After the banquet ended, Dongfang Jin sent everyone away and returned to the house with a stern face: "This Lian Muhan is really outspoken. Apart from you, who else is unparalleled in the world?"

An Qingran smiled bitterly: "Keep your voice down, it's ridiculous, don't say such things again in the future."

Dongfang Jin stepped forward and embraced her: "I wish I could tell the world how beautiful and wonderful you are."

"You don't want it, don't you? Aren't you afraid of others' jealousy and hatred?"

"That's right." Dongfang Jin thought about it seriously, "Or, can I tell everyone in the world that you are not beautiful?"

An Qingran knew that he was drunk and turned away to ignore him, but he insisted on coming to her and tangling with her. Soon, the purple bed curtain was lowered, and suspicious noises were heard from inside. Honeysuckle had already sent everyone outside and closed the door. Outside, dusk fell, and the autumn wind blew, and leaves fell. Honeysuckle smiled. It was autumn, the season of harvest, and she really hoped that her lady could also have a little baby.

The next day.

Dongfang Ruoxue is sick.

She had a fever, her cheeks were red, and she was shivering. Lou Wanyue touched her burning forehead and was very nervous. Dongfang Run had sent someone to invite the imperial physician, but he hadn't come back yet. Princess Shou was very nervous beside her, "This child has seldom been sick since she was a child. What's wrong with her? Did she catch a cold?"

"But it wasn't cold yesterday. I just drank two cups in the East Palace. Could it be that I sweated a lot after coming out?" Lou Wanyue recalled that Dongfang Ruoxue did sweat a lot yesterday and her face was red all the time.

Princess Shou looked anxious. She just held Dongfang Ruoxue's hand and kept calling her name. Dongfang Ruoxue opened her eyes and smiled dreamily: "I'm fine."

"It's like this, and you still say it's okay..." Princess Shou was originally a calm person, but now she couldn't keep calm anymore. She even thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that we ran into some stranger? The palace has been the most... the most evil place since ancient times. I'll go burn some incense for our ancestors."

"Mother-in-law..." Lou Wanyue wanted to persuade her, but felt that the story about the unexpected guest was not credible.

But after thinking about it, I gave up.

Sure enough, Princess Shou turned around and went out to burn incense.

Lou Wanyue sat down. She looked at Dongfang Ruoxue and sighed. Could she tell Princess Shou what this young lady was worried about?

Her face has been like this since she was in the Eastern Palace, especially when she looked at Lian Muhan, there was a hint of evasion in her eyes.

Thinking back to the time when she gave the painting to Lian Muhan and Lian Muhan rescued her from the water, could it be that her aunt had feelings for him?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that this was the case. She couldn't help but feel a little dazed. She recalled Lian Muhan's appearance carefully, but she couldn't tell whether he really liked her younger sister. If that was the case, was there any possibility between them? What would Prince Shou do? Would he agree?

Thinking of this, she came closer and whispered, "Ruoxue, do you have something on your mind? If you want to see someone or talk to someone, how about talking to your sister-in-law?"

Dongfang Ruoxue opened her eyes hazily and glanced at Lou Wanyue: "Sister-in-law, my mouth is bitter..."

She opened her eyes, sat up, and frowned, "What's wrong with me? I feel dizzy."

"You're sick... I just asked you if you wanted to see anyone?"

Dongfang Ruoxue shook her head quickly: "No, I don't want to see him."

Seeing this, Lou Wanyue seemed to really understand something.

Dongfang Ruoxue's illness was very strange, and An Qingran also found it very strange in the palace. Fortunately, after the imperial doctors went a few times, her illness gradually got better. The weather was getting colder, and the people in the palace began to prepare clothes and supplies for the change of seasons. People kept asking for instructions and reports, and An Qingran began to get busy. She received different people in the palace every day and was very busy. She often finished when it was almost dark. Honeysuckle felt sorry for her and often stewed supplements and kept them warm. Dongfang Jin came back very late. He was as busy as An Qingran these days. The two of them only met at dinner together. This dinner was a rare occasion. It was a warm and pleasant time. Sometimes the two of them just exchanged glances and smiled at each other. They didn't need to say anything, they understood each other. An Qingran liked the recent days again, but when she thought about the fact that the person behind his injury had not been found yet, and she didn't know what would happen in the future, her heart felt suffocated. She had tried her best. If the person behind the scenes didn't make any more moves, what should they do? The Queen Mother didn't do anything special recently, she just met Lou Wanyue and Dongfang Run more often, but she also received other concubines in the palace, and now she seemed to be in a good mood.

Emperor Yunqi's health has also improved a lot.

After mourning heartily for An Qingran's cruel move last time, he came out of the haze. Now that she was gone, he still had to take good care of their son.

After the last assassination attempt on the crown prince, Emperor Yunqi analyzed all possibilities and felt that either Dongfang Yan or Dongfang Ye was the culprit. Therefore, he seldom went to the courtyards of Concubine Shu and Concubine Xian, but visited other concubines more often.

