When Mei Ruo Chu returned to the academy, Mu Er Pang was just half a step ahead of him, not even having had time to change his clothes.

Mu Er Pang was explaining to Shen Cui, “I thought I’d only be gone for a moment or two at most to meet up with Big Brother Mei at the pastry shop. I never expected it would drag on until dark. I thought since Mom said that pastry shop would be sold out by this time, I wouldn’t be able to buy anything, so I came straight back.”

Hearing that Mei Ruo Chu hadn’t returned, Mu Er Pang thought maybe the messenger had messed up and hadn’t explained the situation clearly, so Mei Ruo Chu was still waiting at Xu’s Pastry Shop.

He was about to go out again when Mei Ruo Chu happened to come back carrying pastries.

“The messenger didn’t deliver the wrong message; I was just delayed by something else for a while,” Mei Ruo Chu explained as he placed the pastries on the table.

Mu Er Pang expressed a bit of regret, “It’s a pity you waited in line for so long, but I couldn’t make it. I only managed to buy five pastries. As for making up for it…”

“I have ten here,” Meiruo Chu interrupted. He hadn’t planned on mentioning the matter of Miss Xu’s shop accounts—it was their private affair.

But Shen Cui and Mu Er Pang weren’t strangers to him either, and Xu’s Pastry Shop was known for its generosity.

He couldn’t just let it go without an explanation. So, after pausing for a moment, he subtly mentioned, “I promised to help Miss Xu with a small favor, so consider this her token of gratitude. Of course, I also paid the market price for the coins.”

Everyone who knew Meiruo Chu was aware of his capabilities. When he said “a small favor,” it could very well be a problem that others couldn’t solve even if they were tearing their hair out in frustration.

Shen Cui and Mu Er Pang weren’t nosy people. After hearing his simple explanation, they didn’t ask any further questions.

At dinner time, with curfew still a while away, Shen Cui suggested Mei Ruo Chu and Mu Er Pang go eat while she prepared to make a quick trip to the women’s school.

She wanted to deliver the pastries and some simple gifts she had prepared earlier in the day—after all, there was no refrigeration technology at the time, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to send day-old pastries to people.

When Shen Cui mentioned going out after dark, Mrs. Zheng was the first to express concern and said she would accompany her.

Mu Er Pang took charge of the situation. “From both a public and personal standpoint, it’s not right for the younger generation to let the elders go out and run errands.”

Seeing Mei Ruo Chu about to offer help, he added, “Originally, Meiruo and I were supposed to buy pastries together, but I missed out due to circumstances. So, since Mei Ruochu bought the pastries alone, let me take care of delivering them.”

Having said all that, and considering he was no longer a child, accustomed to going out for various duties and gatherings in the city, he was more familiar with the streets of the capital than Shen Cui.

So, it was decided he would go.

Mu Er Pang first went to the original location of the Liu family, which was now the women’s school.

School hours were over, but the gatekeeper was still there.

After identifying himself as Shen Cui’s associate, he was informed of the Liu family’s current address—not far from what Shen Cui had guessed.

Though Headmistress Chu wasn’t involved in teaching, just like Shen Cui, she was meticulously involved in all administrative affairs of the academy.

So, her residence was very close to the women’s school, just across the street.

Following the gatekeeper’s directions, Mu Er Pang walked for about half an hour until he vaguely saw a plaque with the words “Liu Residence.”

Just as he was about to step into the alley, a gust of autumn wind blew out the lantern he was carrying.

Without streetlights in those times, the lanterns from nearby households served as illumination, so he wasn’t completely blind and could still walk.

Mu Er Pang paused for a moment to adjust to the reduced light, then he noticed a shady figure lurking by the wall.

Unaware of Mu Er Pang’s presence, the person leaned against the wall, listening carefully to the sounds inside.

Then, with a flick of their robe, they attempted to climb the wall!

This was the first time Mu Er Pang had encountered a thief.

He was relieved that he was the one who came out instead of his mother, imagining what would have happened if she had faced such a situation alone… He didn’t even dare to think about it!

With that in mind, he tossed the lantern aside and quickly approached, pressing the person against the wall with one hand.

He sternly said, “Even rats dare not trespass under the Emperor’s feet!”

But the stern words that were about to come out of his mouth were stuck when he felt the material of the person’s robe under his hand.

It wasn’t the common fabric worn by ordinary people, but rather the texture of an official robe.

By now, Mu Er Pang had fully adjusted to the dim light in the alley.

With the help of the nearby lantern, he confirmed that the person in front of him was indeed wearing an official robe.

It wasn’t that officials couldn’t be involved in such shady activities, but nobody would be foolish enough to do so while dressed in official attire!

Just then, the gate of the Liu residence suddenly opened, and an old servant hurried over, asking, “What’s going on? Who are you calling a rat?”

Carrying a lantern, the servant approached and got a clear look at the situation, then exclaimed in surprise, “Master Liu?”

Mr. Liu, who had just been pinned against the wall by Mu Er Pang, still had traces of wall dust on his face.

He waved his hand and said, “It’s nothing. I just ran into a student I know, and we were discussing… legal matters.”

After sending the old servant away, Mu Er Pang immediately apologized with a bow.

Mr. Liu, though initially puzzled by the situation, was usually very amiable.

He waved his hand generously and said, “It’s just a misunderstanding. You saw injustice and helped out, showing your good intentions.”

Mu Er Pang felt even more embarrassed by these words.

He had come to apologize for a previous misunderstanding, but now he had unwittingly created another one—mistaking Mr. Liu for a thief.

