Don't disturb me, I won't be a concubine

Cui Qiyan returned to Chenglin Pavilion and locked himself in his room, not allowing anyone to disturb him.

He sat by the window, holding the new purse that Dong Jiafu had made for him, and all the past memories suddenly came to his mind.

She said this was the first gift they gave to each other after they got together. He thought he would not be able to receive the purse from her, but he did not expect that not only did he receive it, but it was also made by her personally.

Cui Qiyan hated herself. She came to the Duke's Mansion to find him that day, and she must have something important to tell him. But he didn't even give her a few words, and didn't even take a closer look at her fingers. She was not good at needlework, and she must have suffered a lot of pain from needles in order to make this purse for him.

She was so busy, seeing patients during the day and reading medical books at night, yet she still found time to make this purse for him. He had never heard her mention the gift again, and thought she had forgotten, but it turned out that she had been preparing it.

If only he hadn't been in such a hurry to leave that day, it would have been nice to listen to what she had to say.

He thought they could talk slowly after she came back, but he didn't expect her to leave the capital.

A few days ago, the emperor transferred him from the Censorate to the Ministry of Justice. He had to sort out many things from scratch, which often kept him so busy that he missed the chance to pick her up. He sneaked into her house at night and found that the light in her room was off.

In addition, he wanted to deal with the Qin family's affairs as soon as possible, so they hadn't seen each other for many days. It was his fault. He shouldn't have ignored her because of these things.

Thinking of Qin Fangsui, Dong Jialin's words rang in his ears again. It seemed that he was too kind to her, which allowed her to touch his bottom line again and again.

He had already done what he had promised her before, so it was time to put an end to what she had done.

Cui Qiyan stroked the purse in his hand. Dong Jiafu had embroidered an extra flower on it this time. Although it was a small yellow flower whose variety could not be identified, he liked it very much.

The purse felt familiar, and when he opened it, he found the two characters inside - "You'an", his name. It turned out that she had remembered it all along.

"Afu, I'm sorry..." Cui Qi Yan murmured with red eyes.

Bi Tao, Meng Dong, Ji Bai and five others were all in the hall.

"What's wrong with the prince? He doesn't want to eat or drink." Bi Tao said in a low voice as she looked at the cold tea and snacks on the table.

Ji Bai said secretly: "I guess he probably knew about Miss Dong's trip to Xizhou."

"Miss Dong went to Xizhou?" Bai Ying asked in surprise.

Meng Dong nodded, "He left a few days ago. The prince was not there at the time, so I'm afraid he didn't know about it."

"No wonder," Lu Yue glanced at the room, "I'm on duty tonight, you all should go away. I guess the prince won't eat."

As he was speaking, Cui Qiyan's voice suddenly came from inside, "Let Meng Dong in."

Meng Dong, who was called, pointed at himself nervously and said in a low voice: "The prince called me——"

"It's okay. We should ask you about Miss Dong. Just tell us whatever you know." Ji Bai soothed.

"Then I'll go in," Meng Dong walked over quietly and knocked on the door, "Sir, this is your servant Meng Dong."

"Come in."

Meng Dong pushed the door open and walked in front of Cui Qiyan with his head lowered. "What do you want, my lord?"

Cui Qiyan's eyes were still on the purse in his hand. "When did she go to Xizhou?"

The prince was indeed asking about Afu, and Meng Dong answered truthfully: "She left three days ago."

"You didn't know about it?"

"I... I didn't go to the clinic the day before Miss Dong left, and I didn't know about their decision. When I went to the clinic that day, they had already left. I really didn't deceive the prince." Meng Dong explained quickly.

"They? Who did she go with?" Cui Qi Yan raised his head.

"Brother, Miss Dong and Brother Tan Hao left together."

"What are they doing in Xizhou?"

"I heard from Master that Miss Dong's mother is ill and needs a certain herb to cure her. That herb is only available in Xizhou and must be used as medicine within twelve hours of being picked. That's why Miss Dong went there."

Meng Dong was annoyed that he had forgotten the name of the herb again.

Fortunately, Cui Qi Yan didn't care. He was relieved to confirm that Dong Jiafu did not leave because she misunderstood him, but at the same time he became worried about her.

Dong Jialin said that he was not there when Afu needed him, so this must be the time. Mrs. Dong is sick, is Afu very scared?

"Okay, you go down."

"Yes." Meng Dong quickly stepped out.

On the second day, Cui Qiyan went to the palace to ask the emperor for permission to leave Beijing for a while.

He had just started working at the Ministry of Justice, and the emperor naturally did not allow it. However, Cui Qiyan insisted on leaving, even if it meant giving up the position where he had originally planned to realize his ambitions.

When the emperor asked him the reason, he refused to tell and just said it was his private matter.

In the end, he was allowed to leave only after receiving twenty lashes.

Cui Qiyan's back was beaten to pieces, but he was very happy, not only because the twenty lashes bought him time to chase Dong Jiafu, but also because the emperor did not beat him with a stick, which did not delay his riding.

Ji Bai looked at Cui Qiyan's smiling face and found it unbelievable.

After returning to Chenglin Pavilion, Cui Qiyan let Ji Bai apply medicine to him and change his clothes. He was about to tell the eldest lady and go to Xizhou, but was told that the eldest lady had gone to pay her respects to the old lady.

Cui Qiyan turned around and went to the old lady's yard, but he didn't expect to see Qin Fangsui there. Since they had met, it would be better to solve some things at once.

Not only the first lady and Qin Fangsui were in the old lady's room, but also the other three ladies, as well as Cui Qishao's wife Bai, Cui Yalan and Cui Yatong were all there.

The old lady was very surprised to see him coming, "Why are you back at this hour?"

"My grandson is going to Xizhou, and I came here to tell my grandmother and mother."

"You're going so far to Xizhou. Did His Majesty assign you another errand?"

"It's not His Majesty, but Dong Jiafu who went to Xizhou. I want to go find her."

Everyone was stunned.

The old lady looked displeased. "Didn't you just transfer to the Ministry of Justice? How can you leave Beijing at this time? For a woman, you don't even want your own future?!"

The eldest lady asked, "Why did Miss Dong go to Xizhou?"

"She misunderstood me."

This incoherent remark confused the eldest lady, "What did you misunderstand? Did you go to Xizhou because of a misunderstanding?"

"You'll have to ask Miss Qin about this." Cui Qi Yan turned his gaze to Qin Fangsui.

Qin Fangsui's heart beat faster and she clenched her hands tightly together.

The old lady looked at the two of them and frowned in confusion, "What does this have to do with Sui'er?"

"Miss Qin, do you want me to say it or do you want me to say it?"

Qin Fangsui's eyes flashed, "Sui'er doesn't understand what Brother Yan means."

"Then let me tell you something," Cui Qiyan turned his eyes away from her. "Grandmother, mother, you all know that I promised to get engaged to Miss Qin before. But later, because I made my mind clear, I didn't get engaged to her."

"It was so long ago, why are you still doing it?" The old lady was still worried that Qin Fangsui would be embarrassed if the old matter was brought up again.

"You probably don't know that in order to make it up to her, I promised to help her do something. And what she asked me to do was to help her take back the property that belonged to their branch from the second branch of the Qin family."