After deceiving the villain, I was forced to love him.

"Ugh......"

"Ugh......"

"Ugh......"

Seventeen had just returned from outside when he saw Baili Ce leaning against the railing of Qufeng Pavilion, sighing deeply, each sigh more helpless and louder than the last.

"How long has it been?" Seventeen would worry about Baili Ce's mental state whenever this happened.

Bi Cui, who had been waiting outside the pavilion for a long time, looked at Seventeen with one eye and stared at him with the other. "It's been more than an hour."

Have you had lunch yet?

Bi Cui shook her head. "Who would dare to disobey the young lady's rules?"

Although Baili Ce is not as strict as the old patriarch, she is ruthless in punishing those who break her rules.

Who can argue with that? Of course, Seventeen wouldn't dare.

He would never do the foolish thing of thinking he has special privileges and is different from others in his master's eyes.

So the man and woman stood not far away with Baili Ce for another quarter of an hour, until Bi Cui's legs went numb.

Bai Li Ce merely changed his posture slightly, as if he had used up all his fighting spirit.

Fortunately, it was a cloudy day, so it wasn't too hot.

After a while.

Bai Lizhe couldn't stand it anymore when he heard his stomach growling again.

Bicui immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "Yes."

Only then did Seventeen dare to enter the Qufeng Pavilion to await orders.

"Have you eaten?" Bai Li Ce asked without looking up.

Seventeen nodded slightly. "I've already eaten."

Bai Li Ce immediately took the pen and ink from the stone table, wrote a note, and stamped it with his personal seal. "Alright, go to the accountant's office to get fifty taels of silver and a fast horse. Set off immediately to invite the young lady back to the capital to take charge of the overall situation."

"What is this, young lady?"

"We must hurry." Otherwise, once she leaves the capital, the Baili family will be without someone to keep order, and things will be very bad.

"Yes!" Seeing Baili Ce's serious expression, Seventeen quickly accepted the approval slip and left.

They were so quick that they didn't even have time to say hello to Bicui, who was serving the food.

The young lady, Bicui, quietly placed the food on the table.

"This is a freshly made snow fungus and pear soup, stir-fried sunflower greens, and braised meat from the kitchen."

Bai Li Ce was neither picky about food nor wasteful, so he served two dishes and a soup.

Although few in number, they are exquisite.

"As the young lady instructed, I've added extra sugar to this soup. Do you think it's alright?"

Bai Li Ce took a small sip of the soup served by Bi Cui Sheng... and almost choked on it. "This is way too sweet!"

It's like it's been saccharin-laced with industrial saccharin.

"Are you trying to make me sick with sweetness?"

"..."

The truth is that Baili Ce insisted on drinking this soup.

The kitchen staff told her that the pears they were using recently were not fresh; they were all stored in the cellar last year and wouldn't taste good in soup.

Bai Lize said, "If I want to eat, you have to do it."

Okay, the kitchen will make it.

She added that it was too bland.

The kitchen staff gritted their teeth and added more white fungus, pears, goji berries, and jujubes, and stayed by the stove all night to cook it.

She added, "It's so thick, like snot."

The kitchen staff took a deep breath and started making it again, watching over it for two hours, and diluting the soup a bit.

She added that it was so sour that it made her already loose teeth even more wobbly.

Kitchen staff: I...!!

This time, the angry kitchen staff poured a whole can of sugar into the soup from last time.

Then, because sugar was expensive, the steward punished him with ten strokes of the cane for wasting it, and he was sent home to rest.

But Bi Cui didn't dare to remind Bai Li Ce at all, and could only accept her bad luck, "Please forgive me, young lady, this servant will..."

"That's enough," Bai Li Ce quickly stopped Bicui when she made a move to take the soup away. "It's not like I'm spending your money."

Capitalists' money doesn't come from thin air.

"You should go deliver the visiting cards; you don't need to serve us here."

Most importantly, she didn't want anyone to see her adding water to the soup.

Whew... Bi Cui secretly rejoiced at escaping a disaster. She bent her knees and gave a slight bow, "Yes, may I ask which family the young lady wishes to send a visiting card to?"

"Aaaaaah..." Bai Li Ce screamed in her heart. She was absolutely unwilling, but she couldn't fight against the powerful.

"The Wang family in the east of the city is all that bastard emperor's fault!"

Yes, in her heart, Lu Jian had already been demoted to a dog emperor.

......

"The Baili family?" The old steward of the Prince's mansion glanced at the signature on the visiting card and casually tossed it aside.

The gatekeeper delivering the visiting cards glanced at the pile of cards in the corner, then looked at the old steward hesitantly, "But this..."

"Tell the messenger that the master of the household is very busy lately and has no time to see guests."

"...Yes." The old steward was one of Wang Qingyan's men, and since he had said so, the gatekeeper couldn't say anything more and went to refuse the servant from Baili Prefecture who was sending the message, just as he had said.

The messenger then relayed the same words back to Bicui.

When Baili Ce heard this, what was originally just a perfunctory excuse became that Wang Qingyan was holding a grudge and unwilling to make an exception.

Tch, stingy!

Bai Li Ce's impression of Wang Qing Yan worsened, and even his handsome face was labeled as all show and no substance.

It's just three cities, we can just spend more money to get through.

Holding the imperial edict encouraging agriculture and sericulture, she didn't believe the Wang family in Lincheng would dare to stop her.

If all else fails, she'll disguise herself.

Still not enough...

