It was late in the evening, and the rain was pouring down.

The sudden cool wind poured through the window into the old and dilapidated post station. Thunder exploded overhead, illuminating the intertwined figures in the room…

Lu Shi Qing woke up to the sound of rumbling carriage, he sat up abruptly, stared at the morning sun coming in through the gap in the carriage curtain for a while, and gasped sharply.

The scenes from the dream flashed before his eyes again and again—the slender forearm wrapped around his neck, the wet black hair was like vines, scratching his chest, all the way to his shoulders. The young lady’s soft and delicate waist moved to-and-fro, made his four limbs shattered in an instant.

Within the sound of rain, the bones soars and the flesh flies, the soul turned upside-down.

Lu Shi Qing was stunned for a few counts, then looked down at his soiled pants, and finally realized the seriousness of the situation, showing an almost shocked expression.

It was already the next day. Yesterday evening, the governor of Shangzhou made arrangements for Lu Shi Qing and Yuan Ci Xian, set up a spacious carriage for each of them, and sent local soldiers to escort them all the way to Dengzhou.

After driving all night, at about chenshi (7-9 am), Lu Shi Qing stopped the convoy to have breakfast.

It was true that his journey was delayed and he prepared hasten it, and did not intend to enter the town along the way, but it was not to the point where he would eat in the rickety carriage.

As soon as he called to stop, Yuan Ci Xian rushed down joyfully from the carriage behind, took a green jade plate containing food, and leaned over the curtain of his carriage and shouted: “Assistant Minister Lu, can I come in and eat breakfast with you?”

Lu Shi Qing’s scalp exploded when he heard this crisp sound. Heaven knows, in the dream, how she used this voice to make him lose control.

But can she be blamed for this? Can’t. He had to be reasonable.

So he just asked lightly: “Why do you want to eat breakfast with me?”

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t dare to lift his curtains casually now, and stood outside quietly and replied: “The maids in the carriage keeps flattering and fawning, it’s so boring. I want to talk to someone. You don’t want me to always call Brother Zhao, right?”

Oh, that really won’t do. Zhao Shu, who neglected his master when he sees beautiful women, told him this morning that Yuan Ci Xian had sneezed, and asked if he wanted to seek a doctor for her.

He dismissed him with the word “troublesome”. It’s just a sneeze, can it still break the sky.

He was silent for a while, and said “Enter”.

Yuan Ci Xian opened the curtain and entered with a smile on her face, she put the jade plate in front of him and sat on the table opposite him.

Lu Shi Qing glanced at her hand on the edge of the plate, seeing that it really looked like a catkin that was gently grasped and slowly twisted in his dream, his heart couldn’t help but shook, and then wrinkled his eyebrows.

This weird dream was so terrible that it almost made her like a walking ecstasy, to the point that the blink of her eye and the flick of her hair became a temptation to him.

Fortunately, soon, his attention was diverted.

His eyes fell on her jade plate, and he asked uncomfortably: “Why are the cakes and pastries on your plate are all different kind?”

Looking at his, they were all in pairs. Yes, very auspicious.

Yuan Ci Xian was stunned then replied: “They gave too much food, saying that this one is a famous local snack, and that one is boiled with what kind of spring dew, winter dew, fairy dew that has been rare for several years. I can’t eat anymore. Just pick one each and have a taste.” After she finished speaking, seeing that he was so upset that he couldn’t even drink the millet porridge, she said, “Don’t drive me away, I’ll eat it right away, and your eyes won’t be uncomfortable.”

Seeing that she raised her hand and wanted to stuff a piece of snow-white crystal cake into her mouth, Lu Shi Qing hurriedly stopped her: “Just eat slowly.”

Yuan Ci Xian paused with her mouth open, her eyes sparkling, when she suddenly heard him say: “Your brother sent a reply this morning, saying that if an accident happened to you, I will have to pay me with my blood. If you choked to death, I can’t afford it.”

“…”

Yuan Ci Xian’s moved feeling vanished in an instant, she curled her lips, lowered her head and ate slowly. She then continued to chat with Lu Shi Qing after her stomach was full: “When I just woke up, I saw Brother Zhao took all your dirty clothes and threw them away. You have no one to wait on you, so you spilled some tea?”

Lu Shi Qing was just putting a spoonful of porridge into his mouth, when he heard these words, he suddenly choked up, and almost lost his composure. He tried to calm down a bit, and after swallowing, he lowered his head and let out an “um”, looking a little guilty.

She suddenly realized “Oh”, and then said: “How can you even spill tea? How about this, I will ride with you during the day, serve you tea and water, and go back to my carriage at night.”

In fact, the governor of Shangzhou sent many maids to show courtesy to Lu Shi Qing, but he sent them all to Yuan Ci Xian’s side. He was not used to other people serving tea and water because he thought it was dirty, and he was used to doing it himself, so how could he make a fool of himself when no one was serving him.

But he couldn’t express his suffering, so he had to directly refused without explaining: “No need, cannot bear it.”

Yuan Ci Xian pushed the small table to get closer to him, looked at him and said, “Just treat it as if I repaid your life-saving grace, will it work? Give me the opportunity to provoke… No, honor the monarch prestige and even the national prestige, right, my dear Imperial Envoy Lu?”

She leaned so close to him, blinked her tender eyes and looked at him eagerly, while saying the words she had learned from his mouth. Lu Shi Qing’s eyelids drooped slightly, his expression finally softened a little bit, and he said, “Just today, let’s not take this as an example.”

Yuan Ci Xian nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

Using win an inch want a foot “reasoning”, she interpreted “could eat breakfast together” as she could stay in his carriage, and if she could have one time, it meant she could have a second time.

