Fang Yingkan warmly invited Yan Liang to get into the carriage and offered to give him a ride. Yan Liang readily agreed, and after getting into the carriage, he told the driver his destination. Then he took the writing brush that Fang Yingkan handed him, opened it, looked at it, and smiled, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, young marquis."
Fang Yingkan smiled somewhat shyly and said, "This is what I should do." He paused, then asked, "Where does Your Highness wish to go?"
Yan Liang closed the lid, tucked the pen case into his sleeve, looked up at him, and smiled, "Going to a friend's house, the young marquis should have met him."
Fang Yingkan pretended to ponder: "...I wonder which family's young master is the Crown Prince's friend?"
Yan Liang looked away, smiling as he watched the snowflakes explore the carriage, and said, "The young marquis once gave him directions."
Fang Yingkan suddenly realized: "So that young master who always gets lost is the Crown Prince's friend."
Yan Liang nodded: "Yes, isn't that a coincidence?"
Fang Yingkan: "It is indeed a coincidence."
Daxue squatted down beside Fang Yingkan and looked up at him. Fang Yingkan met its gaze and reached out to touch it, but Daxue spontaneously moved closer and rubbed against his palm.
Upon seeing this, Yan Liang gained a new understanding of how outgoing Da Xue was; this little guy seemed to be able to charm anyone and beg for attention.
Fang Yingkan raised an eyebrow slightly, and when he looked up again, his smile was sincere: "Your Highness's cat has grown a lot. I remember when I first saw it, it was a skinny little fellow."
Yan Liang was happy to talk to him about these things, and said nostalgically, "He has indeed grown up a lot... Now he still wakes me up at night when he's sleeping."
Fang Yingkan: "...So Your Highness sleeps with it?"
Yan Liang drawled, "Sleeping alone late at night is inevitably lonely and desolate, but having heavy snow to keep you company isn't so bad."
Fang Yingkan recalled the news he had heard before—that the Crown Prince had rejected the beauties offered by certain people—so he only loved cats and not beauties?
The carriage moved slowly. After observing carefully, Fang Yingkan confirmed that Gu Xichao, the cornerstone that the Crown Prince had poached from Fu Zongshu, was not with the Crown Prince.
The guards who previously followed the Crown Prince were people planted by Fang Yingkan. After Gu Xichao defected to the Crown Prince, he was chosen by the Crown Prince to be a guard. The person who was previously with the Crown Prince is still working in the Crown Prince's residence.
Gu Xichao disappeared not long ago, presumably because the Crown Prince sent him to do something, but did not make it public.
Having managed to evade the eyes and ears of various forces in the capital, the Crown Prince was clearly more than as innocent as he appeared.
Of course, appearances can be deceiving, and Fang Yingkan and Yan Liang were evenly matched, each being roughly equal in ability.
The two had a friendly conversation in the carriage. Fang Yingkan mentioned that the painter brought to the palace that day was a test to find out about what happened at the Bitter Water Shop yesterday; Yan Liang was very frank, saying everything he could and nothing he couldn't, completely open and honest. Fang Yingkan was surprised by Yan Liang's honesty and curious about the truth behind the parts that the other party hadn't explained.
Fang Yingkan had to admit that Yan Liang was a very easy person to get along with. His conversation with the Crown Prince in the palace was like that between ordinary officials, but now that they were outside the palace, the Crown Prince seemed much more casual when talking to him.
The Crown Prince even directly asked him to call him by his pseudonym, but Fang Yingkan politely declined and chose a compromise, calling him Young Master Yan.
This gave Fang Yingkan the illusion that he really was Yan Liang's friend.
In reality, however, they had only spoken a few times.
When the carriage stopped in front of Pang Jin's house, Yan Liang and Fang Yingkan had just finished a friendly conversation. Yan Liang, carrying Da Xue, got off the carriage and smiled at the servant at the door. The servant rushed into the house to report, while Yan Liang glanced at Fang Yingkan and asked him, "Isn't the young marquis leaving?"
Fang Yingkan smiled and said, "I would like to meet Young Master Yan's friends."
