Regent, please maintain your aloof image.

Regent's House

In the evening, in his study, Mu Jinchen, unusually, did not deal with government affairs. Instead, he sat on the couch, playing chess alone, looking quite content.

Yingfeng stood aside, looking at him, and couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but look at you, you can only play chess by yourself. If you had gotten married earlier, you wouldn't be in this situation. Perhaps the young prince would already be able to play chess by now."

Mu Jinchen ignored him, pretending not to hear, picked up a chess piece, and placed it on the chessboard.

Yingfeng sighed helplessly.

After a while, Mu Jinchen felt something was wrong as he played. Upon closer inspection, he realized that he had unknowingly replicated the chess game he had played with Su Qianrou that day.

Looking at the chessboard before him, Mu Jinchen's thoughts drifted back to that day, recalling the scene of the two of them playing chess.

At first, they feign weakness and create an air of mystery to lower people's guard. Then, they seize the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, closing in step by step. When they find themselves with nowhere to go, they decisively retreat, choosing to defend as an offensive strategy and waiting for the right moment to strike.

Looking at it now, her chess playing style is quite similar to her personality. Her appearance gives people the illusion of being gentle and weak, making them mistakenly believe that she is harmless. But in reality, she is gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, witty and decisive, and indomitable. She is the kind of person who gets stronger the more she fights. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile.

Yingfeng happened to see it and excitedly said, "Your Highness, you're smiling again. What have you thought of this time? Tell me!"

Mu Jinchen naturally wouldn't tell him, and besides, he wouldn't admit it. He said, "I remember there's a set of Go pieces made of Hetian jade. Take it with you and come with me on this trip." After saying that, he stood up and walked out.

Yingfeng hurriedly followed and asked, "Where are we going?"

"The Marquis of Anping's Residence".

"ah".

Chaoxiyuan

Su Qianrou sat on the couch, holding a storybook in her hand, reading it with great interest and becoming completely absorbed in it.

When Mu Jinchen entered, he saw her wearing a white silk vest and long skirt. Because she had just finished bathing, she was not wearing any hair accessories, but simply had her hair tied up in a bun. Her fresh, refined, quiet and elegant appearance was refreshing.

"You seem quite carefree."

Suddenly a male voice rang out, startling Su Qianrou and her maid Qiulan.

Su Qianrou immediately put down the book in her hand, then looked in the direction of the voice. When she saw it was him, she exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you here?"

Qiulan hurriedly knelt down, and seeing that her mistress was still sitting, she quickly called out, "Miss," to remind her to pay her respects.

Su Qianrou then remembered and stood up.

At the same time, Mu Jinchen walked over to her and sat down, saying, "No need for formalities, please sit down."

Su Qianrou did not sit down, but asked again, "Your Highness, why are you here? If someone sees us, I..." She didn't finish her sentence.

But Mu Jinchen understood what she meant, "Don't worry, no one saw it."

Su Qianrou was still worried and instructed, "Qiulan, have Li An guard outside and prevent anyone from getting close."

"Yes, Miss," Qiulan said, and then she went out.

Then, Su Qianrou looked at Mu Jinchen and asked, "It's so late, Your Highness, is there something you need?"

Nothing happened.

"Nothing," Su Qianrou looked at him suspiciously, thinking, if nothing's wrong, why are you looking for me so late at night?

Mu Jinchen glanced at Yingfeng.

Yingfeng understood and placed the two boxes of chess pieces on the table.

Su Qianrou saw this and asked in confusion, "This is...?"

"Gomoku" (Five in a Row)

"I know, but I don't understand what Your Highness means." If it weren't for his status, Su Qianrou would have said directly, "I'm not blind, I can tell this is Gomoku. I'm asking you what you mean."

"Playing chess".

"Your Highness means that I should play chess with you."

Mu Jinchen nodded.

Su Qianrou looked at him with a puzzled expression, unable to understand his intentions.

Not to mention her, even Yingfeng couldn't understand what his lord's purpose was in doing this.

Little did they know, Mu Jinchen simply wanted to play chess with Su Qianrou; after all, a worthy opponent was a rare and precious opportunity.

Then, Su Qianrou and Mu Jinchen looked at each other without saying a word, as if time had stood still.

The situation was only broken when Kikuka came in.

Juxia was quite surprised to find two men in the room, men she didn't recognize.

"Juxia, do not be rude. Hurry up and greet the Regent."

Upon hearing this, Juxia hurriedly knelt down and said, "This servant greets the Regent, and begs the Regent's forgiveness."

"Get up".

"Thank you, Regent Prince."

Then, the room fell silent, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward. So, Su Qianrou asked, "Juxia, what do you need me for?"

Juxia then remembered the purpose of her visit and said, "Miss, the picture of the Hundred Flowers sent by the Fifth Young Master is ready. Should we hang it up?" As she spoke, she handed the picture to her.

Su Qianrou glanced at it and said, "Others give away 'Longevity' paintings, but he gave away 'Joyful Hundreds' paintings. There's no one else like him."

"The Hundred Longevity Scroll is a gift for elders, and Miss is only of marriageable age now, so it is too early to give her a Hundred Longevity Scroll. Therefore, the Fifth Young Master wrote a Hundred Joys Scroll for you, hoping that Miss can be happy every day."

“He has hated writing and memorizing since he was a child, so his handwriting is not very good. But these characters are quite good, so he must have put in a lot of effort.” Then, he looked at Mu Jinchen and asked, “What does Your Highness think?”

"good".

“I’ve heard that Your Highness is skilled in both literature and martial arts. Not only is he highly skilled in martial arts, but he is also exceptionally talented, and his calligraphy is superb. Now that Your Highness has said that my brother’s calligraphy is not bad, then all his hard work has paid off.” He then added, “Let’s hang it up in the study.”

"Yes," Juxia glanced at Mu Jinchen furtively, somewhat uneasy, but dared not say more, and finally walked out.

Then, Mu Jinchen said, "Let's play a game."

"it is good".

Then, the two started playing chess. Knowing that the other was good at chess, neither of them relaxed and their minds were completely focused on the chessboard.

After an unknown amount of time, Chunzhu excitedly ran over and said, "Miss, I heard some news, Madam called..." Before she could finish speaking, she saw Mu Jinchen sitting there and couldn't help but doubt her eyes. "Am I hallucinating? Why do I seem to be seeing the Regent?" She accidentally blurted out her inner thoughts.

Seeing her silly look, Yingfeng couldn't help but laugh and said, "You're not mistaken, that really is the Regent."

Chunzhu then noticed him, "What are you doing here?"

"My lord is here, so naturally I am here too."

Qiulan reminded her, "Chunzhu, hurry up and pay your respects."

Chunzhu then realized what was happening and hurriedly knelt down, saying, "Greetings, Regent."

"Hmm," Mu Jinchen simply responded, his gaze still fixed on the chessboard.

Su Qianrou was just as focused.

Then, Chunzhu stood up, walked to Qiulan's side, and asked in a low voice, "Why is the Regent here?"

Qiulan shook her head, indicating that she didn't know either.