“Choosing this palace?” Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. “Yan Yunning, choosing this palace can only mean choosing to marry this palace.”

“Tch.” Yan Yunning shook the bracelet on her wrist. “If I chose you, I’d be afraid that the next time we quarrel, you’d make me take the bracelet off again and give it to A’Yao.”

“Then if we quarrel, will you still say you don’t want to marry this palace, and don’t want to have children with this palace?” The man kneaded her forehead. “As long as you don’t say things like that, no matter how we quarrel, this palace will never again ask you to take the bracelet off.”

“Then why did you go and learn how to tie a jade pendant from my A’Jie?” Yan Yunning pinched his cheek.

Xuan Yanyu took her hand and cradled it in his palm, toying with her fingers. “This palace went to learn to tie a jade pendant because you drove me to it.”

If she hadn’t provoked him with those hurtful words out of nowhere, would he have been foolish enough to do something so pointless?

Yan Yunning scrunched her nose and glared at him. “Xuan Yanyu, the next time we quarrel — if you say anything about marrying A’Jie again, I’ll beat you to death.”

Xuan Yanyu worked hard to suppress a laugh. With the young woman feigning a fierce, menacing expression, she looked like an indignant little cat with its fur standing on end.

Yan Yunning grabbed his face and shook it from side to side. “Still laughing? Say you’ll marry A’Jie again, go ahead?”

The man deliberately provoked her. “I will.”

Yan Yunning mauled his face between her hands. “I should just beat you to death right now!”

Xuan Yanyu made no move to stop her, letting her pinch his face as she pleased.

Ye Jian and Ye Chen exchanged a glance, and each saw in the other’s eyes the same realization — their Highness had clearly been thoroughly infected by some affliction, and there was no curing him.

How could he indulge Second Young Miss Yan so completely?

Had he forgotten who he was??

……

Tangyuan Pavilion.

Chu Wantang stared at the table full of dishes and had no appetite whatsoever. Yaoyao had come back nearly a month ago.

First, she somehow hurt her arm while out shopping; then, when she visited the Third Prince’s manor to congratulate them, she’d been wounded by Jiang Jin. This child — she had just recovered, and today she’d gone out again.

She herself had been feeling very drained lately, with little energy.

Her husband spent his days with Lu Jin’an and only occasionally came to her courtyard. Yaoyao was at home nursing her injuries all day, and Yi’er rarely returned.

She was constantly pestered by A’Fu, and these past few days her agitation had been so severe she couldn’t eat.

She still hadn’t figured out who was helping A’Fu from behind the scenes. She had hired an assassin, yet A’Fu came out completely unscathed. She had poisoned him, and still he suffered no ill effects — as though someone were deliberately thwarting her at every turn.

Deliberately letting A’Fu come and sicken her every day.

“Madam.” A’Fu shuffled over behind Chu Wantang in his mincing little steps and began kneading her shoulders.

Chu Wantang shot Nanny Liu a look. Nanny Liu understood and led the maids out of the side chamber.

“Madam, why aren’t you eating? Were you waiting especially for A’Fu?” A’Fu said in his high, thin voice.

Chu Wantang stared at the hands reaching under her sleeves, her teeth chattering with hatred. Who in the world was working against her!!

“Madam, the eldest young miss isn’t coming back today, is she? Then you don’t have to go take care of the eldest young miss today, do you?” A’Fu laughed with icy coldness.

Chu Wantang’s brow furrowed tightly. After several long seconds, she said, “Sit down and eat.”

A’Fu laughed, humming a little tune. “Serve the dishes.”

Chu Wantang slapped his hand away with revulsion. She had failed in her schemes and ended up tangled with this nuisance — she deeply regretted it.

Seething inside, she nonetheless picked up her chopsticks and began serving food into his bowl.

A’Fu’s smile grew even colder. Because of Chu Wantang, he had lost everything. What right did she have to still live so well?

“Ugh—” Chu Wantang dropped her chopsticks and pressed a handkerchief over her mouth, using the moment to vent some of her fury. “How can today’s dishes smell so awful? How is anyone supposed to eat?”

A’Fu held his hand delicately near his cheek, speaking in his sharp voice, “Madam, if the food doesn’t taste good, then A’Fu will go and eat with the master.”

