The familiar, mellow voice entered her ears, and Shen Wan's fearful heart instantly calmed down.

Xie Jingyan held her, and Shen Wan stopped sinking, letting Xie Jingyan hold her as he swam towards the shore.

This feeling is so familiar...

Could it be that Xie Jingyan was the one who saved her back then?

But wasn't he demoted by the emperor to guard the imperial tombs back then? How could he have appeared at the Marquis of Pingyang's residence?

Shen Wan was afraid she had guessed wrong, but once she started to suspect it, she couldn't suppress it anymore.

Xie Jingyan swam to the shore with Shen Wan. Once the water was shallow enough for them to stand up, he swept Shen Wan up in his arms and lifted her onto the shore.

After getting ashore, a gust of wind blew by, and Shen Wan felt chilled to the bone. The next second, a cloak covered her completely.

Many young ladies from prominent families stood by the lotus pond, drawn by Yinshuang's cries for help.

Xie Jingyan rescued Shen Wan and, without lingering, immediately carried her away.

Although it was already very hot, it was easy to catch a cold from being out in the wind after coming out of the lotus pond, so he had to take Shen Wan to change into a clean dress as soon as possible.

Shen Wan wrapped her arms around his neck and just looked at him. His bewitching and charming face was covered in mud, but Shen Wan couldn't take her eyes off him.

Xie Jingyan noticed that Shen Wan was staring at him, so he said, "Stop looking, your face is dirty."

Shen Wan's gaze remained fixed as she asked, "Three years ago, in winter, wasn't it you who saved me too?"

Xie Jingyan stopped in his tracks and frowned deeply at the question.

He looked at the person in his arms and said, "Don't you know even now that I'm the one who saved you?"

It really is him!

Shen Wan's eyes instantly welled up with tears.

Having lived two lives, she only found out today that the person who saved her was him.

She's just too stupid.

When she fell into the water and caught a chill, her elder brother happened to go to the imperial mausoleum to visit him and found that he had a persistent high fever. He went to the palace to report to the emperor, who then allowed him to return to the capital. She never thought that their simultaneous catching a chill was not a coincidence.

Shen Wan choked up as she asked, "How did you end up at the Marquis of Pingyang's residence that day?"

"You almost died from the cold because you saved me, didn't you?"

"My older brother knows that you saved me, doesn't he?!"

Three questions came at Xie Jingyan in a row, leaving him unsure of which to reply to.

Xie Jingyan deliberately forgot the days when he was demoted to guard the imperial tombs, and he didn't even want to think about the matter of saving Shen Wan.

After Consort Chen's incident, the Emperor took his anger out on Xie Jingyan and demoted him to guard the imperial mausoleum. The hardship of guarding the imperial mausoleum was something a pampered prince like him could not endure, especially after losing his beloved mother. After being taken to the imperial mausoleum, Xie Jingyan lost the will to live. It was Shen Jing who brought Shen Du to the imperial mausoleum to see him.

Seeing that he looked emaciated, Shen Jing feared that he might commit suicide, so he told him that his mother had died unjustly and that he could only avenge his mother and maternal family if he lived. Shen Jing also sent secret guards to protect him and sent someone to deliver military books to him every month. Every now and then, he would send Shen Du to visit him at the imperial mausoleum.

Xie Jingyan carried Shen Wan forward, saying, "Your elder brother sent me a military treatise and told me that the plum blossom tree I gave you was in full bloom. I went to the Marquis of Pingyang's residence to admire the plum blossoms, but I never expected to find you drowning..."

Shen Wan looked at Xie Jingyan, not believing his words at all.

He was a prince of noble birth, demoted to guard the imperial tombs. How could he have the leisure to appreciate plum blossoms at the Marquis's residence?

Before, he used the excuse of looking for his older brother, and now he's using the excuse of admiring plum blossoms. Is it really that hard to go see her?

Xie Jingyan was concerned about saving face, so Shen Wan didn't expose him and asked, "And then?"

Xie Jingyan said, "Don't you know what happened after that?"

If she had known, she wouldn't have asked.

Xie Jingyan continued, and only then did Shen Wan realize what had happened that day.

