The boy was furious and roared, "Are you deaf? I'll copy the Great Compassion Mantra for you! This prince will copy the Great Compassion Mantra for you!"

Shen Mianmian rolled her eyes. "What are you yelling about? Did I need your help?"

Bai Qingzhou was stunned. He never expected that the woman who was always so affectionate with him would roll her eyes at him and speak to him in an unfriendly tone.

"Shen Mianmian, have you become so arrogant now? Do you really think that just because you've been given a concubine, I can't do anything to you?"

In the corner, Hanrong felt secretly nervous.

Because Sister Chuxue had instructed that if she found the young master and Aunt Shen arguing, she must write down the whole process and report it to the Peony Courtyard.

quarrel……

Isn't this just an argument?

She knew that as long as she reported these arguments in detail, the young mistress would reward her with silver. She should have been happy, but... she just couldn't be happy at all.

After the argument, the young master no longer liked Consort Shen. What should Consort Shen do?

Shen Mianmian was secretly pleased—she was now desperately trying to ruin her image so that the prince would lose interest in her.

It would be better to just have a fight and never speak to each other again.

Thinking of this, Chen Mianmian became excited and agitated, "That's right, anyway, I've already achieved my goal, I've already become a concubine, of course I'm fearless."

He chuckled to himself—"Little darling, disappointed, aren't you? Come on, let the disappointment come even more fiercely!"

"You..." Bai Qingzhou's face turned bright red with anger.

He suddenly asked, "Hanrong, I'm asking you, how many times did Madam make Chen Mianmian copy the Great Compassion Mantra?"

Hanrong was startled and hurriedly stammered, "Reply...reply to the young master...nine hundred and ninety-nine times..."

After listening, Bai Qingzhou turned and left.

Startled, Chen Mianmian rushed forward and grabbed the boy's wrist. "Wait, where are you going?"

Bai Qingzhou glared angrily at her, "Where else can we go? We should go and reason with Mother!"

This time, it was Shen Mianmian who turned pale with fright. "What are you talking about?"

“I was the one who wanted to elevate you to the rank of concubine. You are innocent. If anyone should be punished, it should be me. I will take responsibility for my own actions.”

Chen Mianmian was so frightened she almost screamed—what a joke! If the prince went to make trouble for the lady because of her, the lady would become even more disgusted with Zhuge Liang and disappointed in Fengchu, and would eventually trust the female lead.

Then, he takes the female lead to find Princess Ruian and get to know Prince Jin. The female lead then incites the Marquis of Anning's family to join Prince Jin. Prince Jin rebels, and the Marquis of Anning's family is implicated and their entire family is executed!

She went through all this trouble just to avoid going down this main path!

If Fengchu goes there, wouldn't she be wasting her time?

Therefore, no matter what method we use, we must never let Fengchu cause trouble!

"Let go!" Bai Qingzhou shook off the woman.

Although Bai Qingzhou was a boy who had never learned martial arts, the body that Shen Mianmian was using was that of an ordinary girl. In terms of strength, she couldn't beat him.

"No!" Shen Mianmian hugged the boy's waist tightly, her voice trembling with tears. "I was wrong, okay? I apologize to the young master. I will never throw a tantrum again. Please don't go, young master."

Bai Qingzhou could tell that the woman was suddenly trying to comfort him because she was worried that he would have a conflict with his mother.

His heart softened. "Mianmian, I know what you're planning."

"?" Shen Mianmian asked in confusion, "What are my plans?"

Bai Qingzhou lowered his head, looking at the woman's arms around his waist, and said in a muffled voice, "You know, it's very difficult for me to be caught in the middle. You feel sorry for me, but you know you can't persuade me, so you resorted to this tactic."

You are the kind of woman who cannot tolerate even the slightest imperfection, yet now, for my sake, you have denied your former beliefs and even deliberately damaged your image in my heart, all to make me go to Jiang Yinjin's side.

Chen Mianmian was confused. "No... can you stop making things up? I didn't mean it that way. I never thought of asking you to go to Jiang Yinjin. I was even afraid that you would sleep with her. I really couldn't pretend anymore, and my true feelings came out."

Bai Qingzhou chuckled, "If your words and actions were meant to attract me, then did you go to all this trouble just to become a lowly concubine in the Marquis of Anning's mansion?"

