……

Ye Jian found an inn in Pingshi Town. While Xuan Yanyu’s back was turned, he quietly slipped some money into Yan Yunning’s hands.

“?” Yan Yunning pressed her lips together and said bluntly, “I don’t want it. There’s nothing I can do!”

Was he giving her money to go do something?

What could she do?

She had a fairly clear-eyed sense of her own limitations.

Ye Jian’s expression twitched. “Second Miss Yan, you can.”

Yan Yunning: “?”

“Second Miss Yan, I know you often borrow money from His Highness.” Ye Jian paused. “Second Miss Yan, please say something to His Highness — ask him to bring Ye Chen back.”

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t Ye Chen quite capable? Can’t he shake Leng Yuqian off himself?”

She still remembered back at Qingyu Stronghold, when he and Xuan Yanyu and Ye Jian had fought with the men of the stronghold — his fighting skills had been quite impressive.

“His Highness was the one who gave him to Leng Yuqian. Even if he did shake her off, he wouldn’t dare come back.”

Hadn’t they all seen him bawling his eyes out when His Highness gave a single nod?

Yan Yunning tapped her chin thoughtfully. Ye Chen had been discarded for revealing Xuan Yanyu’s embarrassing story, and she had been driven out of his room for learning about it too.

If she went to plead for him now, would Xuan Yanyu leave her behind at this inn as well — the same as he had done with Ye Chen?

“Second Miss Yan.” Ye Jian pressed his palms together, a trace of unease in his voice. “Please, help Ye Chen.”

Since following His Highness, this was the first time he had ever lowered himself to ask someone else for a favor.

It was no small amount of discomfort.

Yan Yunning handed the money back to him. “I’ll try.”

“Good.”

As long as Second Miss Yan went and said something, His Highness would definitely agree.

After Ye Jian left, Yan Yunning stood on the inn’s corridor, pacing back and forth. How was she supposed to bring this up with Xuan Yanyu?

She had not yet figured out how to raise it when she lifted her gaze and spotted a familiar figure.

“A’ci.” The girl’s voice held a faint tremor.

A’ci’s body stiffened and his footsteps halted.

“A’ci.” Yan Yunning quietly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and stumbled forward, speaking softly. “A’ci, why are you here alone? Are you……”

Looking into the young man’s clear, bright eyes before her, Yan Yunning swallowed the rest of her words. A’ci didn’t need her to coax him anymore. She had forgotten.

“Go take care of what you need to do first.” Yan Yunning bit her lip and held back her tears, stepping back.

A’ci tightened his grip on the pastry in his hand and murmured, “I have nothing I need to do.”

Yan Yunning turned her head away, her nose twitching slightly.

Fafa’s expressionless electronic voice sounded in Yan Yunning’s mind. [Master, he went to see your elder sister first, without even thinking of seeing you. What are you upset about?]

Yan Yunning lowered her gaze and did her best to hold back her sobs. [As long as he’s all right.]

A’ci raised his hand and wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, his low voice trembling faintly. “Little Lemon, you’re this grown already. How are you still crying.”

Yan Yunning sniffled.

‘A’ci, you’re this grown already, and you’re still crying.’

‘A’ci, if you keep sniffling, I’m eating all the pastry myself.’

Hadn’t she always said that whenever A’ci used to cry?

“Little Lemon, if you keep crying, I’m eating all the pastry myself.” A’ci’s voice came out low and quiet.

Yan Yunning pursed her lips and glanced at the pastry in his hand. “Did you buy those for me?”

A’ci’s lips curved gently. “Yes, for you.”

He had spotted Xuan Yanyu and Ye Jian, which meant Little Lemon would certainly be at this inn too. He had wanted to have a word with her.

“Do you want to eat them now?” A’ci smiled and held up the pastry with a little shake.

“Yes.” Yan Yunning’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled, her voice still carrying traces of hiccupping sobs as she called his name over and over.

“Yes, I hear you.” A’ci sighed helplessly.

He unwrapped the oiled paper around the pastry, broke off a piece, and held it out to her.

