"Your Highness?"

Gu Yunxi's heart trembled when she saw Huanan Xin. Every time this fool came, he would pester her to play after feasting despite her being busy or not.

It suited him fine as an aristocrat who did not have to dress or feed himself. But a maid like her still had must labor, didn’t she?

Concubine Xu got off the sedan chair and gave Prince Chen a smile when she saw him,

"Are you hungry again?"

Prince Chen nodded and patted his stomach,

"It would be the best if Your Grace could invite me to have lunch."

Concubine Xu told Gu Yunxi to take him to the kitchen where he could pick anything he liked to eat in the side room.

Gu Yunxi took her lunch in the same room with Lanxin and Prince Chen.

Lanxin kept gossiping about Zhaoyi Yu while eating. Absent-minded, Gu Yunxi was mostly silent.

While digging up the food, Prince Chen relished Lanxin's nagging. When she finished, he mumbled back,

"I like Zhaoyi Yu. She treats me well. A year ago when she was chatting with people in Kanfang Courtyard, she invited me to a delicious meal."

Lanxin curled her lips and rolled her eyes at him,

"You know nothing but delicious food!"

Prince Chen paid her no mind. Turning his narrowed eyes as dark as night, he gave Gu Yunxi a complicated gaze.

Gu Yunxi didn't pay attention. She was preoccupied with the matter of Gu Yunyao.

She was the daughter of Duke Min, but she refused to reunite with her parents. How would she survive in the deep palace with all the trouble in the future?

Master Leng might be unaware of this. With him gone for two days, she wondered when he would return...

…

It was time for Prince Chen to go back to Wutong Garden. He grabbed Gu Yunxi's arm and demanded her to walk with him.

Unable to defy him, Gu Yunxi had to comply.

It was not long after they left Chuxiu Palace before running into the Fourth Princess Huanan Jiyan. The entourage following her was no longer the maidservants Yaoer or Jin'er, but Lu Qiange.

Gu Yunxi was charmed by his new look. He was wearing the black suit and purple coat of the imperial bodyguards and adorned with expensive accessories on his shoulders and waist.

What was going on? Had Lu Qiange been transferred?

"Brother!"

Seeing Prince Chen, Huanan Jiyan beckoned happily and then ran up to hold him.

"I went to Wutong Garden to play with you, but the madam said you went to Chuxiu Palace. Hmm, what are you doing?"

Seeing her royal brother with Tu Muxue, Huanan Jiyan looked surprised.

Prince Chen waved proudly，"I told her to walk me back."

Tu Muxue looked Lu Qiange up and down with curious eyes.

"Lu Zhu, aren't you in the fifth team of Tiger Battalion anymore?"

Huanan Jiyan grinned,

"Oh, Lu Zhu is now my attendant. He serves Kunning Palace, so naturally he has to leave Tiger Battalion!"

"Wow, a promotion to the inner court. Congratulations!"

Gu Yunxi sincerely said her blessing with shining eyes.

Lu Qiange's expression showed no happiness. He gave Huanan Jiyan a glare as if he had unspoken resentments buried in his chest.

Prince Chen clapped his hands and laughed sillily when he spotted the scene,

"Hah... You have good taste, sister. The guard is very handsome..."

"Oh, really? I didn't notice..."

Huanan Jiyan threw back the shoulders and rested the arms on the hips. She gave a seemingly casual glance to Lu Qiange, raised her eyebrows, and deliberately prolonged her voice. However, her blushing cheeks betrayed her as she spoke.

Next to her, Lu Qiange and Prince Chen were looking at each other quietly. The purple eyes met the dark brown ones. The expressions of the two were calm, sharing a tacit understanding which could not be said.

Huanan Jiyan looked at the sky and then proposed,

"Why don't we go to Wutong Garden together. I have nothing to do after lunch anyway. It's great to spend some time with my brother."

"Great!" Prince Chen was very happy.

Lu Qiange exhaled heavily and said impatiently,

"Your Highness, other people are not as leisurely as you. I still have things to do and I have to go back to Kunning Palace. Pardon me."

Lu Qiange saluted Huanan Jiyan who grabbed his hands instead.

"Hey, you can't! I saved your life, and you should repay me generously. Now that I'm your mistress, you must obey my orders and come along!"

