A Scheme

"Your Prince?"

Lin Yunwan sized up Qi Lingheng.

From the moment he went up to the attic, he acted very strangely. Although his expression didn't change, she felt that he was different from usual today.

"I'm fine. What do you want to say? Go ahead."

Qi Lingheng stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the scholars in the Ji Mountain Society, his expression much calmer.

Lin Yunwan pressed down on the booklet.

Qi Lingheng then turned to her and asked, "Why did you stop talking?"

Lin Yunwan said calmly, "I never intended to say anything to you in the first place."

She simply took out the booklet and told the Prince that she was fully prepared and that he shouldn't worry.

Instead of telling him which men she had her eye on.

Qi Lingheng chuckled, "Can't I tell you?"

Lin Yunwan lowered her head slightly and said, "... No."

Why is that?

Lin Yunwan looked up and saw that Qi Lingheng was asking a very serious question.

Did he really not know?

She could tell him what she was doing, but she didn't want to tell him anything too private!

"Your Prince, what do you think is the reason?"

Lin Yunwan gripped the booklet tightly.

Qi Lingheng smiled slightly and shook his head.

Lin Yunwan was utterly... helpless.

She really had no idea what the Prince was thinking.

Doesn't he know that there's a strict separation between men and women? They don't even talk about that anymore; have they stopped respecting the distinction between men and women altogether?

"Miss Lin, they've begun."

Lin Yunwan looked over upon hearing the sound and saw that the scholars of the Ji Mountain Society had already prepared their essays, taking turns reading them aloud. All of this had been prepared in advance.

They were quite far away, and they could hear some sentences, but they couldn't make out the more complex ones.

"On the debate of 'methods of learning'."

Qi Lingheng sharp ears and noticed it.

Lin Yunwan also guessed the topic of their debate, saying, "This is a topic debated by the followers of the School of Mind and the School of School of Principle at the Goose Lake Conference."

"Um."

Qi Lingheng nodded slightly, quite eager to hear what conclusion the scholars of the Ji Mountain Society would reach in their debate.

Seeing that Lin Yunwan wasn't paying attention, he asked in a low voice, "Weren't you going to choose people from among them? Why aren't you looking anymore?"

Lin Yunwan nodded and continued looking into the courtyard.

But her heart wasn't with them.

... Your Prince is acting very strangely today.

Shouldn't they be watching the scholars of the Ji Mountain Society together from the attic?

But she really needed to take a good look at the people below; she couldn't just come to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion whenever she wanted.

Which one have you set your sights on?

Qi Lingheng asked Lin Yunwan.

Lin Yunwan slowly turned her head and said, "... Still watching."

Although I couldn't quite hear what they were saying below, their behavior, language, and expressions were crystal clear.

She recognized three of them based on the simple portraits and personality descriptions.

Qi Lingheng slowly said, "Tell me, which ones did you choose?"

"...?"

Lin Yunwan glanced at Qi Lingheng again, then asked, "Is Your Prince here to offer me some advice?"

Qi Lingheng looked at her with an inscrutable expression.

Does that seem to be his intention?

Let it be a misunderstanding.

Qi Lingheng smiled slightly and said, "Why not?"

Lin Yunwan thought to herself, "It's not impossible."

Since the Prince has come to Jiangqian to assume his fiefdom, he must know Jiangqian better than she does. Prince might even know some secrets of a powerful clan that neither she nor Dong Shuangshuang know.

"Those three."

Lin Yunwan told her the locations of the three people, and the one she valued most, Yan Jingzong.

"Yan Jingzong?"

Qi Lingheng mentioned this person specifically because Lin Yunwan's tone changed when she talked about him, as if she really liked him.

Lin Yunwan misunderstood, and asked, "Prince heard of this person?"

Qi Lingheng shook his head and said, "No."

Lin Yunwan frowned and asked, "Then why...?" only care about Yan Jingzong?

