Before she could figure it out, the window beside her opened. Ji Bozai rested his elbow on the windowsill, looking at her with an ambiguous smile. “What are you thinking about?”
Mingyi snapped back to reality and shrugged. “Thinking about how to leave this place.”
“Must you leave?”
Mingyi glanced at him. “You’re up to no good again.”
Others might be fooled by his seemingly sincere appearance, but how could she not see through him? This man was full of schemes, all ready to be poured out in one place.
He smiled gently, reaching out to wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her upper body closer across the windowsill. “That’s why I want to keep you by my side. If information leaks again, I might lose my life.”
He was worth so little that she’d betray him for just one flying beast carriage before?
Mingyi snorted with laughter. “You had designs on that Noble Consort Meng earlier. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have suddenly come to ask me about your relationship with the Meng clan. I just went along with it and told her. Instead of praising me, you want to blame me?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What designs did I have?”
“Murderous designs, of course.” She stared at him steadily. “You had the same look in your eyes when you wanted to kill Prince Ping before.”
Ji Bozai touched his eyelids, somewhat surprised. Others said they couldn’t see through him, but in front of this person, he felt as transparent as if he were naked.
“I don’t know why you can bring yourself to move against the Meng clan, but I know your actions must be aimed at leaving Chaoyang City,” Mingyi said, looking at him. “I’ll only advise you one thing: don’t underestimate the Meng clan.”
It wasn’t easy to move against a powerful family’s support in the inner court.
Ji Bozai smiled, his thumb gently caressing her earlobe. “Then do you want to help me?”
“No.”
“Hmm?”
“…” Avoiding his mischievous hand, Mingyi frowned slightly. “I’m in debt to you. Isn’t it unnecessary for you to ask, My Lord?”
This person looked much better when annoyed than when putting on a fake smile. Her brows furrowed in anger, yet her eyes were filled with emotion, her red lips slightly pouted like a child’s.
Ji Bozai couldn’t help but tease her: “Then if to help me, you had to engage in phoenix dalliance with me…”
Mingyi slammed the window shut with a “bang,” nearly hitting his face.
“How cold-blooded,” he said, touching his nose with a hint of grievance. “When we engaged in phoenix dalliance before, you seemed quite happy.”
“…” The tightly closed window was violently hit again from the other side.
The window paper shook, and Ji Bozai burst into laughter.
Mingyi’s ears turned bright red as she went to fetch the evening meal, cursing under her breath. She used to not care about these things and didn’t think phoenix dalliance was something to be ashamed of—it was just natural human behavior. But, the way this man spoke, really made her recall certain details and want to cover his mouth.
Having just won the beauty’s favor, why tease her? Shameless!
Stamping her feet and leaving imprints with each step, Mingyi went to the door to receive the evening meal delivered by the eunuch. She waited for a while and noticed that the eunuch delivering the food came later than usual. Moreover, he was in a hurry, shoving the food box into her hands and leaving without even letting her see his face.
Weighing the food box in her hands, Mingyi sighed. She wasn’t stupid; growing up in the inner court, how could she not have some caution against others? Who would dare eat food delivered like this?
However, not eating didn’t mean wasting it all. Mingyi brought it back and set a full table, waiting with Ji Bozai.
Yan Shuang’s footsteps could be heard ten zhang away outside.
Mingyi cleared her throat and immediately slapped the table edge with her palm. “You say you won’t return, just like that? I don’t like Chaoyang City, I don’t want to stay here!”
Ji Bozai yawned, then immediately entered his role, his brows furrowed and eyes cold. “I’m not telling you these things for your agreement, I’m just informing you so you can relay it to Qin Shangwu.”
“You’re truly ungrateful. Mu Xing has nurtured you for years…”
“What about you? Chaoyang City has nurtured you for years too, and now you want to leave without hesitation?” Ji Bozai sneered. “As for me, I’m not betraying the city without reason. My parents and relatives were all here, where else could I go? Return to Mu Xing? Could I still be valued there?”
“You don’t care about blood relations!”
“That may be so, but Chaoyang City is much better than Mu Xing City. Since I have a reason to stay, and might even become the heir, why should I refuse?”
“Fine, fine!” Mingyi angrily swept all the dishes on the table to the floor. “If you want to stay, then stay. I’m leaving anyway!”
With that, she strode forward and yanked open the tightly closed door.
Yan Shuang outside was startled, looking at her in surprise before quickly making way. Mingyi didn’t even glance at her, striding out of the main house towards the small house assigned to her.
With the room in disarray, Ji Bozai sat by the table, sighing.
Yan Shuang understood, first presenting him with the deployment map she had brought, then advising, “Everyone has their aspirations. Why must My Lord insist on associating with her?”
“What you say makes sense, but I still need to use her to do things for me,” he said, opening the deployment map with a headache, then closing it again, the annoyance not yet dissipated from his eyes. “I originally planned to spare her life, but now it seems I was being too sentimental.”
Yan Shuang was startled by the sudden murderous aura emanating from him, but he quickly regained his composure and said gently to her, “It’s almost Noble Consort Yan’s birthday. I have a grand gift to give her. It would be good if she could cooperate a little.”
Yan Shuang immediately moved closer to him. “My Lord, please tell this servant. I can relay the message.”
Ji Bozai curved his lips, gesturing for her to come closer.
***
The security in Chaoyang’s inner court was truly strict. Even Qin Shangwu, trying to sneak out, was sent back after only going a hundred zhang.
“What can we do?” Chu He was a bit anxious. “We can’t get out at all.”
“Using force definitely won’t work. We can only think of other ways,” Fan Yao pondered for a moment, then deflated. “Even if we could leave, what about Bozai and Mingyi?”
“Do you think Ji Bozai still wants to return to our Mu Xing City?” Luo Jiaoyang pouted. “Our small city has no status, no resources. Since he can be the heir of Chaoyang…”
Before he could finish, Qin Shangwu rewarded him with a knock on the head.
“Bozai is a person who values loyalty,” he said sternly. “Since he agreed to be my disciple back then, he won’t leave Mu Xing City.”
Ji Bozai values loyalty? The people present looked at each other, all seeing the big “I don’t believe it” in each other’s eyes.
That person’s Yuan Power might be strong, but forget about loyalty—they had worked together for so long and couldn’t even achieve basic familiarity. Looking at how he treated his parents in Chaoyang City, they didn’t see any affection either. They wondered where their master saw his loyalty.
Just as they were talking, there was a sudden knock on the door. Luo Jiaoyang went to open it and saw a eunuch bowing to them: “The flying beast carriage that our Noble Consort promised to give to Miss Ming has been placed at Chaoyang Dock. When you’re able to leave, you can all take it with you.”
Mingyi asked for a flying beast carriage. Luo Jiaoyang didn’t understand and was about to say something, but was stopped by Qin Shangwu.