"Back then, in order to successfully marry the Crown Prince, my brother and I put on a show together. Fortunately, everyone was fooled, and after that, no girl wanted to marry him. I was worried that he would continue like this, but then he actually asked me to persuade the Crown Prince to request permission to marry a girl from the Ji family. Now it's all right, you two must stay together."

Li Ruowei held my hand; her ten fingers were long and slender, similar to those of Xie Yuancheng.

How could this be? I thought Xie Yuancheng had asked me to be his stand-in. So all those months of getting angry were for nothing?

Xie Yuancheng leaned closer: "Now you know you misunderstood me, right? You were flirting with Lu Fengjun in the brothel. If I hadn't asked Anshi to remind you, the two of you would probably have held hands, and you even ran away so fast."

I covered his mouth: "Stop talking."

Li Ruowei laughed loudly from the side: "Alright, it's rare to meet. We're family now. Come on, let's all have a drink. Consider it a belated wedding toast for you."

I was drinking the wine, and I don't know if it was because I was cold, but I kept coughing after I finished it.

"Your Highness, we are about to depart." It was the palace maid who had just left who was speaking.

Li Ruowei said to Xie Yuancheng, "Yuancheng, take good care of your sister-in-law. I'm leaving." Xie Yuancheng must have been very reluctant to part with his sister, but he could only watch her walk away.

After I got back, I took a quick bath and lay down on the bed, where my cough worsened.

Xie Yuancheng anxiously fed him medicine and changed his handkerchief by the bedside. I looked at the dark circles under his eyes and took his hand: "Go and rest, I'll be fine after a nap and sweating it out."

Xie Yuancheng took off his outer shirt, got into bed, and hugged me, saying, "Okay, I'll lie down next to you."

I tried to push him away, but he grabbed my hand as soon as I reached out: "Ying'er, you've pushed me away several times tonight. Stop pushing me, or I'll be sad too."

I held his hand: "Okay, I won't push you away anymore."

Xie Yuancheng hugged me tighter: "When we were in Linyang, I saw you, and you were just laughing and joking with Li Zhaole and Lu Fengjun, not even glancing at me. At the time, because of Consort Ji's spies around, I couldn't take you back. Later, when you returned to the capital, I had Anshi follow you all the way, but you were still laughing and joking with them. When I received the news, I thought I would disregard everything and chase after you to take you back. But when I thought of my sister suffering in the palace for my sake, I had to endure even the greatest injustice. With the Lantern Festival approaching, I braved the heavy snow to come to the capital, and you were still acting like that with others, and then you even pushed me away."

As I listened to his accusations, I realized I had wronged him, but I hadn't had a good time either these past few months.

"Yuancheng, I'm sorry."

"Don't say sorry. I'm just asking you, what are your feelings for Lu Fengjun, and what are your feelings for each other?"

Seeing that he seemed hesitant to speak, I couldn't hide it from him: "I guess so. I was feeling down ever since I heard you treat me as a substitute. Later, I ran into Lu Fengjun in the northern suburbs. He turned out to be the same guy I used to like. Ah, don't pinch me. Even if I wanted to get close to him, I only thought about it. I didn't cross any lines."

Xie Yuancheng, looking aggrieved, nibbled at my lips. I felt guilty and let him be.

"You bad girl, you stole my heart and then just threw it away like that, without giving me any reason to explain."

"Alright, it's all my fault. I won't object to whatever you want to do."

I felt a pang of heartache for how my brother and sister had managed all these years in Dazhao. No wonder he was so cunning at such a young age; we hadn't really understood him, and today we almost made a terrible mistake.

I took the initiative to smell his lips, and Xie Yuancheng said shyly, "Ying'er, you're still sick, we have a long time ahead of us."

Bah, you cunning lord, I was just trying to comfort you, what were you thinking?

Xie Yuancheng leaned closer: "From now on, you must tell me everything, don't let things turn out like this. Luckily, my sister is going back to the Prime Minister's residence tonight, otherwise my innocence would be ruined. Also, don't carry that purse around carelessly. Musk isn't a good thing. The one I gave you was made by my teacher, and I searched many places to find all the ingredients inside. It was originally for self-defense, and later to cover your tracks, but you actually lost it and are still wearing that kind of purse."

Seeing that he was throwing a tantrum, I quickly explained where the purse came from and how hard Wan'er had worked, but to my surprise, he still argued with me.

"You said you're bisexual, so what am I?"

“You are my husband. They are just people I have a connection with. Wan’er has really done a lot for me. I only treat her as a younger sister. I was planning to find her a husband so that I could have a better life myself.”

"Really? So everything you said today was just said in anger?"

"Yes, I haven't had a good time these past few months either. Whenever I have free time at night, I always think about you. The more I think about cutting ties, the more intense my longing becomes."

"It's okay to miss me, but you still need to eat properly in the future. You've lost all the fat on your face and body."

Xie Yuancheng has a really bad temper, but he has compromised a lot for Ji Ying. Now that I live in Ji Ying's body, I must cherish every moment I spend with him.

"Yuancheng, you must be the most special person I have ever met, and there will never be another like you."

Xie Yuancheng let me lean against his chest: "So you must stay with me. I only want to do two things in Dazhao: one is to give my sister freedom and clear my parents' names. The other is to be with you. Even if we run away together with my sister later, we will be happy no matter where we are."

I hugged him back and said, "From now on, I will only trust you." Time will pass, and even if he has no choice but to lie to me in the future, I will still stand by his side.

I woke up as soon as it was light. "Yuancheng, I'm going back."

Xie Yuancheng half-opened one eye: "No."

I patted his head: "The situation is special right now, so I only got one day off."

Xie Yuancheng got up and pinned her down: "Ying'er, are you feeling better?"

I dodged his hand: "Alright, your medicine works really well. Stop messing around, think about your sister, we'll have plenty of time in the future."

Xie Yuancheng touched my belly: "Back in the manor, I should have let you carry my child, then you wouldn't have come to the capital."

I laughed, so childish: "Yuancheng, I've always been yours, and that won't change now or in the future. Don't worry about me being with someone else."

Xie Yuancheng nodded: "But I want to be a father, so I can keep you by my side. Or I can have Anshi spread the word that you were attacked last night, and then get a similar corpse. That will definitely fool everyone."

I shook my head. This fool, all he knows is to protect me and shoulder everything. "No, I want to go back to the palace with my sister. She's in that position, and with no one to take care of her, it must be incredibly difficult for her."

“If you hadn’t returned to Beijing back then, I could have used all sorts of excuses to bring you back to life, and we could have been openly and legitimately together in Linyang.”

“What about my sister? We are doing very well in Linyang, but she is suffering in the palace. You said it yourself, the palace is a place that eats people without spitting out the bones, how can you bear to let her stay in there.”