"Princess!" The Western Shu envoy rushed forward when he saw Chen Weiwan, and the jade pendant on his waist knocked against the croton jar on the corner of the table, making a clang-dong sound. "My king said that as long as you are willing to teach us, all the century-old croton specialties of Shu will be at your disposal!"

Chen Weiwan sat down and slowly stirred the freshly brewed croton flower tea with a silver spoon: "It's not difficult to teach. Let me test your sincerity first." She snapped her fingers, and Kenkeng and Wawa came in carrying half-person-high buckets of croton powder. The powder mist floated in the light column.

"Look carefully," Chen Weiwan pointed to the powder bucket, on which was written "For Beginners Only" in charcoal. "Each of you draw a 'Eight Diagrams Anti-Cheat Formation'. If the drawing is pleasing to the eye, I will give you some pointers."

The envoys looked at each other in bewilderment. The Northern Di envoy scratched his curly beard and said, "Princess, we are just unsophisticated people. We don't know how to draw such a formation."

"Don't know how to draw?" Shen Weiwan raised an eyebrow, motioning for Henkeng to demonstrate. He scooped up a spoonful of powder and drew a crooked circle on the blue brick floor, then sprinkled three piles of powder outside the circle. "Watch this! First draw the circle, then sprinkle the 'confusing powder'. If a scammer steps in it, they'll be dizzy!"

Wawa then drew an even crooked circle and wrote the word "treasure" next to it in powder, half of which was buried in the powder: "And write deceptive words. Scammers will come and dig when they see them, and then fall into the 'surprise pit' my mother has dug!"

The envoys looked at the pink circle on the ground. The Western Shu envoy said with a sad face: "Princess, this is too simple. My three-year-old can draw it."

"Simple?" Shen Weiwan put down the teacup and grabbed a handful of powder herself. With a flick of her wrist, the powder drew a grinning face in the air. "It's called a 'visual trap' - scammers will let down their guard when they see a smiling face. Once they've smiled enough, they'll be crying and going to the government office."

As the powder mist settled, the Northern Di envoy suddenly realized something. He slapped his thigh, shaking the fur off his fox fur coat. "So that's how it is! The princess is truly a deity!"

Shen Weiwan smiled complacently, but suddenly sighed and pressed the non-existent beads of sweat with a handkerchief: "Alas, there is nothing I can do. Who made my hands naturally good at cheating people? It's hard to keep a low profile. Wherever I go, people want to be my disciples."

Xiao Yu came in carrying croton cakes. Upon hearing this, his hand slipped and the porcelain plate nearly fell to the ground. "Madam, your Versailles problem is probably even worse than croton powder."

Although the envoys did not understand "Versailles", they understood the raised corners of Shen Weiwan's lips. The Western Shu envoy hurriedly flattered: "Your Highness, you are too modest. Your skills are unparalleled in the world!"

"Of course." Shen Weiwan took the pastry and bit into it, the spiciness numbing her tongue, but she remained calm. "In view of your sincerity, this princess will make an exception and open an 'International Crash Course'. The tuition fee..." She glanced at the boxes brought by the envoys, "One cart of croton for one class, and the top-grade 'Flame Spicy' is equivalent to two classes."

The envoys were overjoyed, and the Southern Chu envoy made the final decision on the spot: "Deal! You can take any croton from our Chu treasury!"

Shen Weiwan looked at their excited expressions, her heart blossoming with joy, but she grumbled: "Oh, this trick is too good and it's also a kind of trouble. I'm pestered by international apprentices every day, and I don't even have time to play with the children."

Xiao Yu whispered in her ear, his warm breath brushing against her earlobe: "Come on, you were secretly happy until three o'clock last night, saying, 'If I had known I could earn so much by cheating people, I should have opened a chain of cheating people in the enemy country.'"

Chen Weiwan stuck out her tongue, turned around and slammed the table at the messengers: "Alright! First lesson, I'll teach you how to make 'honesty beans' with croton powder - after eating it, if you tell a lie, you will have diarrhea for three hours. Let's see which liar dares to be stubborn!"

As dusk drifted into the Prince's Mansion, Xiao Yu found Shen Weiwan in the study, grinning foolishly at the account book. In her arms was a newly written booklet with the words "Thirty-Six Strategies to Cheat People" written on the cover with croton powder.

"What are you looking at?" Xiao Yu picked up the booklet, which contained various diagrams of deceiving people, with the text "The first strategy: false feces to deceive the public. The second strategy: laxative tea party."

"I'm thinking," Chen Weiwan pointed at the Beidi envoy's letter of apprenticeship, "whether we should publish an 'International Guide to Tricking People' to promote 'croton powder diplomacy'."

Xiao Yu put down the booklet and pinched her cheeks, which were flushed with excitement. "Okay, I've already thought of a title for the book. It's called 'Chen Weiwan's Versailles Trick'."

"Go to hell!" Shen Weiwan hit him, but saw outside the window that Kengkeng and Wawa were using croton powder to draw a huge smiley face in the garden, with a wooden sign next to it that read "Welcome scammers from all countries to come and step on it."

Xiao Yu followed her gaze. Moonlight sprinkled on the pink circle, like scattered gold. "Tomorrow, the Northern Di envoy said he wants to learn 'how to steal the enemy's food supplies.' How are you going to teach him?"

Shen Weiwan's eyes lit up, and she pulled out a bag of newly developed "croton grain powder" from her sleeve pocket: "Simple! Mix this powder with the grass, and the enemy's horses will become so weak after eating it that they will be defeated without a fight!"

Xiao Yu laughed and pulled her into his arms, inhaling the lingering scent of croton in her hair: "You are such a little rascal."

"Isn't it just what I learned from you?" Shen Weiwan rubbed his chest, listening to the children's laughter outside the window, "Who told you to always use croton cakes to trick me into kissing you?"

The night wind blew past, carrying Kenkeng's voice through the window: "Mom! I've drawn a trap big enough to trap ten cartloads of croton!"

Shen Weiwan glanced at the croton powder booklet in her arms, then at the pink light filling the courtyard. Suddenly, she felt that this worry about "being too deceptive" was like the spicy taste of croton cake: pungent at first, but with an addictive sweet aftertaste. Meanwhile, in the embassies of various countries, envoys were practicing circle drawing all night long, unaware that their impending "deceptive journey" was just another footnote in Shen Weiwan's Versailles life, a story of croton powder and laughter. After all, for her, the invitations to become apprentices from all over the world were nothing compared to the croton powder in her arms and the people around her—of course, if the ten cartloads of sable furs from the Northern Di could arrive sooner, it would be even more perfect.