The corner of Yan Luo’s mouth twitched and her little head drooped. She gave up on trying to figure out what was going through that man’s mind.
“Cousin was brought in by Queen Mother anyway, so let her arrange things as she pleases.”
Wasn’t that basically just sending him straight into the inner palace?
Jun Yulin narrowed his eyes slightly, his lips pressing into a thin line.
He responded with a low “mm.”
After dinner, Jun Yulin didn’t linger. He left early.
For the next while, Jun Yulin seemed to return to his usual self, with his blackening value fluctuating daily, eventually stabilizing around 75. Yan Luo still couldn’t figure out what on earth this man was thinking.
They say a woman’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. But why was this Regent’s—a man’s—heart, even harder to fish out than that needle?
According to Little Pink, though, even during her naps and late at night, he would still visit frequently. She was just so exhausted every day that she fell sound asleep and never noticed a thing.
Yawning again as she reviewed the dry and tedious memorials, Yan Luo found herself wondering.
That man wasn’t exactly idle either. Yet he’d show up at her place in the middle of the night, wasn’t he tired?
Nearly a month passed, and the concubine selection ceremony still showed no signs of moving forward under Jun Yulin’s hand. Meanwhile, An Bai and Lu Xunche had already returned.
They returned triumphant.
The recent incident had been quite serious. A neighboring country had incited local bandits, who were unsettled due to the Great Yan dynasty’s policies, and made deals with them. Had things been delayed any longer, the area occupied by the bandits would have expanded, threatening the surrounding civilians and the fragile stability the the Great Yan dynasty had finally achieved.
The past month had been full of peril.
Prime Minister An Bai lured the enemy in with his own body to gather intelligence, nearly getting himself into trouble. He was saved by a woman who had been abducted by the bandits, and he brought her back to the military camp.
However, Deputy General Lu Xunche sensed something was off. At the critical moment, he acted decisively and killed the woman, then found letters among her belongings that hadn’t yet been sent. In them were all the plans for their upcoming military operations.
Thanks to that, the battle was resolved quickly.
Previously considered by the soldiers as a playboy with a bit of wit at best, Lu Xunche suddenly earned real respect within the army.
That morning, Yan Luo had just received word of their return, and by the afternoon, she was already meeting Young Master Lu, who was now known for his bravery and unparalleled courage, in her study.
He was a bit tanned, with a hair ornament made of warm jade holding his hair in place. His lips carried a mischievous smile—dangerous and seductive—as he lounged lazily in a chair. When Yan Luo entered, he raised his hand to greet her.
“Yo~ little cutie.”
At that nickname, the corner of Yan Luo’s mouth twitched slightly. She glanced around to make sure no one else was in the room before looking back at this senior who never played by the rules.
“Seeing how good your mood is, I assume the mission went well?”
“More or less. The trust level’s high enough. That idiot An Bai can just stay wherever he likes now. Once you settle things here in Great Yan, I can finally leave.” It seemed the mission had gone surprisingly smoothly, as Lu Xunche was in an uncharacteristically good mood.
Lounging in the chair, he seemed to have a sweet tooth. The snacks beside him, which Yan Luo had barely touched, were quickly vanishing into his mouth one by one.
He didn’t forget to complain to Yan Luo about how dumb An Bai was.
In the original plot, it was exactly because An Bai brought the girl who had once saved him back to the military camp that trouble started. An Bai never imagined that she was actually a high-level secret agent from the neighboring country.