Shen Rong used the excuse of slipping to push her into the water, and then frantically went to find someone to save her. While she was struggling in the water, Xie Jingyan took off his fox fur cloak and jumped into the water to save her. Shen Rong guessed that she had already drowned before she found someone. Xie Jingyan was punished by the emperor to guard the imperial tombs, but he appeared at the Pingyang Marquis's residence. He was not afraid of the emperor punishing him, but he was afraid of implicating the Pingyang Marquis's residence. He rescued her, covered her with the fox fur cloak to keep her warm, and left quickly when he saw someone coming.

It was the dead of winter, and the weather was freezing cold. Xie Jingyan left the Pingyang Marquis's residence soaking wet. Even though he rushed to the street to buy a new set of clothes as quickly as possible, he still caught a cold.

When he rescued Shen Wan, she had already fainted. When she woke up, she saw Xie Jingyin and concluded that Xie Jingyin had saved her. Xie Jingyin did not deny it, and Shen Ying and Shen Rong also told their father the same thing, so she believed it without a doubt.

Only today did Shen Wan realize that the fox fur cloak she wore that day was a gift from her elder brother to Xie Jingyan.

When the elder brother saw that the fox fur cloak he had given to Xie Jingyan was in Shen Wan's hands, he became suspicious. The next day, he went to the imperial mausoleum. When he arrived, Xie Jingyan was almost delirious with fever. Shen Du immediately sent his servant to fetch a doctor, while he went to the palace to plead with the emperor on Xie Jingyan's behalf.

Xie Jingyan developed a high fever from typhoid fever while saving his sister. If anything were to happen to Xie Jingyan, he and his father would feel guilty for the rest of their lives.

Fortunately, although the Emperor was angry with Xie Jingyan because of Consort Chen, he had already punished Xie Jingyan by making him guard the imperial mausoleum for four years, which was a severe punishment. In addition, even tigers don't eat their cubs, so even if the Emperor disliked Xie Jingyan, he couldn't just stand by and watch Xie Jingyan die of illness in the imperial mausoleum without doing anything.

The emperor relented, and Xie Jingyan, by a stroke of good fortune, was able to leave the imperial mausoleum and return to the palace.

Shen Wan didn't know that he was the one who saved her, but Xie Jingyan knew. Shen Du had told him why they were keeping it from Shen Wan: Xie Jingyin had taken credit for saving Shen Wan's life. In addition, Shen Ying and Shen Rong testified for Xie Jingyin. They dared not tell Shen Wan, fearing that she would be too impulsive and expose the matter, making the Prince of Jin and the Empress lose face. Furthermore, Xie Jingyan's unauthorized departure from the imperial mausoleum would give others leverage against him, which would be detrimental to him.

The reason why Shen Jing and Shen Du were so opposed to Shen Wan choosing Prince Jin was because they knew from the beginning that Prince Jin's motives were impure, that he was not kind, and that he was scheming. Furthermore, the second and third wives actually helped Prince Jin conceal things from them. However, knowing is one thing, but being unable to guard against it is another.

This is also why Shen Jing felt that Shen Wan would bring disaster to Xie Jingyan if she wanted to marry him.

Xie Jingyan almost lost his life trying to save her. If it weren't for that incident, Xie Jingyan wouldn't have returned to the palace, and if he hadn't returned to the palace, he wouldn't have gone hunting with her, ultimately falling off his horse and breaking his leg.

Shen Jing was afraid that Shen Wan would continue to harm Xie Jingyan, so she disagreed. But Xie Jingyan himself was not afraid and even agreed. How could Shen Jing still object?

His daughter owed Xie Jingyan too much, and Shen Wan would spend half her life making up for it. Shen Jing felt that this was only right.

Later, Shen Wan fell in love with Xie Jingyin. Shen Du guessed that it might be because he misunderstood that Xie Jingyin had saved her and wanted to tell Shen Wan about it, but he stopped him.

At that time, he had already fallen from his horse and broken both legs. He didn't want Shen Wan to feel grateful to him, which would affect her determination and put her in a dilemma between him and Xie Jingyin.

But Xie Jingyan never expected that Shen Wan, who had married him, would still be unaware of this matter until she fell into the water again and discovered it herself.