"Look at your radiant face, General Gu must have treated you well all along." A few more days passed, and Xu Nian finally finished all the things that needed to be done after the wedding.

Only then did he finally have time to deliver the invitation to the Crown Prince's residence. Before he even entered, Su Wanting, supported by her maid, came out to greet him.

Xu Nian quickened her pace, and the little maid behind her could hardly keep up. "Don't tease me. You're the one who's really riding high right now."

The Crown Prince has no concubines, not even a maidservant.

Su Wanting was the only woman in the entire backyard, and just by looking at her gentle appearance, you could tell how well she had been doing lately.

"I happen to be free today." He followed Su Wanting into the house. "Change your clothes, and we'll invite Anqing. I'll take you to a teahouse to watch a play."

Su Wanting, who had been confined to this mansion for many days and whose only outings were for various ladies' banquets, lit up at the news.

Without needing much persuasion, she got up and went to the inner room to change into some comfortable clothes. She only took a maid and a guard with her, and then followed Xu Nian out the door.

The two went to Princess Anqing's residence again, and when they arrived at the teahouse, it was already bustling with people.

Xu Nian was clearly a regular here, and casually tossed over a silver ingot. "Manager, a private room, two pots of the finest pre-Qingming Longjing tea, and a few plates of snacks. The usual."

This wasn't the first time Anqing and his group had been to a place like this, but they still couldn't help but exchange glances upon seeing Xu Nian's expression.

His eyes were full of teasing laughter. "Someone like you, only General Gu would be willing to indulge you. You're always running to the teahouse, and he doesn't even try to stop you."

"How do you know he didn't care?" Xu Nian peeled sunflower seeds and glared at the two of them, annoyed. "He's very strict. He used to come with me. If he couldn't come sometimes, and Liu Yun wasn't with me, he wouldn't let me go out."

An Qing paused for a moment, his eyes sweeping over Xu Nian's back.

She'd felt something was off since earlier, and now, thanks to Xu Nian's prompting, she finally realized, "I haven't asked yet. Why isn't Liu Yun with you today? Is the little girl slacking off?"

Xu Nian listened to the storyteller downstairs and took a sip of tea.

She didn't say who it was, only that she sent Liuyun to deliver something to a patient. She's probably back at home now, wondering how to find him.

Suddenly, her gaze fell on a certain point in the hall below.

He looked at her for a while, then glanced at Su Wanting. His gaze shifted down again, his eyes wide with disbelief.

This person looks so familiar...

It's the Crown Prince!

[The Crown Prince? No way! Wasn't he devoted to Miss Su? How come he has a mistress?]

[It doesn't look like it to me, what do you think, host?]

Xu Nian: "..."

She only came to watch the live chat because she was unsure; the person sitting below wore a long, light blue Shu brocade robe and a priceless jade crown.

The jade pendants around their waists were all in the shape of dragons; not everyone could wear such a thing.

He looks like royalty, someone of immense wealth and status.

He was accompanied by a woman dressed in a close-fitting outfit, looking like a martial arts practitioner. Her face was obscured, but judging from the man's attentive manner and the stares of the others around them, she must be quite attractive.

She glanced at it again, then looked uncertainly at Su Wanting.

While it was quite normal for men to have multiple wives and concubines in ancient times, the fact that the crown prince had abandoned his principal wife to come here for pleasure was something she really didn't know how to tell Su Wanting.

But there were only the three of them in the private room, and her eyes were so obviously darting back and forth; Su Wanting wasn't stupid.

Sensing something was amiss, he peeked over and immediately saw the two people below, his expression changing drastically!

No, that's impossible.

The Crown Prince said he was summoned to the palace by the Emperor today, so there's no reason for him to be here...

"Fourth Brother?!" Before she could even prepare herself mentally, Xu Nian had just gotten up to comfort him when An Qing, who had come over to join the fun, suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

The storyteller was so startled by her sudden shout that he dropped his fan.

The crowd downstairs all looked up, and Xu Nian finally got a clear look at the man's face. He bore at least a 60% resemblance to the Crown Prince, though his appearance was somewhat weathered.

His eyes slant upwards at the corners, giving him a free and untamed look.

Compared to Jiang Yuanling's noble air and upright, courteous demeanor, they were completely different.

Upon seeing Anqing, the man looked as if he had seen a ghost. His eyes widened, and he grabbed the woman beside him, trying to run away. The little princess wouldn't allow it, patting Xu Nian's shoulder.

I was so excited I almost wanted to jump down and stop them!

"Freeze!" Xu Nian and Su Wanting worked together to pull her off the railing, and the immobilization talisman flew out, hitting the two of them.

In an instant, the two fast-moving figures were frozen in place at the entrance of the teahouse.

“Anqing, is this really your fourth brother?” Xu Nian circled around the two of them several times, unable to reconcile the carefree man in front of her with the fourth prince.

Anqing nodded hurriedly, "I'd recognize him even if he were ashes. All he does is fool around outside all day long, and your mother nags him about it every day, you know that?!"

With a hard slap on the man's shoulder, the Fourth Prince Jiang Yuanmo's face instantly scrunched up like a bun.

She glared at Anqing several times, daring not to speak her anger, when suddenly she thought of something, "Where is your maid? Didn't you go and inform the Empress Dowager?"

After asking the question, I felt it was somewhat unnecessary.

Judging from Anqing's expression, he must have immediately sent out his personal maid.

The palace staff arrived quickly. Seeing that they had nothing else to do, Xu Nian and Su Wanting saw them off and then returned together to the Crown Prince's residence.

"careful!"

"My stall!"

On the bustling streets of the capital, a man riding a tall horse charged straight toward them from the other end!

She knocked over many stalls along the way, and Xu Nian's pupils dilated instantly. "The Xun hexagram, wind in motion." Almost instantly, she pointed her sword to the sky and silently recited it.

An invisible gust of wind swept over them, encircling their waists and quickly pulling them aside!

She almost brushed past the horse; any later and she would have been trampled under its hooves. Xu Nian lifted her foot to chase after it.

Suddenly, Su Wanting grabbed her hand. "Niannian, my stomach hurts."

"You good-for-nothing!" In the palace, Jiang Mingyun and the Empress were so excited upon learning that their son had finally returned that they didn't know what to do.

She was both angry and happy, bombarding Jiang Yuanmo with questions, as if she wanted to tell him everything about his life over the years.

Until the son brought a strikingly beautiful girl with a strong,江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) aura to them, he said, "This is my wife. I want to break off the engagement and marry her as my prince's consort."