In her dazed state, Miss Yunge was completely unaware that a moment of distraction had just sealed her fate. But even if she realized it later, she likely wouldn’t have the courage to refuse a certain someone again.
Young Master Qingchen didn’t mind the young lady’s momentary confusion. Seeing Yunge obediently nod in agreement, he felt deeply satisfied. He reached out to stroke her black hair, his usually calm and detached handsome face full of doting affection.
Young Master Qingchen was too exceptional and too transcendent, causing him to see through everything too clearly, making his emotions somewhat thinner than ordinary people’s. Even after witnessing Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li’s mutual devotion, seeing Han Mingyue’s infatuation with Su Zuidie years ago, and watching Feng San, Qin Feng, and others, including his brothers, find happiness, Qingchen actually couldn’t quite understand these emotions. He particularly dismissed those who were troubled and suffering for love.
If he hadn’t met Yunge, even Qingchen wouldn’t have believed that one day he would engage in the same foolish behavior he had once considered extremely stupid when Mo Xiuyao did it. He even resorted to trickery to make Yunge agree to be his fiancée, and when she nodded in agreement, the joy and satisfaction that welled up in his heart was beyond any description.
Just as someone had once cursed him: Why does love exist in this world? It’s one thing conquering another. May you fall in so deep one day that you’ll never climb out.
Miss Yunge, being stroked by Young Master Qingchen, contentedly nuzzled against his palm, her eyes curving in happiness. Yunge discovered that since meeting Qingchen again this time, except for initially being angry about her running away from home, he had been very gentle with her. Apart from occasionally calling her silly, he hadn’t scolded or punished her. (So, Miss Yunge, just how low are your standards?)
Before Qingchen could say anything more, he was interrupted by a guard coming to report: “Young Master, the head of the Lü family of Guangling has sent an invitation. The Lü family and Guangling’s aristocrats are hosting a welcoming banquet for you.” The guard, probably realizing he might have interrupted something important, quickly pushed the blame onto the outsiders as a shield.
Qingchen frowned slightly. Having just dealt with a large number of prominent young wastrels in Guangling, this was a social obligation he couldn’t refuse. If it were just Xu Qingchen the person, he could naturally decline such invitations, but Qingchen hadn’t forgotten his position as the Right Chancellor of Prince Ding’s mansion. He couldn’t let half of Guangling’s merchants flee south across the river after he left.
After some thought, Qingchen nodded and said: “Understood, we’ll go later.”
‘We,’ meaning not alone. Yunge glanced faintly at Qingchen: “Qingchen, do I… do I have to go too?”
Qingchen smiled: “Aren’t you my fiancée? Why wouldn’t you go?”
Yunge pouted, not daring to mention how she hadn’t thought things through before being persuaded by Qingchen.
Qingchen smiled and pinched her cheek gently: “Be good, Yunge. Tomorrow we’ll leave Guangling, and then we can go wherever you want to go.”
Hearing this, Yunge’s face immediately brightened, and she nodded firmly: “Promise?”
Young Master Qingchen smiled: “When have I ever broken my word?”
That evening, the Lü family mansion in Guangling was brilliantly lit and bustling with activity. Most of Guangling’s notable figures had gathered there. Although many aristocratic families in Guangling had been dealt with severely that afternoon, families like the Huangs, with a lecherous son who acted recklessly and caused deaths, were few. Most who deserved punishment had been punished, and that was that. Most importantly, Young Master Qingchen was someone they absolutely could not afford to offend. Not only was he known throughout the land as the Divine Young Master, but he was also the Right Chancellor of Prince Ding’s mansion, second only to Prince Ding and his wife. If Prince Ding ascended the throne, Young Master Qingchen would legitimately become a founding minister. Moreover, Qingchen was the Princess Consort’s cousin and the young prince’s uncle. In short, as long as they wanted to continue living in Prince Ding’s territory, Young Master Qingchen was not someone they could offend.
The Lü family was renowned in Guangling, not necessarily wealthy, but a scholarly family with over a hundred years of heritage. They were usually strict in educating their children, and this time only two branch family members were found to have bullied commoners using the Lü family name. There weren’t any particularly ugly incidents. It was precisely because of this that the Lü family had the chance to host a banquet and invite Young Master Qingchen at this time.
When Qingchen brought Yunge to the Lü residence, Old Master Lü had already led his entire family and the heads of various Guangling families to wait respectfully at the entrance.
“Welcome, Young Master Qingchen.”
Seeing such a grand reception, Qingchen sighed somewhat helplessly and said calmly: “Old Master Lü, you’re too kind. Let’s dispense with these formalities.”
After Old Master Lü expressed his thanks and stood up, he raised his head to see an exceptionally beautiful young lady in goose-yellow clothes standing beside Qingchen, looking at them curiously. He couldn’t help but be startled.