When Pang Jin heard the servant report that Yan Liang had arrived in a very luxurious carriage, he went out with a puzzled look on his face. He saw Yan Liang holding Da Xue and standing next to the luxurious carriage, talking to the people inside.
Pang Jin looked closely and recognized the person peeking out of the carriage as none other than the young Marquis Fang Yingkan, whom he had met a few times before.
Fang Ying looked up at him and smiled, "Young master, do you still remember me?"
Pang Jin nodded vigorously, took three steps forward in two, and said, "I remember, I remember, was it the young marquis who brought this guy over? Thank you so much."
Yan Liang, referred to as "this guy," glanced at him with a smile. Pang Jin pretended not to notice, while Fang Yingkan was surprised by Pang Jin's words. He looked at the two teenagers with interest, paused, and said, "Since Young Master Yan has arrived at your friend's house, I will take my leave first."
Yan Liang nodded listlessly in agreement, while Pang Jin watched the carriage depart. Yan Liang clapped his hands while holding Da Xue's hand and said, "Stop looking, I'm here to play with you again."
"You're incredibly busy when you're busy, and incredibly free when you're free," Pang Jin muttered, not forgetting to ask about what Yan Liang had mentioned yesterday, "Have you found the painter your old man wants to see?"
"Found it, and I even bumped into Master Su!" Yan Liang said. "I'm really free today, how about I find someone to go out and have some fun with?"
Pang Jin was very curious about Yan Liang's true identity. Sometimes Yan Liang was so busy that he was nowhere to be seen, and other times he was so idle that he was bored out of his mind. However, since the two had made an agreement before, he did not intend to ask. He just waited for Yan Liang to tell him on his own initiative one day.
He followed Yan Liang, who was genuinely free today, to an inn and met the young man who had given him directions before.
Yan Liang watched the two reunited, silently petting the cat, and couldn't help but sigh that the capital city was really too small.
Seeing that Yan Liang was alone, Wang Xiaoshi asked about Bai Choufei. Yan Liang said that Bai Choufei was being pulled aside by his father to discuss painting techniques, which reassured Wang Xiaoshi.
Pang Jin was also pondering that the capital city was really too small. Many of the people he knew somehow also knew Yan Liang. Was it really a matter of fate that brought them together from afar?
Three people with a shared destiny set off on a trip together. Wang Xiaoshi, who had been in the capital for half a year, knew better than Pang Jin and Yan Liang about the fun places in the city, so he took them there.
Yan Liang followed the two young men around the capital, having a great time, but it was the people secretly following him who suffered.
The people of Liufenbantang discovered Cai Jing's faction, while the people of Youqiao Group were secretly observing them, and Cai Jing's faction was also secretly planning when to make their move.
Yan Liang, who was being targeted by various forces, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He hugged Da Xue tightly in his arms, thinking that if he continued to do nothing, he might lose his life.
＊
The three of them spent the day playing and parted ways contentedly. Yan Liang escorted Pang Jin home, and on the way to the Crown Prince's residence, he ran into Zhui Ming, whom he had met the day before.
Zhuiming leaned against the wall and greeted him with a grin: "Greetings, Your Highness."
Yan Liang had already learned from Pang Jin what happened yesterday—that simpleton Pang Jin had indeed revealed all his family's secrets, including the fact that the two of them had gone to pay respects at "Grandpa Yan's" grave together.
For Pang Jin, visiting the grave of his grandfather's old friend was a perfectly normal thing to do. He could tell Yan Liang, who had taken him back to the inn, about it, and naturally he could also tell Zhui Ming, who had given him directions and taken him home.
But for Yan Liang, it was a bit of a delicate matter. He was afraid that some people with ulterior motives would find out and start speculating, and take the opportunity to stop him and talk about it.
At this moment, Zhui Ming came to ambush Yan Liang not because "the Crown Prince's pseudonym is the same as the name of his friend's grandfather's old friend," but because Zhuge Zheng wanted to see him.
After careful consideration, Zhuge Zhengwo decided to have a profound conversation with the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince's current stance is clear—he stands in opposition to the Cai-Fu faction, yet he never expresses his opinion to ministers from other factions in the court. Even towards ministers who are implicitly aligned with him, he remains mild-mannered.
