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"You don't understand Young Master Ba's personal charm at all. I asked him before to help me write a love letter to send to my childhood sweetheart, and the result was... oh, dear... he went right over to her family the very next day to propose marriage, hey."

"Your man is way too easy to sway, isn't he?"

"No way, it was Young Master Ba who taught me to casually toss the letter aside and ideally have it accidentally seen by his Father and Mother. It's all Young Master Ba's fault for writing me out to be so talented yet modest, so capable of assisting a husband and educating children, and so humble in her words, so..."

"...He taught you to scheme against your future husband? What a sly Mother's boy."

"I don't think he's that miraculous anyway, doesn't he just know a few petty tricks? What respectable young master would act as carefree as him, dangling a folding fan and running madly and crazily through the marketplace? A so-called man should still be like Prime Minister Li's eldest son, well-mannered and poised, imposing and magnificent, cold and silent. I still don't dare look into his eyes today."

"Prime Minister Li's young master? Dongxu Academy's Young Master Chenjing? The one you guys voted number one on the list of most wanted handsome men last time? He's super hard to approach, and besides, I heard people from their academy say he seems to have no interest in romance between men and women."

"No interest in women? Then what about men? Could it be that men and women—no, men and men can also do that kind of thing?"

"The pursuit of Longyang is an age-old mystery, something us women just can't fathom."

"Then will he be interested in Young Master Ba?"

"You're overthinking it, right? Even if Young Master Chenjing doesn't look down on women, he won't like a Mother's boy!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down. He heard you."

Calling him a carefree Mother's boy. Hmph!

With his mouth hanging wide open, drawing in a sharp breath to catch his drool before it fell, he stopped in the middle of the street, suddenly brought the fan from his mouth into his hand, and flicked his fingers to snap open the white paper fan upon which an enchanting Clivia leaped. He raised his slender eyebrows, a flash of playful amusement crossing his delicate white face, stepped forward in his satin-topped black cloth shoes, and paced with a graceful scholarly stride, causing the women behind him to blush and lose their nerve to say another word.

Imposing and magnificent, cold and silent? Could it be that hard? Just speak a little less and walk a bit slower, wouldn't that hit the mark? That's why women are blind in both eyes and heart, which is why tragedies of finding the wrong lover and confessing to the wrong person always happen, and what he was engaged in was the great cause of guiding them from blindness toward the light!

Still, he had no time today to save fallen good girls. Beneath the fifth willow tree at the mouth of Willow Street, another client was waiting for his autographed love letter to woo a lover.

The newcomer was mysterious, and he had yet to see his true appearance, leaving only a single sentence as the delivery passphrase.

They must be those pedantic scholars from the academy, having read too much of the ways of Confucius and Mencius, with mouths and brushes full of great benevolence and righteousness, having forgotten how to write about small affections and romance, yet too proud to lower themselves and ask those in their line of work who specialized in these lower trades. Still, the desire to chase a Mother wouldn't diminish just from reading Confucius and Mencius; physiological needs could be solved by going to Chunfen Pavilion, so psychological needs could only be solved by seeking out Young Master Zhu Bafu.

Wasn't it just ghostwriting a love letter? What was so unspeakable about that, did it have to be made so mysterious? Even with a passphrase, let's see what kind of passphrase he wrote...

The setting sun slanted downward, a sky full of red glow reflecting the scenery around the streets with a touch of fantasy, and the row of willow trees along the lakeside danced in the wind.

Beneath the fifth willow tree at the mouth of Willow Street, a faint, gloomy back figure stood with hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the lake and listening to the willows, lost in deep thought and contemplation. His jade crown was unbound, and his satin-like black hair cascaded wildly over his shoulders, occasionally with a strand entangling with the willow branches to flutter gracefully in the wind. Brocade wrapped his body, his wide jade-colored sleeves with gold borders rippled like water, and a few willow catkins lingered persistently around his sleeves.

What an imposing posture, detached aura, and the kind of aristocratic scion who made people feel like they wouldn't need to eat, burp, scrub their backs, or use the latrine for a whole lifetime!

The seductively swaying willow branches made his figure appear hazy and intermittent, and his leisurely, serene temperament was as unfathomable as an otherworldly immortal. He lowered his gaze to stare at the ruffled ripples blown across the lake surface, as if waiting for someone or lost in a daydream while appreciating the scenery, radiating a signal of "idlers keep out" and "strangers stay away" all over his body.

The fifth willow tree, a man, waiting for someone—all the conditions were completely met, so he should be the right one, right? Haha, let him come and say hello to warm up the atmosphere.

"Hahaha! Friend! Buying a love letter is just buying a love letter, it's not a big deal! Life is already this tragic, why bother making yourself look so bright and melancholic?"

With a slap, a palm landed solidly on the aristocratic scion's back, opening the conversation with a very manly greeting.

The aristocratic scion slowly turned his head. His eyes, sinking into black ink, were bottomless, his fan-like eyelashes didn't flicker once, his brows furrowed slightly, and his tightly pressed thin lips parted into a slit. "What?"

"Oh, you don't need to play dumb. I, Young Master Ba, have always focused on protecting my clients' private information in business. Even if you're going to have a clandestine affair with a married woman, or hook up with a famous courtesan from Chunfen Pavilion, I'll turn a blind eye. Romance is not a crime, and long live freedom! However, talking about romance hurts the wallet, so regarding the silver, you should... cough... use your common sense! Ahahaha!" Having said that, he even winked and pinched his fingers with a rich expression.

"..."

Hey, hey, hey, what was the meaning of that uncomprehending look like he was seeing a mentally ill person? This guy really was a dunderhead, couldn't he tell he was racking his brains to dispel the awkward atmosphere between them?

These bookworms whose brains were ruined by studying all thought themselves to be "not things trapped in a pool," and loved to put on stinking airs of otherworldly experts in front of people. Bah! It seemed he had to go through the passphrase for him to completely lower his guard! Since that was the case, let's do the passphrase!

Clenching his fist by his lips, Zhu Bafu gave a solemn and serious cough, raised his face, and said, "Ask the world who is the most..."

"..."

"Hey? Why aren't you talking! Am I out of touch with the trend? Could it be that in today's world, only being silent and cold is the sole standard for testing manliness? When did that change? How come I don't know! And nobody notified me either. Hey, say something, brother!"

Rankings

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Historical Romance

Crossdressing Heroine