【Fang Ziqin ran lap after lap.】
【Passing before the Eldest Princess again and again.】
【Perhaps it was that desperate, all-in kind of effort that struck the Eldest Princess.】
The system paused, as if organizing its words.
【As she watched, she suddenly realized—】
【This person… seemed just like her.】
Feng Zhaoxuan raised a brow.
【Just like her?】
【Both are trapped in invisible cages.】
The system said.
【One is trapped in “ritual and propriety,” the other in “imperial dignity.”】
【Both are suppressed, both are in pain, both want to escape.】
【The only difference is—Fang Ziqin dares to run naked, while the Eldest Princess can only sit by the lake and watch.】
Feng Zhaoxuan froze for a second.
Then clicked her tongue in her mind.
【Good lord, that’s not resonance—that’s soul vibration!】
The officials exchanged looks.
The Eldest Princess… resonating with Fang Ziqin?
Xiao Juechen’s brows twitched.
The blow from Mingxi’s scandal was far more severe than he had imagined.
【The Eldest Princess also wanted to shout!】
The system’s tone suddenly rose.
【She wanted to roar out everything that had been choking her—disgusting, suffocating, unbearable!】
【“Damn the consort!”】
【“Damn the rumors!”】
【“Damn imperial dignity!”】
The system’s simulated roar carried a broken, almost hysterical release, exploding in everyone’s minds.
【But she didn’t dare.】
Feng Zhaoxuan added inwardly.
【She is the Eldest Princess. She can’t afford that disgrace.】
【So she could only sit by the lake, watching Fang Ziqin vent for her.】
The ministers’ expressions changed dramatically.
The dignified Eldest Princess… living so suffocatingly?
Xiao Juechen clenched his fist.
He had thought dealing with Qin Zhao would make Mingxi better.
He hadn’t expected rumors to cut deeper than blades.
【Over time, the way the Eldest Princess looked at Fang Ziqin gradually changed.】
The system’s tone turned subtle.
【From shock, to curiosity, and finally… undisguised appreciation.】
【She felt this man… had guts.】
【That crazy energy…】
【Strangely… a bit… attractive?】
Fang Ziqin’s mind buzzed.
Attractive?
Your Highness, please wake up!
I’m running naked in public, and you think I’m attractive?!
【Not the attraction of refined romance between scholars and noble ladies.】
The system clarified.
【It was more like… the raw, ruthless energy of someone tearing open their most embarrassed, most real self.】
【No pretending, no acting—just pure, explosive vitality.】
Feng Zhaoxuan nodded inwardly.
【The Eldest Princess was used to hypocrites wearing masks.】
【Suddenly seeing someone who didn’t even bother wearing pants…】
【Even if the method was extreme, to her it might feel like a cleansing of the soul.】
The ministers fell into thought.
The Prince of Zhenbei’s words… oddly made sense.
Feng Huainan sighed.
His daughter’s mind really… worked fast, and fearlessly.
【The Eldest Princess also knew Fang Ziqin.】
The system continued.
【They had met at court banquets—he was a stiff, overly serious, bookish type.】
【Who would’ve thought his private self would be like this?】
【The contrast was too great!】
Feng Zhaoxuan suppressed a laugh.
【So the Eldest Princess just… kept watching?】
【Yes!】
The system became gossiping again.
【She watched him from the moment he started running until he finished.】
【At least half an hour straight.】
【Not moving, not even blinking.】
【Watching him run wildly under the moonlight, shouting and venting—she actually felt… refreshed.】
【As if she had run alongside him.】
Feng Zhaoxuan explained seriously.
【Emotions can be contagious, like watching a film.】
【When the protagonist releases emotions, the audience releases them too.】
【It’s a form of psychological projection.】
The officials were confused again.
Film?
Another unfamiliar word!
The Minister of Rites muttered internally: some kind of opera?
The Ministry of Works officer guessed: shadow puppetry?
Xiao Juechen narrowed his eyes.
Film… protagonist… audience…
Sounds like a kind of performance.
This world the Prince of Zhenbei came from really did have many strange things.
But her explanation did make sense.
Emotions were indeed contagious.
【When the Eldest Princess’s hidden guards first discovered Fang Ziqin, they planned to arrest him.】
The system grew teasing.
【But the Princess, sitting in the Moon Viewing Pavilion, only looked once from the window and said: “No need to interfere.”】
【After that, the guards only reported: “Your Highness, that naked man is here again.”】
【The Eldest Princess would immediately stand up and go to the window.】
【She kept changing angles to watch him from different windows.】
【Until Fang Ziqin left.】
The officials: “……”
The Eldest Princess… was this idle?
【After a few times, she noticed a pattern—he appeared every three days.】
【So she began calculating the timing.】
【Every three days, she would stay in the Moon Viewing Pavilion.】
【On the surface, it was rest and leisure. In reality…】
【Even she couldn’t explain it herself.】
Feng Zhaoxuan couldn’t hold it in anymore.
【Princess Anning has definitely fallen for Fang Ziqin!】
The system chuckled.
【Think about it, Host: a beautiful woman, in countless lonely nights, sitting by the window, watching a man run under the moonlight, sweating… and radiating masculinity…】
【If that’s not something, I don’t know what is.】
Feng Zhaoxuan clicked her tongue.
【So the Eldest Princess is basically treating Fang Ziqin like a serialized novel she follows at night!】
【A new chapter every three days!】
The officials: “……”
This guy… actually has that kind of charm?
To make a princess take interest?
Feng Ziqin’s elder brother twitched his mouth.
That analogy… weirdly accurate.
Fang Ziqin: “……”
This was utterly murderous.
A seventh-rank minor official, a poor scholar, with a naked-running scandal…
And now he had become the Eldest Princess’s “late-night serial update”?
He felt the world darken, his legs weakening beneath him.
That was the Eldest Princess!
High above, breathtakingly beautiful, cold as the moon in the ninth heaven.
He had once glimpsed her from afar at a banquet and felt utterly unworthy of even looking again.
And now…
This woman…
Every three days, she stood by the window, waiting for him to run past naked?
His face turned crimson instantly.
From neck to ears, burning hot enough to fry an egg.
Shame, panic, disbelief…
And beneath it all, a faint, ember-like trace of secret joy he didn’t dare admit, surged wildly inside him.
Feng Zhaoxuan was still deep in gossip mode.
【So yeah, the Eldest Princess has definitely fallen for him!】
【The quiet, observant type of love too!】
【Not taking initiative, just watching from afar?】
【Tsk tsk, this kind of secret crush… kind of sweet.】
Xiao Juechen looked at Fang Ziqin’s mortified expression.
But his mind was already calculating rapidly.
Mingxi had been betrayed by Qin Zhao, her heart turned cold and guarded, disgusted by noble sons.
But Fang Ziqin…
Low rank, clean background.
Most importantly—he was honestly awkward and real.
That bone-deep shame of his was proof of character.
He would not become a second Qin Zhao.
If Mingxi truly had interest in him…
He might as well allow it.
Feng Ziqin’s elder brother stood behind Feng Zhaoxuan, lips slightly curled.
She was right.
This was indeed a case of a crush.
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