Li Mu lifted his eyes, the candlelight flickering in them, yet his gaze remained cold and solemn.

"Oh?" He responded mildly, then retorted, "Did Zhao Jing not speak of Miss Tang?"

Li Xingyuan hurriedly said, "Of course not! How would the eldest Miss know about this?"

"If that’s the case, why did Zhao Jing deceive her into going to Pingyang Temple?"

Li Xingyuan was stumped.

After a moment’s pause, he could only insist strongly, "He really mentioned the Second Miss! I swear!" Although he didn’t know why Zhao Jing deceived the eldest Miss to go, he indeed mentioned the Second Miss.

Li Mu was noncommittal: "Is there anything else?"

Li Xingyuan shook his head: "So, does the Second Miss really know the Crown Prince’s identity and whereabouts?"

Li Mu nodded.

Li Xingyuan felt like throwing something: "How old is she? How old is she now? How old was she two years ago?"

"She’s eleven now, and two years ago she was nine."

Li Xingyuan: ...That was not what I meant to ask.

"What I mean is, she’s such a young girl, even if unintentionally, she’s easily prone to leaking secrets! Can’t His Highness stop telling everything to a young girl?" He suddenly realized that two years ago, the Crown Prince was also just a child.

It really is impossible for children to keep secrets!

"The Second Miss wouldn’t." Li Mu said.

"If she didn’t let it slip, how did Zhao Jing know?"

"The ones who know I’m at the Duke Yan Mansion are by no means limited to the Second Miss alone." Li Mu said.

Li Xingyuan and Su Shunqing both had their expressions tense up.

This was serious.

If it were the young Miss Tang who let it slip, it could be seen as a child’s unintended action, but if it were someone else, it was a bigger issue.

Back then, those who knew the Crown Prince was at the Duke Yan Mansion included him, Su Shunqing, the Duke Yan Mansion, the Crown Prince Mansion, and Secretary Wang Maozhao, even Prince Changshan didn’t know.

He would naturally rule out their own people first.

Duke Yan Mansion was the one actively sheltering the Crown Prince, so they could be ruled out too.

Then that leaves the Crown Prince Mansion and Wang Maozhao.

Either way, it’s hard to say.

For the moment, he couldn’t say anymore.

Li Mu stood up and said, "Regarding Zhenzhou, is it necessary for the Princely Heir to go back and clarify?" Pausing, "Anyway, the luggage is all packed."

Li Xingyuan suspected he was gloating inwardly, although it wasn’t visible on his face.

He indeed needed to return for a while.

After all, Zhao Jing was sent by Prince Changshan, and since he’s dead here, an explanation is required.

Explain why Zhao Jing died and why Zhao Jing came.

But he felt a bit hesitant.

Having just been driven out, still with no clear explanation, leaving like this now, given Miss Tang’s temperament, would he have a chance to come back again in the future?

So he didn’t respond to the Crown Prince’s words, while seeing the guest off, he murmured, "At least it’s all packed up, better than having everything in a mess..."

...

Tang Xiaobai had just laid down when she suddenly sat up as if jolted by electricity, startling Tao Zi: "What’s wrong?"

"I forgot to tidy up Ah Xiao’s room after messing it up during the day!"

...

When Li Mu returned to his room, he finally understood what Li Xingyuan meant by those words.

His room wasn’t big, and he owned few things.

Even so, it still felt as if a thief had rummaged through it.

"The Second Miss said she was looking for some evidence." Mo Huan explained as he stepped up to tidy things.

"Don’t touch it!" Li Mu hurriedly said.

Mo Huan looked back at him, puzzled.

"You may go now, I’m weary." The Crown Prince stood with his hands behind his back, his tone light.

Mo Huan glanced around the room, utterly surprised.

What? Had the Crown Prince suddenly discovered he preferred this chaotic style?

Although he wasn’t as impatient in talking as Mo Ji, he was equally a reticent Hidden Guard. Since the Crown Prince requested so, Mo Huan left.

