Hearing what the emperor said, Yi Qing felt like swearing again. She didn't want to beat around the bush but to swear directly.
"For me to let him live is already an act of mercy," Xiao Jinghan said with a cold face.
Hearing what Xiao Jinghan said, the emperor was left speechless. 'You're protecting Yi Qing like there's no tomorrow!'
After being scolded and having a ton of dog food (show of affection) force - fed to him, the emperor left dejectedly through the secret passage. Only after leaving did he remember that he had come to talk about the flood in the south of the Yangtze River. After thinking about it, he decided to talk about it tomorrow.
After giving instructions at the yamen, Deng Xiao went to the Court of Judicial Review. As he left the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he felt that someone in a carriage was staring at him. He glanced at it and pretended not to notice, then rode away on his horse.
Sure enough, the carriage behind followed him.
Deng Xiao deliberately led the carriage into a dead - end alley and ordered his subordinates to surround it.
"Come out," Deng Xiao rode his horse to the front of the carriage.
"Our young lady is here. How dare you, Commander Deng, act rashly?" Dong Yu said boldly.
Deng Xiao drew his sword and lifted the carriage curtain. He saw three women sitting inside. The one protected in the middle was none other than Miss Mu, Mu Lixue.
He put away his long sword. Thinking that such a thing had happened to the Mu family yesterday and they still let Miss Mu out today, they really doted on her.
"Miss Mu, don't wander around outside if you're not necessary. It won't be good if you meet bad people," Deng Xiao said blankly.
Mu Lixue hadn't seen Deng Xiao yesterday. Just now when Deng Xiao lifted the carriage curtain with his sword, she saw Deng Xiao through the gap. Her heart skipped a beat immediately.
Deng Xiao was born with a gentle and beautiful appearance, and the coldness between his eyebrows made Mu Lixue secretly fall in love with him.
If she had liked Xiao Jinghan before because of his imposing manner and thought that a woman should marry such a man who was second only to the emperor, opening up frontiers and making the mountains and rivers tremble with a single call.
Her liking for Deng Xiao was that she would feel overjoyed just by seeing the coldness between his eyebrows. Maybe before, her feelings for Xiao Jinghan were just admiration, and she had mistaken admiration for love.
"I, I..." Mu Lixue was so excited that she couldn't speak clearly. "I have something to say to Commander Deng."
"Speak," Deng Xiao didn't want to talk to her at all.
"Privately. Could Commander Deng please step into the carriage?" After Mu Lixue said this, her cheeks were burning hot, and she didn't dare to raise her head.
Dong Yu and Dong Qing looked at their young lady in surprise. Their young lady was so aloof that it was already a great honor for others if she even glanced at them. Now she was inviting a man into the carriage?
But thinking of what had happened last night, the two of them fell silent. The Duke had not punished them simply because he was worried that others would notice this matter.
"Miss, sharing a carriage with a man is improper..." Dong Yu whispered.
"Get out," Mu Lixue scolded in a low voice.
"Yes," Dong Yu and Dong Qing didn't dare to say anything more.
Deng Xiao didn't want to get into the carriage, but thinking that there was an unspeakable matter between him and Miss Mu, he guessed that Miss Mu wanted to warn him.
Besides, he really couldn't do anything. So he got into the Mu family's carriage.
"Miss Mu, just say what you want to say directly," Deng Xiao said while still not looking at Mu Lixue, even though he was in the carriage.
Mu Lixue secretly glanced at Deng Xiao and quietly covered her chest. She felt that her heart was about to jump out: "I heard... that I and Commander Deng... have..."
Only then did Deng Xiao glance at Mu Lixue, which scared Mu Lixue into immediately lowering her head.
"Miss Mu, rest assured. I won't tell anyone," Deng Xiao said coldly.
"That's not what I mean," Mu Lixue panicked. "What I mean is... since we..."
Deng Xiao thought he had misheard and looked at Mu Lixue sideways.
Mu Lixue looked at Deng Xiao expectantly, with an inquiring look on her face.
"Does your father know about your decision, Miss Mu?" Deng Xiao felt a little like laughing in his heart.
He knew his own situation very well. He didn't care much about matters between men and women. He had only fallen in love with Yi Qing. Even though he knew it was impossible to be with Yi Qing, he would still protect her for the rest of his life. He had never thought about other women.
"My father will definitely agree," Mu Lixue said hurriedly.
"No need," Deng Xiao said resolutely. "I don't agree."
"Why?" Mu Lixue was anxious. "You have to be responsible for me."
Deng Xiao thought that he had been stuck with this: "There's nothing between us. I don't need to be responsible for Miss Mu at all."
Mu Lixue looked at Deng Xiao who was just inches away. She took a deep breath and directly pounced on him, hugging his waist: "There is now."
Deng Xiao's body instantly tensed up. He directly shook off Mu Lixue and jumped out of the carriage.
"Ah—" Mu Lixue hit the back of her head when she fell backward and let out a scream.
"Miss, miss..." Dong Yu and Dong Qing panicked.
"How dare you, you dare to do this to our young lady..." Dong Yu glared at Deng Xiao and scolded.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..." Mu Lixue's tears came out from the pain, but she had a happy look on her face. She thought Deng Xiao was a gentleman.
Dong Yu and Dong Qing were stunned. Their young lady was actually accommodating someone else.
"Don't worry, Lord Deng. I will definitely discuss this matter with my parents," Mu Lixue looked at Deng Xiao seriously.
Deng Xiao thought Mu Lixue was joking. Duke Mu would definitely never marry his daughter to him.
He left without looking back.
Mu Lixue stretched her neck to look for Deng Xiao. Only when she couldn't see him anymore did she retract into the carriage. She hit the carriage wall and gasped in pain.
"Miss?" Dong Yu saw the way her young lady looked. She was more enthusiastic than when she had seen General Xiao before. "Don't tell Master and Madam about your meeting with Commander Deng."
"Why?" Mu Lixue was angry.
"The Embroidered Uniform Guards are all..." Dong Yu was a bit embarrassed to say. "Eunuchs."
Mu Lixue was stunned for a moment. She now understood why Deng Xiao was like that. What a huge blow it must be to a man. He must be very painful all by himself.
But she wouldn't let Deng Xiao be in pain anymore.
"Go home," Mu Lixue was self - touched at this thought and was even more determined to marry Deng Xiao.
Yi Qing never expected things to develop like this. Now she was just staring at the Duke of Xie's rehabilitation so that the Duke of Xie would have the strength to be angry to death when the time came.
She was peeling Chinese torreya nuts when Wu Min came over listlessly.
"You don't even let anyone announce your arrival," Yi Qing looked at Wu Min. "What's wrong?"
"My dowry?" Wu Min said irritably.
Yi Qing really forgot about it. There was also the matter she had promised Bai Chengyi. She would prepare them all together later: "The Lu family won't not prepare anything, right?"
Wu Min wasn't very familiar with these things. In her eyes, the Lu family already had a lot of things and didn't need to prepare so much.
"This morning I saw a lot of people going to the Lu family. It seemed that the things the Lu family had customized would be postponed. Lu Tianxun's mother looked very angry. I don't know what's going on," Wu Min said irritably.
Since Lu Tianxun helped the poor scholars win the debate, he had returned to live in the Lu family, and Wu Min had also gone back with him. Although Mrs. Lu didn't make things difficult for Wu Min anymore, there were still some conflicts in their habits.
"Who is so bold to back out on the Lu family?" Yi Qing thought that the Lu family was one of the few families in the capital that others didn't want to offend. Could it be that they were being targeted by all the powerful families in the capital because of the matter of the poor scholars?