Keep a low profile

Tomorrow he would be leaving the capital for Yunzhou, so Xu Qi'an immediately left the yamen and went home to prepare his luggage.

To avoid suspicion, he only hid valuables inside a small jade mirror, such as silver, gold, and banknotes.

Then he told his aunt and sister that he was going to travel to Yunzhou with the governor.

Xu Qi'an had never left the capital before, and even his aunt couldn't help but show concern, telling him to bring everything he needed, especially clothes, besides money.

"I've heard that Yunzhou is plagued by miasma and is often rainy. You should bring some antidote pills and some dehumidifying ointment. Xu Ningyan, I'm talking to you." Aunt slammed her hand on the table.

"Okay, okay," Xu Qi'an said irritably, annoyed by her. "You don't even need to tell me that, I just came to let you know."

"I was a southerner in my past life, and I endured magical attacks all year round. I relied on my righteous spirit to keep warm. What's so cold and damp in the south? "Xu Qi'an muttered to himself.

The Imperial Academy of Music, the Shadow Plum Pavilion.

The rocking of the bed gradually subsided. Xu Qi'an, propped up on his arms, looked at the beauty beneath him, her face flushed. "I'm leaving the capital tomorrow for Yunzhou. I estimate it will be quite a while before I return."

Upon hearing this, Fuxiang immediately clamped her long, white legs around his waist, her voice filled with worry. "I've heard that banditry is rampant in Yunzhou, it's very dangerous."

"No matter how dangerous it is, it's still the imperial court's territory." Xu Qi'an pinched her soft cheek, indicating that there was no need to worry.

"You haven't been here in ages, and the first thing you bring up is this," Fuxiang said resentfully.

"I'm afraid of tiring you out, not neglecting you," Xu Qi'an said.

After they talked for a while, the squeaking sound started again.

After leaving the Imperial Academy of Music, Xu Qi'an went to the Star-Gazing Tower to tell Chu Caiwei that he was going to Yunzhou.

The woman in the yellow dress was very interested after hearing this and expressed her desire to go as well. However, because the chicken essence was still being improved and refined, and needed to be promoted in the future, and she wanted to take the opportunity to advance to the sixth rank, she could not leave the capital.

This trip will definitely involve Warlock. Xu Qi'an's extravagant trip was for his own selfish reasons; he wanted to take Chu Caiwei with him on this business trip, treating it as a vacation.

Many men and women with ambiguous relationships get pregnant while traveling together.

Unable to take Chu Caiwei with him, Xu Qi'an took away the chicken essence she had painstakingly extracted. The oval-faced beauty in the yellow dress, furious, chased after him all the way out of the Star-Gazing Tower, shouting at Xu Qi'an galloping figure, "Xu Ningyan, you bastard!"

Next, he went to the palace to request an audience with Princess Huaiqing. As an ally of the princess, he was obligated to report his itinerary and, incidentally, discuss the situation in Yunzhou with the exceptionally intelligent princess, seeking her opinion.

The guard brought back the princess's reply, "The princess does not wish to see you. Please leave."

Huh? You don't want to see me? We were chatting so well yesterday. My actions yesterday should have made Huaiqing value me more. Xu Qi'an left, completely bewildered.

After being cruelly rejected by his older sister, Xu Qi'an turned around and went to find his younger sister, who had a round face and was charming and affectionate.

Lin'an is not in the imperial palace, but in Lin'an Prefecture within the imperial city.

"Your daughter has great execution skills." Xu Qi'an immediately changed course and went to Princess Lin'an's residence.

He could enter and exit the imperial city with his jade belt, but he couldn't enter the palace. Lin'an was not in the palace, which was actually better.

Before long, he arrived outside the mansion in Lin'an. After being announced by the guards, he entered the mansion.

Xu Qi'an walked and looked around, seeing gardens, pavilions, terraces, and even a stage for opera performances. He thought to himself, "No wonder she is the emperor's beloved daughter; she has such grandeur."

When Biao Biao heard that Xu Qi'an was visiting, she was very happy. Sitting in the pavilion, she said with a smile, "It's indeed much freer to leave the palace, but it's too boring at home. It would be better to stay in the palace."

Her subtext was clear: What are you planning to do?

