After Yu Qingwu impeached Prince Wei for sending concubines to people everywhere, Prince Wei also got angry and showed some backbone for once. He felt his life was truly pathetic, so he simply sent five concubines to Yu Qingwu with drums and gongs.

Yu Qingwu: “…”

Fine then, I won’t be polite.

He sent those five concubines back with drums and gongs to work at Lan Shanjun’s shop, then bit down on Prince Wei and wouldn’t let go.

After biting for about a month, Prince Wei held on stubbornly, but the Prince Wei’s heir couldn’t hold on anymore. Touching his head full of wounds, he said: “Father, back then you told me that Yu Qingwu was not someone to provoke—once provoked, he goes into a frenzy. How did you forget?”

Prince Wei sighed, “What else then? Just live this pathetically?”

The Prince Wei’s heir said: “The tide has turned. The Grand Imperial Grandson has nearly grown up. What chance do we still have? Let’s just leave. Wouldn’t it be better to leave Luoyang and live freely outside?”

Not standing before the Emperor would be better than anything.

After thinking it over, Prince Wei agreed—if he didn’t agree, his son really would be beaten into an idiot. He personally wrote a memorial requesting to establish his princely estate in a remote area.

The Emperor nodded in approval.

Luoyang City needed to be cleaned up once more.

Yu Qingwu became busy and didn’t return home for several days. When he finally returned, he discovered there was yet another General Li at home.

Great, one General Hu left, and now a General Li arrived.

Fox spirits!

He walked in with composure and discovered this person indeed had some looks, but wasn’t as tall as him.

Yu Qingwu said affectedly: “General Li just arrived in Luoyang. Are there any inconveniences? Feel free to tell me.”

General Li said: “There really is something I need to ask of you, sir.”

He said: “I arrived in Luoyang not long ago and don’t yet have a residence. These days I’ve been searching for a courtyard everywhere and quite like a small courtyard in Vinegar Fish Alley. I heard it belongs to Lord Yu, so I came to ask.”

Yu Qingwu waved his hand, “That residence is not for sale.”

General Li looked toward Lan Shanjun. Lan Shanjun smiled and said, “In this matter, I defer to Lord Yu.”

General Li was quite regretful, “If that’s the case, then forget it.”

He looked at Lan Shanjun again, “General Lan, the day after tomorrow when we inspect the troops, I hope you’ll give me some guidance.”

Lan Shanjun nodded but said nothing.

General Li left.

Yu Qingwu curled his lip, “He definitely has bad intentions.”

Lan Shanjun: “He wants to curry favor and thinks he has some good looks—but compared to you, he’s like mud in the ground, his looks can’t even be seen.”

Yu Qingwu had been about to criticize General Li, but hearing these words, he immediately became delighted. That’s what he thought—how could Shanjun, being so clever, not see through such small tricks?

He stopped criticizing General Li and went straight for Shanjun’s mouth.

Kiss kiss kiss, kiss kiss kiss…

Lan Shanjun couldn’t catch her breath, her breathing unsteady: “Don’t be like this… in broad daylight, and Nanny Qian will be coming over.”

Yu Qingwu could only wait until evening.

How could the day understand the goodness of night? But the day was so long—waiting from day until night was so difficult.

People came and went in the courtyard doing work. Shanjun still had to go to the study to read. Finally, when evening came, they still had to eat dinner!

Yu Qingwu held his breath. As soon as the door closed, he became extremely anxious and started again with kiss kiss kiss, kiss kiss kiss.

Over these years, he had achieved mastery—wherever he kissed, there would definitely be marks, making one feel refreshed and delighted.

Remembering how on their wedding night he hadn’t hit the right spot, which was truly embarrassing, he wanted to make up for that past mistake. Very proudly he said: “I’m accurate now, right?”

He had also started practicing with the knife. His strength had grown, his whole body full of energy with nowhere to use it—using it here was best.

After using up his energy, he was very satisfied. His whole person was somewhat excited, and he thought of General Li again.

He said: “Probably relying on having some good looks, he wanted to offer himself.”

Lan Shanjun yawned, “Tomorrow I’ll make things clear with him. If his words and actions are still improper, I’ll make him lose face, and things will be quiet.”

Yu Qingwu was extremely satisfied with her attitude. He said: “I suggest you directly make him lose face.”

Lan Shanjun: “Isn’t that bad? He hasn’t said anything explicitly.”

Yu Qingwu: “If you don’t go, I’ll go!”

Lan Shanjun: “Then I’ll go.”