Of course, Concubine Shu soon noticed Emperor Yunqi's thoughts. She felt very upset and didn't know what to do, so she spent every day teasing the parrot in the yard. The parrot was scared by her and couldn't speak. It just flapped its wings when it saw her, which made her even more upset.

But Dongfang Ye knew that he had caused such consequences. In order to please and appease his mother, he would ask Shen Zhiyun to carry Dongfang Lin into the palace from time to time. Dongfang Lin just kept crying. He was still young and didn't know anything at all. Murong Shu felt better when she saw the child, but soon she was annoyed by his crying. The main reason was that she couldn't coax the child no matter how hard she tried. The imperial doctors came to see him, but they couldn't say anything. They only said that the child was born weak and there was nothing they could do.

***

Shouwang Mansion.

Dongfang Run sat in the study, holding a book in his left hand for a long while without turning a page. His gaze passed through the candlelight, not knowing where to look. In the flickering candlelight, he stared at the window frame. An Qingran's beautiful face flashed in his mind again, but this time, she no longer had the same enthusiasm as before when facing him. The cold rejection made his heart feel cold.

She should know.

With such a big change in attitude, and considering that Lou Wanyue had lived with her in Yuehua Temple before, he quickly analyzed that Lou Wanyue must have known about it.

In fact, he had never hidden anything from her before she got married. Could it be that she didn't understand it at all at that time?

Dongfang Run sighed and put down the book in his hand. At this moment, the door opened and Lou Wanyue came in. She had a white satin cloak with wind fur on her arms.

Lou Wanyue looked a little embarrassed. After all, her self-esteem couldn't stand trying to please one person all the time.

She was also afraid that Dongfang Run would ignore her or speak coldly to her, which would make her sad.

But unlike what he imagined, Dongfang Run actually stood up and took the cloak. "Is it for me?"

Lou Wanyue's hands trembled, and her eyes were full of disbelief. When had he ever spoken to her like this? Not politely, not distantly, but with a vague tenderness.

This is the tenderness that belongs only to him.

Can I wait for this day?

Dongfang Run was a man, how could he not see the emotions in her eyes? He felt a little sad in his heart. She was so grateful to him for just a few words, not to mention that she knew that he didn't have her in his heart.

But, she is his woman after all.

They had had two physical contacts, both times for inexplicable reasons. Later he thought of the Queen Mother's pastries and found the reasons, but it happened after all. Although it was awkward afterwards, it was different after all.

Lou Wanyue looked shy, and shook the cloak before putting it on Dongfang Run's shoulders. Dongfang Run's face was already as white as jade, and the white cloak made him look even more handsome, making people unable to look away. Lou Wanyue's heart was pounding, and her fingers were trembling. She tied the cloak ribbon into a butterfly buckle after a few tries, with a hint of shyness on the corner of her mouth: "It looks just right."

"Did you sew it?" Dongfang Run looked at Lou Wanyue with a hint of tenderness at the corner of his mouth.

"I'm clumsy, so the sewing is a little rough. Please make do with it. I'll sew another one more carefully next year when I have time."

"fine."

Lou Wanyue didn't know what to say after that.

The two of them fell silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Lou Wanyue took off his cloak again and put it away carefully, saying, "Dongfang Ruoxue's fever has subsided. Mother said that tomorrow, our family will have lunch together. Do you have time?"

"Tomorrow's noon? There's nothing to do, so let's eat together." Dongfang Run sat back and picked up the teacup, but found that there was no water in the cup.

Seeing this, Lou Wanyue picked up the teapot and felt it: "The water is a little cold, I'll give you some more water."

After saying that, he turned and went out. Soon, he came back with a kettle and poured water into the cup. Both of their eyes were attracted by the tumbling tea leaves in the bone china cup. The leaves finally calmed down slowly and fell to the bottom of the cup like autumn leaves.

Lou Wanyue said, "If there is nothing else, I will go back and my husband should go to bed early."

His figure turned gracefully and soon disappeared at the door. Dongfang Run picked up the book, thought for a while, put it back, stood up again, picked up the cloak on the desk, shook it open, looked at it twice, put it down again, walked to the window, looked at the moonlight outside the window, and sighed softly.

Lou Wanyue returned to her room and stroked her cheek, feeling it was hot. After a while, she smiled, and it was a very beautiful smile.

The next day.

Shouwang Mansion.

Prince Shou sat at the table, looking at the sumptuous meal without any appetite. Dongfang Run and Princess Shou knew what he was thinking, while the other two women were afraid to start eating. Finally, Prince Shou raised his eyebrows and said, "Okay, let's eat. It's rare for us to eat together..." He stopped here because it was really funny. It was not rare for them to eat together. Except for breakfast, everyone could see each other. So, he changed his words and said, "It's better to have an ordinary life like this. The family can get together whenever they want, without having to kowtow to each other..."