Then she could only apologize to her cousin, who had lost her husband, was at odds with her, and disliked her.

After all, the two simplest ways to solve a problem are—

Escape, shift blame.

It's shameful, but it's useful.

......

In May, Liuzhou is a riot of flowers, ablaze with springtime splendor.

On the boats drifting with the water, the sounds of string and wind instruments could be heard from time to time, with some people singing along and others reciting poems.

In a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, Baili Ming leaned back in the sandalwood recliner and closed her eyes to rest for a while before feeling a little sleepy.

But before I could fall asleep completely, discordant noises entered my ears.

She, a light sleeper, was just about to ask what had happened when she heard a splash followed by shouts, "Someone fell into the water! Someone fell into the water!"

"quick!!"

"Quickly, save him!" A boatload of scholars quickly rowed closer and handed him a bamboo pole.

"Let's see who dares to save me!"

"Shh... Come back, come back! Do you know who that is? Don't meddle in other people's business! That's the Li family's ship!"

"Plop... Help, help me... Glug glug glug... Cough cough cough..." The girl who fell into the water instinctively began to struggle and call out.

"You bitch, you won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences. I'll see how long you can keep up this act!"

"Listen up, everyone around you! Eat your food, play your games, and don't meddle in my business!"

The weather was nice today, so there were quite a few people out on boats, and many wanted to help, but after hearing what Li Dafu said, no one dared to move.

He could only look at the girl struggling in the water, her movements becoming slower and slower, with pity, while also looking at Li Dafu with apprehension.

However, even under the rule of power, there are young people who are not afraid of power and act recklessly.

The scholar who had just handed over the bamboo pole gritted his teeth and stretched it out, shouting, "Miss! Hold on, I'll pull you up!"

"Splash..." After a series of splashing sounds, the girl who had fallen into the water landed on the deck with a thud, choking for a while before she could cough.

"Cough cough cough... Thank you, cough cough... Thank you sir, but you, you shouldn't have saved me..."

Apart from the back of her hands and the area above her neck, beneath the girl's soaked clothes were numerous hazy wounds, one after another, as if she had been tortured for a long time.

The scholar immediately took off his outer robe and covered the girl who had fallen into the water. "Don't be afraid, girl. It's broad daylight, they won't dare to do anything to you. If you have any grievances, just tell me. I will do my best to help you."

"..." The girl who had fallen into the water parted her lips slightly, but when she saw the scholar's appearance, she bit her lip, lowered her gaze, and shook her head repeatedly, not daring to say anything.

Whether it can be said or not, it makes no difference anymore.

Li Dafu rolled up his sleeves and looked at the scholar. "Oh, you've got some nerve!"

The scholar's classmate quickly stepped forward to apologize, "Young Master Li is just a poor scholar from the countryside, please don't take it to heart."

"Pah!" Li Dafu spat. "And who do you think you are?! You dare tell me to let this go?!"

"Yes, yes, yes... What are you doing? You're being foolish at a time like this..."

Pulling his friend, who had told him not to cause trouble, behind him, the scholar bowed deeply to Li Dafu.

This bow made Li Dafu even more arrogant. "Hmph, look at me, I thought I had a lot of backbone."

Unexpectedly, the scholar suddenly straightened his back and spoke eloquently, "No matter what grudge you have against this young lady, how can you put someone to death in broad daylight?"

"Such disregard for human life, young master, aren't you afraid of getting into legal trouble?"

"..." Li Dafu stared blankly at the scholar, as if he were a fool.

This was the first time anyone in Liuzhou had dared to speak to him like that.

After watching for a while, Li Dafu burst into laughter, "How laughable! Where did this greenhorn come from?"

"What's so laughable?! Am I wrong? Human life is of paramount importance, and the principles of Heaven are clear..."

Just as the scholar was about to launch into a long speech, Li Dafu, feeling a headache coming on, immediately ordered his men to attack, shouting, "Beat him!"

After listening to "Fenglan" for a long time on the ship, Baili Ming, who was also getting a headache from listening, directly called for someone to help.

Feng Lan, who was serving by his side, immediately jumped onto the bully's ship.

"You, you, whose servant are you! How dare you... Ah—"

A moment later, he jumped onto the scholars' boat, "Ouch... Ahhhhh... Splash! Splash! Splash!"

After listening to the brutal beating, Baili Ming lay back down, satisfied.

Then, through the cabin curtain, he could vaguely see the pedantic scholar trembling with fear, yet still trying to protect the girl who had fallen into the water, stammering, "Miss...Miss, don't, don't be afraid, I, I'll protect you!"

"Ahhhhh, glug glug..."

"Gulp... Pfft, cough cough... You guys better not run away!"

"My master will not let you get away with this!"

They hurriedly pulled the unconscious Li Dafu onto the boat, and the servants, not daring to linger for a moment, steered the boat away.

Having lost interest in boating on the lake, Baili Ming also decided to go back to the inn to sleep. "Let's go..."

"Yes," Feng Lan put down a piece of jade, then immediately jumped back to the boat where Bai Liming was.

"..." Watching the ship gradually disappear into the distance, the girl who had fallen into the water collapsed weakly on the deck, pale and powerless, utterly desperate.

Just as the scholar was about to offer some words of comfort, his gaze fell upon the jade pendant on the bow deck of the ship.

Huh... what's this?

He picked it up and was overjoyed.

"Look, girl!"

The girl who had fallen into the water then looked up.

The back of the jade pendant is clearly engraved with the three characters "Baili Shi".

......