Wei Dongling swallowed her pride and pleaded, "Young Master Yun, my young lady has been admiring you since childhood, but you hardly know her character. I don't dare to ask for much. I only hope you could spend half a year getting to know her better. Is that okay?"
Shangguan Yun's face darkened ominously. His slender fingers curled into tight fists, the knuckles turning white. After a long silence, he sneered, "It's not impossible."
Wei Dongling looked up at him, her face lighting up. In her heart, as long as Shangguan Yun was willing to get to know Qi Jinxuan a little more, he would surely fall for her young lady.
Before she could think further, Shangguan Yun said, "If you tell the Yu Mansion yourself that you'll call off the engagement with Zixi and that both parties are free to marry whomever they like, I'll grant your wish."
Call off the engagement with Yu Zixi?
Wei Dongling looked up, her eyes blank. She asked in confusion, "W-why?"
Shangguan Yun sneered, "Because Miss Wei has a low - class character and lacks virtue. She's not worthy of my Zixi."
Wei Dongling trembled all over and couldn't utter a single word.
"Make your own choice, Miss," Shangguan Yun said, and then walked away.
After a long while, Wei Dongling got up, patted the dust off her knees, and was about to return to the mansion when she saw Qi Jinxuan's slender figure standing behind a big tree in the distance, tears streaming down her face.
"Miss?" Wei Dongling's voice involuntarily trembled. The young master Yun had been so mean just now. Her miss must have heard every single word.
Qi Jinxuan's eyes were hazy with tears. She hung her head and sighed, "There's no need to be so humble. Being the Crown Prince's consort isn't so bad either."
It was hard to tell whether she was trying to console Wei Dongling or herself.
Thinking of the Crown Prince's viciousness, Wei Dongling became even more panicked. "Miss, don't cry. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have come up with those stupid ideas."
Qi Jinxuan's eyes turned even redder. "It's all fate." Then she looked up at Wei Dongling and asked, "The mansion caught fire. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine," Wei Dongling said, taking Qi Jinxuan's hand. The two walked back side by side.
At night, Yu Zixi almost dropped his jaw when he saw that Wei Dongling's room had been burned to ruins. There sat Wei Dongling, looking dazed.
"Wei Dongling," Yu Zixi rushed over anxiously. "How are you? Are you hurt?" He checked Wei Dongling from head to toe several times.
Wei Dongling shook her head and forced a smile. "I'm okay. It's just that all my clothes were burned." All those beautiful clothes rewarded by Qi Jinxuan were burned to nothing. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
"It's okay. I'll have someone send you clothes. Who set the fire here?" Yu Zixi's face darkened. Since his Wei Dongling was rescued from the horse - training ground, there had been no peace. "These people are getting more and more presumptuous!"
Wei Dongling forced another smile. "I saw a black - clothed man when I escaped. I almost lost my life when I went after him."
Yu Zixi: ...
Wei Dongling continued, "Then Young Master Yun came and scolded me. Oh, I've had such bad luck."
Yu Zixi thought: With your actions, if it were me, I wouldn't even bother scolding you. I'd just start fighting.
Seeing the little girl looking so bitter yet forcing a smile, Yu Zixi couldn't bear it. He took her small hand and looked at her seriously, smiling, "It will get better."
The two climbed over the wall and left the General's Mansion together.
When Wei Dongling was sitting on the wall, she suddenly called out to Yu Zixi and asked, "Young Master Yu, why are you so nice to me?"
She thought to herself, if you answer again that it's because I'm your fiancée, I'll beat you up again!
This was the first time she had privately addressed him as Young Master Yu.
Yu Zixi looked back at her. His eyes were as bright as stars. He said gently and firmly, "Because you deserve it."
The wall in her heart crashed down, and a glimmer of hope emerged in Wei Dongling's heart.
Yu Zixi drove the carriage and set off for Liaocheng overnight.
Wei Dongling leaned in the carriage to rest, covered with the thin blanket Yu Zixi had prepared for her. She felt strangely at ease. She patted her own cheek and murmured, "Don't tell me I've fallen for him just because he kissed me!"
Oh, thinking of all the beautiful women around him, what am I being so sentimental for!
The night wind howled. Yu Zixi shouted from outside, "What did you just say?"
Wei Dongling shouted back, "I said you're ugly!" Then she buried her head and fell asleep.
Yu Zixi: ...
At dawn, a carriage entered Liaocheng through a small path and stopped near the side door of a tea house under the cover of night.
Yu Zixi looked at the sleeping little girl in the carriage for a long time. Finally, he gritted his teeth and gently woke her up.
Wei Dongling half - opened her eyes and looked at Yu Zixi. She asked sleepily, "Have we arrived in Liaocheng?"
She had just woken up, and her voice was soft and slurred. It made Yu Zixi's heart skip a beat. He reached out to brush the stray hairs from her cheek and whispered, "Go back to sleep. I'll go alone."
"No," Wei Dongling sat up suddenly and straightened her collar. "I'm awake. Let's go together."
"Okay."
The Zhiyuan Tea House in Liaocheng was not very big, but it was heavily guarded. Even at night, two shifts of government soldiers were patrolling alternately, vigilant for any signs of trouble.
Wei Dongling and Yu Zixi split up and carefully searched the tea house, but they didn't find Tian Qi.
Could he be locked up in the heavily - guarded warehouse?
Wei Dongling nodded at Yu Zixi. The two avoided the guards' sight and climbed onto the roof. Yu Zixi gently lifted a few blue tiles. Wei Dongling took a quick look inside and then jumped down.
The warehouse was small. The shelves were densely filled with various types of tea packed in porcelain jars. Wei Dongling checked from one end to the other, but the warehouse was empty! There were no signs of a secret room in the surrounding layout.
Where was Tian Qi?
Yu Zixi also jumped down and bent over to gently tap the wooden floor. His eyebrows furrowed. The sounds indicated that there were no secret chambers.
Wei Dongling was attracted by a stack of account books on the table by the window. She casually picked up the top one and flipped through it gently in the dim light from outside the window. The more she read, the more solemn her face became.
Yu Zixi came over and saw Wei Dongling pressing the account book and skimming through it quickly. A sneer played on her lips.
Yu Zixi whispered, "What's going on?"
Wei Dongling glanced at him and replied, "There's something wrong with the accounts." Then she carefully flipped through the other account books. She opened one, took it, and stuffed it into her bosom. She put the others back as they were.
She gave Yu Zixi a look. The two climbed up the roof beam, gently covered the tiles, and quietly left the tea house.
It was already bright. Wei Dongling bent down and climbed into the carriage. Yu Zixi whipped the horse and they rushed away.
Wei Dongling took a water bag and gulped down some cold water. Then she casually handed it to Yu Zixi, who was driving the carriage outside the curtain.
"What did you find?" Yu Zixi took the water bag and tilted his head back to drink a couple of mouthfuls.
Wei Dongling said, "The accounts are falsified. They don't match. The silver transported to the capital every day exceeds the amount from selling tea by two or three thousand taels."
Yu Zixi was surprised. "Every day?"
"Yes."
Yu Zixi's face gradually turned solemn. "Is the Zhao family secretly trading something else in Liaocheng?"
Wei Dongling's eyes sparkled. "Are the boxes that the small boats send back to the capital every night filled with two or three thousand taels of silver? It must be something shady, which is why they don't even dare to use the official road!"
Yu Zixi said, "First, find Tian Qi. Then keep an eye on their private transactions. Making two or three thousand taels every day. Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's quite a big business."