“It’s different,” Xiao Changqing disliked anyone being compared to Gu Qingzhi. It wasn’t that he looked down on Shen Xihe – rather, to him, Gu Qingzhi was unique and incomparable. “Your fifth sister-in-law is naturally cold-hearted, while the Duchess Zhaoning is driven by ambition and self-interest.”

Xiao Changying didn’t argue, and both brothers fell silent.

After leaving the Lie Prince’s mansion, Xiao Huayong returned to the Eastern Palace, but that night he allegedly fell ill with a fever from catching a cold.

“Caught a cold?” Shen Xihe’s first reaction was that he was using illness as an excuse to go out again.

Xiao Huayong had someone in the Imperial Medical Office under his thumb and often acted recklessly, finding someone to impersonate him. When Emperor Youning occasionally visited, nine times out of ten he would encounter the Crown Prince just having taken his medicine and resting. The Emperor never grew suspicious, as he didn’t insist on seeing him in person.

Thus, he always managed to deceive everyone, partly due to how deeply ingrained the perception of his illness had become.

However, remembering that yesterday was indeed cold and that he was sensitive to cold yet still insisted on leaving the palace to see her, Shen Xihe thought that perhaps this time he truly had fallen ill. Since both Sui Axi and Zhenchu around her were injured, she could only say to Xie Yunhuai after he finished examining her: “Doctor Qi, please accompany me to the palace.”

“To see the Crown Prince?” Xie Yunhuai seemed to have anticipated this.

Shen Xihe nodded: “Though the Imperial Medical Office has many talented physicians, the Crown Prince is still undergoing acupuncture treatment. Now that Axi cannot continue treating him, I must trouble Doctor Qi.”

Because Xie Yunhuai was responsible for Shen Xihe’s health maintenance, he frequently visited the Duchess’s mansion. While Sui Axi excelled at acupuncture, he was weak in other areas, especially in diagnosis and prescription. He wanted to learn from Xie Yunhuai, who was generous with his knowledge. In return, Sui Axi shared his acupuncture techniques with Xie Yunhuai.

Recently, when Sui Axi was giving Xiao Huayong acupuncture treatment, he had many discussions with Xie Yunhuai about it.

“The Duchess seems to treat the Crown Prince differently,” Xie Yunhuai remarked as he packed up his medicine box.

“To me, he is both my lifesaver and my future husband,” Shen Xihe replied directly. “Of course, he is different from others.”

However, this difference wasn’t the kind that Xiao Huayong hoped for.

Xie Yunhuai agreed to enter the palace with Shen Xihe. Due to the winter cold, since Xie Yunhuai couldn’t enter the palace alone and Shen Xihe’s maids couldn’t bring him in, she had to go personally.

Upon reaching the Eastern Palace and meeting Tianyuan, after explaining their purpose, Tianyuan could only pull Shen Xihe aside and tell her truthfully: “His Highness isn’t in the palace.”

Shen Xihe nodded. She had originally been worried that Xiao Huayong had truly caught a cold, but his using illness as an excuse to leave was within her expectations. She didn’t find it inappropriate – this was Xiao Huayong’s private matter, and she had no interest in prying.

As she turned to leave, Tianyuan stopped her: “His Highness went to pursue the Northwestern King.”

Shen Xihe’s eyes sharpened: “Why did he go after Father?”

“Some petty criminals intended to harm the King, so His Highness went personally.” Seeing Shen Xihe’s cold expression and the worry in her eyes, Tianyuan hurriedly added, “Please don’t worry, Duchess. They’re just a mob of rabble, not worth mentioning.”

“A mob of rabble, not worth mentioning? Yet it requires his attendance?” Shen Xihe didn’t believe this. Her father was a veteran of many battles – if it were a minor problem, Xiao Huayong could have simply sent a message, and her father could have handled it himself. Why did he need to risk going personally?

Tianyuan looked uncomfortable as he said: “This servant advised His Highness the same way, but His Highness said…”

“Said what?” Shen Xihe couldn’t understand why Tianyuan looked so reluctant to speak.

Tianyuan lowered his head: “His Highness said this was a good opportunity to impress his future father-in-law.”

Shen Xihe: …

A surge of anger caught in her chest, leaving her neither up nor down. She had always known Xiao Huayong was shameless, but she never imagined he could be so brazen as to privately refer to her father as his “future father-in-law” in front of his confidants!

Sensing Shen Xihe’s anger, Tianyuan lowered his head even further. He had known the Duchess would be angry, yet the Crown Prince had been so confident before leaving.

“I offended her today, and though I eventually yielded, I still displeased her. If she hears of my cold and comes to visit the palace instead of first suspecting I’m feigning illness, it surely means she feels differently about me,” the Crown Prince had said, his eyes soft as if already envisioning the Duchess’s visit today: “Just relay my exact words to her.”

Tianyuan, feeling that as a confidant he should advise his master when he was getting carried away, had said: “Your Highness, the Duchess has always been proper and courteous. You… you haven’t even married, not even engaged, and yet you… the Duchess will likely be angry.”

“I’m not afraid of her anger – I won’t be there to face it. She distinguishes clearly between gratitude and grievance and is most considerate of servants. No matter how angry she gets, she won’t take it out on you,” Xiao Huayong had said with a smile, stroking his pillow for a while before leaving the palace.

In the main hall, Xie Yunhuai saw the usually calm and composed Shen Xihe storm out angrily. Although she suppressed her anger in front of him, her displeasure was undisguisable. Xie Yunhuai asked: “Is the Crown Prince well?”

“Very well. Let’s go.”

Shen Xihe left the Eastern Palace with a dark expression. Soon, word spread throughout the palace. The version from the Eastern Palace was that Duchess Zhaoning had caught the Crown Prince not taking his medicine properly and left in anger.

The Crown Prince, knowing he was in the wrong, immediately sent gifts to the Duchess’s mansion to apologize.

Those who heard about it felt their teeth ache from the sweetness – it was just taking medicine, yet they had to make such a scene of it. Who were they putting on a show for?

Back at the Duchess’s mansion, upon receiving Xiao Huayong’s letter, Shen Xihe learned that he had anticipated her anger and intended for her to play along in this act to make the palace incident more convincing. The letter also briefly explained that those targeting Shen Yueshan were Turks, aiming to leave the Northwest suddenly without leadership, frame the Emperor, and disrupt court affairs.

Indeed, Shen Yueshan had encountered a Turkic ambush in the valley before entering Longright Road. These Turks had been waiting for him there. With heavy snow falling and terrible conditions, they were trapped in the valley after the surprise attack.

Fortunately, the archers above had been killed by Mo Yuan, whom Shen Xihe had sent to secretly follow along. With people both front and back, they could only launch a frontal assault, but the enemy had set many traps, making Shen Yueshan cautious about moving. If he didn’t care about casualties, they would have broken free long ago.

These were all men he had carefully trained in the Northwest, and Shen Yueshan didn’t want to lose a single one. However, someone needed to take the lead in triggering all the traps, and that person would likely die. Shen Yueshan wanted to go himself, but all dozen or so men held their swords to their throats, threatening to commit suicide in shame if Shen Yueshan went personally. This made Shen Yueshan’s face turn iron-grey with anger, forcing him to stop and think of another way.

At that moment, several eagles circled in the sky. They dove down, passing over Shen Yueshan and his men, flying toward the narrow valley ahead. They triggered many traps hidden by the snow – volleys of arrows, swords, and rocks tumbled down from the valley walls.

A lone rider came galloping from behind them.