Whether Cui Yulang was normal or not, Li Rong no longer knew.

In any case, the time had been set and everything arranged. She just had to wait three days until all the court officials took their rest day, then she could have a good talk with Cui Yulang.

It wasn’t convenient for her to meet Cui Yulang in the city—there were eyes and ears everywhere—so she could only arrange to meet outside the city. Since it would take a long time, she could only wait for the rest day.

As it happened, Pei Wenxuan was thinking the same thing.

After moving into the Pei residence his father had left behind with Madam Wen, he spent some time making minor improvements before settling in.

He hadn’t brought many things with him. This made him feel somewhat more comfortable, as though he were just out on a vacation and would return sooner or later.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he hadn’t brought much or because Li Rong wasn’t there, but the house always felt empty. At night lying in bed, he tossed and turned, inexplicably feeling the bed was too large.

Even when he finally managed to fall asleep, sometimes in the middle of the night he would reach out in his dreams and, feeling no one beside him, would suddenly wake with a start. For an instant, it felt as though he were still in his previous life, that everything in this lifetime had been nothing but a fleeting dream, and upon waking he would return to his past life’s solitary, pitiful existence. This would frighten him fully awake, and only slowly would he remember what had happened and gradually calm down.

During the day at court when he saw Li Rong, even though he knew he shouldn’t look, he couldn’t control the urge to direct his gaze toward her.

He wondered how Li Rong was sleeping without him there, whether she was thinking of him.

Thus suffering through each day like a year, unable to endure even three days, as soon as rest day arrived, Pei Wenxuan decided to go see her.

It wasn’t convenient to meet in the city, so they’d have to go outside it. Great Xia had one rest day every ten days. If he missed today, he’d have to wait another ten days. So before dawn even broke, Pei Wenxuan had Tong Ye go knock on Zhao Chongjiu’s door to relay his message to Li Rong.

Zhao Chongjiu dutifully passed the message to Li Rong, who had just woken up at that moment. She was properly dressed and preparing to leave the city to meet Cui Yulang.

Upon receiving Zhao Chongjiu’s message, she felt somewhat conflicted.

She wanted to see Pei Wenxuan too, but she had already arranged to meet Cui Yulang, and the matter couldn’t be delayed. She struggled for a moment, then suddenly came to a realization.

She was actually struggling over such a thing?

“Tell the Prince Consort that I have business outside the city today. We’ll wait until the next rest day. It’s official business—tell him not to take it to heart.”

Li Rong looked up and instructed Zhao Chongjiu, then turned to have someone fetch what she needed.

Zhao Chongjiu immediately had someone relay the message to Pei Wenxuan. By the time Pei Wenxuan received word, Li Rong was already nearly out of the city.

But by this time, Pei Wenxuan had also finished preparing. Hearing Li Rong decline to see him, he couldn’t help but frown. “What business does she have?”

“The person who replied didn’t say.”

Tong Ye observed Pei Wenxuan’s expression and said carefully, “Perhaps Young Master should just rest well today?”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t speak. He sat for a while, then still stood up. He said in a low voice, “No, I must go see.”

With that, Pei Wenxuan hurried out the door.

Pei Wenxuan’s residence was closer to the city gate than Li Rong’s. Calculating the time, he took a shortcut and left through the city gate ahead of schedule, then waited at the gate.

Since Li Rong wanted to avoid detection, she naturally wouldn’t leave in the Princess Manor’s carriage. An ordinary carriage mixed among the coming and going crowds wouldn’t reveal who Li Rong was.

Pei Wenxuan sat in his carriage with the curtain rolled up, watching. After waiting a while, a completely ordinary carriage rolled up its curtain and spoke a few words to the guards. The guards then let it pass. Pei Wenxuan watched for a moment, lowered the curtain, and said quietly, “Follow it.”

