Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

Liu Sanniang silently slipped in from the shadows of the pillars and whispered a few words in Xi Yueli's ear—Tuoba Lie's men had lingered outside the east gate of the royal court twice last night, asking the same question: "Is that doctor surnamed Lian really staying by the Imperial Preceptor's bedside day and night?"

Xi Yueli sat behind her desk, having just finished her first bowl of medicine for the day. She glanced up at Helian Jing, who was packing up his needle case by the edge of the bed.

Today he wore a moon-white long robe, the sleeves of which were half a finger wider than the previous two days, making his figure appear even thinner and more frail. However, when he heard Liu San Niang's words, his eyes, hidden under half a mask, curved into a very shallow arc.

"His people couldn't find anything out by investigating his background. The identity of 'Doctor Lian' had no foundation in Beishuo. He was just a traveling doctor from the south with no relatives or friends. He could just disappear like that. They could only investigate whether it was true or not."

Xi Yueli placed the empty bowl on the corner of the table, leaned back in her chair and looked at him. Her complexion had recovered to about 60-70% after her serious illness, but the way she leaned back in her chair still carried a sense of languor after her illness.

"In Dr. Yilian's opinion, how can we let them find out the truth?"

Helian Jing walked up to her, bent down and looked down at her, "Let them see the interaction between the Imperial Preceptor and Doctor Lian."

His voice dropped a half-octave, "Treatment and acupuncture alone are not enough; they want to see personal relationships."

Xi Yueli looked at him, her almond-shaped eyes slightly narrowed in the morning light, and a very faint smile curved her lips: "Doctor Lian means... that I should act?"

Helian Jing suddenly felt that she responded to his words a little faster than he had expected, so fast that he hadn't even had a chance to deliver the prepared line, "just like when we were pretending to be husband and wife."

"If the Imperial Advisor finds this difficult..."

"No problem." Xi Yueli interrupted him, standing up from her chair. She was still a little unsteady from recovering from her illness when she stood up, but once she was steady, she looked up to meet his gaze. "Doctor Lian just needs to cooperate."

Helian Jing looked at her and suddenly felt as if he had fallen into her trap.

"Let's wait until their people arrive." Xi Yueli turned around and walked back to sit down by the bed. "Doctor Lian should prepare medicine and administer acupuncture as needed. Tuoba Lie's people won't just stay for a day and leave."

The next three days were uneventful. Helian Jing came to the Grand Preceptor's bedchamber twice a day, morning and evening, to administer acupuncture and medicine. Their interactions were no different from usual.

Every night after nightfall, Liu Sanniang would hand in a slip of paper, which listed the number of times and directions that Tuoba Lie's men had approached the Imperial Preceptor's bedroom that day.

Several times, the figure would linger behind the pillars for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea before retreating. Xi Yueli knew he was waiting, waiting for an opportunity when neither of them was on guard.

On the evening of the fourth day, Liu San Niang's note contained only one line: "At three-quarters past the hour of You (5:45 PM), two people are already in position outside the east wall."

After reading the note, Xi Yueli burned it over the lamp flame. She stood up, walked to the window, and pushed the window a crack open. In the direction of the side courtyard, Helian Jing's lamp was still on, and a figure in a moon-white robe was sitting under the lamp grinding medicine.

About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the lights in the side courtyard went out, and a figure in a moon-white robe pushed open the door and walked along the corridor toward the Imperial Preceptor's bedroom.

When he pushed the door open, he was carrying a bowl of freshly brewed medicine, just like every ordinary evening when he would deliver the evening medicine. After entering, he closed the door behind him.

Xi Yueli sat behind her desk, the twilight filtering through the window paper, illuminating half of her face clearly.

Helian Jing placed the medicine bowl on the corner of the table. As he straightened up, his gaze swept across her face, and when he saw the curve at the corner of her mouth, his eyebrows twitched very slightly.

Xi Yueli walked out from behind the desk and, without stopping, leaned towards him, placing her hands on his chest.

The force of the push sent him staggering back half a step, his back slamming against the door behind him with a dull thud.

Her hands slid from his chest to the sides of his moon-white robe, her ten fingers gripping the fabric, pinning him between the door and her body.

She tiptoed, tilted her head back, and leaned closer to him. Their breaths mingled in the twilight, forming a warm mist.

Her gaze met his eyes at close range, his eyes widening slightly in the twilight, whether genuinely or feigned, she couldn't tell.

Xi Yueli didn't care what he was thinking at the moment, and snuggled closer to him, almost sinking into his arms.

"Dr. Lian." Her voice came from below, two octaves hoarser than usual, with a deliberately soft tone, "You haven't given me my medicine yet..."

As she spoke, she glanced out of the corner of her eye at the half-open window outside. Twilight streamed in from outside, casting a long, thin shadow on the windowsill. Someone was peering through the crack in the wall next to the window frame.

The shadow was so faint that she wouldn't have noticed it at all if she hadn't known its location beforehand.

Xi Yueli tiptoed even higher, pressing herself into his arms, her forehead against his chin, her nose brushing against his neck, and her lips almost touching his Adam's apple.

The shadow outside the window shifted, as if someone was trying to get a better look from a different angle. In that instant, Xi Yueli reached out and pressed down on the back of Helian Jing's neck, pulling him down half an inch, and then tilted her head back to kiss him.

Without any probing or restraint, she took the initiative without reservation, pressing her lips to his with a determination to see this play through to the end.

He grabbed her lower back with his hand behind her back, a beat later than she expected. But when he pressed her down into his arms with his palm, the force was three times stronger than she had anticipated.

He lowered his head and kissed her back. The warmth seeped into the gap between her lips, and her fingers, which were gripping his clothes, suddenly curled up. The temperature, which was pretending to be hot, was hotter than she had expected.

The two fought fiercely, each determined to win. After about ten breaths, Liu San Niang silently emerged from the corner of the corridor and placed a flattened, withered leaf on the windowsill—a signal that she had "retreated."

When Xi Yueli saw the withered leaf, she instantly loosened her grip on his clothes. Her lips were still pressed against his, and her breathing was slightly faster than his. She took a half step back to create distance between them.

She turned away as if fleeing and walked back behind her desk, picked up the bowl of medicine that was almost cold from the corner of the desk, drank it all in one gulp, and then put the empty bowl back on the desk.

Her ears were as red as if they had been burned. She didn't turn around, and her voice was much softer than before: "They're gone."

Helian Jing was still leaning against the door. When she kissed him just now, there was a layer of her lip rouge on his lips, which shimmered slightly in the candlelight.

His breathing hadn't completely calmed down yet, and his usually aloof eyes were now veiled by a thin layer of light from the kiss. He stared at the back of her head for a long time, his voice hoarse and two octaves lower than usual, before he spoke, "Xi... Yue Li."

She pretended not to hear, looked down and flipped through the documents, making a rustling sound as she turned the pages.

Helian Jing straightened up from the door panel, walked up to her, and looked down at her across the desk. His gaze no longer held the deference expected of a weak, itinerant doctor; the fire beneath that half-mask burned even brighter than when she had kissed him earlier.

Before Xi Yueli could respond, he had already bent down over the desk, grabbed the back of her neck with his other hand, pulled her forward half an inch from the back of the chair, and pressed his lips against hers again.