Deep night, inside the Da Li Temple.

  Shen Xingwen pushed open the half-closed door of Pei Tan's study, his eyes slowly falling on the piles of documents on the desk. He smiled and ordered: "Move all the files from Master's desk to my room."

  The attendants behind him were shocked and hesitated: "This, this is not good... what if the master returns?"

  They dared not discuss the case on the table.

  Shen Shaoqing once again cast a cold, detached glance at the yamen runner, who dared not speak out in anger and instead hung his head low, shuffling his feet as he walked away to start cleaning up the mountain of case files.

  Shen Xingwen watched the yamen servants cleaning up, smiling leisurely and contentedly. Was he coming back? This beautiful scenery, the moonlight was just right, the prosperity of Chang'an's night market was probably rare in the world, how could it be strolled through in just one or two hours?

  It is said that Shen Shaoqing reads case files under lamplight at night.

  Mr. Pei took a stroll down the long street on a moonlit night.

  Jing Wan'er felt as if she was in another world, surrounded by the sea of people, squeezing and pushing through the crowds.

  She felt what it was like to be amidst a sea of twinkling lights, this deep night wasn't dark at all, but rather illuminated brightly.

  If Pei Tan wasn't by her side, she was afraid she would really lose her sense of direction.

  No wonder Pei Tan wants to hold hands with Jing Wanyu, this crowd is surging forward, all kinds of people are rushing around, and if you're not careful, you might get swept away.

  Pei Tan took her along until they turned a corner.

  Suddenly, I felt a sense of clarity and openness before my eyes.

  Before his eyes appeared a vast marketplace. And the crowded throngs all dispersed in all directions, surging away. Finally, it was no longer so crowded that people were packed tightly together.

  Jing Wan'er was slightly out of breath, "Sir."

  Pei Tan let go of Jing Yuanyuan's hand and turned around to look at her.

  Jing Wan'er suddenly felt something, and after a moment of stunned silence, she covered up the emotions in her eyes, lowered her head and saw that her clothes were disheveled.

  Just now, in the midst of all that hustle and bustle, several strands of hair on his head had become disheveled.

  Jing Wan'er hastily patted her clothes with her hand and tidied herself up.

  Taking advantage of her lowered head, Pei Tan looked at her and stretched out his hand to grasp the wooden hairpin on Jing Wanyan's hair.

  He only saw him helping Jing Wanner adjust her hairpin, re-tying the scattered strands of hair for her.

  Jing Wan'er's hands stiffened slightly as she lowered her head to adjust her clothes.

  "Thank you, sir."

  Pei Tan's eyes were like stars in the night sky, deep and profound. He said to Jing Wanyan, "Don't call me 'sir'."

  The surrounding people were in an uproar, fortunately, Jing Wanyan's voice was drowned out by the crowd.

  Jing Wan'er immediately came back to her senses. Her mind racing, she moved her mouth and the words that came out were: "Young Master."

  In a place like this, in such a crowded and public setting, it was naturally impossible to reveal Pei Tan's identity so easily with just one sentence.

  Caution is necessary in all things.

  "Are you hungry?" Pei Tan asked her gently.

  Jing Wan'er subconsciously covered her stomach, they hadn't eaten dinner before coming out and had been squeezed in the crowd for a while, of course she was starving.

  Pai Tan seemed to nod and then turned around saying: "Let's go."

  The night market in Chang'an is spread across eight major streets, each street bustling with activity, so the crowd is dispersed, prosperous but not chaotic.

  This is a Chang'an that Jing Wan'er has never seen before, the capital of the gods where people from all over the world come and go.

  In the sky, there are Kongming lanterns floating.

  Pei Tan walked forward with Jing Wanyan, and the street vendors began to hawk their wares.

  As expected, there are vendors selling all sorts of things. The enticing aroma of roasted sweet potatoes wafts through the air.

  "Sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes! Young master, would you like some sweet potatoes?" The vendor's shining eyes stared at the figure walking towards his stall.

  Pei Tan Ting stood in front of the stall. "Two, please."

