Zhao Rong walked out of the gate of Guanghan Palace with a normal expression.

The string musicians guarding outside the door consciously made way for them.

But no one turned their eyes away to look at him.

Zhao Rong rolled up his sleeves and walked forward a few steps. Just when some of the girls glanced at him quietly, he suddenly stopped.

The young scholar suddenly turned around and said with an apologetic look on his face:

"Um... can you help me?"

The departed women looked at each other in bewilderment.

The young scholar scratched his head, and said in an embarrassed tone: "If the Queen Mother returns to the palace later, could you please tell her that Zhao came to ask for an audience?"

"Oh, oh."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then reacted and nodded quickly, like chicks pecking at rice.

"Thank you very much."

The young scholar smiled, turned around and left. Before leaving, he seemed to mutter something.

"Alas, I made a wasted trip today... There was no one in sight..."

The women left: "..."

…

"Is this...his exact words?"

"Yes, my lady."

Inside the Guanghan Palace, in a pavilion next to a misty natural bathing pool, a gorgeous woman in a snow-covered fur coat was sitting on a beauty couch, her chin raised, looking at the scenery outside.

She glanced sideways at the string girl who was kneeling outside the pavilion to report.

The latter did not dare to raise his head.

Dugu Chanyi suddenly smiled, "Well, I got it. Next time, if Mr. Zhao comes again, you must not neglect him. You must lead the way for him. Don't let this happen again... like today."

"Yes, my lady!"

The girl who was playing string music on the ground outside the pavilion kowtowed vigorously.

"Also, call Doukou back for me and tell her that there is no need to punish Que'er by making him kneel anymore. Go back to the palace immediately."

"I obey your command."

Xian Le Li Nu respectfully drew a crescent moon on her chest and called out, "The half-moon is leaving and returning home," then left.

Since she came in to report, she didn't dare to look up. There were some strange traces in the pavilion...

For example, why is there sawdust all under the beauty couch where the queen is sitting, as if the bed is messy?

For example, why was the towel that the empress used to wipe her body after bathing scattered all over the place, with torn strips of towel still scattered on the ground?

For example... who left the stone bench, the beauty couch, and the bloodstains on the floor...

After leaving, this girl quickly forgot all these terrifying scenes...

Inside the pavilion, Dugu Chanyi, who was alone again, frowned slightly.

There was no one around, only the sound of flowing spring water coming from not far away.

The woman turned her head and looked in the direction where a certain Confucian scholar left.

"Zhao Rong... Zhao Ziyu..."

Dugu Chanyi muttered a few words quietly, the meaning of which was unclear.

At a certain moment, she suddenly stood up, her pretty face flushed and her brows furrowed.

I felt a sense of inexplicable irritation and restlessness.

The beautiful woman untied the ropes, took off her snow-white fur coat, and walked back to the bathing pool.

The graceful and graceful lotus steps of the past are now a little hurried...

Today, a certain man did many things that offended her, and each of them was something that no man had ever done to her before. Today was the first time she experienced this...

At some point.

The mysophobic woman scrubbed her fair skin vigorously in the bathtub and her silver teeth were broken.

"...Zhao Ziyu...shameless scholar..."

…

On a road leading away from the palace.

A young Confucian scholar was walking leisurely as he took out a white jade plate from his sleeve. He lowered his head and carefully tied it around his waist.

This white jade token was the one he had nurtured with his own hands. It was a token of love between him and Qingjun. It was originally carried close to Qingjun's body together with the black jade token.

But yesterday in Xia Chong Zhai, before Zhao Rong and Qing Jun separated, Qing Jun tied it up for him again, saying that it was to keep him safe.

Zhao Rong touched the jade token and couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

Fortunately, his wife was a kind-hearted woman. Before she left, she tied the jade pendant on him, and also her sachet. Otherwise, if he had not been able to control himself at Dugu's place, the consequences would have been disastrous.

"Hey, why is the jade token a little hot?"

After Zhao Rong tied it up, he touched the jade token and felt the heat emanating from it on his palm.

But after a moment of confusion, he soon understood.

It should be that thousands of miles away, the lady in Duyou City is currently caressing another piece of black jade.

"Silly girl...are you thinking about me again?"

Zhao Rong chuckled and muttered something, then he tightened his grip on the white jade token at his waist and began rubbing it with his big hands.

This pair of dark white jade plates is a pair of spiritual jades, and sometimes they can sense each other.

Once one of the jade pieces is rubbed or shaken violently, the other jade piece will also feel the heat.

"It should have just fallen to the ground, and the black jade hidden in my wife's bosom sensed it and released heat."

