Chapter 42: Reason Cannot Overcome Emotion

  Night is quiet, iron cage is cold.

  Li Qi was the third batch of people to arrive in front of the stone house, and he was the only one who understood why the scene suddenly became solemn. After being pushed away by Hua Cui during the day, he hurried back to the Hanguan to report to Li Peinan, intentionally concealing Hua Cui's fault that caused him to fall behind Min An, saying that the young master and the female relatives of the family were making private clothes, and it was inconvenient for him to follow them in, so he withdrew and returned first.

  "What's with the woman?" Li Peinan asked.

  Lü Qún said with a serious expression: "There is a girl named 'Cuì Huā' who is eloquent and seems to be on intimate terms with the young master." He had personally witnessed Mǐn ān's and Huā Cuì's affectionate behavior, but when it came to the reputation of the girl's family, he still spoke more cautiously, using their unclear relationship as a cover.

  Li Peinan, through the urgently recalled files, had already figured out who was around Min An when he was in Huangshi County, based on what Li Fei had previously revealed.

  "It's Hua Cui." Li Peinan replied calmly, "The young lady from the Biaoju agency, who has been drifting in the art world for many years, has now quit her job as a kitchen maid and rushed to Min'an's side to take care of him."

  Li Qun thought to herself that this girl was loyal and had a good character, it seemed that her previous decision not to tell the young master about her mistake was correct.

  Li Peinan apparently knew Lei Qun's background and suddenly said: "You also returned early because of her?"

  Li Qun had no choice but to recount the whole story, including Hua Cui's actions of holding onto Min An without avoiding suspicion, in order to prove that it wasn't his fault, but rather the reason why it was inconvenient to continue pursuing.

  Li Peinan's face sank: "With people who are used to being casual around him, it's no wonder he grew up with a sloppy temperament and no discipline."

  Li Qun suddenly realized that this was referring to Xiao Xiang Gong, and the young master's temper of peeling people when they didn't meet his expectations wasn't much different from before. He immediately shut his mouth and stood still without saying a word. As for why the young master was being so strict with Xiao Xiang Gong, even exceeding the usual limits of a personal attendant, he understood it as the "regret of not becoming a worthy vessel" thoughts of his lord, and wouldn't think of anything else.

  It's just that Lijun remembered clearly, previously the young master had said that only if Xiao Xianggong completes the task of investigating the corruption case in Chu State can he be promoted, so being a bit strict with him is also reasonable.

  Li Peinan sat silently for a moment, thinking about how to deal with Min An and how to prevent others in the mansion from also becoming unmanageable. He needed strict discipline, but it seemed that this rule would have to be bent when it came to Min An. His expression was cold and stern, and he didn't bother to reprimand Lü Qun for not doing his job properly. Lü Qun, who had been waiting at the side, asked, "Young Master, do you still want me to go fetch Young Master?"

  "Let him go and let him live a happy life once." Li Peinan replied after a long time.

  Ligun followed the usual practice, focusing on important matters in personnel deployment, and scattered the guards in the mansion to the outposts in the suburbs to receive messages from all over.

  The whole afternoon, Li Peinan handled the messages as usual and made a new deployment for the fluctuating situation in Western Xinjiang. His decision-making, scheduling, and instructions were as swift and decisive as ever, without any idle talk. It wasn't until dusk when dark clouds gathered outside and a gloomy rain seeped into the study through the window that Li Peinan suddenly pushed away the map of the imperial palace in front of him and asked: "Hasn't he returned yet?"

  Lethargic and waiting for orders, Lei Qun was stunned for a moment, unable to immediately recall who "he" was. Just as the silence fell, Li Peinan walked to the side of the counter, lit an incense stick, turned around and said to Lei Qun: "Bring him back, lest something happens."

  Li Qun nodded and ran downstairs, ordering the remaining guards in the mansion to set out quickly and bring Min An back to the manor. While mobilizing his men, he still couldn't guess what Min An would do, but since it was an order from the young master, it must be correct.

  Li returned to the study and saw Li Peinan standing with his back to the window, gazing out at the rain. He comforted him with a couple of words: "Perhaps this rain has delayed Young Master Xiao; he may have wanted to return early."

  Li Peinan's calm voice came: "He died clinging to it and didn't come back, because he hasn't found Bi Si yet." His brain turned quickly, and he immediately thought that Min An, even if he knew that Leiyu would get sick on rainy days, still had to stay outside to find Bi Si. That's why he was afraid of not being able to bear his punishment and didn't dare to come back and hand it over easily.

  Li Peinan's heart sank, and he stood still for a moment, gazing out at the rain-soaked distance. A wave of damp cold air rushed in, and two or three water droplets splashed onto his collar, but he didn't think to close the window, remaining motionless. Behind him, Li Qun couldn't fathom his thoughts, continuing to report the news he had just received: "The king will personally come to Chu State to oversee the prince's governance."

