Early the next morning, Jun Huailang had a splitting headache.
In a daze, before even opening his eyes, he first raised a hand and rubbed his throbbing temple.
He really had drunk a little too much yesterday. Although he had always been someone who showed little sign of drunkenness when intoxicated, once he drank too much, the hangover was always particularly severe.
He slowly exhaled, pressing his fingers against his forehead and rubbing it gently.
As his consciousness gradually cleared, he immediately noticed that his lips hurt.
He withdrew the hand from his temple and touched his lips.
…The skin was broken.
In an instant, the memories of last night surged over him like a tide, instantly waking Jun Huailang completely.
Although he had been drunk, he had not been drunk enough to black out.
So he remembered everything that had happened last night with perfect clarity.
After sending Shen Liufeng home, he had returned to the residence himself. Halfway there, Xue Yan had been standing there waiting for him. Then he had sent away the young servant who had been following behind him.
He had said some things to Xue Yan, all of them nonsense…
Or rather, they were things he had only said to himself to persuade himself, things he could never let anyone else hear.
Yet after getting drunk, he had poured out every one of those truths to Xue Yan.
And afterward…
Jun Huailang’s hand resting against his lips moved unconsciously, lightly brushing across them.
After that came the overwhelming kisses—rough and forceful, clumsy and crude. The scent of sandalwood and alcohol had mingled together, becoming tangled in their breaths.
He had almost been kissed until he could not breathe, and the wound on his lips…
That had been bitten open by Xue Yan at that time.
Jun Huailang’s mind became a complete blur.
Just then, Fuyi heard movement from behind the bed curtains.
He carefully pulled the curtain open a small crack and whispered, “Young Master, you’re awake this early? You drank quite a lot yesterday. You should sleep a little longer.”
Dim light filtered in from outside the curtains. The sky had not yet fully brightened.
Jun Huailang hummed in response.
After a pause, he asked, “…How did I get back last night?”
His memories of yesterday stopped at that kiss.
Jun Huailang’s hand tightened unconsciously around the quilt.
He heard Fuyi give a small “oh” before saying, “Ah, His Highness the Prince of Guangling brought you back.”
…Just as he thought.
Fuyi continued, “I also noticed that you had an injury on your lips, so I asked His Highness what had happened.”
Jun Huailang’s grip on the quilt tightened.
“…What did he say?”
His voice had become hoarse.
The light was dim, so Fuyi could not see how stiff and tense he was. He continued casually, “Ah, His Highness said I should ask you myself tomorrow.”
Jun Huailang pressed his lips together.
“Young Master, do you remember how you got it?” Fuyi asked.
Jun Huailang gritted his teeth.
A dog bit me, he thought.
“I knocked it.”
He slowly spoke, each word distinct.
“There was a chipped edge on the wine cup yesterday. I hit my mouth against it.”
Fuyi responded with an understanding sound.
“Then go back to sleep, Young Master,” he said. “I’ll wake you later.”
Jun Huailang closed his eyes and answered softly.
Fuyi lowered the bed curtains.
Just then, Jun Huailang spoke again.
“Fuyi.”
“Yes, Young Master?”
Fuyi hurriedly responded.
Inside the curtains, Jun Huailang gritted his teeth.
“Starting today, not a single person from the Prince of Guangling’s residence is allowed to come here.”
He paused.
“Including the Prince of Guangling himself.”
——
Jinbao came several times.
His master had been behaving strangely for no apparent reason. He spent his days sitting blankly in the study, then searching for all sorts of miscellaneous things and ordering Jinbao to deliver them to the Heir’s residence.
Food and fruit, books and various trinkets, brushes, ink, paper and inkstones, rare treasures…
Jinbao felt as though he had become a traveling peddler.
And, indeed, he was turned away at the door every single time.
He and Fuyi were on fairly good terms, so he tried asking around indirectly several times.
Fuyi also said he did not know.
“He was already like this when we came back that night. I truly don’t know what happened,” Fuyi honestly told him.
