There are some things that can't be said to Yexu, and now the two of them are in the same boat, so many actions need to be coordinated together. So it's very necessary to communicate with Qiuyue and tell her about his own plans.

  But things changed too quickly, when at Ye's house, Ye Zhuo didn't even have time to talk to Qiuyue, and afterwards it was always inconvenient. Who would know if there were any masters paying attention to their every move at this moment?

  Ye Zhuo raised his finger to his lips and made a "shh" sound, then said in a slightly hoarse voice: "I also want to go back. But I've only been at the Nie family for one day, and now I'm being driven away like this, I'll become the laughing stock of Nanshan Town, I don't want to lose face in front of my grandfather." His voice sank lower as he spoke, "Autumn Moon, if Master Nie also misunderstands me and thinks those things were spread by me, and doesn't take me on as his apprentice anymore, what am I supposed to do?"

  As soon as Qiuyue saw Ye Zhuo's gesture, she knew this wasn't a place for conversation. She comforted her in a soothing tone: "Don't worry, Master Nie is such an intelligent person, he must know you're being wronged. Besides, your skills have been praised by Princess Yufei herself, if Master Nie doesn't accept you, who else would he take?"

  Ye Chou let out a long sigh and said, "But I always feel uncomfortable in my heart. Alas, how could such a thing happen?" After finishing speaking, she subtly pointed her finger outside with her hand.

  "Why don't we go out for a walk? This courtyard is so beautiful, you should be happy living here."

  "Alright, let's go." Ye Zhuo stood up listlessly and walked out with Qiuyue's hand in his.

  The two of them walked along the pond and turned a big circle. They walked to a small pavilion next to the pond, saw that it was empty all around, and there was also the sound of flowing water next to it, making it difficult for people to eavesdrop on their conversation. Ye Zhuo looked up at the top of the pavilion, made sure no one was there, and then sat down, saying straightforwardly: "Autumn Moon, if I suffered a setback today and ran back home, tomorrow there would be the steward of the Nie residence, or even Master Nie himself, coming to my door to apologize and invite me to return. What do you think? Should I go back?"

  "This..." Autumn Moon was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "We must go back, otherwise we will definitely offend the Nie family. The face of the Nie family is not something we can afford to lose."

  "So, the humiliation I suffered was not enough. This is also why I didn't further provoke Niece. The anger that erupts over a small matter has no lethal power; what I want is to slowly accumulate it in my heart."

  Qiu Yue grasped Ye Zhuo's hand tightly, her eyes extremely uneasy: "But if that's the case, we'll be in danger! One careless move and we'll end up dead. Why don't we just stay in the Nie residence instead? Even if it means living by currying favor with others, at least it's better than losing our lives."

  "Believe me, nothing will happen!" Ye Zhuo looked into Qiuyue's eyes and nodded firmly with confidence.

  Autumn Moon's restless heart suddenly calmed down miraculously. The young lady had the same expression when she planned to leave Yejia's second house, so confident and self-assured. In the end, everything was under control, and they successfully arrived at the main house together. Autumn Moon believed that this time, even if Nie's house was ten times more terrifying than Yejia's second house, with her own clever and wise young lady, they would definitely return home safely.

  After calming down, she thought of another question: "Miss, who do you think will spread the news about the trial?"

  Ye Chou smiled slightly: "Who else could it be? Besides Yu Fei, there won't be anyone else."

  "Princess Jade?" Autumn Moon was taken aback, "Why did she want to do this?"

  "If I'm not mistaken, Yu Fei is helping the Second Prince. Her trip to the south this time represents that the Eldest Prince is having a very difficult time in the palace, to the point where the Second Prince's hands have reached his back. The jade mine excavation rights in the south may need to be redistributed."

  She furrowed her brow as she said this, "However, I couldn't figure out Yu Fei's intention behind doing this. On the surface, it seems like she wants to use this matter to strike at the reputation of the Nie family, but under the circumstances where everyone in Nanyun relies on the Nie family for a living, the impact is limited, and it's just making the Nie family uncomfortable."

  "But in reality, she indirectly reminded the Nie family that they need to take measures to respond to the changes coming from the capital."

  Qiu Yue's mouth was slightly ajar, staring at Ye Zhuo in a daze. She couldn't understand why the same thing could make her think of something so different from what Ye Zhuo thought of. Why did Ye Zhuo think of court struggles because of such a small matter?

  It took her a long time to gather her thoughts, and she said with some dissatisfaction: "It seems that Princess Yu is very good to you, but unexpectedly, she still harmed you before leaving. What does the matter between the eldest prince and the second prince have to do with you? Doesn't she know that by making such an announcement, the Nie family will vent their anger on you? Did we provoke her or invite her trouble? How can someone who looks like a Bodhisattva be so vicious and not care about the lives of ordinary people like us at all?"

  Ye Zhuo shook his head: "No, you're wrong. Yu Fei's actions will only bring benefits to us, not harm. Look, Nie Bo Yi brought this news back to the Nie family, but they didn't do anything to us, did they? And Nie Bo Yi was just venting his anger because of his damaged reputation, using words to provoke me and release his pent-up frustration. He didn't dare do anything else. This shows that Nie Bo Wen knows that I or the Ye family had nothing to do with this matter. So, for us, there's no great harm."

