“Yes.” Yan Shiyao nodded without hesitation.

Yan Yunning: “…”

Afraid that Yan Yunning might ask more questions, Yan Shiyao hurriedly said, “Ningning, wait here for me a moment — I’m going to the shop ahead to buy some food.”

“Ah?” Before Yan Yunning could get out a second word, Yan Shiyao had already run off.

“Why is she running?” Yan Yunning turned to look at Xiao Wan and Xiaoyue, asking in surprise.

Xiao Wan glanced at Xiaoyue, and the two of them shook their heads at Yan Yunning.

Yan Yunning: “…”

The three of them stood in place for quite a while, and still there was no sign of Yan Shiyao returning. Instead, what came their way was a man with fine, handsome features. “Miss, I noticed you’ve been standing here for a long time — is there something wrong?”

The man’s voice was low and pleasant to the ear, a captivating smile resting at the corner of his lips, and he held a folding fan in his hand, swaying it leisurely. His appearance was truly beyond reproach — it was only that when he had walked over just now, he had limped slightly.

“We’re waiting for someone, young master. Our mistress is waiting for someone.” Xiao Wan responded with a smile.

The man was mildly surprised. “Your mistress? So the young lady is already married.”

She looked so beautiful and young — nothing at all like a married woman.

Yan Yunning smiled and nodded, saying nothing more.

Pei Shuluo noticed that the sky was growing somewhat dark and offered a kindly warning, “Miss — forgive me, Madam — it isn’t safe to return to your residence too late. If the person you’re waiting for doesn’t come, perhaps head back first.”

“Thank you,” Yan Yunning said with a polite smile.

“Think nothing of it.” Pei Shuluo hesitated for a moment, then remained where he was, standing beside Yan Yunning to wait together for Yan Shiyao.

For one thing, the sky was nearly dark, and a delicate, beautiful young woman standing alone on a long street — if something were to happen to her and he simply walked away, his conscience would surely trouble him greatly.

For another, returning to the residence would mean enduring his mother’s endless fussing. He’d have to manage that.

Every time he left the residence, his mother worried that he would be mocked, and feared that he would be hurt by it — it had nearly become an obsession of hers. In truth, he didn’t mind the strange looks others gave him in the slightest.

What did it matter how others saw him?

As long as he himself believed he was at his best, that was enough.

“Second Brother!” From a distance, Pei Shu Tong spotted Pei Shuluo standing beside Yan Yunning, and irritation flared up in her at once.

“Tongtong, why did you come?” Pei Shuluo smiled warmly.

Pei Shu Tong, who had drawn close, looked at Pei Shuluo with a hint of disdain, then gave Yan Yunning a perfunctory, shallow curtsy. “Shu Tong pays her respects to the Crown Princess.”

If it weren’t for their mother insisting she come look for Second Brother, why would she have come? She loathed walking alongside Second Brother.

“Crown Princess?” Pei Shuluo hurriedly cupped his hands and bowed. “Pei Shuluo pays his respects to the Crown Princess.”

Yan Yunning clicked her tongue — Pei Shu Tong’s second brother seemed far better than Pei Shu Tong and her eldest brother Pei Shunian.

Upon learning that Yan Yunning was the Crown Princess, Pei Shuluo visibly became much more reserved.

At the residence, he had often heard Tongtong complaining unhappily about the Crown Princess. He had advised Tongtong many times that this was an offense punishable by death, yet Tongtong never heeded him.

Though today was his first time meeting the Crown Princess, he felt she was nothing like what Tongtong had described.

“Second Brother, must you always leave the residence?” Pei Shu Tong said with frustration. “With your leg the way it is, you should go out less from now on — spare Mother the worry.”

Pei Shuluo smiled awkwardly.

“Don’t always rely on Mother’s guilt to make her lavish all her care on you alone — one day Mother will tire of it, and then you’ll know regret.” Pei Shu Tong’s words carried a pointed undertone.

Pei Shuluo frowned, puzzled. When had he ever asked Mother to show all her care to him alone?

Mother felt guilty and was partial to him by a degree — but that was still far less than how dearly Mother doted on Tongtong. Why would Tongtong speak this way?