She hinted to General Li, “Lord Yu’s temper hasn’t been good lately, and he’s been practicing with the knife. But his knife skills aren’t good. Yesterday the knife dropped and actually killed a chicken—the chicken’s head fell right off.”

General Li: “…”

His neck shrank, his lower back felt cold, and he said hastily: “I understand.”

After Lan Shanjun left, a fellow townsman came over to reproach him: “Of all people to provoke, why did you have to provoke General Lan? She’s an upright gentleman and didn’t enter through the back door. She has real ability—how would she look favorably on people like us?”

General Li worried, “Tell me, who else can I offer myself to?”

The fellow townsman: “There are plenty of noble ladies. If one doesn’t work, try another.”

As long as they weren’t unmarried noble ladies, it would be fine.

Provoking married noble ladies meant survival; provoking unmarried noble ladies meant death.

The two plotted again about which noble lady was more promiscuous and might accept them as private guests.

But soon trouble erupted. Nanny Qian was the first to know!

She said happily: “Oh my, Marquis Huaibei caught them personally at White Horse Temple! Truly, I arrived one step too late and didn’t see it!”

Wherever there was excitement, there was Nanny Qian.

She belatedly remembered that General Li had also come to their home before!

The old woman looked at Yu Qingwu, “You weren’t deceived by him, were you?”

Yu Qingwu had been listening to the gossip, but when the gossip came to him, he quickly said: “How could I be deceived by him?”

Then felt something was wrong: “Why would I be the one deceived?”

Nanny Qian rolled her eyes, “He was fooling around with the Marquis Huaibei’s heir and was caught red-handed.”

This time even Lan Shanjun was surprised, “The Marquis Huaibei’s heir?”

Nanny Qian nodded, “Yes.”

She immediately discovered there was inside information and immediately ran out to investigate the excitement. Then came back and said: “Oh my, turns out he went to seduce the Marquis Huaibei’s wife, but the lady didn’t fancy him—instead the Marquis Huaibei’s heir took a fancy to him.”

She sighed: “Couldn’t sell the front, so ended up selling the back.”

Yu Qingwu coughed and coughed again!

Nanny Qian rolled her eyes, “Shanjun isn’t ignorant of such things.”

Lan Shanjun indeed understood. Because Nanny Qian had become a major customer of the bookshop, every year the bookshop owner secretly sent books to Nanny Qian. Nanny Qian would stingily sneak a few books to Yu Qingwu. Later, she openly and generously let Lan Shanjun read them too.

Thus Lan Shanjun gained much knowledge.

Yu Qingwu sighed, “You can’t read too many of these books!”

Nanny Qian: “You’ve read plenty too!”

She hurried off—the Marquis Huaibei’s household was still in an uproar.

Yu Qingwu, whose secret had been exposed: “…”

Lan Shanjun patted his head, “It’s fine. Since everyone reads them, let’s read them together from now on.”

Yu Qingwu covered his face and laughed.

Shanjun… He lowered his head to hold her hand, “How can you say this so seriously?”

In his evening notes, he wrote: “Shanjun is serious, so I must use more methods. Shanjun is not serious, so I must use even more methods. Thus whether Shanjun is serious or not, I benefit greatly either way.”

After writing, he locked it away so no one could see.

Before when writing notes, he didn’t dare write Shanjun’s name and only dared use “Mountain Worthy” as a substitute. Now when writing notes, he could write Shanjun’s name but didn’t dare show them to Shanjun.

After all, they were “words of experience.”

Writing them down for his own continuous improvement was enough.

After applying his experience that evening, he suddenly said: “We’re a perfect match made in heaven, right?”

Lan Shanjun was quite helpless, “Yes.”

Yu Qingwu was actually quite vindictive. Because they had once been a fake couple, he was very sensitive about these two characters.

In the end, after thinking it over, he felt the fake couple days occupied too little of their lives together and could almost be disregarded. He should change “fake” to “perfect,” so it became “a perfect couple made in heaven.”

Speaking again of the past and present life that only the two of them knew, he felt they could still be considered a match made by heaven.

Lan Shanjun turned over in his arms and asked curiously: “Are these phrases important to you?”

Yu Qingwu: “Why wouldn’t they be important?”

He was a meticulous person!

Lan Shanjun asked with amusement, “Then what phrase do you care about most?”

Yu Qingwu thought for a moment, “Eunuch.”

Lan Shanjun laughed quietly, then laughed holding her belly.

