Yu Feng and Xing'er were crouching by the door. As the door was pulled open, Yu Feng watched the two people walking out one after another, his face splitting into a grin he couldn't suppress.
"Master, Eldest Miss Cui," he said with great deference.
Cui Yunchu, seeing his unbearable glee, gritted her teeth and said, "Just wait until I find you a ghost bride."
"... ."
Yu Feng's smile vanished. He shrank back a few steps and rubbed his nose sheepishly.
Truth be told, his marriage would indeed be decided by the mistress of the household in due time. Given his master's temperament, the chance of him backing Yu Feng up was almost zero.
With that in mind, he quickly explained, "Eldest Miss Cui jests. I was merely following orders and playing a prank on you. There are no ghosts in this world."
"No ghost bride, huh? Then you can stay a bachelor forever."
"... Master." Yu Feng turned his head pitifully to look at Shen Xiabai.
If he wasn't allowed to marry in this lifetime, what meaning was there in being a man?
"Let's go." Shen Xiabai, as if hearing nothing, said to Cui Yunchu.
The two left the courtyard side by side.
Yu Feng, "... ."
Xing'er got to her feet and followed, not forgetting to say to Yu Feng, "That's what you get for talking too much and flattering the wrong person."
The pair was a perfect match—the man handsome, the woman beautiful. Walking along the path in the back hills, they looked like a stunning sight, drawing every eye.
Cui Yunchu was never one to be reserved by nature. When she saw people stop to stare at them, she would laugh and wave at them.
The more she did this, the more attention they attracted, which made Shen Xiabai rather uncomfortable. "Behave yourself."
Cui Yunchu pouted. "How do you write 'behave yourself'? My mother never taught me. Can you teach me?"
"... ."
Shen Xiabai glanced sideways at her, meeting her defiant gaze, and suddenly smiled. "Fine, I'll teach you later."
"... " Cui Yunchu wasn't stupid. "I charge for lessons, you know."
"I've heard of paying a tutor, but never of charging for lessons." Shen Xiabai was almost amused by her audacity.
"How much silver?"
"A hundred taels." Cui Yunchu wasn't being unreasonable.
"Oh." Shen Xiabai nodded. "I charge a thousand taels for playing a lover. So remember, you owe me nine hundred taels."
"... ." Cui Yunchu was stunned for a moment.
She shouldn't call him 'Shen the lover'—she should call him 'Shen the Villain.'
"Th-then... then...," Cui Yunchu stammered, her face reddening.
Shen Xiabai suddenly stopped walking and turned to look at her. "Then what?"
"Then... what about when you kissed me? That's ten thousand taels." Cui Yunchu's face burned.
Shen Xiabai said coolly, "That was just because I wanted to. You said yourself I'm unmatched in handsomeness. If anything, you got the better deal. So I won't bother asking you for payment."
With that, he turned and continued walking. From the angle where Cui Yunchu couldn't see, however, his lips curled into a high smile.
"You're absolutely shameless," Cui Yunchu muttered.
Just when had Shen Xiabai learned to be such a scoundrel?
Walking along, they bickered now and then until they reached the mountainside, where their carriages were parked. Without the shelter of buildings, the wind whipped mercilessly against them. Having swallowed a mouthful of cold air, Cui Yunchu began coughing even worse.
Shen Xiabai walked half a step ahead of her, shielding her from most of the wind. "Have you seen a doctor?"
Cui Yunchu coughed between words, "Haven't had the chance."
Haven't had the chance? She had the time to meet a man but not to see a doctor?
Shen Xiabai suddenly stopped. Cui Yunchu nearly collided with him. Just as she was about to say something, he started walking again... as if he had some problem.
"What's the matter? Is the prime minister's household too proud to see a doctor?" his words carried a sarcastic tone.
Cui Yunchu, never one to back down from a verbal spar, retorted, "I was going to see one, but Cui Qingyuan said Lord Zhou is so handsome and talented that just laying eyes on him would cure any ailment, saving me the trouble of a doctor's visit."
