He had experienced life and death on the battlefield, knowing the preciousness of life, and he had always disliked those who were full of schemes and unscrupulous.

Mu Zhao coldly withdrew his gaze.

After meeting Mu Zhao in front of the city gate, Yue Si Chao quickly finished the romantic story her elder sister had requested.

Out of selfish motives, she portrayed Mu Zhao as a moody and tyrannical person in the story.

Under the jade orchid tree, Yue Si Chao carefully took out the pages of paper from her sleeve, nervously handing them to her elder sister, waiting for her appraisal.

Time passed slowly. Yue Shu Yao remained silent for a long time, only holding the paper and pursing her lips, her face becoming redder and redder.

Yue Si Chao carefully observed her expression, her heart increasingly uneasy.

What should I do?

She wouldn’t be angry, would she?

If her elder sister disliked it, thinking that Mu Zhao wasn’t the kind of person she described, and asked her to return the bracelet, what should she do?

After all, she had already pawned the bracelet and used the money to buy rice and meat.

Forget it, she could just take on more writing jobs from Young Master Ji, burning the midnight oil to earn back the money to repay her.

She thought, resigned to her fate.

After mentally preparing herself, she cleared her throat and took the initiative to say, “Sister Yao Yao, do you think it’s okay?”

“That… you, you should write a few more for me.”

Yue Shu Yao’s face turned even redder. She folded the paper and put it into her sleeve, taking a jade hairpin from her elaborate headdress. Her fingers still trembled slightly as she handed it to her.

“I, I really like it.”

Yue Si Chao was briefly stunned and quickly accepted it, “Ah…?”

She liked it?

But what was there to like about such a person?

He didn’t even understand tenderness.

On second thought, her uncle was a high-ranking official in the court, and Yue Shu Yao had far more opportunities to see Mu Zhao than she did, so she naturally understood him better.

She raised her eyes and tentatively asked, “Sister Yao Yao, do you also think Mu Zhao is… this kind of person?”

“Of course not,” Yue Shu Yao answered without hesitation.

Yue Si Chao choked, feeling guilty and pushing the hairpin back along with the paper, “Then…”

Yue Shu Yao held her hand: “Because he isn’t, that’s why I like what you wrote even more.”

Yue Si Chao was completely bewildered.

Her elder sister gradually opened up, “You don’t know… how cold he is! Over the years, whether it’s the beauties or noble ladies in the capital, or even the daughters of many martial arts schools, they have all tried to approach him and show their favor, but he has never responded, he doesn’t even bother to say a word.”

“Imagine, a person who doesn’t even bother to talk to anyone, yet would tie you up on the bed, looking down at you and pinching your chin. How exciting is that!”

At this point, Yue Shu Yao looked around, then leaned closer, her eyes full of excitement: “You’re still young, you don’t understand. This is the most popular forced love in the capital.”

Yue Si Chao: “…”

She really didn’t understand.

Perhaps because her mother was weak, she had also been ridiculed and trampled on since she was a child, so what she wanted most was respect.

She really didn’t like Mu Zhao, who was arrogant and rude.

Just because many women in the capital admired him, did that mean all women in the world liked him?

However, being as money-loving as she was, even though she despised Mu Zhao, she still caught the business opportunity in her sister’s words.

“…Sister Yao Yao, can I use some of the excerpts from this as examples to take on similar jobs outside?”

“Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t reveal your name.”

Yue Shu Yao waved her hand generously: “It doesn’t matter if you reveal it! If someone really misunderstands that I have something to do with him, it might even help me achieve a good marriage!”

Yue Si Chao was a person who did what she said. That afternoon, she changed into ordinary clothes and went to the East Market to find Ji Shu.

Her acquaintance with Ji Shu stemmed from a scammer.

Because her stepmother always deducted her and her mother’s expenses, she learned to buy inexpensive necessities outside the mansion when she was very young.

At that time, she had just bought some charcoal when she saw this man come up and beg her, saying that he had come to the capital to find his relatives and had no home, and hadn’t eaten for several days. If this continued, he would freeze to death on the street.

She felt sorry for him and, out of kindness, squeezed out some charcoal and told him he could take shelter from the wind and snow in the City God Temple in the suburbs. She also gave him some loose silver, telling him to buy some noodles to warm himself up.

Unexpectedly, when she came back, the man was still there, still using the same excuse. This went on for eight years.

The first time she saw Ji Shu, he was dusty and handing silver to the scammer, telling him that it was enough for ten days to find an inn to stay in and then find a job to support himself.

She saw such a foolishly generous person for the first time and frowned, telling him that it was a scammer.

The man smiled lightly: “I know, I’ve already given him once. But what if?”

What if he was touched and chose to reform himself?

