Looking at the pale-faced young man, Luo Sheng raised her hand and rubbed his head.

Without her noticing, that small boy had grown half a head taller than her, making this gesture laborious for her.

“How could that be? You’ll always be my younger brother.”

The young man’s thick lashes trembled as he pressed his lips together slightly.

“Luo Chen, you’re so clever—there are many principles I don’t need to explain. My thinking is simple: people develop feelings through spending time together, not just through bloodline connections. We’ve been siblings since childhood—would that change now?”

Luo Chen was silent for a long while before finally curving his lips upward. “Sister is right.”

Seeing that Luo Chen had thought it through, Luo Sheng couldn’t help but smile.

Her journey from hating Grand Commander Luo to treating him as a second father—wasn’t that also because of spending time together?

Once he calmed down, countless questions surged into his mind.

“Back then, Father led people to besiege Prince Zhennan’s residence. Does this mean I’m… the orphan of Prince Zhennan, secretly rescued by Father?”

“Yes.”

“If I’m Prince Zhennan’s orphan, then who is the current Prince Zhennan?”

He had seen that young man before, and had even worried about being chosen by Luo Sheng, adding new gossip to the capital.

“I once had a male attendant named Si Nan who attempted to assassinate Father at the beginning of the year before last. Later it was discovered he was an old servant of Prince Zhennan’s residence…”

Luo Chen listened quietly, momentarily unable to understand the connection.

Luo Sheng looked at Luo Chen and said word by word, “The current Prince Zhennan resembles Si Nan by at least fifty percent.”

Luo Chen’s eyes flickered slightly. “Sister means the current Prince Zhennan might be Si Nan’s brother?”

Luo Sheng nodded slightly.

This time, Luo Chen fell silent for even longer.

His thick, slender lashes were like small fans, casting a ring of shadow on his lower eyelids, concealing the emotions in the young man’s eyes.

Luo Sheng didn’t disturb this quiet atmosphere, giving the young man enough time to digest this shocking news.

After quite a while, Luo Chen raised his eyes to look at Luo Sheng. “What about Xiao Qi?”

Before Luo Sheng could react, he asked, “Xiao Qi is also connected to Prince Zhennan’s residence, isn’t he?”

Luo Sheng had to admire Luo Chen’s cleverness and no longer felt the need to hide anything. “Xiao Qi, like the current Prince Zhennan, are both household servants of Prince Zhennan’s residence. When the residence was besieged that year, to protect the real young prince, multiple infants were taken away by guards—the two of them were among them…”

Luo Chen listened silently, thinking of that dark-skinned boy who was always warm and friendly.

So at such a young age, they had experienced the same storm of blood and carnage.

“Tomorrow, have Xiao Qi accompany you as a servant.”

Luo Chen looked into Luo Sheng’s eyes and asked the question that puzzled him most. “Sister, how do you know all this so clearly?”

For this question, Luo Sheng had already prepared her answer. “Xiu Gu told me. She was a maid serving Princess Zhennan and could recognize Xiao Qi because he wore a jade cicada she had given to her fiancé…”

“Why would Xiu Gu tell Sister such a secret matter?” Luo Chen’s eyes showed some wariness.

He had always had a favorable impression of Xiu Gu with her excellent cooking skills, but thinking that she had told Luo Sheng such things, he couldn’t help feeling dissatisfied.

This was clearly dragging his sister into the mire.

Luo Sheng raised her hand to smooth her fallen hair and smiled. “When Prince Kaiyang told me there might be such a rattle drum with you, Xiu Gu happened to overhear. Xiu Gu had long felt you resembled Princess Zhennan, and combined with the matter of the rattle drum, she suspected you were the young prince. So she found an opportunity to confess to me.”

Luo Chen’s voice grew hoarse. “Do I… resemble Princess Zhennan?”

Luo Sheng said without changing expression, “That’s what Xiu Gu said. I’ve never met Princess Zhennan—how would I know?”