Yan Yunning stared straight at him, not shifting her gaze for even a moment.

Only now did she truly feel it — A’ci was really all right.

“Does Xuan Yanyu treat you well?” A’ci’s eyes dropped slightly, his fingertip tracing along the edge of the oiled paper.

Yan Yunning bit off a piece of pastry and nodded.

Xuan Yanyu treated her very well.

A’ci let out a quiet, heavy breath.

“A’ci, Xuan Yanyu is good to me.” Yan Yunning’s eyes were still faintly red at the corners.

Don’t hurt him because of my elder sister.

“Good, as long as he’s good to you.” A’ci smiled softly.

He would consider it as His Excellency joking with him. He would just focus on protecting Yan Shiyao — as for what His Excellency had said about poison and hired assassins, he would pretend he had never heard it.

He couldn’t let Little Lemon cry anymore.

“A’ci, how did you end up here?”

Wasn’t he supposed to be in Xuanzhao?

“I came to find your elder sister.” A’ci’s eyes held a smile as he reached out and brushed the crumbs of pastry from the corner of her lips.

He had no desire to hide anything from her.

Yan Yunning nibbled at the pastry in small bites. “A’ci, why did you come to find my elder sister?”

“Little Lemon.” A’ci lowered his gaze and said in an unhurried voice, “I suspect your elder sister is not the flesh-and-blood child of the Chief Minister and his wife.”

Yan Yunning had not yet swallowed the pastry in her mouth, and she choked on it, coughing repeatedly.

How was that possible — the Chief Minister’s wife doted on her elder sister so much!

If anything, she was the one more likely not to be the Chief Minister’s wife’s own child. To say her elder sister was not the Chief Minister’s wife’s biological daughter — wasn’t that nonsense?

A’ci’s face was full of resigned helplessness. He reached out and patted her on the back. “I should have waited until you swallowed before saying that.”

“A’ci, how did you come to think that? That my elder sister is not the Chief Minister’s wife’s biological daughter?” Yan Yunning huffed in a low grumble. “The Chief Minister’s wife treats my elder sister so well — so much better than she treats me. If she’s not her biological child, then I’m the one who isn’t.”

A’ci’s eyes flickered. Little Lemon had grown up with her paternal grandmother and grandfather, while Yan Shiyao had no resemblance to His Excellency in any way. Was it possible that the Prince Xuan had genuinely made an identification error?

Or perhaps someone had deliberately confused Little Lemon’s and Yan Shiyao’s identities to deceive the Prince Xuan.

Or could it be that neither Little Lemon nor Yan Shiyao was His Excellency’s younger sister?

No — he had sounded out the Princess, and though she did not know why the Prince Xuan had asked Xuan Yanyu to marry Yan Shiyao, she had said the Prince Xuan had identified Yan Shiyao by a jade pendant. If Yan Shiyao were not His Excellency’s younger sister, then the likelihood fell squarely on Little Lemon.

And if Little Lemon were not, then His Excellency’s younger sister had to be one of the young misses of the Chief Minister’s residence. Otherwise, where had the jade pendant in Yan Shiyao’s hands come from?

Given that, he might as well act as though he knew nothing — let the Prince Xuan go on believing that Yan Shiyao was the Crown Princess he had personally designated.

“I was just saying it on a whim, Little Lemon — I was joking.” A’ci relaxed inwardly.

That Yan Shiyao was not His Excellency’s younger sister — he did not know why that thought brought him a sense of relief. He had always felt that, given Yan Shiyao’s temperament, she was likely to stir up no small amount of trouble in the days ahead.

Yan Yunning gave a soft hum. “A’ci, you’re lying. You couldn’t possibly have said that on a whim.”

It had to be something from his recovered memories that led him to suspect her elder sister was not the Chief Minister’s wife’s biological child.

A’ci hedged vaguely, “Little Lemon, you know me — I sometimes say things that are……”

“That was before. You’re nothing like before anymore.” Yan Yunning curved her lips in a knowing look, full of meaning.

Before he had been like a child. Now, watching him, she could see plainly — he was sharp, and he had learned to lead her astray too.