By this time, the sky had turned completely dark. Just as Yu Feng thought they could finally return to the manor, Shen Xiabai suddenly spoke up, "Go to the bridge below the Moon Gazing Pavilion."
"..." Yu Feng pulled his sleeves together, rubbing his hands to warm himself, and could only agree.
In the dead of night...
A box of pastries had actually made his master so excited that he couldn't sleep.
He tactfully stopped the carriage by the two stones where Shen Xiabai and Cui Yunchu had sat earlier.
Below the bridge was the flowing lake water. There was no shelter nearby, and when the wind blew, it was exceptionally cold. Yu Feng squatted beside the carriage, watching his master standing there, his robes fluttering in the wind.
When his legs grew numb from squatting, he changed his posture. Occasionally, two or three people would pass by, looking at them as if they were fools.
Yu Feng thought: His master was like an iron tree blossoming for the first time; he was indeed in his season of longing for love.
Time ticked by, and Shen Xiabai still showed no intention of leaving. Yu Feng could only step forward and remind him, "Master, it is too late. Let us go back."
Even if he was reminiscing, this much time was enough to relive the memories a thousand times over.
The moonlight cast a dark shadow over him, making the ethereal immortal Cui Yunchu had spoken of seem to take a concrete form.
He turned his eyes slightly, his voice very light, "Yu Feng, have you ever read any storybooks? The kind with fox spirits in them."
Yu Feng shook his head.
Why look for a fox spirit in a storybook when there was a ready-made one right there in Eldest Miss Cui?
His unparalleledly wise master was about to be seduced into a fool.
"Let us return to the manor."
The tree shadows danced as the carriage shuttled through the streets. Passing by the entrance of a brothel, seductively dressed women stood in the middle of the road, throwing themselves at any man they saw.
Yu Feng had to slow down.
"My lord, it is cold. Come into my room. Let me feed you a cup of hot wine and warm your body. I guarantee you will be comfortable."
Yu Feng kept a cold face. "Move aside."
He gripped the sword in his hand, and the woman immediately dodged away, curling her lips and cursing something under her breath.
Behind that woman, a man and a woman were hugging and flirting intimately, oblivious to anyone else. Their voices carried over from a distance, "My lord, what took you so long? I missed you to death."
The man had one arm around the woman's waist and the other pinching her chin. "I missed you too, you little fox spirit."
It was unknown what happened, but the woman let out a soft cry that was incredibly provocative in the silent night.
"You little goblin, wait and see how I deal with you later."
"..." Yu Feng's voice pierced into the carriage. "Master, there is a fox spirit here."
"..."
The carriage curtain was lifted just a crack. A pair of dark eyes faintly peeked out, secretly watching the couple at the door.
The flirting became increasingly indecent to hear. Shen Xiabai ordered in a stiff voice, "Return to the manor."
Yu Feng immediately drove the carriage, leaving the man's repeated calls of fox spirit and little goblin behind.
Even when they had gone far away, those two terms still plucked at the nerves of the person in the carriage.
It made their conversation during the day seem like he was an ignorant, inexperienced boy. A scalding heat quickly rose from the soles of his feet.
That woman had been flirting with him!!
"Where did she read such messy things? She has no demeanor of a noble lady at all."
Yu Feng said, "Master, you scold back and forth, but it seems you only know these few phrases."
Shen Xiabai's gaze swept over, and he immediately said, "Master, the man seeking pleasure in front of the brothel just now seemed to be the Empress Dowager's nephew, Gu Xuan."
Shen Xiabai gave a careless hum.
Where would he find the leisure time to identify who that person was?
He did not go to pay his respects to Dowager Shen, but directly returned to his own courtyard. The moonlight was cool, yet it still could not dissipate the heat from his body.
"Youngest Uncle," a man squatting on the ground at the courtyard entrance suddenly stood up. "You are back."
"Is something the matter?"
"I have been promoted. From now on, I am qualified to attend the morning court."
"Mhm." Shen Xiabai's gaze fell on Shen Zilan.
He thought Shen Zilan had come to ask for a broken engagement, but unexpectedly his next sentence was, "An incident occurred in the royal court the day before yesterday. You claimed to be ill and did not attend. Were you really ill, or was there another reason?"
"..."
That wave of heat struck again, especially after learning the origins of fox spirit and little goblin. He looked at Shen Zilan and did not speak for a long while.
Yu Feng knew his master would not lie, so he spoke up to smooth things over, "Master was indeed ill that day."
A very serious illness, and it even left behind a formidable lingering symptom.
"Then has Youngest Uncle fully recovered now?" Shen Zilan asked with concern.
Shen Xiabai nodded. "It is getting late. Go back and rest."
"Youngest Uncle, now that I am an official, I finally realize how difficult officialdom is. You were right not to go the day before yesterday. The Liu family became a target for all, and even the Crown Prince wants him dead. If you had gone, you would only have become a blade in the Emperor's hands, making enemies of everyone."
"Youngest Uncle, I can more or less help you now. If you face any difficulties, you must tell me. We uncle and nephew will work hard together to protect Grandmother."
The sky was very dark. The light from the glazed lamp at the courtyard entrance fell on the young man, elongating his figure, as if he had grown up a lot in an instant.
Shen Xiabai patted him on the shoulder, walked past him, and returned to his courtyard.
His footsteps were a bit fast, as if he was unwilling to talk more, or perhaps unwilling to discuss a topic he did not want to talk about.
His steps even carried a hint of disorder.
Yu Feng thought: How could they not be disordered? He had tried every possible means to stop the young master, only to suddenly realize that he had fallen into the trap himself.
If he did not know his master well, he would definitely think his master was somewhat of a despicable person.
Grand Tutor Tang came out of the Department of Penalties and immediately went to the Crown Prince's estate to visit Tang Qingwan.
She lay on the bed, looking frail and haggard. Her appearance was seventy or eighty percent similar to his late wife, which made Grand Tutor Tang's heart ache even more.
"Qingwan, let Father help you leave the capital."
Fate seemed to be slowly overlapping. Tang Qingwan's face gradually merged with his wife's in his memory, and an unprecedented fear spread in Grand Tutor Tang's heart.
"Father, I am not leaving." Tang Qingwan shook her head. "Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back. I cannot leave."
"Father, I have already begged His Highness to let my cousin return. Rest assured, I will not lose."
Grand Tutor Tang lowered his eyes, his entire being exuding a kind of sorrow. "When it comes to ruthlessness and stopping at nothing, we are ultimately inferior to others."
His tone was full of sarcasm.
"Let us not talk about this for now," Tang Qingwan's spirits were much better today. "Did Father suffer in the Department of Penalties?"
"No. Although the Shen family has old grievances with our Cui and Tang families, Lord Shen is an upright person and did not deliberately make things difficult for me."
Hearing this, Tang Qingwan asked a question she was quite concerned about: "Father, were the father and son of the Shen family really killed by you and Uncle?"
Grand Tutor Tang fell into silence, and after a long while, he shook his head.
"Do not mention this matter."
"Crown Princess, Lord Grand Tutor, His Highness the Crown Prince requests your presence." A palace servant reported at the door. Grand Tutor Tang stood up, exhorted Tang Qingwan with a few words, and left with the servant.
