During the day, Shen Xihe had complete freedom since Xiao Huayong couldn’t cause trouble then. The only thing that didn’t go her way was having to feed him medicine – he would only take it from her.

However, this only happened twice a day, so Shen Xihe tolerated it. Though she had thought he would be uncooperative today after angering him last night, for some unknown reason, his mood had improved on its own.

Seemingly aware of Shen Xihe’s emotions, after taking his medicine and when no one else was present, Xiao Huayong opened his eyes to look at her, silently mouthing: “How can married couples hold grudges overnight?”

Shen Xihe’s hand, which was wiping his lips with a handkerchief, suddenly pressed down hard, causing Xiao Huayong to grimace in pain, though he didn’t dare make a sound.

Only then did Shen Xihe smile with satisfaction before getting up to leave.

Each day she only needed to watch over Xiao Huayong; she didn’t even try to investigate other matters. Emperor Youning was throwing all his effort into pursuing Xiao Juexong, wanting to probe his strength while using the pretext of finding an antidote for Xiao Huayong. Thus, no matter how much commotion he caused, no one found it inappropriate, as Xiao Huayong was bedridden and no one dared to advise against it.

Unfortunately, Xiao Juexong seemed to have mastered the art of earth escape, vanishing into thin air. After half a month of investigation, Emperor Youning hadn’t found any traces, making him increasingly wary of Xiao Juexong’s power. No one knew what kind of force this man who had disappeared for twenty years had accumulated in secret.

After half a month of pursuit, Emperor Youning knew continuing would be fruitless, so he let it go. However, since Xiao Huayong’s poisoning remained unresolved, someone still needed to persist in the pursuit publicly.

But Emperor Youning hadn’t ordered a return to the palace, still keeping to the original September return date. Though the temporary palace appeared calm on the surface, everyone had become extremely cautious, losing the earlier freedom and ease. Even the noble ladies had suddenly become well-behaved, staying in their courtyards to appreciate flowers, embroider, brew tea, and paint.

Even when gathering in the same courtyard, they didn’t dare to be as loud as before. An invisible oppression hung over the temporary palace, making it difficult to breathe.

“Why doesn’t His Majesty return to the palace?”

That night, while it was still early, Shen Xihe and Xiao Huayong chatted quietly.

Logically, after such an incident – an assassination attempt at the temporary palace, with so many corpses seen by everyone, and the careful behavior of all residents – which he had observed, it was surprising he didn’t find it inauspicious.

“His Majesty’s thoughts are profound; how could I fathom the royal intention?” Xiao Huayong said pompously.

Shen Xihe almost rolled her eyes at him. Such words might fool those who hadn’t seen his true face, but not her, nor would Xiao Changqing and Xiao Changgeng believe them: “Does Your Highness even believe yourself?”

Xiao Huayong tried to get by with a foolish smile, but Shen Xihe just watched him silently until he finally conceded: “The Empress Dowager is unwilling to return to the palace because I haven’t recovered yet.”

Since the Empress Dowager wouldn’t return because Xiao Huayong shouldn’t be moved, neither she nor the Crown Prince would go back. With no particularly urgent matters requiring a return to the capital, how could Emperor Youning leave Xiao Huayong and the Empress Dowager to return with his large retinue?

He couldn’t. Rumors were already spreading that the Crown Prince wasn’t his son. If he abandoned Xiao Huayong here at this time, these rumors would be hard to suppress.

Shen Xihe nodded; it was understandable that the Empress Dowager would think this way out of concern for Xiao Huayong.

Here, even the clever Shen Xihe overlooked a key point – Xiao Huayong and Xiao Juexong’s collaboration hadn’t been disclosed to the Empress Dowager. Being completely unaware that everything was Xiao Huayong’s doing and having just experienced such turmoil, she should have been more concerned about the temporary palace’s safety.

Unfortunately, Shen Xihe assumed the Empress Dowager knew all of Xiao Huayong’s actions, so she didn’t find the Empress Dowager’s insistence on staying somewhat unusual.

Naturally, Xiao Huayong wouldn’t tell her this was all his doing. He wanted to stay in the temporary palace, to share a room with her daily, to have her revolve around him all day. This feeling, indescribably beautiful, intoxicated him.

“Lately, it seems someone has been stirring up rumors that you’re not His Majesty’s son,” Shen Xihe asked.

This was also Xiao Huayong’s doing, meant to make Emperor Youning more determined to stay, though there was another purpose: “Once seeds of doubt are planted, people will want to test them. Better to let them see His Majesty’s attitude clearly, saving some trouble.”

Since it was indeed Xiao Huayong’s doing, Shen Xihe asked no more.

However, seeing her silence, Xiao Huayong suddenly said: “The Empress Dowager and His Majesty plan to arrange some joyous events to counter the recent misfortunes.”

“Joyous events?” Shen Xihe’s first thought was the Empress Dowager’s birthday, but that would be at the end of next month.

“The Empress Dowager and His Majesty have decided to arrange a marriage between the Marquis of Pingyao’s eldest legitimate daughter and Second Brother,” Xiao Huayong informed Shen Xihe in advance.

With the Marquis of Pingyao’s house producing a prince’s consort, after Yu Sangning’s maneuvering, His Majesty indeed wanted to give face to the Marquis’s house. Whether in quelling the temporary palace uprising or pursuing Xiao Juexong, the Marquis of Pingyao had performed admirably and deserved reward for his merit.

“So it’s Prince Zhao…” Shen Xihe was somewhat surprised. She didn’t mean to look down on Prince Zhao, but since Xiao Langmin already had a legitimate eldest son, matching him with a noble lady might seem somewhat unfair to her.

She had thought it might be Prince Xin and his brothers since one had no children and one wasn’t yet married.

“Originally, they planned to bestow the marriage on Little Nine,” Xiao Huayong explained. “However, after exposing His Majesty’s secret guards, there was that matter with her and County Princess Liyang, so His Majesty developed some misgivings, and naturally it fell to Second Brother.”

That day, he had wanted to find a witness, and it had to be from among the women to avoid suspicion. If it were court officials, they might not reveal the matter, and even foolish ones might tell their fathers or brothers before the bodies were returned, leading to interference.

Only the women, isolated from the news, would work. When such a major event occurred, their fathers and brothers were busy handling the aftermath, wanting to stay by His Majesty’s side at all times to share his burdens. The women would hardly see their fathers and brothers, making it extremely unlikely they’d reveal anything quickly.

When the incident happened, there were two of them, unable to lie for fear of being exposed by the other, and unable to sense political implications, making them likely to tell the truth.

Xiao Huayong hadn’t specifically targeted anyone. As Shen Xihe thought, he didn’t care about these ladies at all. He had just instructed to find two who were together but isolated, and Yu Sangzi and Gu Qingshu happened to be alone.

Because of this one incident, Yu Sangzi missed out on a better marriage.

“This marriage won’t fall to her,” Shen Xihe didn’t have a deep impression of Yu Sangzi.

This prince’s consort position was schemed by Yu Sangning, and she was probably more satisfied that it was Prince Zhao rather than Prince Lie.

If it were Prince Lie, it would be harder for her to substitute someone else, as her status wasn’t sufficient. With Prince Zhao, there was more room for maneuvering.

“Ah, if I had known they wanted a happy event, I would have set up my scheme later,” referring to planning their grand wedding.