Vice-Envoy Lan’s face lit up when he heard this. “That’s great! You can take Xiao Bai back to the Li family for me. I haven’t seen your father in a long time. It’s rare to have a day off, so I have to drag him to drink a few pots. Would that be too much trouble for you?” 

Offended by her 

Today, Madam Lan had an appointment to socialize outside, and Vice-Envoy Lan happened to be on vacation at home, so she asked him to pick up Lan Xunbai from the entrance of the examination hall to go home. Vice-Envoy Lan agreed readily, but turned around and came to the Li family. After meeting Li Wanzhao, he dumped the task of picking up the child on her. 

Lan Xunbai was seventeen years old this year, and had already started participating in the imperial examinations. 

He had liked to follow behind Li Wanzhao since he was a child. Li Wanzhao regarded him as half a younger brother, and was at least closer to him than Li Hongyuan. 

Her deceased mother, Yang Shi, had a good relationship with Madam Lan. Since her death, Madam Lan had taken care of her in many ways. In the past, whenever she and Lan Yu came to the Li family, she was afraid that she would be bullied by her stepmother, so she would always check her body for injuries. When she left, she would also have Lan Xunbai give her many candies and toys. 

The Lan family was a famous clan in the area, and Li Wanzhao had never even seen some of their rare objects. 

Although these things were later taken away by Chen Shi and distributed to her twin younger siblings, Li Wanzhao was already very content and happy. 

She was content and happy that someone still cared about her. 

Now that Lan Yu asked Li Wanzhao to take Lan Xunbai to the Li family, she naturally wouldn’t refuse and readily agreed. 

“Uncle Lan, rest assured and go find Father. I’ll pick up Xiao Bai together later.” 

Lan Yu left Lan Xunbai to Li Wanzhao and went to find Li Guan. 

At the end of February, the weather was getting warmer. Chen Shi and Huang Shi took their daughters to the temple to burn incense for their two sons. After burning incense, they went to the examination hall to pick up people. The house was empty, and only Li Guan was left in the house. 

“Brother Li! What are you spacing out for?” 

Lan Yu strode into the house and saw Li Guan sitting on a chair in the main room, holding a book in his hand. Lan Yu’s loud voice startled Li Guan. 

Seeing that it was Lan Yu, a look of joy appeared on Li Guan’s face. He immediately put down the book in his hand and went forward to greet him. “Lin’an, why are you here today?” 

Lan Yu’s courtesy name was Lin’an. 

“Xunbai has an exam today, and my wife asked me to come out and pick him up to go home. I was thinking that I haven’t seen you in a long time, so I came to the Li residence on the way to get together with you.” 

The two of them had already sat down while talking, sitting face to face. Li Guan poured a cup of tea for Lan Yu, and then asked, “Then where’s Xunbai? Who went to pick him up?” 

His wife asked him to pick up the child, so why did he come to find him? 

“Ah, that’s right… I ran into Xiao Zhao just now, so I troubled her.” 

Li Guan’s expression changed instantly when he heard this. He frowned and looked solemn. “How… how could you let Wanzhao go?!” 

They had almost arranged a marriage for the two children, but after that incident, Li Guan had no face to let Li Wanzhao enter the Lan family’s door again. 

Li Wanzhao had lost her virginity before marriage. If she married into the Lan family, it would be like harming the Lan family, harming Lan Xunbai. At that time, he was afraid that even the people of the Lan family would be gossiped about. 

Even if the people of the Lan family said they didn’t care, even if Lan Xunbai said he didn’t care, Li Guan would not agree. 

A gentleman values integrity, and a woman values chastity. 

Li Wanzhao had lost her body to another man. No matter who she married, she would be humiliated with the name of a slut. Now Lan Xunbai didn’t care, but who knew if he would bring up this matter again in the future. 

There would always be a knot in his heart. 

He didn’t know what Lan Yu was thinking, actually letting Li Wanzhao go to pick up Lan Xunbai together. 

Lan Yu sighed, “The daughter of a colleague is like my own daughter. I have always regarded Xiao Zhao as my goddaughter. We don’t care about that matter, you are overthinking it, Brother Li. Now that they can’t get married, it’s okay for them to be like siblings and help each other.” 

“This… how can this work!” 

Lan Yu said, “Brother Li, don’t think too much. Xiao Bai knows what he’s doing. We haven’t spoken for a long time because of that matter. Why do we have to discuss those things when we meet today? Wouldn’t that be annoying?” 

Since that incident happened, Li Guan felt embarrassed and hadn’t interacted with Lan Yu for a long time. Now that they finally met, it was better not to mention the past. 

Li Guan thought of Lan Xunbai’s appearance. 

He was more restless than a monkey. 

Once, Lan Xunbai broke his leg. Logically speaking, it should take a hundred days to recover from a bone injury, and he should have recuperated well at home, but he was still restless with half a leg and wanted to run to the Li family behind his parents. 

Lan Yu said he knew what he was doing? He better know what he was doing. 

Li Guan didn’t continue to speak. Lan Yu talked about a matter in the capital. He had recently heard about this matter in the yamen. He didn’t know if Li Guan knew about it. He covered his hand and leaned over to ask him in a low voice, “The Empress is seriously ill, have you heard about it?” 

They were just talking about family matters, but suddenly they jumped to the capital. Li Guan reacted for a while before asking, “Who did you hear this from?” 

Their place was not far from the imperial city, but it was not close either. If they went by horse, it would take at least three days. 

Besides, the news in the palace was generally confidential. The Empress was seriously ill, so how did this news reach his ears? 

