No!

Upon hearing the words "report to the authorities," the two men immediately backed down and knelt on the ground with a thud, pleading, "Please have mercy, Miss! We're just doing this for money."

The two of them cried and groped their way to the crescent-shaped hem of her clothes.

Wanwan lifted the hem of her clothes, causing the two men to miss their target. "You can save those words for the officials!"

On that day, given Princess Wanwan's status, the Prefect of the Capital quickly investigated the matter thoroughly, and the Pearl Pavilion was also thoroughly investigated and finally ordered to close for a month for rectification.

After the matter was resolved, the young maids in the shop looked at Wanwan with much more admiration, and several even insisted on taking her home. Wanwan naturally declined and instructed them to take good care of the shop.

After a flurry of activity, it was already evening when I got home. The sunlight had dimmed considerably, the heat had subsided, the air was gradually cooling, and many homes had turned on their lights. Amidst the twinkling lights, the sky was gradually turning blue.

It's hard to see green hills in Beijing; when you look up from the city walls, you can only see the setting sun shining through the tall buildings.

It seemed like it had been a very, very long time since she had seen the sea shimmering under the setting sun.

Before she knew it, almost four years had passed since she arrived in the capital. Wanwan looked down at the jade pendant at her waist. The lustrous blue jade pendant shone with a cold blue light as the light gradually cooled.

Where is Brother Xiao now?

How could that person today look so much like him? Am I really seeing things?

Wanwan shook her head, trying to shake off these messy thoughts.

The golden light dimmed and was swallowed up by the rising clouds in the blink of an eye. The night wind blew, raising the curved blue ribbon tied on her head, as graceful as the tail of a paradise flycatcher.

The cold wind dispelled the last warmth, and Wanwan was still a little cold sitting in the carriage. When she arrived home, she found that everyone had already eaten dinner. Her aunt and second brother were cleaning up the table together, and Wan Yuechi had a few words to say to Wan Suizhou in his spare time.

As Wanwan walked to the door, she happened to hear her second brother say "newly promoted Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue." She didn't hear the rest of the sentence clearly. Wanwan's heart skipped a beat, and by the time she realized what he meant, she had already pushed the door open and gone inside.

When Wan Yuechi and Wan Suizhou saw Wanwan, their expressions froze for a moment, then they both smiled warmly and beckoned her over.

"Brother, Grandpa, were you just talking about the newly appointed Vice Minister of Revenue?" Wanwan asked earnestly, her almond-shaped eyes shining brightly in the lamplight, half expectant and half anxious.

The two were taken aback again upon hearing this, and Wan Yuechi immediately replied, "No, I was asking my grandfather a question, and we happened to be discussing the salary system for the Six Ministries in the previous dynasty."

Seeing that her brother was trying to fob her off, Wanwan felt a little angry. "Wanwan met the newly appointed Vice Minister of Revenue on the road today. I don't know if I was mistaken, but he looks just like Brother Xiao."

Wan Suizhou was rubbing the rim of his cup with the lid when he heard Wanwan's words. His hand paused slightly, but he quickly covered it up with the action of drinking tea.

"Even with Wanwan's sharp eyes, she still mistook it. She must do look somewhat similar." Wan Suizhou remained as calm as ever, and after finishing his tea, his expression towards Wanwan was as loving as ever.

Wanwan couldn't get anything out of him and was a little unwilling. Just as she was about to argue again, Wan Yuechi added, intentionally or unintentionally, "There are so many people in the world, it's not difficult to find two people with similar eyes and eyebrows."

"but……"

"Wanwan!" Zhang Xiu called out as she heated up food for Wanwan in the kitchen. "Come and eat quickly. You've been hungry for so long, but you still have the energy to chat first!"

"Oh." Wanwan reluctantly went to the kitchen with her head down. The green ribbon in her hair had lost its vitality and hung limply behind her.

She refused to believe that her grandfather and brother were deliberately hiding something from her.

The next day, Wanwan got up early to go find Cao Chengye to help Wan Yuechi get some old books.

The morning fog was thick, and the stray hairs on her forehead were damp. The milky white morning fog shone with some morning light, so it wasn't too cold.

Wanwan's playful nature hadn't changed; she chatted with the uncles and elders selling breakfast along the way. By the time they arrived at Cao's house, the fog had completely dissipated, and the sun was almost directly overhead.

What she didn't know was that if she had arrived earlier, the newly appointed Vice Minister of Revenue would not have escaped.

While she was on her way, Shen Yuheng stayed at Cao Chengye's house for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. When he heard that Wanwan was coming, he left early, so Wanwan missed him perfectly when she arrived.

Cao Chengye rushed out to greet Wanwan, then led her into the hall and instructed someone to make her tea.

For no apparent reason, Wanwan sat in the empty hall and suddenly felt a sense of loss. Her chest felt like it was stuffed with cotton, heavy and suffocating. There seemed to be a strange yet familiar sandalwood scent around her.

Looking at the table again, there was a pot of steaming old tea, and a strange feeling flashed through Wanwan's heart.

"Brother Cao, were there any other guests visiting just now?" Wanwan asked tentatively, her eyes falling on the teapot.

Cao Chengye glanced at it and knew that the tea pot brewed for Chen Yuheng had given him away. He went over without making a sound, moved the tea pot away, and smiled gently as before. "No one has been here. I just saw that the servants were working hard cleaning, so I brewed them a pot of hot tea."

Seeing this, Wanwan simply asked directly, "Has the newly appointed Vice Minister of Revenue not met Brother Cao either?"

Cao Chengye remained unhurried. "The Vice Minister of Revenue has little interaction with your brother and me. If you are really curious about this person, I can write a visiting card for Young Master Shen."

Since things had come to this point, Wanwan could only repeatedly refuse, stopping Cao Chengye from getting up to go back and get paper and pen. She grabbed the old book her brother had told her to get and ran off without even drinking her tea.

There was nothing that could be done; it seemed that no one was willing to tell Shen Yuheng about it, and Wanwan was even more puzzled.

Why does everyone deliberately avoid mentioning him?

Holding her old books, Wanwan walked home into the midday sun, but the more she walked, the more anxious she became. Looking up at the sky, the sunlight suddenly seemed exceptionally bright and scorching, almost burning her skin.

She had never encountered such scorching sunlight since coming ashore.

We need to get back quickly.

As Wanwan thought this, her steps grew slower and heavier, and large beads of sweat streamed down her face, stinging her cheeks. Her arms, which were holding the books, lost their strength, her vision blurred, and a noisy, piercing sound rang in her ears. In her vision, the road surface curved into a strange arc, and her head felt as if it were being squeezed, the pain almost making her faint.

Finally, her arms fell limply to her sides, the books she was holding clattered to the floor, and she collapsed to the ground with a thud, losing consciousness.