21 Burning the Midnight Oil

After sending Pei Shu off, Chu Yu realized that she had no idea where she was. She was annoyed by the rut she was in. Due to the panic earlier, she did not memorize the route and she was kind of lost now.

She looked around and attempted to find the way back by choosing a random direction. Suddenly, a silhouette appeared next to her. The person was so silent that his appearance was like a ghost. Chu Yu might have screamed right then if not for the same experience that she had in the Princess's Imperial Residence.

Naturally, the person was Yue Jiefei who she had let go off unintentionally. He looked at the direction where Pei Shu left and said, "Princess, don't you want to bring that man back?"

Just when Chu Yu wanted to instinctively ask why she 

There would only be differences when there was a side-to-side comparison. Chu Yu somewhat fathomed the quality of men Princess Shan Yin collected, who she had let most of them go. If, and only if Princess Shan Yin found out about this in the spirit realm, she might die again from rage.

"No need," Chu Yu replied coldly after she sighed secretly. She then recalled suddenly. "Why didn't you bring me away just now?" Looking at Yue Jiefei's stance, he did not look like he had been separated from her like she thought. Instead, he had been following behind her. Why did he not save her? Did he think it was funny to watch her suffer?

Yue Jiefei responded while feeling shocked, "So,you don't like that, Princess?"

Chu Yu was speechless.

Yue Jiefei thought she enjoyed being chased because she had not ordered him to stop the people. There were some popular young masters of the time who were addicted to that. To them, being chased by so many admirers was a great honor. Some of the radical ones would even compare who had more people chasing after them.

They then returned to the Princess's Imperial Residence through some remote alleys. When they were passing by a street, Chu Yu heard a woman shout in an alley: "If you guys don't listen to me, I'll get the Evil Princess to take the both of you!"

Evil Princess?

Chu Yu's heart jolted a little bit and she stopped walking by instinct. She looked over at the alley and saw a strong woman through the two rows of messy wooden houses. The woman held a faded table cloth while scolding the two children beside her with one hand on her hip.

They were a boy and a girl around six or seven years old and were dirty like they had rolled on the ground earlier. The boy became obedient immediately after hearing the woman, but the girl refused to obey. She then refuted with her childish voice, "I'm not afraid. The Evil Princess only captures boys. She doesn't capture girls."

The Evil Princess they were talking about…

Chu Yu had a bad feeling in her and she glanced at Yue Jiefei. He shot her a look of confirmation as if he was telling her, 'Yes, they're talking about you'.

Chu Yu was irritated. She thought Princess Shan Yin's reputation was so bad that even a woman was scaring kids like how people used the story of Red Riding Hood. Fortunately, she had not told Pei Shu her real name earlier. Otherwise, he must have run faster than a rabbit.

However, now that she thought about it, even if she were to capture a man, she would at least capture one whose standard was on par with Rong Zhi. Why would she capture these dirty kids?

Realizing that she could not scare the girl, the woman changed her expression immediately as she scolded, "The Evil Princess doesn't capture girls, but the Devil Mage does. Be careful, the Devil Mage might capture the both of you, which is perfect since both of you are a pair of boy and girl."

The girl seemed to be frightened after hearing that and became obedient just like the boy.

Chu Yu's eyes lit up. She found out there was someone who had a worse reputation than she did. Who was that Devil Mage and what had the person done to justify her name being used to scare kids?

With endless questions in her head, Chu Yu returned to the Princess's Imperial Residence and ended her trip outside which had started out fine but ended badly.

***

Chu Yu stood at the entrance of the Snow Garden as it was her second time there. The first time she was strolling there and happened to see the meeting between Huan Yuan and Jiang Yan. This time, she was here to burn the midnight oil.

Although she had thousand of years of knowledge up her sleeves, Chu Yu did not plan to depend on that.

The direction and angle of literary 

Chu Yu hesitated when she found out that the biggest library in the Imperial Residence was located in Rong Zhi's Snow Garden. She arrived here as she hesitated, hovering at the entrance anxiously.

She did not really dare to see Rong Zhi.

