Last time you roasted golden carp, this time you braised a swan – why don’t you just stir-fry, deep-fry, sauté, and braise the Academy Head too?

Tie Ci scooted her bottom away from this fellow to put some distance between them.

The Academy Head hadn’t returned from his lecture tour. If he came back and found his beloved fish and beloved swan gone, wouldn’t he roast her too?

Rong Wei started chanting to the goose in the pot again: “Look, Brother Goose, some people wipe their mouths after eating and plan to wash their hands of any responsibility. Have they forgotten your midnight suffering being stewed?”

Tie Ci decided to pretend she hadn’t heard.

There was indeed a bag of feathers on the ground, white as snow. Tie Ci picked up the bag and said: “I’ll have my maid make you a goose feather fan – perfect for the hot weather. Consider it a thank-you gift, how about that?”

This way, if the Academy Head investigated how they were missing a swan, he’d just need to see who was using a goose feather fan.

Rong Wei smiled: “Sounds good.”

The fire was out and the goose was finished, but Tie Ci couldn’t very well flip through books in front of Rong Wei. Just as she was wondering when this fellow would leave, she heard Rong Wei say: “I heard both Rong Pu and Dan Ye moved to your dormitory?”

Tie Ci made an affirming sound, her mind racing.

Rong Wei’s smiling gaze swept over: “You’re quite the popular commodity.”

Tie Ci smiled: “Sir, what are you saying? They didn’t go there for me.”

Rong Wei glanced at her: “If not for you, then for whom? Rong Pu and Dan Ye were living perfectly well in the Alpha dormitory. You arrived, and they both suddenly ran off to Wu dormitory. What, are your friendships from Shengdu really that deep?”

Tie Ci sighed while stroking her knee: “How can I put this properly!”

Her dramatic gesture actually sparked Rong Wei’s interest. He couldn’t help but smile: “What, could it be that these two…” He touched his fingertips together and raised an eyebrow.

Tie Ci was nearly made to laugh by his soul-searching gesture. Suppressing her laughter, she feigned surprise: “Sir is brilliant! Since you’ve guessed it, I won’t hide it anymore. Yes, it’s because Rong Pu has taken a fancy to Dan Ye, so he’s chasing after him!”

Rong Wei: “……”

Far away at Wu dormitory, Rong Pu and Dan Ye both sneezed in unison……

Rong Wei lowered his head to carefully examine Tie Ci’s expression, wanting to see this little liar’s guilty conscience after spouting such nonsense.

Unfortunately, Tie Ci had a face full of righteousness, sitting upright and unmoved.

As if the CP she’d just paired up had indeed hit upon the truth.

After a long moment, Rong Wei laughed and shook his head, thinking of Hu Yin’s unusual behavior toward Rong Pu, Dan Ye’s inexplicable hostility toward Rong Pu, and the news his Embroidered Uniform Guards had vaguely gathered.

Ye Shiba saying Rong Pu liked Dan Ye was a joke, but the Rong family’s desire to curry favor with and control the Western Rong was real.

The Rong family had no military power and was everywhere constrained by the Xiao family. He had vaguely discovered that Chief Minister Rong wanted Rong Pu to marry a Western Rong noblewoman. However, as a subject marrying a foreign royal woman was a great taboo – he didn’t know how the Rong family planned to proceed.

Rong Pu was quite scheming. Using Ye Shiba as a cover while working on Dan Ye would be normal.

These thoughts passed through his mind, but he didn’t intend to tell Tie Ci, lest his identity be suspected. After all, an ordinary official’s son from Liaodong shouldn’t know so much.

Tie Ci also knew this nonsense about Rong Pu being interested in Dan Ye wouldn’t fool Rong Wei. She had already prepared a set of explanations to guide him toward thinking about Western Rong-court relations, but unexpectedly Rong Wei stopped asking, which was a relief.

On second thought, given Rong Wei’s intelligence, thinking of these things wasn’t strange.

Both harboring ulterior motives, they chuckled and simultaneously wished Rong Pu and Dan Ye a happy union for a hundred years.

At Wu dormitory, Rong Pu and Dan Ye sneezed in unison again……

Rong Wei changed the subject and asked Tie Ci: “What are you doing sneaking here in the middle of the night?”

“Then why did sir specifically come here in the middle of the night to roast geese?”

“What do you mean ‘specifically’?” Rong Wei gave her a look. “I eat midnight snacks here every night. I get hungry easily, and the dining hall doesn’t cook at night. This place is secluded with its own compound. It’s spacious and has cover. It’s perfect.”

As he spoke, he showed Tie Ci the utensils he had hidden here – an empty bookcase containing various tools and seasonings, even complete sets of knives.

