The little maid saw this and her face showed anxiety. She quickly tried to persuade him, “Young Master, you absolutely mustn’t! These are all especially treasured by our young master. You cannot break them.”

Li Shiyan had grasped her weak spot and was immensely pleased with himself. He threatened toward the inside of the room, “Ziluo, if you don’t open the door, I’ll break off all the plum blossoms in your courtyard and stick them in my own room.”

Just as he finished speaking, the door opened!

But there was no one at the door.

He only heard a cool, detached voice coming from inside the room, “Come in.”

Hearing this, Li Shiyan grinned, released the plum blossom branch in his hand, and walked quickly into the room. As he passed by the maid, he couldn’t help but show off proudly, saying, “See that? This is called using your brain.”

That’s called being shameless!

Li Shiyan entered the room. The room was filled with a light, delicate fragrance that surrounded his nose as soon as he entered. The scent was not the fresh fragrance of a woman, but rather like the scent of flowers—pleasant without being cloying.

At this moment, Su Ziluo sat in a wheelchair, wearing a robe of blue-black ink color, elegant and understated. His legs were covered with a soft blanket, and he sat before an open window, his gentle gaze looking out at the cloudless sky.

A flock of birds flew past in formation!

He was still the same as he had been years ago—eyes like autumn waters, brows like swords. With the slightest movement, he was like a painting. His handsome, distinguished face radiated the maturity and charm befitting his age, but also revealed a melancholy that made one’s heart ache.

The vicissitudes of life had almost consumed his entirety!

Over these years, he had experienced all the coldness and warmth of human relationships, felt separation and reunion time and again. Whenever he recalled the past, it was as if he had stepped through the gates of hell—exhausted in body and spirit, disheartened and despairing!

Fortunately, he had always held onto one conviction, stubbornly buried in his heart…

Otherwise, he might already be dead!

As soon as Li Shiyan entered, he sat down in a chair without any restraint, poured himself some water to drink, and asked curiously toward Su Ziluo’s back, “What’s wrong with you today? Why did you close the door and not let me in? What are you busy with? Could you be hiding something in this room?”

He pelted him with several questions in succession.

Su Ziluo’s expression remained calm, only his brows furrowing slightly and unintentionally. He turned the wheelchair to face Li Shiyan, his tightly pressed thin lips uttering faintly, “Aren’t you supposed to be at a matchmaking meeting today? What are you doing running here?”

Hmm!

Li Shiyan was puzzled. “Your information is really well-informed. I thought you stayed in the manor every day completely isolated from the world, but you even know about my matchmaking meeting today. Impressive!”

“If I want to know, naturally I can know. It’s not difficult!”

“True, who are you? You’re Qujiang’s most imposing and resourceful great general. Who can compare to you!” Li Shiyan’s words sounded somewhat sour, but they were from his heart.

Although Su Ziluo’s legs were crippled, he was after all once a fierce general who had fought on the battlefield, and his mind was sharper than ordinary people’s. What he thought of was always faster than others, so over the years he had also won quite a few campaigns for Qujiang. Apart from being unable to walk, he was better than everyone else at everything.

Su Ziluo said, “You should hurry back. Don’t make the Marquis angry.”

“I’m not going! I don’t want to get married yet.”

“You’re not young anymore!”

“What about you?” Li Shiyan countered with a question. “You’re not young either. You haven’t established a family and career yet, so how can I? I haven’t had enough fun yet.”

Su Ziluo, “…”

Li Shiyan drank another cup of water, but discovered that there were actually two cups of tea placed on the table. He paused, looked at Su Ziluo, and asked, “There was someone in the room?”

“Mm.”

“They left?”

“Mm!” Su Ziluo didn’t intend to hide it from him.

Li Shiyan continued asking, “Who was it? Why so mysterious? You wouldn’t even let me in. Wait, that’s not right! I didn’t see them leave. Could it be…” He pointed at the open window. “They went out through the window?”

“The guest had already left before you came. I’m just a bit tired today, so I didn’t want to see visitors! Yet you insisted on coming to disturb me.” Su Ziluo sighed, his face showing helplessness.

Li Shiyan felt somewhat embarrassed and said with a grin, “I came planning to discuss something with you! That’s why I was so anxious.”

Su Ziluo naturally knew the purpose of his visit—nothing more than the marriage matter. He said, “Young Master, the Marquis is doing this for your own good. The other party is the Minister of Rites, who has a foundation in the court. In the future, when you inherit the marquis title, you’ll need support from all sides. If you accept this marriage arrangement, it will be somewhat helpful to you. Why must you keep dodging and running here to me? If the Marquis finds out I’m sheltering you, I’m afraid I’ll be nagged by him too.”

He analyzed it point by point.

“I came to ask you to give me advice on how to refuse this marriage arrangement. And here you are, trying to persuade me in roundabout ways.”

“You’ve long passed the age of willfulness. You should plan for your future and can’t keep making a fuss.” Su Ziluo’s tone was gentle.

Li Shiyan hadn’t come here to hear this. He immediately felt his heart constrict and said, “Fine, stop trying to persuade me. I’m too lazy to ask you for advice anymore. Just give me a place to hide here. Once the Minister of Rites has left, I’ll go.”

As he spoke, he directly climbed onto Su Ziluo’s bed and lay there sprawled out.

He even rolled around a few times.

It had to be said, Su Ziluo’s bed was truly comfortable!

He said, “Ziluo, what do you have padded on this bed? How can it be so comfortable? I don’t want to leave anymore. How about I sleep with you tonight? I see your body is cold, so sleeping alone at night must be freezing. My body is warm. If I sleep holding you at night, I guarantee you’ll be comfortable.”

Uh…

A dark line flashed across Su Ziluo’s face, and the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily several times.

These words were truly headache-inducing!

He shook his head and didn’t bother responding. Instead, he saw that Li Shiyan had already fallen asleep on his bed.

This kid was really amusing!

He wheeled himself to the doorway and softly called, “Qi’er.”

The little maid called Qi’er, who had been blocking the door earlier, walked over. “Young Master.”

“Go to Kangding Marquis Manor and tell the Marquis that… today I have time and would like to teach the Young Master some literary arts. He probably won’t return until evening.”

“Yes, this servant will go right away.”

Su Ziluo was clever, as everyone knew. The Kangding Marquis had repeatedly begged Su Ziluo to find time to teach his disappointing son. Now that Su Ziluo was responding with such a reason, the Marquis would surely value this and wouldn’t force Li Shiyan to return to the manor.

Just after Qi’er left, a servant from the manor came to report, “Young Master, the Young Master’s attendant Little Lu Zi has come.”

He waved his hand, “Tell him to go back. Just say the Young Master is here and will return later.”

“Yes!”

Su Ziluo returned to the room, wheeled himself to the bedside, and seeing Li Shiyan sleeping so soundly, took a light blanket from the nearby folding screen rack and covered him with it.

A doting smile spread across his face!