Now This Is a Dilemma
Lily arrived at the academy and, as usual, taught her students. In the afternoon, she instructed the officials from the Ministry of Education in advanced physics.
Today, Jasper Cheng didn't come to the academy to cause trouble, which let Lily breathe a sigh of relief. She thought, that rascal must've finally run out of patience and gone back home—what a blessing.
Lily's mind was filled with thoughts of overseas matters. Even the work for the auction, after teaching Mark Hunter and Cynthia Wu, she left entirely in the hands of the couple. As soon as she returned to the prince's residence, she grabbed Edward.
"Edward, you have a month before your next voyage. For now, just rest here and help me translate some books," Lily said with a cheerful smile.
Edward jumped up in fright. "Mistress, with so many books, are you trying to work me to death? Besides, I can speak Chinese, but I don't really understand the written characters! I can't handle this translation business!"
"Is that so..." Lily looked disappointed.
Edward, seeing Lily's expression, said, "Mistress, if you need someone to translate books, I could introduce someone to you."
"Oh? Who?" Lily asked.
Edward scratched his head. "That person—you probably know them, Mistress."
"I know them!?" Lily was even more confused. She honestly couldn't think of anyone besides Edward who knew both French and Chinese.
Edward nodded emphatically. "Mistress, you two definitely know each other. Wasn't it because of that person that you came to buy spices from me in the first place? You must be good friends."
Lily's heart skipped a beat when she heard this. "Edward, are you talking about Leonard Li, Heir of Huainan?"
Edward quickly nodded, grinning. "Yes, yes, that's him!"
Lily was speechless. She never imagined that Leonard Li, that idle playboy, could actually speak French!
Seeing Lily's astonished face, Edward began to tell her how he met Leonard Li.
As it turned out, when Leonard Li was a child living in Lord Huainan's domain, he loved to eat, drink, and make merry, and enjoyed befriending all sorts of oddballs—including a down-and-out French merchant. This merchant had spent quite some time in the Jin Dynasty, spoke excellent Chinese, and could even write characters.
Leonard Li hung around with the merchant, generous and easygoing. The merchant liked him a lot and taught him French.
Leonard Li was sharp-witted and exceptionally gifted at languages. After a stint with the French merchant, he actually learned to speak French.
Not only could he speak it, he could read and write it too!
Later, the French merchant returned home. When Leonard grew up, he followed his father, Lord Huainan, to the capital and met Edward.
Since Leonard already had an old friend from France, when he met Edward, he took the initiative to befriend him. Knowing Edward had a batch of overseas spices, he tipped off Lily to buy them, which is how Lily and Edward met.
Lily could never have guessed that person was Leonard Li. Now she was in a real bind.
The Huainan faction clearly wanted nothing to do with the Prince of Qin's residence, drawing a hard line. Last time, Leonard Li got his backside handed to him, and the famous foodie hadn't even visited the renowned Eight Flavors Pavilion once.
Lily figured if she really asked Leonard Li to help translate books, Lord Huainan would probably break his legs and lock him up at home—anything to avoid getting mixed up with the Prince of Qin and risking Emperor Xuan's suspicion and a family-wide purge.