Wen Guanyu’s words had barely fallen when Rong Tan immediately shot him a resentful glare, yet Wen Guanyu remained completely indifferent.
He used to think Rong Tan was clever, but now it seemed he was nothing more than a mindless fool.
And he had no patience to waste words on such fools.
Others might think that Wu Ciyun’s fortunes had turned unlucky, that she hadn’t even settled into the position of Duke Protector of the State before she had to go to the Liang Dynasty as a hostage for the Young Prince.
But Wen Guanyu didn’t see it that way.
From what he knew of Wu Ciyun, if she didn’t want to go, she would have long since deployed all sorts of schemes and tricks.
There was no way she would let herself be manipulated so easily.
Or more accurately, ever since she first took up the position of Duke Protector of the State, Wu Ciyun had planned an escape route for herself.
Staying in the Sheng Dynasty meant she would be a shield for the old noble ministers from powerful families, placed at the forefront to take the brunt.
If she was too strong, those ministers would discard her as a pawn. If too submissive, the ambitious Prince Rui wouldn’t easily spare her.
It was the same either way.
Remaining in the Sheng Dynasty, she’d hold a hollow title with no real power, surrounded by enemies on all sides and constantly in danger.
Instead of that, it was better to leave amid the chaos, conserve her strength, wait quietly for the conflict between the two powers to end, and then join the fray when the situation was more favorable.
That fool Rong Tan actually thought Wu Ciyun didn’t want to leave because she wanted to protect their fragile “family.” It was utterly laughable.
Wu Ciyun looked up at Wen Guanyu after hearing this. She released Rong Tan’s hand and, just as Wen Guanyu was about to leave, stopped him.
“Grand Tutor, please wait.”
She slowly closed the distance between them, so close that Wen Guanyu could clearly see her long eyelashes.
Wu Ciyun met his gaze, a faint smile playing at her lips as she whispered, “Don’t fall asleep too early. I still need to come find you later.”
Her tone was light and gentle, far from her usual coldness, like a soft feather brushing past that made one’s heart tingle.
Wen Guanyu’s expression turned complex. He stood rooted, unusually without a sharp retort.
“Ah Yun?!”
Rong Tan’s face changed dramatically at those words. Instinctively, he tried to rush forward to separate them, but Wu Ciyun turned her head to look at Chu Mingyi beside them.
Her smile softened as she said quietly, “General Chu, you should still have time tonight, right?”
“Me?”
Chu Mingyi was caught off guard by Wu Ciyun’s question.
He froze in disbelief.
“You still want to come find me?”
Wu Ciyun had just finished that business with Prince Xun, then turned to invite Wen Guanyu, and now she wanted to come to him as well.
Chu Mingyi felt his brain short-circuiting. To borrow his older brother’s words, his worldview had been shattered into pieces.
How could such lasciviousness exist in this world?!
He glanced doubtfully at Wu Ciyun’s slender figure.
When he was in Ning Prefecture, he had touched her hands in earnest.
Although she wasn’t as thin as just skin and bones, she was fragile enough that he could wrap his hand around her waist.
He truly hadn’t seen that Wu Ciyun was capable of spending the night with three men.
Maybe it wasn’t Wu Ciyun who was inadequate, but Prince Xun and Wen Guanyu…
Chu Mingyi originally intended to politely refuse, saying he wasn’t interested in men, but then he realized Wu Ciyun was blatantly playing on several fronts.
She was intimate with Prince Xun on one side, ambiguous with Wen Guanyu on another, and there was also the princess who supposedly had a child and was planning to elope with him, plus the Young Lord who had died and been burned to ashes.
Various tangled relationships were unresolved, and now she had even set her sights on him.
Was Wu Ciyun some kind of centipede spirit? How could she have so many legs!
Chu Mingyi was furious. He used to think Rong Tan was just a petty courtesan from a minor family, believing that once his elder brother officially entered the residence, the matter would be properly handled.
But now that he suddenly learned Rong Tan was Prince Xun, what was his brother going to do?
Could he really become Wu Ciyun’s lover?!
All of this was Wu Ciyun’s fault!
A grown man who spent all day tangled in bed, seducing others, and enticing his elder brother—fine.
But now she even wanted to share them both?
It was utterly improper!
“Fine, I’ll wait for you.”
Chu Mingyi gritted his teeth and forced out a smile, vowing to make Wu Ciyun regret it and never dare have such indecent ideas again.
