— It was Ling Yu, the only son of the Ling family.
Ling Yu also spotted her and walked over, bowing with a smile. "Your humble subject pays respects to the Princess Regent."
Mo Qinghuan smiled but said nothing. Just then, Mu Yanming walked over too.
She reached out and took Mu Yanming's arm. "How did it go? Who did you assign to investigate?"
Mu Yanming looked down at her. "Naturally, this king will handle the investigation himself, and only ten days were allotted."
Mo Qinghuan's smile grew broader. She tilted her head up, her eyes curving as she looked at him. "Your Highness is so busy. It seems you won't have time to marry Ata Huan recently, right?"
Ling Yu had also heard about the Regent's plan to take a co - wife.
Hearing this, he frowned involuntarily, as if he had peeked into something he shouldn't have.
He forced out a couple of dry laughs. "Your humble subject shall take his leave first."
With that, he fled as if escaping, forgetting the matter he had originally wanted to ask Mo Qinghuan.
As soon as Ling Yu left, Mo Qinghuan immediately let go of Mu Yanming's arm. "By the way, I've been investigating the matter of the key for a long time, but there's still no clue so far. So tomorrow, I'm going to dig up all the bluestones in the yard and replace them with new ones."
Mu Yanming glanced around. Apart from Bai Ke, there was no one else.
Bai Ke seemed to understand the relationship between these two, yet also seemed not to. If he understood, the rift between them before seemed fake. But for some reason, he also felt that their relationship wasn't real either.
In short, he was completely confused now. He simply had no idea whether the princess cared about the prince or not.
"Alright, let's leave the palace."
...
It was already nightfall when Mu Shengze returned to the residence of the Crown Prince.
He tiptoed into the room. There was no lamp lit inside, so he took out a fire starter and tried to light a candle.
The moment the fire starter flared up, he suddenly saw Min Feiyan sitting silently in front of the bed, staring at him with a haunted look in her eyes.
He was startled and clutched his chest. "What are you sitting there silently for?"
Only then did she get up and walk towards Mu Shengze. After sitting down at the table, she grabbed Mu Shengze's arm, her words filled with desperation. "Your Highness, this concubine is begging you. Please stop."
Mu Shengze frowned upon hearing this. "Didn't I say that you should stop asking about this matter from now on?"
Min Feiyan bit her lip tightly and closed her eyes.
"Your Highness, do you know that in the palace today, I suddenly suffered from severe abdominal pain and almost fainted."
Mu Shengze's eyes flickered. "I know. What does this have to do with it?"
"The Princess Regent was unwilling to feel my pulse. I suspect she knows about your scheme against the Regent."
Mu Shengze sneered. "So what if she knows? She has no evidence."
Min Feiyan was a bit out of control. "Yes, she has no evidence, but this concubine is scared! This concubine is afraid that if things continue like this, in the future when this concubine is in trouble, they won't be willing to help this concubine because of what Your Highness has done."
Mu Shengze waved his hand. "What nonsense are you talking about? How dare they? Not to mention that you are the Crown Princess. Once this Highness is made the Crown Prince, you will be the noble Crown Princess and eventually the Queen Mother. Who would dare to disrespect you?"
Min Feiyan shook her head helplessly. She knew that Mu Shengze was now completely blinded by ambition. It was probably impossible to change his mind, let alone with just her single persuasion.
She got up and walked towards the bed. Mu Shengze's voice came from behind. "You can sleep by yourself. I'm going to the study."
She didn't even turn her head because she knew that since they returned to the capital and since he planned that assassination and disappearance, everything had changed.
He was no longer the young man who only cared about love and was intimate with her. He had changed. He had become ambitious, goal - oriented, and also cold - blooded and heartless...
She raised her hand and stroked her still - flat abdomen. "Child, mother can't change your fate of being born into the royal family, but mother hopes that in the future, you will never harm your siblings for the so - called power."
...
At the General's Mansion, Mo Qinghuan asked Dan'er to find a ladder. Then she carried a flagon of wine and climbed onto the roof.
Under the slightly cool moonlight, she started to drink alone.
Qing Heng was leaning against the wall of the moon gate, holding his sword. He looked up at her while chatting with Dan'er.
"What's wrong with the Princess? She seems to be in a bad mood."
Dan'er shook her head. "I don't know either. When the Princess is unhappy, she never tells us."
Just as they were chatting, suddenly a white figure leaped over from another roof. It seemed that he was carrying some food in his hand.
He sat down beside Mo Qinghuan directly. "Why are you drinking alone in a melancholy mood?"
Mo Qinghuan smelled the aroma of meat and turned her head to look at what Lu Zixiu had brought.
"What smells so good?"
Lu Zixiu smiled. "It's so boring just drinking. " He unwrapped the paper and tore off a chicken leg, offering it to Mo Qinghuan. Mo Qinghuan thought it was too greasy and didn't take it.
Lu Zixiu awkwardly withdrew his hand and put the chicken leg back.
Mo Qinghuan tilted her head up and looked at the sparse stars and the moon hidden behind the dark clouds.
Meanwhile, Lu Zixiu was looking at her. Soon, the flagon in her hand was empty, and she was drunk. She leaned on Lu Zixiu's shoulder and started to mutter to herself.
"I'm tired. I really want to take a good rest and stay away from all these messy things..."
Lu Zixiu sighed and raised his hand, wanting to push the stray hair in front of her forehead away.
Suddenly, a voice came from below. "Young Master Lu, is the Princess drunk?"
He looked down and saw Qing Heng again...
It seemed that every time he had some alone time with her, Qing Heng would appear at just the right moment.
As the saying goes, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action. So it was hard not to think that he was constantly monitoring Mo Qinghuan's every move.
He was in a daze for a moment. When he came to his senses, Qing Heng had already climbed up the ladder.
"Young Master Lu, let me help you carry the Princess down to rest. It's freezing cold in this winter month. If she catches a cold, this subordinate won't be able to explain it to the Prince. Don't you think so?"
He coughed lightly and ignored Qing Heng. He picked Mo Qinghuan up horizontally, leaped lightly, the breeze fluttering his clothes, and then landed steadily in the courtyard.
Qing Heng sighed to the sky, feeling helpless.
— Young Master Lu, why on earth do you have to fall in love with the Princess...
As he was thinking, he smelled a fragrant aroma. Looking down, he saw a fragrant chicken that had only one leg torn off but was otherwise untouched.
He had been on duty all night and hadn't had dinner yet, so he sat down and started to gnaw on the chicken.
By this time, Lu Zixiu had already put Mo Qinghuan on the bed and walked out.
He tilted his head slightly and just saw Qing Heng feasting on the fragrant chicken he had bought for Mo Qinghuan.
"General Qing Heng's skill of taking things without permission is really admirable."
Qing Heng wiped the oil from his mouth and said with a grin. "I just ate one of your chickens. Young Master Lu won't be angry, right?"
Lu Zixiu leaped onto the roof. "Of course I'm not angry. It's just that one should be more lenient after eating someone's food. Maybe next time, General Qing Heng can turn a blind eye?"
Hearing this, Qing Heng regretted it deeply. He wished he could dig out the chicken he had eaten and return it to Lu Zixiu.
Because compared to a chicken, he valued his own life more.
Seeing Qing Heng's changed expression, Lu Zixiu laughed. "I'm just joking with you. Why are you so nervous?"
He patted Qing Heng's shoulder. Suddenly, a black - clothed man leaped onto the roof.
The black - clothed man probably didn't expect there to be people on the roof. For a split second, when their six eyes met, their breathing seemed to freeze.