Xie Liwei was stunned for a moment, his wrist already gripped by her.

Just a moment ago, he thought he saw his older sister...

Song Yaozhu grabbed his hand to examine the wounds. Several joints on his hand were broken, and the skin around the wounds was white and flaky from repeated washing. She lowered her head with heartache and blew on the wounds. Xie Liwei subconsciously tried to pull his hand away, but couldn't.

"Your Highness, you have overstepped your bounds," Xie Liwei said coldly. He no longer wanted to find any trace of his elder sister in her; that would be a betrayal of his sister.

"Am I supposed to just watch like this?" Song Yaozhu was furious. Although she didn't know why he was injured, his indifference to the wound after the injury made her very angry.

How can he be so careless about his health?

"What does that have to do with you?"

"It will break my heart." Song Yaozhu's tone was so firm that Xie Liwei was momentarily stunned. He stood up and took a step forward, stretching out his long arm and pressing it against the desk, trapping her between him and the desk.

"What did the princess say? I didn't hear you clearly," he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

The atmosphere suddenly took a turn for the worse.

Song Yaozhu panicked for a moment, then realized that Xie Liwei was "forcing" her to leave.

Her flustered demeanor in front of him had exposed her "bottom line," and he thought that he could get rid of her by pretending to be affectionate?

Ha, she wanted to show him what it meant to "invite a god but send him away."

Xie Liwei was expecting her to shyly and awkwardly run away, but unexpectedly she suddenly opened her arms and hugged his waist.

"Your Highness, now it's just the two of you."

Then came a long silence...

They could both sense the stiffness in each other's bodies, but neither was willing to "give up" and push the other away first.

A few more breaths passed, and Song Yaozhu could no longer bear it.

Xie Liwei was no longer a naive boy; he had become a mature man. The heat from his body seeped through her clothes onto her skin, making her mouth dry.

She's absolutely absurd!

Song Yaozhu pushed him away without hesitation, "Your Highness, if you don't bandage it soon, your wound will heal!"

"I'll go get some medicine to treat your wound!" She left without giving Li Wei a chance to refuse.

He looked down at his wound. Song Yaozhu's concern for him earlier was genuine, but he could also tell from his previous probing that she had no interest in him and was even afraid to get close to him. So why was she so concerned about him when he was injured?

Song Yaozhu's contradictory statements aroused his suspicions.

"Fang Rao".

"Your subordinate is here!" a voice came from the roof beam.

"Go and investigate Song Yaozhu thoroughly, make sure it's detailed."

"yes!"

He had investigated her before the marriage. He thought Song Yaozhu was just a crude and uneducated country girl, but from their interactions yesterday to now, he found that she was clear-headed, witty, and had impeccable manners when meeting the emperor. She was not the stereotypical country girl he had imagined.

Or was it really Song Yaozhu who married into his carefree princely mansion?

Song Yaozhu didn't go back by herself; instead, she had Granny Qin deliver some wound medicine to her. Granny Qin was used to this.

Song Yaozhu immediately had a bad feeling. It seemed that Xie Liwei's self-harm was not a recent thing.

The next day, when she went to find Xie Liwei again to discuss her homecoming the following day, she couldn't find him. Xie Liwei had left early in the morning, and she didn't know what he was busy with.

Left with no other option, I left him a note.

Xie Liwei received the news early in the morning that the Imperial Concubine had summoned Madam Song today.

"Your Highness, is the Song family trying to climb to power by stepping on our Prince's Mansion?"

The founding nobles all knew that the emperor was wary of the Xie family. Even though the Xie family had withdrawn from the court, their reputation among scholars across the country remained undiminished.

Years ago, the emperor had considered finding a pretext to deal with the Xie family, but he found himself unable to do so. Without a suitable reason, the scholars of the land would condemn him to death.

He not only wanted to be emperor, but also a "wise ruler." Therefore, he couldn't openly suppress the Xie family himself, and could only do so through his ministers.

The Song family has a woman who looks seven or eight parts like the late empress; her motives are clearly impure.

"Keep an eye on the Song residence."

"Oh, by the way, this is a note that the Princess sent."

Qin Yu presented the note, and Xie Liwei glanced at it before waving him away.

He didn't want to see that face that looked so much like his older sister's.

Meanwhile, Madam Song returned to the Song family in a state of fear and trepidation, and recounted her meeting with the Imperial Concubine that day.

"The Imperial Concubine summoned me to the palace for a casual chat, and then she inquired about Wen Yue, including whether she was married." Madam Song patted her chest. "We just had one Prince Xiaoyao escape, and now another one is showing up!"

"Mother, don't worry," Song Qingyuan comforted her. "That Prince Xiaoyao has a terrible reputation. He's either a womanizer or abusive. There are countless beautiful women dead in his harem. Fourth Sister certainly can't marry him. Has the Imperial Concubine said which family he's marrying?"

Madam Song felt relieved, then shook her head and said, "No."

"The Imperial Concubine didn't say it explicitly, perhaps she was inquiring about it for herself?" Song Qingyuan suggested this possibility.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Madam Song quickly responded, as if this could calm her nervousness. "The Imperial Concubine has two princes. The eldest prince already has a principal wife, but the third prince is still unmarried. Come to think of it, he is indeed of marriageable age now."

"The late Empress had no children, and in recent years the Emperor has always cherished her memory and has not appointed another Empress. However, the court officials are all urging the Emperor to establish a Crown Prince as soon as possible, and among the princes in the court, only the Imperial Concubine..."

"Alright," Song Chengzhang interrupted his son. "Stop talking like that. Our family has no real power, so it's best not to get involved in factional strife. If Your Majesty is interested, find a marriage for Fourth Miss as soon as possible. Haven't we already looked at a few families? Settle things off quickly!"

After Song Chengzhang finished speaking, he took his son to the study to test his studies. However, Song Wenyue, who was hiding in the inner room, overheard everything. After her father and brother left, she rushed into Madam Song's arms.

"Mother, I'm scared! I don't want to leave home and you so soon!"

Madam Song quickly hugged her and gently coaxed, "My dear daughter, don't be afraid, Mother will protect you!"

The Imperial Concubine summoned her today merely to test her intentions. If word were to spread now that she wanted to find a husband for her daughter, it would anger the Imperial Concubine, but why would she stoop to the level of a family with no real power like theirs?

In the Emperor's eyes, the Song family simply did not want to participate in factional strife.

As long as we don't lose the Emperor's favor, that's fine.

"Mother, I know you love me the most!" Song Wenyue said coquettishly, secretly pleased. So what if she wasn't Madam Song's biological daughter? Her heart still favored her!