"Ji SongLi is still at the Eastern Desert, isn't he?" Third Prince Zhang GuoFu turned to ask Zhen BuFeng. If anyone would know the situation of Da Lang's constantly turbulent neighborhood, it was the young vice-commander of the Wolf army. The latter nodded.

Zhen BuFeng himself was not a stranger to leaving Da Lang for a long period of time; but lately, the Eastern Desert's situation had been getting out of hand. The elusive Dong tribe leader, who was the core operation of the tribe's insurgence, and his core factions were never found despite several definite leads.

Somehow, Zhen BuFeng was glad that he was not the one assigned to the eastern regions. He would much rather confront his enemies head-on, than having to play stealthy game of hide and seek.

At this point, the three performers had finished their second song. Not long after, the Lian house was deafened with enthusiastic claps, excited laughter, even some whistles giving appreciation to their performance. Sun Chen then came into view with a smile. The two young maids, who were initially waiting behind the pavilion, also went towards the two qin players who then handed their zithers to each maid to carry.

Afterwards, the four performers bowed together towards the audience across and around the pavilion. Afterwards, they retreated together; He Shan and Sun Chen walking in front and behind the two qin players, to give the two females some protection. The guests were still clapping enthusiastically, only to realize that with only two pieces of music performed, the performance had ended. There was unwillingness to leave, all of them still stubbornly sitting on their seats. After a brief period of time, each table's attending servant from the Lian house told the guests they were in charge with;

"Master He Shan, Master Sun Chen, and the two young ladies from Ji estate will stay for a while inside the Peony pavilion. They are willing to exchange pointers and their knowledge with esteemed guests."

There was chaos as a sudden multitude of people now tried to beat each other to reach the Peony Pavilion.

Peony Pavilion was aptly named due to the various colorful Peony trees densely planted, surrounding a quaint wooden structure. Although it was not the biggest pavilion in Lian house, it would usually be enough to house several tens of people together, if the crowd gathered in an orderly manner.

What Lian house did not expect was that day's act being extremely popular, despite only having performed two musical scores.

There were several paths towards the Peony Pavilion, connecting all the smaller pavilions where the guests were seated. All these smaller paths eventually merge into a slightly bigger bridge over Lian house' lotus pond. At the end of the bridge, a man-made small island housed the Peony Pavilion.

The announcing Lian house's servants did not expect the guests would be very passionate in 'exchanging pointers and knowledge' that their butts practically flew off their cushions as they made their ways towards the pavilion. YuLan's group and the stampeding guests happened to coincide at the fork of this intersection, right at the bridge.

Bai YuLan, Ji LanBai,  and their two accompanying maids - Xiao Hui and Xiao Lin - found themselves to be squashed inside a small protective circle of He Shan, Sun Chen, and the two Ji family guards assigned for them. The Ji guards, despite having their swords half-unsheathed, could not hurt the commoners, so they could only push back passively. People and personal servants of the guests pushed each other,

"Miss! My master wishes to give his family card to you."

"Young Miss, we want to show our goodwill. Our Young Master is extremely interested in playing qin together with you. Of course, we will compensate accordingly. Our Young Master is the richest farmer in Ming... ."

"Master He Shan, my old master used to be under tutelage of your master. Please give good words on our family young master's behalf to the Ji family's Misses... ."

He Shan and Sun Chen's faces were as black as the bottom of an iron pot. Hearing the not-too-subtle hints from various nobles' servants, obviously not everyone was aware that one of the Misses was already off-limits. Although the both of them started to think that this performance was now looking like a bad idea, they would definitely still do their utmost to protect their students from these hungry eyes... .

At this point, a youth wearing a servant garb of Lian house pushed his way through the crowd towards YuLan's group.

This young male worker had wheat-colored skin and was only in his late teens, but he had a sturdy figure, if not a bit on the muscular side. At the moment he genuinely was trying to help He Shan, Sun Chen, and the Ji guards to safely escort the young ladies. However, his arrival only irked the crowd.

A burly personal servant of one attending guest pushed more vigorously at the young man, "You lowly thing! Don't you know who my master is!!"

A few other servants followed suit in shoving their way through, causing the young man to be suddenly disoriented and stumbled off-balance. It caused him to fall towards one of Ji guards, who also lost his footing, accidentally shoving Xiao Hui off their circle and the suspended bridge they were on.

Initially, the Princes and Zhen BuFeng were not going to go to the Peony Pavilion to meet Bai YuLan and Ji LanBai. After all, with their status, they could visit the Ji estate anytime they want only with little or no notice. However, from afar, they could not have missed the disturbance.

Zhen BuFeng's eyes immediately darkened as he exerted some force onto his feet. He leapt lightly, easily reaching YuLan's group in just a few steps. However, he was just a bit late as he noticed YuLan's and the young Lian house's servant's hands reached out towards Xiao Hui. Xiao Hui's eyes widened in panic as she threw the guqin in her hands towards He Shan, who fortunately managed to catch it. However, because of the short timing, she fell into the pond before managing to grab hold onto the reaching hands of her friend.

