On Qingxing Street, the orange glow from red lanterns hanging under the eaves of shops facing the street diluted the night’s chill, casting a faint warm light over the young pair.

Wei Han gazed at Luo Sheng.

The young woman’s features were softened by the night, yet her expression couldn’t be more serious.

Wei Han suddenly felt that he didn’t like this kind of seriousness.

On ordinary days, a serious Miss Luo was also fine, but in this situation, it made him unable to help wanting to say something—he was unwilling to just leave like this.

He looked at her, his tone earnest: “Miss Luo, I haven’t had too much to drink.”

Just three pots of heated wine—how could that be too much?

“Fine, Your Highness hasn’t had too much. Your Highness should go back now.”

This attitude of clearly not believing him made Wei Han involuntarily frown. He stared at those indifferent eyes and said: “Miss Luo, this isn’t what I’m like when I’ve had too much.”

Luo Sheng felt both annoyed and amused.

Still saying he hasn’t had too much—isn’t this just an unreasonably troublesome drunkard?

Come to think of it, the usual Prince Kaiyang was more pleasing to the eye. She could even tolerate him sending inexplicable gifts.

“Must one throw tantrums and make a drunken scene to be considered drunk? Your Highness, please go back quickly. I won’t see you off.” After Luo Sheng finished speaking, she turned to leave.

Her hand was suddenly grasped by a large hand.

The man was very close to her—so close that she was enveloped by his unique scent, making her entire body stiffen.

Above, a crescent moon scattered clear frost across the ground. Her usually cool fingertips were infused with warmth under the wrap of that large hand.

This trace of warmth made Luo Sheng momentarily dazed, forgetting to react for a moment.

The man’s clear eyes, tinged with a faint trace of intoxication, became shimmering with rippling light in this moment.

He gazed steadily at her and said: “If I were truly drunk, it would be like this.”

Not throwing a drunken tantrum at all.

Luo Sheng stared at that large hand and sighed.

So he really was drunk…

Without hesitation, she pulled her hand back. Luo Sheng said expressionlessly: “Fine, I truly believe you now. Your Highness, please go back.”

Wei Han curved his lips in a smile: “Then see you tomorrow.”

Watching the man gradually move into the distance, Luo Sheng silently turned and entered the tavern.

In the main hall, Sheng Sanlang and several others were gathered around eating hotpot.

Steaming lamb hotpot and delicious fish head hotpot—in this slightly cold late autumn season, eating these and filling one’s belly couldn’t be more comfortable.

Xiu Yue looked toward Luo Sheng: “Miss.”

Hearing this, the others all looked over.

“Cousin, will you eat a bit more?”

Luo Sheng smiled: “I ate meat buns earlier. Cousin, you all eat.”

Outside it was already bleak late autumn, but inside, filled with the aroma of steaming hot food, it felt as if one were in springtime.

This contrast made Luo Sheng inexplicably feel somewhat confused.

She felt that the people she saw, the ground she stood on, all had an unreal quality.

Prince Kaiyang was drunk—could it be that she was drunk too?

Luo Sheng shook her head with a laugh and walked toward the back courtyard.

Xiu Yue put down her bowl and chopsticks, wiped her hands, and followed.

Luo Sheng stood in the courtyard, staring at that tall persimmon tree in a daze.

In just these two or three days, the persimmon tree’s leaves had become even sparser. The fallen leaves on the ground hadn’t been swept up in time, and the autumn wind swept them up to flutter against the young woman’s plain-colored skirt hem.

“Miss.”

Luo Sheng turned her head to look at Xiu Yue who had walked to her side.

In the courtyard, it was empty with only the two of them.

Xiu Yue said softly: “You and Prince Kaiyang—”

She shouldn’t ask, but while the others were competing for food, she had seen through the window that pair of perfect companions standing in the cool moonlight.

The sight had inexplicably made her heart ache.

That was a distance the Princess and Prince Consort of Pingnan Wei Qiang had never approached.

“We have nothing between us.” Luo Sheng’s expression turned cold.

