Li Mingyi approached Zhao Rong and Gu Yiwu just to send them out of the palace on behalf of the imperial sister-in-law.
Zhao Rong and Gu Yiwu naturally agreed.
Following Li Mingyi away from the veranda, Zhao Rong, who was walking last, quietly looked back at the small Emperor being escorted away.
In this life, his first hand-holding was indeed with Qing Jun, but in his previous life, there were still regrets left in his heart.
On the road to Du You, he had once shared these regrets with Su Xiaoxiao.
The regret of having never taken the hand of the girl who squatted down and looked up at him...
Whether it was because of insecurity, because he couldn’t make promises at the time, or because he couldn’t bear the weight.
"You... are far better than me..."
The young Confucian Scholar turned back, rubbed his face, and left.
Soon after, the three of them encountered Li Bai waiting outside Weiyang Palace’s main hall, who was trying to coax a palace maid into giving him wine and bragging, with his back turned to them.
"Little girl, see this sword?" Li Bai asked seriously.
He nodded, "With one strike, I can split the entire Wangque Continent."
"Is Wangque Continent someone’s name, or is it a place?" the palace maid asked curiously.
He sighed with emotion, shifting his posture with the sword, "Ah, you little girl, your hair is long but your knowledge is short."
"Don’t you also have long hair?"
"...... Well then, let me put it another way. With one sword strike, I can split your Great Li."
Great Li: Are you being polite?
Zhao Rong and the others had just approached when they overheard this conversation, which made someone feel extremely ashamed.
Zhao Rong, feeling embarrassed, faced the puzzled look from Gu Yiwu and Li Mingyi, and thought to himself, Uncle Bai, have you been using this line to trick me into buying you drinks since I was young, and you’re still at it? You think one trick is enough to fool everyone?
With an apologetic expression, Zhao Rong told the two men beside him to wait for a moment, and then went forward.
Li Bai, hugging his sword and crouching down, was making a face like he was tempting a little loli with a goldfish: "Impressive, right? Ah, consider it my loss; now I’m giving you a chance to touch it, and you just need to fetch me another jug of wine, how about that?"
Zhao Rong, speechless, interrupted in a low voice, "Uncle, can we stop embarrassing ourselves and go back?"
Li Bai glanced sideways, "Oh, you’re back."
He extended his hand towards Zhao Rong, "Where’s the conscience, no, where’s the wine?"
Zhao Rong ignored him at first, instead apologizing to the palace maid. She nodded, but seeing the Python Robe male not far behind Zhao Rong, the palace maid quickly ran off.
Only then did Zhao Rong say: "The conscience is... no, the wine is here for you; I’ll give it to you when we get back, now let’s go."
Li Bai nodded in relief, "You’re still somewhat ’honest’, kid."
Behind, Li Mingyi took a look at the swordsman.
Afterward, Zhao Rong, along with Li Bai and Gu Yiwu, followed Li Mingyi away.
The four men remained silent throughout the journey, turning left and right, and after half an hour, they finally left the palace.
Zhao Rong and the others parted ways with Li Mingyi at the imposing palace gate.
On the road back to the residence.
Zhao Rong extracted the court’s fine wine from the Sumeru Object and handed it to Li Bai, who happily accepted it.
Zhao Rong clapped his hands and couldn’t help but turn to Gu Yiwu and say, "How come it feels like we’re leaving the palace so slowly? It’s much slower than when we entered.
Gu Yiwu: "Didn’t you notice that Li Mingyi walks with such precision?"
Zhao Rong recalled and nodded.
"I’ve asked around about this Li Mingyi. Rumor has it that every time he enters the palace, whether for court assembly or anything else, he follows a fixed route, always walking along the same path, even his strides and rhythm remain consistent. For more than a decade, he hasn’t deviated.
"It’s said that people in the palace have meticulously observed Li Mingyi’s walking. He never takes his eyes off the path, and each step he takes lands exactly where his previous steps did. As long as he doesn’t change his shoes, it’s precise to the last fraction. Even the time he spends walking in the palace every day when attending court remains the same."
Zhao Rong couldn’t help but look back at the direction the Python Robe man had left.
Moments later, he smiled broadly, "Interesting."
Gu Yiwu also agreed, shaking his head, "I thought it was an exaggeration before, but it turns out to be true. This man’s character and will are evident."
The two discussed for a while before arriving at their resting residence.
Zhao Rong first returned to the courtyard he had chosen to inhabit during the day, where Qian’er had been waiting a long time. With Zhao Rong absent, she sat on the doorstep dozing off, so bored she could bubble snot.
Seeing Rong’er brother and Uncle Bai finally return, Qian’er perked up and greeted them.
Zhao Rong looked at the clean and tidy courtyard house.
There were three rooms in the yard; the main room was shared by Zhao Rong and Qian’er, Uncle Bai lived in the eastern wing, and the remaining western wing was given by Qian’er to Su Qingdai to live in.
At that moment, he didn’t see the figure of a certain woman in black.
"Right, where’s Fairy Su?"
Qian’er, with her hands behind her back, was circling around Zhao Rong, sneakily sniffing the scent on him as if looking for traces of rouge, and nodding with satisfaction when she didn’t notice anything.
Hearing the question, the cheerful girl hummed. "Hmm, who knows? In the evening, not long after you left, she ran off somewhere."
Her eyes, lively as black pearls, darted left and right, and she giggled, "Maybe she escaped. Don’t worry, Rong’er brother, let’s not bother with her and rest for the night. If we catch Su Fairy too quickly, it’s no fun."
She waved her little hand.
Watching the excited little face of Qian’er, Zhao Rong’s lips twitched, but he didn’t mind.