Xiao Huayong wasn’t wrong at all. If not for considering that they would share a bed and advance together in the future, Shen Xihe wouldn’t have wanted to take such initiative in requesting the marriage decree. Her ideal method would have been to muddy the waters, letting His Majesty decide after weighing his options, forcing him to marry her to Xiao Huayong out of necessity. This way, His Majesty’s guard against them would be at its lowest.

Considering Xiao Huayong’s feelings for her, Shen Xihe had made a concession, showing sincerity in joining their two families.

If Xiao Huayong hadn’t developed feelings for Shen Xihe, he would certainly have been of one mind with her, and they would have worked together seamlessly. However, once emotions entered the picture, everything became different.

“Will the poison the Xun Prince was struck with prove fatal?” Shen Xihe didn’t wish to dwell on matters of the heart.

“It won’t be fatal within one or two months without an antidote, but he can’t eat many foods, or they’ll stimulate the poison, causing unbearable burning pain in his internal organs, making him wish for death,” Xiao Huayong answered truthfully.

Shen Xihe nodded: “How many days does the old Feng Lord have left?”

Xiao Huayong: “At minimum three to five days, at most ten or so days.”

“In that case, even if the Xun Prince could leave the capital, he might not be willing to.” Moreover, he currently couldn’t leave – not only did Xiao Huayong not want to let him go, but Emperor Youning certainly wouldn’t want to let him leave easily either.

“If Youyou wish to get involved in this matter, please be careful. The Xun Prince didn’t return to the capital alone – he brought four guards, all first-rate fighters,” Xiao Huayong gently cautioned.

He couldn’t stop Shen Xihe or ask her to leave it to him. Their earlier conversation had made him understand that Shen Xihe didn’t like relying on others. When something was beyond her ability, she would seek help – this wasn’t arrogance. But for matters within her capability, she would take action herself, not staying idle just because someone could share her burden.

She disliked placing her hopes on others – in this, she was extremely similar to him.

“I understand.” Anyone who could escape from Xiao Huayong’s net couldn’t be taken lightly. “What medicine would he need without the antidote?”

Xiao Huayong didn’t conceal anything, and Shen Xihe noted everything down before taking her leave after speaking with him for a moment.

After leaving the Eastern Palace, because of her previous encounter with Xiao Changgeng’s entanglement with Princesses Changling and Yangling, Shen Xihe no longer took that route. However, she heard the funeral music.

“It’s coming from the Fourth Princess’s palace. His Majesty built a cenotaph for the Fourth Princess, and the consorts and princesses will go pay their respects,” Zhenzhu said softly.

She had heard about it earlier and specifically inquired about the details.

Princess Changling had died tragically without even leaving remains. His Majesty had ordered the giant snake cut open, but among the rotted flesh, they couldn’t find Princess Changling. Now with the ancestral temple fire and rumors of the Xun Prince’s return from death, His Majesty was busy with major matters and couldn’t hold a proper funeral.

Moreover, with the successive funerals of Sixth Prince Xiao Changying and Consort Liang before this, it wasn’t appropriate for the palace to hold another grand funeral. So the palace people had set up a memorial tablet for Changling and were sending her off, to prevent her from becoming a wandering ghost.

Shen Xihe didn’t want to run into anyone. Although no one could connect Princess Changling’s death to her, the matter was strange – Princess Changling had tried to harm her, then ended up encountering a ghost and jumping into the water. No matter how one thought about it, something seemed off. If people saw her passing by, unnecessary rumors might spread. Since His Majesty hadn’t issued an edict, she would pretend not to know about it.

Taking a deliberately hidden path, she unexpectedly heard voices arguing: “Third Sister, Changling is already dead, truly won’t you give me a chance to live?”

Was Fifth Princess Yangling, arguing with Third Princess Anling?

“Fifth Sister, you instigated Changling against Zhaoning, which led to her fate. She has no remains, died disfigured – shouldn’t you atone for this?” Princess Anling demanded.

“I didn’t, you misheard,” Princess Yangling denied.

“Oh? Did I mishear? If so, why are you stopping me from going to Father?” Princess Anling laughed coldly.

“Third Sister! Don’t think I don’t know – you’ve taken a fancy to that poor scholar and want Father to decree your marriage, so you’re using me to curry favor? Didn’t you also contend with Fourth Sister before?” Princess Yangling shrieked. “If you dare make false accusations, I’ll kill that Meng fellow first!”

So it turned out that today when Princess Yangling was burning paper money for Princess Changling, the cold wind kept extinguishing it. With a guilty conscience, she became somewhat frightened. Knowing that Changling had screamed about seeing ghosts before her death made her even more terrified, so she mentioned something about instigating Changling against Shen Xihe, which happened to be overheard by Third Princess Anling.

Princess Anling was originally meant to be matched with Bu Shulin by Emperor Youning, and she had some feelings for him. But after witnessing Bu Shulin pouncing on Cui Jinbai and biting his chin, her fantasies were shattered.

But she was already seventeen, and even as an emperor’s daughter, she worried about marriage. A princess’s status was noble – after marriage, both husband and in-laws had to pay respects to her, and the consort couldn’t take concubines and needed the princess’s permission to enter her chambers. Some proud sons of noble families were unwilling to marry princesses.

Additionally, marrying a princess meant that no matter how many achievements one made, people would say they came through the connection. Many young men had integrity, making it difficult for princesses to marry. Even His Majesty was cautious with arranged marriages to avoid disappointing his ministers.

Furthermore, during the previous emperor’s reign, several princesses had been promiscuous, taking lovers even after marriage while their consorts could only endure silently. This had severely damaged the reputation of princesses, and almost no official’s son was willing to propose.

Those who wanted to marry didn’t have the qualifications. Noble Consort Rong had held many banquets for the princesses, but nothing had come of them. Only Noble Consort Rong’s daughter, Sixth Princess Pingling, had a childhood sweetheart because of Xiao Changqin.

Recently, when Princess Anling accompanied Princess Pingling to visit her brother at the Wang residence, she encountered a brilliantly talented, elegant, and extraordinarily handsome scholar from a humble background. She fell in love at first sight, but his status was far too low – unless he achieved top honors in the imperial examinations, they had no chance.

Although Princess Anling believed in her judgment that he would succeed, she still worried about unexpected circumstances and wanted to prepare a backup plan by curry favor with His Majesty, so she would have more leverage when requesting the marriage decree.

Now she had caught Princess Yangling’s weakness. His Majesty doted on Princess Changling – if he knew Fourth Sister had been instigated by Fifth Sister, he certainly wouldn’t let it go lightly. If she spoke up for Fourth Sister, His Majesty would surely favor her more, and if she could transfer his affection for Fourth Sister to herself…

Shen Xihe didn’t stop walking. After they left the palace, Zhenzhu said: “The County Princess has no previous contact or grudge with the Fifth Princess, why would she instigate the Fourth Princess to oppose the County Princess?”

People only act when there’s profit to be gained. What was the Fourth Princess’s purpose in doing this? It couldn’t be that she was jealous of the Fourth Princess being favored, and knowing Shen Xihe wasn’t easy to deal with, she instigated the Fourth Princess against Shen Xihe, waiting for the Fourth Princess to meet a bad end.

This seemed too far-fetched.