  "But that only means it won't be fatal to us, where's the benefit?" Qiu Yue pouted. Even if the Nie family knew this wasn't done by the Ye family, they wouldn't punish Ye Zhuo, but there would still be a thorn in their heart. In the future, they definitely wouldn't treat Ye Zhuo well. So in Qiu Yue's opinion, Gu Chen doing this was already harming Ye Zhuo, where could he talk about benefits?

  "Don't be in a hurry, listen to me finish." Ye Zhuo smiled and said, "Although Nie Gongzi took me as his apprentice on behalf of his father, I refused the invitation from the Nie family once, and accompanied Yu Fei Niangniang on a tour around the city, almost becoming her apprentice. This would make him uncomfortable, thinking that I am closer to Yu Fei Niangniang, and might be used by her in the future as an internal response for the Northern Sect. Now, Yu Fei Niangniang's move didn't take into account my feelings at all, knowing that this news would come out and the Nie family might vent their anger on me, yet she still did it. This shows that Yu Fei Niangniang doesn't value me much, when she had me accompany her on a tour, wanting to take me as her apprentice, maybe just to annoy the Nie family."

  She paused for a moment, then continued: "And more importantly, after she made this announcement, the attention that was focused on me because of the Xie family incident will once again be directed at me. When I suffered a great humiliation at the Nie family and refused to come back, even more people began to pay attention to me. At that time, would the Nie family still dare to use those overt and covert means to coerce me, threaten me, and frame me? No! They could only appease me, let me off, in order to maintain the reputation of the Nie family as being generous and kind. Furthermore, I am a woman, and after getting married and having children, I will be trapped in mundane domestic affairs, even if I have some talent, I won't become anything significant, this matter will naturally subside."

  "Miss, how on earth did your brain grow? How can you think so far and so much?" Autumn Moon stared at Ye Zhuo with wide eyes.

  Ye Zhuo stretched out his hand and knocked on her forehead, sighed and said: "Human power is sometimes exhausted, even if there are seven apertures and clever heart, it can't compare to the arrangement of fate. If Master Nie comes back tonight or tomorrow, and without hesitation accepts me as a disciple, I will have no other choice but to listen to the Nie family's words for the rest of my life and become their pawn."

  "Can't we just..."

  Ye Zhuo saw Zi He carrying a food box walking over from afar, and before Qiu Yue finished speaking, he interrupted her words saying: "This matter must not be rushed, one rush and the trace will be exposed, that would truly be a disaster. Everything must follow its natural course, when the water flows into the channel, it won't arouse suspicion from the Nie family." After finishing speaking, he changed the subject and started chatting about the layout of this small courtyard.

  "Miss Ye, it's time for dinner. I don't know if you'll be dining in this pavilion or returning to your room?" Zihe said as she approached Ye Zhuo.

  "Let's go back inside. It's too windy here and not suitable for dining."

  A group of people returned to Ye Zhuo's residence, and Zi He followed Qiu Yue to take out the dishes from the food box and arrange them on the table.

  Nie's family didn't treat Ye Zhu poorly just because of the news brought by Nie Bo Yi. The meal brought by Zi He was quite good - the rice was made from Bi Gang rice, which according to Zi He, only the masters of the Nie estate could eat; and there were six dishes and one soup, three meat and three vegetarian, including braised wild chicken with winter mushrooms, stewed duck silk, sugar vinegar pork ribs, assorted tofu, oil-braised spring bamboo shoots, stir-fried lettuce and a bowl of carp milk soup.

  Ye Zhuo acted like a naive child who had never seen the world, seeing these dishes, let Zi He introduce each dish one by one, marvel at them, and then taste each one carefully before raising his head to say: "You all sit down and eat."

  Zihe waved his hand repeatedly: "No need, no need, I'll go to the kitchen to eat in a while." But he refused to help Qiuyue make up her mind.

  Qiu Yue hesitated for a moment. The dishes on the table were still sufficient in quantity, and Ye Zhen alone could not finish them. The Ye family's main house had always been kind and never treated her and Qiu Ju as inferior people, they all sat down to eat together. Moreover, if she and Zi He went to the kitchen to eat, it would leave Ye Zhen alone here...

  She hadn't even finished speaking when Ye Zhuo said, "Then let's have Autumn Moon follow us to the kitchen later and get familiar with the route while Zi He is still here. Otherwise, if Zi He has other tasks assigned to her, our master and servant will starve to death."

  "Yes." Akizuki secretly felt ashamed of himself, thinking that he was far from being as thorough as the young lady.

  Ye Zhuo stopped talking and picked up a pair of chopsticks to eat.

  The cooking skills of the Ning Mansion's chef were naturally not comparable to those of Guan-shi and Yu-jie, who had grown accustomed to poverty. Even though Ye Zhuo had visited the De Yue Lou once, he felt that their chef was still no match for the Ning Mansion's chef. This meal at the Ning Mansion was actually the most comfortable one Ye Zhuo had eaten since his rebirth.

  She drank a bowl of crucian carp milk soup and let out a satisfied sigh, putting down the bowl: "Take it away."

  Thank you rox and Guang Han Gong Zhu A for the second blessing of peace symbol and Zhou Xiao Reng for two pink votes! (Welcome your support, it is my greatest motivation.)

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