The people were in an uproar. "What? The Sixth Miss actually spent so much money on him? And she even kept a record of it?"

"Tsk tsk, everyone says the Sixth Miss is a little money god. Her savings must be at least several hundred thousand taels, if not a million!"

"Even if you throw hundreds of thousands of taels into the water, you'll still make a loud splash. How could it all be squandered by your stepbrother so quietly? Just so he could treat your stepbrother better than your stepmother? Sixth Miss is truly filial!"

"Didn't you see that the Duchess didn't even come out to see him off? Back then, the Duchess was busy running around to arrange the young master's wedding! She spent all of her daughter's savings and didn't even get a good word in return. If I were the Duchess, I would be spitting blood too!"

"Oh, being a stepmother is really tough!"

"How can such an unfilial and disrespectful person, who treats human life like dirt, be fit to assume the important responsibility of the heir? The future of the Duke's mansion is worrisome!"

Yun Tianbai: ...

Su Youran quickly explained, "No, my brother was just confused for a moment..."

Yun Tianbai's face was flushed red. He never expected that Su Youran would not only not give him a silver note, but instead give him a debt.

Is he going to take on a debt of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the military camp?

And those rumors will only make things worse!

Embarrassed, he gripped the whip tightly, had the guard beside him take the box, and immediately tightened the reins, riding away.

The onlookers were disgusted. "Pah! The young lady came out to see him off, and she didn't even say goodbye. How ill-mannered!"

With tears in her eyes, Su Youran explained to everyone, "My elder brother has always been decisive in his actions, so it's normal that he didn't say goodbye in a sentimental way."

"Sixth Miss is truly beautiful and kind-hearted; she's still speaking up for him even in this situation!"

Wen Yuanbai, who was drinking tea on the second floor of the teahouse across the street, twitched his lips: ...

This junior sister really goes to great lengths to ruin Yun Tianbai's reputation.

Oh, their methods for enhancing their reputation are quite cunning.

The onlookers dispersed, and Su Youran also walked back to her residence.

Suddenly something flew from behind her head, and she immediately turned around and caught it.

There was a peanut in his palm. Looking back the way he came, he saw his senior brother's face, which had a half-smile on it.

She sighed inwardly; nothing could escape her senior brother's eyes.

A moment later, she appeared opposite Wen Yuanbai and slowly sat down.

Wen Yuanbai slowly poured her a cup of tea and asked, "After driving him out of the capital, what's the next step?"

Su Youran took a sip of tea, then looked up in surprise. "What next step? There's no next step?"

She was telling the truth; the next step will have to wait eight years.

It might take eight years for that beggar to appear in the dilapidated temple near Zhoujiazhuang.

Wen Yuanbai also sighed, "Junior sister, you can try to trust your senior brother. In that nightmare, besides Yun Tianbai and Shi Wenxia, ​​what else did you see?"

Su Youran thought for a moment and said, "It seems there's also... the Crown Prince being deposed?"

It seems that my senior brother has a good relationship with the Crown Prince; I might as well give you a little spoiler.

Wen Yuanbai's heart skipped a beat. "Oh? Why were you crippled?"

"In my dream, when I was thirteen, I moved into the Duke's mansion at the invitation of my great-aunt, oh, who is now my grandmother. Then I heard that the Crown Prince was deposed because he was lame and unable to walk properly, which was considered an insult to the image of the heir apparent and unfit to inherit the throne."

Wen Yuanbai smiled at her. "So, that's why you didn't agree to the Crown Prince's marriage proposal? You're worried he'll be deposed?"

Su Youran shook her head, "Of course not. I don't know the Crown Prince well, so whether he is deposed or not is none of my business."

"Let's not talk about things like whether the throne will be abolished or not, which are unpredictable. If it were any other family, having a daughter marry into the Crown Prince's palace would be a blessing that they couldn't ask for more."

"Well, it's probably the lingering trauma from that nightmare I had last time. I don't want to get married without really knowing what I'm doing. If I'm going to get married, it has to be someone I truly love, and of course, he has to love me too. Only by holding onto a stable happiness in my hands can I make the most of this... life." Su Youran said with a grin.

Having witnessed too many breakups and reunions under the monogamous system in later generations, she naturally only admired those who were devoted to one person for life.

Having been given a second chance at life, I can't just get married in a muddle again.

Wen Yuanbai's heart skipped a beat again. "Does You Ran have someone she likes?"

Su Youran shrugged, "I'd like to, but I'm still young!"

She sized up her senior brother, stroking her chin, "But... senior brother, if I remember correctly, you'll be twenty in two years! Why aren't you engaged yet?"

“A year and a half,” Wen Yuanbai emphasized.

"Oh." Su Youran waved her hand with a grin. "That's not important. What's important is that Prince Xuan and Princess Xuan haven't arranged a marriage for you?"

Wen Yuanbai stared at her as well, "I also want to marry someone I love, but unfortunately, she didn't agree when I asked her for her hand in marriage before."

Su Youran's eyes widened in shock. "What?! Senior brother, you actually have someone you like?!"

Wen Yuanbai smiled but remained silent.

Actually, he didn't know when he had taken this junior sister into his heart.

When faced with the Southern Yue princess's pressure to marry him at the state banquet that day, his desire to ask his junior sister for her hand in marriage was genuine.

I just didn't expect that it would frighten both my junior sister and Madam Su.

His junior sister is still young, so he can only proceed slowly.

Su Youran suddenly became annoyed, "It must be that you took a fancy to some girl during those six years in the Southern Territory, right? Humph, Senior Brother, you're so disloyal! You had someone you liked and didn't even tell me!"

Wen Yuanbai said slowly, "It's not from the Southern Territory."

"Not from the Southern Territory? Then where is it?" Su Youran did some calculations. "Besides the Southern Territory, you haven't been back in the capital for very long. Could it be... that you met in Taizhou?"

Her eyes widened again. "No way? That happened in Taizhou six or seven years ago! You wouldn't...?!?"

Wen Yuanbai chuckled and tapped her forehead with the tip of his chopsticks, prompting her, "Far away, yet right before your eyes."

Su Youran touched the spot where she had been knocked on. "Hmph, so it's the capital city. Right under my nose, which family's girl have you taken a fancy to?!"

Wen Yuanbai picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Guess!"

Su Youran snorted sullenly, "It's not easy to see you on a regular basis, how would I know what kind of girls you've seen?"

At this moment, Nan Zhuo knocked on the door and came in. Seeing that it was the young county princess, he did not hide himself and directly cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, something has happened in the palace."

"What is it?" Wen Yuanbai asked calmly.

“The Third Prince is in trouble.” Nan Zhuo glanced at Su Youran, his tone tinged with schadenfreude. “The Princess of Nan Yue, or rather, the Lady of Nan Guo… woke up in her Chen’an Palace and found the Third Prince… she was crying in front of the Emperor, saying that the Third Prince had taken liberties with her.”

Wen Yuanbai smiled slightly. "What did Third Brother say?"

"The Third Prince was actually quite pleased and asked the Emperor for the Lady of the Southern Kingdom." Nan Zhuo's tone was also lighthearted. "The Empress was so angry that she fainted."