Qingchen lowered his eyes and, holding Yunge’s hand, said quietly: “This is my fiancée, surname Shen.”
“Ah? Pleased… pleased to meet Miss Shen.” Old Master Lü hurriedly said, while internally wondering which prominent family in Li City had the surname Shen. This young lady’s curious and innocent expression didn’t seem like one raised in a scholarly family.
As a martial artist, Yunge’s senses were naturally more acute than ordinary people’s. As soon as Qingchen spoke, she felt the change in everyone’s gazes, some even carrying traces of unfriendly hostility. Following her instincts, Yunge looked over to see a beautiful woman in moon-white clothes staring at her. Though somewhat displeased, Yunge still remembered the etiquette Madam Xu had taught her about dealing with people and nodded slightly to the woman. Unexpectedly, the woman merely gave her a cold glance before looking down. Yunge huffed quietly in her heart and ignored her.
“Young Master Qingchen, Miss Shen, please come in,” Old Master Lü recovered quickly, only pausing briefly before respectfully inviting them inside.
The Lü mansion had indeed prepared wine, banquets, and entertainment, just waiting for Qingchen’s arrival. However, Yunge’s presence was unexpected to everyone, especially the revelation that she was Young Master Qingchen’s fiancée. Old Master Lü hesitated before stepping forward with a smile: “Young Master Qingchen, perhaps my wife and daughter could entertain Miss Shen? What does the young master think?”
Qingchen looked down at Yunge, who was still lowering her head lost in thought, and smiled: “No need, Yunge will sit with me.” Old Master Lü had no choice but to agree and went to make preparations.
Qingchen led Yunge to sit at the highest position at the banquet, immediately drawing countless gazes. This was the first time in Yunge’s life that she had been watched by so many people, and she immediately felt uncomfortable. Qingchen didn’t mind them, just reached out to pick some dishes she liked for her before turning to converse with the guests.
Yunge sat rather bored beside Qingchen, staring absently at the delicacies before her. She couldn’t understand nor did she care for their conversation, and being watched openly and secretly by many unfriendly gazes, she lost her appetite and could only sit there in a daze.
“Why isn’t Miss Shen speaking? Are you bored?”
Just as Yunge was feeling utterly listless, a gentle female voice sounded beside her ear. Yunge looked up to see the woman in moon-white clothes from earlier approaching her. Though her voice was soft, Qingchen sitting beside Yunge naturally heard it and turned to look at the woman. Old Master Lü, sitting on Qingchen’s right, also looked over, smiling lovingly at the young woman: “This is my daughter Danruo.”
The young woman immediately curtseyed gracefully to Qingchen, smiling: “Danruo greets Young Master.”
Qingchen’s eyes flickered slightly as he smiled faintly: “No need for formalities, Miss Lü. What’s wrong with Yunge? Is she bored?”
After just one glance at Lü Danruo, Qingchen’s gaze returned to Yunge, asking with concern. He was also somewhat helpless – Yunge didn’t like these social occasions, but he wasn’t at ease not bringing her along.
Yunge looked at Qingchen, suddenly feeling a bit better, and shook her head slightly.
Seeing Qingchen only give her a faint glance, Miss Lü’s eyes dimmed briefly, but she quickly smiled again, looking at Yunge: “Sister Shen must be bored. Why don’t I accompany you for a walk in the garden? Though our Lü family’s garden can’t compare to Li City’s, it has its charm.”
Yunge turned to look at Qingchen, who smiled: “Go if you want to. If not, we’ll leave soon.”
Though she didn’t like such banquets, Yunge knew Qingchen must have his reasons for attending, so she shook her head and said: “I’ll go play in the garden.”
Qingchen smiled and nodded, calling two guards to follow Yunge before letting her leave. This naturally earned another dissatisfied pout from Yunge – her martial arts weren’t inferior to those guards. Qingchen just smiled calmly, maintaining his decision.
“Young Master Qingchen is truly attentive to Miss Shen,” Old Master Lü said with some awkwardness. Internally, he wondered what was going on with Prince Ding’s mansion and the Xu family. The princes of Prince Ding’s mansion historically rarely took concubines, and the Xu family rarely did. Now even the young officials under Prince Ding’s command were following his example. How were families with many concubine-born daughters supposed to survive?
Qingchen smiled faintly: “Yunge is the future daughter-in-law of the Xu family, naturally she should be taken good care of.”
“Young Master speaks truly. Come… let me toast to you.”
In the Lü family’s back garden, Lü Danruo walked casually with Yunge. Along the way, only Danruo’s constant chatter could be heard, with Yunge’s responses few and far between. This situation gradually caused Danruo’s previously smiling face to darken. This girl was like a closed bottle – she barely spoke a word when asked anything. How did Young Master Qingchen come to fancy her?