Zhao Rong thought about it, nodded, and then couldn't help but think with a bit of evil interest:

Ahem, I don't know if I scared my wife at that time. What was my Qingjun doing at that time? Was she attending the teachers' class or was there a ceremony in the mansion? She was quiet and calm, walking alone among the crowd of fellow students, elegant and deserted...

But now her body was hot, so Qingjun had already had some free time and had returned to his private residence.

Because Zhao Rong had already figured out the location where his wife hid the jade, well, that means literally.

So she took out the jade, certainly quietly and with a blushing face.

Not long.

Zhao Rong smiled as he hurried on his way, playing with the white jade token on his waist.

And thousands of miles away, a woman with autumn eyes, who was in a daze and thinking about her husband, was also holding the black jade tablet in her bare hands and rubbing it with joy.

The husband and wife followed suit, as if they were playing a game.

After a while, he rubbed the white jade, causing the spiritual jade body to heat up and the temperature was transferred to him.

After cooling down for a while, she rubbed the black jade from a distance and transferred her warmth back to it.

Both of them felt the warmth given by each other.

A tacit response.

For a moment, the childhood sweethearts happily played a game that seemed extremely childish to a certain sword spirit...

"Hey, could you guys stop being so boring?"

In the lake of his heart, the sword spirit couldn't help but said speechlessly.

Zhao Rong ignored him and walked leisurely to meet Qian'er, Qingdai and the others, while continuing to knead the white jade plate and "harassing" the lady in the distance.

"Hey, I'm talking to you?"

Zhao Rong nodded and said leisurely, "I know. After seeing the truth, I now realize that kneading jade with my wife thousands of miles away is more important than you, so can you please stop interrupting?"

He thought his tone was quite tactful.

Gui: “!!!”

It choked, then sneered, praising him with a slightly fake sincerity, "You are amazing, Mr. Zhao, you have learned and put it into practice. I have really helped you understand everything I taught you."

After the sword spirit praised him for a few words, he nodded and said, "Okay, I was going to tell you about the strange skills outside the world after 'seeing the heart and understanding the nature', but now... I won't disturb you, Master Zhao."

Zhao Rong paused slightly, covered his mouth and coughed twice.

He rubbed the white jade plate and nodded:

"Well, go ahead and talk. It's okay. I'm listening."

The sword spirit was not very convinced, "No, just continue playing with your wife. I won't cause any trouble. I will just quietly watch how bored you two can get."

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows, but refused to do it.

"Boring? Who said that?" He sighed and shook his head, "Alas, the fun of this matter between Qingjun and I cannot be explained to a lonely person."

Polite Sword Spirit: You?

The air became quiet.

Gui didn't really want to talk to Zhao Rong.

The latter smiled, lowered his head and began to rub the white jade plate again.

Soon, Zhao Rong saw the city gate not far away and was about to leave the palace.

He suddenly said in his heart: "Hey, thank you."

"Oh, why are you thanking me? I am not worthy of Master Zhao's thanks."

"Nothing, I just wanted to thank you."

The sword spirit was silent for a while, then pouted and said:

"Don't thank me. This time, I didn't do anything. I didn't waste my breath scolding you last time at the foot of Youshan Mountain. This time, you can truly see your true nature and have the qualifications to practice the outer world skills. It all depends on you.

"…Mr. Zhao did it. It was so sloppy."

Zhao Rong smiled and said, "careless" in his mouth, which is a great compliment.

"Thank you so much~"

"Oh, virtue."

The young scholar thought about it and couldn't help but say:

"In fact... if you had reminded me at that time that seeing the mind and understanding the nature is about 'seeing' and 'understanding' rather than 'suppression' and 'stopping'... then I should have been able to wake up earlier, because this is a bit like... the unity of knowledge and action."

The sword spirit, however, asked curiously, "What is the unity of intellect and nature?"

"…It's an interesting thing called psychology. I learned a little bit about it before…"

The young Confucian scholar only said two sentences, and his words were vague.

He shook his head and said no more.

At this time, the young scholar temporarily put down the white jade plate on his waist, reached into his sleeve, and took out a colorful ribbon that was quietly brought out.

He lowered his head and sniffed again.

Gui couldn't stand it anymore and said angrily, "Hey, why are you so perverted! It's ok that you didn't see Xin Mingxing just now, but now you're sneaking in to smell it?"

I just praised you for nothing.

Zhao Rong did not reply. After sniffing again, he frowned slightly, as if he was trying to recall and identify something.

“…”

Seeing this, Gui gradually realized that it seemed to be a misunderstanding.

But now it couldn't put down its pride and apologize. After being quiet for a while, it said calmly:

"Hey, what is this and when did you get it?"

Zhao Rong didn't look up. "I just got it from Dugu. I don't think this thing should be on her."

Gui frowned: "What kind of woman doesn't love beauty? As the queen mother, what's wrong with Dugu using a colorful ribbon? Can't she just tie her hair? It's none of your business."

