After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

Li Xuanye arrived quickly and stayed in the guest courtyard of the Gu residence, becoming Gu Ce's right-hand man. Every day, he helped Gu Ce with the initial processing of folded paper, distinguishing between the unimportant and the important.

"Lord Gu, Madam Gu, what brings you here?" Li Xuanye was a little surprised as he entered the Silver Willow Courtyard for the first time. This was the inner courtyard where he and his wife lived.

Seeing that several male subordinates were also there, he felt no discomfort entering the inner courtyard.

He was delighted to see the young Taoist priest.

Moving into the Gu residence was indeed the wisest choice, as it gave me more opportunities to meet the young Taoist priest.

Today, the couple went shopping, and he really wanted to go with them, but Gu Ce gave him a bunch of folded paper and told him to look at them and sort them.

"Sit down and talk." Gu Ce felt a little uncomfortable when he saw that Gu Ce's eyes were on the lady as soon as he came in.

Li Xuanye was taken aback when he saw Ling Feng and Ling Yun.

He had seen these two people once in the outer courtyard.

He was a military general with a sharp eye. He could tell at a glance that these two were specially trained secret guards. They had a restrained aura, upright posture, and expressionless faces.

There were five men around Gu Ce, all around thirty years old, while these two were at most twenty. Both of them were standing behind the young Taoist priest. Could it be that the young Taoist priest was their master?

Could the Rong family really raise someone like this?

"Gu Ce, who are they?" It's the easiest way to ask directly.

"These are my men, Ling Feng and Ling Yun, and this is Li Xuan Ye, the heir apparent of the Liao Prince's Mansion," Rong Yingluo introduced the two.

We'll have more opportunities to interact in the future, so it's essential to get to know each other.

"Greetings, Prince Li." The two bowed simultaneously.

"So you're one of Mrs. Gu's people," Li Xuanye said with a smile.

That meaningful look left the two of them completely bewildered.

Li Xuanye secretly rejoiced at the thought that Gu Ce still didn't know the young Taoist priest's true identity.

These two must be the bodyguards given to the young Taoist priest by her master.

"Prince Li, we want to do something big and we need some manpower." Rong Yingluo guessed the reason why Gu Ce had summoned Li Xuanye.

Gu Ce has no one under his command, but Li Xuanye definitely has people. If that's not enough, she can borrow more from the Fourth Prince.

Although the Fourth Prince's men are not very strong in combat, they have all been on the battlefield and have received specialized training. Their ability to cooperate in an encirclement and kill would not be too weak.

Then the group began to discuss how to take down the Crown Prince's most profitable business: the Heaven and Earth Gambling House.

To test Ling Feng's gambling skills, Gu Ce and Li Xuanye even brought out some gambling equipment and performed for everyone on the spot.

As a result, Ling Feng won every time, which made the others admire him.

"Ling Feng, it's such a waste of your talent for you to be a bodyguard for Madam Gu. Why don't you consider following me, and I'll guarantee you a fifth-rank general position?" Li Xuan Ye started poaching Rong Yingluo's talent right in front of her.

"Hey, what do you mean?" Rong Yingluo put on a stern face, pretending to be angry.

"It's a waste to have such a talent as your bodyguard. You know the army is always short of funds. If Ling Feng could use his skills to raise money for my Li family army, that would be a real use of his abilities. Besides, he's also skilled in martial arts. What's the point of him staying by the side of a woman like you?" Li Xuan Ye retorted.

"Thank you for your kindness, Prince Li. My mission is to protect you." Ling Feng declined resolutely, showing that he didn't care about fame or fortune at all.

"What a pity." Li Xuanye was just testing the waters; people like this are usually hard to poach.

"You can get out of here," Gu Ce said coldly.

"Don't you want me to have lunch with you? It's almost noon." Li Xuanye stubbornly refused to leave.

"The outer courtyard has already made preparations for you." Gu Ce's eyes darkened.

"Young Madam Gu, I've put in a lot of effort and resources, could you please give me one of Lingyin Jushi's paintings? My mother's birthday is coming up soon, and I'd like to give it to her as a birthday gift. She's also very fond of Lingyin Jushi's paintings." Li Xuanye asked shamelessly.

"Alright, here's one for you." Rong Yingluo wasn't stingy; she had Granny Zhu bring him one before sending him away.

Yinghong brought in a food box, and the couple finished their lunch together. Gu Ce did not leave, but instead followed Rong Yingluo with his eyes as he slowly sipped his tea.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Rong Yingluo felt uncomfortable being stared at so openly by him.

"Madam, could you tell me why your dowry is full of paintings by the Hermit of Lingyin?" Gu Ce had wanted to ask this for a long time, but now that the two of them were alone, he finally had the chance to ask.

It's already quite rare to have even one painting, but she doesn't have a single one except for the paintings by Lingyin Jushi.

"Well, if I told you that all those paintings were works that the Hermit of Lingyin considered to be ruined, would you believe me?" Rong Yingluo was a little embarrassed.

"What? All of them are useless paintings?" Gu Ce exclaimed in surprise.

Rong Yingluo then asked Granny Zhu to fetch two more paintings, unfolded them, and pointed out which parts were not quite satisfactory and had been criticized by her master.

As the top scholar in the imperial examination, Gu Ce naturally also had expertise in painting.

As Rong Yingluo pointed out, he could also see that they were indeed not entirely satisfactory, but even so, these paintings were still rare masterpieces.

"You still haven't answered me, where did your Rong family get these paintings from?" Gu Ce couldn't figure it out at all.

"Because Lingyin Jushi is my master, I collected these discarded items that he didn't want, secretly stamped them with my master's seal, and put them into my dowry." Rong Yingluo found it funny when she thought about how her master chased after her with a feather duster and scolded her after discovering this.

Thinking about it this way, she missed her master again.

"You are a disciple of the Hermit of Lingyin?" Gu Ce was shocked. He never expected that Rong Yingluo was a disciple of the Hermit of Lingyin.

"Unfortunately, I've only learned a little bit about painting, not even a tenth or a twentieth of what my master knows. He scolded me, saying I'm hopeless." Rong Yingluo joked about herself, but even if she only had a tenth or a twentieth of her skill, she was still better than many young ladies.

"You're only sixteen, and your experience is still limited. If you practice for another ten or eight years, your abilities will naturally improve." Gu Ce really wanted to say that he was not even one-tenth or one-twelfth as good as the hermit Lingyin's medical skills.

"That's true, but I don't like painting. I prefer studying medicine and poisons," Rong Yingluo said, admitting her shortcomings.

Everyone has their own preferences, and she didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

"Did the hermit Lingyin teach you medicine?" Gu Ce had only heard of the hermit Lingyin by name and had never met him.

He only knew that the hermit was good at painting, but he didn't know that he was also a doctor.

"Of course, Master knows a lot of things." Rong Yingluo suddenly felt that her master must have spent a lot of time learning and researching so many things, so it couldn't be the late emperor. Moreover, the two had been together for thirteen years, and her master had no airs of an emperor at all. He was approachable, kind, and especially fond of her.

Only when a person completely calms their mind can they acquire a skill. My master is proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting; he is also a divine physician and the Immortal of Puyang. How could such a person be the former emperor?

If it were the late emperor, with so many political affairs to handle every day, how could he have so much time to study and cultivate his character?

Having figured all this out, Rong Yingluo was confused again. What exactly was the relationship between her master and the late emperor?

Never mind, I'll just ask my master when I see him.

Gu Ce went to the front yard with envy.

Rong Yingluo changed her clothes and quietly climbed over the western wall of the garden to escape from the Gu residence.