“Oh?” Qi Qingchen licked his lips, spat out the grape seed, put his arm around her waist, and lifted Yan Shiyao up. He asked in a low, husky voice, “This Crown Prince’s?”

“Mm~” Yan Shiyao smiled coyly.

A glimmer passed through Qi Qingchen’s eyes, and he carried Yan Shiyao all the way to his bedchamber.

A maidservant with good sense pushed open the chamber door. Once the two had gone inside, she discreetly pulled the door shut behind them.

“No regrets?” Qi Qingchen asked like a gentleman, then tossed Yan Shiyao carelessly onto the bed.

Yan Shiyao bit her lip. The tips of her ears had gone scarlet, and she stammered, “N-no… no regrets.”

The man’s eyes darkened. He bent down, leaning close to her, and said with a wicked smile, “First Miss Yan — being this Crown Prince’s personal attendant maidservant as well, you would accept that?”

Yan Shiyao hooked her arms around his neck, her voice soft and languid. “Third Highness, why do you have so much to say?”

As long as she achieved her goal, what choice did she have? Was there any room left for her to regret?

Apart from Qi Qingchen, was there anyone else who could help her?

Qi Qingchen set his teeth and yanked down the bed curtain.

The moonlight outside was hazy and dim. Amorous sounds drifted out through the gap in the door. Inside the bedchamber, Yan Shiyao clutched the brocade quilt, silently letting her tears fall.

In the latter half of the night, Qi Qingchen carried the half-drowsy Yan Shiyao off to bathe, while the maidservants entered the chamber and set the bed in order.

A maidservant with a small flower in her hair asked curiously, “Do you think our future Third Princess Consort might end up being First Miss Yan?”

After all, His Highness had personally carried First Miss Yan off to bathe — back when the late secondary consort Jin was around, it had always been Secondary Consort Jin who waited upon His Highness. His Highness had never once…

“Hush. Mind what you say.” Another maidservant gathered up the stained sheet discreetly and cut off her musings in a low voice.

——

The following day, Yan Shiyao slept until noon before waking. Having been injured to begin with, she now felt utterly drained of strength.

“First Miss Yan, you are awake — this servant will help you dress.” A maidservant, seeing Yan Shiyao open her eyes, brought out a garment of fine fabric and came to her with a smile.

Yan Shiyao lifted the brocade quilt, closed her eyes, pretended not to see the marks on her body, and let the maidservant dress her.

“First Miss Yan.” A maidservant called Xiao Chun carried over a bowl of medicinal soup, smiled gently, and said, “This was ordered by His Highness.”

“Mm.” Yan Shiyao took the medicine without hesitation and tilted her head back to drink it down.

Better to prevent any complications!

“First Miss Yan, would you like to have a meal?” Xiao Chun asked with a smile.

“Mm.” Yan Shiyao cleared her very hoarse throat. “Where is… the Third Prince?”

“First Miss Yan, His Highness is having his noon meal in the dining hall — if you go now, you will arrive just in time.” Xiao Chun helped Yan Shiyao to her feet.

Yan Shiyao bit her lip. She could barely even stand steadily.

After adjusting for quite a while, Yan Shiyao followed the maidservant at a slow pace to the dining hall.

Qi Qingchen saw her and patted the seat beside him, the corner of his mouth hooking upward. “Sit next to this Crown Prince.”

Yan Shiyao smiled with her eyes, “Was Third Highness specifically waiting for Shiyao?”

Qi Qingchen let out a chuckle. “First Miss Yan, this Crown Prince finds he is genuinely not quite accustomed to this.”

A flash crossed Yan Shiyao’s eyes. She rolled her eyes at Qi Qingchen, “Qi Qingchen, do you find it terribly amusing?”

Qi Qingchen flicked his finger against her forehead, looking displeased. “First Miss Yan, were you not very formidable when you were in Xuanzhao? You called off your engagement to this Crown Prince and came to gloat about it — so why have you come to find this Crown Prince again now?”

Yan Shiyao peeled a shrimp for Qi Qingchen and said, pitiful and forlorn, “Third Highness, because Shiyao has suddenly come to realise that she cannot do without you.”

Without him, there was indeed no way to handle her mother’s situation.

The man lifted his eyelids. “Is that so?”

“It is.” Yan Shiyao said with complete sincerity.