Li Rong’s carriage moved at a steady pace toward the outskirts. After a short while, Li Rong heard someone outside say, “Your Highness, it seems someone is following us.”

Li Rong opened her eyes, tapping her fan against her palm. After thinking, she said, “Have someone go to the teahouse to find Cui Yulang. Tell him the location has changed—wait for me at Reed Pavilion. Up ahead, find a grove and stop. Let everyone rest. In a moment I’ll get off the carriage,” Li Rong lowered her voice, “leave two people to help me watch the rear and clear the way.”

The guard nodded and did as Li Rong instructed.

The carriage moved forward for a while, then stopped. A guard quickly turned to inquire of Pei Wenxuan inside the carriage, “Sir, the carriage ahead has stopped.”

Pei Wenxuan was silent for a moment, then simply said, “Continue forward.”

This stretch of road wasn’t long and didn’t require stopping the carriage to rest. If Li Rong was stopping anyway, she must have discovered him. If he also stopped, he might alarm Li Rong. The best plan now was to let Li Rong think he had left, then wait for her up ahead.

Pei Wenxuan pondered Li Rong’s thoughts. Given Li Rong’s personality, she couldn’t possibly just get off the carriage and stop. After she got off, she would likely create another layer of disguise, having someone impersonate her and leave while she herself took a second route…

No.

Pei Wenxuan recalled Li Rong’s tactics when she had ambushed Yang Quan at the villa. Li Rong might not even take a second route. She would be more cautious—she would keep a group of guards with her. After the second disguise, she would leave last.

Having guessed Li Rong’s plan, Pei Wenxuan had them stop the carriage. Taking two guards with him, he quickly darted into the nearby woods. He rolled up his sleeves and instructed the guards beside him, “When you see guards running past, chase after them.”

The guards acknowledged and lay in ambush as Pei Wenxuan required. Meanwhile, Pei Wenxuan chose an old tree and climbed it, crouching in the branches and watching the surroundings.

Li Rong exchanged clothes with Jing Lan in the carriage. She disguised herself as an ordinary woman wearing a veil. Once Jing Lan switched clothes with her, they became indistinguishable. Everyone noisily gathered around talking, then after a while returned to the carriage.

The carriage moved forward for a bit. Li Rong waved to the two guards she had left in the shadows, and they immediately ran off.

The guards ran forward. From his tree, Pei Wenxuan saw the guards approaching. He waved to his men concealed in the grass. After Li Rong’s people ran off, his men chased after them.

Li Rong waited in the shadows for a while. Estimating that everyone should have left by now, she finally turned and ran out from under the tree, hurrying toward Reed Pavilion.

With no one else around now, she ran urgently. Pei Wenxuan sat in the tree watching Li Rong sprint all the way. He frowned.

What on earth was Li Rong’s reaction about? What was she going to do?

He was quite puzzled but didn’t make a sound. He waited until Li Rong ran past beneath his tree and into the distance, then climbed down and chased after her.

As Li Rong ran, she looked around. Meanwhile, Pei Wenxuan followed while hiding along the way. Neither of them were professional scouts, yet they somehow maintained a strange harmony. After running for quite a distance, Li Rong finally arrived at Reed Pavilion.

Cui Yulang had been waiting there early. He wore a blue scholar’s robe, his hair half-bound with a ribbon, holding a jade flute in his hand. The instant he heard Li Rong’s footsteps, he turned around with a smile. From the angle of his upturned lips to the arc of his turn, everything displayed a kind of delicate affectation.

Li Rong panted heavily, her hand braced against a pillar of the pavilion, watching Cui Yulang’s performance. Though she had anticipated this, she still felt her breath catch at the instant Cui Yulang turned around.

If Li Rong was affected to this extent, Pei Wenxuan hiding in the shadows couldn’t help himself even more—he only regretted not having finished him off with a cleaver last time.

Although reason told Pei Wenxuan that Li Rong’s initiative to find Cui Yulang must be for legitimate business, seeing these two standing together still offended his eyes.