  "Alright, wait a moment!" The vendor quickly picked up the tongs and took out two sweet potatoes from the oven, placing them on an oil paper bag, then handed it to Pei Tan, "Sir, two taels of silver."

  Pei Tan took out silver from his waist and handed it over.

  Pei Tan handed one of the sweet potatoes to Jing Yu'er.

  Jing Wan'er held the hot sweet potatoes and her heart was also warm, "Thank you, young master."

  Jing Wantong raised her hand and peeled the skin of the sweet potato bit by bit, just about to eat it when she saw Pei Tan staring at the oil paper package without moving.

  Jing Wan'er suddenly understood.

  I don't know if Lord Pei... usually has the chance to eat sweet potatoes with skin.

  Jing Wan'er handed over the peeled sweet potato with a smile: "Young master, have mine."

  Pei Tan turned around and saw her smiling face.

  Pei Tan smiled for a while, paused, and slowly took over, then slowly handed the sweet potato in his hand to him.

  Jing Wan'er indeed caught it.

  Like that, Jing Wanyu quickly peeled it and took a bite. Sweet and soft, sweet potatoes are indeed one of the most delicious foods.

  Pei also took a bite at this time, but chewed slowly with a small mouth and swallowed slowly.

  Jing Wan'er couldn't help but say: "Young master, sweet potatoes are best eaten in big mouthfuls... that's when they're most flavorful." If he eats like that, how long will it take him to finish?

  Pei Tan looked at the sweet potato which was bigger than his palm and obviously couldn't swallow it.

  Jing Wan'er couldn't help it, and she took a big bite, feeling satisfied as the flavors filled her taste buds. She couldn't hold back and burst out laughing towards Pei Tan.

  Bai Tan looked at her and saw the sweet potato mud stuck to the corner of her mouth, eating with big mouthfuls would end up like this.

  But looking at her smiling face, Pei Tan suddenly didn't know what to say.

  He picked up the sweet potato and took a bite of it.

  Jing Wan'er was taken aback, staring at Pei Tan, and suddenly pointed at the corner of his mouth and burst out laughing: "Young master, your mouth... haha..." She couldn't see her own mouth but stared at someone else's mouth and laughed loudly.

  Pei Tan couldn't help but curl up his lip, and from his sleeve he took out a handkerchief to carefully wipe the corner of Jing Yuanyu's mouth.

  Jing Wan'er's laughter stopped abruptly, and she stood there, stunned and unable to move.

  Ba Dian wiped it clean and put away his handkerchief, "Alright."

  Jing Wan'er's gaze was fixed on Pei Tan's face, and Pei Tan looked at her deeply before turning around to walk forward, "Let's go."

  Jing Wan'er was stunned for a moment, her thin lips trembling slightly as she followed him immediately.

  Prosperous as a flourishing age, Pei Tan led Wan Er through the countless city streets, amidst the hustle and bustle of human voices, as if it were the most ordinary, worldly thing. But this kind of thing was something that neither Jing Wan Er nor Pei Tan had ever experienced before.

  "Rouge! Rouge! Freshly arrived rouge powder!"

  The hawker was shouting loudly.

  "Sir! Want to buy hairpins?"

  The vendor's eyes looked at Pei Tan with surprise, and Pei Tan stopped again, looking at the stall full of sparkling jewelry and hairpins, his gaze involuntarily fell on a pigeon-blood red long pin.

  The vendor's eyes lit up and he hastily held it up with both hands: "Young master, is this what you want? Oh my, this is a top-grade item! Take a look at its quality!"

  Pei Tan had already taken the long pin and turned to look at Jing Yuane.

  Jing Wan'er was too simple and her only hairpin on her head was made of wood, which had even faded with age.

  This pigeon blood red long pin, this color, is just right for Jing Yuane's prime youth.

  Jing Wan'er felt uneasy as Pei Tan picked up the hairpin, especially when he placed it on her hair and seemed to be checking if it suited her.

  The answer is naturally, good-looking.

  Such color, indeed suits her well.

  "Here, I'll take this one. How much is it?"

  What a lavish display! The peddler beamed with joy: "Ten taels of silver."