How could she know when the suspect would be arrested? With such an opportunity of tower near water get the moon first, she should treat every day as her last and never let go.

But Lu Shi Qing really couldn’t bear her service, so she just sat and watched him work. As the morning passed, and after finishing the last batch of official documents related to disaster relief, he saw that she was drowsy from boredom, and he was also afraid that this boundless drowsiness would spread to him, so he planned to talk to her.

It just so happened that he did have something to ask her.

He took a sip of tea, and said slowly: “The leader of those people yesterday, does his figure look familiar?”

Yuan Ci Xian suddenly heard him speak, she raised her head in a jerk, thought about it and said: “It seems not.”

“If this group of people came from foreign country, will you know it?”

Yuan Ci Xian frowned: “Could it be Nanzhao?”

“Why do you say that?”

“If it’s foreigner who have feud with me then it’s probably Nanzhou, and the tyrannical methods of these people are indeed like their style. But this is too farfetched. Shangzhou is close to the capital, and already become the heart our Great Zhou politic. How can people from Nanzhao come and go so freely?”

Lu Shi Qing smiled: “If there are internal help, why not?”

“What did you find?”

He shook his head “It’s because I can’t find anything, that’s why I feel this way.”

What he said to the other party yesterday was not only to threaten the enemy to retreat, but also to test them. If they were really from Great Zhou, they might not have gone so simply.

Yuan Ci Xian was silent, as if thinking about something.

Lu Shi Qing thought for a while, then looked at her and said: “The Nanzhao Crown Prince once forced you to marry him, you should have seen him and remember his appearance.”

He stared at her lightly, making her feel guilty for no reason.

She replied: “I have seen it before, but I don’t remember what he looks like. He is not you, Assistant Minister Lu.”

“Last time when you were in the Zichen Palace, you told His Majesty that he has a thief eyebrows and rat eyes.” The implication was that she clearly remembered.

“Really?” Yuan Ci Xian blinked, “But thief eyebrows and rat eyes are a derogatory term! You wouldn’t be upset, would you?”

“Why would I be upset?” Lu Shi Qing’s voice was light, as if Nanzhao Crown Prince was a dog or a pig had nothing to do with him, “I just asked you, whether the man yesterday might be Nanzhao Crown Prince.”

Well, it was she who flatter herself.

Yuan Ci Xian smiled embarrassedly, then began to think about it seriously: “I remember that Nanzhao Crown Prince’s name is ‘Xi Ju’, can be regarded as a martial art expert, and in terms of body shape, he is a little taller and burlier than you…”

Before she finished recalling, the gloomy-face Lu Shi Qing interrupted: “You just say it straight, why it has to be compared to me?”

Yuan Ci Xian looked at him innocently: “You are the only one in my eyes, why won’t you allow me to use you as a reference?”

Lu Shi Qing choked. He was anxious one moment and happy the next moment, as if he had some kind of heart disease.

Realizing this, he became more and more irritable, and his face became even more ugly: “Quit with your smooth talk, get down to business.”

Yuan Ci Xian and Xi Ju did meet once in Chunye two years ago. At that time, the sun was setting and she was leading the horse to drink water by the stream when he came to ask for directions. She didn’t know his identity, so she didn’t pay much attention, and rode away after pointing the way. She vaguely remembered that he was probably in his early twenties, with dark honey-colored skin and an extremely thick voice.

If there was any intersection later, it would be on the battlefield. He sent troops to trap her father, and she led the army to rescue him. She desperately broke through Nanzhao’s defense and helped her father break through the siege.

But yesterday’s man covered his face with a mask and didn’t say a single word, so there’s really no way to verify it. But the body shape was basically the same.

She explained everything to Lu Shi Qing in detail, but after hearing him say “um”, there was no follow-up.

Five days later, the imperial envoy crossed Dengzhou and entered the boundary of Tangzhou, and the governor of Tangzhou took over all of Lu Shi Qing’s travel matters.

After passing Tangzhou was Huainan Province, but Lu Shi Qing suddenly slowed down for some reason and settled in Tanghe County.

It was on this day that Shi Cui and Cao An were able to bring Xiao Hei to join them. Both of them suffered a lot of injuries, but fortunately it didn’t threaten their vitals. When they saw Yuan Ci Xian and Lu Shi Qing, they didn’t have time to catch their breath, and immediately reported the latest news they found to their masters.

Cao An said: “The news of County Princess’s assassination reached Chang’an on the same day. His Majesty was furious, and immediately ordered people to thoroughly investigate the matter. This morning there’s a little progress.”

Lu Shi Qing didn’t want to disclose the truth and let the world know that there were a group of unidentified men who wanted to capture Yuan Ci Xian, so he told to the surrounding prefectures that he was the one that was assassinated.

Of course, this matter was concealed from the local officials, but he could not hide it from Emperor Huining. It’s just that he was also concerned about the Yuan family, in order to avoid the truth to comes to light and provoked rumors and slander towards Yuan Ci Xian, he declared the same to the public.

Lu Shi Qing asked: “What is it?”

Cao An answered: “Actually, it was not found by His Majesty’s investigation. Last night, Vice Governor Liu of Jingzhao Prefecture unintentionally found a trace of mysterious group of people in black clothes near Chang’an City…”

Lu Shi Qing sneered, he glanced at Yuan Ci Xian who also looked incredulous on the side, and said coldly: “Could it be Vice Governor Liu Shaoyin is joking with me, or did that these killers get their heads damaged by the rain and actually hit the knife themselves?” He asked with great interest, “Then, where this group of people was heading?”

Cao An hesitated, seemed a little difficult to speak, then said, “Master, they went to Shaohe State Princess Mansion.”

Yuan Ci Xian was slightly taken aback, and said with certainty: “Impossible.”