She raised her eyes in surprise, looking at the slightly dusty but clear-eyed face, as if she had seen the warm sun in the snow.

She was used to struggling for a living in a world of intrigue and deceit, and she had never seen such a clean and innocent person.

Then she shamelessly said, “Do you have a lot of money? Why don’t you help me out a little?”

The man was stunned and smiled gently: “Okay, how much do you want?”

Yue Si Chao certainly didn’t really take his money.

Later, she learned that this person’s name was Ji Shu, a scholar who had come to the capital to take the imperial examination. His parents had died very early, and he had nothing left except some family property, so he simply came to the capital to wait for the imperial examination two years later.

Later, he opened a calligraphy and painting shop in the East Market, and the scammer became a shop assistant, running errands.

And the writing jobs she took to support herself and her mother were also given to her by Ji Shu.

“Are you really going to write custom storybooks for others?” Ji Shu frowned slightly after hearing her story and put a bag of silver in front of her. “Miss Yue, if you’re short of money these days, I can help you out.”

Yue Si Chao pushed the bulging purse back, looking into his eyes and saying, “You know, I just want to earn money by myself. When other ladies from the capital come to buy romance storybooks, you just need to help me promote them.”

“Such a good business opportunity is right in front of me, I don’t want to miss it.”

Ji Shu sighed as he looked at the purse she refused to take: “I’m afraid you’ll offend someone because of this.”

Yue Si Chao couldn’t help but recall the pair of long, narrow eyes filled with impatience and disgust at the city gate.

If she had offended someone, she probably had already offended them.

Moreover, she and Mu Zhao were completely unrelated, so what could he do if she offended him?

He couldn’t marry her back to his house to get revenge on her, could he?

She waved her hand, unconcerned: “It’s fine.”

In fact, the private jobs she took from Ji Shu were enough for her daily expenses. The reason why she wanted to earn more was because she wanted to save enough money for her and her mother to leave the Yue Mansion and settle down elsewhere.

But several days passed, and no one was interested in her business.

Yue Si Chao went from full of expectations to disheartened, almost forgetting about it, when unexpectedly, it suddenly became very popular one day.

“…What’s going on?”

Outside were the noisy voices of several ladies bidding against each other. She tried to filter out the noise and asked Ji Shu.

“I heard that at yesterday’s palace banquet, Mu Zhao privately asked your elder sister Yue Shu Yao some questions.” He answered truthfully.

Yue Si Chao nodded, understanding.

It seems that just writing articles that satisfy the clients is not enough. What they really want to obtain is not storybooks that are only for dreaming and reminiscing, but the possibility of talking to Mu Zhao.

Yue Si Chao was always very considerate of her customers.

Having figured this out, she immediately made a bold decision.

“Can you send someone to help me with something?”

She looked at Ji Shu, her clear eyes were exceptionally clear, only showing a desire for money.

The candlelight in the Wu’an Marquis’s mansion went out at some point.

A tall and strong man sat in a chair, looking down at the girl lying on his lap, dressed only in a gauze garment.

She turned her head, her slender fingers caressing from his knees upwards, finally resting on the leather belt around his waist.

“…Enough,” Mu Zhao’s voice was low and heavy, his eyes stormy.

…

“Enough.”

Compared to Mu Zhao’s low and monotonous voice, the sound of crumpling paper was even more jarring.

The next moment, with a “pop,” a ball of paper appeared at Ling Chuan’s feet.

Ling Chuan was about to pick it up when he heard Mu Zhao say, “Who told you to touch it?”

If he didn’t touch it, he wouldn’t touch it. Anyway, he hadn’t seen it a few days ago.

He just wanted to know what new tricks the Marquis would play in this storybook today.

Ling Chuan calmly withdrew his hand.

The matter started a few days ago—

For some reason, rumors suddenly spread in the capital about the Marquis and Miss Yue’s romantic affair, described vividly, not at all like an unfounded rumor, and even spread to the palace.

The Marquis didn’t care much, but he had reached the age of marriage, so at the palace banquet, he was teased by the Empress about him and Miss Yue.

After the palace banquet, the Marquis sought out Miss Yue to clarify the matter, telling her not to waste her time on him anymore.

If he remembered correctly, Miss Yue was not sad at all, but rather quite happy. At the end of the conversation, she excitedly took out several pages of paper.

Unexpectedly, things became strange afterwards.

Every day, as soon as the gate of the Marquis’s mansion opened, a letter with the scent of ink could be seen lying in front of the mansion.

He followed the rules and respectfully delivered them to the Marquis’s study.

At first, Mu Zhao thought it was just those ladies in the capital who knew that he had spoken to Yue Shu Yao a few words, so they imitated them and sent him love letters, no different from before.