Chapter 122: Why Did You Choose Me?

Whether Cui Yulang was normal or not, Li Rong no longer knew.

Anyway, the time was set, everything was arranged, and she was just waiting for three days later when all the court officials would be off duty. Then she could have a proper talk with Cui Yulang.

It wasn’t convenient for her to meet Cui Yulang in the city—there were eyes and ears everywhere—so she had to arrange to meet outside the city. Since that took time, she could only wait for the day of rest.

Coincidentally, Pei Wenxuan was thinking the same.

After moving into the Pei residence left by his father with the Wen family, he spent some time making minor improvements and finally settled in.

He didn’t bring much with him, which made him feel more comfortable, as if he were just on vacation and would eventually return.

Whether it was because he didn’t bring much or because Li Rong wasn’t there, the house always felt empty. At night, lying in bed, he would toss and turn, feeling the bed was somehow too big.

When he finally fell asleep, sometimes he would reach out in the middle of the night and, feeling no one beside him, suddenly wake up. For a moment, it felt like he was still in his previous life, and everything in this life had just been a dream. Waking up meant returning to his lonely past. The fear would jolt him awake, and only after slowly recalling what had happened would he calm down.

During the day, seeing Li Rong in court, he knew he shouldn’t look, but couldn’t help glancing at her.

He didn’t know how Li Rong was sleeping without him, or whether she thought of him.

So he endured the torment, each day feeling like a year. Unable to wait the full three days, as soon as the rest day arrived, Pei Wenxuan decided to go see her.

It wasn’t convenient to meet in the city, so he had to go outside. In Da Xia, officials rested every ten days. If he missed today, he’d have to wait another ten days. So before dawn, Pei Wenxuan sent Tong Ye to knock on Zhao Chongjiu’s door and pass a message to Li Rong.

Zhao Chongjiu dutifully delivered the message. At that moment, Li Rong had just woken up and was getting dressed, preparing to leave the city to meet Cui Yulang.

Receiving Zhao Chongjiu’s message, she felt conflicted.

She wanted to see Pei Wenxuan too, but she had already arranged to meet Cui Yulang, and the matter couldn’t be delayed. She struggled for a moment, then suddenly realized—

Was she really struggling over something like this?

“Tell the Prince Consort that I have business outside the city today. Let’s meet next rest day. It’s official business, so he needn’t take it to heart.”

Li Rong looked up and instructed Zhao Chongjiu, then turned to have someone fetch the items she needed.

Zhao Chongjiu immediately sent someone to inform Pei Wenxuan. By the time Pei Wenxuan received the message, Li Rong was already nearly out of the city.

Pei Wenxuan was ready by then. Hearing Li Rong’s refusal, he frowned: “What business does she have?”

“The messenger didn’t say.”

Tong Ye studied Pei Wenxuan’s expression and cautiously suggested, “Why don’t you take a good rest today, young master?”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t respond. After sitting for a while, he stood up and said quietly, “No, I have to go see for myself.”

As he spoke, Pei Wenxuan quickly left the house.

His residence was closer to the city gate than Li Rong’s. After calculating the time, he took a shortcut and exited the city ahead of her, waiting by the gate.

Li Rong, trying to avoid attention, naturally wouldn’t use the Princess’s official carriage. Instead, she blended in with the crowd in a plain carriage, making it impossible to tell who she was.

Pei Wenxuan sat inside his own carriage, lifting the curtain and watching. After a while, a very ordinary carriage approached. After the curtain was lifted and a few words were exchanged with the guards, they were allowed to pass. Pei Wenxuan observed for a moment, then lowered the curtain and said quietly, “Follow them.”

Li Rong’s carriage moved steadily toward the outskirts. After a short while, someone outside said, “Your Highness, it seems someone is following us.”

Li Rong opened her eyes, tapping her palm with a fan. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Send someone to the teahouse to tell Cui Yulang the location has changed. Have him wait at the Reed Pavilion. When we reach the woods ahead, stop and let everyone rest. I’ll get off the carriage then,” she lowered her voice, “leave two people behind to keep watch and clear the path.”

The guards nodded and followed her instructions.

After a short distance, the carriage stopped. A guard turned to Pei Wenxuan’s carriage and said, “Sir, the carriage ahead has stopped.”

Pei Wenxuan was silent for a moment before replying, “Keep going.”

This stretch of road wasn’t long, so there was no need to stop for rest. If Li Rong stopped, it meant she had noticed him. If he stopped too, it might alert her. The best strategy now was to make her think he had left, and then wait for her further ahead.

Pei Wenxuan tried to anticipate Li Rong’s plan. Knowing her personality, she wouldn’t just stop and get off. She would likely disguise herself again, sending someone to pretend to be her while she took a different route…

No.

Pei Wenxuan recalled how Li Rong had once ambushed Yang Quan at the mountain estate. She might not take a second route at all. She’d be more cautious—leaving a group of guards to follow her, disguising herself again, and only leaving after the second decoy.

Having guessed her plan, Pei Wenxuan stopped his carriage, took two guards, and slipped into the nearby woods. He rolled up his sleeves and instructed the guards, “When you see any guards running past, follow them.”

The guards obeyed and hid in the grass as instructed. Pei Wenxuan climbed an old tree and crouched among the branches, watching the surroundings.