Thus, Jinbao returned empty-handed again and again.
His master did not blame him, though.
Whenever Jinbao brought the gifts back completely untouched, Xue Yan did not punish him in the slightest. It was as though he had not even noticed, casually assigning him some other task as if nothing had happened.
But before long, he would send him out again.
Even someone as thick-skinned as Jinbao was beginning to find it unbearable.
Being turned away several times a day like this—who could stand it?
Finally, when Jinbao once again returned with everything he had been sent to deliver completely untouched, he finally protested.
He nervously shook his leg and cautiously said to Xue Yan,
“Master… they said over there that as long as the person is from our residence, they’re not letting them in.”
Xue Yan’s hand holding the brush stopped.
After a moment, he calmly dipped it into the ink and asked,
“…What about the Heir?”
Jinbao said, “According to the people at their residence, he went to the academy first thing this morning.”
Xue Yan said nothing.
Jinbao waited for a while. Seeing that his master truly had no intention of speaking, he cautiously suggested,
“Master, if you… really want to send something to His Highness, why don’t you go there yourself?”
After all, judging by the current situation, Jinbao would bet his head that his master must have offended the Heir somehow.
If he had incurred a love debt, why make things difficult for himself?
Besides, no matter how bold the people at Jun Huailang’s residence were, would they really dare to stop this living devil?
If Xue Yan simply forced his way in, he would definitely be able to see the Heir himself.
Yet Xue Yan fell silent.
After a moment, he slowly exhaled and lowered his head.
“Wait a little longer,” he said.
“…He definitely doesn’t want to see me right now.”
Jinbao: ??
And so, from that day onward, Jun Huailang left early and returned late every day, spending all his time at the academy.
He had nowhere else to go.
The embankment was under repair, and Xue Yan was at the government office. He had no choice but to go to the academy every day, pretending to study diligently alongside the other students, reading those things he had already known by heart in his previous life.
Most of the students at the academy revered the Confucian classics as sacred texts. They studied with sincere devotion and earnest hearts.
One day, as Jun Huailang passed by the academy entrance, he happened to hear a scholar speaking animatedly.
“Don’t look down on the Four Books and Five Classics just because they’re only a few thin books. Every difficult matter in this world can be solved through them!”
Hearing this, Jun Huailang smiled faintly and shook his head.
There had been a time when he had thought the same.
But later he learned that the truly difficult things in this world were precisely the things no one could solve.
The principles in the Four Books and Five Classics could not accomplish it.
Even if Confucius and Mencius were alive, they could not accomplish it either.
For example, there was the fate that had befallen the Jun family in his previous life.
His father had been victimized, his mother had taken her own life, and the entire family had fallen onto his shoulders alone.
Fortunately, by then he had already passed the imperial examinations, entered the court, and earned Emperor Qingping’s deep trust.
But the emperor’s trust alone was not enough.
He came from an influential aristocratic family and had always been a target of criticism from the Jiang faction, which was composed largely of men from humble backgrounds. Every few days, several memorials impeaching him would appear on the emperor’s desk.
He also refused to become complicit with the Xu family, while the Xu family was equally wary of him.
As for everyone else, all they could see was the Jun family’s illustrious status and his promising youth.
He was isolated within the court.
As time passed, even Emperor Qingping would grow somewhat weary of him.
Then, when the empire itself began to totter, he could not even change his younger sister’s fate.
He could only watch helplessly as his younger brother died for the country.
In the end, the entire household was left with only the two siblings, along with a host of relatives from collateral branches who depended on him for their survival.
…And then there was himself in this life.
Clearly, the things that had gone out of control in his previous life were gradually returning to the right path.
Yet in this life, the thing that had gone out of control had become himself.
He could not even control his own heart.
He had fallen in love with the enemy who, in his previous life, had defiled his younger sister.
Even if there was something suspicious about that book, even if that man seemed to…
He still did not dare rely on the small amount of hope in his heart and gamble everything on a reckless risk.
