Wei Zhao scanned the text at a glance and went over to the desk.

Rong Di perceptively moved over and busied himself with grinding ink.

Wei Zhao picked up the wolf hair brush and dabbed it with some ink. As soon as he wrote the first stroke, he frowned slightly and turned his head to switch to his left hand.

A female voice, full of insincere laughter, sounded in the room.

Wei Zhao paused.

"Why did you stop writing?"

Yu Tingwan: "Is it because I’m standing here, disturbing you, husband?"

She tugged at the corner of her mouth: "Then I truly deserve to die."

As the last word fell, the atmosphere in the room turned uncanny.

Rong Di: ???

He, a burly man, suddenly felt... scared!

The ink dripped down and spread over the paper. Wei Zhao took a clean sheet of rice paper again. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

His explanation was pale and powerless: "No."

Yu Tingwan walked over, taking Rong Di’s place, holding the ink stick with her fair fingers and circling it on the inkstone.

"Then please continue writing, husband."

Her tone was not the least bit aggressive.

Yu Tingwan: "Ying Fuyan is waiting for a reply."

Wei Zhao had no choice but to continue writing.

Yu Tingwan seemed nonchalant: "I didn’t know before that my husband was left-handed."

"The characters written with your left hand are beautiful too."

"They don’t even tremble."

"I can’t do it."

Wei Zhao: ...

This kind of compliment, he didn’t want.

But as soon as Rong Di heard this, he got excited, straightening his back with pride.

"Madam, you don’t know, the General can write with his left hand and paint with his right hand without any hindrance!"

Yu Tingwan: ...

Who on earth would do something like that!

Probably because he’s been injured too many times.

He had no choice but to practice writing with his left hand.

Yu Tingwan said sarcastically, "That’s truly something to die for."

Wei Zhao: ...

Rong Di felt something was off, yet he thought the words made sense.

"That’s right! If the General hadn’t practiced martial arts, he should have been a renowned and high-ranking civil servant by now."

That’s for sure.

Yu Tingwan’s hands kept moving: "He’s also used to enduring. Earlier today, when I touched his wounded hand, he didn’t react at all."

On this point, Rong Di felt there were few who understood better than he did!

He was someone who loved to worry, expressing admiration for the General’s fearlessness and decisive actions anytime, anywhere!

Yu Tingwan hadn’t even begun to ask before he revealed everything, not forgetting to deliberately exaggerate.

"For others, they might have cried out in agony long ago. Madam, you didn’t know how dangerous the situation was back then. If it were me, I wouldn’t have dared to continue fighting, but the General didn’t think much of those opponents."

"Getting slashed a few times, it’s nothing. Even if his arm were cut off, as long as he still had a breath, the General wouldn’t bat an eye. I can’t do it!"

Wei Zhao: ...

Excellent.

He really raised a good subordinate.

Once Rong Di started talking, he couldn’t stop.

Wei Zhao coldly said, "Aren’t you going to shut up yet?"

The blindly admiring Rong Di: ???

"General, why can’t we talk about such things that show off your skills?"

He couldn’t understand.

"Young Madam!"

Yu Tingwan: "Hmm?"

Rong Di: "Aren’t you thrilled by what you’ve heard!"

Who in all of Shangjing!

Could compare to a finger of the General!

Under his hopeful eyes, he received a chilly reply.

"What’s boiling is not blood; perhaps it’s the mush brewing in your general’s skull."

Rong Di: ??

If it were anyone else, he would have drawn his sword long ago.

But this was Yu Tingwan.

Rong Di couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

"General, how did you upset your wife?"

How could he even ask that?

Wei Zhao was almost amused with anger.

Even Fu Meng knew how to read the room!

Wei Zhao swiftly finished writing the reply, put the brush down: "Thank you very much, indeed."

Rong Di felt a chill down his spine, grabbed the letter, and slipped away.

Yu Tingwan folded her arms, watching Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao silently raised his left hand to touch her hem.

Slap.

It was knocked away.