She said: “Yu Qingwu, you used to think about so much…”

——

Because of the Marquis Huaibei household affair, even White Horse Temple’s incense offerings were affected.

When Lan Shanjun went to pay respects to the old monk and others, the abbot said with a worried face: “I don’t know who spread false rumors saying that what was caught in the temple was only this one case, but actually there were many more in secret.”

Lan Shanjun came often and had developed some friendship with the abbot. She said: “A century-old temple—how could these rumors and gossip hurt its foundation? Once this period passes, no one will care about these things.”

The abbot wasn’t worried about that but about other things, “Once rumors emerge, the wise won’t pay attention, but the foolish will come knocking.”

Sure enough, his words came true. Before long, curiosity-seekers went to White Horse Temple to “satisfy their curiosity.”

Unable to bear the disturbance, the abbot closed the doors to visitors on the pretext of repairing the Buddha hall, finally gaining some peace.

Nanny Qian sighed endlessly, “Who would have thought the temple would suffer the most in the end.”

Then from the corner of her eye, she saw Lan Shanjun reading a memorial from Shuzhou.

She looked curiously and discovered the stationed general in Shuzhou was being transferred to Yunzhou.

Nanny Qian paused but didn’t ask. But when Yu Qingwu returned, she said: “What, Shanjun wants to go to Shuzhou?”

Yu Qingwu was surprised, “You didn’t know?”

Nanny Qian was anxious, “Oh my, of course I knew she wanted to return to Shuzhou to see. But I never thought she wanted to be stationed in Shuzhou.”

Yu Qingwu actually couldn’t bear it either, but going early meant returning early.

He consoled: “Shanjun needs to go out and gain experience. Only by going to the provinces will she understand what the two words ‘people’s livelihood’ really mean.”

Currently, His Majesty shared a root with her and treated her very generously. But what about future monarchs?

Though A’Li was good, there was still a layer of separation, and his future character was unknown. So whatever Shanjun wanted to do, it was better to do it sooner.

Nanny Qian wiped away tears, “You really can bear to let her go. Let me tell you, I’m going with Shanjun.”

The Old Madam had left her to Shanjun before, not to Yu Qingwu.

Yu Qingwu: “Even if you hadn’t said so, I wanted to ask you to go with her. After so many years, how could Shanjun get used to anyone else’s cooking?”

Nanny Qian: “What about you?”

Yu Qingwu: “I’ll just eat whatever.”

He said: “You won’t be gone too long—you’ll still come back.”

The troops in Luoyang City were the top priority.

After Nanny Qian thought it through, she stopped crying and even felt some anticipation, “It seems I’ve never left Luoyang.”

To be able to go out and travel at this age was truly fortunate.

She immediately happily packed her luggage.

Yu Qingwu quickly stopped her, “It’s not time yet, not time yet.”

It wasn’t until half a year later that the transfer order came down.

Yu Qingwu looked at the transfer order with red-rimmed eyes.

Lan Shanjun was also quite reluctant to part. She said: “Wait for me to return.”

Yu Qingwu wiped away tears while saying: “Go for three years?”

Lan Shanjun nodded, “Yes.”

Yu Qingwu: “Don’t be afraid. Do whatever you need to do. I’m standing firm in the court.”

Then added: “You’re being sent by His Majesty to organize the troops. This time the court is united—no one can obstruct you. But you must be careful not to be bitten by mad dogs.”

Then he paused and said fiercely: “I’ll bite them too!”

Lan Shanjun held him and laughed endlessly.

They went together to White Horse Temple to hold a ritual for Su Xingzhou and Yingying, requesting their soul lamps be taken to Shu.

Yu Qingwu knelt on the ground burning paper, saying softly: “Elder Brother, Yingying, I temporarily cannot return to Shuzhou, so I’ve asked Shanjun to take you back.”

“When I have the chance, I’ll definitely come back to see you.”

The lamp flames flickered intensely. Even the abbot found it strange. Yu Qingwu startled, then asked, “Elder Brother, Yingying, have you returned?”

The lamp flames flickered continuously.

Yu Qingwu smiled, “I’m glad you’re happy.”

Lan Shanjun went to Shuzhou. After taking command of the Shuzhou troops, the first thing she did when she had time was return to Huaishan Temple.

The old Taoist from the Taoist temple had also passed away, leaving only an empty temple.

The old monk’s grave had always been kept clear of weeds—these were people Lan Shanjun had hired.

She sat before the clean grave making pork dumplings for the old monk to eat.

