The discussions among the scholars and students in the tea house grew increasingly heated.

Liu Changning sipped two cups of tea at the square table. Seeing that her good friend couldn’t break free for the moment, she stood up and went to the back garden of the tea house.

There was a lotus pond in the back garden.

After a light snow in Jinling City, the weather was particularly cold, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the lotus pond.

Liu Changning tightened the cloak around her body as she stood in the corridor pavilion, resting her chin on her hand as she looked towards the distant lotus pond.

The weather was cold, and her breath condensed into a layer of white mist. Through the layers of mist, the lotus pond looked hazy, like a fairyland.

She stood lost in thought by the lotus pond, her gaze unfocused.

If she had not seen wrongly just now, the carriages parked at the side entrance of Guiyun Tea House were almost all horse-drawn carriages with family insignias.

Just now in the main hall, all the students were arguing incessantly. The noble people in the private rooms upstairs and the King of Zhennan, who was said to be coming to examine the students’ writings, had not yet appeared.

It was estimated that they were sitting in the private rooms observing the words and actions of this batch of tribute students.

The people upstairs were observing the people downstairs, while the people downstairs seemed unaware.

The students from humble backgrounds were racking their brains, wanting to gain the attention of high-ranking and powerful nobles, not knowing they were just pawns in their game.

The cold wind blowing into her collar made Liu Changning shiver.

She tucked her slender, scallion-white fingers into her sleeves, but her fingers were already stiff from the cold.

Because of the charcoal stoves burning inside the tea house, it was warm indoors, but staying too long made it extremely stuffy.

Moreover, she was being observed by gazes from the private rooms upstairs. Although she sat far away, occasionally one or two inquisitive gazes would fall upon her.

Liu Changning had no intention of joining any faction, and was particularly impatient with such unrestrained, mercenary gazes.

Standing in the corridor pavilion now, the air was clear, and the distant lotus pond was faintly visible. If it weren’t for this body’s fear of cold, she could have stayed for another half hour.

The winter wind in Jinling City was particularly biting, and Liu Changning shivered again.

She calculated the time, thinking to herself that if Jia Ziyun still hadn’t gotten free by now, she would leave an address at the counter and meet another day.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, a familiar, gentle voice of reproach suddenly came from not far down the corridor: “The weather is so cold, why isn’t Cangyun staying inside?”

Liu Changning turned her head. In the distance, a woman was wearing a yellow-trimmed, sapphire blue floral satin stand-up collar cotton robe, with the collar standing high. Her black hair was tied back with a blue-green hairpin.

She had a slender figure, with a belt cinching her waist, showing off her slim waistline.

At this moment, her phoenix eyes held a trace of tender light, and her full lips curved into a familiar arc.

The newcomer walked closer and closer. When she came near, she quickly stuffed the purple-gold embossed hand warmer she was holding into Liu Changning’s arms.

Jing Huan took the cloak from her arm, shook it out, and made to drape it over the person in front of her, but she stepped aside, barely avoiding it.

The hand warmer in her arms slightly dispelled the coldness from her fingertips. Liu Changning was stunned for a moment, then lifted her eyelids, her clear apricot eyes looking at the newcomer. She adjusted the hand warmer in her hands and said in thanks, “Thank you, madam.”

Her gaze fell on the cloak spread out in the newcomer’s hands, and she gave her a strange look, her voice cool: “I was just about to return to the tea house, so your clothing won’t be necessary. You and I are not related, and receiving your hand warmer is already presumptuous.”

Hearing these words, a fleeting disappointment flashed across Jing Huan’s face. She smiled bitterly and nodded, draping the cloak over herself.

She turned her head and said gently, “If Cangyun feels it’s presumptuous, then never mind. But you mustn’t be polite with this elder sister. Although we’ve never met before, over these years, I’ve read your articles and have always considered you a kindred spirit.”

Liu Changning looked at her suspiciously. The lady before her had clear and upright features, deep-set eyes, and was dressed in fine clothes – at a glance, one could tell she was either wealthy or noble.

