Zhong Muyu was both amused and exasperated. Upon reflection, she realized that her behavior had indeed been unusual these past few days. In addition, she had been married into the Prince's mansion for more than half a year, so it was understandable that others would have such speculations.

Unfortunately, seeing the expectation in Lu Ziyuan's eyes, she had to pour cold water on it.

"No, no, no, I'm not pregnant at all."

Lu Ziyuan refused to give up: "Shouldn't we have the royal physician examine this before we can make a definitive judgment?"

"Alright, it seems only the imperial physician can verify the facts."

Zhong Muyu shrugged.

Lu Ziyuan immediately sent someone to find the royal physician, who arrived shortly afterward.

Zhong Muyu quietly allowed the physician to take her pulse, while Lu Ziyuan anxiously asked, "How is she?"

The royal physician stroked his goatee: "Her Highness the Princess is in good health, without any problems, and... is not pregnant."

Zhong Muyu acted as if it were the truth, but in reality, she could never get pregnant. This body was only seventeen years old, and she didn't want to get pregnant so soon, so she had been trying to prevent it.

Hearing this answer, Lu Ziyuan was clearly a little disappointed, but he still comforted Zhong Muyu: "Although you are not pregnant, it's good that you are healthy."

Are you feeling down?

"Of course. But I remember what you said, no rush, we'll take it slow, and maybe the child will come sometime."

Zhong Muyu tucked a stray strand of his hair behind her ear, and suddenly, she felt a little guilty.

"sorry."

Sigh, I kept this from him again.

Lu Ziyuan assumed she was also disappointed about not being pregnant, so he patted her on the back and said, "Don't worry, I'm not in a hurry about having children."

Zhong Muyu didn't explain to him, so she went along with his words and said, "So don't let them spread it around. Too many rumors will not be good for the atmosphere of the Prince's Mansion."

Lu Ziyuan agreed, and the next day he gave the servants of the Prince's Mansion a dressing down.

But for the people at Xinxiangyuan, they were more disappointed with the outcome than with any warning.

...

Meanwhile, in the city's prison.

Su Zhirou lay in that dark and sunless prison, gradually losing track of time.

Now she is disheveled and looks extremely wretched, with bruises all over her body.

During this time, her attacks became more and more frequent. Every time she rolled around and screamed, the impatient jailer would come over and punch and kick her. But all of this could not stop her pain. Instead, it made her feel even worse, as if thousands of insects were biting her.

So when she had another outburst, the jailer impatiently came in with a whip.

"You wretched woman, howling all day long!"

Two sharp lashes struck his body, his back burning with pain, but the discomfort did not lessen at all.

Just as Su Zhirou was preparing to receive the third lash, the expected pain did not come. With a "crack," the jailer lay dead on the ground like a kite with a broken string.

Through the blurry, disheveled hair and blurred vision, an unexpected figure appeared.

"You, you are..."

Su Zhirou pointed at him, but after several attempts, she couldn't get up.

"What? You don't recognize me anymore?"

"Wu Zhao, how could you..."

A piercing pain shot through her, and Su Zhirou screamed and curled up, gasping for breath.

At that moment, a hand was held out in front of her, with a pill that smelled familiar in its palm.

Su Zhirou grabbed it as if it were a lifeline and swallowed it hastily.

Soon, the discomfort in my body lessened considerably, and even the burning pain in the wound on my back didn't hurt as much anymore.

Wu Zhao didn't mind her being dirty at all. He carefully combed her messy hair back, revealing a thin, pale face.

Su Zhirou turned her face away, seemingly not wanting him to see her embarrassed state: "Why did you still come to me? I'm already a complete failure."

"No, you are my collaborator. I will not allow you to die, so you cannot die."

Su Zhirou sneered: "Ha! Do you think I'm still of any use to you?"

"If I said yes, would you seize the opportunity and come with me?"

Are you serious?

"Otherwise, why would I have gone to all this trouble to come here? Do you know that you will be executed in three days?"

At the mention of execution, Su Zhirou's eyes widened. She knew she was going to be executed, but she didn't expect her death to be so close so soon.

Driven by the fear of death and the desire to live, Su Zhirou desperately clung to Wu Zhao: "You can save me, right? Please save me, I don't want to die!"

"Sure, but you need to be prepared. Going out doesn't mean you'll be able to live a good life."

"Of course I know you won't save me for nothing, but compared to waiting to die, having the option to choose gives me a glimmer of hope."

Wu Zhao smiled with satisfaction: "A smart choice."

Several hours later, at the first light of day, a fast horse galloped from the prison toward the Prince of Ling's residence, and the rider rushed in like the wind: "Where is the Prince? I demand to see the Prince!"

"His Highness is in his study. Please wait outside while I go in to inform him."

The guards stopped the person who rushed in and hurriedly went into Xiuyu House.

After receiving permission, the man rushed in, his first words being, "Something terrible has happened! Someone's trying to break us out of prison!"

Lu Ziyuan was startled: "What's going on? Who broke us out of prison?"

"I don't know. This morning when the jailers went to change shifts, they found that all the guards who were on duty that night were dead, and the death row inmate that the prince wanted to take special care of had been rescued!"

"It's Su Zhirou."

Lu Ziyuan frowned.

"Go back now and don't make a fuss about this. Chengfeng will take care of the dead."

Lu Ziyuan summoned Chengfeng, gave him some silver to comfort the family of the deceased jailer, and then contacted the government to issue an arrest warrant for Su Zhirou.

At that moment, Zhong Muyu was checking the recent accounts at Linggang Restaurant when Liu Xiaoya came to report: "Your Highness, someone has arrived and says they want to see you."

"Okay, let him in."

The person who came was Zhi Yu. Zhong Muyu only looked up at him once before continuing to deal with what she was doing.

"It's you. Please sit down. Did Your Highness need something from me?"

"His Highness has ordered that the Princess Consort return to the residence immediately and is not to go out in the coming days."

Zhong Muyu looked up in surprise: "What's wrong? Why are you so serious?"

In her memory, Lu Ziyuan had never given her such a cold and icy order before.

"Your Highness, Su Zhirou has been broken out of prison."

"What?"

Zhong Muyu was shocked. She thought she was about to give a final verdict, but this unexpected turn of events occurred.

Zhiyu continued, "His Highness suspects that she was rescued by those spies from the enemy country, since they had close ties before. Su Zhirou hates you, and His Highness is afraid that she will seek revenge on you after she escapes, which is why he doesn't allow you to go out."

“I see. His guess is not unreasonable. Wait a moment, I will check these accounts and then go back.”

Zhong Muyu hurriedly packed her things and returned to the Prince's Mansion under Zhiyu's escort.

Meanwhile, Su Zhirou had already left Lingqing and, under Wu Zhao's guidance, headed to an unknown place.