“Second Brother, Mother is not yours alone — she is mine and Elder Brother’s mother too,” Pei Shu Tong added.

Pei Shuluo was left bewildered, and hesitantly asked, “Tongtong, why do you say that? Second Brother never…”

“Second Brother, how can you be so unreasonable?” The more Pei Shu Tong spoke, the more agitated she became.

Yan Shiyao, who had bought two meat buns and walked over to Yan Yunning’s side, frowned deeply as she caught the underlying meaning in Pei Shu Tong’s words.

She was making pointed remarks at Ningning!

The Crown Prince was not Ningning’s Crown Prince alone — he was Xuanzhao’s Crown Prince.

“Tongtong, what’s come over you?” Pei Shuluo reached out to feel Pei Shu Tong’s forehead, but she recoiled from him with disgust.

“Second Brother, it’s not too late — if you correct yourself now, there’s still time.”

Not wanting to listen to Pei Shu Tong’s nonsense any further, Pei Shuluo gave Yan Yunning a bow, then turned to leave.

“Second Brother!” Pei Shu Tong called out from where she stood. “Don’t be so selfish — give some thought to Mother as well.”

Yan Shiyao unwrapped the paper-wrapped meat buns and handed one to Yan Yunning, silently translating Pei Shu Tong’s words in her own mind as: Don’t be so selfish — give some thought to Xuanzhao as well.

Though she couldn’t quite make out what “giving thought to Xuanzhao” was supposed to mean, she felt fairly certain that was what Pei Shu Tong intended.

Pei Shuluo all but fled in a panic — he truly had nothing to say. Today, Tongtong was simply out of her mind!

Yan Yunning had also caught the meaning behind Pei Shu Tong’s words. It was only because this was ancient times, and Xuan Yanyu was the Crown Prince — if this were the modern world, wouldn’t someone like Pei Shu Tong be asking for a slap?

Throwing herself at someone else’s…

“Crown Princess!” Pei Shu Tong suddenly spoke, cutting off Yan Yunning’s train of thought.

“Tell me — am I right?” she said with a smile.

“Miss Pei, I think you’re right.” Yan Yunning then shifted her tone entirely. “But I am exactly that selfish. I refuse to allow Xuan Yanyu to take a side consort, and refuse to allow him any other woman. Miss Pei, you had best put that thought to rest as soon as possible.”

If Xuan Yanyu dared to take a side consort, she would leave Xuanzhao immediately. Even if he didn’t love her and was merely doing it to continue the imperial line — that was still not acceptable!

“You…” Pei Shu Tong bit her lip.

It didn’t matter!

Her Imperial Aunt had said she would help her!

At a distance, a cluster of beggars had been huddled together observing for quite some time. After a long while, one of them said, “The sky’s almost dark — why are they still gathered together? How are we supposed to make our move?”

“What’s the rush?” said another beggar, chewing on a weed, eyes fixed unwaveringly on the woman ahead who wore a butterfly hairpin.

A pink ruqun, a butterfly hairpin in her hair — looking at her alone, she was quite attractive, but standing beside that woman in the blue garments, she seemed somehow lacking.

The beggars crouched on the ground, biding their time, until two guards bearing long swords arrived and escorted away the woman in the blue skirt and the woman in the pale green skirt respectively — leaving behind only the now-isolated Pei Shu Tong in her pink ruqun.

“They’ve gone, they’ve gone.” The beggar with the hole-riddled shoes jabbed at the drowsy beggar beside him. “Get moving.”

The sky gradually darkened completely. The long street stood hollow and empty; people had all hurried home, and even the patrolling guards were nowhere to be seen. Pei Shu Tong’s heart was brimming with frustration, and she paid no notice to the beggars following behind her.

She also paid no notice to the fact that today, the long street was strangely absent of any patrolling guards.

By the time she noticed, she had already been knocked unconscious and carried away by the beggars.

——

Prince Xuan’s Palace — Consort Wu’s Bedchamber.

Consort Pei looked at Consort Wu with an amused expression — what was there to be smug about? Little did she know, His Majesty had long since decreed that the child in her womb would be placed under Consort Pei’s care to raise.

Since His Majesty had entrusted the child to her, she would need to discuss matters with the Prime Minister — and fight for a claim to the throne.