“How dare you hide this from me! How dare you hide this from me! You scoundrel! And you even conspired with them all to deceive me!”

Qi Yue grabbed Chang Yuncheng’s shoulders and shook him violently.

Chang Yuncheng just smiled.

“I didn’t hide it for long, I only arrived this morning too.” He smiled and kissed her forehead and cheek.

Qi Yue cupped his face with her hands and glared at him furiously.

“Then why did you only let me know at noon!” she shouted. “Don’t you know how much I missed you?”

That such words could be spoken so righteously and openly made Chang Yuncheng’s heart bubble with joy.

“I know, I know.” He said repeatedly, holding tightly the woman still clinging to him. “That’s why I gave you a surprise. Everyone said you like surprises, didn’t you always want surprises?”

He laughed heartily as he spoke.

Qi Yue knew it must have been A’Hao, that big mouth, who had told them about her plans to go to the northern desert to find Chang Yuncheng and all those so-called surprises she’d planned, which only ended up being shocks instead.

“Don’t laugh.” She huffed.

Outside, Hu San saw the monks coming to deliver the meal and quickly stretched out his hand to stop them.

“Hey, hey, wait a moment.” He said.

The monks looked solemn.

“Amitabha, monks do not speak false words. When we say we’ll serve the meal at a certain time, we serve it at that time.” He said woodenly.

The group lifted their feet and walked toward the door.

“Hey, hey, I say, can’t you read the situation?” Hu San quickly stepped forward to block them again.

“Yes, yes, it’s inconvenient for you to go in.” A’Hao also hurried to follow, saying, “See no evil and all that.”

The monks looked at them calmly.

“Benefactors worry too much. We little monks have no dust in our hearts, we have Buddha in our hearts, there is no such thing as not seeing, not hearing, not speaking.” The lead monk still spoke calmly, raised his hand to push the door and went in.

Chang Yuncheng and Qi Yue inside had already heard this conversation. They separated when the monks entered.

The monks passed by them with solemn expressions, placed the vegetarian meal on the table, then walked away from them with calm expressions.

Qi Yue suppressed her laughter and raised her hand to pat Chang Yuncheng’s shoulder.

“This is a pure Buddhist place, what are you fooling around for?” She said with mock seriousness.

“Buddha is compassionate and likes to see people happy. You and I are so happy now, Buddha is very pleased to see this.” Chang Yuncheng said seriously, pulling out a chair to sit down.

Qi Yue sat down beside him with a smile, then turned to greet A’Ru and the others.

“We’ll be next door.” A’Ru said.

Without waiting for further invitation, several people left with smiles to go next door. They could hear the lively serving of food there too.

Only then did Qi Yue turn back, not bothering to eat, but looking at Chang Yuncheng with a smile.

“What are you smiling at? Eat quickly.” Chang Yuncheng smiled.

“Nothing, beauty is food enough.” Qi Yue smiled with narrowed eyes, still looking at him.

“Where did you learn all these improper words?” Chang Yuncheng laughed heartily.

“Oh my, look how proper you are.” Qi Yue laughed loudly.

After laughing for a while, she picked up her chopsticks and slowly ate while asking him how he came back.

“…You haven’t even reached Zhangye yet, right? Is it okay for you to run back halfway? Even though you were demoted, you can’t just give up completely.” She frowned.

Chang Yuncheng laughed heartily.

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget about getting my wife honored and my son titled. But right now, the urgent thing is to first have a wife and son.” He smiled.

Qi Yue smiled and tapped her chopsticks.

“Speak seriously.” She huffed.

“Yes.” Chang Yuncheng then also put on a serious expression and said, “I didn’t reach Zhangye. On the road I encountered a batch of seized goods being sent to the capital, which is exactly what my current position should be responsible for… so I faithfully carried out my duty…”

He chuckled as he spoke.

Qi Yue pursed her lips in a smile and glared at him.

“There’s more.” Chang Yuncheng hesitated, twirling his chopsticks as if finding it hard to speak.

Qi Yue looked at him.

“I received a letter from my mother. She said she’s come to the capital.” Chang Yuncheng finally said.