Just as Lü Danruo didn’t think much of Yunge, Yunge equally disliked the woman before her. As soon as they left the banquet, she kept chattering endlessly, constantly asking what Qingchen liked to eat, and what he disliked… every third sentence was about what Qingchen was like. How would she know what the Qingchen liked or disliked? If she wanted to know, why not ask Qingchen directly instead of asking her? And she was pretending to enjoy accompanying her – did she think Yunge hadn’t noticed her sneaking contemptuous glances at the entrance?
In her displeasure, Miss Yunge rarely showed her temper to outsiders, but now she sat down by a flower terrace with her back to Lü Danruo, refusing to move. Lü Danruo looked at Yunge’s back with furrowed brows, but still went over and carefully spread an embroidered handkerchief on the terrace before sitting down. She frowned at Yunge and said: “Sister Yunge, which family are you from exactly? We haven’t heard of any prominent family in Li City with the surname Shen. Now that we know each other, there’s no need to be so secretive.”
Yunge gave her a quiet look and said: “My family isn’t prominent, and I’m older than you, so I’m not your younger sister.” Yunge could tell at a glance that Lü Danruo was only fifteen, while she was already seventeen. However, Yunge forgot that Danruo wasn’t a doctor and didn’t have such good judgment, especially since Yunge’s appearance was so fresh that she looked even younger than the gentle and charming Lü Danruo.
The smile froze on Danruo’s face as she frowned at Yunge. So she was from a humble background – no wonder she had no manners.
Her eyes flickering, Danruo forced another smile: “Then how did Elder Sister Yunge meet Young Master Qingchen?”
Yunge was somewhat displeased: “I was gathering herbs in the mountains and happened to see Qingchen, that’s how we met.”
Danruo’s smile grew wider – so she was just an herb gatherer. Her expression showed even more disdain and contempt when looking at Yunge. Yunge wrinkled her small nose – if Lü Danruo didn’t like her, well, she didn’t like her either. She stood up and walked away.
Left behind, Lü Danruo was so angry her face nearly twisted. She was one of Guangling’s most precious young ladies – if not for Young Master Qingchen, why would she lower herself to be nice to some unknown little girl? Seeing Yunge being so rude, she forgot herself and shouted angrily: “Hey! Do you understand manners at all? Truly from a humble background – you don’t know any proper rules!”
Not far away, two guards had been carefully watching the situation. Seeing this, they exchanged glances and shook their heads. Was Miss Yunge doing this intentionally or unintentionally? If Yunge had told Lü Danruo that her foster father was Shen Yang, Lü Danruo wouldn’t dare provoke her even with ten times the courage.
“You’re the one with no manners!” Miss Yunge was angry, her bright eyes glaring at Lü Danruo as she said huffily: “A true lady wouldn’t keep asking about Qingchen like you do. If you want to know, why don’t you ask him yourself? Qingchen is my fiancé, you’re not allowed to ask! You’re the one without manners. You think I haven’t met real ladies?” After finishing, Miss Yunge gave a disdainful snort. Sister Zheng, Sister Li, and Sister Tianxiang were all ladies from prominent families – they would never be as annoying as this Miss Lü!
“Pfft—” Guard A couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Seeing both young ladies look over, he quickly waved his hand: “This servant was rude. Please continue, Miss Shen.” Not allowing questions about what – Young Master Qingchen would be very pleased to hear this.
Yunge blinked, turned back to look at Miss Lü, and said: “Anyway, go ask Qingchen yourself, don’t ask me.”
Miss Lü was speechless. Used to the usual hypocrisy between people, she had rarely encountered someone so direct and didn’t know how to handle it.
After a long while, Miss Lü finally recovered and snorted: “In any case, you’re not worthy of Young Master Qingchen. If you’re sensible, you’ll leave on your own, or you’ll only embarrass yourself later.”
Yunge bit her lip, glaring at Lü Danruo for a long while before snorting lightly, her beautiful little face showing a proud smile: “I won’t! Qingchen is mine, you can’t have him…”
“Young Master Qingchen won’t marry a wild girl like you,” Lü Danruo said coldly.
“I’m going to marry Qingchen anyway, what about it?” Yunge bared her teeth: “I’m prettier than you, better at martial arts than you, better at medicine than you! Hmph!”
Lü Danruo said disdainfully: “What use is that? Without a good family background, even if you were a celestial maiden you wouldn’t be worthy of Young Master Qingchen! Stop clinging to him, or else…”
“Or else what?” Young Master Qingchen’s clear, calm voice came from behind, like a summer breeze that refreshed the soul, but it made Lü Danruo’s expression instantly freeze. Looking at Young Master Qingchen approaching in the moonlight, Lü Danruo’s eyes flashed with embarrassment, but she quickly hid it and said somewhat coyly: “Young Master Qingchen, Danruo…”
Qingchen walked past Lü Danruo directly to Yunge, lifting her small face as he asked with a soft smile: “What’s wrong? Did someone bully you?” Yunge rolled her eyes and ignored him. As if she would let herself be bullied.
