Warm medicine emits fragrance

After leaving the prefect's mansion, Li Chenbi went to the street before returning to the Li residence. When he stood outside Fan Liuer's bedroom, Fan Liuer had just finished eating and was drinking tea to cleanse her palate.

He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Fan Liuer looked up and glanced at him, her eyes first landing on his face, then on the food box he was carrying.

A glint of light appeared in his eyes, and his expression brightened. "Second Master, what did you buy?"

Li Chenbi sat down at the table and placed the box on it.

Before Li Chenbi could call her, Fan Liuer walked over to Li Chenbi and sat down, reaching out to open the box.

Inside was a dim sum dish she had at the restaurant yesterday. She praised it highly and ate the whole plate by herself.

However, there weren't many dishes to begin with, only five, each about the size of a date.

She hadn't had enough to eat yesterday, and now that she saw it, she couldn't resist and reached out to take it.

Li Chenbi stopped her hand, "You can only eat two."

Fan Liuer frowned. "Two wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap!"

"You shouldn't eat too much after you've eaten, or you'll get indigestion."

"No, I have a good appetite, and I don't get indigestion no matter how much I eat."

"Fan Liuer, how come you have no self-control at all?"

Fan Liuer was displeased by these words and muttered, "You know how to be restrained, but you almost killed me yesterday."

Li Chenbi: "Is this the same thing?"

"How can it not be the same thing?" Fan Liuer looked at him, her eyes resolute. To satisfy her cravings, she argued, "It's all about cravings. Why can you eat without restraint when you eat me, but I have to restrain myself when I eat a little something?"

Li Chenbi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Eating you will only make me healthier, but will eating snacks make you healthier?"

Fan Liuer was speechless now.

That makes perfect sense!

But she wasn't willing to admit defeat so easily, and grumbled indignantly, "How can you be like this? If you only planned to let me eat two, you should have only bought two. You bought five and put them in front of me but only let me eat two. Isn't that torture?"

Li Chenbi nodded. "What you said makes sense."

Fan Liu'er was delighted. "Right? Then next time you plan to let me eat as many as you want, buy as many as you want. Since we've already bought them this time, let's not waste them."

Li Chenbi smiled, "It won't be a waste." As he spoke, he reached into the box.

Seeing this, Fan Liuer guessed what he was going to do and reached out to stop him, "Hey!"

Li Chenbi held her with his other hand, pulling her close to his chest. His hand, which had been inside the box, landed on the pastries. His large hand gently and loosely picked up three pastries with two fingers.

Fan Liuer couldn't stop him and could only watch helplessly as Li Chenbi fed him three pastries at the same time.

Li Chenbi disliked sweets, and the cloying sweetness made him frown slightly.

"It's a bit too sweet."

Fan Liuer gritted her teeth inwardly; this person was really going too far!

Li Chenbi looked at her, a smile playing on his lips, "Are you unhappy?"

Fan Liuer pursed her lips but didn't say anything. He had already eaten everything, so even if she was unhappy, she couldn't spit it out.

"I'm not angry. How could I dare to be angry with Second Master?" She reached out to take the remaining pastries.

Fearing something might go wrong, she had to eat the remaining two quickly.

However, before her hand could even touch the pastry, Li Chenbi reached out and turned her face towards him, bringing his face close to hers.

"Then I'll make you pay for it."

After saying that, before Fan Liuer could react to what he meant, he stuck it on.

Pry open Fan Liuer's lips, and a sweet scent fills her mouth.

Li Chenbi kissed her so passionately that Fan Liuer soon went limp in his arms, her mind drifting into a hazy state.

It's a bit too sweet.

When Fan Liuer woke up the next morning, she stared at the ceiling and secretly realized that she had fallen for Li Chenbi's trick.

Last night, Li Chenbi tossed and turned her over again until she finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

She didn't even get to eat two of those desserts.

She grew angrier the more she thought about it, to the point that she ignored Li Chenbi from the moment she woke up until she got up to wash.

When she saw the steaming, freshly baked pastries on the table at breakfast, her smile almost stretched to her ears.

Li Chenbi snorted softly beside her, "Fan Liuer, I've never seen anyone as petty as you. You're getting angry with me over a few pastries. When have I ever lacked those things from you?"

Fan Liuer was in a great mood and went over with a smile, hugging Li Chenbi's arm. "Yes, yes, Second Master is right. I was too petty."

"Second Master, you have such a broad mind, you can embrace all things. I will have to learn a lot from you in the future!"

Li Chenbi glanced at Fan Liuer, knowing full well that this person was just flattering him and secretly cursing him, but the corners of his mouth still couldn't help but turn up.

"Glib-tongued."

After breakfast, Li Chenbi took Fan Liuer for a half-hour walk in the courtyard before letting her go back, and then went to his study.

As soon as he entered the study, Li Qiuping reported, "Second Master, news has come from Lizhou that there is indeed a wealthy family surnamed Qi who runs a casino. The appearance and build of the young master of the Qi family are basically consistent with Qi Weiming."

As he spoke, a look of confusion appeared on Li Qiuping's face. "His identity is actually not a problem. This is not right."

Li Chenbi was not surprised. "Since he came prepared, he must have made preparations. Similar appearance and figure do not prove anything. You can have someone inquire about the real young master of the Qi family and find out what characteristics or habits he has."

"You can find someone with a similar appearance to impersonate you, but you can't change your lifestyle habits overnight."

Li Qiuping nodded, "Yes."

Li Chenbi sat down behind his desk, picked up the account book, scanned the numbers, and asked, "How's things going at the East Courtyard?"

"The young master is getting better, but the master has been going out frequently since a few days ago, and he's been going to Qingyue Winery quite often."

"I think it's because of the letter I received a few days ago."

As Li Qiuping spoke, he looked at Li Chenbi with a slight frown on his face. "Second Master, Prince Rong is urging you to quickly gather 100,000 taels of silver and send it over. Your frequent visits to Qingyue Winery must be related to this matter. Since you can't come up with that much silver, you can only try to raise the money."

"However, those merchants are not stupid. They all know that you hold the reins of the government's finances. Since you have neither real power nor influence, you should not be able to raise this money."

"At that point, I'm afraid the old man will still target the family's businesses."

"Should we stop them?"

Li Chenbi turned a page of the account book without lifting his eyelids and said in a calm voice, "Ignore him for now, let him make a fuss."

"The more trouble he causes, the better it is for me."

After Li Chenbi finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something, looked up at Li Qiuping, and said, "I remember there's a famous snack in Lizhou, right?"

The topic changed so quickly that it took Li Qiuping a moment to react before nodding, "Yes, it seems to be called tea crisp."

Li Chenbi nodded, his gaze returning to the ledger, and spoke casually.

"Send some over by the messenger."