“Impossible?”

Yes, impossible. This tassel was given to her by Ji Pei.

She remembered that there were indeed two of these tassels, but they were tied on one string. Ji Pei had taken one off and given it to her.

But Ji Pei was already dead—how could there be an identical one?

Li Shiyan was surprised by her such certain answer, but he replied with complete sincerity, “I have no need to lie. I really have seen an identical tassel before. Unless you stole his? But that doesn’t make sense either. I saw him holding this item before I came to the Central Plains, and besides, he’s never been to the Central Plains.”

A woman’s sensitive nerves always become taut in an instant.

Ji Yinshu asked him with an extremely tense expression, “That ‘him’ you mentioned… what’s his name?”

“Su Ziluo.”

“Su Ziluo?” Ji Yinshu murmured it softly, somewhat disappointed.

Perhaps she really was overthinking it. How could it possibly be Ji Pei?

Ji Pei was indeed already dead!

And that identical tassel—could it just be a coincidence?

“What? Do you know him?” Li Shiyan asked.

“I don’t know him!”

She shook her head.

As she answered, she had already snatched back the tassel dangling from Li Shiyan’s finger.

“Then you two really have fate—clearly one is in the Central Plains and one is in Qujiang, yet even your personal items can be the same.” As he spoke, Li Shiyan looked at her with curious eyes and asked, “Why aren’t you surprised at all?”

“What should I be surprised about?”

“I’m not from the Central Plains! Shouldn’t you be surprised?”

Ji Yinshu wiped the bead on the tassel in her hand and carefully tucked it into her sleeve before lifting her gaze to meet Li Shiyan’s.

She said indifferently, “From the first time I saw you, I already knew you weren’t from the Central Plains. I could roughly guess you were from Qujiang.”

“You knew?” Li Shiyan grew even more curious, the corners of his mouth smiling. “How did you figure it out? Do I have it written on my face?”

“Not quite. Although your clothing is dressed in the Central Plains style, the silver clasp on your hair crown and the boots you’re wearing are enough to indicate that you’re not from the Central Plains at all.”

As Li Shiyan listened to her speak, he reached up to touch the beast-shaped silver clasp on his hair crown, then looked down at the boots on his feet.

Sure enough, these small details—he himself hadn’t noticed them.

The silver clasp on a Central Plains person’s hair crown couldn’t possibly be beast-shaped, and the flat, thin boots were completely different from the thick-soled flat shoes of Central Plains people.

“Shu’er, you’re really clever.” He grinned and praised her.

“My name is Ji Yinshu. Young Master Li should call me Miss Ji.”

“Shu’er sounds better.”

“But I’m not used to it.”

“But Young Master Wei calls you that.”

“He’s different from you.” Ji Yinshu lowered her eyes.

Different?

How different?

Li Shiyan narrowed his eyes and asked her, “That fool—he’s not really your future husband, is he?”

“He’s not a fool.” Ji Yinshu’s tone grew heavier as she glared at him. Now that she had gotten the tassel back, she had no interest in explaining so much to him. Standing up, she said, “Young Master Li, regarding the matter at Liang Mountain, I’m very grateful to you. If there’s an opportunity in the future, I will certainly repay you. I have matters to attend to. Farewell.”

Seeing she intended to leave, Li Shiyan quickly stood up and blocked her.

And said, “This young master doesn’t need your repayment. I just want you to stay and have a meal with me. Don’t you even have that much time?”

“Thank you for Young Master Li’s hospitality, but right now the disappearance case is urgent. I truly don’t have the mind for it.”

“It won’t delay you long.”

He had wanted to reach out and pull Ji Yinshu, but she stepped back, her expression slightly darkening.

“I hope Young Master Li can understand.” After speaking, she moved around him preparing to go downstairs, but after two steps she stopped again, turning her head with a tone of reminder.

“I believe Young Master Li is well aware that currently, the war between Great Lin and Qujiang is imminent, and relations are very tense. If Prince Rong were to learn that Young Master Li is from Qujiang, it would inevitably cause some misunderstanding. At that time, at best you’d be sent back to Qujiang, at worst, there might be some bloodshed.”

Li Shiyan’s expression froze!

This point—he hadn’t thought of it!

He had originally snuck out while Qujiang and Great Lin were at war. By now, his marquis father probably still didn’t know he had run to Great Lin.

Otherwise at this moment, he would probably already be bound hand and foot and dragged back to Qujiang.

While he was deep in thought, Little Lu Zi beside him nudged him, saying, “Young Master, Miss Ji has already left.”

“What?”

By the time he came to his senses, Ji Yinshu’s figure was long gone.

Sighing, he glared fiercely at Little Lu Zi, then the next moment asked him with a somewhat mocking tone:

“Just now, didn’t Shu’er say that if that Prince Rong found out this young master is from Qujiang, at worst, there might be some bloodshed?”

Little Lu Zi nodded dumbly, “Just now, Miss Ji did say that.”

He laughed lightly, “This young master is at least the heir of Marquis Kangding. Even when beating a dog, one must consider its master.”

“Young Master, if you say that, aren’t you calling yourself a dog?”

“What did you say?”

“This humble one said…”

Smack—

Undoubtedly, Little Lu Zi’s head received another hard slap from Li Shiyan.

“How dare you call this young master a dog—are you tired of living?”

“It wasn’t this humble one who said it, it was…” It was you, Young Master, who said it yourself.

He didn’t dare say that last sentence aloud, fearing another slap on the head, and even retreated several steps backward.

Li Shiyan wore an expression of furious rebuke, fiercely grabbing him.

…

At this moment, Ji Yinshu had just come downstairs when she heard a shrill female voice from below.

She saw a woman dressed in a pink shirt, wearing gold and silver jewelry, looking wealthy—she appeared to be a young lady from a wealthy household.

Sitting angrily in a small compartment on the first floor, she reached out and swept all the dishes on the table to the floor.

A series of clattering sounds!

“Can’t your restaurant afford to hire people to sing? How could you hire someone like this?” As she spoke, she pointed at Mei Xiang’er singing on the stage.

Mei Xiang’er lowered her head and leaned toward the elderly person beside her.

The elder held her hand, looking at her with heartache, then glanced several times with great nervousness at the furious female customer.

The restaurant manager hurried over to apologize, “Miss, we’re terribly sorry. If you don’t like this melody, I’ll have her sing something else for you.”

“No need. She sings so terribly, disturbing this young lady’s peace. Look, she has such a large red scar on her neck—it’s disgusting to look at. Having an ugly monster sing—can’t your restaurant afford to hire proper people? I came here to eat, but now seeing her like that, how can this young lady possibly eat?”