“Don’t force her,” Huangfu Chen said, frowning. “How did you find out about her story? Does anyone in the Lu Family know?”


  For a while, Mo Rongzhan fell silent before he whispered, “She told me.”


  Huangfu Chen immediately looked at him, sympathy lining his face. “It seems that Yaoyao really doesn’t want to marry you.”


  “——” Mo Rongzhan nearly flew into a rage out of humiliation, but he held it in and retorted, “Who says she doesn’t want to?! It’s just that her heart is still tangled over this.”


  “Did you tell her that Ye Yiqing isn’t dead?” Huangfu Chen asked.

  Mo Rongzhan was somewhat helpless. “Zhen also doesn’t know where Ye Yiqing is, if I just told her without having evidence, will she believe it? If it turns out Ye Yiqing is no longer in this world, then won’t it add to her resentment against zhen?”


  Huangfu Chen laughed out loud, somewhat taking a bit of joy in the disaster the other was in. “You can’t force Yaoyao to do what she doesn’t want.”


  “How well do you know her to say that?” Mo Rongzhan snorted coldly.

  “She is my student now,” Huangfu Chen said, smiling faintly. And as he looked at Mo Rongzhan’s thoroughly dark complexion, his mood turned even happier than before. “Yaoyao is learning divination from me.”


  Mo Rongzhan gnashed his teeth in anger before he asked, “For what purpose is she learning divination?”


  “How would I know that? Since she wanted to learn, I simply taught her.” At this moment, Huangfu Chen looked across the table at Mo Rongzhan, and asked. “Since you are so ruthless to Ye Zhen, how could you be moved by Yaoyao?”


  “It’s not something zhen can control either!” In the beginning, he firmly believed that he would no longer allow the young ladies from the Lu Family into the palace; that he only felt hatred towards Lu Yaoyao. Afterwards, how had his heart moved for her? He couldn’t tell, except that now he became more and more reluctant to let her go. There was even a trace of fear in him. He was afraid of losing her. Moreover, in his mind, Ye Zhen couldn’t compare with his Yaoyao at all!

  Huangfu Chen shook his head and smiled. “I can’t help you. I’ve told you everything you asked.”


  Mo Rongzhan whispered, “Since you’re her master, please try to persuade her more—”


  “What if she doesn’t even recognize me as her master?” Huangfu Chen asked. He honestly did not want Lu Yaoyao to marry Mo Rongzhan in the future. He didn’t want the little girl, who was as brilliant as magnificent spring, to get buried under the struggle for favor in the harem. She ought to have a better life than that.

  “Get out!” Mo Rongzhan snorted angrily, chasing the other away.

  Huangfu Chen simply laughed and bowed before he left the imperial study. However, instead of leaving the palace immediately, he went in the direction of the Imperial Physicians’ Courtyard. Although he was not very familiar with the area, he had still lived in this palace for at least a few years so could still recognize the way.

  Passing through the small square in front of the Imperial Physicians’ Courtyard, he stopped to look at the small figure drying out the herbs there under the sun in surprise.

  “Yaoyao?” Huangfu Chen asked in surprise.

  At first, when Ye Zhen heard someone calling her, she thought she was having a hallucination. However, when she looked up towards the direction of the voice, she found Huangfu Chen standing there. She laughed and asked, “Teacher, what are you doing here?”


  “Why are you the only one drying medicine here?” Huangfu Chen asked quietly, “Is there no one to help you?”


  “Everyone else has something to do,” Ye Zhen said with a smile as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. “Teacher, let’s talk to the side, it’s too sunny here.”


  Although it was still spring, the sun was nevertheless a bit scorching during the day. Hence, the two went under the eaves to the side to talk. Looking at the way her small face stained red under the scorching sun, Huangfu Chen was slightly angry. As such, he coldly asked her the truth, “It’s not your job to dry the medicine under the sun. Who told you to do it?”


  However, Ye Zhen only laughed without answering. In her opinion, she could not be said to be targeted, therefore she simply asked, “Teacher, why are you in the palace?”


  “The emperor had asked me to go into the palace to say something to me.” Huangfu Chen said faintly, “And I stopped by to see you.”


  “I’m fine, truly. Anyway, as an imperial physician, I have to first get used to life here. This is the Imperial Physicians’ Courtyard after all,” Ye Zhen said with a smile, tone cheerful without even a hint of complaint in it.