Li Shiyue didn't go too far inside; she stopped in the long corridor a short distance outside the pavilion and didn't go any further.

However, his eyes were wary as he looked at King Zhao not far away, and doubts arose in his heart.

"Your Highness, have you called me by the wrong name? I am not acquainted with Your Highness. Or perhaps Your Highness has misremembered, and my husband is not in the Princess's residence today."

King Zhao turned around, seemingly unsurprised that she was standing far away.

After all, he hadn't heard any clear footsteps, and a sly glint flashed in his eyes: "I'm not here to see Xu Lize, and I doubt he'll see me anyway."

After speaking, he lowered his head, making it impossible to see the emotions in his eyes. After a moment, he raised his head and said with a smile, "Everyone knows that Prince Xu respects the County Princess, so I, the Prince, want to curry favor with him and ask the County Princess to put in a good word for me with your husband."

"It is a small matter that I made a mistake. I still do not want to be enemies with Prince Xu. After all, we have known each other since childhood. Moreover, my father personally conferred the title of County Princess. With this favor, I should ask the Duke of Rong's mansion to show leniency."

Li Shiyue remained silent, her gaze scrutinizing him, unsure of Zhao Wang's purpose and intentions.

King Zhao seemed to sense that he was not trusted. He bowed to Li Shiyue with his fists clasped, then turned and left, as if he had only come to say this to her.

He disappeared at the end of the long corridor without looking back. Li Shiyue withdrew her gaze and walked back with Chunling.

Princess Qi was raising her hands, and a palace maid beside her was wiping her fingertips. Upon closer inspection, Li Shiyue noticed that Princess Qi was wearing a loose-fitting jacket around her waist, and her lower abdomen was slightly protruding.

Noticing Li Shiyue's gaze, the Qi princess placed her hand on her lower abdomen, the meaning of which was self-evident.

It was quite obvious that the Qi princess's expression was very gentle. Perhaps due to the sudden change in her temperament, her eyes no longer had the fierce look they had before.

After walking for a while, the Qi princess stopped, her expression slightly hesitant: "From now on, try to postpone any invitations to the Pixiang Palace. Not just you, but everyone in the Duke's mansion should avoid having anything to do with the Pixiang Palace."

These words sounded more like a fit of pique, and Li Shiyue looked up at her, seemingly puzzled.

“Consort Fu is your mother, and you used to listen to her the most.”

Princess Qi's face suddenly turned extremely ugly, and she left only with the words "I don't know" before hurrying back the way she came.

Li Shiyue stopped in her tracks, her curiosity piqued. She wondered if she should go to Chonghua Palace sometime to find out what was going on.

I had previously heard rumors that Princess Qi and her birth mother, Consort Fu, had a very unpleasant relationship. I never expected to see it for myself. It seems that the estrangement between Consort Fu and Princess Qi is no small matter.

Yang Hui was naturally present at the banquet at the Princess's residence. Upon seeing Li Shiyue return, she looked around and walked over, saying, "I just saw Madam Guo and Miss Qin go over there. Are you looking for them?"

Two unfamiliar young girls were with her beside her. They didn't look very old and were probably her close friends.

Li Shiyue nodded: "Thank you, I'll head over now."

He glanced at the two young women and thought for a moment before deciding not to bring Yang Hui along. It seemed that Yang Hui didn't intend to come either.

Seeing that Li Shiyue had gone far away, Yang Hui and the two young women went in another direction, smiling and holding hands, looking very affectionate.

The banquet at the Princess's residence was not elaborate. When Li Shiyue returned to the Duke's residence, she saw Xu Yunci standing at the door as soon as she got off the carriage.

Upon closer inspection, the carriage in front hadn't gone far, and it bore the character "Rong." He must have just returned and happened to see her carriage returning home, so he waited for a while on the steps at the gate.

"We're back so early, I'm wondering if we should go to Songyuan first."

Since getting married, Xu Yunci's clothes and other personal belongings have been moved to Tongxin Hall, leaving the Songyuan Garden in front empty, with only some books still inside.

When Xu Yunci had a spare moment, he would open his books and read them carefully in the pine garden. No wonder Li Shiyue returned home early, whereas he usually had to stay away for a long time after attending a banquet.

The two returned to Tongxin Hall together. Li Shiyue came out from the inner room, changed into a light dress, and replaced the red gold hairpin in her hair with a jade hairpin, which was paired with a kingfisher feather hairpin with tourmaline and magpie feather design.

Sitting on the wooden couch, Li Shiyue glanced at Xu Yunci and saw that he didn't seem to have experienced anything. She then slowly relayed to Xu Yunci what Prince Zhao of the Princess's residence had said that day.

Finally, after a pause, Li Shiyue looked at him with a slight hesitation: "Has the King of Zhao discovered something? I feel more like he wants to know something from me, but I haven't fallen for it."

For some reason, Li Shiyue recalled the incident on the street last time. Could it be that Chang An had been discovered and was indeed one of the Prince of Zhao's men? And the meeting at the Changping Earl's villa was also very likely with the Prince of Zhao.

Xu Yunci put down his teacup, raised his eyes slightly, and Chunling and Liandong, who were guarding Li Shiyue, understood and led the others in the room to leave, closing the door in tacit agreement.

The two men stood guard under the corridor, their voices audible from outside the door.

“He said those things to you not just to test how much you know. If you are naive, whatever you accidentally say could very well be the answer he needs.”

"If we're talking about testing, I'd like to find out what we saw when we were with Yang Ke on the street that day."

"There's also Fan Zhuo, who's currently imprisoned in the Jingzhao Prefecture and hasn't been released yet." There was no mention of releasing him or how he would be dealt with; he's simply imprisoned in the Jingzhao Prefecture, and no one dares to touch him.

Perhaps the people behind this are worried about something, but the Jingzhao Prefecture is now under Xu Yunci's management, and with Chonghua Palace and the Rongguo Duke's Mansion behind it, anyone who dares to touch the Jingzhao Prefecture needs to think carefully.

"Fan Zhuo, I've already started using torture. Tomorrow I'll increase the dosage, and he'll confess."

Xu Yunci rubbed his fingertips together, the fine lines on his fingertips rubbing against his skin to generate heat. He looked down at his fingertips and said, "I have already submitted a memorial to the Emperor. If the Jingzhao Prefecture cannot do it, then we will ask the Ministry of Justice to do it together."

"The Jingzhao Prefecture is responsible for the safety of the capital, and the Ministry of Justice is more thorough in its application of punishments. Moreover, the case involves the embezzlement in Huayuan County, so Qin Ying, a commoner, may have some opportunities to plead his innocence."

Although, he wasn't really wronged.

"If the corruption in Huayuan County had not been investigated more thoroughly, the previous floods would not have caused such severe collapses. The memorials all requested the national treasury to allocate funds to build dams, but they couldn't even withstand the first flood. There was also an epidemic, and many people died on their way to the capital."