To the Yuliu prince’s regret, Princess Lingque had already recovered her previous appearance.

Her head was wrapped in bandages, with loose strands of black hair casually falling beside her fair cheeks, giving her a delicate fragility she hadn’t possessed before.

The Yuliu prince suppressed the corners of his mouth to comfort her. “Royal Sister, don’t be afraid. Hair can grow back—”

“I’m looking for Royal Brother to discuss serious matters. Don’t mention anything else.” Princess Lingque said seriously, though a violent storm raged in her heart.

No matter who it was, if anyone mentioned her hair again she wanted to kill them!

The Yuliu prince was very tactful. “Royal Sister, please speak.”

“I’ve found a suitable prince consort candidate.” Princess Lingque’s expressionless manner made it seem as if she were discussing something completely unrelated to herself.

The Yuliu prince was quite surprised. “Who?”

Princess Lingque raised an eyebrow with a smile. “What does Royal Brother think of Great Zhou’s top scholar Yang Zhe?”

The Yuliu prince was stunned, then puzzled. “His background is very ordinary, and he’s already betrothed to Princess Yi’an.”

It seemed there was no benefit to be gained.

Princess Lingque curved her lips, a fire burning in her heart as she said word by word, “It’s precisely because he’s betrothed to Princess Yi’an that he’s suitable.”

“How so?” The Yuliu prince made a show of wanting to hear more details, vaguely suspecting Princess Lingque wanted revenge on Princess Yi’an.

Just because she had a bald patch, she wanted to steal someone else’s husband—tsk tsk, women’s vindictiveness was truly excessive.

Princess Lingque didn’t care at all what her brother thought and stated her reasons. “Royal Brother also found out that Great Zhou’s empress dowager dotes on Princess Yi’an very much. The top scholar Yang Zhe was personally selected by the empress dowager as Princess Yi’an’s prince consort. And Great Zhou’s emperor is extremely filial to the empress dowager.”

She lowered her eyelids, her tone slightly cool. “Royal Brother, tell me—when I, having lost my memory, make this request, will Great Zhou’s emperor refuse out of filial piety, or will he hurt the empress dowager’s heart to pacify this incident that could cause a rift between our two nations?”

The Yuliu prince’s eyes brightened slightly. Though he said nothing, he was clearly persuaded by Princess Lingque’s words.

Princess Lingque wore a mocking smile at the corners of her lips. “If he refuses, what would I, having lost my memory, understand? I’ll definitely raise a tremendous fuss. If he agrees—hehe, the deep mother-son bond between Great Zhou’s emperor and the empress dowager should take a discount. I heard that before Great Zhou’s current emperor, there was another emperor who was the empress dowager’s eldest son. This emperor only disappeared and might still be alive. If my selection of a prince consort can create a rift between Great Zhou’s emperor and the empress dowager, there might be quite a show in the future.”

As a princess, she clearly understood that relationships for those in high positions couldn’t withstand cracks, because possessing too much made them too afraid of losing what they had.

“Royal Sister thinks so far ahead.” The Yuliu prince sighed.

This girl had been harboring a belly full of schemes since pretending to lose her memory. Good thing she was his sister, bringing disaster to Great Zhou instead.

“Does Royal Brother agree with my choice?”

The Yuliu prince hesitated somewhat. “Royal Sister’s choice is good, but we’ve only just arrived in Great Zhou. Should we look around more to see if there’s a more suitable candidate?”

This decision was too hasty.

Princess Lingque’s expression cooled slightly as she raised her chin. “A quick decision doesn’t mean a rash decision. While I’m injured, this is the best opportunity.”

For making her head bald, she absolutely had to steal that wretch’s prince consort!

“Then we’ll follow Royal Sister’s wishes.” The Yuliu prince nodded.

After all, he wasn’t the one getting married.

With the matter settled, Princess Lingque finally asked, “Royal Brother, is that top scholar Yang Zhe truly talented and handsome?”

The Yuliu prince recalled Yang Zhe’s appearance. “His talent is hard to gauge at the moment, but his appearance is indeed quite good.”