  Li Peinan has never been restrained by anyone, not even his father's control is only a formality. Therefore, he replied as usual: "Be careful to enter the prince's mansion and serve, major military and civilian affairs will be handled by me, and other messages are not allowed to go through the emperor's hands."

  Ligou nodded and replied: "Yes." He hesitated for a moment, but did not leave.

  Li Peinan asked: "Is there anything else?"

  Li Qun bowed his head and replied, "Every time you ask me to open and read letters on your behalf, this time I accidentally took a few more glances and also saw the private words that Wang Ye had entrusted in secret. Please forgive me, young master."

  "Get straight to the point."

  Ligong said in a low voice: "The young master rejected the several marriage proposals set by the king, which made the king very angry. The king ordered that the young master must choose a noble lady to be his wife at this Luju Conference, and her family background cannot be lower than Xiaoxue's."

  Li Peinan has been fighting in the Western Frontier for many years and has passed the age of marriage, but he hasn't put this matter on his mind. No matter how much his father urged him, he only sent back victory reports and never showed up in person. Li Qun and other subordinates participated in some family affairs of the Wangfu and the Crown Prince's mansion with their identities, knowing more or less about the king's intentions. The "not lower than" mentioned in the letter actually meant forcing his son to marry Xiaoxue from the imperial family of Qi Lian as his wife, regardless of whether the second prince was willing or not.

  The Second Master has been taking care of Xiaoxue for many years, treating her like a precious pearl and trying his best to prevent her from suffering the same fate as Empress Qi. As a political pawn, the Empress was married into the palace but did not receive the favor of the previous emperor, living a simple life for many years. After the previous emperor's death, she had to take on the heavy responsibility of supporting the young emperor and restoring the imperial court, caught between the forces of King Chu Nan and her own family's influence, often being criticized by both sides. She did not have the power to resist, yet had to coordinate the two factions, making it imaginable how difficult her life was in the palace. The Second Master insisted on holding Xiaoxue's hand tightly because he knew she was weak and unable to navigate the complexities of royal power struggles, so he refused to let her fall into the treacherous waters of the palace.

  Whether to marry into the Li family as a concubine, of course, is not up to Fei Yi to decide. Fei Yi naturally knows this too, but he has enough qualifications to block - without his care, Xiao Xue would have long been tormented to death by her headaches and fever. As soon as he hears any news that is unfavorable to Xiao Xue, Fei Yi will necessarily rush back to her side to guard her, even if it means sending her out of the house to get married, he must first take charge.

  Li Peinan didn't have the heart to argue with Fei Yi over this trivial matter, what he desperately wanted to shake off was the pressure from his father's side.

  So when Li Peinan faced the severe news, he had already thought of a response: "It turns out that what my father said 'to supervise and take responsibility for government affairs' was this matter, which has cost him a lot of effort."

  Li Peinan didn't speak for a long time, and then coldly replied, "I have my own measure."

  What Li Peinan meant by "having one's own measure" was to restrain his own thoughts and not let them drift aimlessly, and he had never even thought about how to deal with Min An. He knew the king's high hopes for him, and he also knew what kind of consort he should marry; if he wanted to enter the palace, he had to abandon other ideas and absolutely could not consider those women from low-born families.

  Ligong lit incense in the study and quietly retreated.

  Li Peinan relaxed his mind in the faintly fragrant distance, carefully considering for a long time, and finally decided to send Min An to the Western Frontier battlefield according to his previous idea, make some achievements, and then bring him back to the capital. If he didn't die, he would keep him as an inner minister; if something went wrong, he would have to exile him to the Western Frontier.

  Now that the status of the assistant minister has been established, one's mentality should be adjusted accordingly.

  Li Peinan restrained himself like this. Late at night, he went to sleep as usual after reading the prescription for flowers and grass, but Li Qun didn't receive his entrustment and came to knock on the door, reporting that Xiao Xianggong had returned with a monkey.

  Li Peinan recalled that Min An had said he would send over some "heart's meat" to amuse himself, and it was probably this monkey. Since the monkey has been sent over, it can also be inferred that he really couldn't find Bisu, and wanted to use the "heart's meat" to gain a few points of favor and avoid his due punishment.

  "Kneel for a night." Li Peinan in the room gave an order to Lai Qun waiting outside, and his mind that had been calm for half a day sank.

  Afterwards, Li Qun hastily ran upstairs: "Young master should go and take a look, the little young master has entered the leopard enclosure by himself, looking like he's lost his mind."

  Li Peinan naturally wouldn't have believed that Min Xiaoxiang, who was lazy and often sneaked out to have fun, would do something so foolish, but he still got up and hastily made his way to the stone house, thinking that only after seeing it for himself could he sleep soundly.

  It wasn't until he rushed to the stone house that he knew what Min An was thinking and also knew that his peaceful sleep was gone.

  He walked into the stone balustrade with a chill all over his body.

  Min An raised his head and met Li Peinan's pair of bright black eyes, and his heart was first intimidated. He hugged his knees and moved to the corner of the iron cage, hiding behind the stone railing. Afterwards, he thought that he couldn't lose his dignity in front of the young master, so he averted his eyes and didn't look at Li Peinan again.

