Ming Lu asked in a careful manner, “Then... Master, after doing so much, are we giving up on them?”

Pei Rumo’s eyes were still staring into the distance but the corners of his mouth curled upwards. “Give up? How can we possibly give up? Wait and see. If Ying Lan’s side doesn’t work, we can work on the other side.”

Ming Lu looked at the profound smile on his master’s face and felt that there was something wrong. “Other side? Which other side is related to the Palace of Brilliance Resurgence?”

“Our Divine Physician Bai had been walking rather closely with them. Of course the other side refers to the general’s residence.” Pei Rumo went back to dealing with the imperial notices.

The First Prince’s residence might have regained its calm, but the Remote Paddy Inn was extremely lively. 

Guan Yue and Meng Luoping had been waiting for Ying Lan’s return at Remote Paddy Inn. After waiting for a long time, they were all feeling somewhat nervous. Guan Yue might be a composed individual, but he heard stories about Pei Rumo. He wasn’t able to sit still anymore and was preparing to visit the First Prince’s residence to ask for Ying Lan’s release. If they weren’t going to release Ying Lan, he was prepared to kill his way out together with Ying Lan.

Meng Luoping carefully observed the situation and dissuaded Guan Yue. “What are you doing? If you head over there and die, Master will peel off a layer of my skin!”

“What am I doing? I am obviously going to rescue our Palace Master. Am I supposed to wait for Ying Lan to be delivered back in a coffin?” In Guan Yue’s opinion, Pei Rumo was a tyrannical person. Seeing as how Ying Lan hadn’t returned after such a long time, Guan Yue started to worry.

Guan Yue was about to charge out of the Remote Paddy Inn but Meng Luoping held him back and didn’t allow Guan Yue to leave no matter what. Just as the two of them were about to fight, the door opened.

Ying Lan already had a lot to think about after leaving the First Prince’s residence. When he saw that the two of them were about to break out into blows, he felt a throbbing pain in his head. He rubbed his temples and asked, “What are the two of you fighting over?”

The moment the doors opened, Meng Luoping and Guan Yue froze in their position. Now that Ying Lan was back, there was no longer a need to fight.

Guan Yue felt embarrassed and turned his head away. Meng Luoping had no choice but to explain what had happened earlier.

“Guan Yue was wondering why you are not back yet and he felt that something bad had happened. He was preparing to kill his way into the First Prince’s residence to ask for your release. I was afraid he might do something wrong and didn’t allow him to go.” Meng Luoping stammered when he spoke. No one knew if he was feeling embarrassed because he prevented Guan Yue from going or because they were childish when handling the matter.

Ying Lan was rather stunned after hearing the reply. He originally thought that they were causing trouble for him, but he didn’t think that they were behaving like this due to their concern for him. Ying Lan felt uncomfortable and coughed lightly, “Cough cough. Nothing happened. As for Pei Rumo’s intentions, I need the two of you to help me analyze his actions. Guan Yue, you are the most familiar with him. I will definitely need your help on this matter.”

Ying Lan spoke and noticed that the two of them were frozen to their spots like statues. After they sat down, Meng Luoping felt that he had let down Ying Lan and he poured a cup of tea for the Palace Master in order to apologize.

“Pei Rumo didn’t look for me randomly. He wants to recruit our Palace of Brilliance Resurgence.” Ying Lan didn’t hold himself back. After drinking at the First Prince’s residence and the delay to his trip back, he was parched. He downed the cup of tea in a single gulp before explaining the situation to the two of them.

Meng Luoping and Guan Yue looked at each other and could see the suspicion in each other’s eyes. They turned back and Meng Luoping finally asked, “Just that? Is there anything else? If there really is something, you can speak to us about it. Three brains are better than one. Anyway, it will be much better than shouldering the responsibility alone.” Meng Luoping felt that things weren’t as simple as Ying Lan described.

Ying Lan was rather helpless and he thought that the two of them were overly suspicious. But after thinking about it, he realized that their understanding of Pei Rumo was the reason behind their suspicion. He had no choice but to explain the situation one more time. “If there is anything strange, it will be how Pei Rumo brought up Divine Physician Bai during our conversation. Everyone should know that Mistress is currently too weak and it won’t be good if Pei Rumo decides to deal with her. We are all rough men and cannot constantly stay around Mistress as she is an unwed lady. This is the matter I am here to discuss with you.”

“Did you agree?” Guan Yue asked.

Ying Lan immediately refuted, “How is that possible? Putting everything else aside, I cannot possibly agree due to the fact that he might be targeting Mistress. I told him that I would consider the alliance before leaving.”

“Will Pei Rumo invite you over again? If he does that, you might not be able to leave as easily.”

The one who spoke was Meng Luoping and Ying Lan was startled as he obviously didn’t think that far. At this moment, Guan Yue piped up, “He will not. Pei Rumo is an intelligent person and already knows that Ying Lan has refused his proposal. He will not continue to harp on this matter as he is a prideful descendant of the imperial clan. Now, we need to investigate how Pei Rumo learned of the relationship between Divine Physician Bai and our Palace of Brilliance Resurgence.”

“To be honest, it is my fault. Mistress had plenty of free time during the past few days and had been frequently visiting me to discuss the future development of the Palace of Brilliance Resurgence. She might not be concerned about her identity, but I felt that it wasn’t right for a young lady like her to constantly move about. Hence, I started visiting the general’s residence instead. After noticing that there were many secret guards around, I reported it to Mistress. However, it seemed as though there was nothing to worry about and I became careless. Pei Rumo’s men should be part of those secret guards and he managed to find out the connection between Mistress and I.” As he spoke, a guilty look appeared on his face.