In the courtyard, when Mu Yunjin saw Yun Guangyao suddenly arrive grandly, saying he wanted to discuss some matters with Chu Li while his gaze kept wandering to little Mu’er, she understood and walked out alone, allowing the three generations to have a good chat.

After sitting in the courtyard for a while, Qiqi, who had disappeared for a few days, came bouncing in with a smile on her face. “Master.”

“Oh, you’re back,” Mu Yunjin remarked, finding Qiqi’s appearance somewhat rare.

Since this little girl had been freed from her beast spirit form, she had been enjoying her time with Lei Yan, disappearing all day. Her sudden appearance now was quite surprising.

“Yes, aren’t you happy to see me?” Qiqi sat down and poured herself a cup of water.

“Why are you alone? Where’s Lei Yan?” Mu Yunjin asked curiously, seeing only Qiqi had come.

Qiqi smiled lightly. “Brother Lei Yan went back to Phoenix Feather Pavilion to play with Pig Spirit and the others. I didn’t want to go back, so I came to find you.”

“How are things? Has anything happened these past few days?” Qiqi looked at Mu Yunjin.

Mu Yunjin smiled. “There have been a couple of things.”

…

…

“Really? Tell me about it…”

…

After Mu Yunjin finished telling Qiqi about those events, she was dragged by Qiqi to the market street, saying she wanted to see Yu Chun.

“Qiqi, let me tell you, don’t do anything rash. Miss Yu Chun is just our speculation; she may not necessarily be the National Preceptor’s true fate. Besides, the age difference between them is particularly large,” Mu Yunjin sighed as they approached Yu Chun’s pastry stall, tugging on Qiqi’s sleeve.

Qiqi nodded understandingly. “Relax, I just want to take a look at the girl.”

“Hmm.” Hearing her say this, Mu Yunjin felt more at ease.

When the two arrived at the stall, they saw that Yu Chun wasn’t there today. Not only that, but her original pastry stall had been taken over by another vendor who was now selling steamed buns.

“Where’s the girl who used to be here?” Qiqi looked at Mu Yunjin, somewhat confused.

Mu Yunjin pursed her lips, also not knowing what was going on.

At this moment, the bun vendor heard them and said, “That girl went back to her hometown. She’s not renting this stall anymore and gave it to me.”

“Back to her hometown?” Mu Yunjin was surprised. Why would she suddenly return to Gushan City?

“Yes, that’s what she said.” After saying this, the vendor went to attend to other customers.

Hearing this, Mu Yunjin couldn’t say much more. She left with Qiqi and walked ahead.

“Master, why did that girl suddenly leave? I still wanted to see her,” Qiqi pouted, secretly lamenting the missed opportunity.

“I don’t know either.” Mu Yunjin pursed her lips and sighed softly, wondering if the National Preceptor’s words yesterday had hurt Yu Chun. But thinking about it, as an outsider, she shouldn’t say too much about such matters. Let them be.

Just like Yun Lianqing and Bai Qinghuan—those who are meant to be will naturally be together.

The two browsed for a while before Qiqi said she was hungry and pulled Mu Yunjin into a restaurant.

After eating a few bites, Qiqi suddenly put down her chopsticks and extended her right hand to Mu Yunjin, saying, “Master, while playing outside with Brother Lei Yan this time, I suddenly discovered that I still have some remaining internal energy in my body.”

“Really?” Mu Yunjin was somewhat surprised by this.

“Really! It’s just that I can’t use any techniques yet. I’m thinking, after some time, if I practice well, I might recover my powers,” Qiqi couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought.

During her time as an ordinary person, she found that without martial arts for self-defense, it was insufficient. Sometimes she couldn’t even defeat a shrew, which was frustrating.

Mu Yunjin nodded. “That would be a good thing.”

“Yes…”

As the two were chatting, a new group sat down at a nearby table. As soon as they sat down, they opened up their conversation—

“I just heard this morning about the Crown Prince’s upcoming marriage. I never expected the future Crown Princess to be a girl from an ordinary family. I thought he would at least marry a minister’s daughter.”

“You don’t understand. This future Crown Princess is not insignificant. Her father is a good friend of the National Preceptor and is a descendant of the Bai clan’s medical family.”

“The Bai clan’s medical family? What family is that? I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s an extremely secretive family, skilled in medicine but very low-profile. In short, they’re not the ordinary family you’re talking about.”

“Then I’m poorly informed. But I just saw the Crown Prince and that woman walking together, and they do make a good match.”

“You saw them?”

…

Mu Yunjin couldn’t help but smile as she heard these conversations. She took a sip of water, and just as she put down her teacup, she heard the sound of chopsticks being slammed down from the diagonal table.

“I’m not eating anymore!” An angry female voice came from there.

Mu Yunjin glanced over and saw a richly dressed woman sitting at the diagonal table. Beside her sat another woman, equally well-dressed.

“Mu’ai, lower your voice. There are so many people around,” the other woman said softly, looking around.

The restaurant was crowded with guests at this time, and the conversations were chaotic, so others didn’t notice the dialogue between these two women.