As he heard the room door close, Li Mu shifted his gaze outward, waited a while longer, then began to move.

There were only two chests in his room, one for clothes and the other for sundries, and now both had been emptied.

Li Mu slowly and carefully returned each piece of clothing that was strewn on the floor, imagining how she rummaged through his things, the warmth spreading across his face.

In the chest for sundries, there were only items she had given him.

The colorful cords for Dragon Boat Festival, the cornelian from Double Ninth Festival, and the lantern from Lantern Festival.

Her first attempt at making a tassel, the cup she crafted with his name on it, a woven bamboo ball bought casually from the market...

Did she see them all?

He closed the chest and turned to see the bed also in disarray, pillows and covers tangled together.

Li Mu curved his lips into a smile.

He felt guilty for not telling her beforehand that he had brought the letter with him, making her search so anxiously.

He set the pillow in place, undressed, and got on the bed.

As he lay down, he was suddenly poked by something small and round, reaching out, he found it was a fine string of beads.

Li Mu immediately thought of the colorful beaded headpiece the young girl wore that morning.

He held the beads between his fingers, gently rubbing them, pondering whether the string came from atop her head or from her side buns...

...

The next morning, upon seeing Tang Xiaobai, Li Mu couldn’t help but glance at her head.

Tang Xiaobai touched her head, asking, "What are you looking at?"

Li Mu shook his head and helped her onto the carriage.

Tang Xiaobai, as she was getting on the carriage, turned back to him and said, "Yesterday when I was looking for something in your room, I turned it a bit messy and forgot to tidy it up."

"No matter." Li Mu replied.

"There really aren’t many things in your room."

"I don’t need much."

"That cup was scorched, it’s useless to keep it. Next time I have a break, I’ll make you a new one."

"Okay..."

"Oh, by the way, I lost a string of beads yesterday, did it perhaps fall in your room?"

Li Mu was silent for a moment, then said, "I haven’t seen it."

Though her family didn’t lack such a fine string of beads, Tang Xiaobai still felt a bit regretful: "That was something I strung myself, I wonder where it might have fallen..."

...

The day before, Li Mu had been summoned into the Palace to meet the Emperor, having been seen by quite a few people along the way, naturally spreading within a certain range.

However, the part about the descendants of the Qin Clan shouldn’t have spread that quickly.

Yet when they arrived at the academy today, it was evident that everyone was already in the loop.

"Who did it?" Tang Xiaobai quietly asked Li Mu.

Li Mu shook his head.

He hadn’t let anyone spread the news.

However, the answer soon surfaced——

"Miss Qin arrived at Ganlu Hall’s entrance, and Qin Xiao turned around, dropped to his knees with a thud, and cried out ’Ah Jie’, and the siblings hugged each other and wept, a scene that moved everyone who saw it, even——"

"Ahem ahem!" Tang Xiaobai coughed heavily twice.

Wei Sui, caught up in the storytelling, didn’t hear: "Even the two Prime Ministers——"

"The Second Miss and Tang Xiao are here!"

"No, it’s Qin Xiao!"

Only then did Wei Sui stop and, turning to see the two of them, gave a cheeky smile.

"You didn’t even see it, what are you babbling about?" Tang Xiaobai remarked helplessly.

"It’s just for fun!" Wei Sui spoke with a grin, glancing at the perpetually silent handsome youth, "Why is he still with you? Weren’t the siblings reunited?"

Tang Xiaobai likewise glanced at the young master, replying to Wei Sui, "Why do you care?"

Although the young master didn’t seem particularly eager for a sibling reunion, that didn’t mean his sister felt the same way.

At noon, still in the guise of the young scholar in white, Qin Rong appeared at the door of Class B’s classroom, her bright eyes filled with mirth as she gazed merrily at the handsome young man behind the Second Miss Tang, looking as if she longed to draw close.