Catching his implication, Chu Wantang squeezed the handkerchief in her hand. “That won’t be necessary.”

She picked up the chopsticks again and resumed serving food into his bowl.

A’Fu put on a coquettish pout. “Madam……”

Before the words had finished falling, the side chamber door was kicked open. A’Fu lurched to his feet in fright.

“Mother, what are you doing?” Yan Zhiyi’s face had gone the color of iron.

He had passed by the Chancellor’s manor and thought to spend the night here. Finding neither Ningning nor Yaoyao in their rooms, he’d come to his mother’s courtyard — but Nanny Liu had tried to block his way, which had seemed strange to him on every count.

He had kicked the door open, never expecting to find his mother serving food into a servant boy’s bowl.

“Young… Young Master.” A’Fu scrambled to his knees in a panic. “Young Master, Madam only did so out of pity for A’Fu, because……”

“Silence.” Yan Zhiyi gave a cold laugh. “Mother, what is going on?”

Chu Wantang’s lips trembled. “Yi’er… what A’Fu said is true.”

There were things she didn’t want her child to know about.

Yan Zhiyi narrowed his eyes. Given his mother’s manner, he could guess most of it even without being told. He looked toward A’Fu, still kneeling on the floor — this person could not be kept any longer.

“Get out.”

A’Fu trembled as he rose and shuffled out on unsteady legs.

“Mother, sit down and eat.” Yan Zhiyi pulled out a wooden chair and gestured for Chu Wantang to sit.

“Yi’er……”

Yan Zhiyi pressed down his anger. “After tonight, Mother can put her mind at ease.”

With Ningning and Yaoyao not yet married, if this kind of thing spread — how would they manage in the future? They’d be subjected to gossip and finger-pointing even in their husbands’ homes.

“Yi’er.” Chu Wantang could no longer hold back her tears.

“How did Mother get entangled with him?”

Chu Wantang stammered haltingly, “Mother… Mother was schemed against by A’Fu.”

Yan Zhiyi asked no further questions. “Mother, let’s eat.”

Chu Wantang stared at the food, her stomach turning with nausea.

She forced back the rising revulsion and kept Yan Zhiyi company through the meal.

……

In the pitch-black depth of night, the branches of the courtyard trees swayed back and forth in the wind. Ye Jian rubbed his cheek, which had gone somewhat cold from the chill, and raised his hand to knock on Xuan Yanyu’s chamber door with small, restrained taps.

In the darkness, the man heard the sound and carefully shifted the arm the young woman was using as a pillow.

“Where are you going?” Yan Yunning’s eyes hadn’t even opened yet, but her hand instinctively grabbed hold of his sleeping robe.

“I’ll be back in a moment.” Xuan Yanyu rubbed the top of her head.

“Mm.” Yan Yunning turned over and shifted slightly to the side.

Xuan Yanyu smiled and freed his arm. Even the darkness couldn’t conceal the tenderness in the man’s gaze.

He rose, draped his brocade robe over his shoulders, and opened the wooden door.

“Your Highness, Young Master Yan has intervened. Shall we continue to hold back?” Ye Jian said.

Xuan Yanyu narrowed his eyes slightly. “Let him handle it.”

Anyone who could stand at the Qilan Emperor’s side would have both the intelligence and the means. Trying to stop him would only make him investigate thoroughly, and that would draw Yan Yunning and A’Ci into the matter.

“Understood, Your Highness.” Ye Jian said.

……

Early the next morning, just as Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning had finished their meal, Ye Chen came rushing in.

“Your Highness, this is bad — the eldest young miss still hasn’t woken up, and her fever won’t break.” Ye Chen’s expression was grave.

In every letter Prince Xuan had sent to His Highness, he had written that His Highness must ensure his own safety first, then protect the eldest young miss without fail. This had become a serious problem — the eldest young miss’s condition had left even Imperial Physician Wen at a loss.

Xuan Yanyu’s brow furrowed slightly. “Why hasn’t she woken?”

“Your Highness, not only the eldest young miss — the second young miss of the Mu family also hasn’t woken up. Imperial Physician Wen suspects poison was applied to the blade.” Ye Chen spoke, his gaze shifting toward Yan Yunning.