Shen Xiabai's face darkened.
Handsome and talented was a stretch. With looks like that, curing ailments? He scoffed and turned to glare at her. "Utter nonsense."
Cui Yunchu pouted. "If you know I'm talking nonsense, then why do you keep picking on me?"
"Master," Yu Feng suddenly hurried forward and whispered something to Shen Xiabai. Shen Xiabai frowned and looked up toward the mountainside not far away.
By a steep rock stood a slender, frail figure. The wind whipped her robes, giving her a somewhat delicate, ethereal appearance.
From behind, it was clearly a woman.
"Get in the carriage first. I'll be there shortly," Shen Xiabai said.
Cui Yunchu withdrew her gaze and said stubbornly, "I have my own carriage. Why would I ride yours?"
Then she walked straight toward her own carriage, with Xing'er hurrying to follow.
As she left, she bumped into Shen Xiabai's arm.
"... " Yu Feng scratched his head. "They were getting along so well just now—why has Eldest Miss Cui suddenly turned on him?"
Shen Xiabai glanced at Yu Feng without answering and instructed, "Wait by the carriage."
With that, he walked toward the woman.
He stopped a short distance in front of her, and the two began speaking. From so far away, their words were completely indistinct.
When Yu Feng reached the carriage, he saw the curtain's edge lift slightly, revealing a pair of Cui Yunchu's bright, clear eyes.
Spotting Yu Feng, she immediately dropped the curtain and withdrew.
"... ."
Yu Feng stood with his hands clasped in front of him, keeping watch by the carriage. A moment later, the curtain was lifted again, and Cui Yunchu stuck her entire head out, staring at the two people standing opposite each other.
"Who's that?" she suddenly asked.
Yu Feng frowned. The Second Princess was in a delicate situation, so he dared not say a word out of place. He could only evade her vaguely.
Cui Yunchu pouted. Quite protective, won't even name her.
"Your master came here for her today, didn't he?"
"Yes," Yu Feng blurted out, but as soon as he said it, he felt something was off. Still, his master had indeed come today to handle the matter promised to the Empress Dowager—which meant he had come for the Second Princess.
All three of them—master and servants—peered over in that direction.
Perhaps because the wind was strong, Shen Xiabai shifted his position slightly, deliberately blocking the woman behind him.
"... ." Yu Feng cautiously glanced up at Cui Yunchu. "Eldest Miss Cui, the wind is strong out here. Perhaps you'd better wait inside the carriage?"
Cui Yunchu shot him a look. "Is the wind strong enough to blow the two of them away? They haven't been swept off by the wind either."
"... ."
Yu Feng fell silent. Cui Yunchu continued, "What? Afraid I'll see the wind blow your master right onto that woman?"
Such words were not to be spoken lightly. Yu Feng's face turned green, and even as a grown man, he felt extremely embarrassed.
"Eldest Miss Cui misunderstands. My master and that woman—" he didn't know how to explain.
Just then, their conversation ended. Shen Xiabai clasped his hands in a bow to the woman, then turned and walked back to the carriage.
Cui Yunchu looked thoroughly disgusted.
With her, he was so polite, but with me, his mouth is full of poison—petty and violent.
Did he think Cui Yunchu was someone to be trifled with?
Yu Feng tried to explain, "Eldest Miss Cui, although my master came for that woman, there are other reasons behind it. Please don't misunderstand."
Cui Yunchu's voice boomed, "What's it got to do with me?!"
When Shen Xiabai returned, that was the first thing he heard, and her loud voice startled him.
He was about to speak when the carriage curtain was suddenly lifted, and Cui Yunchu’s exquisite face was full of cold mockery.
“Lord Shen, you truly have peculiar tastes. Is there something more alluring about a nun serving before the Buddha? Or do you simply enjoy the scent of incense? No wonder you said my perfume stinks. So that’s it…”
She raised her voice by several notches for the last words, “Your nose is blind!!!!”