At this moment, the three Princes had arrived quite close to the commotion. In front of their eyes, they saw Xiao Hui fell. Because YuLan and the young male servant lost their balance after trying to reach out for Xiao Hui, and were accidentally pushed further by the crowd, everyone's eyes widened as they could only watch her fall into the lotus pond.

The crowd was now nervous as they realized their 'passionate' act had gone too far. One of the qin players had fallen into the pond. Now what?

"Very good!" The Crown Prince's eyes dimmed with frost. He strode forward with the Second Prince and the Third Prince to hurriedly reach the bridge. The three men's tall figures emitted dangerous chill and clear displease. The crowd subconsciously parted to let the three royal princes reached where He Shan, Sun Chen, and Ji LanBai were standing.

Xiao Hui was still flailing her arms and legs, trying to keep her head above water. When she started to fall before, all she had in her mind was to save Ji SongLi's guqin. 

"Xiao Hua loves that guqin," she thought before throwing it towards He Shan and Sun Chen's direction. She was relieved when He Shan caught it perfectly in his hands, but then her eyes widened in horror as she remembered, 

"I can't swim!!"

"Xiao Hui!" A voice called her name distinctly.

She closed her eyes and was still tossing around in panic, choking up on water once in a while. Then a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her shoulders, making her more nervous as she now could not move her arms to stay afloat. She tried to struggle.

"Xiao Hui!!!" the voice was now louder. Xiao Hui opened her eyes and saw YuLan in front of her in straight posture. She was in the pond as well, looking  every bit a drowned rat like Xiao Hui herself probably was. Yet, YuLan currently looked very calm. The water level reached slightly above YuLan's chest, but she was not paddling. In fact, she was not moving at all, her stern calm gaze was directed into Xiao Hui. YuLan was undoubtedly standing.

"Standing?" Xiao Hui blinked.

"The water is not deep," YuLan reached out to touch Xiao Hui's cheeks with both of her palms to calm her down, "You can stand."

Only then Xiao Hui noticed the strong arms – undoubtedly belonging to a male – around her shoulders. The arms belonged to the young male servant who fell along with YuLan, him having to restrain her to stop moving so vigorously in the water.

Xiao Hui blushed. Straightening her back, she tiptoed her feet, trying to find the bottom of the pond. Only then the arms around her shoulders loosened, the young man released his hold.

She was relieved and so mightily embarrassed when her feet touched the ground. She gave an embarrassed grin at YuLan, the latter giving her reassuring smile back in turn.

Having lost her white veiled hat when she fell, YuLan looked up towards the crowd who had now suspiciously grown smaller in numbers. The pond itself was not deep. Even if it were, YuLan was a pretty able swimmer in her last life, so she had no doubt she would be able to swim in this life as well. However, not having to swim was definitely much better. She looked at the young man still standing behind Xiao Hui.

"Thank you." She gave him a slight nod to express her appreciation for his earlier help. She would probably be accidentally slapped around by Xiao Hui if she had tried to calm her down herself.

"I don't think my friend and I are able to go up on our own." She gestured towards the gap between the pond and the bridge's footpath that also made it impossible to reach the hands of the people above. She tilted her head slightly, gesturing towards Xiao Hui, "May I trouble you again for help?" 

The young man nodded, immediately understanding YuLan's request. Without further fuss, he lifted Xiao Hui's small body by her waist, pushing her body upwards towards the waiting crowd on the bridge.

Xiao Hui let out a surprised shriek, but before she knew what was happening, a pair of hands reached her from above. Sun Chen effortlessly pulled her to reach the footpath.

YuLan let out a relieved breath seeing Xiao Hui was now safely back on top of the bridge. Sun Chen had already removed his outer robe to cover Xiao Hui's drenched body.

YuLan then turned to the young man who was still in the water with her. With a silent request in her calm gaze, she spread her arms to let the young man assisted her, just as he had lifted Xiao Hui before.

A sudden splashing sound was heard just behind her. YuLan turned and blinked her eyes, 

"Who suddenly wants to swim in the pond?"

She was surprised to see a young man with an expressionless face now standing in the pond. He was more than a head taller than herself, the water merely reached his waist. He was wearing a black and red robe fitted to his lanky body which accentuated his robust build. The fitted robe was definitely designed for ease of movement. His face was vaguely familiar to YuLan and she then noticed the wolf jade insignia hanging from his belt.

Before she could say anything, Zhen BuFeng took a step forward and reached out his left hand behind her back and effortlessly lifted her, his other hand wrapped behind her knee to support her weight. Unlike the male Lian house servant who had lifted Xiao Hui as if he was lifting a small child, Zhen BuFeng's way to carry YuLan caused her to be disconcerted. 

Zhen BuFeng's eyes darkened when he saw her unkempt appearance; the wet dress and inner robe were now tightly plastered onto her small frame, accentuating her budding female figure. Turning his body slightly away to hide her from the crowd's sight, he looked upwards towards the three royal princes.

He curtly said, "Robes!"

Three sets of robes were immediately thrown at his direction. Zhen BuFeng shifted his own body lightly, causing YuLan's figure to be immediately covered by the falling garments. The three flowing robes now obscured YuLan's sight as well. He then effortlessly jumped onto the bridge, after which he released his hold off YuLan and tidied the robes around her frame.