The Supreme Court under Lord Lian's jurisdiction is a place specifically for trying cases. There must be plenty of detention areas and torture tools there. She hadn't seen the Butterfly Thief for several days and wondered how he was faring there.
But obviously, Lord Lian had given the order to release the Butterfly Thief before Ji Feiyu arrived. So as soon as she entered the Supreme Court, she saw the Butterfly Thief, dirty and disheveled, standing outside the prison, looking at her with unshed tears.
"Sanshiang, how did you get yourself into such a mess?" Ji Feiyu suppressed the urge to laugh and rushed towards him, but stopped short just before throwing herself into his arms.
The Butterfly Thief still held his arms out as if to embrace her. Seeing Ji Feiyu stop, he blinked at her and then cried out, "Sanniang, have you been well these days? I've missed you so much these few days."
Hearing the address "Sanniang", Ji Feiyu couldn't help twitching her eyelids. She endured his corny words and whispered, "Butterfly Thief, it's all your fault! You should have chosen a more innocent girl to impersonate. Now I've been involved with an official family. What should I do?"
The Butterfly Thief looked aggrieved. "I didn't know this girl had committed such a big crime recently. I just thought she was one of the beauties in the 'Picture of Ten Beauties' and wanted to have a look for myself first."
After hearing the whole story, Ji Feiyu sighed. Thinking they were still in character, she loudly said, "Sanshiang, we're fated not to be together in this life. Let's part ways now and never see each other again."
The Butterfly Thief twitched his face and immediately followed, "Sanniang, how can you be so decisive? You're the only one I've ever loved in this life!"
Ji Feiyu was amazed at his quick reaction. She whispered again, "The Assistant Minister of Justice mistook you for the criminal who abducted Miss Lian and eloped with her. He wanted to punish you severely, but I stopped him. You should leave now. Come back to rescue me when you have a chance!"
The Butterfly Thief also whispered, "Okay. I'll come back to steal you away again after I recover from my injuries!"
Ji Feiyu nodded upon hearing this. Then she loudly said, "Sanshiang, stop deluding yourself in this life. Let go! I don't like you anymore!"
Hearing this, the Butterfly Thief wailed loudly, "Since that's the case, let's part ways. From now on, we're through!"
Ji Feiyu and the Butterfly Thief played out a heart - wrenching drama of love and separation. They both felt a bit disgusted inside, but they both played their roles professionally to the end.
After a reluctant farewell, Ji Feiyu obediently returned to Lord Lian's mansion. Lord Lian seemed to be more at ease with her after hearing the report from his spy. Ji Feiyu pretended to be sad and deliberately rubbed her eyes red on the way back, which made Lord Lian comfort her instead.
"My dear daughter, put that thought out of your mind and marry into the Lin Mansion obediently. Father assures you that you'll enjoy wealth and honor in the future and grow old with him."
Ji Feiyu nodded pretending to be sad, but rolled her eyes inwardly. Sacrificing his daughter's happiness for his own official career and still talking so grandly. Well, it was a good thing that the real Miss Lian had run away.
Ji Feiyu couldn't fall asleep on her first night in Lord Lian's mansion.
The stars were beautiful that night, but Ji Feiyu suddenly thought that Yong Yaxuan had been on high alert against her and Lin Zhiran before. If he knew that she had left the palace and still had a chance to marry Lin Zhiran, she wondered what his reaction would be. Evil thoughts grew quietly in Ji Feiyu's heart. Even she herself didn't know whether she cared about him or not.
The image of Yong Yaxuan's resolute departure after giving that harsh order always flashed through Ji Feiyu's mind. This wasn't his usual attitude towards her, but it seemed to be his usual style of doing things. Ji Feiyu always felt that something was wrong with that incident that day, but she couldn't tell what it was.
Based on Ji Feiyu's three - year experience in the harem, things in the palace were never that simple. Many things were intertwined. Yong Yaxuan must have had his reasons for doing so. But just thinking about it made Ji Feiyu angry and heart - broken. She didn't want to think about it anymore, so she turned her thoughts to the problem of her marriage to Lin Zhiran.
Of course, she wasn't going to marry Lin Zhiran. Firstly, she was wearing someone else's face. Secondly, although they could talk about anything and were in tune in thought, they weren't familiar enough for her to marry him blindly.
She had just escaped from one cage and wasn't going to jump into another one.
Of course, since she was the fake Miss Lian, it would be easy for her to get away. But what if the real Miss Lian was caught? Thinking like this, since Miss Lian didn't want to marry Lin Zhiran either, she might as well be the saboteur and ruin this marriage alliance.
Marriage alliances, since ancient times, had always been arranged by parents and matchmakers. If the parents no longer approved, the marriage alliance would naturally be dissolved.
Ji Feiyu suddenly had a bold idea. She decided to go to the Grand Tutor's mansion the next day to give it a try.
After thinking through the details, she finally pulled up the quilt contentedly and fell asleep with a smile.
Early the next morning, Ji Feiyu coaxed Lord Lian into taking her out. She found out that he was going to visit the Grand Tutor's mansion.
Based on Ji Feiyu's understanding of this matter, now that the runaway daughter had been found, Lord Lian, afraid that something might go wrong, would surely contact the other side as soon as possible. So she proposed to go with him, so as not to arouse his suspicion that his daughter wanted to run away again.
However, as soon as she expressed her wish, Lord Lian waved his hand and scolded her, "I'm going to the Grand Tutor's mansion to discuss your wedding and set a date. What are you, a girl, doing tagging along? Aren't you ashamed?"
Ji Feiyu said, "I just want to go and meet the Grand Tutor. Didn't you say that this marriage was arranged a long time ago because my mother and his wife were good friends? He's in a high - ranking position now. If you don't let him see how good his future daughter - in - law is, why would he want to form an alliance with you?"
But Lord Lian frowned and turned his back. "Nonsense!"
Ji Feiyu continued, "Anyway, I've been out for a month. Didn't you cover it up by saying that I was sick? Since this marriage was delayed because of me, I should go and apologize now that I'm 'recovered'!"
"You... You girl, I don't know what to say about you... You still have the nerve to mention running away from marriage! I've taught you to be well - behaved and polite since you were a child. When did you become so unreasonable!" Lord Lian was so angry with Ji Feiyu that he pointed at her nose and scolded her. Afraid of exposing her identity, Ji Feiyu had to drop the matter.
But after confirming that Lord Lian was going out, Ji Feiyu had other plans. If he wouldn't let her go, she'd go by herself! Ji Feiyu pretended to be angry and locked herself in the room, telling everyone not to disturb her. She changed into a short - sleeved shirt and sneaked out along the roof beams.
Ji Feiyu didn't know where the Grand Tutor's mansion was, but she had a mouth, didn't she?
Ji Feiyu wandered around the street for half a day before finally finding the Grand Tutor's mansion.
Since Ji Feiyu wasn't very good at light - footed skills and was afraid of being discovered, she had prepared some sleeping powder on her.
Sure enough, as soon as Ji Feiyu sneaked in, she was caught by the secret guards.