"What is it?" Peng Mingzhu asked as she turned back to face Wei Kangnuan who was holding onto her shoulder.
"I know that you want to just get this over with and not be involved, but...since you already know what is happening, I want to ask you as the second prince of this empire to lend a helping hand," Wei Kangnuan requested Peng Mingzhu seriously.
"And what do I get in return?" Peng Mingzhu questioned while moving herself away from Wei Kangnuan.
"What do you want?" Wei Kangnuan asked her as though he would make sure to fulfill anything she wanted.
"I want access to the imperial treasury," Peng Mingzhu answered his question with doubt in her voice as though she did not believe that he would be able to do such a thing.
"Alright," Wei Kangnuan immediately promised.
"So fast?" Peng Mingzhu asked with a raised brow.
"If it is you who is asking, I will always say yes," Wei Kangnuan responded to her with a light smile on his face, trying to say that everything that made her smile would also do the same to him.
"I was lying," Peng Mingzhu told Wei Kangnuan. "What I want is very simple."
"Then, what do you truly want?" Wei Kangnuan asked since he already knew from early on that she was not fully serious about her previous answer.
Well, maybe she was half-serious. After all, Wei Kangnuan knew very well that Peng Mingzhu was not someone to speak lies. Perhaps in her mind she did intend to search through the imperial treasury, but she probably decided that now was not a good time to look at the place.
"Just answer one question from me and if I like the answer, I'll help you guys," Peng Mingzhu answered while crossing her arms. "I'll even make sure that the case ends before the Spring Festival. After all, isn't it coming up?"
After reading through all the books in a short period of time; mostly scanning through them, Peng Mingzhu managed to find out how the continent calendar and holidays worked. They were almost identical to the China in her world and she was able to quickly familiarize herself with the big holidays. As for the miniscule ones, she did not really care to memorize them and decided to just add them into the system calendar to remind her that they at least existed.
"Alright," Wei Kangnuan agreed. "Does anybody have disagreements?"
Even though no one else aside from them two was participating in this conversation, Wei Kangnuan decided to invite them for their opinion because...just because…
Yeah, his reason was that he just felt like doing that; not because he actually felt obligated to do so.
"No," Wei Li shook his head since he knew that Wei Kangnuan was always much more intelligent than him.
If not for the fact that he was born earlier, Wei Kangnuan would have been the most outstanding crown prince and be the best candidate as the future emperor. However, he also understood that his younger brother did not want to sit on the throne.
According to Wei Kangnuan, "The throne was a much too public seat. Too public that [I] would lose my freedom that I love so much. Besides, only a father who hates his own son would want to put them on that rubbish throne."
Wei Li could still remember shaking his head at the words of Wei Kangnuan. Though, his younger brother was also spitting some truths amongst the satirizing.
Indeed, nobody would want to put their own child on the throne unless they hated their child.
Of course, Wei Li was not saying that his father, the current emperor, hated him. He was just stating that his father loved the youngest child more so than the oldest child.
Unfortunately, the youngest child was not him or Wei Kangnuan though...but a spoiled brat that they also loved to spoil themselves.
"What is your question?" Wei Kangnuan asked Peng Mingzhu after he received the agreeing answers of the people in their group.
"What is living with love?" Peng Mingzhu questioned as she changed her pose to one of relaxation, just waiting for the group to come up with answers that she may or may not like.
"Living with love is happy," Wei Kangnuan answered almost instantly, surprising Peng Mingzhu. "But living for love is foolish."
"How did you know the answer so quickly?" Peng Mingzhu asked him while changing her expression of surprise back into one of calmness.
"That is a famous proverb," Wei Kangnuan told her with a proud smile. "It is also a proverb I also like to live by. In the case that I do manage to fall in love one day."
"Oh, that's good," Peng Mingzhu replied with a sigh of relief.
What was she relieved for?
She was relieved that she would not be responsible for his downfall. Well, in the case that did happen, she did not want to be blamed for it.
Her, an outsider, would be at the fault for someone is not something she wanted to experience.
However, just after her relieved sigh, Wei Kangnuan said something worrying, "But I realized that living by that proverb is rather...different from experiencing it. I feel that living for love is much easier than to live with love. The moment that I fell into the lake, I just seem to not be able to swim back to shore."
"Then, swim harder," Peng Mingzhu immediately told him while coughing to cover her look of shock at his words.
She really did not want to do anything bad to the people of this world. At the same time, she did not want to actively participate in the things of this world. However, she realized that she was just someone who liked to do the opposite.
Since day one, she has already involved herself with this world. Now...she was unsure if she would be able to freely leave without hard feelings.
"So, you like my answer?" Wei Kangnuan asked, ignoring her statement as he knew what she was referring to, just as much as she knew what he was referring to.
"I'll help you guys," Peng Mingzhu told him while avoiding his gaze that seemed to constantly smile at her. "Let's head back to the estate. Oh, and Luo Xing…"
"Yes?" Luo Xing replied back attentively.
"Remember to hold tightly onto that woman. Don't say that I didn't warn you," Peng Mingzhu warned Luo Xing with a light smile.
Though Luo Xing did not know what Peng Mingzhu meant, he still listened to her. Besides, he was afraid that he would get punished by Wei Kangnuan if he did not listen.
He did not even receive praises and he was already being stared at like a nuisance by Wei Kangnuan the moment that Peng Mingzhu gave him a light smile.
'Oh, dear gods, goddesses, and immortals, please bless my poor soul and let me not be punished by His Highness the Second Prince,' Luo Xing internally prayed for his safety with invisible tears the moment that he felt the gaze of Wei Kanguan become even stronger.
Following through with the words of Peng Mingzhu, Luo Xing tightly held onto the woman while the group traveled back to Er Wang Estate to discuss the case in private.
Upon entering the study that belonged to Wei Kangnuan, Peng Mingzhu immediately started off, "In fact, if any of you had knowledge of opium, you'd already know that the case involved opium the moment that you came in contact with Ren Lin. However, since you guys are so uneducated, that's fine, I guess."
Unknowingly, Peng Mingzhu already insulted them the first time she opened her mouth. For some reason...they felt that she would continue insulting them until the day ended.
"It's not hard to guess that the father and mother of Ren Lin held secret identities," Peng Mingzhu then continued to say while everyone kept private thoughts. "Even though I was only initially suspicious, I was assured of my answer when the father told me that he could still remember a Hao accent."
Then, staring at the woman who was tied up in the room, Peng Mingzhu explained, "As for this dumb woman, she exposed herself the moment she stated that she could not live without him."
"Just her words would not have been enough for you to formulate your thoughts. Would you care to explain even more?" Wei Li requested of her respectfully as she was willing to help them.
"Look at someone's eyes if you want to know the truth," Peng Mingzhu told Wei Li. "Indeed her words were appropriate for the situation, but rather than showing love and separation in her eyes, she showed desperation and hollowness. However, if I had to be honest - it was all desperation."
"Maybe she felt desperate to save herself and the man?" Luo Xing suggested; an option just as innocent as him.
"She was not desperate to save the man, but herself," Peng Mingzhu opposed the idea Luo Xing suggested. "The man indeed loved her. Truly, he did. That was perhaps why he was willing to be her shield. However, I wonder how he would react if he ever knew that their child was truly not theirs, and if...he knew that she was a Hao spy… All the whispered sweet nothings were truly nothing to her."
When the woman heard the words that Peng Mingzhu spoke, her eyes opened wide and her mouth struggled to make a sound. Her entire body wiggled, trying to free herself from her binds.
Fear abounded in her and everyone could visibly see it.
"How did you know?" Wei Li asked as he stared at the pathetic woman.