Fortunately, he still suppressed the impulse, crouching in the shadows and cooperating with Li Rong’s arrangements.

“Your Highness.” Seeing Li Rong enter the pavilion, Cui Yulang bowed respectfully to her. Li Rong leaned against the pillar to catch her breath for a moment, waved her hand to indicate he needn’t bow, then walked into the pavilion and said, “Someone was following me today. Let’s keep this brief.”

“That case you mentioned last time—a local gentry stole your friend’s examination slot?”

“Yes.” Hearing Li Rong ask about the actual matter, Cui Yulang immediately became serious. Li Rong picked up a teacup and said slowly, “Where did this happen?”

“Zhangping County in Wangzhou.”

“Your hometown?”

“Yes.”

“You’re an official in the Ministry of Rites,” Li Rong looked up with a half-smile, “can’t you even settle such a small matter?”

“Your Highness jests,” Cui Yulang smiled bitterly. “It’s just a sinecure with no real power. What can I do?”

Li Rong sat on the long bench that circled the pavilion, looking at the small river outside. Her expression was calm. “You harbor resentment.”

Cui Yulang didn’t speak. Li Rong turned her head to look at him and smiled. “Last time you said you wanted to offer yourself…” Li Rong straightened and walked in front of Cui Yulang. She stared at him while he smiled without speaking.

Cui Yulang was a regular patron of pleasure houses and entertainment quarters, accustomed to navigating through crowds of women. He frequented brothels and reportedly never needed to pay—he’d compose a poem at checkout, and it would become the capital’s most popular tune the next day.

Such a person, facing Li Rong’s gaze and scrutiny, showed not the slightest retreat. He even stepped forward, moved closer to Li Rong, looked down at her, and said with deep affection, “What does Your Highness think?”

“Snap!” A crisp sound rang out. Pei Wenxuan watching their movements from afar couldn’t hear the content clearly, but he still couldn’t help himself and directly snapped the tree branch in his hand.

Li Rong felt as though she heard something, but also thought it might be her imagination. She scanned the reed marsh to the side but saw no one. After thinking, she gestured to Cui Yulang, walked a bit farther toward the river, then lowered her voice. “Are you doing this for your friend or for yourself?”

“Why would Your Highness say such a thing?” Cui Yulang seemed puzzled. Li Rong let out a soft laugh and looked up at him. “Has Lord Cui never thought about accomplishing something in the officialdom?”

In her previous life, Cui Yulang had lingered in brothels, unrestrained and dissolute, with absolutely no interest in court politics. Yet Li Rong had read his poetry and always felt that such poems weren’t written by someone completely uninterested in officialdom.

Most importantly, Cui Yulang’s family wasn’t wealthy at all. His father was merely a teacher at an ordinary private school. The dedication and effort required for him to study from childhood to adulthood was beyond what ordinary people could achieve.

Having paid such a great price to enter officialdom, could he truly have no ambitions at all? His departure back then was probably nothing more than leaving in utter disappointment.

After all, in Great Xia’s officialdom of that time, there was absolutely no place for someone like Cui Yulang.

But in this life, he had come to lodge a complaint with her.

Not only to complain, but also to offer himself to her, attempting to become her lover. As long as he became her lover, he would gain additional support.

“Actually, I understand Lord Cui’s meaning,” Li Rong leaned against the pillar, looking at Cui Yulang with a half-smile. “The complaint is merely a pretext; offering yourself is the real purpose. The reason for offering yourself is simply because Lord Cui currently,” Li Rong raised her hand to prop up her head, looking at Cui Yulang, “wants a patron, nothing more.”

Cui Yulang smiled without speaking. Li Rong thought for a moment. “However, I’m also very curious—if you wanted to attach yourself to someone, why didn’t you act earlier? And moreover,” Li Rong raised her fan and pointed it at herself, “why choose me?”