Shuangcheng’s expression changed, but she only said firmly: “I really must return.”

Li Zhaoting slightly clenched his hands, finally slowly releasing them, helping her put on her cloak and seeing her off.

The days ahead were long.

Lian Yu…

Before stepping onto the carriage, Shuangcheng suddenly turned back and said quietly: “Why must you be so persistent about me?”

Li Zhaoting smiled faintly: “Ten li of spring breeze on Yangzhou road, rolling up the pearl curtain is still not as good.”

Shuangcheng was startled, finally lowering her eyelashes and slowly boarding the carriage.

After seeing off Shuangcheng, Li Zhaoting bid farewell to Quan Feitong and also boarded a carriage, racing toward his own residence. Following the conclusion of the Fengji case—Pei Fengji sentenced to autumn execution, Mo Chou and Scholar Xie released, grain and oil prices settled, Li Huaisu severely injured with the Son of Heaven dispatching imperial physicians for secret treatment while forbidding disturbances—the entire court experienced dramatic changes.

Though Prime Minister Quan still held great power, Lian Yu’s momentum had risen. The palace examination was a trial, but the grain case established his position, with many neutral ministers turning toward him.

Quan Feitong needed to regroup.

This Prime Minister was indeed a remarkable figure. After that day’s shock, he showed no displeasure at defeat, still arranging court affairs in an orderly manner, watertight.

Recently, the court seemed peaceful on the surface.

Li Zhaoting rested his elbow on the carriage table, supporting his forehead as he thought slowly.

Until Little Four and the driver gently lifted the curtain and two people entered the carriage, Li Zhaoting emerged from his contemplation and looked briefly at the visitors.

The curtain concealed the green, stern night for a moment, revealing the secluded street outside. Food stalls were hard to find, residential buildings and houses slept in the night, with almost no pedestrians—at most a night watchman passing by.

This was safer than meeting at the residence. Between brick walls, interested parties could lie in wait inside and out.

Warm, dim candlelight burned in the carriage. The interior was clean and spacious. The visitors could be seen paying respects to Li Zhaoting, respectful and reverent.

However, when the candlelight illuminated the visitors’ faces, it was quite frightening—not because they were ugly, but because according to their status, they absolutely shouldn’t appear here, much less pay respects to Li Zhaoting. Moreover, there were two of them.

These two, one old and one young: the elder was current Grand Tutor and Minister of War Wei Chenghui, the other was Assistant Minister of War Si Lanfeng.

One had no connection whatsoever with this top scholar, while the other was this Young Master Li’s enemy.

Yet Li Zhaoting seemed very familiar with both, looking at Wei Chenghui and actually accepting his courtesy, directly asking: “The matter I entrusted to Teacher—has it been accomplished?”

Wei Chenghui nodded and replied: “Lu, Ji, Xu, and Huai counties are adjacent. Your subordinate has followed your instructions and had people below find a suitable false identity for Miss Feng in Ji County, which is closest to Lu County.”

“You thought deeply, knowing that Lian Yu must have previously investigated the top scholar’s identity in Lu County. Now that he knows Li Huaisu isn’t male, he’ll certainly use Lu County as the center, searching county by county. But this matter is unusual—he’ll only investigate secretly. This way, the search becomes difficult, and he won’t necessarily find Huai County where Miss Feng lived in a short time, but will first search the nearest Ji County. As long as Miss Feng exists as a person in Ji County, her true identity won’t be exposed temporarily.”

“Now I’ve made arrangements. Her new identity is the daughter of a great scholar surnamed Xia in Ji County. This gentleman was talented in literature, with good farmland and property, one wife and one daughter. Over ten years ago, a wealthy Ji County merchant wanted to establish wine houses and gambling dens on the main street adjacent to Scholar Xia’s ancestral home. When Scholar Xia refused to sell the land, the merchant bribed local county officials, claiming his writings contained treasonous and rebellious words with intent to rebel. Scholar Xia’s family was immediately sentenced to death for literary crimes. The subsequent story can be fabricated as: an old Xia family servant outside managed to bribe a jailer, who used a street beggar child to switch out Scholar Xia’s clever young daughter.”

Li Zhaoting seemed to listen leisurely with narrowed eyes, but his gaze showed rapid calculation. He nodded.

“Excellent, this fabricated story is perfect! Scholar Xia’s family is dead with no one to contradict it, perfectly connecting to the identity that former Minister Feng arranged for Miss Feng to hide from the world. Li Huaisu, from Lu County, living in a remote village, passed the provincial examination, with one old and one young servant at home. Usually the elder went down the mountain to buy grain. After the elder died, Li Huaisu disappeared with the younger servant… It turns out Miss Xia had grown up, disguised as a man to become top scholar and avenge her parents. Though Miss Xia’s immediate family is dead, she worries about relatives’ safety. Now that her female identity has been exposed, she dares not reveal her true identity to the Son of Heaven, fearing to implicate nine generations. But of course, this identity will later be discovered by the Son of Heaven’s people. Even if there’s still possibility of exposure in the future, at least it’s currently safe.” Si Lanfeng analyzed, his face bearing scholarly elegance with none of his usual pride and arrogance.

After speaking, his face soon showed worry: “We only hope this Miss Feng hasn’t confessed, otherwise all our great efforts will be wasted.”

Li Zhaoting stared at the flickering candlelight without speaking, his eyes unfathomably dark.

Feng Suzhen, you’ve been willful and unruly all your life, but you’ve given me exactly three surprises. The jade flute, the imperial examinations, the national case. This time, I’ve spent manpower to secure you a chance at life. I hope you can give me a fourth surprise and quickly find a way to contact me.

Before finding me, no matter what Lian Yu says to you, does to you, or even tortures you, the smartest method is to keep absolutely silent.

Otherwise, once your identity as a Feng family survivor is exposed, you can only die.

He was somewhat absent-minded, his gaze also revealing a trace of severity. He took out a hairpin from his waist—it belonged to that water-like woman. He examined it for quite a while before suppressing that slight anger.

Wei and Si vaguely understood his thoughts. Wei Chenghui’s gaze also darkened: “Young Master, regarding Feng Suzhen’s matter, there absolutely cannot be a next time. This young lady, this old man fears… will bring disaster upon you.”

Si Lanfeng remembered that girl’s unruly behavior at the inn in the past. Though he was acting, he also disliked her sharp-tongued manner. As a descendant of Li Zhaoting’s father’s retainer, like Wei Chenghui, he put Li Zhaoting’s interests first and immediately said: “Your subordinate knows you’re acting out of consideration for Minister Feng’s memory. This Minister Feng was decisive back then, quickly taking control of the trial rights and sentencing the master’s family to death. Because it was in the Ministry of Justice, he could manage to switch out the pregnant concubine, and also prevented Teacher Wei from revealing his identity too early for armed struggle. First, at that time Quan Feitong’s wings weren’t yet full—he still served the former emperor loyally. With the Murong family and Chao Huang attacking together, we would certainly be defeated. Second, he could secretly provide care and arrange a new identity for you. But over these years, Minister Feng changed, keeping silent about your revenge plans, even saying that observing the Crown Prince’s excellent abilities, it would be better to stop here to avoid bringing disaster upon the world. Having him by your side became a kind of supervision and surveillance.”