Lin Qingwan gritted her teeth. “Why are you both being so secretive? What exactly happened?”
Liu Yueti and Ling Buzhan had deliberately played off each other, successfully piquing her curiosity.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Liu Yueti shot Bai Zhen’er a smug little look, earning an admiring glance in return.
She had known Ling Buzhan would cooperate. After all, he worked for the emperor and would be more than happy to see Lin Qingwan, the daughter of the Minister of War, break off her engagement with Yuan Shaoqi, who was aligned with the Empress Dowager.
Sure enough, they made a pretty good team.
Liu Yueti glanced at Ling Buzhan and happened to meet his amused gaze. She quickly looked away.
She had to be careful. The way Princess Pingyang looked at the male lead was almost as though she were looking at her own younger brother—the legendary Third Prince, who supposedly died before he was even a month old.
Naturally, she had developed some affection for him and wanted to arrange the best possible marriage for him.
With Liu Yueti’s humble background, there was no way the princess would approve of her.
So it was better not to get too involved with the male lead in front of Princess Pingyang.
Because she deliberately avoided his gaze, she failed to notice that Ling Buzhan continued watching her thoughtfully for quite some time.
Princess Pingyang was beginning to look displeased. She cleared her throat softly.
“Since Miss Lin wants to know, then let her know everything.”
Ling Buzhan came back to himself and smiled. “Yes.”
“Bring in the witness.”
Feiying dragged a trembling young servant forward and forced him to kneel.
“I’ve already taken the incense from the room. It’s commonly used in brothels, and very few people outside that world have access to it.”
“I sent people to several brothels in the capital to ask about it. The proprietor of Yunshang Pavilion identified this servant as the one who visited the establishment yesterday.”
“He ordered a girl and conveniently asked her for some of the incense.”
Feiying rolled his eyes.
“The proprietor said he’d rarely encountered such a shameless customer, so he remembered him clearly.”
The servant trembled on his knees.
“I… I only wanted to take some home…”
“Is that so?” Ling Buzhan smiled. “Then we should certainly be able to find plenty of this incense in your home, shouldn’t we?”
Yuan Shaoqi’s mind raced. He pointed at the servant and cursed, “You worthless slave! How dare you do something like—”
“Don’t be so hasty, Young Master Yuan.”
Ling Buzhan interrupted him.
“He hasn’t accused you of anything yet.”
“Master Xie!” Yuan Shaoqi tried to sound fierce despite his panic. “You wronged me once before and caused Qingwan to turn against me. What are you trying to do now?”
“Why won’t you leave Qingwan and me alone?”
Ling Buzhan raised an eyebrow.
“What does Young Master Yuan mean by that?”
“I’m merely enforcing the law.”
He smiled as he leaned down slightly.
“It is you, Young Master Yuan, who keeps disregarding the law and repeatedly finding your way into my hands.”
“Don’t worry. Take your servant with me to the prison. I’m sure he’ll tell us the truth there.”
The servant’s legs suddenly went weak. Feiying nearly lost his grip on him.
“Master! Master, please save me!”
The servant desperately crawled toward Yuan Shaoqi.
“You were the one who told me to get the incense!”
Lin Qingwan’s face went pale.
She pointed at Yuan Shaoqi with a trembling finger.
“You!”
“Yuan Shaoqi! Instead of thinking about how to make amends, you actually planned to use such despicable methods to force me into marrying you?”
“That’s not quite right.”
Bai Zhen’er quietly added fuel to the fire.
“He wasn’t planning to enter your room himself. He wanted that servant to enter your room, ruin your reputation, and then marry you afterward so he could gain a reputation for being a devoted man who refused to abandon you!”
“He even bribed your maid! We saw the two of them kissing behind the wall just now… Ah, careful!”
Lin Qingwan staggered backward.
The female physician hurriedly caught her, but Lin Qingwan was so furious that she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Don’t get worked up!”
The physician quickly steadied her.
“There’s something wrong with your body—”
“Your Highness!”
Lin Qingwan dropped to her knees before the princess, her expression devastated.
“Please punish this vile man severely!”
Princess Pingyang sighed softly.