Wei Zhao continued to raise his hand.

Another slap.

Then he stopped moving.

Wei Zhao said slowly, "Trouble."

He added somberly, "My scalp is tingling."

Yu Tingwan sneered coldly.

On her way back, she thought of so many things to scold Wei Zhao with. She even thought about giving him a good punch to teach him a lesson.

But the moment her eyes met his, just as she was about to open her mouth, Yu Tingwan lost interest.

She threw down the ink stick in her hand.

It hit the ground with a thud.

She didn’t say another word, just reached out to check the injury.

Half of his arm was tightly wrapped with silk white gauze. She scrutinized it for a long time and found no signs of the wound splitting and bleeding.

But just a glance, and she could see the injury was serious.

"Wei Zhao."

Her voice was very soft.

"I know the things you have to do now are risky. I understand you can fight those people because you’re capable of getting away."

"I also know, standing on the edge of a blade, getting hurt is unavoidable."

"But I don’t want it to be next time when I sense something wrong or hear it from someone else."

"Don’t forget you’re a married man. Your mother only has you as her son. Get hurt less, and don’t put yourself in danger, so my heart and mother’s can be at ease, can you?"

Wei Zhao’s eyes trembled again and again.

This made him even more at a loss than when Yu Tingwan chastised him.

His pale lips opened and closed, eventually turning into a sigh.

After his father passed, he became the pillar of the family. Wounds are a common occurrence for him, never revealed in front of others.

The arm injury, to him, was indeed minor. He didn’t take it seriously at all.

But this probing was something he had to do.

When he went to the Imperial Palace, he was well-prepared.

The lady was close at hand; he lifted his uninjured hand to caress her face.

"Let..."

A low voice coaxed.

"Let Yaoyao be upset, it’s my fault."

No longer Yu Tingwan on the bed, but Yaoyao now.

Even at this time, he knows to call her Yaoyao.

Yu Tingwan sneered coldly: "If you know you’re wrong, then go sleep in the study."

Wei Zhao: ??

"I think, for this matter..."

"When your injuries are healed, come back."

Her face expressionless, brooking no argument, she pushed him outside.

"Lest I regret it in the middle of the night, tossing and turning, and get up to beat you."

"You also know I can’t control my emotions."

With a bang, the door closed.

Wei Zhaozhao was very weak: "I’m... not that guilty, am I?"

Through the door, Yu Tingwan’s voice came through the crack.

"I’m making money now, and you, Wei Zhao, are a wealthy man of the highest order. Is there need to be so poor, sleeping on the same bed every night?"

————

The next day.

Early in the morning, Shangjing was in an uproar.

Everyone started discussing the fire at the Imperial Palace, and suddenly, a piece of news whispered has reached Shangjing.

The Second Prince Mansion.

For some reason, Yao Ru was restless, her eyelids kept twitching. She fiddled with the Buddha beads in her hands, trying to calm herself.

With a ’snap,’ the string of the beads broke, and the beads scattered all over the floor.

The maid, Xun Zhu, hurriedly bent down to pick them up.

Yao Ru, however, was hardly concerned, striding outside and happened to bump into the nanny coming back from outside.

Yao Ru grabbed her hand.

"For some reason, my chest feels terribly tight. Weren’t there a batch of officials exiled to Lingnan again, and the government officer you bribed should have returned by now? Didn’t they bring back any news of Fuyan?"

Under Yao Ru’s expectations, the nanny’s eyes revealed a complex emotion.

"There’s news... it’s been spreading all over outside."

Yao Ru’s eyes lit up: "How is he!"

Seeing the nanny’s grave expression, her heart sank.

"Is it not good? Well, that place isn’t fit for humans, and they have to perform hard labor..."

The nanny held her up, steeling herself as she interrupted: "Mistress, take heart, Prince Yan... is gone."

The surrounding sounds receded like a tide.

Yao Ru stared at the nanny’s moving mouth, as if the words were a poisoned arrow, piercing her soul, leaving only an empty shell frozen on the spot.