Madam Xie nodded and also showed a satisfied smile.

“Madam, the Prince has returned,” a servant girl said from outside.

Madam Xie immediately became animated.

“Didn’t he say he would stay out for a few days? Why did he come back today?” she said, while hurriedly getting up.

“He still missed you, Madam,” Nanny Su said with a smile, supporting her while asking the servant girl, “Quickly ask if the Prince has eaten? Has he drunk wine? Who is with him? Has he been received?”

“This servant didn’t ask. The Prince returned together with the Young Mistress…” the servant girl answered.

Madam Xie and Nanny Su, who were walking out, immediately stopped in their tracks.

“What?” Madam Xie looked shocked. “He returned together with the Young Mistress?”

She turned to look at Nanny Su, who also looked shocked.

“Didn’t you say she went to that girl A’Ru’s house? How, how is she with the Prince again?” she also stammered, glaring at the servant girl. “You didn’t see wrong, did you?”

“This servant did not…” the servant girl said hurriedly.

Here, Nanny Su had stopped asking because she saw that under the guidance of several lanterns, the Prince had entered the courtyard gate, and behind the Prince was that woman.

Looking at the pair walking one after the other, Madam Xie slowly withdrew her hand, turned around and sat back in the inner room, her face ice-cold.

This was the first time she hadn’t greeted her son at the main hall or the door when he returned from an outing.

Under the palace lanterns’ illumination, the gold thread embroidery on Qi Yue’s pink cross-collar robe shimmered, and when Madam Xie’s gaze unconsciously swept over it, she always felt a surge of stuffiness in her chest, so she was somewhat absent-minded when listening to her son speak.

“…Didn’t expect him to bring his wife over, so I had someone invite…” Chang Yuncheng stumbled here and couldn’t help but glance at Qi Yue beside him.

What was this woman’s name again?

Qi Yue didn’t look at him, keeping her head down appearing very respectful, though sharp-eyed people could still see her occasionally yawn.

“…Originally planned to return after dinner, but having not seen each other for so long, we talked and talked until it got late,” Chang Yuncheng simply stopped mentioning names, since everyone knew who he was talking about anyway.

“You should have sent word. In the middle of the night, it frightened the whole family,” Madam Xie said indifferently.

“Yes, Mother. Your daughter-in-law was wrong,” Qi Yue bowed slightly and said accommodatingly. “At that time, your daughter-in-law happened to be out. When I returned and entered the house, I met someone the Prince had sent to invite me. They said it was quite urgent, so I didn’t dare delay and hurried over.”

This was also the truth. All the trouble was caused by this Chang Yuncheng anyway. I did nothing wrong, so you mother and son can explain among yourselves.

The room was briefly silent.

Neither mother nor son were fools, so they naturally understood her meaning…

This lowly servant was vulgarly disgusting, before and even more so now. Madam Xie lightly clenched the hand resting on her knee.

“It’s getting late. Go back and rest early,” Madam Xie said.

“I’ve worried Mother. Mother should also rest early,” Chang Yuncheng stood up and said, while bowing.

Madam Xie looked at her son and smiled.

“Go quickly,” she said with a smile.

Only then did Chang Yuncheng turn around, and Qi Yue, who had been treated as invisible, naturally turned around too.

Here, Nanny Su personally saw them out and watched them walk away before turning back.

“After leaving the door, the Prince didn’t say a word and didn’t even glance at her,” she said quietly while helping Madam Xie remove her hairpins and ornaments. “Madam, it seems he really was just called to accompany Young Master Guo’s wife. You see, just now the Prince couldn’t even be bothered to call her name, let alone look at her.”

Madam Xie also recalled the scene just now. Her son had a straightforward nature – he liked what he liked and didn’t like what he didn’t like, never hiding it. His behavior just now indeed treated this woman no better than a stranger. Her expression finally improved slightly as she let down her hair and reclined against the pillow.

“Can’t blame him either,” she said slowly. “That woman is after all his wife in name. With this title, some things really require her presence whether we like it or not.”

At this point, her expression darkened. “It’s beyond our Cheng-ge’er’s control whether he’s willing or not.”

These last few words came out through gritted teeth.

Nanny Su also sighed and gently massaged her legs and feet.

Qi Yue paid no attention to how the master and servant resented her here. She only felt physically and mentally exhausted today but still somewhat excited, so after leaving Rongan Courtyard, she walked back with a cheerful expression all the way. As for that Prince, he walked fast and she walked not slowly either – two different directions, well water not interfering with river water.

