Perhaps out of politeness, Ling Mianmian hadn’t refused either, and not long after finishing the treat, while chatting with the little young master, she had fainted.

The maid at her side immediately began crying out loudly.

Ye Chen bent down and hoisted Ling Mianmian from the ground onto his back.

“What happened?” Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning stepped out one after the other.

“In reply to His High—”

“Young Master.” Ye Chen caught himself and blurted out urgently, “Miss Ling fainted after eating the pastry Young Master Jiang gave her.”

“What are you standing around for? Take her to see a physician at once.” Xuan Yanyu’s deep eyes flashed with anger.

Ye Chen startled, then carried Ling Mianmian on his back and hurried out of the manor.

“What was in the pastry?” Xuan Yanyu looked toward the maid holding Jiang Yanzhuo, his tone ice-cold.

Jiang Yanzhuo was so frightened by him that he tightened his grip around the maid’s neck. His little mouth puckered, eyes brimming with tears.

The maid’s hands trembled as she patted the little one’s back. She didn’t know what was in the pastry. She only heard the young master say the pastry had been made by the Second Young Miss.

Yan Yunning crouched down, picked up the pastry plate from the ground, and pinched off a piece to put in her mouth. Her tone was perfectly calm. “No poison.”

Xuan Yanyu softened his voice slightly. “I was asking what she put in them.”

“Flour, fine sugar, water, and red beans.” Yan Yunning said flatly.

“Go find Ye Chen and tell the physician that Mianmian is allergic to red beans.” Xuan Yanyu said in a low, measured tone, looking toward Xiao Ying.

“Yes, His High— Young Master.” Xiao Ying wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and ran to catch up with Ye Chen.

“Auntie.” The little one reached his arms out toward Yan Yunning and whimpered, “Auntie, why did we eat it and nothing happened to us, but Older Sister Ling fainted?”

Yan Yunning tipped the remaining pastries from the plate into a bamboo basket, then took Jiang Yanzhuo from the maid’s arms. “It’s alright.”

“Auntie, was I wrong to give one to Older Sister Ling?” The little one stared at the pastries in the basket, and tears fell silently. “Didn’t Auntie say this was your first time making them, and no matter how they tasted, they all had to be eaten?”

“Is it because I gave Older Sister Ling one, and now that she fainted, Auntie is throwing them away?”

The little one cried harder with every word he spoke.

He had only wanted to honor Auntie’s effort and not waste it, which was why he had planned to finish them all before going to sleep.

“No.” Yan Yunning smiled softly. “Auntie just felt that leaving them out had made them taste worse, so I threw them away.”

The little one buried his face against her shoulder and gave a muffled nod.

“Have a maid carry him back. Let’s go eat.” Xuan Yanyu walked up beside them.

“There’s no need. I’m not hungry.”

After a pause, Yan Yunning let out a quiet laugh. “Xuan Yanyu, if she were allergic to red beans, she would have been able to taste them.”

Xuan Yanyu knew exactly what foods she was allergic to — there was no way she herself wouldn’t know. She could taste red beans. So why did she eat it anyway?

“She couldn’t taste them.”

“Mm.”

Yan Yunning said nothing more and carried Jiang Yanzhuo back to the room.

Xuan Yanyu lowered his gaze to the somewhat misshapen pastries sitting in the bamboo basket. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

After seeing Jiang Yanzhuo settled back in his room, Yan Yunning spotted Shen Ruoyi from a distance, hiding behind a garden pillar with her ears pricked up, eavesdropping on something.

“Ruoyi, what are you listening to?” Yan Yunning crept quietly over.

“Oh!” Shen Ruoyi clutched her chest. “Ningning, you startled me. Miss Yu and Young Master Duan are arguing.”

Yan Yunning: “?”

Inside the room, Duan Yunxuan’s normally gentle face was contorted with fury. “You came to my side in the first place just for the treasury? All those times you wrote the word ‘treasury’ at the round table — do you have any idea how much guilt I’ve been carrying? How wretched I felt, dragging you from one place to another.”

