In that instant, it was like turbulent waves crashing against Shao Mingyuan’s heart.

He still stood straight with his posture upright, his pair of eyes dark and fathomless, making it impossible to discern the tumultuous emotions within. Yet his gaze remained fixed on Qiao Zhao, forgetting to look away.

In his ears, Qiao Mo was asking: Shao Mingyuan, do you know my sister’s given name?

And then, Qiao Mo said: Remember this—her name is simply the character ‘Zhao’, the ‘Zhao’ from ‘A wise person uses their clarity to make others clear.”

At that time, this name had already been carved into his heart.

Never to be forgotten in this lifetime.

The young lady looked over with clear, gentle eyes and smiled.

Chi Can said lightly, “This ‘Zhao’ character…”

Li Zhao—it sounds quite pleasant indeed.

“General Shao, thank you for today. I’d like to return home quickly, as my family is probably worried.”

“Oh, I’ll arrange it right away.” Shao Mingyuan withdrew his gaze, sweeping it past his good friend, and silently turned to walk outside.

The carriage was replaced with one similar to Qiao Zhao’s broken-down carriage—half-new and not too old, unlikely to attract attention. Both the driver and the horse pulling the cart were the original ones.

Before boarding the carriage, Qiao Zhao turned around: “General Shao, may I have a private word?”

Physician Li, who had just gotten into the carriage, suddenly lifted the window curtain and poked his head out, his gaze burning as he stared at Shao Mingyuan.

Chi Can, standing not far away, narrowed his eyes even more, his gaze shifting between Qiao Zhao and Shao Mingyuan.

Shao Mingyuan rather felt like he was the center of everyone’s attention. He had experienced this feeling many times before, but only this time gave him an indescribable sense of awkwardness.

However, the young lady’s expression was calm and generous, so he nodded and said, “Very well.”

The two walked until they reached a place where others could see them but not hear them, then stopped and spoke under a banyan tree.

“Does Miss Li have something else to discuss?”

Shao Mingyuan asked politely, but Qiao Zhao keenly sensed a kind of distance.

It seemed that after returning to Chunfeng Tavern, something had changed.

Qiao Zhao didn’t mind this and simply smiled, saying, “General Shao, Grandfather Li told me that he will leave the capital tomorrow, and you’ve assigned two people to protect him.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve heard that the southern coastal areas are quite unsafe. Although the people the general assigned are undoubtedly first-class experts, sometimes two fists cannot defeat four hands. With only two people, I’m worried it might be too few. Grandfather Li doesn’t like having too many people following him. If it’s convenient for the general, could you perhaps assign a few more people to protect him secretly?”

After Qiao Zhao finished speaking, seeing that Shao Mingyuan only looked at her without speaking, she gently pressed her lips together and asked, “Are my demands too high?”

A smile appeared in Shao Mingyuan’s eyes as he said warmly, “No, Miss Li, please rest assured. I had already arranged for people to protect him secretly.”

Qiao Zhao’s apricot-like eyes curved as she solemnly bowed to Shao Mingyuan: “Then I thank General Shao very much.”

“Miss Li need not be so courteous.” Shao Mingyuan stepped aside slightly to avoid receiving her bow. “In the future, if Miss Li encounters any trouble, you can also have someone contact the proprietor of Chunfeng Tavern. I come here often.”

He paused for a moment, glanced back, then changed his words: “Or you could ask Shixi for help—that would be the same.”

Qiao Zhao frowned slightly as she looked at him.

Shao Mingyuan felt somewhat embarrassed under her gaze, thinking to himself: He didn’t seem to have said anything wrong, so why did several people today look at him with such strange expressions?

The confused young general and the frowning young lady looked at each other, and for a moment, he didn’t dare speak carelessly.

“Thank you for your concern, General Shao.” Qiao Zhao said each word distinctly, then lifted her foot and walked away.

Walked away?

Shao Mingyuan shook his head to clear it and followed after her.

