Yue Si Chao wanted to thank him, but she found that he had silently stepped back a few steps, creating a distance with a hint of disdain, warning her, “Don’t look at me so amorously.”

Was he afraid that others wouldn’t know her secret feelings for him?

Yue Si Chao: …

Who was being amorous?

She silently swallowed her unspoke words.

The atmosphere was silent for a moment before Mu Zhao spoke again, “Why did you come back to find me?”

“Is it to ask about what happened today?”

“Actually, these things aren’t necessary to tell a woman who only cares about money and romance.”

He continued, “The Emperor hasn’t established an heir yet, and the princes below are all trying their best to ascend the throne, naturally resorting to winning over court officials.”

“The Crown Prince wanted to form a closer alliance with the Lin family through marriage. Huaining didn’t want to marry him, so she recommended her younger sister. Unexpectedly, her younger sister had backbone, which led to today’s farce.”

Yue Si Chao looked embarrassed, “Thank you for telling me, but actually, I didn’t come back to find you—”

“Here we go again,” Mu Zhao rubbed his forehead helplessly, “You never want to admit it.”

“I got lost.”

Having learned from her previous experience, this time Yue Si Chao concisely interrupted him.

“So I could only retrace my steps to see if I could find someone to show me the way.”

She glanced at her clothes and tentatively looked at him, “Were you looking for me?”

The atmosphere fell silent again.

Ling Chuan, observing the Hou Ye’s expression, spoke proactively, “Miss Yue, are you leaving the palace? Our Hou Ye is also going back. Why don’t we go together?”

Yue Si Chao nodded, “Okay.”

This was her first time in the palace. Although she had deliberately memorized the route, she felt dizzy and couldn’t remember it clearly.

The three of them walked in silence, each with their own thoughts.

Mu Zhao kept staring at her, noticing that the redness on her cheeks hadn’t faded and seemed to be getting worse. He finally convinced himself that getting lost was just an excuse for her to spend more time with him.

Fortunately, they were not far from the palace gate, and the Yue family’s carriage was parked outside.

Yue Si Chao bid farewell to the two and got into the carriage, closing her eyes and leaning against the carriage, waiting for her two older sisters who hadn’t returned yet.

Her head was heavy, and she fell asleep without knowing when.

She dreamt she was writing a storybook by candlelight.

But the candlelight wasn’t from her room, but in a place without sunlight, surrounded by walls on all sides.

Her hands and feet were bound by iron chains, tethered to a chair, only able to write continuously, not allowed to be released until she finished writing.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally finished the last word.

She had just put down her pen when the iron door creaked open.

Mu Zhao slowly walked in, sitting opposite her writing desk, his long legs crossed, condescendingly asking her, “Who told you to write this?”

“Money made me write it,” she answered honestly, “They paid so much.”

Mu Zhao sneered and slapped a stack of banknotes on her desk.

“You like writing so much, then just write about you and me. At your market price. If you don’t finish, you’ll stay in prison for life.”

So she was already in prison?

“…Why only you and me?” she feigned composure.

“Naturally, because I fell in love with you at first sight, and I’ve been thinking about you ever since.”

When he said this, his eyes were deep, his expression emotionless, still that superior look.

She couldn’t tell if it was true or false from his tone.

But reason told her it was impossible.

They were people from two different worlds. How could he possibly truly fall in love with her?

He was to her like an eagle and a river fish, one soaring in the blue sky, the other struggling in the whirlpool. Even if they meet on the surface, and he doesn’t swallow her whole, it’s destined to be just a game of playing and teasing.

She pursed her lips, suppressing her shame, and had to write her name on the paper in despair.

She wrote, and wrote…

At some point, a bowl appeared in front of her.

“Miss, it’s time for your medicine.”

She continued to write furiously, refusing, “No, I don’t have time.”

“But Miss, if you don’t drink the medicine, how can your illness get better?”

The distant voice gradually became clear in her ears. Yue Si Chao opened her eyes, the lonely moonlight and her mother’s worried gaze falling into her eyes.

“Chaochao is awake? It’s good that you’re awake.”

Wen Xue held her hand tightly, like the iron chains binding her wrists.

She was so anxious that she cried, “Why did you come back soaking wet? Did something bad happen in the palace? If so, we won’t go again.”

She forced a smile, without much explanation, “Okay, we won’t go.”

Anyway, the palace walls weren’t her world.

Her world was outside, vast and boundless.

