This truly stumped Yan Sanhe.

“I can’t figure it out.”

“How can you not figure it out?”

Dong Chengfeng deliberately plucked a qin string with his finger, his face full of mockery: “Aren’t you also someone who falls drowsily asleep upon hearing qin music?”

Yan Sanhe paid no attention to his mockery.

“The topic has strayed too far. Let’s return to the Crown Princess. Besides being exquisite from all angles and eloquent, what else about the Crown Princess deserves your admiration?”

She was quite clever just now, yet now she’s turned stupid again?

Dong Chengfeng sighed lowly in his heart: “That must be explained later.”

Why push it to later again?

Yan Sanhe couldn’t quite grasp this person’s conversational patterns. After thinking, she said: “Then continue forward.”

“Continue what?”

Dong Chengfeng’s brows knitted tightly: “It’s your turn to ask.”

Yan Sanhe: “Ask what?”

Dong Chengfeng leaned forward, looking at Yan Sanhe: “Ask me: who is the second woman I’ve admired in my life?”

Yan Sanhe felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze: “Who is the second woman?”

Dong Chengfeng forced out each word: “Shen Duruo!”

His voice was very low, each word bitten particularly clearly, so that to Yan Sanhe it carried a feeling of gritting teeth.

“Why do you admire her? Explain the reason.”

Dong Chengfeng leaned against the carriage wall, resuming that lazy, roguish appearance from before: “This requires starting from why she entered the Crown Prince’s estate.”

“Wasn’t it because of that murder on New Year’s Eve?”

“That was only the external cause.”

Dong Chengfeng’s lips curved into a slightly cool arc.

“The internal cause was that Shen Duruo displayed the Ghost Gate Thirteen Needles technique, saving the Grand Imperial Grandson. Crown Princess Liang firmly believed this young lady’s medical skills surpassed all the imperial physicians. To prevent any eventuality, Lady Liang made moves to bring her into the estate.”

The air suddenly stilled.

“So.”

Yan Sanhe blurted out.

“She didn’t enter the Crown Prince’s estate to treat Lady Liang’s gynecological conditions. That was just a front. Lady Liang feared the Crown Prince would encounter danger again, so she was prepared for the Crown Prince.”

Dong Chengfeng lightly closed his eyes.

Even though many years had passed, Dong Chengfeng still couldn’t forget that New Year’s Eve night.

After eating, he waited in the courtyard for Xiao Ze to summon him.

Waiting left, waiting right, with midnight approaching, he really couldn’t bear it anymore and went to the old fox’s courtyard.

Are you going to let people sleep or not?

Before getting close, he saw a long line of guards surrounding the courtyard so tightly not even water could leak through.

These guards looked unfamiliar, carried no sabers, had no killing intent in their features, yet the surrounding air was inexplicably very cold.

He immediately stopped in his tracks.

At that moment, Xiao Ze walked out from the courtyard. His gaze lifted to see him, his tone exceptionally heavy: “Don’t wait tonight. Go sleep first. His Highness still has matters to attend to.”

Why didn’t you say so earlier!

He muttered inwardly and turned to leave.

Walking along, his steps slowed. Who exactly were those guards in that line?

Why was Xiao Ze’s tone so dark?

So late, and on New Year’s Eve no less—what business could the old fox still have?

Just then, footsteps came from the distance. He saw the inner servant Jiao Yu carrying a lantern leading the way up front, followed by several middle-aged men.

The entire group wore grave expressions, hurrying their steps.

As they passed each other, not one person cast a glance his way—even Jiao Yu, whom he saw daily, looked right through him.

Only then did Dong Chengfeng realize something was wrong.

He walked back to his courtyard. The maid Nianxia came forward to greet him.

Over one year’s time, he’d become familiar with both maids. Nianxia was clever and adorable, a gossip collector; Qiuyue was steady and reliable, rarely going outside.

He asked curiously: “What’s happened in this estate?”

Nianxia covered her mouth and shook her head: “I couldn’t find out.”

This made him even more curious. Even Nianxia couldn’t find out—what could it be?

“Yan Sanhe, that night I kept my eyes open until dawn again.”

Dong Chengfeng said: “Actually, I’d already been at the Crown Prince’s estate for nearly a year. Not only did I see the old fox daily, I also frequently observed and inquired about news of him.

However, over that year’s time, what I saw, what I heard, was only superficial. Everything inside the old fox—I hadn’t even touched the edges.”

After a moment of silence, Yan Sanhe said: “Because your status and position differ from his. You’re merely a qin master.”

What’s hitting the nail on the head? This is.

Even if he racked his brains, he would never have imagined everything that occurred at the New Year’s Eve banquet. His greatest imagination was whether the old emperor was about to pass away.

“People are divided into three, six, nine ranks; matters divided into urgent and trivial.”

Dong Chengfeng’s lowered eyelashes held indescribable coldness.

“At that time, I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Inside, there was always a fire wanting to rise. Only at that moment did I understand—back in Jinling Prefecture when he made me choose between two options, that was already his greatest restraint.”

If between qin master and qin entertainer lay a chasm, then between him and Crown Prince Zhao Rongyu lay heaven and earth.

That wasn’t something he could reach by stretching his hand or standing on tiptoes.

Seeing his emotions suddenly drop, Yan Sanhe quietly reminded him: “You were about to speak of Shen Duruo as a person.”

Dong Chengfeng snorted. After a moment of silence, he said: “I met Shen Duruo the next morning, on the first day of the new year.”

Because he couldn’t sleep, he simply rose early and strolled to the second gate, where from afar he saw Suzhi, who served Lady Liang, leading someone out.

Suzhi was Lady Liang’s confidante. Someone she personally escorted out must be an important person.

Thus, Dong Chengfeng looked behind Suzhi—

He saw a young woman in bamboo-green clothing walking slowly forward.

Her hair was piled high, fixed with a jade hairpin. Looking at her features alone, they weren’t outstanding—eyes not large enough, nose not refined enough, eyebrows not thick enough—but placed on that face, everything revealed just-right perfection.

As she passed before him, her gaze swept over lightly and, by complete coincidence, met his sight.

She immediately turned her head away.

He, however, didn’t retract his gaze for a long time. Only after the two turned a corner and disappeared from view did he wake as from a dream.

“Yan Sanhe.”

Dong Chengfeng raised his gaze, a trace of soft color in his eyes: “She was the person I fell for at first sight.”

She came neither too early nor too late, just on that New Year’s morning, inadvertently stumbling into his line of sight.

Then, no other woman, no other man ever stumbled into his eyes again.

Only her!

What words should Yan Sanhe use to describe her current feelings?

Besides shock, still shock.

She never would have imagined that the person Dong Chengfeng liked would actually be Shen Duruo.

“Something’s wrong!”

Her heart jumped violently.

“Since the person you like is Shen Duruo, why did you let her work as an itinerant doctor outside? Why didn’t you marry her? Do you know or not what she experienced outside…”

“Put away those questions and listen to me finish the story.”

“I’m getting a bit impatient…”

Yan Sanhe spoke truthfully.

After the Crown Prince’s witchcraft case, Shen Duruo escaped and left the capital, working as an itinerant doctor everywhere.

Since Dong Chengfeng could become the Han Prince’s strategist, he could be called well-connected. Finding Shen Duruo wouldn’t have been difficult.

Yet he allowed her to die outside…

She took a deep breath.

“What exactly is the situation between you and Shen Duruo?”

—