Completing a large-area external wound suturing surgery without anesthetics – although she didn’t yet know the outcome, just daring to proceed was something unthinkable even in modern times, except perhaps during the harsh wartime. If she could tell others about it when she returned, probably no one would believe her. Sigh, who knew when she could go back…

“…Young Mistress, why didn’t you say a word to the Prince before leaving?” A’Ru interrupted Qi Yue’s wandering thoughts from the side. “Apologize…”

“That kind of person, I don’t expect him to apologize at all,” Qi Yue shook her head.

A’Ru didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Young Mistress, you should apologize,” she quickened her steps to catch up and said quietly.

“Me?” Qi Yue looked at her. “What did I do wrong? Is saving lives and healing the wounded wrong?”

“You are the Young Mistress. You cannot leave the house casually, let alone do this,” A’Ru said with a bitter smile.

Qi Yue shook her head at her and stopped walking.

“What kind of logic is that? He tricked me into going, and with such despicable methods too,” she said.

A’Ru didn’t know what to say either. Thinking about it, it was indeed true.

“It’s still this servant’s fault. I shouldn’t have let you treat Yuan Bao’s wound that time. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much trouble,” she sighed and said self-reproachfully with a sob.

“Heavens, what are you thinking?” Qi Yue stared at her. “Are you saying you’d rather your own brother died?”

A’Ru smiled miserably.

“We servants are all cheap lives. If we died, we’d just be dead,” she murmured, tears sliding down.

Qi Yue looked at her speechlessly. What kind of logic was this?

“A’Ru, I am not the Young Mistress,” she said after a brief silence.

After A’Ru was stunned, she naturally understood what she meant. She was immediately frightened out of her wits and raised her hand to cover Qi Yue’s mouth.

“You are the Young Mistress, you are the Young Mistress,” A’Ru bit her lower lip and said with tears in her eyes.

Qi Yue was amused by her and pulled down A’Ru’s hand.

“What I mean is, A’Ru, I know you have many rules – women shouldn’t show their faces in public, people of noble status shouldn’t associate with those of lower status, distinctions between high and low should be clear, respecting mothers-in-law and husbands, and so on. I know, I know all of this. But I might not be able to do it,” she said with a smile, continuing to walk forward while looking at the bright starry sky. “When choosing between rules and status versus saving lives and healing the wounded, I could never choose the former. When facing emergency situations, all I consider is how to save people best and fastest, not thinking about status, rules, face, or anything like that. Perhaps this is caused by differences in living habits and environment, or perhaps I don’t want to become someone who isn’t me.”

And besides, maybe this was just a dream anyway.

A’Ru seemed to understand but not quite.

“But if you act like this, you won’t be well-liked. If you’re not well-liked…” she said quietly.

“To be well-liked, should I change myself?” Qi Yue asked thoughtfully and sighed.

A’Ru really couldn’t understand or answer such questions.

“Are you truly a doctor?” she hesitated for a moment before asking this question for the first time.

“Yes,” Qi Yue also answered this question directly for the first time, smiling and nodding at her.

“But isn’t being the Young Mistress good?” A’Ru suddenly said.

This time it was Qi Yue who was stunned, not understanding her words.

“You’ll be the Marchioness in the future. How many women wish they could live like this for a lifetime,” A’Ru said with her head down. “Not angering the Madam and the Prince, making them both happy – wouldn’t that be quite good too?”

“I see,” Qi Yue had never thought about this and couldn’t help but frown thoughtfully. “Eating well, dressing well, and having people serve you…”

“Exactly,” A’Ru nodded and looked at her. “You’ll be the Marchioness in the future.”

She emphasized the words “Marchioness.”

Qi Yue raised her hand to scratch her itchy forehead and laughed.

“I don’t know either,” she said with a frown. “Actually, I don’t know. This would be quite good too.”

She couldn’t help but rub her face with her hands.

A’Ru was somewhat confused by her expression. Very good – why didn’t her expression look good at all?

“But I still want to go back,” Qi Yue lowered her hands and looked at the night sky. Although there wasn’t such a bright night sky there, such fresh air that could be breathed deeply, groups of servants, or rooms full of gold, silver, treasures, and jewelry that were blindingly bright, there was endless work, increasingly high mortgages, increasingly unstable and short-lived love and marriage. But that place was familiar to her, with her relatives, friends, and career. Only with those could she be as free as a fish in water.

If all of this could truly never be possessed again…

Being Qi Yueniang, living the life Qi Yueniang should live…

Would she still be herself then?

