She was barely done speaking when-
Pop!
Jing Rong flicked her forehead strongly. In an angry and arrogant tone, he stated, “You know how many women want to climb into my bed?! Yet, I don’t even spare them a glance. It’s funny how I remember a certain someone sleeping with me again and again.”
“Wh-who slept with you?”
“In that deep valley in Liang Mountain, that day in my bedroom… Oh! Wait let me try to remember a few more times.”
“Stop!” She glared at him, reluctant to start a words war.
Soon after, Jing Rong shamelessly hugged her again. She pushed him away; he glued himself to her more… and so they continued playing around several times.
……
The next day.
Jing Rong had returned to his estate and immediately dispatched people to investigate the matter discussed the previous day. When night fell, he sat at his desk within his study room, busied writing something under the flickering candlelight.
He was dressed in an embroidered robe with a crown holding his hair, a gray cape draped around the shoulders, and his eyes were lowered. His cold, arrogant face had lost its usual edge, mellow under the light, glowing with a scholarly and gentle countenance. It was a rather nice change. He appeared like a greenhorn scholar.
Lu Jiang had rushed to his study room. He stood right outside the door and greeted him. “Your Highness!” he addressed.
Jing Rong did not respond. He continued to write a letter, completely task-focused. Only after his brush dotted the final punctuation did he raise his head to look at Lu Jiang.
“So?”
“There was nothing abnormal in his behavior before he entered the capital. All his troops in Qingzhou made no movement. Except for a few squadrons following him, there was nothing else peculiar.”
After the report, Jing Rong raised his hand and held up his right sleeve as he lightly placed his brush in its holder. The silence continued until the ink dried on the paper. Then, he raised the paper and a smile bloomed on his face as he admired the poem he wrote.
He hummed in satisfaction before asking in worry, “Do you know if Yunshu will like this poem?”
It turned out he was writing a love letter to Ji Yunshu!
Lu Jiang stood there, his behavior as respectful as before. However, at times, he would raise his head to peek at his master and caught sight of his master immersed in joy. Ah~! His Highness has been poisoned with love, and it has reached a terminal state – there is no cure for it.
While Jing Rong was admiring his work, he casually requested, “That old man has tread on this world far longer than us. In addition, he has lived through three emperors’ reigns. He had long learned to be very cautious. Split the men into two groups. One will keep an eye on the movements at Li Mansion, and the other will… secretly follow Li Gang.”
Li Gang, the old general’s son?! He was even called Li Gang1.
Lu Jiang didn’t understand the reasoning behind it. “Li Gang is currently still in Qingzhou. His daughter had just passed away not long ago, and when Old General Li left, he did not follow. Why do you want to send people to follow him?”
Jing Rong curbed the smile on his face. He resumed with his usual coolness. His long, narrowed eyes were like razors as they stared sharply at his subordinate. “Li Gang might seem like a good-for-nothing, but he is still that old man’s son. How can a sly old man like him have a son so unlike him? If that old man had another purpose, the only hint might be found on his son.”
“This subordinate understands.”
“Don’t let Yunshu get wind of it. I want to let her focus on recreating the portrait of those servants.”
“As you wish, Your Highness!”
1. This is a true story which was reported in China and had become a big joke. It happened on a certain day a few years ago when a drunk man hit and killed two students. When he got caught and the news reporter was filming. He was screaming all the time that they could not arrest him and “My father is Li Gang.” I believe you can find that piece of new again somewhere on the net.