Mo Bai examined Feng Jiu’er’s head for quite a while. Afterward, whether or not he had noticed something amiss, his expression was grave by the time he left.

Feng Jiu’er didn’t ask — with a look like that, he clearly wasn’t planning to tell her anything, and asking would be pointless.

“Mister Mo Bai, you really don’t look well. Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked as she saw him to the door.

Mo Bai shook his head. “I’ll be fine after some sleep.”

With that, he hurried off, as if there were still something important he needed to attend to.

Looking at him now, would he really go home and actually sleep? It seemed doubtful.

Feng Jiu’er stepped out of the room and stretched lazily.

Xiao Yingtao and the others had already gone to the training grounds — she’d heard there was combat training today. Jiu’er checked the sky.

Without watches in this era, telling the time was genuinely inconvenient.

But after living in ancient times for a while, she’d somehow learned to estimate the time by reading the sky, and from the look of it, training was about to begin.

She had just stepped out of Mingyue Garden when she saw someone walking toward her.

Seeing him again gave her a strange feeling, as if a great deal of time had passed — not because she missed him, but because she simply hadn’t thought of him at all along the way, and seeing him suddenly now left her a little dazed.

Nanmeng Xu had originally been walking briskly, but as he drew closer, his steps unconsciously slowed.

In the end, he actually stopped altogether.

The Feng Jiu’er before him felt genuinely unfamiliar. If she were still the old, plain Feng Jiu’er, perhaps it would have been easier to be around her.

This Feng Jiu’er now — something about her just felt strange.

He wasn’t the type to judge people by appearance; it was just that she had become so beautiful, and was his betrothed besides — it really did put a certain pressure on him.

Nanmeng Xu didn’t move forward, so Feng Jiu’er composed herself and stepped toward him instead. “How did it go?”

Nanmeng Xu had finally adjusted to her completely new appearance. Though the Feng Jiu’er before him truly was beautiful — more beautiful, in fact, than any woman he had ever seen.

But the way Nanmeng Xu looked at Feng Jiu’er remained the same as always — without much warmth.

He had come to find her today on business… well, in truth it was also somewhat personal — a private matter between the two of them.

“The matter’s been handled, but a thousand taels still isn’t enough. It’s far short — this path won’t get us very far.”

Feng Jiu’er pondered for a moment before nodding. “I know, but I don’t have much money right now either. You—”

“I’ve saved up a bit over the years. If you need it, I still have a few hundred taels here.”

After all, she was his betrothed — when it came to her needing money, Nanmeng Xu would never be stingy, at least not about that.

“…” How pitiable — a proper heir of his standing, and after all these years, he’d only managed to save a few hundred taels.

Feng Jiu’er shook her head. “I don’t want your money. I just want you to keep maintaining things a little longer for me — I’ll find a way to get the funds myself.”

“What kind of way could you find?” Nanmeng Xu frowned, clearly unconvinced. “How much more do we need? I’ll find a way.”

How could he let a young lady go through the trouble of earning money herself — if it came to that, what kind of man would he be?

“Don’t. Don’t make this so complicated. Right now, I’m the one asking you for a favor, and you already agreed to help — I’ll pay you for it.”

“Between the two of us, what need is there for—”

“No, no, no!” Feng Jiu’er shook her head and waved her hands at once, terrified he was about to launch into some long speech about imperial edicts and arranged marriages and how one couldn’t defy an edict.

“This absurd marriage between us — I’ll find a way to deal with it. But Nanmeng Xu, can we please just speak to each other as partners?”

Nanmeng Xu said nothing. Partners? They were already meant to be husband and wife.

Still, since Feng Jiu’er didn’t like bringing up that aspect of things, he chose not to press the point.

“So what would you like me to do next?” he asked.

Feng Jiu’er didn’t answer that question. Instead, she turned it back on him. “What about you? Don’t you have your own plans?”

That question left Nanmeng Xu at something of a loss. His own plans…

“To earn some official rank in the future, to serve the court — would that count?” After all, within the Nanmeng clan, he had no prospects to speak of anyway.

If he secured a post for himself and worked hard and diligently, perhaps there really was a path forward for him after all.

“That’s all the ambition you’ve got? And here you are, the heir of the Nanmeng family.”

“This ‘heir’ title is nothing but an empty name…”

“Fine, if you’re truly content to be mediocre your whole life, then forget I said anything today. But I really do think you have potential. If you—”

“Are you worried that if I stay mediocre, I won’t be able to give you a comfortable life?” Nanmeng Xu wasn’t complaining — he was genuinely thinking it through seriously.

He himself didn’t mind either way, but once he had a wife and children, if he spent his whole life being pushed around by others, how could he face his wife and children?

Feng Jiu’er really wanted to roll her eyes at him. She’d been talking about his career — how on earth had that turned into something about her?

Nanmeng Xu, however, spoke earnestly: “I promise you, I’ll work hard to make myself strong.”

She really didn’t want to keep talking. She had no energy left to argue, did she?

In the end, Jiu’er said, “Whether you work hard or not, what does that have to do with me? Forget it — just keep things as they are for now, keep the plan moving forward. As for the money, I’ll think of something… don’t worry, I’ll find a way.”

Nanmeng Xu wasn’t worried — he just felt a strange, indescribable sensation.

Shouldn’t those words have come from him?

“Training’s about to start — hurry back to your unit. I need to go too,” Feng Jiu’er added.

Nanmeng Xu looked at her once more, then nodded and turned to leave.

Look at him — leaving without the slightest hint of reluctance, and yet he called her his future wife.

The mindset of this ancient era really was something else. He clearly had no feelings for her at all, yet because of a single imperial edict, he’d simply accepted it as settled fact.

Given the chance, she really needed to find a way to change this man’s way of thinking.

After Nanmeng Xu left, Feng Jiu’er was about to head toward the training grounds when suddenly, hearing a faint sound behind her, she abruptly froze in place.

Then, with a light tap of her foot, Jiu’er was instantly back in front of her own room, the door swinging open as she stepped inside.

The person behind her followed her in through the door — there was no need to even look to know exactly who it was.

She shut the door and turned to look at the tall, travel-worn young woman standing in the middle of the room.

“This is Longwu Academy, the imperial school’s restricted grounds. Outsiders aren’t permitted to barge in — you’ll be mistaken for an assassin and taken into custody.”

The visitor said nothing, walked over to the table, picked up the teapot, and without even bothering with a cup, downed more than half the pot in one go.

After drinking her fill, she wiped her mouth and turned to look at Jiu’er, her eyes carrying a mix of resentment and excitement. “I just came to see if you’re really still alive.”