If I’m no longer me…

A’Hao looked at her, sensing this woman’s instant sadness, loneliness, and fear…

“When A’Ru first came here, I was also very afraid,” she said quietly. “I didn’t know anyone, and the food, clothing, things to use, and way of speaking were all things I had never seen before…”

Qi Yue looked at this girl, and after her surprise, a smile and gratitude appeared.

“How old were you then?” she asked.

“Me? I was ten years old then,” A’Ru answered with some reminiscence. “Mother was ill, my younger brother was still small, the family’s land was mortgaged for debt, and there was no way to make a living. If the whole family stayed together, we’d just wait to starve to death. So Father sold me – that way both the family and I could find a way to survive. Later, following the human trafficker, we happened to encounter the Marquis’s residence needing people, so I was lucky to be chosen…”

“So young… What did you do when you first came in? Did they beat you? Did they let you sleep at night? Or was it like Vanka, doing endless work…”

“When I first came in, I did cleaning work, then had the opportunity to learn the rules… Of course I’d get beaten if I didn’t do things well – beaten on the hands, made to kneel… They still let me sleep, just occasionally went hungry… Um, who is Vanka?”

The master and servant talked quietly as they walked. With the night spreading around them, the sadness, loneliness, and fear gradually dissipated until they walked near Qiutong Courtyard.

Qiutong Courtyard was brightly lit.

“…Where did the Young Mistress go? Is it their place as servants to inquire? The Young Mistress can do whatever she wants – is it their place to point and judge?” A’Hao was scolding a submissive servant girl with raised eyebrows. “If anyone else inquires randomly, give her a big slap…”

“Right, write down all their names and throw them out tomorrow,” Que Zhi chimed in from the side, while helping support A’Hao. “Sister has been standing for quite a while, go lie down…”

Just as they were talking, servant girls outside started clamoring that the Young Mistress had returned. When they heard she had returned together with the Prince, all the servant girls and women in the courtyard felt like they were dreaming. Originally anxious and uncertain about what fate awaited them tomorrow, suddenly everything had reversed so dramatically. Not only had she returned, but most importantly, with the Prince!

Since the Prince’s return, the couple hadn’t even seen each other’s faces. Everyone in the residence had been gossiping that the Prince was going to divorce the Young Mistress…

Now, without a word, she had quietly gone out as the Prince’s companion. Let’s see who dares to gossip now!

Qi Yue was thus received with joy like stars surrounding the moon. Even after the courtyard gate closed, laughter could still be heard from inside. Only then did two servant girls who had been standing in the tree shadows by the roadside turn around.

“Good, have all the people at the side door come back. Go quickly and tell Third Young Master that everything is fine,” one of them said.

The other servant girl nodded and ran off like flying.

Because Qi Yue and Chang Yuncheng had agreed on their story before entering, everyone in the courtyard knew the Young Mistress had gone out with the Prince to meet guests. Only A’Hao, when going to bed at night, had the opportunity to hear the truth from A’Ru.

“Oh my goodness, this is too… coincidental,” A’Hao could only repeat this phrase to express her feelings.

“You absolutely mustn’t tell anyone,” A’Ru hurriedly pulled her down to lie and instructed.

“I’m not an idiot,” A’Hao nodded quickly, propping her head on her hand on the pillow. “At that time, when the Young Mistress and Prince met, what were their expressions?”

As she spoke, she covered her mouth and giggled.

A’Ru couldn’t help but purse her lips and smile too.

“I was scared to death at the time. How could I see what expressions the Young Mistress and Prince had?” she said. “But the Prince seemed scared too…”

“Of course! Anyone would be scared,” A’Hao giggled, her eyes sparkling. “Is the Prince still the same as before? Has he become much more handsome? When he saw what the Young Mistress was doing, was he very surprised? Did he start liking the Young Mistress more and more as he watched? When I watched the Young Mistress doing those things, I felt it was particularly, particularly beautiful…”

Blood and flesh everywhere – how was that beautiful! A’Ru was amused by her and raised her hand to pat her head, knocking A’Hao down onto the pillow.

“Go to sleep quickly,” she said, blowing out the lamp.

“Then tomorrow, the Young Mistress will go out with the Prince again, right?” A’Hao said quietly in the darkness, her voice full of joy. “This way, the Prince will like the Young Mistress more and more…”

Right… A’Ru hummed in agreement, then nodded vigorously, though no one could see in the dark night.

It must be so. The Young Mistress was such a good person, the Prince would definitely like her, as long as they could spend more time together.