On the third floor of the restaurant, Yaoer and Jin'er moved quickly under the Princess's order. The damp figures leaned out of the fence and landed on the street in a blink of an eye, blocking Lu Qiange's path.

Relaxed and casual, Lu Qiange folded his slender arms before his chest. His beautiful purple eyes narrowed as a sneer showed on his red lips.

Not long before he walked out of Wanhua Tower did he realize that he had been followed. He deliberately rested at this restaurant to lure the snake out of the hole.

As he expected, as soon as he stepped out of the restaurant, the three troublemakers took the initiative to corner him.

By now, pedestrians on the street had halted around Lu Qiange and the two maids.

The owner of the restaurant and the people upstairs whose clothes had been stained also followed downstairs. They grabbed Yaoer and Jin'er, angrily demanding compensation.

Annoyed and helpless, Huanan Jiyan squeezed into the encirclement and had to send them away with some money.

Turning her head, she saw Lu Qiange standing proudly with a playful smile on the corners of his delicate lips. Exasperated on the spot, Huanan Jiyan stretched out her five fingers to snatch him.

Lu Qiange raised his eyebrows and dodged her grasp easily with a face full of disdain.

"What are you doing? Don't touch me or stain my clothes!"

Catching the air, Huanan Jiyan quickly withdrew her dirty hand and pouted her mouth.

"What am I doing? You tell me! You ruined my clothes and you need to pay!"

Lu Qiange studied the stubborn princess with his purple eyes. Her light green male attire was stained. Even the green vest was soaked and tightly attached to her youthful curves. The silk belt around her waist was too dirty to tell its original color. Her bun had gone out of shape. Yet, if her pretty face hadn't been splattered with ink, it would still have been a feast for the eyes.

"I wonder why you followed me all the way, Your Highness?"

Lu Qiange deliberately spoke loudly with an exaggerated countenance.

Horrified, Huanan Jiyan glanced at the whispering viewers around her with shocking eyes. She stomped her feet angrily and pointed her finger at Lu Qiange.

"What are you talking about? Are you mad? Can't you tell a man from a woman?"

"A man?"

Lu Qiange chuckled and cast his sportive eyes downwards at Huanan Jiyan's upper body.

"Do you take us all blind? I advise you not to embarrass yourself out here. Why don't you go home and be the spoiled lady that you are?"

"..."

Huanan Jiyan was stunned and perplexed.

But Jin'er got the hint and immediately stood in front of Huanan Jiyan to block Lu Qiange's sight. Blushed, she cursed,

"D*mn it! Don't look! How can you insist that you're not a fop? My lord clearly saw you out of the brothel. You're a coxcomb!"

Lu Qiange's eyes turned cold as blades. He cracked his knuckles and waved the clenched fist in the air.

"Speak more nonsense and I'll show no mercy to you—"

The three girls looked terrified and huddled together, screaming theatrically.

Perceiving the strange eyes of the passers-by, Huanan Jiyan hurriedly grabbed the maids by her hands to remind them of self-restraint.

After all, they were wearing men's clothes today. How could they behave like girls and scream out of horror?

The three exchanged looks and calmed down. When they tried to get Lu Qiange again, they found that the man in white had disappeared from the field of vision.

"Wait? Where's Lu?"

Huanan Jiyan separated the crowd impatiently to look across the street. Catching no sight of the target, she started to freak out and stomp her feet.

"Alas, he runs fast!"

Lu Qiange shook off annoying Huanan Jiyan and continued his journey to the gate of divine prowess. Now that he got useful news from Fu Danqing, he must rush back to the Honour Guards barracks and secretly await the opportunity.

Compared to acquiring the latest information from Lei Huan, what made Lu Qiange more excited was Yunxi's whereabouts.

Next, Lu Qiange could only pray that the medical sage Tantai Zhufeng would get better as soon as possible to assist Zuo Le in locating Yunxi.

Suddenly, ten hostile people stood in his way. They were either holding their fists or standing with arms akimbo.

As Lu Qiange approached them, they didn't mean to disperse, which told him that these people were coming for him.

Lu Qiange stayed calm and stopped. He stared at them silently with a frozen face.

"What do you want?"

