Shocking! The actress was dragged to the regent's bedchamber every night.

That's a royal palace, not an ordinary residence; the ground might be entirely made of stone.

Bribing the guards? If bribery were possible, Yu Chen would have done it already.

Pretending to be sick? What if they just call in the imperial physician and he takes your pulse, and you'll be exposed?

She thought of those knives. Could knives pick locks?

That's how it's portrayed in movies, but she's never seen it in real life.

And those canned goods, the lids are quite sharp, can they be used as tools?

As she pondered this, she picked up her phone again and started searching.

How to pick an ancient door lock?

The search results were even more chaotic.

Some say it was done with a hairpin, some say with a piece of iron, and some say with a wire.

There is a knife.

Throughout the day, whenever there was a break during filming, Su Wuli would pick up her phone, which made Su Yuan even more worried.

Feeling anxious, Su Wuli went back to her apartment as soon as filming ended that night.

When he opened his eyes, he was still in the same room where Yu Chen was under house arrest.

The candlelight was on, but dimmer than usual.

Su Wuli stood in the center of the room, her gaze unconsciously sweeping around.

The door was closed, and the windows were closed.

But the tatami mat was empty; no one was there.

She froze for a moment.

Where did he go?

Then a sound was heard.

The sound came from behind the screen, very low, and it was someone talking.

Su Wuli took two steps in that direction with light steps.

"...Thirty thousand?" Yu Chen's voice rang out, devoid of emotion.

"Yes."

The other voice was that of the Shadow Falcon.

"A force of 30,000 men has been assembled at the border. Scouts report that they will take action within ten days at the earliest."

Then there was a moment of silence.

"Where are the provisions?"

"It's still in preparation, but..." Shadow Falcon paused, "the Ministry of Revenue is holding it up, saying that this year's harvest was bad and they can't allocate that much."

"The harvest was poor." Yu Chen repeated, with a hint of deeper meaning, "They said the harvest was poor last year too."

There was no response from Shadow Falcon.

Su Wuli stood behind the screen, listening to those words, her mind flashing back to the discussions in those posts.

Is war about to start so soon?

"Let them gather the supplies," Yu Chen's voice rang out again. "The provisions must be in place within ten days. If they can't gather them... let them come and tell me themselves."

"Yes," Shadow Falcon replied.

Another silence fell.

Su Wuli stood there, wondering whether she should go over or wait until they finished talking before appearing.

Then Yu Chen's voice rang out again, this time with a slightly different tone.

"There's one more thing."

"Your Highness, please give your orders."

"If she comes again in the future..." Yu Chen paused.

Shadow Falcon remained silent.

Su Wuli was puzzled?

她?

他?

Who is it referring to?

"If she asks about me," Yu Chen continued, "you are not allowed to say anything, especially... about the fact that I was not placed under house arrest."

A few words clearly reached Su Wuli's ears.

She stood there, her mind blank at first, then filled with confusion.

Not under house arrest?

The voice continued, "If she asks, just assume that I am indeed imprisoned here, and don't mention a word about what's happening outside."

Shadow Falcon responded, "Understood."

"Go down."

Footsteps sounded, approaching her.

Su Wuli had no time to dodge; she saw the Shadow Falcon emerge from behind the screen.

Upon seeing her, he froze.

"Miss, young lady..."

Yu Chen's voice came from behind the screen, "Who is it?"

The Shadow Falcon opened and closed its mouth but made no sound.

Su Wuli walked around the screen and went inside.

Yu Chen was sitting behind his desk, but Su Wuli didn't bother to look at his expression.

She stood before him and asked, "You weren't placed under house arrest..."

Su Wuli recalled asking him if he was being held here, and he said yes.

Thinking back to those days.

I was afraid he would go hungry, so I brought him food.

I was worried he might get sick, so I bought him medicine.

Someone is trying to harm him by buying him a knife.

I'm worried he'll become depressed if he's locked up for too long...

She spent all day scrolling through those posts and went to the supermarket to buy canned goods, candles, and matches.

Bring those things in one by one.

Knowing his fate, she feared he would die.

But now he's telling her that he wasn't imprisoned.

there has never been.

Su Wuli looked at him, and her eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

"You lied to me..." Her voice was soft, but in the quiet room, every word was clear.

She felt a buzzing in her head, as if something was spinning inside, making her dizzy.

"I worry about you every day." Her voice began to tremble. "I'm afraid you'll go hungry, afraid you'll get sick, afraid someone will harm you. I bought all those things and brought them in one by one, afraid you wouldn't have enough..."

She paused, her throat tightening, her voice trembling slightly, "You lied to me..."

Yu Chen stood up and took a step forward, getting a little closer to her.

"Ah Wu."

Those two words sent a shiver down her spine.

Yu Chen took another step forward and reached out to hold her hand.

"listen to me--"

She took a step back, avoiding his hand.

The warmth in my eyes began to well up.

Su Wuli turned her head away, not wanting him to see.

"I've been acting like a fool." Her voice choked. "I worried about you every day, but you were perfectly fine. You just sat here watching me run around, watching me carry all that stuff, watching me panic—"

She couldn't continue, and tears finally fell.

Through her blurry vision, she saw the man's brows furrow.

He took another step forward, this time not giving her a chance to dodge, and directly reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Ah Wu."

Su Wuli tried to break free.

He struggled, but couldn't break free.

He struggled again.

"Let go—"

She raised her hand to push his chest.

Yu Chen wouldn't let go, so she pushed him away forcefully, waving her hands wildly at him, her face covered in tears.

"You lied to me... How could you lie to me... I was so worried about you—"

When she got emotional, she didn't care about anything else and just wanted to break free from him.

When the hand was swung, there was a crisp sound.

"Snapped!"

Su Wuli froze instantly, her hand hovering in mid-air, still in the gesture of swinging.

Yu Chen tilted his head slightly, a faint blush on his cheek.

She slapped him in the face.

Shadow Falcon stood by the screen, looking as if he were nailed to the ground.

His eyes were so wide they looked like they were about to pop out.

Yu Chen slowly turned his head back.

His face was expressionless, but when his gaze swept over her, Shadow Falcon's legs went weak.

A deep voice rang out, tinged with anger, "Get out."

Shadow Falcon immediately scrambled out, the door was kicked open and then slammed shut with a thud.

Only the two of them remained in the room.

She stood there, looking at him.

The red mark on her face was still there, particularly noticeable in the candlelight.

Su Wuli realized what she had just done, and her heart began to race.

She hit Yu Chen.

It hit my face.

He was the regent, and in front of his subordinates, he slapped them in the face that hurt their dignity the most.

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