For these past few days, he had been struggling endlessly with himself.
There was no one who could tell him what he should do.
For several days in a row, Jun Huailang’s mood remained sunk at rock bottom.
And Jinling had not stayed sunny for more than a few days before rain began falling again.
Normally, when it rained, Jun Huailang would only occasionally go to the embankment. He would not truly waste his time staying at the academy.
But the official road beside the embankment was still cordoned off for construction, making it impossible for Jun Huailang to go there.
So he continued going to the academy every day.
The rain was so heavy that walking was impossible. He had no choice but to take a carriage.
But whenever it rained, there were more carriages on the roads. Every day when classes ended, he had to remain stuck in traffic outside the academy for half a day before he could finally make his way, bumping and jolting, onto the main road.
This only added to the irritation already weighing on Jun Huailang’s mood.
Until this day.
On this particular day, Jun Huailang’s carriage had only just squeezed out of the narrow road outside the academy when, after traveling for a short while, it became stuck again.
“…What happened?”
Jun Huailang could not help frowning.
From ahead, the coachman replied,
“Young Master, there is a convoy transporting stone materials ahead. It looks like they’re heading north.”
“North?”
Jun Huailang lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside.
Through the hazy curtain of rain, there was indeed a procession of people and horses moving slowly along.
Flatbed carts carried gravel and stones, covered with oilcloth.
Jun Huailang’s eyes darkened slightly.
Who would repair a road in such heavy rain?
Not only would visibility be poor, making it difficult to see clearly, but the workers would also have to labor in the rain.
Moreover, when constructing a road, the gravel had to be mixed with water, and the ratio of gravel to water had to be carefully controlled. Otherwise, the hardness of the road surface would be affected.
With rain pouring down from the sky, no one could control the amount of water being added.
How could they possibly be repairing the road at a time like this?
Neither his father nor Prefect Shen would ever behave so recklessly.
Jun Huailang knocked on the carriage wall and said to the coachman,
“Go and find one of their people. Bring him here.”
The coachman acknowledged the order, opened his umbrella, and jumped down from the carriage.
Their carriage belonged to the Provincial Governor’s residence, so from a distance, it was clearly an official vehicle.
The convoy did not dare to neglect it and immediately came to a stop.
Before long, the man leading the convoy ran through the rain toward Jun Huailang’s carriage.
“Official, what are your orders?”
The man stood outside the carriage.
Jun Huailang opened the curtain and saw a burly man standing outside.
“Who is in charge of your road construction?” Jun Huailang asked. “Why are you in such a hurry to transport the stone materials in such heavy rain?”
The man paused.
Amid the downpour, Jun Huailang could not clearly see the expression on his face.
“Well, Official, you may not know. The officials at the government office are pressing us hard to meet the deadline. Transporting the stone materials is troublesome, so I took the liberty of deciding to hurry and bring them over while I could.”
Jun Huailang asked, “Which official is pressing you?”
The man gave an awkward smile.
“Well… I’m just an ordinary commoner. I can’t recognize which official is which. I only follow the orders of the officials wearing black gauze hats.”
Jun Huailang frowned.
There was nothing more he could get out of this man.
Although he also hoped that the official road could be completed sooner, if they pushed the construction schedule without regard for the consequences, an accident would happen sooner or later.
He instructed him,
“Transporting the materials is fine, but when it rains, you absolutely must not force the construction work to continue.”
The man repeatedly nodded in agreement.
Jun Huailang nodded.
“Go.”
Seeing that the man had been standing in the rain for so long, Jun Huailang even took out a spare oil-paper umbrella from the carriage and handed it to him.
The man thanked him repeatedly before opening the umbrella and leaving.
The moment he raised the umbrella, his face, which had been blurred by the heavy rain, suddenly became clear.
Jun Huailang froze.
Perhaps it was only his imagination, but he could not help feeling that the foreman’s features…
looked somewhat vicious.