“Poor child.”
“I can punish him lightly on your behalf and teach him a lesson.”
“There is no need to make this matter public.”
“But if you insist on taking him to court, then we will have to handle the matter strictly according to the evidence and the law. In the end, your own reputation will suffer as well…”
Blood still stained the corner of Lin Qingwan’s lips as she kowtowed heavily.
“I would rather die than regret this!”
“Please punish this scoundrel, Your Highness!”
“And… Master Xie, please uphold the law!”
“Qingwan!”
Yuan Shaoqi panicked. He tried to rush toward her, but Ling Buzhan’s sword blocked his path.
He pleaded desperately.
“Don’t you remember how we hit it off at first sight? How we met through poetry and fell for each other through literature?”
“I don’t understand either.”
Lin Qingwan’s eyes were red.
“How could such beautiful poetry and prose have come from a thief like you?”
“I truly was blind!”
“Because he plagiarized it.”
Ling Buzhan’s voice was cool and casual.
Lin Qingwan’s face turned deathly pale.
“What?!”
Ling Buzhan gave Feiying a look.
Feiying immediately grabbed Yuan Shaoqi.
“Qingwan! We can still marry! We’ll get married!”
“I know I was wrong. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Qingwan—”
Ling Buzhan smiled.
“Gag him and take him away. Don’t let him disturb the princess’s banquet.”
Princess Pingyang sighed helplessly.
“My flower banquet certainly turned out to be more lively than expected.”
……
Ling Buzhan was being targeted at every turn by Shen Hanzhi in court.
Although he was a trusted imperial official and had the protagonist’s halo on his side, he still couldn’t compete with the regent who held enormous power throughout the court.
He could only swallow one grievance after another.
“Shen Hanzhi is seriously a mad dog.”
Ling Buzhan returned to his residence with a dark expression.
“What exactly did I do to offend him?”
“The emperor and I haven’t even started making our move yet. Logically speaking, he shouldn’t have noticed us this early.”
“Uh…”
Feiying scratched his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Of course asking you is useless.”
Ling Buzhan sighed.
“Any news from Wei Zhao? Hasn’t she come back?”
“She came back once.”
Feiying gave an awkward laugh.
“She left you a message.”
Ling Buzhan raised an eyebrow.
“What did she say?”
“She said…”
Feiying blinked.
“‘Life here is so delightful, I have no desire to return.’”
“‘Don’t miss me.’”
Ling Buzhan: “…”
Feiying continued, adding insult to injury.
“She also left me a message.”
“She said the White Residence pays its guards more than you do.”
“Of course! I would never be swayed by money! Even if the White Residence really does pay twice as much as you…”
Ling Buzhan stared at him silently.
Feiying immediately changed the subject.
“Anyway, Master, aren’t you going to change your clothes?”
Ling Buzhan lowered his eyes to his official robes.
“Why?”
“Didn’t you invite Miss Liu to dinner at Mingyue Tower tonight?”
Feiying suggested carefully.
“You look handsome no matter what you wear, but it’s your first time inviting a young lady out. Don’t you think you should…”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Ling Buzhan frowned.
“Why would I care about impressing her? We’re meeting to discuss serious business!”
Feiying immediately straightened.
“Yes!”
For some reason, an image of Liu Yueti’s smiling face flashed through Ling Buzhan’s mind.
He cleared his throat.
“But wearing official robes really does seem a little too formal.”
“I’ll change.”
He got up and changed into a moon-white brocade robe with a subtle dark pattern.
It wasn’t ostentatious, but the gold-thread embroidery on his belt emphasized his lean waist and straight posture. At his side hung the treasured sword personally bestowed upon him by the emperor, along with a jade pendant.
Compared with the delicate young noblemen of the capital, he carried a touch more carefree confidence; compared with ordinary scholars, he possessed a distinctly refined air of nobility.
“Wow…”
Feiying couldn’t help admiring him.
“This is enough to make Miss Liu lose her mind.”
“Why would I want her to lose her mind over me?”
Ling Buzhan snorted.
Then, after a moment, he reached up and touched his hair.
“I’ll change my hair ribbon too.”
Feiying: “…”