The night wind in the forest was frigid, blowing ice cold all over the surrounding wilderness.
A-Ning took out a blanket from the luggage and spread it under a tree near the fire.
He wanted his young master to rest early, but the group of injured people on the opposite side was too noisy as they woke up drowsily and groaned at the top of their lungs like an overturned basket of clamoring ghosts and cicadas.


Gao Lin paced to Liang Shu’s side with his hands clasped and whispered in a breathless voice: “Your Highness, just stop it, that’s enough.” What is this business of always staring at Second Young Master Liu? If the other party was an unmarried girl, her reputation and integrity would be stared clean away by you.

On the other side, A-Ning also noticed that His Royal Highness was looking over, so he whispered to Liu Xian’an: “Young Master, it seems that the prince has something to say to you.

Liu Xian’an wiped the snack crumbs from his fingers and looked in Liang Shu’s direction.

At this time, Liang Shu had already withdrawn his gaze and was conversing with Gao Lin. 

The wilderness campfire and the bright moon cast a glow over his whole body.
His features were bold, his nose high and straight, and the hem of his robes seemed to swirl up like a shimmering lake of broken gold.
With an indolent expression and a luxurious presence, he did not match up with the rumored murderous madman.

But there was always some truth and some falsity to rumors.
Thinking of this, Liu Xian’an wrapped up in a blanket and sat back under the tree, closing his eyes to wander again.
He didn’t really care whether the world was quiet or noisy.
Even if there really was a shrieking ghost, as long as his mood was calm, the only thing that would fall into his ears was the breeze piercing through the forest.

“Ah!” A wailing voice came out of nowhere, startling a flock of birds in the forest, but it did not startle Second Young Master Liu away from his three thousand avenues.

A-Ning was unable to fall asleep anyway, so he sat next to Liu Xian’an, stretching his neck out to watch the excitement.
A limp escort was carried before Liang Shu by the soldiers, his wounded leg dragging across the muddy ground, still dripping blood.
He looked miserable.

Perhaps he was truly scared to death, because coupled with the stimulation of severe pain, before Gao Lin could ask any questions, he poured it all out by himself.

The chief escort of Wanli Escort Bureau was named Chang Wanli.
While not well-known in the jianghu, the escort business was booming.
Three years ago, Chang Wanli’s first wife passed away due to illness.
It did not take long for him to marry a new wife.
Her name was He Rao, and she had a charming appearance, but her temper was the exact opposite.

Chang Xiaoqiu didn’t like his stepmother.
He was only twelve or thirteen years old at the time, and due to his young age, he often spoke rudely to her.
The relationship between the two of them was never very good.
As for Chang Xiaohan, he was the number two figure in the escort bureau after Chang Wanli, and had been silently protecting the young master all these years.

Gao Lin asked: “So the new wife ordered you to find a chance to deal with Chang Xiaohan and Chang Xiaoqiu when you went out this time?”

“Yes.” The escort said, “She gave us a pearl first, and said she will give us another box after the thing is done.” As he spoke, he took it out of his sleeve.
“This is it.”

Not gold or silver, but pearls.
Liang Shu took a glance: “What kind of family background does she have?”


“There is no family background.
She was a refugee fleeing disaster in the south.
When she first entered the city, she was smelly and filthy, and for some reason she was spotted by the head guard.”

Gao Lin crouched in front of the escort, took the pearl, and examined it slowly in the firelight: “Escorts usually do business with gold and silver.
Even if the new lady wanted to tamper with the accounts and save some private money, she should get gold and silver.
It would be difficult to save ten East China Sea Pearls of this size, let alone a whole box.
Since she worked so hard to save them, why should she take it out for bribery……or do you not accept silver?”

“Accept, of course we accept, we want to convert it to silver, even if it is less than one or two percent.
Because although this pearl is valuable, it is not easy to sell, but the wife said that this was all she had.”

A-Ning clicked his tongue while listening, and whispered to Liu Xian’an: “My lord, the old lady wanted two pearls to make earrings last time, but the master of the estate has not been able to buy the right ones.
They actually have a box full of them, opening an escort agency really brings a wide range of connections.”

“It has nothing to do with the escort bureau.” Still wrapped in a blanket, Liu Xian’an yawned.
“The pearl should have been owned by her before she got married.”

“Why?” A-Ning leaned towards him and lowered his voice.
“Young Master was sleeping just now and didn’t hear the prince’s question.
That He Rao has no family background and was a refugee fleeing disaster.”

“Leaving aside whether her status as a refugee is true or false, even if it is true, she was able to hide her belongings before fleeing disaster.” Liu Xian’an said, “After she married, no matter how prosperous the Wanli Escort Bureau’s business is, it would take three years to save enough for a box of pearls.
Firstly, the money is difficult to move, and secondly, it would be impossible for no one to notice.
If she wanted to have someone murdered cleanly, no matter what, she shouldn’t include pearls that could let others get a handle on her.”