Actually, if he didn’t say it, it wouldn’t matter, but he still spoke it out.

After he finished speaking, he lowered his head to eat, as if not daring to look at Qi Yue’s expression.

He heard the woman draw out a long “oh” sound.

“Your mother also came to the capital?” Qi Yue asked curiously. “Is there something wrong?”

There was no disappointment or unhappiness in her voice.

Chang Yuncheng boldly raised his head slightly.

“I don’t know, she just said if it’s convenient, she’d like me to come to the capital to meet.” He said.

Qi Yue smiled and used her chopsticks to pick up food for him and put it in his dish.

“Then she must miss you. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen each other, right?” She asked.

Chang Yuncheng nodded.

“More than half a year.” He said.

The room inevitably fell silent for a moment.

“Yueniang, I, I’m not, I am,” Chang Yuncheng stammered, wanting to speak but not knowing how.

Qi Yue then got up and leaned over to kiss his face.

Chang Yuncheng was stunned.

“I, I.” He stammered again.

Qi Yue kissed him again.

Chang Yuncheng finally reacted, reached out to pull her close and kissed her face too.

“Eat, eat.” He said loudly, grinning.

Qi Yue gave him a sideways glance, nodded toward her own dish, and Chang Yuncheng immediately smartly picked up food for her.

The atmosphere in the room became cheerful again.

After eating, they wandered around Dajue Temple intimately, and according to Chang Yuncheng’s idea, they should also visit the night market.

“Even if you’re not tired, I am.” Qi Yue said with a smile, patting his arm. “When are you leaving?”

“It’ll be three or four days.” Chang Yuncheng smiled, looking at her reluctantly. “I’m really not tired, don’t worry about me. The night market is really fun.”

“There are many fun things, can you enjoy them all in one day?” Qi Yue glared at him and pushed him toward his horse. “Play, play, play – is playing more important than important matters? Three or four days – instead of wasting that time, why don’t you quickly go find my adoptive father and resolve the matter of getting a wife!”

Chang Yuncheng was stunned, then overjoyed. Without saying a word, he mounted his horse and galloped away urgently.

Qi Yue was both annoyed and amused, waving her hand at the dust raised by the horse’s hooves.

A’Ru and A’Hao couldn’t help but laugh, and they all got into the carriage together.

Returning home, Qi Yue simply washed and changed clothes, then went to visit Chen Shi.

These past days, taking medicine, she felt that Chen Shi wasn’t getting better, but seemed to be getting worse.

Thinking this, she took a detour to Chen Shi’s small kitchen. The little maid had just finished preparing the medicine, so Qi Yue took it herself and entered through the back door. She had just walked to the back corridor under the eaves when she heard a heavy thud from inside, like a teacup being slammed on the table.

“So you’re saying you deliberately had Second Sister send the Rao family girl to the Marquis Dingxi’s mansion?”

A man’s voice said.

A guest? A male guest?

This was very strange. Since Chen Shi came here, basically no one had visited her.

Qi Yue hesitated and was about to turn around, but the four words “Rao family girl” made her pause slightly.

Was that… Rao Yufang?

“It was me.” Chen Shi’s flat voice came.

“Then, first telling the Marquis Dingxi’s wife about requesting an imperial decree to marry some left and right wives, and then having Emperor issue a divorce decree through Imperial Concubine Dong – that was also you?” The man continued.

“It was me.” Chen Shi said flatly.

Qi Yue was shocked. The matter of the left and right wives was actually Chen Shi’s idea…

She had always thought it was Madam Xie’s idea, but it turned out…

Qi Yue felt her mind was somewhat confused.

“What are you trying to do?”

The man’s voice inside was deep, seeming somewhat agitated.

“You’ve harmed people on both sides – your husband’s family and your natal family. What exactly are you thinking?”

“Nothing, isn’t this quite good? The two families can continue to arrange marriages and become in-laws, and Yueniang won’t be in their way.” Chen Shi said flatly.

“How is this good?”

The man’s voice became even more irritable as he shouted.

“If that Rao family girl hadn’t run to the Marquis Dingxi’s mansion on her own, where would the becoming in-laws come from!”

