"No, I noticed you seemed quite close to Shang Huaitong, Miss Qi," Pei Ye said bluntly. "Haven't you heard about his misdeeds?"
"What misdeeds?" Qi Zhaohua frowned.
Pei Ye told her about Zhang Junyu.
Qi Zhaohua laughed. "You've been deceived, young hero. Zhang Junyu and Gu Guang conspired to frame him. They tricked him into throwing a match so they could report him and have him disqualified. It was a thoroughly underhanded scheme."
Pei Ye frowned. "Who said that?"
"Hm? Everyone says so, apart from Two Counties and Jade Feather." Qi Zhaohua leaned against a pillar, smiling. "As for me, he told me himself."
"...Miss Qi, do you believe everything Shang Huaitong says?"
Qi Zhaohua raised an eyebrow. "Then did you witness what you're talking about with your own eyes back then, young hero?"
"..."
For a moment, Pei Ye was speechless-what he had heard had, of course, come only from Zhang Junxue.
He certainly trusted Zhang Junxue absolutely, but perhaps that was just as Qi Zhaohua trusted Shang Huaitong absolutely.
For a moment, Pei Ye thought of Zhang Junyu.
Pei Ye fell silent briefly. "Facts are facts. Lies will be exposed sooner or later. Miss Qi, there's no use in my saying more. I only hope you'll keep this in mind and give it some thought from time to time."
"Thank you for your concern, young hero." Qi Zhaohua nodded.
Having said that, she looked past Pei Ye's shoulder, her lips curling into a radiant smile.
Pei Ye turned and saw a figure in a billowing black cloak approaching with a heavy low table in his arms. He set it down among the goods nearby.
A green-clad servant hurried alongside him, wearing a helpless, anxious smile.
"Just look." Seeing their gazes turn his way, the servant finally had somewhere