Golden Swallow Gate's Gesture of Goodwill

"Lady Zhao, it looks like you've been doing well..."

A smile also appeared on Li Yan's face, and he nodded slightly.

Naturally, meeting an old friend put them in good spirits.

Although there had been plenty of romantic rumors about the two of them in Pingkang Ward, Chang'an, they both knew that this joy contained not the slightest trace of romantic feeling.

Romantic feelings? That was ridiculous.

One of them had lived two lifetimes, seen too much of how people's hearts changed, and grown used to people scattering when profit ran out. From the bottom of his heart, he would never—and could never—set his mind on matters between men and women.

The other had been tossed about since childhood, fallen into the pleasure quarters, and trusted that sort of thing even less.

If true love were really that easy, why would so many people sing its praises?

What existed between the two of them was, instead, more a tacit understanding.

In Zhao Wan Fang, Li Yan saw his former self: lonely and helpless from childhood, endlessly proclaiming that he would have revenge, when all that did was give him the drive to stay alive and keep moving forward.

Zhao Wan Fang, meanwhile, envied that Li Yan could control his own fate.

That tone of treating her as an equal was also one of the few rays of light in her dark life.

Thus, they could only be considered good friends.

For Li Yan to entrust his life to her as he did to Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan was simply impossible.

However, to outsiders, the tone between them seemed to mean something else entirely.

Sha LiFei exchanged meaningful looks with Long Yan'er, indicating that this was Li Yan's old flame.

The scholar who had been threatening Kong Shangzhao also