Untouchable Lovers

Chapter 181: Chapter 164: Three Thousand Fendai

The room was scented with burning incense, and the warm, fragrant air permeated the entire space, winding and lingering, keeping the coolness of autumn outside the house.

Chu Yu sat inside the room, holding a steaming teacup; the heat of the tea ascended with its aroma, comfortably enveloping her.

On her left sat Liu Sang, a child whose eyes were pitifully sad, bandaged with a cloth soaked in cold water. Though he could not see, his hand still tightly clutched Chu Yu’s sleeve.

To her right was Amman. Although it was autumn, the Kunlun slave still dressed lightly, with bare arms and legs. His posture wasn’t exactly proper, but he remained attentively still.

Chu Yu listened quietly as Huan Yuan recounted the events of the past month that she had missed.

There had been some changes in the court, but nothing too drastic; at least, nothing that overturned the status quo. Chu Yu found solace in the fact that Liu Ziyue had not gone back on the promises made before her abduction. He had appointed Huan Yuan to an official position and had begun clearing a space in Jiankang City to build an academy.

Chu Yu had broadly envisioned implementing the imperial examination system of later eras, but after careful consideration, Huan Yuan thought it was too hasty and decided to proceed more gradually, starting with a school and inviting a few well-known scholars to manage it.

This approach of his was similar to that of newly-founded universities in later times, which would invite famous and prestigious professors to lend their names—even though those universities sometimes couldn’t secure such professors even with generous funding. Huan Yuan, however, found it much easier due to Liu Ziyue’s support. Whoever he wanted, he could simply summon with an imperial edict.

But Huan Yuan didn’t wholly resort to coercion. After summoning the guest lecturers with imperial edicts, he would personally interact with them. Being genuinely talented, and with the growth he had experienced recently, he was adept at social interactions and eventually convinced the scholars to stay willingly.

Having covered external matters, it was time to discuss the affairs within the Princess Mansion. Huan Yuan was brief on this aspect, merely stating that the emperor was extremely furious about the princess’s abduction and had visited the Princess Mansion a few times waiting for news, ceasing only upon hearing of Chu Yu’s presumed death.

The reason they thought Chu Yu was dead was that a week earlier, He Jue had returned, reporting that Chu Yu and Rong Zhi had both fallen from a cliff to their deaths, and even brought back two mangled corpses.

Hua Cuo went mad at the news, recklessly attacking He Jue with lethal moves designed for mutual destruction, but He Jue still managed to escape. In the ensuing days, aside from spending three hours a day mourning, Hua Cuo practiced swordsmanship frantically. Since Hua Cuo believed it, and they hadn’t found Chu Yu in twenty days, they all did too—how could they suspect He Jue would lie?

Once Huan Yuan finished, Chu Yu felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to see it was Liu Sang. He had removed the cloth from his eyes and smiled sweetly, saying, “Brother Huan is too modest; there’s more he hasn’t mentioned.”

With Liu Sang’s added details, Chu Yu learned that after hearing of her death, Liu Ziyue, in his fury, had once wanted the entire Princess Mansion to be buried with her. It was only through Huan Yuan’s earnest efforts that everyone was spared from execution—a miracle in itself and the reason why the entire household now yielded to Huan Yuan so readily.

After listening to Liu Sang’s narrative filled with gestures, Chu Yu turned in surprise to look at Huan Yuan, who had remained composed and calm up until the moment she looked at him when he briefly showed a flash of embarrassment.

When had Huan Yuan grown to this extent? She knew the severity of Liu Ziyue’s ruthlessness; saving someone from his clutches was not an easy feat.

Time is indeed a wondrous mage. It had only been a month apart, and Huan Yuan had changed anew.

Chu Yu pressed her lips into a smile, patted Liu Sang’s hand to let him release her for a moment, and stood up to walk over to Huan Yuan. After gazing at him for a while, she gave him a deep bow.

A very deep bow, nearly to the ground.

Taken aback, Huan Yuan quickly reached out to support Chu Yu, whispering, “Princess, I do not deserve this.”

Chu Yu allowed him to hold her up but kept her eyes steadily on him and spoke slowly, “No, you do deserve it. This bow is not only for you but also for everyone in the Princess Mansion.” She said slowly and very sincerely, “Really, Huan Yuan, I thank you.”