Therefore, the only reasonable explanation was that the pearls were not obtained by her after she married into the Wanli Escort Bureau.
In this way, even if the plot was exposed, she would not be implicated.
On the contrary, she could also help clear up the suspicion in reverse – after all, only a fool would exchange easily exposed pearls worth tens of thousands of gold for something that cost one thousand silver.
It really sounded sick in the head.

A-Ning understood, asking again: “Then shall we tell Lieutenant General Gao?”

“No need.
If we can see it, His Royal Highness can see it, as well as Lieutenant General Gao.” Liu Xian’an said, “If you really want to help, then send some wound medicine to relieve the bleeding and pain, otherwise the escort won’t be able to last a few more words.”

The conversation between master and servant under the tree was sent to Liang Shu’s ears verbatim by the wind.
After a while, A-Ning ran over with the medicine and Gao Lin nodded to him: “Thank you.”

A-Ning saw that the escort was covered with injuries, and there was not enough time to deal with all of them, so he simply bandaged the two major injuries and fed him a few more painkillers.
The entire set of techniques was swift and steady.
His expression didn’t even change when blood splashed on his face, which made Lieutenant General Gao take another look at Baihe Mountain Village on the spot

Liang Shu’s attention was not on this side.

Gao Lin felt that his prince’s behavior, if he stared at Miss Liu herself, could be explained as uncontrollable admiration when the emperor asked about it in the future.
But at this time, at the end of his line of sight was Second Young Master Liu.
No matter how it looked like a prelude to provocation, the palace spies were standing five steps away.
Could we focus on business and engage in fewer such displays?

But His Royal Highness clearly didn’t have the consciousness to perform well.
Not only did he fail to do so, but he casually and indifferently said: “Ask all the questions that should be asked clearly,” and then walked not far from Liu Xian’an, lifted the hem of his robes, and sat down as well.


Gao Lin: “……”

A-Ning became nervous again: “Lieutenant General Gao!”

Gao Lin had no choice but to continue to comfort him: “It’s fine, His Highness probably wants to ask about some detoxification medical theory.”

Thinking about it carefully, during the half-day of traveling together, the master and servant of Baihe Mountain Village had been helping, but the prince had been making trouble and telling lies.
Lieutenant General Gao’s heart ached.
How could there be such a difference in morality between people?

The campfire crackled and burned merrily.

Liu Xian’an continued to rest with his eyes closed.

Liang Shu tossed a stone into the fire.

With a whoosh, the flames blew up more than a third of a meter, and flew on the wind towards the tree.
Liu Xian’an’s eyelashes fluttered, and he was finally forced to open his eyes due to the heat on his face.
Last time in the carriage, he saw Liang Shu at the end of a wild and beautiful dream, and this time His Royal Highness was mixed into the flurry of flames.
Both times were real and illusory, uneasy and startling.
In the interweaving light and darkness, he was frightened and didn’t know where he was.

He stabilized his heartbeat a little and looked nearby, seeing that Gao Lin was still asking questions and the interrogation was obviously not over.

“Tell me.” Lian Shu held the pearl in his hand.
“Why did the new wife insist on this as a reward?”

Liu Xian’an didn’t expect that the other party would come to discuss this issue with him.
He forced his thoughts back to reality and said: “Perhaps the private money she saved in the past three years was not enough to buy escorts, or maybe she didn’t really intend to give the pearls away.
I don’t know much about Wanli Escort Bureau, but according to common sense, unless Chang Xiaoqiu had already threatened He Rao’s status, there was no need for her to rush into it when she didn’t have the funds.”

“So you think it is the second possibility.
She didn’t intend to give away the pearls, but just used one as bait to make the escorts work for her?”

“The premise is that the bandits in Fuhu Mountain have long been in league with her.” Liu Xian’an said, “I figure the ending He Rao wanted most was for the bandits to wipe out the escort team, so that she could recover the pearl, remove the thorn in her side, and keep the secret forever.
The reason she bothered to buy escorts was actually just to poison Chang Xiaohan along the way, so that the only master who could really protect Chang Xiaoqiu would fall early and aid her plan.”

But unexpectedly, things still didn’t develop according to her arrangements.
Chang Xiaohan’s body was strong, and although he was smoked by the poisonous fumes, his skills did not decrease too much.
On the contrary, he led Chang Xiaoqiu out of the encirclement and escaped with his life.

Liang Shu’s judgment was similar to his.


So Liu Xian’an was not a complete layabout.
He should have a lot of brains, but if that was the case, why was he being rumored by the outside world as a beautiful idiot?

If Lian Shu were to speculate, according to his past twenty years of survival of the fittest, it could only be that the other party was deliberately showing weakness, pretending to be senseless in order to protect himself in a big family.

