"No need to trouble you, Tingyun Gege. I have a personal matter to attend to tomorrow," Yu Mingyue said frankly.
Since it was a personal matter, it was naturally inconvenient to discuss. By stating it openly, they would not pry further.
Xie Jiayan, standing beside them, remained silent. Perhaps he would never have the courage to look at her with such fervent eyes in his lifetime; he was simply not worthy.
Yu Mingjing cleared his throat, and Gu Tingyun finally realized he had been too hasty.
"If that's the case, then I shall have Youyou wait for you at my manor," Gu Tingyun said with a smile.
Yu Mingjing had been busy since his return to the capital, and with the Emperor's sudden coma, he hadn't had the chance to confess his feelings to his friend.
However, he had always been clear-minded, and it was likely he had already noticed something amiss.
Anyone with eyes could see it. He never expected that after a single campaign, his friend would set his sights on his sister. Yue'er was so young; he was truly ambitious.
Noticing the change in Yu Mingjing's expression, Gu Tingyun quickly tried to appease him with a smile:
"The soup is boiling. I remember Mingjing-xiong enjoys lamb, and Jiayan-xiong seems to like it too, so let's add more."
Yu Mingjing rolled his eyes. He wouldn't let it go just because of this.
However, seeing Yue'er's oblivious demeanor put him at ease. If Gu Tingyun were to capture his sister's heart, he would not hesitate to discard their brotherhood.
Xie Jiayan felt a bitter smile spread across his face, daring not to look at Yu Mingyue, and silently ate his food.
The three of them harbored their own thoughts, while Yu Mingyue ate with gusto. Indeed, eating hot pot with more people felt livelier.
It was a pity that both her brother and Jiayan Gege forbade her from drinking alcohol. She had only managed to drink half a cup, poured by Tingyun Gege under pressure, and she couldn't trouble him further. Oh well, if she couldn't drink, she couldn't drink.
As Yu Mingyue left, she also took a few books from Xie Jiayan. Since Master Xie's one-year term had ended, her time had become more abundant, and she could only pass the days by reading.
Now that her brother had returned to the capital, she could discuss the matter of going to Qinghe with her mother. Her maternal grandfather had always doted on her and granted her every wish. If she saw the Cui family fall apart, she would feel heartbroken.
The Cui family did not have the deep-rooted foundation of the Wang family, nor did they have a daughter who was an empress. If not for Empress Wang's timely intervention this time, the Wang clan would have been annihilated. The Cui family needed to make plans.
Yu Mingjing held an umbrella and escorted his sister back to her Mingyue Garden, chatting along the way.
Yu Mingyue suddenly hugged her brother's arm and pouted, "Gege, for the sake of being your only sister, promise me something."
"Speak plainly, no pouting," Yu Mingjing ignored her tactics.
With such an expression, whatever she was asking for must be significant, and their mother must have refused, otherwise, she wouldn't be coming to him.
"Brother, you're a general now, so imposing. You even put on airs with your own sister," Yu Mingyue, failing with soft tactics, resorted to a counter-attack.
"I see your skill in sophistry has improved," Yu Mingjing poked Yu Mingyue's forehead with his finger, though without any real force.
"Gege, I'm not being unreasonable this time. I want to go back to Qinghe," Yu Mingyue had always been forthright with her brother.
Yu Mingjing's expression gradually turned serious. Even when he was away on campaign these past two years, he had kept in constant correspondence with his maternal grandfather.
When the Wang family encountered trouble, he had written up to three letters a day, urging his grandfather to make plans early. Since the Yao family had mobilized the Northern Army, their target was certainly not just the Wang clan.
Although the lives of the Wang clan members had been spared, their family was gone, and their foundation was lost. It would likely take a century for them to regain their former glory.