“So that’s called fate. In the end, they were still meant to become in-laws.” Chen Shi maintained that maddening tone.

With a crash, this time it was a teacup breaking on the ground.

The room immediately fell silent.

After a moment, the man’s voice, now calm again, spoke.

“In the end, you actually just wanted that girl called Yueniang to leave the Marquis Dingxi’s mansion, right? And to leave completely, with no chance of turning back! So you went around saying this and that, everywhere putting on this act of being a kind person, manipulating everyone – the Marquis Dingxi’s mansion, your sister’s family, and this Yueniang – playing with them all, isn’t that right?”

Qi Yue held her breath.

“Yes.” Chen Shi said flatly.

Qi Yue turned and quickly left.

The little maid in the medicine room was surprised at her returning so soon. Before she could speak, Qi Yue waved her hand.

“The medicine is a bit hot, I’ll watch it cool down.” She said. “You go out first.”

“This servant can watch it.” The little maid said.

Qi Yue shook her head.

“You go out. I’ll watch it.” She was already showing some impatience and turned to look around.

There wasn’t really anywhere to sit in the kitchen. There was a small stool in front of the stove, so Qi Yue sat on it, feeling her mind was in chaos. She took a deep breath and carefully sorted through the words she had just heard.

This was rare – Miss Qi was usually gentle and pleasant. The little maid didn’t dare say anything more and hurried out, thoughtfully closing the door.

The room fell into silence.

At this time, Chang Yuncheng had already jumped down from his horse in front of the Marquis Dingxi’s mansion in the capital, watching the gatekeeper take it.

“Has mother arrived?” He asked.

“She has, she arrived last night.” The gatekeeper said happily. “Lord, you’ve returned too, this is wonderful.”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone walked out from inside.

“Big brother.” Chang Yunqi called out, coming over with surprise.

Chang Yuncheng nodded at him.

“The exams are about to start. Are your preparations going well?” He asked with an older brother’s attitude.

Chang Yunqi bowed respectfully and answered yes.

Meanwhile, the Marquis Dingxi was also getting out of a carriage, still pulling along an old man who looked very unwilling.

“Good sir, good sir, whether I can hold a grandchild in the future depends entirely on you, old sir. The continuation of our Marquis Dingxi’s bloodline all rests on your words. Eight generations of my ancestors will thank you…” He chattered on.

Good sir?

Chang Yunqi was momentarily confused. What kind of official was this?

He was about to go greet his father, but the Marquis Dingxi couldn’t be bothered to look at him and hurriedly pulled the old man inside.

The entrance quickly returned to quiet. Chang Yunqi straightened up, looked toward the three people already walking toward the guest hall, smiled faintly, lightly brushed his clothes and walked away.

“The Marquis has arrived.”

Hearing this, Madam Xie stood up, and beside her, a kind-faced, neat middle-aged woman also stood up, looking at the Marquis Dingxi and the old man entering the door.

“Where did you go? We looked everywhere for you.” Madam Xie said.

The Marquis Dingxi couldn’t be bothered with her questioning.

“You came at the right time.” He said hurriedly, then pulled Zhou Maochun.

“You came at the right time.” Madam Xie also said, interrupting the Marquis Dingxi’s words, pointing at the woman beside her. “This is Madam Huo from the household of the Grand Secretary of the Chancellery. She’s acting as matchmaker, and we’ve already arranged the marriage with the Rao family girl.”

At these words, the room fell silent for a moment.

The Marquis Dingxi blinked.

“With whom?” He stammered.

“The Rao family from Shandong. You forgot? That girl we’ve had our eye on for a long time.” Madam Xie said with a smile.

The Marquis Dingxi stared blankly, as if he still didn’t understand.

Zhou Maochun beside him understood, and immediately kicked away the Marquis Dingxi who was still holding onto him.

“Damn your grandmother! Chang Rong! You bastard dare to trick me!”

This voice was deafening, carrying out of the guest hall. Outside, Chang Yuncheng, who was holding gifts prepared for Madam Xie and had just stepped onto the stairs, also looked toward the guest hall in shock, the box in his hands falling to the ground with a crash following Zhou Maochun’s shout.