For Yan Sanhe and the others, Tao Qiao’er’s sudden willingness to speak was exactly what they hoped for.

“Madam Tang, please speak.”

“A woman of the inner chambers—my words will be rather scattered. Please bear with me.”

Yan Sanhe: “We won’t find it tedious. However scattered, we love hearing it.”

Tao Qiao’er smiled bashfully.

“My husband has been a famous child prodigy in our area since he was small. From starting his studies with the Hundred Family Surnames at age three, to becoming a student at fourteen, to passing the imperial examinations as a presented scholar—he… never studied seriously for a single day.”

The latter half of the sentence caught everyone completely off guard.

Other scholars hung their heads from roof beams and stabbed their thighs with awls, studying hard in cold windows for over ten years. This lord, however, never studied seriously for a single day…

If other scholars who couldn’t pass the examinations heard this, wouldn’t they die of frustration?

“Don’t disbelieve me. Even his teachers said his intelligence was never used on the proper path.”

Seeing she spoke with such sincerity, Yan Sanhe asked, “Where was it used?”

Tao Qiao’er counted on her fingers one by one.

“Listening to opera, writing opera scripts, refining elixirs, refining medicines, martial arts, brewing wine, playing the qin, playing the flute, playing chess, growing flowers, military strategy, mystical arts, divination using six lines, cricket fighting, cockfighting, gambling…”

“Stop, stop, stop!”

Young Master Pei was dumbfounded and instinctively glanced at Tang Jianxi. “Does he have three heads and six arms?”

Tao Qiao’er: “He doesn’t have three heads and six arms—he’s just restless.”

With these three words spoken, Yan Sanhe understood somewhat. “From this perspective, Master Tang has been an independently-minded person since childhood?”

“My parents said he’s an eccentric.”

Tao Qiao’er’s face showed both helplessness and pride. “Actually, what he hates most is studying. Going to the capital for the examinations was also to propose marriage to my family.”

“His parents used to look down on me, thinking I didn’t do proper work all day and would either eat through the family fortune or become a wastrel in the future.”

Master Tang looked at his wife. “Only she was silly enough to think I was good in every way, and even if I became a beggar in the future, she’d be willing to follow me.”

“Bah!”

Tao Qiao’er spat at her husband. “Don’t put gold on your own face. I was just deceived by your honeyed words.”

“Did I deceive you?”

“You never deceived me, not once.”

Tao Qiao’er’s playful expression turned serious. “I said I didn’t like the capital, so he took a posting outside. I said I didn’t like being an official’s wife, so he resigned and retired to seclusion.”

“That’s not right!”

Tang Jianxi interrupted. “She saw that I was unhappy in the capital, unhappy taking the examinations, unhappy being an official, so she deliberately threw tantrums to pull me back to the mountains.”

“He…”

Tao Qiao’er extended her finger to poke her husband’s forehead.

“When he was young, he was arrogant and hot-tempered. At the slightest disagreement, he’d curse at people and chase them off. How could he be material for an official? He’d offend people without even knowing it.”

“I understand.”

Yan Sanhe interrupted their conversation. “Master Tang has the temperament of a free-floating cloud and wild crane. He has no ambition to get ahead and is even less willing to wear a false face in official circles, striving and scheming.”

“The young lady is correct. Whoever becomes emperor has nothing to do with him. He only wants to be an idle person, and can only be an idle person.”

Tao Qiao’er said this while brushing her hair.

“After the Tang family case happened, his position in official circles became even more difficult. No one gave him a good face, everyone could kick him from behind, give him trouble. Watching this, my heart ached.

Back then, when he resigned, Elder Brother Chu came to find me, asking me to persuade him. Elder Brother Chu said a true man should accomplish great deeds, not spend every day idle. He should achieve something great to make his time in this world worthwhile.”

Yan Sanhe: “You didn’t try to persuade him?”

Tao Qiao’er nodded.

“An opera has people playing the emperor, the imperial consort, maids, and villains. Outside the opera, it’s the same. What role, what fate—the heavens have arranged it all. Going against one’s nature to do things—the work doesn’t get done, but you work yourself to death instead.”

“So given Master Tang’s temperament, he was destined to part ways with Chu Yanting. There’s no right or wrong—it’s simply that their paths diverged and they couldn’t work together. Then…”

Yan Sanhe looked at Tang Jianxi, her gaze suddenly turning cold.

“Why would Master Tang become unusually agitated when we mentioned Chu Yanting? Logically, that shouldn’t happen.”

Tang Jianxi’s expression changed subtly.

Before he could speak, Xie Zhifei said in a deep voice, “The Former Crown Prince and Master Tang came from the same school. No matter how far Master Tang kept his distance, he couldn’t avoid this reality.”

Young Master Pei sneered and picked up the thread. “When the Former Crown Prince had problems and the Chu family was exterminated to three generations, Master Tang not only avoided being purged but remained completely unharmed. This doesn’t quite fit common sense.”

“There should be some story here.”

Xie Zhifei: “Master Tang, why don’t you tell us properly—what exactly happened?”

As the saying goes: one emperor, one court of ministers.

Mingting and he were openly and covertly the Crown Prince’s people. Then the two of them would be tied to the Crown Prince until death.

To put it bluntly, if something happened to the Crown Prince, the purge wouldn’t come today then tomorrow. Even the Pei and Xie families might not fare well.

Tang Jianxi suddenly stood up and walked to the window, pushing it open.

The mountain wind howled in, carrying threads of cold.

“Qiao’er!”

Tang Jianxi’s extremely cold eyes looked at the indistinct distant mountains.

“Actually, that time Yanting didn’t come to persuade me back to official circles. His real purpose was to have me retreat deep into the mountains. Those words he said for you to hear were actually performed for others to see. One of the guards who came with him that time was the Former Crown Prince’s man.”

Tao Qiao’er’s heart jumped sharply.

“There’s another matter I’ve always hidden from you. After the Tang family incident, Yanting discussed with me, saying eggs shouldn’t all be put in one basket. The two of us had best have one in the open and one in hiding. Only Martial Sister remained from the Tang family. No matter what, we had to protect her and leave Teacher with descendants.”

Tang Jianxi: “He also said: I’m too entangled with the Tang family—I must stay in the open. You have Tao Qiao’er, so find a way to become a hermit.”

“Zhenge?”

Tao Qiao’er’s face filled with shock as she stood up, bracing herself on the table.

“He also said: I’ll handle things with the Crown Prince—you needn’t worry. With Martial Sister’s situation, don’t rush to show yourself. Wait slowly until the Tang family matter dies down. Everything will be on me.”

Tears seeped into Tang Jianxi’s eyes.

“He finally said: Jianxi, life and death are fated, wealth and honor depend on heaven. If something happens, remember—don’t do anything, don’t even collect my body. Just burn me a stack of paper money every year at Qingming and the Ghost Festival, toast me a few cups of wine, and that will fulfill our destiny as fellow disciples.”

His words proved prophetic again.

News of the Former Crown Prince’s attempted coup reached the mountain ten days later. Along with it came two words from Martial Sister Jingchen: Wang’an!

Wang’an—

Don’t move.

Live well, stay alive. Otherwise, there would be no one to burn paper offerings and toast wine for them at Qingming and the Ghost Festival, no one to recite sutras and pray for blessings for them.

Tang Jianxi’s breathing finally became rapid.

He raised his hand to cover his face. Tears flowed through his fingers.