Huanzhi stood by the bed, holding a bowl of still-steaming medicine, smelling more bitter than her life.

Remembering the dream, she was silent for a long time and asked, “How long have I been asleep?”

Huanzhi shook her head, “I don’t know. Miss Yao said that when she returned to the carriage, you were already asleep, your face was frighteningly hot.”

She must have slept for about half a day.

Her clothes had been changed to fresh and clean ones. She touched her forehead; it was still a little hot, but her mind was much clearer than before.

She sat up, took the medicine bowl from Huanzhi’s hand, blew on it to cool it down, and drank it down in one gulp.

She wiped her lips with a handkerchief, and her mother immediately handed her a cup of water to rinse her mouth.

“By the way, while you were asleep, you kept muttering a name, Mu something Chao, and said to beg him not to lock you up.”

“Is it someone you offended today?”

“He seems to be a high-ranking official. Can even your uncle not afford to offend him?” Wen Xue worriedly said.

…

Yue Si Chao spat out a mouthful of water and choked for a while.

She decided to stay away from Mu Zhao no matter what.

She stayed at home to recuperate, didn’t go to Ji Shu, and all the manuscripts were passed back and forth by the shop’s errand boys for several days. Finally, on a sunny day, she stepped out of the house.

The shop was as busy as ever.

But she still recognized the girl standing by the window at a glance.

Delicate and graceful, beautiful and frail, it was the one she had saved in the palace.

The beautiful girl walked through the crowd towards her.

“Miss, thank you for saving me that day. Can I call you Chaochao?”

She thanked her again for a while, then said, “My name is Lin Ningwu. You can call me Ningwu.”

“I heard you write storybooks here. It’s amazing. I wanted to come and see you. I waited for you for several days and finally saw you.”

Even as illegitimate daughters, Lin Ningwu’s family background was much higher than hers, but she didn’t put on airs like Princess Huaining.

Yue Si Chao had a good impression of her.

Lin Ningwu grabbed her hand, a strange blush on her face, and whispered, “That… I also want you to write a storybook for me. Can you?”

She added, “Money is no problem.”

Yue Si Chao liked such straightforward people.

She also readily agreed, “Of course. Ningwu, what do you want to see?”

Lin Ningwu’s face turned even redder. She almost buried her head in the ground.

“I want to see your story about you and the Marquis of Wu’an.”

“Didn’t you ask… who?” Yue Si Chao’s smile stopped abruptly.

What? Did she hear wrong?

Hers and Mu Zhao’s?

Yue Si Chao recalled that bizarre dream.

If he found out, she would be finished!

Seeming to see her hesitation, Lin Ningwu said seriously, “Many people saw what happened by the pond that day. You saved me, and he took care of you.”

“But I, the person involved, am useless and fainted, so I didn’t see anything.”

“Since you’re so good at writing, recreating the scene that day should be easy.”

“Of course, it’s best to add some spice, let me enjoy a beautiful love story—”

“…There’s no such thing as a beautiful love story.”

Yue Si Chao denied it verbally, but in her heart, she recalled the strangely smiling and beautiful face in her dream, and those half-true, half-false words—

“Naturally, because I fell in love with you at first sight, and I’ve been thinking about you ever since.”

She shook her head, throwing those absurd words out of her mind, and calmly said, “I saved you because I’m kind, and he helped me because I’m kind.”

“He was moved by me, so he felt ashamed and decided to help us.”

This made Lin Ningwu chuckle, she said, “Impossible, you don’t know how detached he usually is.”

“Unless someone dies in front of him, he won’t care about anything.”

“He’s definitely different towards you.” She said confidently.

…This girl is really stubborn.

Yue Si Chao rubbed her temples.

If he hadn’t pulled her up with the spear, she might have really run out of strength and drowned with Lin Ningwu.

Thinking about it, it was indeed a matter of life and death.

If it were as Lin Ningwu said, thinking about it carefully now, she had almost been trampled by his warhorse, and later he misunderstood that she was going to jump off a building, all related to life and death.

No wonder he helped her repeatedly.

Close call, almost got a love brain.

She suppressed those unknown thoughts, cleared her throat, and was about to refuse, but Lin Ningwu spoke first, “Let’s do this, I’ll pay you double the market price.”

…A little tempted.

“Triple?”

Yue Si Chao suddenly remembered a saying: Fortune favors the bold.

Unexpectedly, Lin Ningwu’s price increase was even faster than her compromise.