Qiao Zhao didn’t linger any longer. She got into the carriage, and the old driver gently flicked his whip. The carriage slowly began to move and soon disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Chi Can glanced sideways at Shao Mingyuan and smiled neither warmly nor coldly: “You two certainly had a lot to talk about. Was such a reluctant parting necessary?”

“No—”

“Alright, no need to explain. Let’s go drink.” Young Master Chi flicked his sleeve and turned to walk away.

Explanations were just cover-ups, and he hated explanations the most!

That little ungrateful wretch—wasn’t it just helping her out in the rain? What’s the big deal? He had saved her from human traffickers, yet he hadn’t seen her show such gratitude!

The four men returned to drink, which we’ll set aside for now. At the Li residence, chaos had already erupted.

Lady He was clutching her handkerchief and crying, “Old Madam, I said I should go out to meet Zhaozhao, but you insisted on sending Master! The master went out when the rain was heaviest. Now the rain has stopped, but we haven’t seen Zhaozhao, and we haven’t seen Master either. Wah wah wah—”

“Shut up!” Old Madam Deng’s temples throbbed as she took a breath and said, “What’s there to cry about? Zhaozhao went to Shuying Nunnery, not somewhere else. She has a driver and maids with her. What could happen at the foot of the imperial city?”

When Lady He heard this, she cried even harder: “Zhaozhao was kidnapped right at the foot of the imperial city—”

Old Madam Deng finally couldn’t hold back her anger and rolled her eyes quite inelegantly: “In such heavy rain, even human traffickers wouldn’t come out!”

Lady He, whose eyes were brimming with tears, blinked.

She found her mother-in-law’s words quite reasonable!

She stopped crying and clutched her handkerchief, saying, “But why haven’t Master and Zhaozhao returned yet? Old Madam, could it be that the rain was too heavy and Zhaozhao got stuck halfway?”

“That wouldn’t matter either—she could take shelter from the rain in the carriage.” Although Old Madam Deng was somewhat worried, to prevent her daughter-in-law from crying and wailing again, she comforted her with a stern face.

Lady He stood up, sometimes looking at the sky and sometimes pacing back and forth, muttering, “What if the carriage broke down? Old Madam, you know very well that the carriages in our residence are too worn out. I said long ago we should replace them, but you wouldn’t allow it—”

Seeing the old lady’s face darken without speaking, Lady He continued, “This time when Zhaozhao returns, we absolutely must replace that broken carriage. Oh yes, and that horse too—it’s so old it can barely run. It’s time to replace it, too. Hmm, and the driver as well—”

The more Lady He spoke, the more she frowned. She made a decision: “Let’s just replace everything with new ones. I’ll pay for it!”

“Lady He, shut your mouth!” Old Madam Deng was furious.

Using the daughter-in-law’s money to replace the carriage, horse, and driver—would it look good for the Li family if word got out? Her son could only afford such a broken carriage, old horse, and old driver!

“What did I say wrong?” Lady He looked completely puzzled.

She was willing to spend the money—why shouldn’t they be allowed to ride in a good carriage?

One thought her mother-in-law was rigid and pedantic, the other thought her daughter-in-law reeked of nouveau riche vulgarity. When their gazes met, there was a moment of particular silence.

Second Madam Liu quickly tried to smooth things over: “Third Miss hasn’t returned all this time—perhaps she was kept by the Master.”

“That shouldn’t be the case, should it?” Old Madam Deng came back to her senses.

Getting angry with her blockhead daughter-in-law wasn’t worth it!

“Why not? Our Third Miss is so intelligent and lovely. The Master of Shuying Nunnery must be extremely fond of her. Perhaps seeing that it was raining, she kept Third Miss for the night. The person coming to report this is probably on the road right now.”

Old Madam Deng and Lady He couldn’t help but nod simultaneously.

These words made sense. Zhaozhao was indeed intelligent and lovely, so it wouldn’t be unusual for the Master to have her stay overnight.

Lady He looked deeply at her sister-in-law, thinking: I never noticed before that my sister-in-law had such good judgment. She’s grown wiser with age.