You said before that if you were willing to become a concubine, with your looks, you could easily enter not only the declining Anning Marquis's mansion, but also other powerful and prestigious families.

"Ah, this...did I say something like that before?" Chen Mianmian—did the original owner say something like that?

Bai Qingzhou looked up at the corner and said, "Hanrong, get out."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Hanrong breathed a huge sigh of relief—she had been struggling with whether or not to leave.

If she left voluntarily, she would be disobeying the young mistress's orders, which were to keep her under surveillance throughout.

If forced to leave, Aunt Shen, who was sometimes clever and sometimes not, hesitated to speak.

In fact, ever since the young master came in, she kept giving Aunt Shen meaningful glances, hoping that Aunt Shen would kick her out, but Aunt Shen just didn't see her glances.

Sometimes, even when the two were looking at each other, and she was about to give a subtle hint, Aunt Shen would immediately turn her head away and stop looking at her, leaving her anxious and frustrated.

Now that the Crown Prince has spoken, she can finally put down her burden completely.

Inside the room.

Bai Qingzhou pulled away the woman's hands that were wrapped around his waist.

Seeing that the young master did not intend to run to the main courtyard to seek death, Chen Mianmian decided to let go.

To everyone's surprise, the prince turned around and pulled her into his arms.

Sleepyhead—damn it! I was too late; I should have slipped away faster.

Unfortunately, now she's been embraced tightly and can't escape.

Bai Qingzhou held the woman tightly, "I want to tell you a secret."

"Huh? What secret?"

"Actually... our Anning Marquis's Mansion is only superficially prosperous; in reality, it has already begun to decline. This is one of the reasons why my mother forced me to marry Jiang Yinjin."

"...Uh, maybe it's not as bad as you think." Shen Mianmian could feel the boy trembling slightly and couldn't help but comfort him softly.

"Fifteen years ago, my father went to war and was injured. Although he was not crippled, he was unable to have children. This is why my father did not take any more concubines and why our Anning Marquis's mansion has so few members."

"!!!"

Even though she had known the plot beforehand, Shen Mianmian was still taken aback—this information wasn't in the original text!

Although that novel was intellectually absurd, it was fast-paced, mostly featuring the female protagonist's rebirth and subsequent humiliation, without much detailed description of the situation in the Anning Marquis's mansion.

So that's how it is...

Chen Mianmian nestled in the boy's arms, inhaling his unique, clean scent and feeling his frail appearance. "Then...you must be under a lot of pressure, right?"

The boy's body visibly stiffened for a moment.

Soon, he returned to normal. "Everyone says I'm lucky to be the only son of a marquis, but actually I really want some brothers and sisters, even half-sisters and half-brothers. But if I said these things, no one would believe me."

My heart, which had been dormant, suddenly felt heavy.

"Stop talking about these troublesome things. Didn't you come here to help me write the Great Compassion Mantra? Let's get started. Madam might send someone to check on things tomorrow. If we delay, she'll get angry."

"Okay." Bai Qingzhou reluctantly let go of her, though he actually wanted to hold her a little longer.

Chen Mianmian moved another chair, and the two of them sat facing each other at the table and began to write.

The room was quiet.

The atmosphere was warm and cozy, with only the soft sound of sleeves rubbing against paper.

When it comes to formal writing, the handwriting must be neat and accurate, which is completely different from the previous scribbling on paper. Chen Mianmian's arm was already sore after writing just five characters.

She put down her pen, rubbed her wrist, and looked up to see that Bai Qingzhou had already written most of the page.

Under the light, the boy looked focused and stood tall.

Whether it was the upright writing posture of ancient people or the unique charm of focused people, Chen Mianmian suddenly felt that the person in front of her had become the Crown Prince, rather than the Phoenix Chick.

Just as Bai Qingzhou finished writing a line, he looked up while dipping his brush in ink and asked, "Why aren't you writing? Why are you staring at me?"

Shen Mianmian subtly shifted her gaze from the boy to the paper, then said nonsensically, "I was wondering, since you wrote it so beautifully, if Madam can tell at a glance that it wasn't written by me, will it still count?"

"!!!!" Bai Qingzhou was suddenly enlightened—that's right, the handwriting is different, what should we do?