The air was thick with tension as both parties stared each other down.

The palace guards armed with bows and arrows closed in on Lu Liangwei’s party and surrounded them. It was clear that they would not hesitate to shoot their arrows at any sudden movement.

Lu Liangwei stifled her alarm and squeezed Chu Jiu’s hand, signaling for her to stay calm.

Right then, Wanyan Jin rode forward, and the palace guards immediately made way for him.

Having learned from his previous experience, he did not dare to approach Lu Liangwei carelessly. He stopped his horse five paces away and looked at her with a half-smile. “Where are you going, my love? Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

“Watch that insolent mouth of yours!” Chu Jiu unsheathed her sword and pointed it at him.

However, Wanyan Jin ignored her and kept his gaze trained on Lu Liangwei, a suggestive smile playing on his lips.

Lu Liangwei tightened the reins, her gaze sweeping over the palace guards behind him and Beitang Rui. When he uttered those misleading words, she immediately had a vague understanding of what his intentions were.

Her eyes glinted coldly at the thought. “I don’t think you should go around mistaking other people for whoever you’re looking for, Prince Wanyan—or do you have amnesia, perhaps?”

Wanyan Jin put his fist to his mouth and coughed a few times, then said a little helplessly, “Are you still mad at me, my love?”

Lu Liangwei’s anger flared up at his presumptuous term of endearment for her, but she eventually suppressed it. Ignoring him, she fixed her gaze on Beitang Rui. “Prince Rui, is this how your kingdom treats another kingdom’s envoys?”

Beitang Rui was still in a daze from seeing her true face, and he thought to himself, ‘She’s even more beautiful in person than she is in that portrait!’

When he heard her addressing him, he blinked in confusion. “Envoy?”

Chu Jiu immediately fished out a token of authority. “I’m a subordinate of the West Reigning General of Great Shang. I’m here in the Yan Kingdom under orders to offer birthday wishes to the Emperor.”

Beitang Rui was startled to see the token in her hand. “The West Reigning General?”

“That’s right.” Lu Liangwei nodded. “The General had other business to take care of, so he ordered us to wait here for him.”

Wanyan Jin narrowed his eyes. He did not expect that Lu Liangwei would pull the envoy card at this critical moment.

“I never knew you were an envoy from Great Shang, my love.”

Lu Liangwei smiled wearily. “Prince Wanyan, there are plenty of people who look alike in this world. You used to mistake other people for the wrong person too when you were in Great Shang. What’s wrong? Haven’t you found your beloved concubine?” She sighed. “I feel sorry for you. Oh well, I guess I can forgive your rudeness since you haven’t found her.”

Hearing this, Beitang Rui and the commander of the palace guards looked at Wanyan Jin in perplexion.

Had Wanyan Jin gotten the wrong person, after all?

The girl seemed to be implying that he had once mistaken her for another person when he was in Great Shang.

They were under the Emperor’s orders to help Wanyan Jin search for his beloved concubine, but this girl in front of them had just declared that she was not that person but an envoy from Great Shang.

Lu Liangwei’s retort left Wanyan Jin at a loss for words, but he quickly collected himself and cast her an even more significant look. “Stop messing around. How could I ever mistake someone else for you?” There was resignation and also a hint of fondness in his tone.

Lu Liangwei let out an exasperated laugh. She decided not to waste her arguing with him and turned her gaze on Beitang Rui. “Prince Rui, once my master arrives, we’ll go to the palace with you and meet the Emperor.”

The frankness and sincerity in her tone made Beitang Rui hesitate.

Was she really a family member of an envoy from Great Shang? However, if Great Shang had really sent an envoy, why didn’t they receive any news from the frontier?

The only possibility was that—they did not enter the Yan Kingdom as envoys.

There was a thoughtful look on Beitang Rui’s face.