Zhao Rong nodded, "No, she can't use it. It's not my fault, but the rules of etiquette. She is still in mourning. Every time I see her, she is always dressed in white."

After a pause, he said, "Oh, but just now in that pavilion, she had this colorful ribbon on her body, and considering the situation at that time..."

"This ribbon is not hers, it belongs to the person she is going to meet."

He spoke calmly.

The sword spirit was silent for a while, then nodded in agreement, "Your guess is correct, but it's none of our business whether you care about who others want to meet."

Zhao Rong shook his head. "She was obviously waiting for someone, not me. She probably didn't know I was here. She was so frightened that she fell off the couch."

Speaking of this, he seemed to recall the scene at that time and smiled.

Immediately, the young scholar's smile faded, and he said softly, "But when she first saw me, her expression was not only panic, but also a little...guilty. She dodged and looked around. She must be hiding something from me. Well, it's related to me."

He said with conviction.

The sword spirit was silent.

After a moment, it nodded and said, "Good analysis. You are very perceptive, which is an advantage."

Zhao Rong didn't answer. He lowered his eyes slightly and looked at the ribbon carefully.

At some point, he seemed to have discovered something, and when he turned his hand, he saw a line of small embroidered words on the corner of the ribbon.

"...The moon is split into two, and I am leaving and returning? Isn't this the slogan that those crescent moon ladies in the music department often chant..."

Zhao Rong's eyes suddenly lit up. "Ribbons, ribbons, is it related to the colorful-clothed female official in their music department? I heard from Brother Yiwu and Su Qingdai that this Crescent Moon Lady is like a mysterious dragon that can only be seen from head to tail. Almost no one has ever seen her, so..."

"Our Queen Mother dismissed the palace maids today and waited in the pavilion next to the bathing pool. Was she going to meet her? The figure that I saw at that time should be this girl named Xianyueli?"

Zhao Rong narrowed his eyes and whispered.

Gui smiled and continued for him, "So, when you were bullying the Queen Mother Dali, the colorful-clothed female official was actually nearby? Did she use some hidden skills? Did she never show up from the beginning to the end? Was she just watching silently from the side?"

Zhao Rong did not comment.

He turned his head and looked in the direction of Guanghan Palace.

Gui chuckled, "Oh, there was actually a fourth person present at the time..."

Zhao Rong asked casually, "The fourth person? Including the owner of this ribbon, isn't that three people?"

Gui yelled, "Zhao Rong, you fucking missed me!"

Zhao Rong shook his head, "No. Aren't you a soul?"

“……???”

Not long.

Zhao Rong, who was returning to Guanghan Palace, suddenly turned around, stuffed the ribbon directly into his sleeves, and strode towards the city wall in front.

For some reason, my steps became faster and faster...

After a while, the young scholar climbed up the city wall and entered a hall where the entourage of people entering the palace waited.

As soon as he walked in, he took a quick glance.

Su Qingdai and Zhao Qian'er were both there, but the two girls were sitting far away from each other, facing each other.

Everyone does their own thing.

Xiao Qian'er moved a chair and placed it next to the east window in the hall. She half-knelt on it, leaned against the window, looked at the scenery of the imperial city outside the city wall, and looked forward to his return.

Su Qingdai was sitting behind a square table in the inner hall, half of her pretty face supported by the back of her jade hand, her beautiful eyes lowered, looking seriously flipping through a Mo Jing.

The two women must have been in a stalemate and cold war for a long time.

Don't interfere with others' business.

Seeing this, Zhao Rong shook his head helplessly.

"Brother Rong'er, you are finally back. I am the one who is hungry~"

The young scholar smiled, reached out and rubbed the head of the little girl who came over to him and clung to him. Then he turned around and squinted at the stunning woman in black dress in the inner hall.

At this moment, as if she heard the sound of him entering the hall, she straightened her slender waist, put down her hands, and happily put away the book.

The woman gently pinched the hem of her skirt with her delicate hands, lifted it up, and walked quickly towards him.

“Tzuyu.”

Su Qingdai had a gentle smile and bright eyes.

Zhao Rong looked at her for a moment, smiled gently, and nodded...

Soon, the three of them chatted for a while and then left the palace together.

Zhao Rong took them to an old inn in the downtown area and had a sumptuous lunch.

afternoon.

Zhao Rong took the two girls to the Ministry of Rites.

He helped Gu Yiwu and other students from the Justice Hall to deal with matters related to the Fengshan Ceremony. After being apart for a few days, everyone had no time to exchange greetings.

After a busy afternoon, they all returned home tired late at night.

The second day.

The Confucian scholars had another busy day.

Finally, on the morning of the third day, everything was ready.

Everyone started their journey to Jiyue Mountain.