Sincerity?
Inappropriately, a scene from a TV drama she had watched in her previous life flashed through her mind.
Lu Yinxi bit her lip shyly and was about to ask what kind of sincerity he wanted. But when she looked up, she saw the smile in Shang Luoshu's eyes.
The shyness and joy suddenly vanished, and an inexplicable annoyance welled up in her heart and then grew wildly.
This man didn't know anything at all!
She had been extremely worried about him in the back hall, yet he was still smiling!
"You can choose not to say it if you want!"
Glaring at him fiercely, Lu Yinxi turned around and was about to leave.
Shang Luoshu saw all the changes in the girl's expression. Although he didn't understand why she suddenly got angry, he knew very well that he absolutely couldn't let her leave now.
He grabbed her forearm and half - forcefully pressed her onto the chair, conceding, "I'll tell you, okay?"
Stubbornly turning her head to the other side, Lu Yinxi pretended not to want to listen, but her eyes couldn't help but glance at him from the corner.
Shang Luoshu didn't expose her. After sitting down on the chair beside her, he slightly restrained his smile.
"Last night's fire was like a test stone set by His Royal Highness the Regent to test me."
Test stone? What did that mean?
The girl frowned in confusion.
"In other words, even if we hadn't shown up at the Regent's Mansion last night, his study would still have caught fire, and this Lord Hu would still have come to my mansion today."
Last night, in order to save Lu Yinxi, Shang Luoshu did use the secret agents he had planted in the Regent's Mansion and signaled them to start a fire in the mansion.
To avoid exposure, he didn't contact the secret agents again after giving the order, so he always thought that the fire in the study was caused by them. It wasn't until this morning that he received a message from the secret agents.
The fire in the study last night had nothing to do with him.
Not long after that, the Minister of the Supreme Court of Judicature led people to surround his mansion and wanted to take him to the Supreme Court of Judicature.
At this point, Shang Luoshu finally realized that this was a trap set by Shang Mozheng for him, or rather, a test.
The Regent was wary of Shang Luoshu.
More precisely, he was wary of the Dragon - Tiger General three years ago.
At that time, the Dragon - Tiger General had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, and his reputation had spread throughout the Great Qi after the battle against the Southern Chu. It seemed that as long as he raised his arm and shouted, the whole world would respond.
No one had expected that, in such a situation, Shang Luoshu would actually take the initiative to give up his military power and be willing to be a carefree prince. But it was this move that pushed the reputation of the Dragon - Tiger General to the peak.
He was loved by the common people for defending the Great Qi and praised by the scholars for not coveting power. With a minister like him in the Great Qi, there was no need to worry about not creating a prosperous era.
For a while, the whole court and the public were full of praise for His Royal Highness the King of Jing.
This grand occasion made Shang Mozheng seriously look at Shang Luoshu for the first time.
The Regent rarely looked at this wild child that his elder brother had picked up on the way. Even more than a decade ago, when this child came to him and begged to go to the army to gain experience, and was even willing to start as an ordinary soldier, he just laughed it off.
Who would have thought that so many years had passed, and the child back then had grown so much that he even made him feel a sense of crisis.
Shang Mozheng cared a lot about reputation, but he couldn't take away the reputation of the Dragon - Tiger General, nor did he think about recruiting him into his camp.
Since that was the case, then he would destroy it.
So, with his approval, half a year after Shang Luoshu was enfeoffed as a prince, a rumor spread from somewhere that the Dragon - Tiger General had embezzled military funds.
In response, the man only said one sentence to the outside world: The innocent are innocent.
He didn't respond to any more rumors after that.
To be honest, in the past three years, Shang Luoshu always thought that he had done a good job in pretending.
He took the initiative to give up his military power and became a carefree prince. He also didn't interfere in the court affairs casually on the surface. Then, with his own intention and Shang Mozheng's deliberate actions, the prestige of the Dragon - Tiger General was gradually forgotten by people.
Slowly, Shang Mozheng's wariness of him was visibly reduced. But today, he just did such a thing...
At this point, the man sighed slightly. Looking at what he had done during this period, there was only one thing that would make Shang Mozheng vigilant again.
"Is it because of Fang Qinhu?"
The girl's cold voice sounded in his ear. Shang Luoshu didn't want to hide it from her and nodded slightly.
Shang Luoshu was involved in the case of Fang Qinhu from beginning to end, and the Regent had lost a general in this case. No wonder he would act like this.
Fortunately, when he chose to stand on the side of His Majesty, the man had already anticipated this situation.
"So what are you going to do? Confront the Regent head - on?"
"Otherwise?" Shang Luoshu hooked the corner of his lips. "Moreover, even if I avoid this time, the Regent will only be more vigilant against me in the future."
"As for you," as if thinking of something, the man suddenly changed the topic, and the spearhead of his words was directly pointed at Lu Yinxi.
"What did you mean by what you said just now? What do you mean you can testify for me? Don't you care about your reputation?"
The Regent's Mansion caught fire at the ugly hour, which was already deep in the night. How could Lu Yinxi testify for him? Admit that the two of them were together late at night?
Although the requirements for women in the Great Qi were not that strict, such a late - night tryst was still extremely disgraceful.
"I didn't!"
The girl's phoenix eyes were wide open, and she refuted confidently.
She did care about her reputation, so she later wanted to use the power of words to remedy it. Who would have thought that someone would intercept her halfway.
Now, the power of words couldn't be used, and her words had been heard by Lord Hu.
Thinking of this, Lu Yinxi could already guess what new gossip would be popular in the capital tomorrow.
"Now you know to be worried?"
Seeing the worry on her face, Shang Luoshu originally wanted to scold her a few more times, but in the end, he couldn't bear it.
He gently patted the girl's head with his big hand and comforted her, "Don't worry. The Minister of the Supreme Court of Judicature knows his limits and won't spread this matter randomly. But I'm afraid I can't hide it from the Regent."
What would the Regent think and do when he found out that the girl burdened with Kong Shi's prophecy was involved with the enemy?
Shang Luoshu wasn't in the Regent's belly, so he naturally couldn't guess his thoughts. But one thing he was very sure of was that the Regent would never leak this news.
"Then it doesn't matter."
After hearing the man's explanation, Lu Yinxi couldn't help but feel relieved. As long as it didn't affect the reputation of the Prime Minister Lu's Mansion, she didn't care what the Regent thought.
After hesitating for a moment, she said uncertainly, "So, will the matter of the fire in the Regent's Mansion just end like this? Will he let you go so easily?"
"I don't know. Anyway, you don't have to worry too much."
The man's voice softened at some point. His deliberately lowered voice was like a soft feather, tickling people's hearts and making them feel chaotic.
All the questions in her heart couldn't be asked. Lu Yinxi jumped up from the chair as if fleeing and bounced a few steps to the threshold like a frightened rabbit.
"It's getting late. I, I'm going back!"
After saying that, she ran away without looking back.
Shang Luoshu didn't dare to tease her anymore and watched the girl leave. Her slender figure became smaller in his sight and finally disappeared after turning at the outer door.
The man slowly retracted his gaze, and all the tenderness in his eyes had disappeared.
"Chen Guang, tell the people below to be more vigilant."
Next, they might have a tough battle to fight!