"I'm not here for fun, I'm here to say goodbye," Xu Qi'an said. "I'm leaving the capital tomorrow for Yunzhou, and it will be a long time before I return. I have an appointment with the princess tomorrow, so I've come to bid farewell."

Upon hearing this, Lin'an's face immediately fell, and she looked at him with disappointment.

Then, wouldn't it be a waste of her time to return to the princess's residence? Her mother would only allow her to stay outside for three days at most. She had been secretly excited, thinking that this little gong would take her to play in the inner city.

"Then I shall take my leave." Xu Qi'an turned and left, but after a few steps, he couldn't help but look back.

Lin'an sat in the pavilion, with a desolate garden in the background. She was dressed in fiery red, charming and beautiful, yet very lonely and desolate.

"How annoying!" he muttered to himself, then turned and walked back.

Lin'an's peach blossom eyes suddenly brightened, and she stared at him with a hazy gaze, without saying a word.

"Does the princess like playing chess?"

"Dislike."

"Why?"

"Because it's troublesome."

"It's probably because you're clumsy," Xu Qi'an said. "This humble servant has a novel way to play. The princess can try it, or play with the palace maids if she's bored."

Lin'an pouted, somewhat disappointed. "That's it?"

Just don't actually like it later. Xu Qi'an summoned a palace maid and asked her to bring a chessboard, which was then set up on the stone table in the pavilion.

"Second Princess, the game I'm going to teach you is called Gomoku (Five in a Row). It doesn't have many rules or techniques; it's very simple. Whether it's vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, whoever connects all five pieces first wins."

"It's so simple, it's even less interesting." Lin'an shook his head.

"Don't rush, let's play one more game." Xu Qi'an said calmly.

Okay.

Lin'an picked up a chess piece and tapped it on the center of the chessboard with a "snap," then raised her snow-white chin toward Xu Qi'an.

Xu Qi'an made a random move.

As the game progressed, Biao Biao became completely engrossed, and the two placed their pieces with lightning speed. Amidst the clattering sounds, Xu Qi'an won a game.

"Again! Again!" Biao Biao kicked her toes, her red skirt swaying.

In the second, third, and fourth games, Biao Biao kept losing, but she became more and more energetic, her peach blossom eyes becoming increasingly focused.

She was surprised to find that although this game was very simple, with only a few variations, it was inexplicably much more interesting than normal games. It made people unable to resist getting into it and unable to tear themselves away.

Losing again and again only fueled my desire to keep playing, fueling my intense fighting spirit.

At the same time, she had the illusion that she was a Go master, moving her pieces swiftly and engaging in fierce back-and-forth battles.

Finally, Xu Qi'an deliberately let her win a move, allowing her to complete the five-star sequence.

"We won!" Biao Biao cheered happily.

Xu Qi'an smiled, appearing completely in control.

If Princess Huaiqing were to play Gomoku, she would get bored within a quarter of an hour and scoff at it, because it was too simple.

But for a silly girl like Lin'an, Gomoku is an extremely fun game; even a simple game can garner huge traffic. Xu Qi'an was once addicted to small games, such as Pick Up, Connect Four, and 2048.

I would play for hours on end, my brain constantly telling me: I can't play anymore, I can't play anymore.

But the body tells a different story.

"Xu Ningyan, you're really amazing." Lin'an's slender fingers twirled the chessboard. "You can write poetry and you know so many interesting little gadgets."

"By the way, have you figured out the first half of that poem yet?"

Xu Qi'an shook his head.

"Drunk, unaware that the sky is reflected in the water, a boat full of sweet dreams presses down on the Milky Way." Princess Lin'an asked no more questions, and softly recited this half-line of poetry:

"It's so beautiful. I also dream of lying on a boat someday, looking at the stars in the sky, surrounded by stars. I hope I'll be free then."

At this moment, she wasn't a pretty girl; she was a girl full of innocence and childlike wonder.

"Second Princess, did you tell the Eldest Princess about me giving you chicken essence?" Xu Qi'an asked abruptly.

"No." Lin An blinked her charming and amorous eyes, instantly transforming from the innocent and childlike Lin An into a glamorous nightclub queen.