Now looking carefully, her memory returned. She had indeed met this person twice before, in Huashi Town years ago, that noble lady surrounded by guards.

But apart from those two chance encounters years ago, she had no other connection with this person.

Moreover, her appearance had changed greatly now. Let alone this person, even if she were face to face with her convenient husband, he might not recognize her.

Liu Changning’s scallion-white fingertips scratched at the purple-gold embossed hand warmer, a fleeting gleam passing through her eyes.

This person appearing at Guiyun Tower at this time, not dressed as a student, must be one of the nobles in the private rooms upstairs.

For a strange noble lady to see her once and be able to call out her courtesy name, speaking intimately and flatteringly, intending to draw her in – wasn’t this behavior strange?

Liu Changning stepped back inconspicuously, her expression distant.

—

In the “Orchid” private room.

The tea water boiled, and misty steam spread throughout the room. The water in the small stove bubbled and hissed.

The red-clothed man brewing the tea had already turned his back, his eyes fixed on the corridor pavilion in the back garden of the tea house.

Two ladies were standing in the corridor pavilion. Because the distance was not far and the windows were wide open, fragments of their conversation drifted into Pei Yuanshao’s ears, causing him to narrow his eyes.

“Your Highness, the tea water has boiled,” Hong Lian stood bowing at the Eight Immortals table, looking at the boiling tea water, and spoke hesitantly.

After waiting for a while, the man in front seemed not to have heard, leaning obliquely against the wooden window, his ear tips standing straight up.

Hong Lian hesitated for a moment, then inquired again, “Your Highness?”

The red-clothed man had his hands behind his back, the cold wind making his thin clothes flutter loudly, but he seemed not to feel it. His fine brows furrowed slightly, and he spat out two words very quickly, displeased: “Put it out!”

The black-clothed guard obeyed the command, bowing his head as he extinguished the charcoal fire in the small stove brewing the tea.

Following His Highness’s line of sight towards the corridor pavilion, he saw from afar that it was actually the King of Zhennan. Hong Lian’s eyes filled with shock, and he bowed his head, not daring to utter another word.

Pei Yuanshao had practiced martial arts since childhood, and his inner strength was profound. He could hear seven or eight tenths of the conversation from the not-so-distant corridor pavilion if he listened carefully.

A look of understanding flashed through his ink-black eyes, and the corner of his lips curled up in a half-smile.

That woman Jing Huan was truly full of schemes and utterly disgusting.

In his previous life, he thought she must have developed an abnormal affection for Prime Minister Liu, loving without being able to possess, carrying regret for life.

But he hadn’t expected this person to act so despicably.

Two years ago, in order to find out the spy he had placed in Langhuan County, she had infiltrated the old house in the west of the village, disguised as a man, pretending to be a lustful young man to seduce that person.

When he first learned of this news, he couldn’t understand it no matter how much he thought about it.

Jing Huan had clearly admitted that her lifelong love was the most beautiful person under heaven. Others didn’t know who this beauty was.

How could he not understand, living a second life, that the person she spoke of was the future Prime Minister Liu Cangyun, as beautiful as the Goddess of the Luo River.

Later, he analyzed carefully. On the second day after “Guangjing” was driven out of the old house, the spy he had buried in Langhuan, Guan Yunyun’s entire family, was silenced.

Connecting the cause and effect, Jing Huan, this woman with her mirror-polishing hobby, in order to find out his hidden forces in the northern desert, was playing tricks on him behind his back. She was willing to sacrifice her chastity, and despite having someone in her heart, she could nonchalantly seduce the woman he, Pei Yuanshao, liked.

She was truly hypocritical and despicable.

If that person hadn’t been “incapable”… too capable, she might have been seduced by his vicious enticement.

Pei Yuanshao’s eyes shot cold light, his gloomy gaze fixed firmly on the face of the woman in the corridor pavilion pretending to be gentle.