Mu Yunjin, with her excellent hearing, caught the conversation between these two women and couldn’t help but become interested.

“Eating here, everyone’s discussing the Crown Prince’s marriage. It’s bad enough they’re talking about this, but they also have to bring up me, the Prime Minister’s daughter. It’s annoying!” The woman called Mu’ai was furious, arms crossed, having completely lost her appetite.

The other woman sighed. “This happened too suddenly. I heard that just two days ago, many officials submitted memorials to match you with the Crown Prince. Who knew someone would suddenly appear out of nowhere?”

“Hmph, just mentioning that woman makes me angry. What right does she have to be the Crown Princess?” Mu’ai said angrily.

“Yes, I feel the same way. They say she can be the Crown Princess only because her father once saved the Crown Prince. If you saved the Crown Prince, would you also be able to enter the Crown Prince’s mansion?” As the woman spoke, there was a deeper meaning in the way she looked at Mu’ai.

Hearing this, Mu’ai paused slightly. “Meng Wei, you mean…”

Seeing this, Meng Wei leaned closer to Mu’ai and whispered a string of words in her ear.

After listening, Mu’ai immediately called the waiter, hurriedly settled the bill, and left the restaurant with Meng Wei.

The two women thought they were speaking softly and no one noticed them, but their words had been fully heard by Mu Yunjin and Qiqi.

“Master, those two are about to perform a ‘beauty saves the hero’ act. What should we do? Should we tell the Crown Prince?” Qiqi asked, tilting her head towards Mu Yunjin while drinking soup.

Mu Yunjin, also drinking soup, responded calmly, “No need. Yun Lianqing isn’t stupid. Their scheme might enhance the relationship between Yun Lianqing and Bai Qinghuan.”

“True.” Qiqi continued drinking her soup.

…

Today, Yun Lianqing was accompanying Bai Qinghuan at a small village clinic.

All morning, Bai Qinghuan had been busy attending to patients without a moment to speak to Yun Lianqing.

Yun Lianqing didn’t find it boring, quietly sitting to the side and watching. After observing for a long time, he discovered that Bai Qinghuan was most captivating when treating patients.

Her dark hair was casually tied up, somewhat messy, but she paid no attention to it. Sometimes, when fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead and face, she would only lightly wipe them away with her sleeve, spending no time on these small details, her mind entirely focused on her patients.

They say doctors have benevolent hearts, and this was probably it.

By noon, Yun Lianqing felt hungry and instinctively wanted to order someone to prepare a meal, but then realized he had come alone today. Seeing Bai Qinghuan still busy, Yun Lianqing stood up and walked towards her.

“Qinghuan, I’m going to buy some food.” Yun Lianqing approached to inform her of his intentions.

Bai Qinghuan didn’t even look up, just nodded slightly to acknowledge.

Yun Lianqing felt a bit hurt…

Leaving the small village, there was a long path to walk. It would take about half a quarter of an hour to find a place to buy food.

After walking a short distance on the small path, Yun Lianqing, who had been strolling, suddenly took out a folding fan from his sleeve and began to play with it lightly in his hand. The corner of his lips gradually curved into an enchanting smile.

The next moment, there was a rustling sound from the surrounding grass piles. Following these sounds, seven or eight men in black leaped out from the grass, swinging their knives towards Yun Lianqing.

Yun Lianqing had already noticed something was wrong with the grass and almost simultaneously opened his fan, sending out hidden weapons concealed within it, ready for a killing spree.

“This guy is carrying valuable goods. Kill him and take them, and we can have a feast!” the leading man in black called out.

Hearing this, Yun Lianqing was slightly stunned, then coldly smiled, thinking to himself that these men in black moved agilely and were well-trained, professional assassins, not ordinary bandits.

It seemed someone had deliberately arranged this.

However, he was curious about who would be so idle as to send people to kill him and disguise them as robbing bandits.

As he was thinking, Yun Lianqing suddenly noticed that there were still people hiding in the grass pile. He narrowed his eyes and formed a plan.

“Ah…”

“You, what are you going to do?”

Yun Lianqing pretended to be overpowered and afraid, pulling back his folding fan and continuously stepping backward. Soon, he had moved to the grass pile.

“If you want to live, hand over your valuables. Otherwise, my grandfather will surely kill you!” The man in black said, waving the knife in his hand.

Hearing this, Yun Lianqing sat down on the ground. “I, I don’t have anything valuable on me.”

“You don’t? Then don’t expect to live!” As he spoke, there was a flash of cold light as the knife in the man’s hand slashed towards Yun Lianqing.

As he brought down the knife, the man in black secretly glanced towards the grass pile and quickly shifted his gaze back, but this glance was fully captured by Yun Lianqing.

“No!” Just as the knife was about to land on Yun Lianqing, an emerald green figure rushed out from the grass pile, throwing herself on top of Yun Lianqing and taking the full brunt of the knife for him.

“Swish…” The sound of the blade cutting through flesh and blood came.

“Crown Prince, are you alright?” Mu’ai now felt a burning pain on her back. Although the wound on her back wasn’t life-threatening, it was still very painful.

But, she had saved the Crown Prince, hadn’t she…