Additionally, there were fox pelts, rabbit skins, goose feathers, chicken feathers, and several hidden eggs.

Tie Ci: “……”

So the sacred ground of scholars worldwide, Leaping Carp Academy’s library, had become this fellow’s little kitchen.

Since he treated this place as a kitchen and ate midnight snacks here every night, Tie Ci couldn’t continue lying, or how could she come look for books every night in the future?

Tie Ci had to say: “I need to find a book, one that Lady He might have read. I promised to help Mr. He investigate what his wife did on the day before she died. This was his condition for recommending me to the academy.”

“Then I’ll help you. What do you need to find?”

Having eaten someone’s food, Tie Ci could only vaguely say: “Probably a travel journal. I want to see if Lady He made any annotations in the books.”

The academy’s collection didn’t allow casual annotations unless by great masters. But Tie Ci estimated no one would tell Lady He this, given her lofty status at the academy. And given Lady He’s personality, she probably wouldn’t think of such things.

With nothing to do daily, no children, her husband often away, incompatible with the wives of neighboring colleagues, without even someone to talk to – she must have been lonely. Since she liked staying in the library, she probably had a habit of confiding in books.

The two returned to the second floor, found a ladder, and climbed to the high shelves to look for books.

They shared one ladder, with Tie Ci at the very top and Rong Wei three rungs below her.

Working faster together, after half an hour they had finished the top row of travel accounts with no results.

Tie Ci then stepped down one level, but unexpectedly this ladder was old and poorly maintained with an unstable base. When she stepped down to the edge of the ladder, there was a “ding” sound as a nail popped out from a joint, and the ladder suddenly tilted.

Tie Ci instinctively started to flip backward, but suddenly remembered the narrow space between the two rows of bookshelves wasn’t enough for her to flip – she might crash into the bookshelf. She forcibly stopped herself.

With this abrupt halt, her body uncontrollably toppled backward.

Bang! Her back hit something warm and solid.

A faint woody leaf fragrance assailed her. She turned her head, her black hair sliding over his shoulder, her lips brushing his jaw.

Tie Ci felt Rong Wei’s arms holding her tightly.

Both froze.

Tie Ci immediately struggled outward lightly. The ladder shook violently. Rong Wei’s arms tightened as he whispered in her ear: “Do you want us both to crash to the floor with the ladder, making a thunderous noise that brings everyone nearby to investigate?”

Before Tie Ci could answer, he reproached her again: “Or do you want to ruin my little kitchen so I can never cook here again!”

Tie Ci: “……”

Such serious consequences – comparable to the Dayan invasion, Western Rong betrayal, Xiao family rebellion, or Liaodong’s traitorous independence.

She couldn’t bear such responsibility.

She behaved herself and whispered: “Then let me go first.”

“How can I let you go? You’re so reckless – one move and this ladder will topple.” Rong Wei said righteously, “I’ll take you down with me. Don’t move around. Be good, listen to your teacher.”

Now he was putting on teacher airs.

Tie Ci silently cursed.

But she was currently a man, and her master had said the essence of disguising as a man better than actual men was never being coy or affected – she must genuinely think of herself as a man.

Two men hugging and embracing… was actually quite something.

Rong Wei held her and stepped down one rung. The ladder immediately creaked, sounding precarious. The noise carried far.

Both froze motionless.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t leap down from the ladder, but at this moment the fragile ladder definitely couldn’t withstand the force of two people leaping down together. This second floor only had this one ladder – if it broke badly and couldn’t be repaired, the guards would soon discover it and security would be tightened.

Both the little kitchen’s goose braising and midnight book stealing would become pipe dreams.

Rong Wei said: “Let me slowly lower you down first.”

His hands passed under Tie Ci’s arms, encircling her waist. Tie Ci took a breath.

Her waist was naturally sensitive. Where his hands touched, an electric tingling sensation spread, seeming to penetrate her very bones, making her whole body soften. She gritted her teeth, her back becoming rigid while trying to relax.

But then Rong Wei seemed to find that holding her waist wasn’t convenient for lowering her down, and his hands began groping upward.

Tie Ci stared at those hands, closed her eyes to concentrate, and – Flash!

The next instant she appeared below the ladder, while Rong Wei’s groping hands pressed against his own chest.

Rong Wei: “……”

Fine, you flashed away and I touched myself, but why are you looking at me with such a perverted expression?!

Tie Ci suppressed her laughter and steadied the ladder, signaling for him to come down first.

But at that moment, light footsteps sounded on the stairs.

Then a beam of light shone toward them from afar.