The incident that happened a few days back was playing in her head clearly. After settling everyone in the Imperial Residence, she turned to ask if he wanted to leave.

The intimidating young man who had abysmal, elegant eyes stared at her and recited softly while smiling wryly:

'There's a beauty that I can't forget after we met.

A day away from her made me miss her deadly.

The phoenix flew across the ocean for the other half but oh, my lover is nowhere to be found.

Oh, this song will tell you what my heart wants; the wonder of when we'll meet again kills me much.

I hope my wishes of holding your hands will come true; not being able to fly with you breaks me apart.'

It was a song titled 'Untouchable Lovers' for one to confess their love. It generally meant one had met a beauty and missed her dearly, hoping to be with her forever.

Chu Yu could not help but frown. What was Rong Zhi really trying to say? Was he using the song to express his love for Princess Shan Yin? But what was there to love about Princess Shan Yin? Could he be fond of attention just like Liu Se and Mo Xiang were? If he was such a person, how could he have such elegance in his eyes?

His features were not the best. Liu Se and Mo Xiang aside, among the male companions who she let go, seven or eight of them were better-looking than he was. The only thing that distinguished him from the rest was his intimidating and elegant eyes. They stood out from the crowd, not resisting nor fawning.

Was that the reason why Princess Shan Yin valued him?

Suddenly, Chu Yu understood something. She had the deepest fear towards Rong Zhi, the kind of fear that scared her the most ever since she was reborn. No matter whether it was Liu Se and Mo Xiang who were fawning upon her, or the arrogant Huan Yuan, the tough Jiang Yan, or the crook Shen Guangzuo, at least she could see through them. As long as a person wanted something, it was not difficult to find his weakness. However, it was a different case for Rong Zhi. He seemed like he needed nothing, cared for nothing, not even his freedom.

If Rong Zhi was a stupid scum who knew nothing, it would make sense if he wasted his life away wanting nothing. However, he was intelligent and handled everything in perfect order. Even Huan Yuan wanted to get closer to him. Why would such a person wanted such a shameful position, killing his time in the Princess's Imperial Residence with upheld such a bad reputation?

As she recalled the song 'Untouchable Lovers', Chu Yu had absurd disbelief written on her face. Could Rong Zhi really love Princess Shan Yin? This was unbelievable. Or maybe, there was an underlying meaning in the song 'Untouchable Lovers'?

Noticing she had been standing at the entrance for too long, Chu Yu pursed her lips and walked into the garden after opening the door.

She saw someone sitting on a limestone platform in a relaxed manner under the parasol trees in the garden full of fresh air.

Rong Zhi's white attire made him look like a cloud scattered on the stone platform. With his bamboo slips set aside, he rested his eyes that usually looked unfathomable while lying against a parasol tree. His sleeping posture made him appear vulnerable.

Chu Yu thought about it and headed towards the pavilion behind the garden while treading softly. However, she stepped on something when she passed Rong Zhi. Suddenly, a crisp sound coming from the collision of jade pieces rang out in the garden, shocking Chu Yu. Rong Zhi woke up before she managed to do anything.

"Ahh, it's you, Princess." Rong Zhi rubbed his eyes in a lazy manner. He did not stand up to bow to her when he realized who it was. All he did was ask while smiling, "Is there anything that I can do for you since you came to my place, Princess?"

Chu Yu hesitated before she spoke directly, "I just want to take a look at a few poems."

Rong Zhi was rather surprised as he looked at her with an unfathomable expression. "I remember you didn't like reading poetry, Princess."

At that moment, there was coldness in the silence of the lush green courtyard despite the presence of sunshine.

Chu Yu did not even blink when she replied calmly, "I read them now. What are you going to do about that?" She knew Rong Zhi began to suspect her, but there was nothing to be afraid of as long as she did not leave any physical pieces of evidence.

After a moment of silent, Rong Zhi responded kindly, "It might be difficult for you to look for them on your own, Princess. Let me help you."

When they arrived at the library, only Chu Yu realized what Rong Zhi meant by "difficult".