Empress, please have some self-respect. I am not your husband.

Lu Feng returned to his residence in Chu Hongyan's carriage, looking refreshed. It was nearly midnight.

Yu Ningyan, however, had not yet rested.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him return; she couldn't sleep peacefully without Lu Feng by her side.

After taking only two steps, Yu Ningyan sensed something was wrong. She twitched her nose and then chuckled, "Lord Lu, you've certainly had a lot of luck with women on this banquet."

Lu Feng frowned: "What's with the sarcastic tone? How come you're so lucky with women?"

Yu Ningyan snorted: "With such a strong scent of perfume on you, do you think you can fool anyone?"

Such a strong fragrance could mean that Lu Feng either did something before, or that he was very close to a woman and they had parted ways not long ago.

Upon hearing this, Lu Feng immediately laughed: "Is it any of your business?"

"you!"

Yu Ningyan was speechless, and Lu Feng continued, "What do you mean, 'you'? You, the Princess of Western Chu, dare to interfere with me, the Junior Chamberlain of Qian Kingdom?"

The woman stomped her foot in anger, forcibly calmed herself down, and scoffed, "It's none of my business, and I don't want to."

"That's settled then, let's go back to our room and sleep."

Lu Feng rolled his eyes and turned to walk towards his room, while Yu Ningyan behind him gritted her teeth, though she didn't know why she was so angry.

But I always feel a tightness in my chest.

Seeing that Lu Feng's room lights were off, she could only return to her own room in frustration. Looking at her stunningly beautiful face in the bronze mirror, she felt inexplicably annoyed.

At dawn.

Seeing the dark circles under Yu Ningyan's eyes, Lu Feng, who had just gotten up, asked in surprise, "What happened? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

The eldest princess, who hadn't slept much due to tossing and turning, snorted upon hearing this, echoing Lu Feng's words from the previous night: "Is it any of your business?"

Lu Feng replied, "Why should I care what you do? I was just asking."

She was so angry that she didn't even want to eat breakfast.

Lu Feng didn't know why she was so angry, but he didn't intend to investigate further. He was considering whether he should go to the Prince Zheng's Mansion today to see Chu Hongyan.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Xiao Miao hurriedly went to open it and saw a richly dressed man standing outside, smiling at her: "Little girl, is Brother Lu up yet?"

"Young master, you have a guest at the door."

Lu Feng casually replied, "Who is it?"

Then a voice responded: "Brother Lu, it's me."

Hearing that familiar voice, Lu Feng walked out of the hall and then saw Ye Yuan, the Prince of Ye, walk into the courtyard.

"King Ye." Lu Feng's eyes were playful. Was this guy here to interrogate him?

"It's me, Brother Lu."

Upon seeing Lu Feng, Ye Wang hurriedly stepped forward: "Oh, brother, I'm so sorry about last night. The servants were ignorant and ruined the banquet like that."

Lu Feng was somewhat surprised that a prince would personally come to apologize, and he gestured for Xiao Miao to go back inside.

Inside the hall, Yu Ningyan looked at Xiao Miao as she entered: "Xiao Miao, who is this?"

"Young Master calls him Ye Wang," Xiao Miao replied, still confused.

Upon hearing the words "King Ye," Yu Ningyan, who had originally intended to go out and take a look, abandoned the idea and said softly, "Xiao Miao, bring me hot water. I'll make tea and then deliver it to your young master and the guests."

"Okay, fairy sister."

After a while.

Seeing Xiao Miao bring in the tea, Lu Feng, who had just invited Ye Wang to sit down, was a little surprised: "Did you make this?"

The little girl shook her head repeatedly, somewhat embarrassed: "It's tea brewed by the fairy sister, I don't know how to make it yet."

Ye Wang asked with interest, "Fairy Sister? Who is she? Could she be your confidante, Brother Lu?"

Lu Feng shook his head: "It is Her Highness the Eldest Princess."

King Ye's heart skipped a beat: "So that's how it is. I remember now, His Majesty asked you to protect the Princess's safety."

Lu Feng nodded and dismissed Xiao Miao before sitting down to pour tea. He then looked at Ye Yuan across from him and asked, "Your Highness, you've come all this way just for what happened yesterday, haven't you?"

Ye Wang said, "What else could it be but this? I really didn't expect it to turn out like this. I should have had the steward personally greet us at the door. Brother Lu, please don't take it to heart."

Lu Feng raised an eyebrow: "Your Highness is too kind. It was just that I forgot to bring the invitation. It has nothing to do with the servants of the Prince's Mansion, so why would I mind?"

Ye Wang smiled and then took out a stack of silver notes from his pocket: "That's good. Brother Lu, here's fifty thousand taels. As we agreed before, we'll split the compensation from those families in half. I was planning to give it to you last night when you arrived."

Lu Feng accepted the silver note without hesitation: "Then thank you very much, Your Highness."

"Don't mention it, this is something we agreed on a long time ago."

Lu Feng clicked his tongue: "Your Highness, your behavior makes me very uneasy."

Ye Yuan didn't play dumb. "Brother Lu, do you think it's a bit unusual for me, a prince of the Qian Kingdom, to be so warm to you, a fourth-rank official?"

Lu Feng nodded.

Then Ye Wang scoffed, "So what if I'm a prince? I'm still a person. Brother Lu, you joined the court late, so you don't understand my personality. Anyone I take a liking to is my friend."

"Of course, you should treat your friends with sincerity, shouldn't you?"

“Indeed, Your Highness, but what merit do I, Lu Feng, possess to deserve Your Highness’s favor and desire to befriend me?” Lu Feng said calmly.

Ye Yuan said seriously, "Brother Lu, you first broke the predicament of Western Chu, and then stood up for my girls at Baihua Tower. These two points alone are enough for me, Ye Yuan, to recognize you as a friend."

"Oh? It's that simple?" Lu Feng laughed.

Ye Yuan clicked his tongue: "How is this simple? Breaking the predicament of Western Chu, regardless of your selfish motives, Brother Lu, it's a huge help to Qian Kingdom and my Ye royal family. Otherwise, the twelve cities of Xizhou might already belong to Western Chu. This is a great favor."

"Secondly, your act of chivalry at Baihualou saved my cash cow from being ruined by those bastards Zhang Feng and Wang Qi. That's a small favor. But that's what truly makes me value you, Brother Lu."

Ye Yuan sighed, "Although our Qian Kingdom is a small country, the despicable behavior of those aristocratic scions is just like that of those from large countries. They always think they are superior to others. In their eyes, not to mention prostitutes, even ordinary people are not considered human."

“But Brother Lu, you’re different from them. You dared to offend two ministers from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites for a few courtesans. I admire you. If I had your guts, I wouldn’t have let those bastards ruin so many girls.”

Such flattery came from the mouth of a prince. Anyone else would probably have been flattered, but Lu Feng remained calm and casually replied, "I was just acting from my own perspective and standpoint. I probably wouldn't have done so at other times. So I'm afraid I'm not as great as Your Highness imagines."

Ye Yuan grinned: "I'm making friends, not pledging allegiance. Time will tell."