Truth be told, Luo Chen didn’t resemble his mother consort very much—at most there was a hint of resemblance.

People having a slight resemblance was perfectly normal, which was also why she hadn’t initially thought of Luo Chen.

“Father arranged for me to leave the capital—could it be that someone has discovered his act of rescuing me back then?”

Luo Sheng showed a relaxed smile. “It’s just preparing for rainy days. As long as you’re not in the capital, even if someone brings up the past in the future, it won’t be so easy.”

“But—”

Luo Sheng cut off Luo Chen’s words. “Let me finish. Actually, this departure from the capital isn’t sending you to Jinsha—you’re going to Heyang.”

“Heyang?”

“That’s right, it’s where the Vermilion Bird Guards are hiding. Once you arrive, you can familiarize yourself with them first. In the future, if even the capital descends into chaos, at least our Luo family will have a fallback.”

Hearing Luo Sheng say this, Luo Chen’s intention to insist on staying was dispelled, but new doubts emerged. “How do I contact the Vermilion Bird Guards?”

Surely they couldn’t appear out of thin air just based on half a token?

Just as he was puzzled, he heard Luo Sheng say, “Manager Zhu’s uncle is the commander of the Vermilion Bird Guards. Tomorrow he’ll leave with you.”

Luo Chen was stunned, taking quite a while to recover. “So you’re saying Youjian Tavern’s accountant is a Vermilion Bird Guard, the cook is a maid from Prince Zhennan’s residence, and the handyman Xiao Qi is an old servant of Prince Zhennan’s residence…”

Luo Sheng nodded slightly. “You could say that.”

“What about the manager?”

“The manager is just the manager.”

Luo Chen showed an expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

At least there was finally one normal person.

“Go back and rest early. You still have to travel tomorrow morning.”

“Mm.” Luo Chen felt there were still many things to say, but in the end he only responded with one word and silently left Xianyun Courtyard.

The next day brought fine weather. Early in the morning, everyone in the Luo residence saw Luo Chen off.

The concubines surrounded Luo Chen in a circle, continuously wiping away tears.

“Young master, you must take good care of yourself while away from home.”

“Yes, the young master is so frail yet has to travel far—the master is truly heartless…”

“Once Old Lady Sheng recovers, young master must come home early.”

With what seemed like countless bees buzzing in his ears, Luo Chen twitched his lips and glanced at Grand Commander Luo.

Grand Commander Luo shouted with a dark expression, “Enough! Will you never stop?”

The concubines fell silent, secretly rolling their eyes at Grand Commander Luo.

The young master was the Luo family’s only male heir—who knew what the master was thinking?

The Luo sisters each said their words of farewell as well.

Luo Chen listened patiently, then looked toward Luo Sheng.

In the instant the siblings’ eyes met, both were filled with emotion.

Luo Sheng handed over the packed bundle, instructing, “The braised pork knuckle can keep for a long time, but remember to eat the marinated beef and braised duck tongue first. I’ve also prepared several flatbreads for you, some sweet and some savory…”

Luo Chen lowered his eyes and listened, biting his lip hard.

“Alright, depart early.” Grand Commander Luo spoke up to interrupt the sorrowful parting.

Luo Sheng accompanied Grand Commander Luo in seeing Luo Chen and the others off at the dock in the capital’s outskirts. She pointed at Uncle Xing. “Uncle Xing is the uncle of the tavern’s accountant. He happens to be returning to the south, so we thought since it’s on the way, he’d travel with you and Uncle—it’s good to have someone to look after each other.”

Watching several people board the boat and gradually pull away from shore, Grand Commander Luo and Luo Sheng remained standing in place.

The morning sun gilded the black boat and the people aboard with a layer of gold. Sheng Sanlang waved his hand desperately at Luo Sheng, shouting loudly, “Cousin, once Grandmother recovers, I’ll come back!”