Qi Lingheng glanced at her and said, "Think about his name again."

Lin Yunwan didn't expect anything strange.

Qi Lingheng couldn't help but remind her, "There was a notorious traitor in the previous dynasty, Xu Jingzong — Yan Jingzong. What do you think?"

Lin Yunwan couldn't help but chuckle, "It's just a case of the same name, even the surnames are different. Perhaps it's because the characters on the Clan Genealogy can't be changed, so they had no choice but to use the same one."

Qi Lingheng remained silent.

Lin Yunwan's heart sank slightly. In fact, upon careful consideration, the Prince's words were not without reason.

There were many taboos in the Imperial Court, such as avoiding using the emperor's name.

Yan Jingzong was, after all, the Legitimate Son. How could the Yan family have given him such a name? Weren't they afraid it would hinder his future career in government?

"You're just going to look at them like this and then choose the one you like?"

Qi Lingheng asked.

"Of course not."

Lin Yunwan wouldn't do something so foolish as to choose a husband based on just one glance from afar; that would be far too hasty. What's the difference between that and an arranged marriage?

Having already suffered the consequences of arranged marriages, we cannot afford to repeat them.

"I have a little trick that can roughly determine the character of several people."

Qi Lingheng listened without saying a word.

She didn't know them at all, and couldn't even go down to listen to their debate clearly, so how could she determine their character?

"What plan? May I hear it?"

Lin Yunwan smiled and said, "Of course. You said yourself that the owner of this Garden is your maternal uncle, so I need to ask you for a favor."

Without the Prince coming, it would be quite troublesome for her to take action.

Qi Lingheng is truly... speechless.

"Tell me, what do you want me to help you with?"

Lin Yunwan said, "Please bring me paper and pen. I will write an essay and secretly send it to the scholars, then find someone to read it aloud in public."

This is not difficult.

Qi Lingheng waved his sleeve at A Fu: "Go and fetch it."

"Yes."

A Fu brought over paper and pen, and invited Lin Yunwan over. "Miss, please."

Lin Yunwan picked up her pen and wrote an article. It was not a strict eight-legged essay, but it did start by addressing the topic of "methods of learning" and imitated the Pavilion Style of scholars. When it was time to blend in with the scholars' articles, no one would recognize it.

After the ink had dried, she was about to hand the article to A Fu, saying, "I'd like to trouble you, Father-in-law, to write this for me..."

Aren't you going to let me see it first?

Qi Lingheng walked over.

She wrote it right in front of him, so he should be the first person to read her article.

Lin Yunwan turned around, and the Prince's expression was serious; he genuinely wanted to see what she had written.

"Your Prince, please take a look."

She delivered the article to him.

Qi Lingheng took the article, intending to read it carefully, but when she saw the first line, her opening sentence, she already wanted to laugh.

"Miss Lin, it seems I don't know you well enough."

Lin Yunwan was stunned for a moment.

Is Your Prince teasing her?

She replied nonchalantly, "My relationship with the Prince has always been one of gentlemanly conduct; you certainly don't know... I also have a petty side."

Qi Lingheng smiled without saying a word, and instructed A Fu, "Send it to them and have someone read it aloud in public."

"Yes."

This matter is easy to accomplish. Among the scholars of the Ji Mountain Society, there are some who cannot speak either the Jiangqian dialect or the official language, and cannot read their own articles clearly. So they can only have their pageboys or other people read them for them.

With so many people and so many eyes, this article is easy to blend in.

"Your Prince, what do you think of the other two people I mentioned?"

Sending the article would take time, and waiting was pointless, Lin Yunwan took the initiative to talk to Qi Lingheng.

Qi Lingheng said indifferently, "Not very good."

Lin Yunwan was puzzled; it seemed the Prince was annoyed with everyone today.

I was going to ask him for his insights, but I decided against it.

She feared that the person she set her sights on would be either a treacherous minister or a national traitor.