After leaving the Funing Palace, Xu Yunci didn't say a word, and even Xu Lingyu kept glancing over at him.

After bidding farewell to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Li Shiyue and Xu Yunci walked towards the palace gate. He was unusually silent, and after getting into the carriage, his gaze fell on her, making her an undeniable presence.

My cousin has something to say to me.

The carriage moved slowly, and through a corner of the curtain that had been blown up, one could just see the palace gate gradually receding into the distance.

Li Shiyue's gaze was very calm. She turned her head to look at Xu Yunci without avoiding his gaze. The two stared at each other in silence.

"Why are you pleading for others? Are you worried that I can't protect you?"

To be honest, when he heard Li Shiyue plead for Princess Chunhui, he wasn't blindly angry.

His first thought was that his younger cousin was sensitive and didn't want to offend the Emperor, even though it was the Emperor who had previously punished Princess Chunhui by sending her away to marry.

But serving a ruler is like walking on thin ice; there's no guarantee that the emperor won't hold a grudge against her or the Xu family. And no one can guarantee that the emperor's favors will last.

When he thought of this, he couldn't hide the growing thought that perhaps she didn't trust him at all, and didn't believe he would protect her.

This thought arose for the first time in the Funing Palace when Xu Yunci couldn't help but reveal her true feelings, and her elder sister saw through it.

Li Shiyue didn't find it funny. She looked straight at him, her eyes serious: "No, that's not it."

“I think my cousin guessed what I was thinking. I am just a girl, and I only have the Emperor’s favor because of my mother’s influence. Even Consort Fu has been with the Emperor for many years, so how dare I say that the Emperor is heartless?”

“Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger. I don’t have the right to say that the emperor would take care of me, the daughter of an old friend, out of consideration for our long-standing relationship. What I worry about is that if one day I become the fuse for the emperor’s dissatisfaction with me or the Xu family, then I would be guilty of a great crime.”

“They are father and daughter. Even though I am not at fault, I don’t want to gamble. It’s better to take the initiative to speak up. Even if anyone mentions that Princess Chunhui was married off to a distant place in the capital in the future, the Emperor will not hold a grudge against me or the Duke’s mansion.”

"Moreover, the officials will think I am tolerant and generous, and will be more tolerant of me."

After Li Shiyue finished speaking, she lowered her head. She didn't believe that Xu Yunci hadn't thought of this.

“I know my cousin can protect me, but I’m not the kind of girl who only knows how to act recklessly. I know clearly what is permissible and what is not.”

“But I don’t want to act recklessly and only cause you trouble. My cousin likes me, but he won’t always tolerate my temper tantrums. I don’t want all that’s left between us to be hatred. I want to be able to help my husband like my older cousins ​​do.”

She looked up at Xu Yunci with moist eyes.

Xu Yunci finally sighed, no longer holding a grudge, and took her hand in his: "I know, I was wrong, I shouldn't have been sulking."

"When I left the manor this morning, my grandmother said that you had already embroidered my wedding dress. I'll try it on when I get back. But if it doesn't fit, I'd appreciate it if you could alter it for me. I want to wear the wedding dress you embroidered on my wedding day."

According to the custom of Dayong, if the bride wears a wedding dress embroidered by the bride during the wedding, the couple will grow old together and have a happy life.

Before I met you, I never thought about who I would marry, nor did I look forward to that day. But now I look forward to that grand occasion, when the whole capital will know that we are getting married, and I also want to see you in your wedding dress and phoenix crown.

Xu Yunci softened his tone, but only held her hand without making any further moves. He tentatively took her hand, and only held it firmly when she didn't pull away.

"I compared it to the clothes my aunt brought, so it should fit perfectly."

She still had great confidence in her embroidery skills, after all, even her grandmother had praised them before.

After returning to the Rongguo Mansion, they were finally no longer confined to Shousong Hall with Old Madam Xu. However, there were still some people who needed to be dealt with, such as the treacherous Xiangwu.

There was also a servant boy in the front yard and a maid who tended the fire in the kitchen; these two looked unfamiliar.

Inside the flower hall, Madam Yang sat at the head of the table, letting the three men be pressed down in the middle by the old woman. Not wanting to hear the noisy pleas for mercy, she had her mouths stuffed with handkerchiefs.

Seeing the two enter through the second gate, Madam Yang slowly put down her teacup.

“These three have been kept long enough. What do you want to do with them?”

Yang didn't say any polite words; her meaning was clear: she was leaving it to Li Shiyue to handle.

She was still wearing the auspicious robes she wore when she entered the palace to meet the emperor, and the jade pendants at her waist made a slight clinking sound with her steps.

"The traitorous servant has been sold off with his indenture. There's no need to sell him to a good family; just have a slave trader come and take him away."

It might not seem like a matter of life and death, but the desperate struggles of the three people kneeling in the middle were futile.

Once sold from the Duke's mansion, and falling into the hands of human traffickers, one is unlikely to have a good life; it will likely be one of constant beatings and scoldings.

“But she is involved in Fu Yunning poisoning me and my grandmother. Simply selling her is not enough. Why not send her to my cousin’s Jingzhao Prefecture and punish her as an accomplice to Fu Yunning?”

Li Shiyue raised her eyes and glanced at Xiangwu, who was being dragged out by the old woman. When she walked up to her, Xiangwu was completely devoid of her usual arrogance and kept shaking her head at Li Shiyue.

Something was stuffed in her mouth, and muffled sounds escaped from between her lips. Unfortunately, no amount of pleading could change her fate.

Unlike the two people who were tailing her, Xiangwu was indeed bribed. She even tampered with the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician, following Fu Yunning's instructions.

Fortunately, I didn't swallow a single drop of the medicine, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here unharmed today.

Madam Yang showed no surprise whatsoever; in fact, she outwardly agreed with her decision, slightly raising her chin. At that moment, an old woman stepped forward and pulled the group away.

The flower hall returned to silence. Li Shiyue rubbed her neck before sitting down next to Madam Yang, her previous serious demeanor completely gone.

“Miss Fu has been sent to the Jingzhao Prefecture. She used the name of Consort Fu to poison me and my grandmother. The Emperor was very angry when he found out.”

Madam Yang sighed and shook her head: "I never imagined that a young woman could be so cunning, that she would do something that could take someone's life."

"It's just the position of a county princess, yet she can be so obsessed with it. This shows that she is scheming and narrow-minded."

Li Shiyue glanced at Xu Yunci, not only because of the county princess's title, but also because of something else she didn't intend to tell Yang Shi.

"Fortunately, the Emperor was discerning and found that it was Fu Yunning who did it. The Pixiang Palace and the Changping Marquis's Mansion were not implicated. Fu Yunning was imprisoned in the Jingzhao Prefecture Prison and given a white silk noose."