The next day.

At the main gate of the Guan residence, Guan Zhiyue was already fully prepared to depart. Her departure time was a quarter earlier than that of the officials attending court, in order to avoid crowding with them. However, some officials who lived relatively far away were already queuing up at the main gate.

Guan Zhiyue reached out and grasped her grandmother's hand. The white-haired old woman was looking at her granddaughter with tears in her eyes, giving her a series of instructions. These were things that should have been given by the granddaughter's mother, but now that her daughter-in-law was gone, these things could only be done by her, the old woman.

"Yue'er, you must be careful in everything you do when you return to the palace!"

"Yes, Grandmother, don't worry, I've made all the arrangements. You can rest assured. I'll come back to visit you again when I find the opportunity," Guan Zhiyue quickly reassured her.

"Okay, that's good. Let's go then!"

Guan Zhiyue looked at her family members gathered around her and bowed deeply to them, saying, "Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Yue'er is going back to the palace first. You must take good care of yourselves. I'm sorry that I can't be there to fulfill my filial duties to you and that you've suffered."

The group quickly helped Guan Zhiyue up and urged her to hurry into the palace so as not to delay her. Amid her family's reluctance, Guan Zhiyue boarded the carriage that left the Guan family and headed towards the majestic and cold imperial palace.

"Your Highness, please wipe your tears! Don't worry, we'll find a way to come back in a few days." Bilian handed over her handkerchief for Guan Zhiyue to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Guan Zhiyue raised her head, looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and tried hard to hold back her tears. After a while, she pretended to be serious and said, "Who's crying? Your mother is looking up at the carriage."

"Oh!" Whoever cries is a dog...

Guan Zhiyue sat in the carriage. Since it was still some distance from the palace gate, she lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside. What she saw made her heart race!

Due to the traffic jam ahead, Guan Zhiyue's carriage paused slightly, and she happened to see a white figure not far away.

Not far away, beside a carriage, stood a man in flowing white robes. His long hair was half-tied up with a white jade hair crown, and the loose strands fell smoothly and neatly down his back without a single mess. Feeling the burning gaze directed at him, the man looked towards Guan Zhiyue.

Guan Zhiyue stared wide-eyed at the man not far ahead. The man's skin was so pale it seemed to have no color in it. His small face gave him a kind of feminine beauty. He had a high, round nose, and his eyebrows were neatly arranged, extending towards his temples. His lips were pale red with a hint of sickly whiteness. But what was most eye-catching about the man was his pair of slender, white hands.

The man nodded slightly to Guan Zhiyue, a faint smile playing on his lips. The red beauty mark between his brows exuded a captivating charm, seemingly drawing Guan Zhiyue's restless heart.

The man's slender, fair fingers gently lifted the carriage curtain, and he was about to bend down and go inside.

Guan Zhiyue turned her head to look at Bilian and said, "Bilian, who is that man in white over there? Why are there so many handsome men in the capital?"

Looking through the gap in the curtain that Guan Zhiyue had lifted by the carriage window, Bilian only saw a white figure with its back to them. She carefully examined the sign hanging on the carriage, and then lowered the carriage curtain from Guan Zhiyue's hand.

"Oh dear, Your Majesty, please put it down! I just saw that it was our Chief Minister Su's carriage."

"That figure in white is none other than our Chief Minister Su."

Guan Zhiyue was puzzled. "Doesn't he wear official robes to court? Why is he dressed in white?"

Bilian smiled and said, "After court, Lord Su likes to wear white clothes. He is very fond of white clothes. All his accessories and clothes are white. However, his court robes are bright red. Actually, I think he looks best in red because Lord Su's skin is quite fair and radiant."

"Like a woman?"

Bilian: "It's even whiter and brighter than a woman's skin. It's a very comfortable kind of white, not the kind that looks sick. But it seems that Lord Su is ill."

Guan Zhiyue: "Isn't that just a sickly pale complexion?"

"What illness is it? And this Lord Su, why don't I know him? I've never heard of him. How old is he? Is he married and has children?" Guan Zhiyue bombarded Bilian with a barrage of questions.

Bilian thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, you were so focused on the Emperor that you naturally weren't interested in these young masters in the capital."

"This Lord Su must have returned from treating his illness. It seems he was injured a few years ago, and the Emperor granted him leave to go to Guiling Valley to treat his injury. As for whether he recovered or not, we don't know. Now that he seems to have returned, he should be well!"

When Guan Zhiyue heard Bilian's words, she felt that they were related to the original owner of the body again, and that it was about Guiling Valley again.

How old is he?

After thinking for a moment, Bilian told Guan Zhiyue everything she knew.

"No way? No way? Are you sure you didn't see wrong? He's actually the same age as the Emperor, only twenty-three years old, and he's already the Grand Secretary? Are you sure his career trajectory isn't like a rocket? What kind of genius is this?" Guan Zhiyue looked incredulous.

Bilian: "Yes, this Lord Su is a child prodigy. I heard that he was already a scholar when he was nine years old, and then he became the top scholar in the imperial examination when he was thirteen. He worked his way up to the position of Grand Secretary."

"Tsk tsk tsk, this kind of person is simply a devil. Has he gotten married and had children?"

"No, but I heard that this Chief Minister Su doesn't seem to like women." As soon as Bilian finished speaking, Guan Zhiyue's teacup trembled, and the full cup of tea was spilled all over the small square table.

"Damn, no wonder he's so good-looking, he's gay!"

"Hush, Your Highness, you can't spread these words around. Lord Su is not easy to deal with. You'd better not listen to these words. I've only heard about it, but I haven't verified it."

Guan Zhiyue swallowed this bombshell; she was too shocked to say anything more. That fleeting glance had unknowingly seeped into her heart...