But in fact, the family style of Baihe Mountain Village was very upright.
Everyone was busy with their own affairs, and there was no internal intrigue.
If one were to ask Second Young Master Liu if he had heard of his reputation in the world, he had vaguely heard some of it.
But he had already half-stepped out of the world of mortals, traveling everywhere under the sun and wandering around the nine provinces.
Riding the strong winds was very pleasant, and he sought absolute spiritual freedom in the heavens.
How could he be affected by the small rumors of the secular world?

So he didn’t care.
He truly didn’t care.

But Liang Shu didn’t understand his state of mind, at least for now.

He looked at Liu Xian’an, and after a while, he suddenly asked: “Did Young Master Liu mention this lord before to his younger sister?”

Hearing this, Liu Xian’an unconsciously straightened his back.
He had not forgotten his mission to quietly spoil this marriage. 

Her interminable wailing had surely been mentioned.
Liu Xian’an didn’t know that His Royal Highness had heard the whole plan about jumping into the lake in the teahouse, so he proceeded to lie without any psychological burden: “No, A-Yuan is naturally introverted and shy.
She usually doesn’t talk much.
My parents often suffer headaches because of her dull temperament.
By the way, what sort of person does the prince like?”

Liang Shu replied: “Personality is not important, as long as they are beautiful.”

Liu Xian’an paused slightly, because his original idea was to reverse his younger sister’s personality, but he didn’t expect that the other party’s requirements for choosing a partner would be so straightforward and superficial.
There was no depth.
As long as they were beautiful……this gave no leeway to him at all.

He pondered for a moment and continued to hypothesize: “If they are beautiful but have a bad personality, and when dissatisfied will make a scene and throw bowls, plates, and cups, causing the whole family to be distressed, or if she simply commits suicide, is this okay too?”

“Naturally.” Liang Shu revealed an unprecedented good temper.
“If they cry, I will coax them, and continue to buy bowls, plates, and cups after they are broken.
As for suicide, if the beauty must die, then this lord can only join her.
If I die under a peony flower, a ghost can also be romantic.”

“…….”

Liu Xian’an looked at Liang Shu, trying to find some indication in his expression that he was making this up, but there was none.
His Royal Highness didn’t want to act in front of his spies, but in front of Second Young Master Liu, it was just the opposite.
Before the stage could be set up, he was already addicted to drama.


In the distance, Lieutenant General Gao sighed.

Although Liu Xian’an had long been indifferent to life and death, that was the conclusion drawn from looking down upon everything from the height of the Dao of Heaven, which was completely different from Liang Shu’s “a ghost can also be romantic.” They belonged to two separate schools of indifference.

However, His Royal Highness seemed to be far from the words “ladies’ man,” so Liu Xian’an was a unavoidably a little surprised when he first heard it.
But after thinking about it, since some people died for profit, some for fame, and some for family and country, why couldn’t some people sacrifice their lives for romance? Since they could, why couldn’t such a person be Liang Shu?

At this thought, Liu Xian’an nodded slightly and successfully accepted that the first commander of Dayan might run off to die for love at any time, which was actually a terrifying prospect.
But since the other party was so obsessed with lust, then his previous method would not work.
His sister was really beautiful, so he needed to change his angle of persuasion.

Not half of his series of mental activities showed on his face.
Liang Shu thought he had seen no small number of people, and among them, it was not uncommon for them to remain calm and unaffected when Mount Tai collapsed before their eyes.
But Liu Xian’an’s tranquility could not be roughly classified into this category.
He was not the same as them, or to be more precise, he was not even in the same space as others.

There was an independent and indestructible barrier that firmly isolated him in another world.

Liang Shu was the first to discover this.

Thus, His Royal Highness’s new interest immediately turned toward finding a way to break this barrier.

As for why it should be broken and what to do after it was broken, that was beyond his consideration.
The so-called making trouble out of nothing went roughly something like this.

Gao Lin was worried and came over to interrupt before too long: “The group of escorts seem to be unfamiliar with the bandits in Fuhu Mountain.”

Liang Shu glanced at him: “After interrogating them for such a long time, you came to such a conclusion?”

Gao Lin: “……”

Gao Lin: “No, there is more.”

Liang Shu walked under the tree on the other side: “Tell me.”

Gao Lin spoke, but couldn’t help casting another glance behind him, and saw that Liu Xian’an had wrapped himself in the blanket again, hugging his knees as he gazed up at the black sky.
Although his eyes were filled with dancing flames, for some reason, they still seemed as quiet as a cold, bottomless pool.

He also faintly noticed the innate sense of alienation and distance in Liu Xian’an, but not the existence of the barrier.
Instead, from another angle, he found a plausible reason – this was normal, after all, the prince was really annoying.

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