell this thought to the Eldest Princess.

This lasted for several hours.

The sky gradually darkened, and the palace maids in the distance had already brought the Eldest Princess's dinner.

The Eldest Princess looked at the palace maids who remained expressionless, and who all, as always, placed the dinner in the hall, and showed a curious expression.

After a period of buffering, she no longer had the initial nervousness and sense of crisis, but seemed to have become much friendlier to Ye Chuxiao because of her 'heart-to-heart' talk with him.

"Finally, let me ask you one more question, did your father ever mention Tang Sudong to you?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

The Eldest Princess nodded and said, "Daddy said that Lord Tang is a pillar of the country, and a person who is more important to this country and to this world than he is."

"However, I think Daddy is wrong."

"He is the sun, and Lord Tang is the moon. Although the moon's light is stunning at night, it is not as dazzling as the sun."

Ye Chuxiao didn't refute or deny it, there was no need.

From Xiao Chi's perspective, there was nothing wrong with listening to these words on a deeper level.

"Alright! Today's exchange ends here, little princess... I'm leaving!" Ye Chuxiao stood up and sorted out the information he had casually recorded, and put them all into his storage ring.

The Eldest Princess actually showed a reluctant expression.

In the palace, although she had no worries about food and clothing, and could get almost anything she wanted without any effort.

But freedom and friends were what she lacked the most.

For various reasons, the Empress Dowager and the little Emperor tried to avoid her contact with the outside world as much as possible.

For the Daheng Dynasty, the existence of this Eldest Princess was extremely low.

"Will you come again?" the Eldest Princess couldn't help but ask.

Ye Chuxiao said, "What's wrong, don't you dislike me, this bad fish, anymore?"

The Eldest Princess recalled that scene and couldn't help blushing again.

After all, her posture at the time was not elegant.

"You... don't come again in the future, I don't want to see you," the Eldest Princess said angrily.

But Ye Chuxiao said, "I'll have a chance to see you again, after all, your stories are very nice."

There was not enough information collected about Xiao Chi.

So far, what Ye Chuxiao had collected was all the 'disguise' that Xiao Chi wore when he was the late Emperor. Ye Chuxiao needed some content that was closer to the core to make the overall image construction more three-dimensional.

"You... you'd better not come!"

"Trespassing in the harem is very dangerous. If you get caught, you'll be beheaded." The Eldest Princess seemed to be warning him, but it didn't sound like it.

Ye Chuxiao smiled and didn't explain. To him, coming to the palace once was almost like being in his own backyard.

Even if the Empress Dowager would definitely secretly arrange for people to improve the palace's security level after today.

"By the way, although I've heard about it, I still want to ask you, what's your name?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

The Eldest Princess lowered her head and said, "My name is Xiao Muchen. This is the name my mother gave me, but my father called me Little Tail, because I still had a tail when I first came out of the eggshell!"

Ye Chuxiao nodded. "Okay! I remember it, Little Tail!"

After saying that, Ye Chuxiao left Jiaoxiang Palace on his own, easily passed through layers of obstacles, and left the palace.

There were still many points in the palace worth exploring.

However, Ye Chuxiao didn't plan to continue his actions tonight. He had to give the Empress Dowager some time to prepare so that she could actively expose more traces.

And tonight, Ye Chuxiao already had a place to go.

That was the Ministry of Justice's dungeon, the cell where Tang Sudong used to live.