Wen Guanyu seemed to sense something was off. He furrowed his brow faintly, about to say something, but Chu Mingyi beat him to it and pulled him out of the study.
A Ming brought people in to clean up the mess, but Rong Tan was still stubborn, his eyes red as he asked, “Ah Yun, why do you still want to see Wen Guanyu and Chu Mingyi?”
Wu Ciyun didn’t answer him, instead retorting, “You broke so many things, and you still feel aggrieved?”
“It’s just objects. I can find you better ones.”
Wu Ciyun snorted softly and lowered her gaze to hide the displeasure in her eyes.
As the saying goes, “A leopard cannot change its spots.”
No matter how submissive Rong Tan acted before her, he could never change his pampered nature.
To him, anything that could be measured by money wasn’t precious.
Wen Guanyu, Rong Tan, Xiao Boming, even Xiao Wan—they all seemed aloof, forever untouched by worldly dust.
Wu Ciyun had no complaints about others’ ability to be reborn, she was just simply annoyed.
In her eyes, no matter how noble Rong Tan’s status was, he was just a dog endlessly circling her. What right did he have to look down on her here?
“A Ming, bring me a cup of hot tea.”
Wu Ciyun ignored Rong Tan’s endless questioning, calmly seated herself on the Taishi Chair nearby. A Ming promptly responded and soon returned with the tea.
He placed the cup on the table.
Wu Ciyun took it up, sipped lightly to test the temperature, then said calmly, “Everyone else, leave.”
The servants cleaning the study quietly exited at her command.
Rong Tan looked confused and was about to ask why when Wu Ciyun approached him, grabbed his chin, and forced the tea into his mouth.
“Ah Yun…”
Caught off guard and burned, Rong Tan instinctively struggled but feared spilling the tea onto Wu Ciyun, so he endured the pain.
He felt his tongue and lips go numb, even losing all sensation for a moment before the burning pain flared up.
Wu Ciyun looked down coldly at Rong Tan’s lips reddened from the burn.
A Ming had originally thought the tea was for her and had brought water that was warm, not scalding.
Besides, she had tasted it herself—there was no way she would really burn someone’s skin off.
She chuckled softly, speaking deliberately, “Does it hurt?”
Rong Tan frowned, confused by her sudden cruelty. He spoke hoarsely and vaguely, “…It hurts a lot.”
Wu Ciyun raised her hand to touch his cheek, then bent down to kiss him softly.
Her lips were cool—especially at this moment. Rong Tan felt the burned part as if it had come into contact with an ice cube, making his whole body shiver.
He felt caught between extremes of fire and ice, and Wu Ciyun’s kiss instantly became his remedy.
He could only cling to it, silently begging for a little more mercy.
“So hot.”
Wu Ciyun sat on his lap, slightly pulling away.
She curved her brows and asked gently, “Does it still hurt now?”
Rong Tan wanted to shake his head, but fearing she would stop, he mumbled indistinctly from the burn, “Still hurts. Ah Yun, kiss me again…”
“It should hurt.”
Wu Ciyun smiled and pinched his cheek slowly, “I burned you with tea, then turned and kissed you twice. Of course it still hurts.”
“Guess if you smashed my things and then made me pay for them, wouldn’t that hurt too?”
Even the dull-witted Rong Tan realized Wu Ciyun was angry.
He stammered, “Sorry…”
He had been blinded by rage and acted impulsively, only now belatedly realizing his mistake.
Wu Ciyun ignored him.
She stood and tidied her clothes, calling A Ming inside.
“Have the damages all been totaled?”
“Yes, they have.”
A Ming handed her a long list. Rong Tan’s expression became flustered.
He hurried, “Ah Yun, don’t worry. I will pay for everything. Absolutely the same as before…”
Wu Ciyun flipped through the list. Seeing that most items had been bought by Rong Tan himself, she didn’t comment, only said coldly, “You never learn your lesson. This time, pay triple the amount on the list. Next time, it won’t be so easy.”
Rong Tan immediately brightened, thinking this was Wu Ciyun cutting him some slack.
After all, spending money to solve problems was nothing to him, so this punishment was basically no punishment.
He cautiously sidled next to her and whispered in her ear, “Ah Yun, I feel like I’m still…”
Wu Ciyun still had use for Rong Tan.
She liked a slap followed by a sweet reward. She casually replied, “I’ll have the Court Physician come look at you later.”
“Don’t call the Court Physician.”
