After repeated requests from the Fourth Prince, Chang Yue finally mustered the courage to whisper and repeat, "The princess said that the Fourth Prince is a big bad guy who deceived her feelings."

These words actually came from Su Yushan? Hongli raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I deceived her feelings? How could I deceive her? When has she ever had any feelings for me?"

Chang Yue seized the opportunity and said, "There are definitely feelings involved, but Gege is just being stubborn and won't say it."

"That's because you don't understand her." Hongli knew all too well how cold-blooded Su Yushan was.

Chang Yue shook her head. "I've been by your side every day, so if I may be so disrespectful, I think I know you better than the Fourth Master. You may seem carefree and indifferent, but you are actually very sensitive and insecure. You don't dare to give your heart away easily."

He still couldn't be sure what the real Su Yushan was like. In fact, he wanted to understand her, but she never gave him the chance. Her heart was always locked and had never truly opened up to him.

That's enough! What's the point of dwelling on this now? From now on, he will never feel any affection for this heartless woman again.

After pulling his wandering thoughts back, Hongli walked to the wooden tub and helped Su Yushan up. Without the petals and water to block the view, her beautiful and exquisite figure was instantly revealed to him, completely exposed!

With just one glance, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his mind wandered.

Hongli inwardly scoffed at himself for having any more romantic thoughts about her, and then looked away. Changyue quickly wrapped her master in a thin blanket, and then Hongli picked up Su Yushan, who was wrapped in the blanket, and carried her into the inner room.

The plan had finally succeeded! Chang Yue quietly withdrew, secretly praying that the princess would speak well with the fourth master and try to resolve the conflict peacefully.

After carrying her back to the tent, the thin blanket was already soaked with water droplets from her body, so Hongli uncovered it and took it away. Worried that she would catch a cold, he took out a lotus-colored belly band from the tent and wrapped it around her.

Even though he had seen it many times before, witnessing such a scene, he still couldn't stop his reverie from spreading. He couldn't help but want to feel her beauty, but then he remembered those unpleasant things and finally managed to suppress the ripples in his heart.

The sash for her abdomen had to be tied behind her neck. Since she was lying like that, he couldn't tie it. He could only lift her up and stretch his long arm behind her neck to barely tie it.

In her daze, Su Yushan, afraid of falling, instinctively hugged the back of his neck tightly, humming softly. Her warm breath lingered around his ear, easily touching his heartstrings.

Through the thin fabric covering her abdomen, he could clearly feel the undulating curves of her body. He knew he should let go of her, but his hands wouldn't obey him, and he couldn't bear to pull them away from behind her shoulder.

Just as Hongli was about to push her away, she whispered a complaint in his ear, "I feel terrible, my head hurts so much..."

Now she realizes she's not feeling well? Why didn't she think about the consequences when she was drinking? "Why did you drink so much for no reason?"

Throughout, she kept her eyes narrowed, her red lips parting slightly as she murmured, "I've been cheated, I'm in a bad mood, and it's even worse if I don't drink."

Recalling Chang Yue's words, Hongli casually lay down on his side, pretending to be a listener, and asked, "Who lied to you?"

Su Yushan rested her head on his arm and said in a low, resentful voice, "Hongli! He's a big liar. All those things he said about liking me were just empty words. Once he got what he wanted and got tired of me, he found an excuse to dump me and even falsely accused me of eloping with someone else. I hate him!"

Listening silently to her words, Hongli found it increasingly absurd, his tightly furrowed brows filled with doubt. "How did it become that he framed you? What man would cheat on himself?"

Su Yushan retorted, "What woman would give up a peaceful and respectable life to elope with someone? Anyone with eyes can see that this is a scheme set up by someone else, but Hongli doesn't think deeply about the suspicious things in this matter and directly convicts me. Either he's stupid, or he's deliberately framing me!"

How dare she call him stupid? Hongli was indignant and wanted to refute, but he also wanted to get information out of him. So he suppressed his dissatisfaction and said sarcastically, "You and that Young Master Zheng were childhood sweethearts and were once engaged. But you have no feelings for Hongli. Anyone else would think that you want to rekindle your relationship with Zheng Lin."

It was the same old story again, and Su Yushan was too lazy to listen to it. She pouted and retorted, "You're not me, how do you know I don't have feelings for Hongli?"

Judging from her tone, there seemed to be a chance. Although he had already given up hope, hearing her say that gave him a glimmer of hope again, but he was also worried that he was just overthinking things.

"What kind of feelings? Friendship?"

"It was indeed a friendship at first, but later..." She paused halfway through her sentence, and Hongli's heart skipped a beat, eager to know what she would say next.

What happened next?

She didn't continue, only feeling uncomfortable. "I'm so thirsty! I want to drink water."

"..." What else could Hongli do? To coax her into opening her heart, he could only go down from his tent to pour her tea. When the tea was brought over, she was so drunk that she could hardly sit up.

Hongli shook his head helplessly, then helped her sit up and personally brought the teacup to her lips to feed her water.

The warm water made her feel a little better, less dry. Hongli said softly, "Are you not thirsty anymore? Continue."

Su Yushan looked bewildered. "What did you say? Where were we?"

Was she deliberately teasing him? Hongli pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed helplessly, and tried to distance himself as an observer, "Tell me your true attitude towards Hongli."

Mentioning Hongli, Su Yushan's eyes gradually became veiled with melancholy.

“At first, I did only treat him as a friend, because he had too many women in his backyard. He had many choices, and I was just one of them. I didn’t want to be tormented by jealousy and envy, so I wanted to keep my distance from him, only entrusting my body to him, while keeping my heart to myself.”

Later, when my face broke out in a rash and I became very ugly, I thought he would be disgusted with me and wouldn't want to see me anymore. Unexpectedly, he stayed with me the whole time, helping me find the killer and supporting my treatment. Human hearts are made of flesh and blood; how could I remain unmoved by his unwavering devotion?

So she had already changed her attitude towards him back then? Hongli was quite shocked. "Why have you never said these things to him?"

“I wanted to find an opportunity to tell him, but he suddenly found out that I was drinking contraceptive soup. Then I was framed and forced to elope with Zheng Lin. He then concluded that I had ulterior motives. You don’t know how much it hurt me when he said those hurtful things.”

If I had no feelings for him, I wouldn't care what he said, but I've already fallen for him, and yet he says those hurtful things. Don't you think he's awful?

He had been listening silently to her troubles, and as he listened, his dark eyes widened in disbelief. "What did you say?"

Su Yushan pouted in dissatisfaction, "Didn't you listen carefully to anything I said?"

"I was listening, but I didn't hear clearly. What was the last sentence?" He suspected he was hallucinating, so he asked again. Su Yushan's eyelashes were half-closed, and she replied with a wronged expression:

"I told him I liked him, but now I regret it. He's fickle and suspicious, and liking him is too painful. I don't want to like him anymore!"