Inside her carriage, Li Rong changed clothes with Jinglan. She wore a veil and disguised herself as an ordinary woman. After switching outfits, it was impossible to tell them apart. The group chatted noisily nearby, then returned to the carriage.

After the carriage moved forward a bit, Li Rong waved to the two guards hidden in the shadows. They immediately ran off.

Pei Wenxuan, watching from the tree, saw the guards run past. He signaled to his men hidden in the grass, and once Li Rong’s guards had left, his men chased after them.

Li Rong waited in the shadows for a while, estimating that most people had left. Finally, she turned from beneath the tree and ran toward the Reed Pavilion.

At that moment, no one else was around. She ran in a hurry, and Pei Wenxuan, still in the tree, watched her sprinting and frowned.

What was Li Rong rushing off to do?

He was quite puzzled but said nothing. Only after Li Rong ran past the tree he was hiding in and disappeared into the distance did Pei Wenxuan climb down and chase after her.

Li Rong ran while scanning her surroundings, and Pei Wenxuan followed while trying to stay hidden. Neither of them were trained spies, yet they somehow maintained a strange harmony. After running for a while, Li Rong finally arrived at the Reed Pavilion.

Cui Yulang was already waiting there. He wore a blue robe, his hair half tied with a ribbon, and held a jade flute in his hand. The moment he heard Li Rong’s footsteps, he turned around with a smile. From the curve of his lips to the arc of his turn, everything about him exuded a refined theatricality.

Li Rong, panting and leaning against a pavilion pillar, watched Cui Yulang’s performance. She had expected it, yet still found herself momentarily breathless when he turned around.

Even Li Rong reacted this way—Pei Wenxuan, hiding in the shadows, could barely contain himself. He regretted not having killed Cui Yulang the last time.

Although reason told Pei Wenxuan that Li Rong had come to see Cui Yulang for official matters, seeing the two of them together still irritated him.

Fortunately, he managed to suppress his impulse and stayed hidden, cooperating with Li Rong’s plan.

“Your Highness,” Cui Yulang greeted Li Rong respectfully as she entered the pavilion. Li Rong leaned against the pillar for a moment, waved her hand to dismiss the formalities, and walked into the pavilion. She said, “Someone is following us today. Let’s keep it brief.”

“That case you mentioned last time—was it a local gentry who took your friend’s exam spot?”

“Yes,” Cui Yulang immediately became serious when Li Rong brought up official matters.

Li Rong picked up a teacup and asked slowly, “Where did it happen?”

“Zhangping County, Wangzhou.”

“Your hometown?”

“Yes.”

“You’re an official in the Ministry of Rites,” Li Rong looked up with a half-smile, “and you couldn’t handle something like this?”

“Your Highness jests,” Cui Yulang gave a bitter smile. “I’m just a powerless official in a clean office. What can I do?”

Li Rong sat on the bench encircling the pavilion and looked at the river outside. Her expression was calm. “You’re resentful.”

Cui Yulang said nothing. Li Rong turned to look at him and smiled. “Last time you offered yourself to me…” She stood up and walked over to him, staring at him. Cui Yulang smiled but didn’t speak.

Cui Yulang was a frequent visitor of brothels, well-versed in dealing with women. It was said he never paid for his visits—he would simply compose a poem when settling the bill, and it would later become one of the most popular songs in Huajing.

Faced with Li Rong’s gaze and scrutiny, he didn’t flinch. He even stepped closer, looked down at her, and said affectionately, “What does Your Highness think?”

Snap! A crisp sound rang out—Pei Wenxuan, watching from afar, couldn’t hear the words clearly, but seeing their gestures, he couldn’t help himself and snapped the branch he was holding.

Li Rong thought she heard something, but dismissed it as a trick of the wind. She glanced toward the reeds but saw no one. After a moment’s thought, she gestured to Cui Yulang and walked a bit farther toward the river. Lowering her voice, she asked, “Are you doing this for your friend, or for yourself?”

“Why would Your Highness ask that?” Cui Yulang looked puzzled.

Li Rong chuckled softly and looked up at him. “Has Lord Cui never thought of doing something meaningful in the officialdom?”

In her previous life, Cui Yulang had indulged in brothels and lived a carefree, unrestrained life, showing no interest in politics whatsoever. But Li Rong had read his poetry and always felt that such verses couldn’t have come from someone completely indifferent to officialdom.

Most importantly, Cui Yulang’s family wasn’t wealthy. His father was merely a private tutor, and the effort and dedication Cui Yulang had put into his studies since childhood were far beyond what ordinary people could manage.

To pay such a high price to enter the bureaucracy—could he really have no ambition? His departure back then was likely not out of disinterest, but out of sheer disappointment.

After all, in the officialdom of Da Xia at the time, there was no place for someone like Cui Yulang.

Yet in this life, he had come to her to complain.

Not only to complain, but also to offer himself to her—trying to become her lover. If he succeeded, he would gain her support.

“I actually understand Lord Cui’s intentions,” Li Rong leaned against the pillar, looking at Cui Yulang with a half-smile. “The complaint was just a pretext. Offering yourself was the real goal. And the reason for that,” she propped her head up with her hand and looked at him, “is simply because Lord Cui now wants a patron.”

Cui Yulang smiled without replying. Li Rong thought for a moment and continued, “But I’m curious—if you wanted to rely on someone, why didn’t you act sooner? And more importantly,” she raised her fan and pointed to herself, “why choose me?”

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