“But—”

“There are no ‘buts.'” Luo Sheng looked at Xiu Yue and said word by word: “His surname is Wei.”

He just had to have the surname Wei.

But this was also good—it allowed her to keep her heart hardened.

If his surname weren’t Wei, if she momentarily became confused… walking on that path with nine deaths and one survival would only harm others.

A person whose family was destroyed, who was living under someone else’s skin—what right did she have to think about romantic feelings between men and women?

She shouldn’t even have the right to have her heart stirred.

Lowering her eyes to stare at that hand that had been held, Luo Sheng’s dry eyes felt somewhat swollen.

Yet she—in that instant when her fingertips were warmed—seemed to have felt her heart stir.

Her embroidered shoes stepped on the dried fallen leaves. Luo Sheng self-mockingly tugged at the corners of her lips.

So there were always many things that would happen unexpectedly.

And after hearing Luo Sheng’s answer, Xiu Yue also fell into silence.

The Princess said Prince Kaiyang’s surname was Wei, but she didn’t say she had no feelings for him…

Her Princess finally had someone who had captured her heart.

Actually, the Princess’s feelings toward Prince Consort of Pingnan Wei Qiang had always been something the four of them were rather worried about.

At that time, Sister Zhao Hua had said that the Princess had no romantic feelings toward the Prince Consort of Pingnan—it was just childhood friendship, following parental orders.

However, there was also no other man who stirred the Princess’s heart. Being able to marry a childhood friend whom she knew well was not a bad choice.

Knowing each other well…

Thinking of these four words now, Xiu Yue only felt they were a tremendous joke.

And after the Princess had experienced life-and-death extraordinary events, someone had finally unlocked her heart—yet that person shared the same surname Wei as Wei Qiang.

Xiu Yue didn’t know what kind of mood Luo Sheng was in at this moment. She only knew she felt heartache for the Princess.

For her Princess, having her heart stirred was more bitter, more difficult than remaining unmoved.

In the evening wind came the young woman’s indifferent voice: “Clean up a bit, prepare to return to the residence.”

Several days passed in a flash. With the return of the autumn hunt entourage, the teahouses and wine shops of the capital became lively with several pieces of gossip.

The first piece of gossip was that the Crown Prince had been gored by a wild boar while hunting at the North River.

Actually, whispers of this gossip had already been heard before the autumn hunt entourage returned to the capital, though it always seemed hard to believe.

But now that all the officials and nobility had returned and there was no need to worry about the security of correspondence, a few loose-lipped people immediately spread it.

The Crown Prince, gored by a wild boar—this… this made the citizens of Great Zhou lose face somewhat.

The second piece of gossip was also related to the Crown Prince: the Crown Princess had actually been disfigured!

When this gossip emerged, people inexplicably developed some understanding for the Crown Prince being gored by the wild boar: perhaps because of the Crown Princess’s matter, the Crown Prince was under too much pressure.

Matters involving the imperial family shouldn’t be spread carelessly, but the news of the Crown Princess’s disfigurement was too sensitive and quickly stirred up ripples in some people’s hearts.

A disfigured woman could never possibly sit securely in the position of Crown Princess. In that case, wouldn’t the daughters of their clans have an opportunity to rise…

There was also another piece of gossip, about Prince Kaiyang and Miss Luo.

It was said that someone had personally witnessed the two of them meeting under the pretext of hunting.

This piece of gossip similarly shocked many people.

No way—Prince Kaiyang could actually take a liking to Miss Luo? Could pulling at waistbands really lead to feelings developing?

Impossible, impossible.

To say Prince Kaiyang had taken a liking to Miss Luo’s cooking skills as a chef—that had some credibility. But Miss Luo kept male companions! How could Prince Kaiyang take a liking to Miss Luo herself!

Of these three pieces of gossip, the last one was definitely false news.

However, the main characters in the first two pieces of gossip weren’t easy to observe, but one could see Prince Kaiyang at Youjian Tavern.

For a time, Youjian Tavern had customers flowing like clouds, extraordinarily lively.