Shen Xihe heard about Shen Xihe’s fall into the water a quarter hour later. She and Shen Yueshan, who had also received the news, exchanged a glance from afar. As the banquet was nearly over, they bid farewell to the guests and went together to the great hall where Emperor Youning had summoned them.

Though the banquet was held in the palace, Emperor Youning had only made a symbolic appearance before leaving to handle state affairs, so he arrived before the father and daughter.

Shen Xihe had changed into fresh clothes, her newly dried hair hanging loose, while Prince Zhao Xiao Changmin knelt beside her.

“Chong’a, earlier Yingni fell into the water, and the Second Prince rescued her,” Emperor Youning’s brief statement carried many implications.

Though the current dynasty was tolerant of women—allowing widows to remarry and unmarried ladies to ride horses with young men in groups of three or five without issue—it still wasn’t so liberal as to disregard physical contact between men and women.

“Has a royal physician been called?” Shen Yueshan asked.

Shen Xihe was slightly startled. She had expected Shen Yueshan’s first words to be a reproach for leaving the banquet, or questions about why she went to the lakeside alone, or how she fell in.

She lowered her head and replied: “The physician says I’m fine.”

She had been rescued quickly enough. With some warming medicine and care not to catch a cold overnight, if she didn’t wake up with a sore or tight throat and dizziness, she would be fine.

Shen Yueshan nodded: “How did you fall in?”

“I felt stuffy and went to catch some air by the lake. A wild cat startled me, and I fell in,” Shen Xihe answered truthfully.

Hearing this, Shen Yueshan turned to Prince Zhao Xiao Changmin, who had also changed clothes: “Your Highness, how did you happen to be there when my daughter fell in?”

Xiao Changmin replied frankly: “When the Young Miss studied in the Inner Palace, we became close. Today, seeing her leave the banquet alone, I had brought some small items from Henan Prefecture that I wished to give her privately.”

A servant nearby held a tray with a Bian-embroidered fan. Since Shen Xihe was skilled at embroidery, this wasn’t an inappropriate gift.

“How could there be wild cats in the palace?” Shen Xihe turned to ask. “Where are the clothes the Young Miss changed out of?”

“I’ve already ordered Liu Sanzhi to thoroughly investigate the Imperial Stables,” Emperor Youning naturally knew wild cats couldn’t be in the palace.

A palace maid brought forward Shen Xihe’s changed clothes, mainly the cloak and outer robe. Shen Xihe picked up the cloak, appearing to search carefully for something while discreetly sniffing it. Despite the dampness making scents faint, she detected an unusually cool fragrance very similar to schizonepeta.

Cats are attracted to schizonepeta’s scent—any cat that smells it would pounce toward it. No wonder the cat had rushed straight at Shen Xihe.

Putting down the clothes, Shen Xihe asked Shen Xihe: “Did anyone bump into you today, or touch your clothes?”

Shen Xihe had an excellent memory: “When entering the palace, I encountered two palace maids who nearly fell. I helped steady them.”

The maids had been descending stairs carrying items, unable to see their feet, seemingly forgetting how many steps remained. Shen Xihe worried they might fall and break what they carried—which could cost them their lives—had helped support them.

She hadn’t imagined someone had tampered with her cloak at that moment!

“I remember what the maids looked like,” Shen Xihe added.

“This matter will be thoroughly investigated,” Emperor Youning said. “However, regarding Yingni and Second Prince, Chong’a, what are your thoughts?”

“Your Majesty need not ask me. In the Northwest, customs differ greatly from the capital. Saving a life is good-hearted, but to have it cost marriage and turn good fortune into an ill-matched couple—I’ve always believed this custom shouldn’t be encouraged.”

Shen Yueshan spoke righteously: “If encouraged, how many young men might refuse to save lives, how many men and women might use it for schemes? How is this different from disheartening meritorious officials? If this custom hadn’t run rampant in the capital, no one would have used it to scheme against my daughter today.”

He didn’t care about these elaborate customs. He was a rough man who never paid attention to such things.

Emperor Youning was speechless. After all, Shen Xihe was the one disadvantaged. Thinking how Shen Yueshan completely disregarded Shen Xihe and wouldn’t care if people gossiped about her—if it had been Shen Xihe, he probably would have already drawn his sword.

“Yingni, what do you think?” Emperor Youning asked gently.

Shen Xihe bit her lip. If Shen Yueshan hadn’t first asked whether a physician had been called, she would have thought he truly didn’t care about her, that his words were merely because she wasn’t Shen Xihe.

But with that question, she wanted to believe Shen Yueshan’s words came from genuine conviction, regardless of who was harmed.

“Yingni thanks Prince Zhao for saving my life,” Shen Xihe steadied herself and said. “Though Yingni was close to Prince Zhao in childhood because he had saved me before, and I view His Highness as a brother, Yingni cannot repay kindness with injury by using this to entrap His Highness.”

“Yingni…” Xiao Changmin looked at Shen Xihe in disbelief. Anxiously, he kowtowed to Emperor Youning, “Your Majesty, I am willing to take Yingni as my wife. I only hope Yingni won’t feel wronged as my secondary wife.”

“Being a secondary wife isn’t impossible, Prince Zhao is a royal prince of noble status,” Shen Yueshan spoke quietly. “However, my daughter is young and likely cannot be a good stepmother.”

Being a secondary wife was one thing, but being a stepmother too—his words acknowledged Xiao Changmin’s noble status while diminishing it.

This effectively silenced anything else Xiao Changmin might have wanted to say.

Emperor Youning also disagreed with having two imperial daughters-in-law from the Shen family. Moreover, he had decided to support the Crown Prince’s match with Shen Xihe—he’d already given her style name and only needed to issue the decree. He merely wanted to see if anyone would try to scheme for Shen Xihe under these circumstances, to test how capable his good sons were.

“If that’s the case, let this matter rest. I will order that no rumors spread in the palace,” Emperor Youning said. “As for Yingni’s incident, I will also investigate its cause.”

“Your Majesty…”

As Xiao Changmin tried to speak further, he caught Emperor Youning’s sharp gaze and lowered his head, pressing his lips together in silence.

The matter was temporarily settled this way. Since it happened in the palace, neither Shen Xihe nor Shen Yueshan could appropriately intervene, especially since Emperor Youning had guaranteed an explanation.

When Shen Xihe and her father left the palace, she shared a carriage with Shen Xihe while Shen Yueshan rode ahead on horseback. After delivering Shen Xihe to the Shen residence and helping her down, as she walked toward the gate, she couldn’t help but ask Shen Yueshan as he turned his horse: “Father if it had been Elder Sister who fell into the lake today, would you also say you didn’t care about reputation?”

No matter how this incident spread, it would affect her reputation. Though people wouldn’t dare speak openly, they would certainly gossip privately. She rarely cared about others’ opinions, but she had a heart of flesh—how could she not be affected?

“That wouldn’t happen,” Shen Yueshan answered decisively.

Shen Xihe stared at Shen Yueshan in surprise.

Shen Xihe lifted the carriage curtain: “Father’s ‘wouldn’t happen’ means I won’t be schemed against.”