“Heh!” A cold laugh escaped from the corner of his lips. It’s a pity that this time her true feelings might be misplaced.

Liu Cangyun, the top student from humble backgrounds in the south, had extremely high prestige among students from poor families and would become the head of all civil officials in the entire Golden Phoenix Dynasty in the future.

With her swift and decisive methods of rectifying the government and her endless strategies for governing the country, she achieved a prosperous realm for the dynasty.

In his previous life, when she was pointing out the way for the country, he was locked in a water prison. Yet from others’ mouths, he repeatedly heard of her outstanding political achievements.

It was said that during Liu Cangyun’s time in office, every measure she took was for the people first, benefiting thousands of households.

After Jing Huan seized power, the court fell into a chaotic situation plagued by aristocratic families. She single-handedly straightened out the court’s chaos, gradually infiltrated the clans, and carried out sweeping reforms both inside and outside the court.

During Liu Cangyun’s tenure, she set herself as an example, not participating in any partisan struggles, possessing the ability to comprehend heaven and earth, and doing things to benefit the world.

In the many years that followed, there was peace within the seas, and the common people lived in peace and contentment.

Therefore, Prime Minister Liu Changning’s reputation far exceeded that of Empress Jing Huan in those years.

Prime Minister Liu’s extraordinary talent at that time, her integrity and lofty character that few could match, meant she would definitely not participate in the current partisan struggles.

With her heart set on the common people of the world, how could she be drawn in by Jing Huan, who led the aristocratic families?

People like the King of Zhennan were doomed to lose from the start.

Wanting both the support of the humble students behind Liu Cangyun and wanting to gain her true heart.

Thinking carefully, it was absolutely impossible.

He didn’t understand love back then, but later in Xiqiao Village, that person taught him many things.

Liking someone has nothing to do with power, beauty, or wealth. The heart doesn’t know where it starts, but afterwards, everything done is with deep love, without any impurities.

If back then, he hadn’t had so many concerns and had brought her back to the capital, she might not have died in that fire.

If he could live again, he and she might have had a different ending.

An ending he wanted to strive for.

Pei Yuanshao’s black eyes stared straight ahead, but his gaze lost focus.

Fish cry and the water knows, but if he cried, who would let her know?

Pei Yuanshao’s eyes overflowed with dense ink color, breaking the dam in an instant.

He was dazed for a moment, then the voices of those two people entered his ears again.

Looking closely, the woman in the distance wearing a cherry blossom fleece cloak stepped back distantly and asked coldly, “Who are you?”

“My name is Jing Huan, courtesy name Liuguang. Cangyun can call me Liuguang from now on, there’s no distinction between us.”

The same introduction echoed in his mind.

Years ago in Xiqiao Village, Jing Huan, disguised as “Guangjing,” said to that person: “My name is Guangjing, the lady can call me Brother Jing from now on.”

Pei Yuanshao supported himself with one hand on the window frame. What was meant to be a casual glance caught the back view of the woman in front of Jing Huan.

That scene seemed to overlap with the scene of Guangjing introducing herself in Xiqiao Village years ago.

Perhaps the rain outside blurred his vision, or perhaps Jing Huan’s despicable disguise stirred up the deep, unresolvable longing for that person in his heart. He vaguely felt that the woman wearing the cherry blossom cloak under the corridor pavilion had merged into one with that person.

The more he looked, the more similar they seemed – that slender figure, that stiff and upright posture, the black hair half-draped over her shoulders, all overlapping.

Pei Yuanshao covered his chest with his hand, feeling an absurd familiarity, his feet moving forward uncontrollably.

He vaguely heard Hong Lian speaking behind him. But as if bewitched, he stumbled down the stairs, stumbled out of the wooden door of the inn’s back garden.

The moment he burst through the door, he was very awkwardly tripped by the wooden threshold, his body tilting, falling into someone’s soft embrace.

A faint scent of grass and wood wafted to his nose as his head rested on something soft. His eyes seemed both sad and joyful, with all the flavors of the world mingling in those ink-black orbs.