Rong Tan blushed slightly, voice barely audible, “Please don’t go to find Wen Guanyu and Chu Mingyi anymore. How about trying…”
“What?”
Wu Ciyun looked at Rong Tan with a puzzled expression. Her calm gaze unsettled him. His face was always thin-skinned; seeing she hadn’t understood him, his ears flushed red.
Wu Ciyun truly didn’t get what he meant.
She picked up the pages and began revising the numbers—one hundred taels became two hundred, two hundred became four hundred, three hundred became five hundred, effectively doubling the prices.
System: [……]
What a merchant who raises prices on the spot.
Wu Ciyun handed the revised list to A Ming, instructing, “Make two copies of this list and send one each to Wen Guanyu and Chu Mingyi. Have them pay accordingly.”
She had had so many things smashed in her residence unexpectedly, so she might as well squeeze out some profit to break even, otherwise it would be a huge loss.
Rong Tan’s eyes lit up when he heard Wu Ciyun wouldn’t go herself.
A Ming, unaware of what he was so happy about, quietly cursed in his heart as he took the list and went out to find the other two suckers.
Chu Mingyi felt he had been shocked too much today.
On the way, he bombarded Wen Guanyu with questions.
Wen Guanyu was annoyed by the constant interrogations and replied evasively, “No comment,” but Chu Mingyi refused to give up and even followed him back to his room.
“You won’t tell me about the other stuff, but just one last thing: Are you really schoolmates with Wu Ciyun? You know she used to be called He Yu?”
“He Yu?”
Wen Guanyu paused in his steps, glanced at Chu Mingyi with a half-smile, and asked, “Did Wu Ciyun tell you that?”
Chu Mingyi crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe, saying nothing—implicitly confirming Wen Guanyu’s statement.
“He Yu…”
Wen Guanyu repeated the name coldly, sneering, “No wonder they couldn’t find him at first—he had secretly changed his name again.”
Using various fake identities in rotation, no wonder when they sent people to search, they found no trace.
Later, when “Wu Ciyun” suddenly rose to fame, he saw the portrait and understood the truth.
He looked thoughtfully at Chu Mingyi and calmly said, “There’s no need for you to ask me about Wu Ciyun. I have no relationship of the love of Longyang. I was just a victim of her schemes back then and remain unwilling to accept it.”
“…You two have shared the same bed and yet say there’s nothing going on?”
Chu Mingyi frowned and said flatly, “People without the love of Longyang generally don’t share beds with their enemies.”
“We are schoolmates. Can schoolmates not share beds?”
Wen Guanyu was utterly indifferent, looking at Chu Mingyi as if he were a pristine gentleman above the world, disdainfully remarking, “You’re filthy. A filthy person sees filth everywhere.”
Chu Mingyi:
His brother was right. When speechless, people do indeed laugh.
Angry to the point of laughter, Chu Mingyi sneered, “Fine. Then tonight I’ll share a bed with Wu Ciyun and see if you’re really as innocent as you claim.”
“Why would you share a bed? You’re not even schoolmates.”
Wen Guanyu glanced at him disdainfully, “You said Chu Zhilin admires Wu Ciyun, competing with his own biological brother. You truly are despicable.”
Chu Mingyi:
He was wrong.
Very wrong.
He shouldn’t have stopped Rong Tan just now; he should have let Rong Tan cut down that scoundrel Wen Guanyu outright!
The atmosphere between them grew tense.
A hesitant servant finally spoke, “Grand Tutor, the servants from the Duke Protector of the State’s residence are requesting an audience.”
Wen Guanyu frowned coldly. “Let them in.”
The servant nodded hurriedly, leading in A Ming, who had been waiting for some time.
A Ming respectfully bowed to the two men, smiling brightly.
“Our Duke Protector is unwell tonight and cannot come in person, so I have been sent to deliver these to Grand Tutor Wen and General Chu.”
He handed each a copy of the list.
Having just been verbally jabbed by Wen Guanyu, Chu Mingyi didn’t open the suspicious letter that looked like a love note but said coldly, “Tell your master I will give this to my elder brother.”
“That… isn’t proper.”
A Ming looked troubled and forced a smile.
“Wouldn’t you rather take a look first?”
Chu Mingyi sneered, “What’s there to see? Filthy things—I’m afraid they’ll dirty my eyes.”
It was obvious the contents were mostly lascivious words.
Wu Ciyun’s lack of propriety was her own business; he was not that kind of man.
A Ming nodded and reminded, “That’s fine, but our master said the interest is calculated daily.”