“I’ve always been curious — it is said that the Nanmen family holds nearly one third of Bei Mu’s military power in their hands…”

“That is no longer the case.” Nanmen Xu interrupted Feng Jiu’er’s words and said plainly: “The Crown Prince, the Seventh Prince, and the Eighth Prince each now command differing military forces of their own. The days of Bei Mu’s power being divided three ways no longer exist.”

Nanmen Xu was, one could say, truly open and candid with Feng Jiu’er — what he knew, he withheld nothing.

“Yet within the family, it is not grandfather alone who holds power. Father commands an army of one hundred thousand, my aunt commands over two hundred thousand, and grandfather himself also controls some two hundred thousand…”

Feng Jiu’er was well aware that she should not be asking Nanmen Xu about these matters.

But in truth, even if Nanmen Xu did not tell her, she could send Xing Zizhou to find out and it would come back easily enough.

It had simply come up in conversation and piqued her curiosity.

Seeing that it was getting late, and also seeing that Nanmen Xu had finished the pastries, Feng Jiu’er stood up and brushed off her hands: “Time to head to the back mountain.”

“Alright.” Nanmen Xu rose as well. “I’ll go back and sort out my things first. Head to the back mountain on your own.”

The two left the gazebo together, and before they had a chance to part ways, a group of people appeared coming straight toward them.

Nanmen Xu pressed his lips into a thin line and turned to walk away, but from the other side, the scornful laughter of Nanmen Jie rang out: “Well, look who it is — turns out it’s our dear Xu, the Young Lord, having a secret rendezvous with a beauty.”

Feng Jiu’er’s figure, viewed from a distance, was unmistakably that of a great beauty. It was only that the distance made her features difficult to see clearly.

Nanmen Xu’s footsteps halted, and his expression darkened immediately.

Let them say what they wanted about him — over so many years, he had long grown accustomed to the mockery of his brothers.

But to laugh at Feng Jiu’er — that was absolutely not permissible! Those two words, “secret rendezvous,” were far too unpleasant!

“Why bother with them? They’re nothing more than a group of people who can only find satisfaction in flapping their mouths. Don’t waste time on them.”

Jiu’er gave him a tug and shook her head: “We still have many important things to attend to. Don’t let it waste our time — get back and prepare, and head to the back mountain for training.”

These people had clearly come to train at the back mountain as well, yet they spent their days with nothing of consequence to do, wandering around stirring up trouble wherever they went.

Pampered young masters from powerful households were mostly like that. If you wanted to quarrel with them, where would it lead?

Frankly speaking, it was truly a waste of time.

Feng Jiu’er’s voice was not loud, but everyone present was a martial practitioner, and could hear clearly enough.

Nanmen Jie’s expression soured. Even knowing there was a beauty in front of him, his pleasant demeanor had instantly vanished.

He had seen plenty of beauties — one more or less made no difference.

He strode over quickly, his tone dripping with mockery: “Nanmen Xu, is this the extent of your backbone — letting even a wretched woman order you around?”

Drawing close, he found the figure oddly familiar. Well — who else could it be but that hideous creature Feng Jiu’er?

Just now he had caught only her silhouette and actually mistaken her for a beauty! Who could have thought it was that unsightly one!

Though he had been hearing rumors recently that Feng Jiu’er was not actually ugly, that she was in fact quite a beauty — it was all hearsay.

At any rate, Nanmen Jie had seen Feng Jiu’er’s ugliness with his own eyes. The scars on her face were fake? She had been a great beauty all along? Ridiculous!

Anyone who had seen Feng Jiu’er before — who among them could possibly associate her with the word “beauty”?

Nanmen Xu was already seething with fury, yet Nanmen Jie was still brazen enough to continue: “Ha — I thought you were out here having a rendezvous with some beauty, but it turns out it’s that hideous fiancée of yours.”

“Jiu’er is not hideous. And she and I were only discussing serious matters — this is not any so-called rendezvous.”

Nanmen Xu’s large hand clenched into a fist, furious enough to tear someone apart.

But Feng Jiu’er quietly rolled her eyes on the inside, giving up all hope on this Young Lord Xu who had no talent for arguing.

This fellow was simply too honest and straightforward — how could he ever hold his own in a war of words?

“And what of it if we are having a rendezvous? Are an engaged couple not allowed to cultivate their feelings a little in advance?”

She turned back and looked at Nanmen Jie: “My fiancé is this handsome — if I’m not cultivating feelings with him, am I supposed to cultivate them with someone like you?”

These words were purely spoken to win the quarrel — a remark of obvious mockery. But Nanmen Xu heard it and flushed, his ears growing hot.

He had no such thick skin. Talk of cultivating feelings, talk of secret rendezvous — of course he would not dare.

This meeting with her had been entirely to discuss proper business.

Nanmen Xu’s face turned red, while Nanmen Jie stood frozen for a long, long while, unable to come back to his senses.

Not because he had been stung by Feng Jiu’er’s word “hideous” — but because he had been utterly stunned by her breathtakingly beautiful face!

He had never seen such a beautiful young woman. This beauty carried a touch of spirited defiance, a touch of sharp and cool elegance. Compared to last year’s so-called foremost talented beauty of the imperial city, Feng Qingyin — she was simply indescribably more beautiful, by a measure beyond count!

Who did not know that these “foremost talented beauty” titles were always tied to one’s figure and looks? After all, there were performance components involved — it was never purely a matter of literary talent.

The judges were all men — as long as one was beautiful, the artistic performance scores would naturally be high.

If one’s literary talent was also not weak, then when all scores were tallied together, they would of course be exceptionally high.

That Feng Qingyin had claimed first place the previous year was, to some degree, due to that figure of hers, and that face.

But now, catching one true glimpse of Feng Jiu’er — what Feng Qingyin of any kind, she had been sent all the way outside the imperial city’s gates.

Beautiful! Truly, staggeringly beautiful! Beautiful beyond words! Beautiful enough to set the blood surging like a wild beast!

Not only Nanmen Jie — even the several young lords who had come along with him were now staring at Jiu’er’s face, utterly entranced.

The look in their eyes clearly flickered with a predatory gleam, as though they were desperate to tear the clothes from Feng Jiu’er’s body on the spot and take in every inch of her figure along with that face!

Nanmen Xu’s chest tightened. He stepped forward in one stride, blocking Jiu’er behind him, and said in a low, firm voice: “You go back and prepare. Head to the back mountain for training early.”

Jiu’er had originally still wanted to exchange a few more barbs, but she had not expected that after these lecherous men caught sight of her face, they had been completely frozen in place.

There was no quarreling to be done here — they all looked utterly besotted, not the least bit interesting.

“Oh!” She nodded, finding it all entirely dull. Better to go back early and change clothes, then head to the back mountain for training.

But just as she had taken a few steps, a figure suddenly flashed before her, blocking her path: “Beauty, where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Nanmen Xu had blocked only Nanmen Jie, but had forgotten there were still several companions behind him. In an unguarded moment, they had slipped around to stand in front of Jiu’er.

He was about to move to intercept them when Nanmen Jie waved a hand, and two men immediately stepped up to block him.

Nanmen Jie swept his long hair back, affecting an air of graceful poise, and sauntered up to stand before Feng Jiu’er.

He flipped open the fan in his hand with what he imagined was an air of effortless elegance: “Beauty, this is Nanmen Jie, Young Lord of the Nanmen family. Delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Nanmen Xu bellowed in fury: “Fourth Brother, she is my not-yet-wedded wife! I ask you not to make things difficult for her!”