A Time-Traveling Mishap: I Became an Ancient Nobleman

Chapter 217 Loyalty Only to the Emperor

Zhou Hanzhang glanced at Jiang Mingyun, who was looking in their direction from a distance, and said to Zhou Tong, "I know she depends on me a lot, and I know she wants to stay by my side, but I don't think this is romantic love."

She might have developed an inexplicable dependence on me because I saved her in a past life, and she's afraid I won't let her stay by her side.

Of course, if I were a man, I wouldn't mind marrying her, but given my current status, I can't do it.

"Since you know that, you should either find an opportunity to tell her that you are a woman, or you should stay away from her. Someone who has been reborn has finally found a lifeline and certainly doesn't want anyone else to get involved."

Zhou Tong offered her sincere advice.

Zhou Hanzhang pondered for a moment, "What you said makes sense. I always thought we were all girls, so the boundaries were a bit blurred. If what you say is true, then I will be more careful in the future."

But aren't you still looking for her to do research? If I keep my distance from her, how can I bring her here with me?

This is a very important question.

"Uh... how about we wait until the research results are in before you distance yourself from her?"

Zhou Hanzhang shook his head. "It's not that bad. As you said, I should find a chance to make things clear to her. There's no way we can be together."

"That works too. Let's go eat first, I'm starving."

On their way to Zuixianlou, Xiao Ba still held that pot of flowers in his hands, and the fragrance of the flowers wafted into the noses of those around them with an extremely domineering force.

Everyone who smells it feels invigorated.

Zhou Tong remembered something and quickly pulled Zhou Hanzhang aside, "There's a pharmacy up ahead. If they have snakes coiled around their vines, the smell might cause trouble. Let's take another route."

The group immediately changed to another route, not wanting to cause any problems.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance of Zuixianlou, they saw Ye Gui rushing towards them, accompanied by Jiang Mingyun's maid, Bitao.

Jiang Mingyun's expression changed as soon as she saw the two people.

Zhou Tong looked at Jiang Mingyun with interest, then at the two people looking over, and quietly tugged at Zhou Hanzhang's sleeve.

Zhou Hanzhang knew her all too well, and his gossipy heart was burning with excitement.

Zhou Hanzhang glared at her, meaning he wanted her to behave herself.

"Miss, Young Master Ye has come to your residence to look for you. Since you can't see him, I'll trouble you to bring him out to find you."

Bitao was also covered in sweat and appeared very well-behaved in front of Jiang Mingyun, but Zhou Hanzhang did not miss the fleeting malice in her eyes.

"Didn't I tell you not to come out unless it's necessary?"

Jiang Mingyun said with a dark face.

Ye Gui quickly stepped forward to explain, "I was anxious to find you, so I had no choice but to have your maid bring me out to look for you. Please don't be angry."

"I had no idea you had such a big shot that you could order around my maids."

Jiang Mingyun continued her sarcastic remarks; she was simply annoyed by the two of them.

Looking at Bitao's belly, Zhou Hanzhang realized that, according to Jiang Mingyun, she was already pregnant with the eldest prince's child. However, she had often been by Jiang Mingyun's side before, and no one knew how she had managed to get involved with him.

Ye Gui was stunned for a moment. He had indeed heard that Zhou Hanzhang had taken a pot of flowers from Jiang Mingyun's house, and everyone who passed by could smell the fragrance.

He felt a little worried when he thought about that plant and insisted on coming to check it out in person.

However, his hasty approach to Jiang Mingyun seemed to indicate ill intentions.

That's why he went to the Jiang residence and called his sister along. This way, he could be more subtle and his purpose wouldn't be so obvious.

But Jiang Mingyun's attitude now is clearly wrong.

He wasn't like this at all when I was with him before. When did he change?

Did I do something to upset her?

Otherwise, since my personality and temperament were entirely based on the information provided by my sister, and I figured out her preferences and tailored it to her, where exactly did things go wrong?

His mind raced, considering tens of thousands of possibilities, but there wasn't a single one that Jiang Mingyun had gone through all of his schemes.

He simply assumed that he might have done something that Jiang Mingyun disliked.

It doesn't matter. As long as Bitao stays by Jiang Mingyun's side, there's no worry about winning her back.

Recently, Bitao seems to have broken some taboo and lost Jiang Mingyun's reliance and trust in her.

Upon hearing Jiang Mingyun's words, Bitao hurriedly said, "Miss, I'm sorry. I thought Young Master Ye had some urgent business at the academy and needed to see you, so I took it upon myself to bring him here."

Fearing that Jiang Mingyun's anger towards Ye Gui would affect the Crown Prince's future plans, Bitao quickly took all the blame upon herself.

She had been by Jiang Mingyun's side since she was a child, even when Jiang Mingyun was angry.

"How did you know I was here?" Jiang Mingyun asked.

Everyone in the manor knows that I came out with Zhou Hanzhang today, but we can't ask about our master's whereabouts without permission. Bitao has been transferred to do cleaning outside, so how did she know my whereabouts?

It seems there are still some restless people in the Jiang family.

Last time, I had already screened everyone in the manor based on Zhou Hanzhang's advice, but I didn't expect there would still be some who slipped through the net.

What Jiang Mingyun didn't know was that after the eldest prince returned from Shishan, although he was confined to his quarters, his mind was still quite active.

Knowing that all the people he had planted in the Jiang residence had been purged, he didn't suspect that his plan had been discovered. He simply assumed that those people were unlucky and had been eliminated when the Jiang residence was purging its servants.

To be honest, without the support of the Jiang family in his previous life, the eldest prince would never have been able to realize his wolfish ambitions.

Almost everyone associated with him was purged, yet he still wasn't careful enough, and upon returning, he immediately arranged for another group of people to be brought in.

He has recently been thinking of taking a multi-pronged approach, and has already sent people to make contact with Jiang Mingyun's father, Minister Jiang.

With the support of the Minister of Personnel, why worry about not being able to place one's own people in various departments and offices?

Jiang Wenyuan, the Minister of Personnel, goes home for lunch every day. He didn't return today because he was entangled with the Crown Prince's men.

He was originally a neutral party. The Jiang family had always been loyal only to the emperor and never interfered in the struggles among the princes, nor did they take sides casually.

This is why they were able to remain by the emperor's side for generations, handling matters related to the Ministry of Personnel.

When the eldest prince learned that Jiang Wenyuan had refused his kind invitation, he was furious and immediately sent someone to inform Ye Gui to quickly improve his relationship with Jiang Mingyun.

Since there's no way to deal with Laozi for the time being, then let's start with his daughter. Everyone knows that Jiang Wenyuan cares most about this youngest daughter.