"Oh!" Xu Qi'an didn't ask any more questions. He glanced at the sky and realized it was dusk. The imperial city was already closed, and he couldn't leave.

Because patrolling the imperial city was the job of the silver-robed guards, his waist token could not be used, and the same was true for Princess Lin'an's jade waist token.

The curfew in the imperial city was very strict, and the imperial warrants were difficult to obtain. Moreover, warrants were usually applied for several days in advance and could not be written and used immediately. Besides, the government offices within the imperial city had long since ceased operations.

Xu Qi'an naturally settled down in Lin'an Prefecture. At dusk, Xu Qi'an strolled around the princess's residence and discovered a large pond in the back garden.

A covered boat was moored by the pond.

"Ha, she keeps talking about lying on a boat and watching the stars, when the time and place are perfect, but she just keeps saying that young people these days are all talk and no action."

Xu Qi'an left without making a sound. When Biao Biao hosted a banquet for him, he suggested, "Your Highness, let's dine somewhere else."

The princess's eyes lit up. Without asking any further questions, she followed his instructions, ordering the maids to carry a small table and dishes to the back garden, where they boarded a covered boat.

After setting up small tables and lighting charcoal fires, the awning boat could no longer accommodate more people, so the palace maids could only watch from the shore, exchanging worried glances.

The princess and this man have grown rather close. What they do during the day is fine, but meeting in the pond at night is inappropriate both in terms of sentiment and propriety.

Lin'an, her face flushed after a few cups of wine, said, "I've never tried dining on a ship before."

In the candlelight, her face was as smooth and flawless as a piece of jade, her peach blossom eyes alluring and seductive. She was clearly a classical beauty, but Xu Qi'an was dressing her up in his mind, imagining her as a nightclub queen wearing a red T-shirt with a teddy bear on the chest, denim shorts, and white sneakers, with long, straight, wavy legs.

Night fell, and a crescent moon hung high in the sky.

Xu Qi'an suddenly said, "Lie down."

Biao Biao paused for a moment, her heart stirred slightly, and without thinking, she lay down on the back.

"Oops."

She bumped her head on the deck, cried out in pain, but quickly froze. A crescent moon hung in the night sky, sparsely dotted with stars, twinkling with a lonely light.

The water's surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the crescent moon and stars.

"Drunk, I knew not the sky reflected in the water; a boat full of sweet dreams pressed down on the Milky Way," Xu Qi'an murmured.

She gazed intently at the stars in the sky, her eyes dreamy. Xu Qi'an was looking at her; his snow-white jawline was beautifully defined, his nose was straight and upturned, and his cherry-like lips were slightly parted.

A girl like her is naturally alluring, and her slightly tipsy demeanor is simply irresistible.

"There aren't enough stars. I want to see the Milky Way, I want to see the Milky Way." She lay on the deck, twisting her waist, unconsciously acting coquettishly.

There are quite a few stars today, but they can't compare to a "galaxy"; that will have to wait until summer.

"That's wonderful," she murmured softly.

Star-Gazing Tower, Eight Trigrams Platform.

Standing on the edge of the Eight Trigrams Platform, the supervisor, who was observing the celestial phenomena at night, twitched his ear.

A few seconds later, the array patterns lit up, revealing a white-clad figure standing with his hands behind his back, leisurely reciting:

"Holding the harvest of tomorrow"

He suddenly stopped speaking, as if an invisible hand was gripping his throat, and he couldn't utter the rest of his words.

After a long while, Yang Qianhuan realized she could speak again and became obedient. "Teacher, what do you need me for?"

The supervisor, also with his back to him, had a flowing white beard and said, "Go to Yunzhou and keep an eye on things."

The second half of the sentence refers to the secret transmission of sound.

The master and apprentice stood back to back, and Yang Qianhuan tentatively asked, "Shall we go secretly?"

"Um."

"Understood. Is there anything else the teacher wants to instruct?"

"The land of China is full of hidden talents, and there is always someone more outstanding. When you are out in the world, you must know how to be low-key and humble, and not say what you shouldn't say or do what you shouldn't do."

"Teacher, please explain more clearly."

"Keep a low profile. Don't go around saying that, or you'll get beaten up."

"Okay, teacher."

PS: I'm working myself to the bone to get monthly votes.