The same applies to Zhuge Zhengwo.
However, after the morning court session, the Crown Prince would either go to the inner palace to play football and practice calligraphy with the Emperor, or rush back to his residence to study his lessons... Even if Zhuge Zhengwo wanted to have a talk with the Crown Prince, he rarely had the opportunity.
Therefore, yesterday, when Zhuge Zhengwo learned that Zhui Ming had escorted the Crown Prince's friend home, he asked him to ambush the person near Pang Jin's house.
Zhuiming successfully met the Crown Prince. He believed that the Crown Prince knew his purpose, so after greeting him, he waited for a response with a smile.
Yan Liang was silent for a moment, then resignedly stepped forward and said lazily, "It's good to pursue Third Master."
Without further ado, Zhui Ming led Yan Liang away from the pursuers and went to a restaurant, where Zhuge Zhengwo was waiting for him in a private room on the second floor.
Inside the restaurant, Zhuge Shenhou patiently waited for the Crown Prince, silently contemplating what he should say next. Although it might seem somewhat treasonous, he felt compelled to speak out given the state of the Song Dynasty.
Wuqing sat quietly to the side, waiting. He had never met the Crown Prince, but based on his uncle and Zhuiming's descriptions of the Crown Prince and the discussions of some ministers, he had sketched out an image of the Crown Prince in his mind—a gentle and easy-going young man, an approachable young man who would become a benevolent ruler.
The voices echoed from the hallway; Wuqing heard Zhuiming's hearty laughter and an unfamiliar young voice—
"Take me for a drink sometime."
His Highness the Crown Prince said so.
Wuqing silently thought that he needed to find a way to reduce the number of times Zhuiming drank—was it something a subject should do to encourage the crown prince to drink?
Completely unaware of the impending doom, Zhui Ming pushed open the door with a smile and welcomed Yan Liang into the room. He grabbed two chairs and pulled Yan Liang to sit down with him, then excitedly boasted to the two of them, "I brought the Crown Prince."
Yan Liang nodded reservedly: "Hello, everyone."
Da Xue, quite naturally friendly, jumped onto the table and squatted down, looking at the two strangers in front of her, and meowed.
The two grown men's eyes softened for a moment when they looked at it, before their expressions returned to seriousness.
Zhuge Zhengwo solemnly asked, "Does Your Highness's willingness to come see me indicate that you have some idea about what I am about to say?"
Yan Liang placed his arms on the table and said solemnly, "Yes. Grand Tutor, please speak."
"Now that the Song Dynasty is in turmoil and the Emperor is doing nothing, what are your thoughts, Your Highness?" Zhuge Zhengwo asked with piercing eyes. "I observe that Your Highness dislikes Cai Jing's faction and refuses to associate with them, yet you also do not associate with other ministers... Do you intend to continue like this?"
Yan Liang touched his nose and laughed, "Of course I don't want to."
"Then why is Your Highness always alone? If you spent the time you would spend playing with friends on building connections, given Your Highness's abilities, I doubt Cai Jing's faction would dare to assassinate you rashly."
"Because I'm lazy," Yan Liang answered decisively. "Since I'm the crown prince, I'll be the emperor sooner or later. Building connections is too troublesome for me, and I don't like to make friends with ulterior motives."
He paused, then said, "As long as my father doesn't despise me, I will remain the Crown Prince; as long as I am the Crown Prince, they can't do anything to me. Besides, if I do a good job as the Crown Prince, naturally there will be people on my side."
Moonlight shone through the window curtains onto the prince's face, and the boy's eyes shone like stars.
"Grand Tutor, aren't you and Master Su on my side?"
His Highness the Crown Prince said so.
Author's Note: I'm here!
Good evening everyone =3=
Get some rest. Tomorrow, those who need to go to work should go to work, and those who need to attend online classes should attend online classes. Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 21:43:41 on March 23, 2020 and 22:49:08 on March 24, 2020!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Time Ferryman (19 bottles); Shi Lanxi (2 bottles);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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