The woman froze upon hearing Pei Zhixuan's words.

She slowly turned around and bowed to Pei Zhixuan, saying, "Your Highness, it is I."

Pei Zhixuan paused, a feeling akin to disappointment flashing through his mind.

That's right. Shen Yunjiao has such a temper, why would she take the initiative to apologize?

Pei Zhixuan said calmly, "Ziyu, what are you doing here?"

Fang Ziyu smiled and said, "Today I cooked some porridge for Madam, and there happened to be one bowl left, so I thought I'd save it for Your Highness to try."

She slightly lifted the food box in her hand to show Pei Zhixuan.

"You're so thoughtful." Pei Zhixuan took the food box from her and handed it to Ping An, asking casually, "Were you also present when the Crown Princess served Mother today?"

Deep down, he still didn't believe what Xu Shi and his second aunt said. Pei Zhixuan had always known his mother's personality and knew she couldn't change; and his second aunt was someone who was good at adding fuel to the fire.

Fang Ziyu is kind-hearted, so her words are the most trustworthy.

Fang Ziyu remained silent after hearing this.

She nervously twisted her handkerchief with her ten fingers, her eyes lowered.

“Ziyu, can you tell me what happened back then?” Pei Zhixuan said in a gentle tone.

“Your Highness, I don’t want to speak ill of the Princess Consort. She is your wife, the matriarch of the Pei family, and the young mistress of the Duke’s mansion. I should respect her properly,” Fang Ziyu said, looking up somewhat flustered.

Pei Zhixuan said in a deep voice, "Does she still deserve the title of mistress?"

"Your Highness, please don't be angry. The Crown Princess must have her reasons for doing this," Fang Ziyu said gently. "Even if she is wrong in many ways, Your Highness must not get angry with her and should try your best to protect yourself."

From Fang Ziyu's words, Pei Zhixuan understood that what Madam Xu said today was true.

It seems that if Shen Yunjiao isn't taught a lesson, she'll really think she can act like a tyrant in the Duke's mansion.

Pei Zhixuan frowned and said coldly, "I'll go to Chunhe Hall first, then come back to dine with you."

——

The moon slowly climbed to the treetop.

Shen Yunjiao had just had the heater removed a few days ago, and now the window was half open, letting in a cool night breeze.

She couldn't help but shiver, and immediately grabbed the cloak hanging there and put it on.

She has recently been learning calligraphy and copying model texts to see if it can cultivate her character.

The reason is that in ancient times, there were absolutely no entertainment or leisure activities available at night.

"Fuxia, look, do I write well?" After finishing a whole page of densely written calligraphy, Shen Yunjiao excitedly asked Fuxia, who was grinding ink beside her.

Fu Xia lifted her eyelids, glanced at it, and said, "This girl's handwriting is hard to evaluate."

"What do you mean by 'not good to evaluate'?" Shen Yunjiao asked again, unwilling to give up.

"It's just really ugly," Fu Xia said, sticking out her tongue.

Seeing Shen Yunjiao feign anger and try to hit her, she quickly dodged to the side and said with a smile, "Miss, I was wrong. You've never liked reading or writing since you were little, so it's already quite good that you've written like this."

Seeing that Shen Yunjiao had brought out another calligraphy copybook, Fu Xia quickly advised, "Miss, it's time to go to sleep."

Looking at the hazy moonlight outside the window, Shen Yunjiao sighed, "I'm afraid it's not time to go to sleep yet."

Fu Xia was puzzled and was about to ask when she heard a sound coming from the doorway.

Shen Yunjiao gave Fu Xia a look that said, "I knew it."

A tall, slender figure strode into the inner room. The newcomer had a somber expression, and his cold, jade-like eyes swept over Fu Xia.

Startled, Fu Xia hurriedly bowed and fled.

Shen Yunjiao knew that, given Pei Zhixuan's nature, he would definitely come to cause trouble tonight.

Pei Zhixuan, with his jet-black hair and bright eyebrows, stood against the wind, his features refined and noble, exuding an extraordinary and refined air.

He must have just returned to the manor when Madam Xu summoned him, and hadn't had time to change out of his blue official robe.

Shen Yunjiao often wondered how Pei Zhixuan, such a cold and arrogant person, could have such a vulgar and vicious mother.

This was perhaps a fate that even Pei Zhixuan himself could not fathom.

Shen Yunjiao put the pen down on the paper and looked at Pei Zhixuan: "What do you want to ask?"

Pei Zhixuan took a deep breath and asked coldly, "I heard that you deliberately spilled hot soup today, scalding Mother, and you wouldn't allow Mother to punish you. You even protect a lowly servant."

"You know your mother is sick, yet you still upset her like this. Shen Yunjiao, do you have no sense of propriety or rules at all?"

Shen Yunjiao glanced at Pei Zhixuan with her phoenix eyes and replied calmly, "I didn't burn her. She was covered with a soft blanket, so you can rest assured that she wasn't burned."

Speaking of pain, Shen Yunjiao's ten fingers hurt as she held the porcelain cup.

Xu is inhumane; she insisted on feeding the scalding hot soup herself.

It was good enough that she didn't throw the soup directly onto Xu's face.

"You make it sound so easy. Mother just fainted yesterday, and you're already deliberately trying to anger her today." Pei Zhixuan's handsome face was almost contorted with rage. "What sins did our Pei family commit in our past lives to be entangled with you?"

She's got me hooked up with?

A cold smile bloomed on Shen Yunjiao's lips. "Shouldn't I be the unlucky one? I just cleared your mother's poison, and the next thing I knew, she summoned me to the main room and humiliated me."

"You say I angered her, but if she hadn't disregarded my life and made me personally feed her spoonfuls of scalding hot soup, would I have suddenly dropped the porcelain bowl?"

“I just fell into the water a few days ago and haven’t fully recovered yet, and I have to suffer this kind of treatment. Your mother, your second aunt, and your beloved Ziyu girl have all taken turns criticizing me. It’s not enough that they’re targeting me; they’re also taking all their anger out on my trusted nanny.”

"I think you know what kind of person your mother is, otherwise why would she have been poisoned?"

Pei Zhixuan retorted, "Then you shouldn't have used your family's influence to intimidate your mother-in-law. Doing so is disrespectful to your elders."

Shen Yunjiao's tone was cold: "If I didn't say that, would they have let me go?"

Pei Zhixuan was speechless.

Shen Yunjiao thought to herself, if she didn't have the identity of the Prime Minister's daughter, Madam Xu would definitely have a thousand and one ways to make things difficult for her, and so would Madam Pei the Second.

She had a husband who didn't love her, a barbaric and unreasonable mother-in-law, and a jealous and disgusting second aunt.

This was still in ancient times; without the support of one's maternal family—

Shen Yunjiao felt that she might as well just die.

Thinking about all this, for some reason, a wave of bitterness and grievance welled up in her heart.

In her previous life, Shen Yunjiao had never had any conflicts with anyone. Even when she was scolded by a patient, she could only go home and cry secretly.

It's nothing like it is now, where you have to argue with these people all the time, and you can't even show any fear, for fear that if you're not careful, they'll take advantage of you and bully you back.

Ultimately, who wouldn't want to be a girl with a soft heart and a peaceful life?

They were forced into this situation.

Bitterness and sorrow welled up in her eyes, and Shen Yunjiao gritted her teeth, forcing herself to swallow back her tears.

A rumble of thunder sounded, and the spring night rain fell rapidly with the sound of thunder.