Volume Two, Chapter Twenty-Nine

Damn it, she was a woman?! He had fought with a woman for so long, and had even wanted to measure himself against her before the emperor...

Worse, why had he been staring at her like a lovesick fool...

Worst of all, how dare she show him that sickeningly sweet, blushing face!

The rain kept pattering down.

Several attendants from the Long Residence splashed out of the shadows and were about to kneel and report to their second young master.

"Go away. All of you, stay at least ten paces back."

The attendants exchanged glances, obeyed, and retreated ten paces before kneeling to await orders.

They watched their second young master slowly take off his outer robe and walk toward a shadow beneath the eaves, as though draping it over someone. Then he stepped back through the rain, one pace at a time. Only when he stood before them did he glance back at the pillar. Satisfied that they could not see who stood beneath it, he asked, "Have you found Liu Rongrong?"

"Yes! She's in Pan Yong's room."

"The emperor said to let Miss Liu suffer a little first, correct?" Rain swept across his lashes, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. But people belonging to Lord Wei seem to have appeared near the Prime Minister's Residence too..."

"...Go keep watch there. I'll follow shortly."

"And Lord Zhu..."

"I'll protect her. None of you need concern yourselves with her."

"Yes."

Once she was sure the attendants had gone, a timid figure emerged from the shadows, head lowered in embarrassment. The man's robe draped over her was so long it trailed along the ground.

"What... are you going to do?" Clutching the robe Longyang had placed around her, Zhu Bafu asked faintly, "Are you going to report me?"

Longyang stood in