The Emperor, with more men than women, made me his mistress.

Yue Li looked directly at the person she had bumped into, and imitated the man's gesture of bowing and apologizing, "Brother, I'm sorry for my rudeness. I was lost in thought and bumped into you. I'm truly sorry."

After strolling through the night market, Jin Chenyuan and Shao Qi were on their way back to the inn when someone bumped into them from behind.

The two turned around and found that it was the same young boy they had seen at the night market who loved to watch the excitement.

Fortunately, they had seen the boy at the night market, otherwise they would have thought he had bumped into them on purpose.

Seeing that the young man was genuinely apologizing, Jin Chenyuan did not pursue the matter further, but gently said, "It's alright."

Shao Qi, who was standing next to him, said, "We saw you at the night market earlier."

"Oh? Really? What a coincidence." Yue Li really didn't know how to respond to that.

Shao Qi, however, was a very outgoing person. He took a liking to Yue Li the moment he saw her, since Yue Li was a handsome young man even when disguised as a man. In addition, while she was considered tall for a woman, she was short for a man.

This would make people think of her as a young boy who hasn't grown up yet.

Shao Qi leaned closer to Yue Li, smiling broadly, and asked, "Are you going home after you've finished shopping at the night market? Where do you live? Do you want us to take you home?"

Seeing that the person she bumped into wasn't going to pursue the matter, and that the person next to her was being so enthusiastic, Yue Li smiled and said, "My home isn't here. I'm staying at the Laifu Inn now. I've had enough of the night market, so I'm going back to sleep."

Hearing Yue Li's words, Jin Chenyuan raised an eyebrow, while Shao Qi said with delight, "You're also staying at Laifu Inn? That's perfect! We're staying at Laifu Inn too, and we can go back on the same route. By the way, what's your name?"

After saying that, Shao Qi immediately introduced himself, "My name is Shao Qi."

"This is Lian Chenyuan." After introducing himself, he didn't forget to introduce Jin Chenyuan next to him as well.

Because of Jin Chenyuan's unusual surname, he always used the name Lian Chenyuan in public. Lian is his mother's surname.

"My name is Yue Li." Yue Li is in a good mood right now.

I never expected to meet two handsome guys on my way back to the guesthouse after strolling through the night market. One was aloof and ethereal, the other carefree and unrestrained—ahhh! Handsome guys are definitely a feast for the eyes.

The three of them walked towards Laifu Inn, talking as they went. Yue Li would glance at Jin Chenyuan on her left, who had a cool and aloof demeanor and exuded an ethereal aura, and then at Shao Qi on her right, who radiated a sunny disposition.

How could Yue Li's little tricks possibly escape Jin Chenyuan and Shao Qi's notice? Besides, Yue Li was seeing things quite blatantly, wasn't she? She never intended to hide it at all.

"Yue Li, where do you plan to go after you leave here?" Shao Qi asked curiously.

Shao Qi asked this question because Yue Li had just told them that she was out sightseeing.

Yue Li said, "I plan to go to Kyoto. I've lived in a remote county town all my life and have never been to Kyoto before, so I want to go and see it."

Upon hearing Yue Li's words, Shao Qi tapped his phone with the folding fan in his right hand and exclaimed with delight, "That's perfect, we're going the same way, we're also heading back to Kyoto. When you get to Kyoto, would you like to stay at my place? That way you won't have to stay at an inn anymore, it's so inconvenient."

Yue Li: ……

How can this person be so overly familiar? She's only known him for less than an hour, and he's already asking her to stay at his house. How can he be so heartless!

However, Yue Li refused, saying, "I still have things to do here, and I don't know when I can leave. As for staying at your house, I don't need to. I'm not used to staying at other people's houses."

Seeing that the cheerful boy seemed a little downcast because of her words, Yue Li added, "I won't stay at your house, but I can still visit you. I just don't know if we'll ever meet again in Kyoto."

Upon hearing Yue Li's words, Shao Qi immediately perked up and said, "I'll tell you my home address. If we don't meet, you can come to my house to find me."

Yue Li: ……

"Okay!"

Jin Chenyuan listened to their conversation with a smile, without saying a word. He could tell that this young boy named Yue Li was indeed not there for them.

It was truly an accident that they were able to meet.

Upon arriving at the inn, Yue Li parted ways with the two of them and returned to her room.

In a room not far from Yue Li, three men sat down at a table and began exchanging the information they had found.

If Yue Li were here, she would definitely recognize that one of these three people is the man she took the Spirit-Guiding Jade from last night.

The man was still wearing half a mask. The other two seemed unfazed by the mask on his face.

Jin Chenyuan said, "We have obtained a lot of evidence regarding the iron mine, but the other evidence has been completely covered up by the officials here."

Shao Qi tapped the folding fan in his hand, making a loud clattering sound, and spoke through gritted teeth, "These greedy officials, do they want to die? They actually dare to mine iron ore privately. Have they forgotten the laws of the court after just a few days in office? Don't they know that mining iron ore privately is a capital offense?"

Feng Yuanxi said, "The evidence we have now is enough to have all these people beheaded, but we don't know if there are any who have escaped."

The three of them were able to come to Qingyuan Prefecture because they received a secret report that officials and merchants were colluding to illegally mine iron ore.

The importance of iron ore to a country and its role in war need no explanation.

Jin Chenyuan, the current emperor's uncle, wields immense power and influence in the court. He was the one who single-handedly helped the current emperor ascend the throne.

The masked man was named Feng Yuanxi, a Tiger General of the current dynasty. At 27 years old, the Tiger General held considerable influence in the court.

The presence of these two individuals demonstrates just how seriously the Emperor took the matter of someone daring to mine iron ore privately.

Shao Qi, the heir of the Duke's mansion, agreed to accompany the two on this trip to investigate the illegal iron ore mining because he had loved studying medicine since childhood and was quite knowledgeable in the field. To prevent anyone from getting injured, and since it was inconvenient to seek treatment at a clinic in this area, they brought Shao Qi along.

The condition was that after returning, Jin Chenyuan promised to let Shao Qi enter the palace library to read books.

Being able to access the imperial library was something Shao Qi had long coveted. So when Jin Chenyuan and the others wanted him to join them on a long trip to investigate this mission, Shao Qi agreed without hesitation.

However, he didn't need Feng Yuanxi's help this time since Feng Yuanxi was injured. Thinking of this, he turned to the two people who were still discussing things and said, "Brother Yuan, could you let me study the pills in those two jade bottles you got?"

Upon hearing his words, the two people who were discussing matters stopped and looked at him.

Yesterday, while Feng Yuanxi was investigating this matter, a group of people suddenly appeared and started chasing him.

Although Feng Yuanxi was extremely skilled in martial arts, he couldn't withstand a large number of opponents.

Therefore, Feng Yuanxi only had the opportunity to send a signal after he had dealt with all the people who were chasing him. He himself was also seriously injured and exhausted, so he fainted.

He briefly regained consciousness once during the ordeal and saw that there was indeed someone beside him, but he couldn't make out the person's face clearly. He only vaguely remembered that it was a man wearing a light blue robe. Then he fainted again.

When he woke up again, he was in an inn. The cuts and slashes on his body had healed as if he had never been injured at all.

If it weren't for the large bloodstains and knife cuts on his clothes, everyone would have thought he wasn't injured at all.

After Shao Qi examined him, he said that Shao Qi was in excellent health and there was no sign of injury whatsoever. Even the old wounds from previous battles had healed.