“I’m sorry, A’Xuan. I’m sorry.” Yu Xi’s eyes reddened.

“You…” Duan Yunxuan laughed bitterly, his strength spent. “Your master has been imprisoned in the imperial dungeon. What are your plans now?”

Was she going to stay by his side?

Yu Xi smiled with self-mockery. “I… I will leave.”

He was asking about her future — which meant he no longer wanted her to stay.

“Yu Xi, can you truly not remain by my side?” Duan Yunxuan smiled, his voice laced with bitterness.

Yu Xi lifted her head and stared at him for a moment, dazed. “You… A’Xuan, would you let me stay?”

“Was marrying me something your master told you to do?” Duan Yunxuan asked.

“No, no.” Yu Xi shook her head.

The Fifth Prince had only instructed her to remain at A’Xuan’s side. He had never told her to wed him. That had been her own choice.

“Xi’er.” Duan Yunxuan hooked an arm around her waist and drew her into his embrace, murmuring softly, “Stay with me. Don’t go. Don’t leave.”

“Alright.” Yu Xi hugged him back and broke into quiet sobs. “A’Xuan, I thought you would send me away.”

“I won’t.” The young man laughed helplessly.

She hadn’t been involved in what had happened with his parents, and she hadn’t truly done anything to hurt him. He didn’t want her to leave.

“Let’s go, Ruoyi.” Yan Yunning took hold of Shen Ruoyi’s hands, which were still clinging to the pillar. “It would be awkward if Miss Yu and Young Master Duan came out and saw us.”

Shen Ruoyi, still wanting to catch a few more words, was reluctantly dragged away by Yan Yunning, glancing back with every step.

Right up until dinner was finished, neither Xuan Yanyu nor Xuan Zhaoran had appeared.

The next morning.

Mu Shiqing showed up early, planting himself in front of Yan Yunning’s room door. When she opened it, she was startled. “Mu, what are you doing here?”

“When are you heading back to the manor?” Mu Shiqing seemed even more anxious than she was.

Yan Yunning curved her lips into a faint smile. “You don’t still think I’m your sister, do you?”

Otherwise, given that he had no connection with her father, why would he be so insistent on going to the Chancellor’s Manor?

“Keep your voice down. If someone hears, it spreads, and where does the Chancellor put his face?”

He had raised someone else’s daughter for twenty years. Whatever the reason, if it got out, it wouldn’t look good — and who knew what twisted versions the rumors might take.

“Where is Xiao Shi?” Yan Yunning asked with a smile.

“That one’s a fraud. I kept watch last night, and when I saw her wipe off her makeup, she looked nothing like me at all.” Mu Shiqing said, exasperated.

After he discovered her, Xiao Shi had made no attempt to defend herself. She packed her belongings and left Yuan Jing Manor that same night.

“Ah. Then shall we return to the Chancellor’s Manor in a couple of days?” Yan Yunning’s brows arched playfully.

It seemed Xiao Shi truly had been nothing but a pawn Qi Qingxian used to stir up conflict between Mu Shiqing and Qi Qingchen. Mu Shiqing had wanted to confirm whether she was his sister, and Yan Yunning herself wanted to know the same.

She was almost certainly not Chu Wantang’s daughter — but whether she was her father’s daughter still needed more observation.

If she was Mu Shiqing’s sister, then she was probably not her father’s daughter either. The two men looked nothing alike.

At the inn.

Ling Mianmian lay on the bed. Bloody foam trickled from the corners of her mouth, and in her pain she curled unconsciously into the bedding.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, the young lady will not stop vomiting blood. We cannot stop it.” The physician Ling Mianmian had brought along seemed at a complete loss.

Xuan Zhaoran quietly withdrew from the room.

A little later, and Crown Prince would have gotten angry — she would not have dared slip away then.