  Li Peinan noticed Min An's shoulders shuddering and involuntarily stopped in his tracks, asking in a low voice: "Where did you go?"

  A large piece of turf was laid in the stone enclosure, outside which were sand and pebbles, a half-grown elm tree, and a ditch that had been dug out to form a moat, where hides and fragrant wood were piled up. Apart from the damp smell emanating from the stone house, the whole courtyard smelled of a mixture of leather, grass, and wood, all heaped together in front of Min An under the clear night sky.

  Min An, taking advantage of the movement of hugging his knees, secretly lowered his head to sniff, and suddenly realized that he had grass clippings, dust, sweat, and a faint scent of rouge on him. If it weren't for the darkness, the fragrance marks on his sleeves and neck would surely have fallen into the eyes of the young master. The young master said that if he found out that Min An had taken one more step in the flower street, he would break both of Min An's legs.

  "Fabric store, Long Street Liangguo shop, the Jade Stone Building in the west, perfume shop, wine and tea houses, tile house."

  Li Peinan quietly took two steps closer while Min An was speaking, and with a wave of his sleeve, he fanned the air above Min An's head. He immediately distinguished the various scents in the night air. Without changing his expression, he asked: "Is that all?"

  Min An dodged again and curled himself into an even smaller ball, stubbornly saying: "Nothing."

  "Are these all places Bis goes to often?"

  "Yes."

  Does Bisi like fragrant lip balm?

  Min An suddenly became aware that he didn't dare to look at Li Peinan, and couldn't even bear the icy tone in his voice. So he raised his head and shouted: "What if I don't like it? At worst, I'll just sleep in the cage again tomorrow night!" He grasped the iron bars of the cage and shook them violently with his hands, rattling out some noise.

  Li Peinan didn't say anything, lowering his head to look at Min An. Min An had already made up his mind: "I've fallen to this point, what more does the young master want? Release a leopard to bite me? Come on, I'll fight it to the death!" After speaking, he shook the railing again.

  In the quiet night, the leopard was awakened as expected. It slowly stretched out its head, flapping its two rows of yellow whiskers, and looked at Min'an. Min'an immediately changed his posture and slipped into the deepest corner, opening his round eyes wide, not even breathing.

  Li Peinan couldn't help but glance at the corner of his mouth, raised his hand and pointed, indicating that Bao Nu would lock the leopard into the stone house, thus eliminating Min An's fear.

  Min Anlong let out a sigh, spread his sleeves and sat down, forgetting to wipe away the sweat beads on his forehead. Li Peinan looked at his pretending-to-be-strong-but-actually-weak appearance and said: "Rather than correct one mistake, I'd rather be punished severely for offending you time and again. All these hardships are brought upon yourself."

  Min An secretly curled her lip, thinking to herself: My only fault is that I recognized you as my master, so every time I didn't get good fruit to eat. If there's another chance, I'll... never mind, for now he's the only one who can help me climb the ladder of success, so I'll just put up with his temper.

  Thinking of this, Min An raised his hand and gave Li Peinan a salute: "The night is deep and the dew is cold, sir, please return."

  Li Peinan sat down on the wooden chair that Lai Qun had brought over, facing Min An's face. He picked up a piece of fragrant wood and tapped it against the iron cage: "Are you cold?"

  Min An replied irritably: "I've just been frightened out of a cold sweat."

  "Isn't it coming out?"

  Min An only thought that the price of coming out would be to suffer an even more bizarre and severe punishment, after all, the young master did not go to rest at night, accompanying this insignificant subordinate in idle chatter was already a strange thing. Therefore, he honestly replied: "No need, I really made a mistake, what reason is there to receive half the punishment."

  Li Peinan said lightly: "Alright."

  Min An asked again, but Li Peinan didn't leave. He chatted with him and felt strange, so he could only cover his face with his sleeve and curl up to sleep. Unexpectedly, the young master suddenly knocked on the iron cage with a fragrant wood block, startling him awake, and threw over a sentence: "No need to sleep in the cage tomorrow night."

  "Let me finish tonight's sleep first, Young Master!"

  The silence outside the cage lasted for half a day, and Min Anxin suddenly raised his head to catch a glimpse of Li Peinan's fleeting smile at the corner of his mouth. He muttered: "Looking at me in distress, he is still so happy, it seems that he is not kind-hearted, could it be that he came on purpose? What do I have that is worthy of the young master's entertainment?"

  Li Peinan said calmly: "You are very important, apart from me, no one else dares to kill you."

  Thank you very much, Emperor Sang! Time flies like a grenade (*^__^*)

  Thank you, Jiuzi Province, Ena, Xiaoxianggua, 987, Rain After Sunshine, Chris7blue, Beauty Like Painting, Hengzi, Pig Ear's Landmine (*^__^*)

  Tomorrow's update will still be after 9 o'clock (*^__^*)