But since it had come to this, Mu Er Pang still presented the gifts he had brought and explained his purpose.

“It’s just a minor matter. The girl didn’t mention it when she returned home, so it seems she didn’t take it to heart. But since you’ve brought gifts, I’ll accept them,” Mr. Liu said graciously, taking the items.

Mu Er Pang had been in the civil service for nearly half a year now.

He had only met Mr. Liu a few times, and they hadn’t interacted much.

But the connection they shared during the civil service exams had left a deep impression on him—despite the pain he had felt at the time, he had ultimately passed the exams under Mr. Liu’s supervision.

Looking back now, that pain had become part of a cherished memory.

“Of course,” Mu Er Pang couldn’t help but smile.

Years ago, when they left Linan Prefecture, they personally presented gifts to Lord Liu, who was still the prefect at the time.

But Lord Liu avoided meeting them to avoid suspicion.

After all these twists and turns, today they finally made up for that small regret from before.

After Lord Liu finished speaking, he looked at Mu Er Pang and asked with a smile, “But as you said, this was a small gift your mother gave to make up for the last incident. What about this time?”

Mu Er Pang apologized again and said earnestly, “I will prepare another gift tomorrow and personally come to apologize.”

“Although you don’t have many duties in the Hanlin Academy, you are still a ranked official. You don’t need to personally come again.”

Lord Liu smiled slightly, beckoned to Mu Er Pang, and whispered a few words to him.

A hint of doubt flashed across Mu Er Pang’s face, but he still agreed, saying, “If you command, I am willing to share your worries.”

Lord Liu stroked his goatee.

Seeing that Mu Er Pang, now holding an official position, still remembered their teacher-student relationship from their time at the prefectural school, he became even more delighted.

Realizing it was getting late, Lord Liu didn’t keep Mu Er Pang any longer, but arranged for them to meet next time.

After they parted ways, Lord Liu proudly returned home.

Because they had moved to a smaller house, most of Lord Liu’s servants had already been dismissed.

Chu Shanchang was currently preparing food with the maids.

Seeing Lord Liu return, Headmistress Chu waved her hand, dismissing the maids first, and then teased, “Why did you dare to enter through the front gate today?”

Lord Liu lifted his chin and snorted, “This is my own house. Why can’t I enter through the front gate?”

“As for the evaluations of poems and essays that Yue Yue requested…”

Just as they were talking, Liu Muyue walked over from her own room to the main room and, upon seeing her father, exclaimed happily, “Dad, you’re back so early today! I thought you’d be busy with official matters like the other day, coming back only after midnight!”

Lord Liu coughed lightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Indeed, he had been busy lately, but not so much that he returned home after midnight.

Most of the time, he would sneak back over the wall after nightfall.

After saying this, Liu Muyue, smiling brightly, approached her father and demanded, “Dad, you still owe me evaluations for five poems!”

Before he could respond, she rushed off like a gust of wind and returned with several poems, saying, “I haven’t seen you in these past few days, and I’ve written five new poems.”

Lord Liu’s eyebrows twitched.

Five poems… that’s manageable.

It seemed that the stern words he spoke to her the other day had some effect, or else she would have probably presented at least ten poems by now.

“Father, you’ve been busy with official duties lately, but don’t worry. Within a few days, I’ll give you the evaluations in written form.” While speaking, Lord Liu observed his daughter’s expression.

Seeing that she indeed seemed a bit tired, he added, “It’s not that I haven’t fulfilled my promise to you. It’s just that I suddenly realized that your poetry evaluations can’t be done in just a few words. So, I’ve decided to carefully evaluate each poem, writing a two-hundred-word evaluation for each!”

Liu Muyue nodded in understanding, suddenly feeling happy. “I knew you cared for me the most, Dad!”

As she spoke, she politely refused any help from the maids and personally helped Lord Liu with serving the food.

The family enjoyed their meal harmoniously. When Lord Liu mentioned the things he had brought back, Liu Muyue became even more delighted, scolding, “If only you had mentioned it before dinner! I can’t eat any more pastries now. I can’t disappoint Headmaster Shen’s kindness… No, I’ll go for a walk in the courtyard to aid digestion.”

Headmistress Chu allowed her to go, then turned to Lord Liu with a puzzled look. “You’ve recently been promoted. Where did you find the time to write those evaluations?”

Headmistress Chu continued, “It’s also because of me. I didn’t study hard with my father when I was young, and my knowledge of poetry and literature is nowhere near as good as Yue Yue’s, who has received your true teachings. So, I can’t help you ghostwrite…”

As she said this, Chu Shan Chang noticed a flicker in her husband’s eyes.

Having been married for most of their lives, she immediately became serious and asked, “You wouldn’t be so foolish as to let someone else see Yue Yue’s poems and have them ghostwrite for you, would you?”

Letting outsiders see poems written by women…

How should one put it? If the other party had good intentions, then it wouldn’t matter.

If they were overly concerned about such trivial matters, Chu Shanchang wouldn’t need to run a girls’ school.

Like other families, she could just keep her daughters confined indoors, never letting them out except for special occasions.

But the problem lies in the current state of society, where people’s hearts are not as pure.

If someone with ill intentions were to take those poems as evidence of an improper relationship and expose them publicly, it could indeed cause trouble.

Lord Liu also became serious and responded, “That’s not the case!”

“No ghostwriting?”

“No outsiders!”

Mu Hanshan, who had admired him since childhood, and even after achieving fame on the imperial examination still showed him utmost respect, referring to himself as “student” every time, how could he be considered an outsider?