After my father was sent to marry into the princess's household, I became the darling of the en

Rong Jing glanced at her with his eyes lowered.

Then he let go of her and leaned back against the tree trunk.

"Want to learn?"

The young man lightly unfolded his folding fan, his tone revealing a hint of nonchalant mockery.

Shen Jingque nodded vigorously, the beautiful image of herself flying over walls and blowing up Xiao Jingchen's latrine already appearing in her mind.

"Can."

Rong Jing nodded, casually tapping the ground below covered with fallen leaves with his fingertip.

"Starting tomorrow, tie ten-pound iron sandbags to your legs and run around Qishan three times a day, rain or shine, for five years, and then I will teach you."

Shen Jingque's fantasies vanished instantly, and her face fell.

Learning light-body skills is so complicated, it takes five years of training?!

It would be better to have the older brother find a bodyguard to escort her.

"Forget it then, I'll just stick to being a good-for-nothing."

Rong Jing chuckled, "Can't endure hardship, yet you want to learn how to scale walls and leap across rooftops."

Shen Jingque pouted and retorted confidently.

"I really can't eat that much. My ambition is to eat well, sleep well, and live to be a hundred."

Rong Jing nodded, praising her as if coaxing a child, "Hmm~ Your ambition is very lofty."

Shen Jingque noticed the teasing in his tone and looked up to ask, "You martial artists fight and kill every day, what's so good about that?"

Rong Jing lowered his eyes and met her clear gaze.

"If you don't practice martial arts, who will protect you when you encounter danger?"

Shen Jingque blinked, her tone matter-of-fact.

"I have my older brothers, my father, and my mother; they will all protect me."

Rong Jing tightened his grip on the folding fan slightly, and a complex emotion surfaced in his eyes.

"They can protect you for a while, but not forever."

Shen Jingque snorted lightly, not taking it to heart.

"We'll talk about the future later, anyway, I'm not going to tie sandbags to my body."

Rong Jing sighed silently.

I can't tell if I envy her for being pampered by her family or lament her carefree nature.

He simply embraced her again, lightly touched the branches with his toes, and landed steadily on the open ground.

Wenren Du also jumped down from the treetop with Helan Qing in his arms, while Xu Wanying nimbly slid down on her own, patting the bark fragments off her skirt.

He Lanqing stepped back as soon as he landed, keeping a wary eye on Wenren Du.

"Who...who is this brave warrior?"

Rong Jing folded his folding fan and casually said, "My page."

Xu Wanying stared wide-eyed as she looked Wenren Du up and down; he was eight feet tall and had a full beard.

"A pageboy?"

Shen Jingque's face was also filled with disbelief: "How old is he to be your page?"

Rong Jing glanced sideways at Wenren Du, who shuddered and bowed with a complex expression, saying, "I am sixteen years old."

Whatever the master says goes, even if he says she's a woman, she has to put on an act.

What else can we do? We can't just run away.

Shen Jingque scoffed and said to Helan Qing, "Do you believe he's sixteen or that I'm Qin Shi Huang?"

Rong Jing straightened his sleeves, his expression calm.

"The customs of the Great Yan are different, so the pageboy is stronger and more sturdier, which makes it easier for him to carry my book box."

Shen Jingque's lips twitched. How heavy must this book box be to require such a strong man to carry it?

He Lanqing remained on guard, his gaze darting back and forth between Rong Jing and Wenren Du.

Rong Jing didn't care about their reactions and leisurely stretched.

"Didn't you want to get into the Hundred Herbs Garden? I can help you."

Shen Jingque took a half step back warily, her hands protecting her chest.

"There's no such thing as a free lunch. What terms does Young Master Rong want in exchange?"

Rong Jing was amused by her guarded demeanor. He rested his chin on his folding fan, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"It's simple, just have lunch with me for ten days."

"No," Helan Qing said first, her tone resolute. "It's improper for a man and a woman to be alone together."

"It's not like I'm eating alone," Rong Jing said, his fan obscuring half his face, revealing only his smiling eyes. "Aren't there two other people keeping me company?"

Xu Wanying tugged at Shen Jingque's sleeve and muttered, "Sounds like a good deal, we need to eat anyway."

Helan Qing frowned, her eyes filled with undisguised wariness as she looked at Rong Jing: "Young...Young Master Rong, would you be short of company?"

Shen Jingque also felt that his request was strange.

Countless scenes from spy novels flashed through my mind in an instant.

A hostage from an enemy state, a lone man and woman, invited to a dinner party.

The person in front of me is a prince who will return to the Great Yan to seize the throne. Making such a request seems like a trap set by a treacherous official to gather intelligence.

Shen Jingque raised her chin, her eyes clear and firm.

"If you're trying to get me to leak any secrets, you'd better give up on that idea now."

Rong Jing chuckled softly at her imaginative thoughts, his shoulders trembling slightly.

"Little Sparrow, what are you thinking about all day long?"

"What secrets could you possibly know?"

Shen Jingque paused for a moment, then thought to herself that made sense.

Rong Jing took a step forward, his eyes revealing a hint of helplessness.