“Compared to Royal Brother?” Princess Lingque had a smile on her lips.

Good-looking and stolen from that wretch—how could she not be happy?

The Yuliu prince thought for a long time before saying with difficulty, “About the same, I suppose.”

Princess Lingque choked.

If that were the case, she was a bit worried…

The Yuliu prince didn’t find his words insincere at all and began considering the next steps. “Although we were drinking at the same Fuxiang Garden, Royal Sister never actually met the top scholar Yang Zhe. Suddenly proposing him as prince consort doesn’t make sense.”

Princess Lingque had already thought this through. “That’s not difficult. Isn’t Yang Zhe renowned for his talent? Has Royal Brother forgotten about Tianming and the others?”

For this diplomatic mission to Great Zhou, they had deliberately selected three talented scholars among the accompanying personnel, precisely to find opportunities to deflate the prestige of Great Zhou’s scholars.

“Have them provoke Great Zhou’s scholars and make a big scene of it. As the outstanding figure among young talented scholars, Yang Zhe will definitely participate. At that time, Royal Brother can take me to watch their competition under the pretext of taking me out for fresh air. Won’t it be perfectly natural for me to be impressed by the top scholar’s talent?”

The Yuliu prince sighed in admiration. “Royal Sister has thought this through so thoroughly.”

Princess Lingque rubbed her temples. “I’m tired. Royal Brother, please go.”

“Then rest well.”

As soon as the Yuliu prince left, the atmosphere around Princess Lingque suddenly turned cold. “Bring me the mirror.”

The maid carefully brought over the glass mirror.

Princess Lingque stared at the exceptionally beautiful woman in the mirror, her eyes filled with rage. “Tell me, when will my hair grow back?”

The maid’s face paled as she comforted her. “The imperial physician said the princess is young with abundant vitality and blood. The cut hair will grow back quickly.”

“How quickly is quickly?”

“Three… two, oh no, one month.” The maid was nearly driven to death by this question.

Hearing it would take a month, Princess Lingque felt as if struck by five thunderbolts. She swept her sleeve and knocked over the teacup. “How infuriating!”

Afterward, Princess Lingque shut herself away to recuperate. Gifts from all quarters piled up at the guest residence, and this storm seemed to pass just like that. Princess Yi’an secretly breathed a sigh of relief and finally had the leisure to return to the Weiwu Marquis Manor.

“Where is younger sister?” As soon as she saw Madam Kou, Princess Yi’an asked about Kou Wan.

“Wan’er went out shopping early this morning, saying she wanted to buy some rouge and powder.” Madam Kou examined her daughter’s complexion and relaxed. “When that Princess Yuliu had her accident, Mother broke out in a cold sweat for you. Fortunately nothing came of it.”

Princess Yi’an’s face darkened. “Mother, please don’t mention this again.”

“Alright, alright, I won’t mention it.” Madam Kou instructed a maid, “Send someone to the shops Second Miss usually visits to find her and bring her back. At her age, once she goes out it’s like a wild horse off its tether…”

Princess Yi’an turned a deaf ear to Madam Kou’s nagging, barely maintaining her patience until Kou Wan returned. She said lightly, “I’ll go to younger sister’s place to chat.”

The two sisters went to Kou Wan’s boudoir and dismissed the attendants.

Kou Wan’s feelings were somewhat complicated.

Her elder sister’s coldness on the day of the flower-viewing banquet had made her sad and unwilling. Princess Lingque’s accident had made her secretly blame herself for possibly causing trouble for her elder sister. These past days she’d been tormented by various emotions and felt quite miserable. Today’s shopping trip was meant to buy some things young ladies liked as gifts for Second Miss Lin to express her gratitude. She hadn’t expected her elder sister to return and even proactively seek her out to talk.

The gloom that had hung over her heart these past days seemed to dissipate. Kou Wan asked with a smile, “When did elder sister arrive?”

Princess Yi’an stared at her smiling younger sister and raised her hand to deliver a slap.

Kou Wan covered her cheek, stunned by the blow. “Elder sister?”