Chapter Ninety-Two: This Is My Childhood Friend

"Who goes there?!"

Li Yunji barked the question and sprang forward in a flash, while Su Qingmeng moved to cut off the other side.

Behind the grand hall, a ragged little beggar was skulking miserably behind a coiled dragon pillar.

He had buried his face between his knees and was shaking all over.

"Who are you?" Li Yunji asked in a deep voice. "Do you even know that trespassing into the prince's manor is a capital offense?"

"I-I know." The little beggar nodded dumbly, then said fearfully, on the verge of tears, "P-please, sir, don't kill me."

"Lift your head." Li Yunji's expression turned guarded as he stepped forward.

The beggar froze, then slowly raised his head.

Several tear tracks slid across his filthy face, and his lips trembled uncontrollably with fear.

"Seventh?"

Even though the beggar's face was so dirty it was almost unrecognizable, Li Yunji still knew him at a glance.

"What are you doing here?!"

Seventh seemed not to have reacted yet. He kept blinking, trying to search his memory for the identity of the person before him.

"It's me, Li Yunji!"

At those words, Seventh's pupils shuddered violently.

"You know him?" Su Qingmeng frowned.

Li Yunji nodded and blurted out, "My childhood friend."

Compared with the rather servile term "pages," the phrase childhood friend suited the relationship between Li Yunji and Seventh far better.

Like Eleven, Seventh had also been brought back by Li Jia.

That day happened to be Seventh...

Yes, still that casual.

They were about the same age, and from then on they had been inseparable.

When Li Yunji was a child and others pelted him with eggs, Seventh had been the only one besides Eleven to stand in front of him.

It was not until the year Li Yunji left Northern Ling that the two lost contact.

"Y-Your Highness!"

Seventh seemed unable to believe his eyes and rubbed them hard several times.

Only after pinching his own thigh to make sure he was not dreaming did he dare show a look of excitement. "You've finally come back!"

Just then, Eleven and Su Xiyan arrived a little behind them.

The moment Seventh saw Eleven, he became even more excited. "Eleven came back too!"

"You haven't changed at all."

Then he turned to the Su sisters. "And these two are?"

"This is the princess consort." Before Su Qingmeng could speak, Eleven answered first, "And this is the princess consort's younger sister."

The heir apparent was married?!

Seventh's eyes widened. He hurriedly stood and bowed. "Greetings, Princess Consort."

Su Qingmeng seemed somewhat embarrassed and said stiffly, "No need for formality."

After a brief round of greetings, the three of them moved inside.

Seeing the spotless room, Li Yunji frowned. "Why is it so clean?"

The tidiness inside the room stood in stark contrast to the desolation of the courtyard.

Clearly, someone had been cleaning it regularly.

Seventh's face was full of pride as he said with a smile, "Ever since Your Highness left without a word, I came back every so often to clean it."

"Because I believed that one day, Your Highness would return."

Something in Li Yunji's heart tugged faintly. He said with a complicated expression, "You've had it hard all these years."

"Not hard at all!" Seventh said brightly. "Every time I come back to the prince's manor, it feels just like coming home. Cleaning my own home—how could that be called hard?"

Li Yunji smiled and nodded.

"So, has Your Highness had a good life in the capital over the years?"

Li Yunji rolled his eyes upward and thought for a moment. Day after day, songs and dances, flowers and wine.

It was basically a routine of the brothel and the manor, back and forth. Such days...

"Not bad."

"That's good!" Seventh grinned.

"And you?" Li Yunji frowned. "I remember I had Steward Zhou give you all a considerable severance. How did you end up like this?"

"What severance..." Seventh's mouth drooped, his tone full of grievance.

"After you left Northern Ling, Steward Zhou seized the prince's manor and took all the valuable items for himself."

"I took the manor's servants to the authorities to reason with him, but we were forcibly thrown out instead."

With a long sigh, Seventh went on, "All the household guards from the manor who could leave did leave."

"And those who truly had no other choice ended up, like me, wandering the streets."

A blaze of anger surged in Li Yunji's chest. Though his face remained calm, sparks still seemed to leap in his eyes.

