"Reading companion?"
"Yes. You are very talented, but your personality is too erratic. If I'm not around, you can't concentrate on studying."
"So you sent someone to be your eyes and ears?" Jiang Cenyun frowned and muttered softly, "With such a brilliant young man staying by my side, wouldn't I have even less time to study?"
"What?" Yao Yi didn't hear her clearly.
The purple-robed youth had already approached and bowed to her. "Your Highness, Princess, I am Li Xiwei. I wish to greet you."
"No need to be polite." Jiang Cenyun stood up and personally stepped forward to help him stand upright. "Li Xiwei, is that the Xiwei in 'Asking the soldiers about the road ahead, they hate the dim light of dawn'?"
"Exactly."
"The morning sunlight... is so gentle." Jiang Cenyun said with a smile.
Li Xi smiled at her, then saluted Yao Yi and looked at the chessboard.
Seeing this, Jiang Cenyun grabbed his sleeve and led him to where she sat. "Xiwei, you are my study partner, and therefore mine. I am playing chess with the Grand Tutor, and you must help me."
Yao Yi frowned slightly, and Li Xiwei said, "I'm afraid this is unfair to the Grand Tutor."
Yao Yi glanced at him and said, "It's okay."
So Jiang Cenyun became a hands-off boss, leaving everything to Li Xiwei to decide the direction. He played chess very quickly. Yao Yi was a little careless at first, but she continued to teach Jiang Cenyun "The Book of Songs" while playing chess. After a quarter of an hour, she was no longer distracted and focused on the chess game.
A quarter of an hour later, Yao Yi's expression became solemn, and Jiang Cenyun said in surprise, "You actually saved him and even turned defense into offense. Xiwei, you are really smart!"
"Your Highness, thank you for your kind words." Li Xi said with a smile.
In the end, Li Xiwei turned the tables and won by half a point against Yao Yi, and Jiang Cenyun beamed with joy. "Master, you promised me that if I win, you'll give me half a day off. You can't break your promise."
"It was he who defeated me, not Your Highness."
"But Xiwei is my study companion and my minister. A ruler need not personally handle all matters; knowing how to employ people effectively is the way of kings. The merits of ministers are the merits of the monarch... the crown prince."
Yao Yi looked at Li Xiwei. "Then are you willing to conceal your identity and become His Highness's pawn?"
Li Xi smiled and said, "As long as Your Highness is willing, it would be fine to use me as a stepping stone."
Later, when Jiang Cenyun recalled his past experiences, he felt that Li Xiwei, a scheming man, had captured his heart from the first moment they met.
With Li Xiwei by her side, Jiang Cenyun's school life became much easier. Li Xiwei would guide her through difficult assignments and bail her out when Yao Yi stumped her. A privileged child, she hated being outshone by anyone. Initially, she felt a little resentful that Li Xiwei, like Yao Yi, was superior in every way, and a man at that. But Li Xiwei's every move proved he would never target her; his talents were always at her service; he was her most powerful weapon.
She trusted him, relied on him, and even depended on him.
On a rainy night when Jiang Cenyun was fifteen years old, because he disagreed with his mother's political views during the day and quarreled with the concubine in the palace, he was afraid that his mother would punish him in the evening, so he secretly got on Li Xiwei's carriage and wanted to leave the palace with him.
When Li Xiwei lifted the curtain and saw her, her amorous peach blossom eyes widened into almond-shaped ones. She quickly made a quiet gesture to him with one hand and signaled him to lower the curtain with the other hand.
Li Xiwei got into the carriage and told the driver to drive.
After the carriage left the palace, Jiang Cenyun, huddled in a corner, relaxed and uncurled. Unhappy with the cramped carriage, she moved closer to Li Xiwei, reversing the situation and forcing him to retreat into a corner. Still feeling inadequate, she looked around and decided to simply rest her leg on his knee.
"Your Highness..." Li Xiwei called her in a low voice, and his slender hands gently pinched her calf, trying to move her leg down.
Jiang Cenyun refused to do so. She hooked her feet on the car wall to make her position more stable. She also reached out and grabbed his sleeve, shook it gently, and told him what had happened to her today.
He leaned back and asked her what she wanted.
She said softly, "Let me take shelter at your house tonight. Your fragrance is soothing, and I'm sure it's the same at home. I'm sure I'll have a good night's sleep."
The scent of Li Xiwei always made her feel at peace. She had asked him several times for the sachets he often wore and the recipe for fumigating clothes. However, the scents she concocted were not as pleasant as the one she smelled from him. Perhaps fragrance also varies from person to person, and it blends into different styles on different people.
He asked her again why she didn't go to Master Yao's house. She thought he was scared of her for asking such a stupid question.
How could she possibly be safe if she fell into Yao Yi's hands? He would definitely grab her by the collar and throw her back to the palace, and then she would be scolded by both her mother and the Grand Tutor. The thought was terrifying.
Li Xiwei finally agreed to take her into his mansion. His family was in Ruzhou, and he had been living alone in Li's mansion since he was summoned to the capital. So Jiang Cenyun felt that this place was very safe.
However, Li Xiwei seemed to distrust his own servants even more than she did. He wrapped her in a cloak and secretly brought her into the mansion.
Jiang Cenyun was surrounded by his fragrance and felt satisfied, but with her back pressed against his chest, she could feel his violent heartbeat. She felt that she was infected by his nervousness and her legs felt a little weak.
After finally getting to his bedroom, he personally fetched water to wash her face, made the bed for her, and asked her to rest before he pushed her out.
"Hey, don't leave in a hurry, Lao Li." She grabbed his hairband and accidentally pulled it off. His hair was loose, and he looked a bit charming under the light of the oil lamp.
She swallowed and held up her hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm just afraid of the dark and didn't want to be alone."
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