“Hong Dou, don’t be so unruly.” Luo Sheng frowned and scolded her maid, then showed Wei Han an extremely faint smile. “The Prince can send it over whenever convenient, there’s no rush.”

Wei Han nodded slightly with a cold expression: “Understood. Until we meet again.”

If possible, he hoped to never see this bloodsucking Miss Luo again.

But thinking of the supreme delicacies he’d eaten these past few days, Wei Han felt a flicker of wavering deep in his heart.

This thought was somewhat dangerous!

Wei Han’s heart trembled with alarm, and he shook the reins and galloped straight toward the city gate.

He was not someone who would bow for a mere bite of food.

Even after entering the city, Shi Yan still looked bewildered: “Master, do we really owe Miss Luo three thousand five hundred taels of silver?”

Wei Han looked at his guard with a dark expression, feeling the urge to kick him off his horse.

Is it “we” who owe it? Clearly it was he who owed it!

Shi Yan, completely oblivious to the danger, rubbed his face and said: “Master, something doesn’t seem right.”

“Hm?”

“Think about it, at first when you obtained Miss Luo’s dagger, they wanted three thousand taels of silver, correct?”

“Mm.”

“Later Miss Luo asked you to escort her to the capital, and the three thousand taels were offset, correct?”

“Mm.”

“But now we’ve also arrived in the capital, so how did we end up owing Miss Luo three thousand five hundred taels instead?”

Wei Han: “…” He didn’t want to speak, and only wanted to kick his guard off the horse.

Shi Yan was still calculating: “If you hadn’t used a promise to offset the debt at the start, you would only owe Miss Luo three thousand taels now, and would have saved yourself from escorting Miss Luo to the capital—”

Wei Han rode past the young guard, leaving behind one sentence: “When we return to the Prince’s estate, remember to go scrub the chamber pots.”

The young Prince, now burdened with enormous debt, became even more wary of Luo Sheng.

He had truly underestimated this girl.

At first, a bowl of minced meat noodles had made him careless, but who knew there would follow braised meat, gourd chicken, stir-fried yellow croaker rolls, walnut crispy duck…

Before he knew it, the debt had climbed to three thousand five hundred taels.

Looking at the exceptionally noble and magnificent gates of Prince Kaiyang’s estate, Wei Han felt as if he’d narrowly escaped disaster.

He should be grateful that escorting Miss Luo to the capital had only taken a few days, otherwise the rest of his life would probably be spent repaying debts.

The streets of the capital were very lively. Sheng Sanlang looked left and right, his eyes dazzled by all the sights.

Hong Dou crawled out from the carriage and sat beside Sheng Sanlang, her face full of joy: “Oh my, we’re almost at the Grand Marshal’s estate! The Grand Marshal will be so happy to see Miss has returned.”

“Where is the Grand Marshal’s estate?” Sheng Sanlang asked.

Hong Dou jutted her chin forward: “Go straight ahead to the first intersection, turn north, then turn west around a bend and we’ll be there.”

Sheng Sanlang touched his nose and decided to just drive the cart silently.

The young maid was clearly quite excited and chattered nonstop: “Our Grand Marshal’s estate is very lively, the carriages and horses in front of the gate flow like water without stopping. Young Master Cousin has surely never seen such a thing.”

Sheng Sanlang perfunctorily responded: “Yes, never seen it.”

What did the liveliness have to do with him? He only cared about whether he could still eat his cousin’s cooking at the Grand Marshal’s estate.

Thinking of the delicacies he’d eaten these past few days, Sheng Sanlang quietly asked Hong Dou: “Will your Miss cook at the estate?”

Hong Dou pursed her lips: “Is Young Master Cousin joking? This isn’t Jinsha, and it’s not on the road—this is the capital with countless handsome young gentlemen. Once our Miss returns to the capital, how would she have time to cook?”

Sheng Sanlang’s mouth twitched.

He apologized—he’d forgotten his cousin’s true preferences.

Hong Dou glanced at the youth’s distressed expression and didn’t forget to twist the knife: “Besides, once Young Master Cousin delivers our Miss to the estate, won’t you have to go back? Even if our Miss still cooks, you won’t be able to eat it.”