Without a weapon, Lu Qiange balled his fingers relaxedly. He was confident that he could deal with these people with weaponless kungfu.

One of the men sneered, stretching an old scar on the corner of his mouth into a strange arc. His large mouth doubled in size as he did so.

"Boy, I hear you can fight. What's the matter? Shouldn't you come with us after offending a big man?"

"I'm just a commoner. How can I know any big man?"

While replying coldly, Lu Qiange carefully reflected on his recent journey and defeated opponents.

Judging from the narrow-sleeved ginger-red shirts made of quality textured cloth, these people were hitmen of rich people. Who was their master?

Hearing the provocation, Lu Qiange smiled and pointed two fingers at the other party.

"If you want me to go with you, you have to prove that you're worthy!"

Suddenly, a shout of sharp laughter behind him sickened him.

"Still stubborn before death. Lu Qiange, you are a hard man to find..."

That voice was not unfamiliar!

Surprised, Lu Qiange gritted his teeth and looked back. An enchanting man wearing a black python tall hat and white crane robe stood there with makeup so heavy that covered his real look.

"Ming Lan..."

Lu Qiange squinted resentfully.

In an instant, he seemed to understand something.

No wonder that he had fought with the eunuch who was good at kungfu during the night patrol in the Palace that time. The scoundrel who intended to abduct Tu Muxue turned out to be the Commander-in-chief of the Western Depot!

Ming Lan stopped at a distance he considered safe. Knowing Lu Qiange's kungfu skill, he dared not to get too close to him.

His evil eyes narrowed as a flame lit up at the bottom.

Had it not been for the failure of the eunuch sent to deal with Tu Muxue, Ming Lan would never have guessed that the enemy who broke his finger back then would actually be lurking in the Palace.

When he met Lu Qiange again today, the long-healed wound on his left hand began to ache again out of reflex.

"Lu Qiange, you didn't expect we should meet again, right?"

Fixing his red eyes with the purple ones of Lu Qiange, Ming Lan gave an eerie smile. His facial muscles twitched to release the pleasure of vengeance.

Lu Qiange lifted his left eyebrows indifferently.

"A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. Lord Ming, how can you have such bad memory? Is it a relapse?"

"Shut up!"

Ming Lan suddenly turned hostile with a contorted face.

"You have committed a felony assaulting a rank-second minister. Now you sneak into the Honour Guards without answering for your last crime. People, take him down!"

The Western Depot guards swarmed onto the street from all directions to besiege Lu Qiange.

They were wearing identical white uniforms and flat hats and they were equipped with naked blades. People all scurried away like frightened rats at the scene.

Lu Qiange's purple eyes moved fast like thunder. He looked around alertly and said to himself,

"Not good..."

There were at least a hundred guards skilled in martial arts. Lu Qiange didn't worry that he would be defeated, but he had to go through a hard fight if he wanted to get away smoothly.

Even if he could get away this time, it might be difficult to come back to the Palace of Dayi. He was likely to fail the task entrusted by his Mother...

Ming Lan smirked when he was bewildered for a while.

"You are excellent at kungfu, but I have enough guards to exhaust you! You, get him!"

"Wait!"

A shout suddenly came from beyond the white encirclement, followed by another voice.

"Make way! Make way! Don’t you see the Fourth Princess? Get out of the way—"

The human blockade was broken by force. Then a young man with an ink-stained face swaggered in and stood before Ming Lan with his hands behind his back.

Ming Lan was taken aback by the smell of ink all over the comer. Frowned, he instinctively covered his nose with the sleeve and stepped back for fear that the dirty young man would lie down on his clean crane robe.

"You... You are..."

Ming Lan’s eyes kept turning. He carefully examined the faces of the young man and his two followers.

His look was familiar.

Huanan Jiyan snorted coldly and presented a gold waist card before Ming Lan's eyes.

"Are you blind, eunuch? Don't you even recognize me, the Fourth Princess?"

The royal waist card meant the power of Empress Qian. Ming Lan's pupils instantly enlarged as he lifted his robe to kneel with shock.

"Pardon me, Your Highness."

He could not possibly mistake her face. Among the whole Palace, only the Empress's precious daughter could have such an imposing manner.