In the novel "Joy of Life," the protagonist wakes up at Li Chengze's residence.

After meeting Fan Xian, Li Chengze sat in the carriage, pondering the scene that had just unfolded.

Talented, courageous, and with interesting behavior...

Li Chengze's gaze unconsciously fell on the plate of grapes on the tea table inside the carriage.

“This illegitimate son of the Fan family from Danzhou is quite interesting.” Li Chengze rested his face on his left hand, lightly tapping his face with his middle and index fingers.

Then he picked up a small bunch of grapes and, just like Fan Xian, brought it to his mouth and took a bite.

He lay sprawled on the carriage floor, one leg bent and the other casually draped over the floor, picking up a bunch of grapes with his hand and eating them one by one.

I also tried to find that carefree and unrestrained feeling.

Xie Bi'an, outside the carriage, took the carrier pigeon from his hand, removed the letter tube, and then asked Li Chengze inside the carriage: "Your Highness, news has just come back about the matter you sent someone to do last time."

"Really? That's quick enough. Come in."

Upon hearing this, Xie Bi'an lifted the curtain and went inside the carriage, leaving only the coachman and servant outside.

Li Chengze took the roll of letter paper from Xie Bi'an and flattened it with his hand.

After reading it, he chuckled meaningfully: "Ha... His Highness the Crown Prince is certainly not idle. What a pity, I've already beaten him to it again."

Seeing his prince like this, Xie Bi'an couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, "That's only right."

Li Chengze stopped on that topic and started talking about Fan Xian, whom he had met that day.

"Bi'an, what do you think of Fan Xian?"

Xie Bi'an pondered for a while and said, "He is arrogant and has a kind of haughty air about him."

Li Chengze smiled upon hearing this, but the smile did not reach his eyes; there was a strange undertone to it: "To have such ambition as an illegitimate child, no wonder His Majesty entrusted the Imperial Treasury to him. It's a good thing that I met him before the Crown Prince today."

After saying that, he looked at a certain spot inside the car.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that there was still an unresolved matter within the manor.

Really annoying.

His eyes, which had narrowed with happiness, relaxed as the smile faded.

Prince's Mansion.

Tao Jingyang brought the food box into the house, opened it, and found only a bowl of porridge.

Add a small dish of side dishes as well.

The somber mood stirred within Tao Jingyang, causing him to silently weep.

But hunger made her quickly finish the porridge in her bowl.

After finishing his porridge, Tao Jingyang sat at the table for a while, wavering between saving face and hunger.

Having made up his mind, he prepared to go to the backyard to "beg for alms" for a bowl of food.

Suddenly, she heard a noise that didn't seem to come from inside the mansion, but rather from outside the gate.

Is this the sound I should be hearing?

"Guo Degang... Guo Degang... Come on, let's go!"

Is that... the sound of a horse-drawn carriage?

Not only that, she also heard footsteps, which were a bit heavy, like the sound of someone jumping off a carriage.

There was another set of footsteps, which initially sounded like they were coming from inside a carriage, muffled and uneventful.

After walking a few steps, it felt as if I was stepping on some kind of mat.

She couldn't tell what material the mat was made of, but as she stepped on it, she seemed to hear a slightly heavy, muffled breath.

It's like someone being punched in the back, suppressing a cry of pain in their throat.

With a creak, it seemed that only one person had entered the mansion.

The footsteps grew louder as they approached, and the person's breathing could be heard clearly.

"Has Li Chengze returned to the manor?" Tao Jingyang suppressed his inner tension and pondered silently.

The footsteps weren't coming towards Tao Jingyang; although they were just passing by, there were a few moments when they were quite close.

No, there are two people!

There was a footstep sound that was almost imperceptible; even if you were close by, you couldn't hear it clearly.

If Tao Jingyang hadn't been intentionally listening for footsteps outside the door, he probably wouldn't have noticed.

Suddenly, Tao Jingyang seemed to have discovered something else.

A person jumped down from the roof of the neighboring house and left together with the two footsteps she had just heard.