"Steward Zhou?" Li Yunji asked in a low voice. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know." Seventh shook his head. "I haven't seen him in years."

A trace of disappointment flashed across Li Yunji's eyes.

"But he should still be in Northern Ling City," Seventh continued. "I occasionally hear people mention him."

Li Yunji nodded faintly, and hope flared in his heart once more.

"Oh, right." Seventh suddenly seemed to recall something. He asked, "Your Highness, what brought you back to Northern Ling so suddenly this time?"

Li Yunji paused, then said with a light smile, "Can't I come back if there's nothing in particular?"

"Of course not!" Seventh waved his hands at once.

Li Yunji lifted his eyes toward the sky. It was already dusk.

"I'm a little hungry."

"Eleven, go buy some food."

"Remember to bring a few lotus-scented chickens from Star-Picking Pavilion. It's been a long time since I had them."

"And bring a few sets of clean clothes for Seventh while you're at it."

At this, tears glittered in Seventh's eyes. "Your Highness even remembered that my favorite thing to eat is lotus-scented chicken!"

"Don't get sentimental." Looking at Seventh's sniffling face, Li Yunji waved a hand. "I didn't buy it specially for you."

"I want this little girl to try something new."

As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward Su Xiyan, whose eyes were shining brightly.

Seventh let out an "oh," but his excitement did not diminish in the slightest.

...

After dinner, Li Yunji lay alone on the roof.

Having returned to the prince's manor after being away for so long, it was only natural for old feelings to stir.

Everywhere his eyes fell, memories were stirred in his mind.

On the stone-paved path of the front courtyard, there were traces of Li Yi teaching him swordsmanship.

In the side hall, the faint fragrance of ink from his calligraphy practice that year still seemed to linger...

"You don't seem like it," Su Qingmeng said from beside him at some point. "A young master who calls himself carefree, yet you can be melancholy too."

"So what?" Li Yunji lay back as well and looked up at the stars. "When things and people are no longer the same, am I not allowed to sigh over it a little?"

Su Qingmeng slowly sat down and gave a soft sigh. "Still, you really are something."

Li Yunji pulled a twig from somewhere and held it in his mouth, then rested both hands behind his head. "How so?"

"If it were me, I couldn't guarantee that I'd still dare to come back." Su Qingmeng's expression turned solemn.

At the memory of what Li Yunji had said with such casual indifference during the day, her brow knit slightly.

Losing both parents was already a great sorrow.

And then to endure the entire city's slander as well—what kind of piercing agony must that have been?

After a long silence, Li Yunji spoke again. "Su Qingmeng, something's off about you."

"What do you mean?"

Li Yunji suddenly sat up, narrowed his eyes, and grinned wickedly. "This is already the second time you've praised me."

As he spoke, he deliberately leaned closer into an ambiguous distance. "Could it be that you've fallen for me?"

Su Qingmeng's face instantly flushed crimson, and her gaze had nowhere to land.

Flustered and shy, she turned her head away. Her single ponytail swept across Li Yunji's face, leaving behind a faint fragrance.

"Y-you're talking nonsense!"

Seeing Su Qingmeng's overreaction, Li Yunji curled his lips. "Just kidding."

Su Qingmeng let out a long breath, and it almost seemed as if she had escaped a calamity.

"Now that we're in Northern Ling, where do you plan to start investigating?" she asked after steadying herself.

"Investigating what?" Li Yunji said with deliberate confusion.

"The tax silver case!" Su Qingmeng frowned.

"What tax silver case?"

"What are you trying to say?" Su Qingmeng was visibly annoyed now.

But Li Yunji remained unconcerned and said calmly, "Since this prince has returned to Northern Ling, of course I should enjoy myself properly!"

"Starting tomorrow, the Northern Ling Prince's Manor will be filled with song and revelry every night."

As he spoke, a smile spread unconsciously across Li Yunji's face. "I wonder what the girls from Star-Picking Pavilion taste like?"

Su Qingmeng's expression instantly darkened.

Smack.

"Lecher..."