Responses
She was eavesdropping on an important convo I think
He overheard her declaration to her younger brother that she intended to "cling to his thigh", so he believes her attentions are insincere and motivated by cunning. He also caught her eavesdropping on a conversation which implicated him in a past relationship with one of the Emperor's concubines. He admires her, but does not trust her.
Why the early chapter minister Chu just almost kill MC by suffocating her? I don't quite understand at all.