  Jing Wan'er finally couldn't bear it and opened her mouth to stop him: "Young Master, really no need to buy things for Wan'er..." What qualifications did she have?

  Pei Tan grasped the hairpin and paused for a moment, as if realizing something, and looked at Jing Wanyu: "Don't you like it?"

  He should have asked Jing Yuanyuan for her opinion instead.

  Jing Wan'er was left speechless by the question, while a vendor on the side flattered: "Of course the young lady likes it, just look, she's so fond of it that she can't say a word."

  Jing Wan'er: "......"

  Pei Tan took out another silver ingot from his waist and handed it over. The peddler was overjoyed and happily accepted it.

  Pei Tan grasped the hairpin and turned to face Jing Yuane, handing it over to her: "I know your birthday has just passed. This hairpin is... a belated birthday gift."

  Pei Tan's voice was soft and warm, but the moment he mentioned her birthday, Jing Wanyu felt as if she had been suddenly poked, her face turning pale as she stared at Pei Tan.

  Jing Wan'er's birthday had passed about two months ago, but at that time she was still on her way to Chang'an.

  How did Pei Tan know her birthday?

  However, after Jing's amnesty and restoration of her household registration, all the files were returned to the Ministry of Rites. As long as Pei Tan could retrieve Jing Yu'er's household registration file, all these would naturally be understood, but why did Pei Tan deliberately go to investigate these?

  After a long time, the vendor stared at the back of Pei Tan and Jing Yu'er walking side by side, this look was like two people who were mutually infatuated with each other, but in between, it seemed as if they had deliberately covered themselves with a layer of tracing paper...

  If you really want to stroll through the eight major streets of Chang'an, I'm afraid it would take until dawn to finish, but this is the charm of the Chang'an night market, making you reluctant to leave no matter what.

  There were several pairs of eyes that, when sweeping across Pei Tan and Jing Yu'er's faces, came to a sudden stop, like scorpions.

  "Is that... isn't that the 'Plague God'?" a faint and eerie voice asked.

  Among the crowd, a few people stared at Pei Tan and Jing Yuanyuan's figures, with vicious glints in their eyes. "Is that Pei Tan? He actually brought out a woman?"

  Someone cunningly discovered something: "Where's Pei Tan's guard? He doesn't seem to be around?"

  "Be careful, he might be hiding around." After all, this is a very likely thing.

  "One person sneered gloomily: 'Impossible, I've been following them from the last street, and there's only Pei Tan and this woman.'"

  If they were really lurking around, they must have found out.

  These few people coincidentally exchanged a glance at the same time.

  What does this mean? Does it mean Pei Tan is left alone?

  Normally, it's hard to get close to Pei Tan, the Dali Temple is heavily guarded, and the bodyguards raised by the Pei family are abnormally strong, making it impossible to approach Pei Tan.

  "That woman is what Lord Li wants." The speaker was the leader-like figure at the forefront. His eyes gleamed with greed. "If we take this woman away... will Lord Li reward us?"

  Others had different expressions, some were fearful, while others were obviously moved.

  They are actually hired killers who take orders from the underworld and have done a lot of things for the Li family.

  "But I seem to have heard... Pei Tan has martial arts skills?" Someone hesitated, even without the guards by his side, Pei Tan himself wouldn't be easy to deal with, would he?

  The leader stared at Pei Tan's back: "He is a weak and sickly young master, looking at him like that, even if he knows some martial arts, at most he is just a decoration, can't we few brothers who have tasted the blade handle him?"

  They never believed that a young master from a wealthy family could have impressive martial arts skills.

  "Besides, with so many people on the street today, it's a heaven-sent opportunity to take action. As long as we act quickly and retreat afterwards, no one will know it was us."

  It's a rare opportunity that can't be missed, and it's really hard to let go of this once-in-a-lifetime chance.

  That man was still worried: "But what if..."

  The leader's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness: "If you're afraid of being in front or behind, then just stay back and don't bother to take action."

  His face turned pale and he didn't dare make a sound. Leaving him without moving his hands, isn't that equivalent to being a dead body?