Won’t—be—able—to—eat—it!

Sheng Sanlang was struck as if by lightning.

If his cousin never cooked again, that would be one thing, but if she did cook and he couldn’t eat it—just thinking of this possibility made Sheng Sanlang feel like ten thousand arrows were piercing his heart.

No, he had to find a way to stay, he wouldn’t leave!

Sheng Sanlang firmed his resolve and vigorously cracked the whip.

“We’re here!” Hong Dou cheered and jumped down from the carriage, then turned to help Luo Sheng down.

Luo Sheng raised her eyes to look at the Luo estate’s main gate.

The vermilion lacquered gate was tightly closed, with imposing lion-head door knockers upon it, but compared to the bustling gate Hong Dou had described, it was unusually quiet.

Luo Sheng’s face remained impassive as she looked toward Hong Dou.

Hong Dou also sensed something was wrong and murmured: “Strange, why is no one here?”

She walked forward and forcefully knocked on the door knocker.

“Who is it?” A gatekeeper poked his head out.

“Open the gate quickly, Miss has returned!” Hong Dou shouted with full vigor.

The gatekeeper thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He vigorously rubbed them before coming to his senses and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Miss has returned, Miss has returned!”

In an instant, news of Luo Sheng’s return spread throughout the Grand Marshal’s estate. Those who received the news either rushed out or hid themselves—all manner of reactions.

Luo Sheng stepped inside and turned her head to ask a middle-aged man who looked like a steward: “Where is my father?”

She had no memories of Miss Luo, but that didn’t prevent her from putting on an act.

The steward’s tears immediately flowed: “Miss, thank heavens you’ve returned, otherwise—”

“Otherwise what?” Luo Sheng frowned and asked.

The steward wiped his tears, his expression sorrowful: “The Grand Marshal was ambushed and has been unconscious for nearly a month!”

Luo Sheng’s steps halted: “Ambushed?”

“Yes, the Grand Marshal’s injuries are very severe. These past days, the Imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau have nearly all visited, but the Grand Marshal still hasn’t awakened. The Imperial physicians say—”

Luo Sheng’s face darkened: “Say it all at once.”

At this moment, she had no patience to tolerate others’ hesitations.

The steward’s scalp tingled. Remembering Miss’s ferocity—no, prowess—he no longer dared to be wordy: “The Imperial physicians say if the Grand Marshal doesn’t wake soon, he won’t make it…”

“Take me to see my father.”

Luo Sheng’s expression was heavy, and her mood even heavier.

The Grand Marshal Luo was ambushed, and she was attacked on the road—was all this coincidence, or was there some hidden mystery?

She had thought that returning to the capital as Miss Luo, the difficulties she’d need to resolve would all concern the Prince’s estate. She hadn’t expected the Luo estate itself to have no shortage of troubles.

Of course, no matter how great the troubles, what needed to be faced still had to be faced.

Luo Sheng was led into the main courtyard and felt somewhat hesitant looking at the row of women standing in the corridor.

Hong Dou had said the Luo estate had four young ladies total, and Miss Luo was the third, but among this group of women, besides three or four who were older, the others all looked quite young, and at first glance all appeared to be dressed as married women.

Fortunately, after only a moment’s hesitation, one of the women waved her handkerchief and exclaimed: “Heavens, how did Miss return!”

Miss?

Luo Sheng pressed her lips together—she probably knew how to handle this situation now.

She walked over with a stern face, sweeping her gaze across the women to remember as many faces as possible, then raised her chin slightly and asked: “Is my father inside?”

The eldest-looking woman among them spoke: “The Master is inside. Miss, how did you return?”

Luo Sheng didn’t answer this question and walked directly inside.

At that moment, a shout came from behind: “You stop right there!”

Luo Sheng turned to look at the person who had spoken—a girl in blue dress who had come running with her skirts lifted.

“What is it?” Luo Sheng asked.

A flash of fear crossed the blue-dressed girl’s eyes, then she mustered her courage to question: “You harmed Father to this state, yet you still have the face to see Father?”