Young Master Pei’s mind went through several turns before he softened his tone.

“If you really do have some interest, it’s actually a good thing. What does this mean? It means we heroes think alike.”

In the autumn night of the Chou hour, even the candlelight revealed loneliness.

Young Master Pei sighed deeply in his heart.

“Xie Wushi, you don’t need to be embarrassed. Anyway, I’m not going to succeed, so you should try hard. Such a good young lady—we can’t let this rich water flow to outsiders’ fields.”

“I truly don’t.”

Xie Zhifei gritted his teeth and finally spoke.

These words had actually been circling in his heart for several days. Originally, he just wanted to test the waters, but now hearing him speak like this, testing wasn’t even necessary.

Was there any man in this world more suitable for Yan Sanhe than Pei Mingting?

No!

Setting aside their deep mutual understanding and clean family background, just based on his daring to propose marriage behind the Pei family elders’ backs, he would never mistreat Yan Sanhe in this lifetime.

Even if he wanted to mistreat her, wasn’t there still himself?

“Mingting, it’s not easy for us men to meet someone we fancy. If we can’t be with the person we like, what’s the point of climbing any higher?”

“Ah…”

Young Master Pei looked at him in disbelief.

“This Yan Sanhe isn’t me bragging, but she truly belongs to the category of ‘if you miss this village, there won’t be another shop.’ In all our years mixing in the capital, how many daughters of aristocratic families have we seen who could compare to her?”

What is this bastard saying?

Young Master Pei shot over like lightning and grabbed Xie Zhifei’s arm, the veins on his face bulging with agitation.

“You, you, you, you mean for me to…”

Xie Zhifei gave a slight nod.

Picking the best of the worst—it’ll be him then!

“Look at your maternal grandmother. In her youth she met that Wu Guanyue, thinking of him obsessively until death, and even after death, because of him, her coffin wouldn’t close. Mingting, don’t do things you’ll regret.”

Young Master Pei sat down heavily on the bamboo couch with a thud.

Utterly lost!

—

At Jingsi Residence.

After bathing and changing clothes, Yan Sanhe had Tangyuan sleep first while she stood in the courtyard waiting for Li Buyan to return, and incidentally sorting through Guihua’s words.

Li Buyan returned to the Xie Manor just as dawn was breaking. Seeing Yan Sanhe still hadn’t slept, she frowned. “Worried about me?”

“Mm.”

Yan Sanhe took Li Buyan’s hand and headed toward the washing room.

The girl had spent the night behind Guihua’s back and was quite dirty. Being someone who always loved cleanliness, she must have been gritting her teeth and enduring all night.

“Where did the hot water come from?” Li Buyan asked while undressing.

“I put on the airs of the Old Madam’s natal family and ordered the servants to deliver hot water every hour. If they dared not deliver it, I’d put on the airs of a pampered young miss.”

Yan Sanhe finished speaking and laughed herself. “Go on and wash.”

“My Sanhe is mighty!”

Li Buyan dove into the water, and the warm water rose to her neck. She sighed comfortably.

Yan Sanhe took out a small stool and sat behind her, helping to wash her hair strand by strand.

“We visited Jingchen’s grave. Guihua rambled on for most of the hour, then Huang Qi and I escorted her to the Jiaofang Bureau.”

“The people at the Jiaofang Bureau were terrified?”

“They were definitely terrified—asking if she was human or ghost!”

Li Buyan giggled. “Fortunately her room was still there and her things hadn’t been moved yet. We watched her enter the room before coming back. Oh right, she asked me to give you a message.”

“What?”

“When the coffin closes, you must tell her.”

While waiting for Li Buyan, Yan Sanhe had spent half the night sorting through the information she’d heard today. “The heart demon is in the Tang family. Closing it won’t be easy. I’m afraid she’ll be waiting a long time.”

Li Buyan turned her head and smiled. “That’s what I said too—told her not to die too early.”

“What did she say?”

“She said since she was small, her mother cursed her as a little turtle. Turtles and tortoises live a thousand years—even if she wanted to die early, she couldn’t!”

“…”

Yan Sanhe’s heart, which had been heavy all evening, finally lifted after hearing this.

She paused before saying, “Buyan, in the next few days we need to prepare to move out of the Xie Manor.”

Li Buyan was startled. “So soon?”

It has to be soon!

Yan Sanhe didn’t hide it from her. “Tang Qiling’s case involves too many people. No one can predict what will happen next. This should have been just between us two. We’ve already inappropriately dragged Third Master and Young Master Pei into this. To drag the Xie family in as well…”

“Stop right there!”

Li Buyan laughed in exasperation.

“Third Master and Young Master Pei weren’t dragged in by us. They wanted to help themselves. Who took the initiative, who was passive—we need to be clear about that. Second, even if we did drag the Xie family into this, they owe it to you.”

“They don’t owe me—they owe Yan Hang.”

Yan Sanhe looked at Li Buyan. “It’s not that I’m soft-hearted. I just don’t want to implicate the innocent. Setting others aside, First Madam and the others have always treated us sincerely.”

“You’re just too soft-hearted.”

Li Buyan’s wet hand poked her forehead.

“Third Master said he’d handle the residence matter, but there’s still no word. Where would we move on such short notice?”

“Tomorrow I’ll ask him about the residence. If that doesn’t work, staying at an inn is fine too.”

“An inn it is then. Frankly, I’ve grown tired of this Xie family place too. These grand estates have no freedom at all—it’s suffocating!”

—

Having gone to bed late, Yan Sanhe naturally woke up late too, not opening her eyes until after noon.

Li Buyan wasn’t there—most likely she’d gone out to inquire about inns.

After washing and changing, she walked out of the room and looked up, stunned.

In the grand master’s chair, Third Master wore a sky-blue long robe and was lazily lifting a teacup to his lips.

“Come sit.”

Xie Zhifei glanced at Yan Sanhe, then said to Tangyuan standing nearby, “The young lady is hungry. Serve the meal.”

“Yes!”

Yan Sanhe sat across from him, not knowing where to put her hands and feet, and asked dryly, “Why did you come?”

Xie Zhifei didn’t look up. “Eat first. We’ll discuss business after eating.”

In this enormous Xie Manor, have you run out of places to eat that you’ve come to mooch food at my place?

Yan Sanhe glanced at him with her eyes, but just then Xie Zhifei also raised his eyes.

Their gazes touched and scattered immediately.

Yan Sanhe turned her face expressionlessly to the side. Xie Zhifei picked up the teapot and pretended to add some water to his cup.

After adding it, he felt he’d been too obvious, so he casually also poured her a cup.

Yan Sanhe accepted it and silently took two sips, but couldn’t taste any flavor. Instead, she felt the teacup carried this person’s scent.

The two sat there dryly waiting for the food, but the food was taking forever.

Yan Sanhe was naturally cold and reserved—expressionless and not speaking was her usual manner. But Third Master wasn’t like that. Third Master’s mouth was honey-coated.

I need to act more natural.

Xie Zhifei coughed once. “How did you sleep last night?”

“All right.”

“Did you dream?”

“No.”

“You walked quite a lot yesterday. How do your feet feel?”

“Fine.”

Mingting, hurry and come—brother can’t handle this situation.

Xie Zhifei was panicking inside but on his face maintained the demeanor of a big bad wolf, quite calm. “Miss Yan, when you speak, can you stop spitting out two words at a time?”

“Cannot!”

One more word and Miss Yan wouldn’t know what to say!