Lü Danruo, ignored by Qingchen, stood frozen in place, her face alternating between pale and flushed. She hadn’t expected that the seemingly refined and courteous Young Master Qingchen would so thoroughly disregard her face. After confirming Yunge was fine, Qingchen turned to look at Lü Danruo and said coldly: “Miss Lü, who is worthy of the Xu family is for me to decide, it has nothing to do with you. The Xu family doesn’t need Miss Lü’s concern. If Miss Lü is truly so bored, perhaps you should worry about yourself.”
“I…” Lü Danruo’s eyes reddened with a grievance as she looked pitifully at Qingchen: “Young Master Qingchen, you misunderstand, I didn’t mean…”
Yunge poked her head out from behind Qingchen, grinning triumphantly at Lü Danruo, her little face full of satisfaction. Qingchen looked down to see her smiling face and asked softly: “So happy?”
Yunge snorted lightly and said: “She asked what you like, what you love to eat, what you hate – I don’t know, you tell her yourself.”
“Oh? You want me to tell her?” Qingchen asked with a soft laugh.
Yunge froze, and stayed silent for a moment before grabbing his arm and trying to threaten him fiercely: “You’re not allowed to tell her, or else I’ll… I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” Qingchen smiled.
“I…” Facing Qingchen’s smiling eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words “beat you up.” Yunge now somewhat understood why, despite her strong martial arts, she never dared use them against Qingchen. She simply couldn’t bear to hurt him… What if she damaged him?
Qingchen’s smile widened as he lovingly brushed her hair and said: “Alright, I won’t tell her. But I can tell you, and you must remember carefully.”
“Mm!” Yunge nodded seriously.
“Come on, let’s go.” Holding Yunge’s small hand, Young Master Qingchen turned to leave, not sparing another glance at Lü Danruo standing to the side.
“Eh? Weren’t you supposed to attend the banquet?”
“We already did. We’re leaving Guangling tomorrow – where does Yunge want to go?”
“I want to… want to go to many, many fun places!” Yunge said excitedly.
“Then let’s go.” The two guards following behind looked back at Lü Danruo left in the garden – in the moonlight, her moon-white clothes and pale face looked… rather terrifying.
What’s wrong with her? Was the blow too harsh?
Fool! She’s been hit with a pressure point technique.
Miss Yunge looked at her small hand-held by Young Master Qingchen, then back at Lü Danruo standing motionless in the garden, and lowered her head somewhat guiltily.
After leaving Guangling, the two traveled around, sightseeing and helping people with medicine. Just as Qingchen had said, no one dared bully her when she was with Young Master Qingchen. In less than two months, Yunge had helped more and more people, and her reputation grew. Though not comparable to the Divine Doctor Shen Yang, she earned the title of Little Medical Immortal, both for her excellent medical skills at such a young age and her celestial beauty. The feelings between the two grew increasingly harmonious. Young Master Qingchen himself enjoyed natural scenery, so he was particularly content with their wandering life.
In the distant Prince Ding’s mansion in Li City, Prince Ding with his snow-white hair faced the tall stacks of documents and memorials before him, his sword-like eyebrows tightly knitted, emanating killing intent.
“Where is Young Master Qingchen now?”
In the study, a man in gray clothes reported with a lowered head: “Your Highness, Young Master Qingchen and Miss Shen have just returned from the southern borders. From their route, it seems they plan to go to Xiling.”
Prince Ding gritted his teeth: “Which means they still have no plans to return?”
“This… seems so…”
Prince Ding’s handsome face darkened, his eyes flashing with a strange light: “Go! Bring him back to me! Holding a position but neglecting his duties, instead taking a young lady sightseeing…” Prince Ding was extremely resentful. Now he couldn’t even take Li’er sightseeing. With the realm newly stabilized and everything needing restoration, he didn’t even have time to spend with Li’er!
“This… Your Highness, is this appropriate?” Young Master Qingchen was the Princess Consort’s cousin – if he got angry, wouldn’t Your Highness suffer? And if Your Highness got angry, they would suffer.
“Go! I will discuss this with the Xu family. It’s time for Xu Qingchen and Yunge’s wedding. How proper is it to keep taking someone’s unmarried daughter traveling around?” His eyes flashed as Prince Ding came up with a brilliant idea. It was time for Qingchen to marry, and after marriage, he should take over the Xu family affairs. After marriage, there would be children, and then raising children… He only needed to ensure Qingchen wouldn’t wander around for the next three to five years. As for after that… Prince Ding snorted lightly – why should he care?
“This servant obeys!”