She said: “I brought silver back—all my salary… This time, I’m going to buy the biggest mansion in town… If you come back, you can live there, alright?”

“Sometimes I actually feel like you’ve been accompanying me all along… You can hear me talking, can’t you?”

She started a fire to steam the dumplings, “Master, I have so much money now. I can treat your illness.”

She smiled, “I got many medicine prescriptions from Hexiang. I don’t know if they can cure your illness. But I’ve brought them all to burn for you to see.”

The old monk also understood some medicine. The more chaotic the times, the more skills a monk needed to know—just chanting sutras wouldn’t do.

The villagers hoped he could do everything.

The old monk could indeed do many things.

Making stools, bamboo weaving, raising fish, building houses, even growing vegetables and flowers—he was excellent at everything.

So though those years were poor, he never let her go hungry.

Lan Shanjun sighed, “Master, why didn’t you live a few more years?”

The dumplings were ready. She gave half to the old monk and ate half herself. When leaving, having cried until exhausted, she ate the half meant for the old monk too.

“I’m eating for you. Will you come with me?”

She really did buy the biggest mansion and decorated it inside the way the old monk liked before leaving.

Now the court was clear in all four directions. In Shuzhou, she didn’t encounter anything too difficult.

Things proceeded smoothly.

But there were also things that didn’t go smoothly. Lan Shanjun wrote to Yu Qingwu, “Aristocratic families don’t cooperate, and there are always frictions. A strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake—this is truly the case.”

She wasn’t in a hurry. As long as the tree’s roots were good, she could proceed step by step.

She devoted herself wholeheartedly to Shuzhou for three years with real results. But at this time, she still couldn’t leave.

She stayed another year.

Yu Qingwu wrote complaining: “People used to call me Jade-faced Young Master. Now they call me Luoyang’s Wife-Watching Stone.”

From a person to a stone—one could imagine what he’d experienced.

Lan Shanjun found it amusing and wrote back: “I asked Nanny Qian to make lots of food to send back. I hope you’re pleased.”

Nanny Qian was simply a treasure. As soon as she arrived in Shuzhou, she ate her way through all of Shuzhou’s food, then figured out how to make it herself.

She sealed the stir-fried meat with oil and urged Lan Shanjun to send it out quickly, “Maybe it’ll still be edible when it reaches Luoyang.”

Yu Qingwu’s reply said it was edible. It was just that his stomach felt uncomfortable every time after eating.

Nanny Qian was startled and scolded harshly: “What do you mean ‘every time’? After the first time, you shouldn’t have eaten it again!”

When the day finally came to return to Luoyang, the old woman said with regret, “Alas, after going back this time, I won’t be able to come out again.”

She had finally accepted her old age.

Lan Shanjun prepared a spacious carriage for her and always rode her horse beside it, telling her about the scenery along the way.

Nanny Qian gave her a look, “I’m old, not blind. And my memory is excellent.”

Having seen it once on the way here, she had already memorized it. Seeing it now, she would recall it, making it even clearer.

She leaned out the window and asked Lan Shanjun: “When you went from Shuzhou to Luoyang back then, was it also this road?”

Hearing this, Lan Shanjun startled, then shook her head.

Nanny Qian: “Not this road?”

Lan Shanjun: “I don’t remember anymore.”

She really didn’t remember.

Too much time had passed.

She only remembered that when she first arrived in Luoyang, there was heavy snow—it was winter.

But this time returning, it was spring.

She smiled, “But I’ve remembered this time. All along the way, the scenery is extremely good.”

Yu Wife-Watching Stone was waiting for her at the city gate.

He had obviously dressed up, wearing jade all over, with a flower inserted in his hair.

He looked good—but had Luoyang’s customs changed to this?

She dismounted and strode toward him, then was embraced by him, held tightly without letting go.

Her subordinates were still behind them!

But if she struggled now, the days ahead would be difficult. She smiled and let him hold her, saying softly: “Let’s go home.”

Only then did Yu Qingwu go to help Nanny Qian down from the carriage.

But just as he reached her side, she glared at him fiercely, then sneezed and sighed: “Young Master Yu, I dare assert that you’ve used at least ten incense pouches!”

Yu Qingwu: “I was afraid the scent would dissipate along the way!”

He turned around anxiously and asked: “Shanjun, am I very fragrant?”

Lan Shanjun nodded seriously, “Yes, very fragrant. Even your bones are fragrant.”

Yu Qingwu then smiled.

Indeed, whether serious or not serious, he was delighted either way.