Irritated, Lu Qiange retorted,

"My mistress? You just said a few words for me, and you want me to obey you wholeheartedly."

Huanan Jiyan patted her chest indignantly.

"Just a few words? Don't bite the hands that feed you! If it weren't for me, you would have been arrested by Ming Lan and jailed in the Western Depot!"

Lu Qiange sneered, "Alright. Stop punching your chest though. It's flat already."

"I... You..."

Prince Chen watched the quarrelsome couple before him as he pressed his thin lips into a sly arc.

Suddenly realizing that it was unusually quiet by his side, he turned his head and looked at Gu Yunxi.

She was contemplating and she even ignored the name of her old enemy Ming Lan mentioned by Huanan Jiyan.

"Muxue, what's the matter?"

Prince Chen reached out and took one of her hands.

Wakened by the warmth on the back of her hand, Gu Yunxi returned to her senses and looked at Prince Chen in surprise.

"Oh, I'm fine..."

She spoke slowly and withdrew her hand from Prince Chen's palm.

Prince Chen grinned,

"Oh, I see. You are thinking about the perfumed man from the Imperial Ceremony Office."

"Your Highness, don't talk nonsense! I was not..."

Gu Yunxi went into a state of anxiety. Her face burned up like a boiled crab.

The conversation was heard by Huanan Jiyan who interrupted in surprise.

"What? Doesn't Tu Muxue like Lu Zhu?"

"That's not true, either..."

Caught off in the chaotic situation, Gu Yunxi was embarrassed and didn't know how to explain.

Lu Qiange folded his arms. His eyes shone when he stared at Gu Yunxi and said,

"Tu Muxue, let me tell you. You may like anyone but that eunuch from the Eastern Depot!"

With everyone's stunned eyes on him, Lu Qiange continued,

"Loving him will kill you sooner or later!"

He had witnessed her being taken away by the eunuchs of the Imperial Ceremony Office. Then he learned that she had offended Noble Concubine Wan and injured the Shenle Marquis.

The crime called for the penalty of death. Yet that fact that she could leave the Violent Room unscathedly indicated her unordinary relationship with the Master of the Eastern Depot.

In retrospect, Lu Qiange could still recall a girl who would sacrifice her life for that man. For a moment, he felt bitter, heartbroken, and utterly confused in his heart.

Gu Yunxi's face changed in shock.

Lu Qiange had long misunderstood Master Leng. She could imagine that her disappearance would deepen this outspoken young man's hatred of Master Leng.

Nonetheless, his paranoid talk before the Prince and Princess was unacceptable.

"Thank you, Lu Zhu, for being sympathetic. I will take care of myself!"

After the cold statement, Gu Yunxi turned and left without looking back.

"Hey, Tu Muxue!"

Huanan Jiyan raised her voice to the slender figure but failed to stop her.

Turning to glare at Lu Qiange, she pursed her lips,

"Look, you made her angry."

Lu Qiange's face sank.

"I'm just stating the facts. Don't Your Highness dislike the eunuchs of the two Depots?"

Huanan Jiyan went into silence, and then nodded,

"That's true. We finally have a consensus! By the way, when will you teach me the trick of backwash from the last time?"

Huanan Jiyan's fluttering eyes widened and drew near to Lu Qiange's face.

Lu Qiange shook his head and replied disdainfully as he walked forward,

"Your Highness, you have limited talent for martial arts..."

Huanan Jiyan chased after and pled,

"Please, teach me... I will call you my teacher... Wait, Lu..."

Prince Chen silently followed behind them. He looked into the distance and smiled briskly.

...

As night fell, the palace was all silent.

Night watchman's drum was beaten three times. A black shadow was squirming in the corner of the Cold Palace's broken red walls.

A cold draft passed by as Lu Qiange landed gracefully before the black shadow.

Smiling at each other, Lu Qiange spoke out,

"How resourceful! When we met in the early afternoon, you were so calm like you didn't know me at all."

The black shadow was wearing a cloak that covered his face almost entirely. Only a small part of his delicate jawline and smiling lips were exposed.

"Aren't you the same..." The man's voice was mellow when his mouth opened.

"You didn't say hello to me after entering the palace. If we hadn't met today, I wouldn't have known that you are by my side."

The black shadow chuckled and raised his hands to remove the hood.

The moonlight faintly illuminated his face.

It was Prince Chen, Huanan Xin!