Qi Qingchen curved his lips, ate the shrimp she had offered, and fixed his gaze on her face with evident interest, teasing, “It does not matter. This Crown Prince does not mind. In any case, she is nothing more than this Crown Prince’s personal attendant maidservant — it would make this Crown Prince a fool to refuse, would it not?”

“Third Highness, now that you mention it, Shiyao had almost forgotten — you were once a fool yourself,” Yan Shiyao could not hold back and said.

“You…” Qi Qingchen slammed his palm on the dining table and said sharply, “Get out.”

“Petty. I have not even eaten a single bite yet,” Yan Shiyao muttered under her breath.

Qi Qingchen: “……”

Taking advantage of Qi Qingchen’s momentary stupor, Yan Shiyao picked up her bowl of rice and began hurriedly piling dish after dish onto it with her golden chopsticks.

Qi Qingchen: “……??”

“Third Highness, you eat at your leisure — I will be taking my leave.” Yan Shiyao clutched her bowl of rice, afraid Qi Qingchen would have someone take it from her. The moment she finished speaking, she endured the pain and ran outside.

She had missed her meal the previous evening, and had not eaten that morning either. If she waited any longer, she would be half-starved.

Qi Qingchen stared after Yan Shiyao’s retreating figure, his eyes narrowing in amusement.

His gaze fell on the table full of dishes, and his temper flared right back up. Yan Shiyao had helped herself from every single dish on the table — everything left behind was a jumbled, picked-over mess. How was he supposed to eat like this?

Yan Shiyao was absolutely maddening!

Yan Shiyao had done it quite deliberately, to irritate Qi Qingchen — who had told him to be so needlessly sarcastic to her?

——

Once she had fled the dining hall, Yan Shiyao slowed her steps. The smile faded from her face. She ate her rice in silence, tears falling one drop after another, uncontrollably.

She could never have imagined that one day she would be reduced to this.

Jiang Jin, watching Yan Shiyao sitting at the edge of the flower bed with not the slightest care for appearances, eating her rice and weeping — was shaking all over with fury. She had heard everything about the previous night. On what grounds was Yan Shiyao His Highness’s exception?

Why had she herself never been?

Yan Shiyao, sensing the hatred directed at her, raised her bowl of rice and said in a feeble voice, “I am already pitiful enough — stop targeting me.”

Once her mother was out of prison, she would leave, and nothing about Jiang Jin would concern her any longer.

Jiang Jin: “……”

“……” Qi Qingchen — who had stormed out to confront Yan Shiyao — found every last bit of his temper vanish with that single line of hers.

Yan Shiyao kept her head bowed, picking at her food in small bites. She made an attempt at conversation with Jiang Jin and, after thinking for quite a while, finally managed: “Qi Qingchen is so petty — why do you still want to be his secondary consort?”

Jiang Jin: “……”

She had a point to make — Yan Shiyao had called His Highness petty, yet last night she had gone and been with His Highness herself. Was she not the one with a problem?

“……” Qi Qingchen felt the fury surge right back up in him.

“The food in your residence is really quite good,” Yan Shiyao said, her cheeks puffed out, her voice slightly muffled as she chewed.

Jiang Jin shot Zhu Qing a look. Zhu Qing understood, smiled, stepped forward, and deliberately swayed slightly — knocking the bowl out of Yan Shiyao’s hands.

Yan Shiyao, caught completely off guard, tumbled into the flower bed. The food in the bowl spilled all over her clothes, and she could not help her eyes going red again.

“Get away.” Qi Qingchen stepped forward in a few long strides, kicked Zhu Qing aside, and pulled Yan Shiyao up out of the flower bed, where she sat looking utterly sorry for herself.

“Serves you right.” The words were cold, but his hands moved without thinking to wipe away her tears.

Yan Shiyao sniffled and said, wheedling, “Third Highness, a maidservant in your household deliberately knocked me down — do you not owe me some compensation?”

“This Crown Prince already said — you deserved it.” Qi Qingchen noticed the food staining her clothes and smiled. “Is this not karma for scattering this Crown Prince’s dishes around earlier?”

“Qi Qingchen!” Yan Shiyao puckered her lips and burst into great heaving sobs, her moist eyes gazing up at Qi Qingchen with the most wretched, pitiful expression imaginable.

“……” Qi Qingchen said, with great reluctance, “Fine. You did not deserve it. You did not deserve it.”