"I just find the food my pageboy cooks every day unpalatable, and I'd like to sit with someone who enjoys eating; maybe that will improve my appetite."

Wenren Du: ?

Honestly, this young master's meals every day were clearly delivered by Bazhen Pavilion, one of the top restaurants in Beijing.

Now, in order to invite someone to dinner, they actually slander them by saying that their cooking is bad.

Waaah, he's so wronged.

Shen Jingque looked at him suspiciously, trying to find a flaw in his nonchalant expression.

The advanced class was located in the north building of the academy, which was some distance from the south building where the beginner class and the girls' class were located. On weekdays, the students in the advanced class also had a special tea room.

If I were to have dinner with him, I would have to find a quiet place where I wouldn't be noticed, so as not to cause gossip.

She had only met Rong Jing a few times, so why did she have to accompany him to dinner?

What exactly is this person trying to do?

Seeing her hesitation, Rong Jing didn't press her and turned to leave decisively.

"It's fine, if you don't want to, then forget it."

"etc!"

Shen Jingque quickly called out to him.

She was eager to complete the encyclopedia and unlock the alchemy furnace.

Having lunch with someone for ten days in exchange for a chance to enter the Hundred Herbs Garden seems like a worthwhile trade.

"Okay," she nodded, "I agree."

"Little Sparrow!" Helan Qing exclaimed anxiously.

"Don't worry, Qingqing," Shen Jingque patted his shoulder reassuringly, "What can he do to me in broad daylight?"

Besides, if he really wanted to take action, he wouldn't choose the academy, and outside the academy, the Princess's secret guards were not to be trifled with.

A faint hint of surprise flashed across Rong Jing's eyes, which was then covered by a deeper smile.

"Then see you tomorrow at noon."

After saying that, he led Wenren Du into the depths of the bamboo forest, and the hem of his indigo robe disappeared in the green shadows.

The three of them returned along the same route.

He Lanqing walked at the back, his brows furrowed, and finally couldn't help but speak.

"Little Sparrow, you shouldn't have agreed to him."

Shen Jingque turned to look at him, her eyes filled with a hint of confusion.

Why?

He Lanqing was so anxious that he couldn't even stutter when he spoke.

"He is a hostage of the Great Yan!"

"In the Battle of Changping, the Princess led the Dayong cavalry to conquer three cities of Dayan and kill countless Dayan soldiers."

Xu Wanying also joined in, nodding in agreement, "Although the two countries have made peace, how could the Great Yan royal family not harbor resentment?"

"He deliberately approached you; he must be after the Princess's residence."

Shen Jingque stopped and looked at He Lanqing's worried face, a warm feeling welling up in her heart.

"Qingqing, your concerns are very valid."

Shen Jingque patted his shoulder, her tone softening.

"But have you considered that if he really wanted to harm the Princess's residence, the best thing he should have done was to lie low in the shadows?"

He Lanqing was taken aback, clearly not following her train of thought.

"After all, once he got close to me, no matter what happened at the Princess's residence, people would always associate it with him."

"Don't worry, we'll deal with whatever comes our way. Since I dared to keep this appointment, I naturally have a way to break this deadlock."

Hearing about water and soil, Xu Wanying scratched the back of her head.

"It's just a meal. Didn't he ask me to go with you? If he dares to poison you, I'll punch him to death."

Shen Jingque was amused by her and took her arm as they walked down the mountain.

Helan Qing watched the two laughing and joking figures as they walked away, her worry undiminished.

He knew that Shen Jingque had always been opinionated, and it was unrealistic to ask her to give up now.

The only thing we can do is to be vigilant and be wary of Rong Jing.

The reason for this was not only because he was worried that Rong Jing had ulterior motives, but also because the way he looked at Shen Jingque made him very uncomfortable.

……

At the other end of the mountain path, Rong Jing walked with his hands behind his back on the bluestone path, his clothes brushing against the ferns by the roadside.

Wenren Du followed three steps behind and asked in a low voice, "Young Master, please forgive my bluntness, but it seems that repeatedly approaching Miss Shen was not part of your original plan."

Rong Jing chuckled, "He's definitely not here."

Shen Jingque's appearance was indeed an accident.

In the eyes of the world, he was a dissolute hostage who frequented taverns in foreign lands.

What they didn't know was that this spoiled brat had been assassinated no less than ten times since he was nine years old.

The Emperor of Dayong was wary of him, and Empress Dowager Yan and her good brother in Dayan were even more eager for him to die in the capital to eliminate any future troubles.

To him, the bustling capital city was nothing more than a gilded prison.

In such a dead end, he only had a chance of survival if he took the first step.

So he built the Listening Wind Pavilion.

Having cultivated his skills for many years, he had access to all the world's news, and the decisions he made were all in his mind.

He was like a spectator, trying to protect himself while observing the unfolding of the game.

However, after being a spectator for a long time, one inevitably gets a little tired of it.

Shen Jingque's appearance was like a pebble falling into a calm pond.

The ripples that spread out piqued his interest.

Rong Jing silently stroked the cool jade pendant with the bird design hidden in his sleeve.

"But now I want to see what kind of waves she, this variable, will stir up in the game."