Lan Yu said, “Last month, our provincial governor was summoned back to the capital to report on his work. Naturally, he heard some rumors and came back. You know, he and our surveillance censor are old acquaintances. After drinking too much wine, he accidentally let it slip. Ever since the Crown Prince disappeared, the palace has been very strange. Now we hear that the Empress is seriously ill. If… if she can’t make it, the position of Crown Prince will probably fall into the hands of others. Don’t you think the sky in the capital is about to change?” 

The Crown Prince disappeared last August. 

It was said that he went out of the palace once, and then was unfortunately assassinated, and disappeared without a trace. The Emperor seemed to be very angry after knowing about it, but he searched all over the capital and couldn’t find the Crown Prince’s whereabouts. 

Li Guan didn’t understand why Lan Yu was talking about this. He stopped him and said, “How dare we discuss the affairs of the ruler.” 

“Hey, hey, don’t say that. You’re just old-fashioned. What do you mean by the affairs of the ruler? If the Crown Prince is really changed, then it’s our business. Although we don’t serve as officials in the capital, we are still officials. What happens above affects what happens below. What happens in the court affects us officials, and we can be blown over several times. The Crown Prince has been missing for several months without a trace. I think… perhaps he really can’t go back.” 

The Crown Prince had been missing for five or six months. Who knew if he had been killed? 

If he hadn’t been killed, then why hadn’t he returned to the capital yet? 

Li Guan had been frowning since he started talking about this matter. Now that he heard that the Crown Prince had an accident, his forehead almost wrinkled into a “川” character. He pursed his lips and said, “Don’t say such depressing things.” 

“It’s not like I want to curse him. I certainly don’t want the other princes to take the throne. Which of the remaining ones can compare to the current one?” 

The Crown Prince of Qi, Qi Fujin, was of noble character and righteous conduct. 

He began his studies in the Wenhua Hall at the age of five. It was said that he had the ability to remember everything he saw when he was young. His literary talent was outstanding, like white jade reflecting sand. The characters he wrote casually were taken away and treasured by people. Even his appearance, which was the least worth mentioning, was quite outstanding. The Empress was the most beautiful in Jingji, and the Crown Prince was like gold and jade. Everyone who had seen him was surprised and delighted. 

Such a Crown Prince, leaving aside everything else, just in terms of this person, who wouldn’t like him? 

Even Li Guan, such a strict and nitpicking person, was willing to submit and couldn’t say anything dissatisfied. 

Lan Yu sighed, “I heard about the Crown Prince’s wisdom a long time ago, but unfortunately, after coming out of the capital, I haven’t had the chance to enter the capital again, and I haven’t had the opportunity to see his demeanor. The last time the provincial governor went to the capital, he had the honor of seeing the Crown Prince’s appearance, and he praised him for half an hour without stopping.” 

The provincial governor had only been in office for a short time that year, and it was his first time going to the capital to report on his work. He accidentally got lost in the Forbidden City. When he was leaving the palace, he got separated from the palace servant who was leading the way. It was as if he was trapped in a maze. He didn’t see anyone, and he couldn’t find the way out of the palace. 

Fortunately, he was lucky and met the Crown Prince. Even more unexpectedly, the Crown Prince personally led him out of the palace for a while. 

After returning from the capital that year, the provincial governor talked about this matter a lot and was very proud. 

Others were annoyed by it and laughed at him, saying that he had a dog’s brain and lost face in front of His Highness, but he was still so happy. 

Li Guan said, “The Crown Prince is brave and kind, and he must be protected by a true dragon. How could something easily happen to him? Besides, the Jinyiwei are powerful and know everything under the heavens. They will find His Highness’s whereabouts soon, and we will always have the opportunity to admire his heavenly appearance in the future.” 

Who wouldn’t want to see the Crown Prince? 

The Crown Prince was a symbol in the hearts of these civil officials. Even before the Crown Prince became the Emperor, he was already the wise ruler in their hearts. 

What should the Emperor be like? He should be like Qi Fujin. 

He was only twenty-one years old, but he was admired and worshiped by the world and the ministers. 

“Alright, alright, I won’t say anymore.” 

The sky gradually darkened, and the afterglow of the setting sun fell on Enwen Prefecture, staining it with a red color. 

Wen Chen came out of the examination hall and, as expected, saw the Li family’s carriage at the entrance. 

He had told her not to come in the past few days, but on the last day, she must have been restless. 

Li Wanzhao didn’t get out of the carriage. She sat in the carriage, lifting the curtain and peering towards the entrance of the examination hall. 

Wen Chen could even guess that her first sentence when she saw him would be: Chen Lang, how did you do on the exam today? 

She had asked four times in the previous four sessions. 

He was going in the direction of the Li family’s carriage, but at this moment, someone ran past him, brushing against his shoulder. Looking at the direction, he was heading straight for Li Wanzhao. 

Lan Xunbai ran to the side of the carriage. Before he arrived, his voice arrived first, “Sister!” 

He was still calling her sister, just like before. 

Li Wanzhao’s gaze was originally on Wen Chen, but Lan Xunbai ran over first, and his face got bigger and bigger in front of her until he stood by the car window, completely occupying her view. 

She smiled at Lan Xunbai and said, “Xiao Bai, Uncle Lan asked me to pick you up to go to the Li family today. He’s waiting for you there.” 

“Okay!” 

Lan Xunbai looked young. His ponytail swayed slightly when he nodded. The setting sun shone on him, but he was as energetic as the morning sun.