You're so smug, aren't you?

The marriage agreement between the Wang family and the Yu family was cancelled, and everything was settled.

Fu Zhi Qiao moved out of Wen Yuan Villa. She had been cooped up in the villa for a long time and couldn't wait to go out and stroll around to get some fresh air.

Hearing the familiar cries of vendors at the market, Fu Zhi Qiao smiled. She hadn't eaten street food in a long time: "Come on, Ginkgo, let's go eat Zhao Liang Ji's steamed buns."

Ginkgo blinked its big, round eyes and nodded at her.

Zhao Liang's pancake shop is located near the city gate. Fu Zhi Qiao traveled across half of the city to the vicinity of the city gate just to eat a pancake.

Zhao Liangji's steamed buns are made with wheat flour, and they come with both meat and vegetarian fillings. Especially when they're fresh out of the pan, you can smell a special wheat aroma from afar, which is very tempting. Fu Zhiqiao once tried their meat steamed buns by chance and was amazed by how delicious they were.

After getting off the carriage, she and Yinxing chatted and laughed as they walked toward Zhao Liang's Pancake Shop. Along the way, they could occasionally hear people discussing the broken engagement between the Prince's Mansion and the Minister's Mansion.

First, the young master was poisoned and unable to have children; then, the young lady from the Yu family suddenly fell ill and broke off the engagement to recuperate. These two events happened one after the other. As a result, many people began to speculate that the Yu family disliked the young master's infertility and therefore proposed to break off the engagement, intending to find another marriage.

Humans are naturally compassionate towards the weak.

Especially considering that the young master, a grown man, was unable to have children and was later abandoned by his fiancée, she felt even more sympathy for him.

Seeing that public opinion was unfavorable to him, Yu Haoying immediately sent someone to spread the news that the reason why the Yu family broke off the engagement was because Yu Yadan had suddenly contracted a serious illness and was bedridden.

Miss Yu contracted rubella, and her symptoms were very severe, with no idea when she would recover. To prevent her from spreading the rubella to others, Mr. Yu had no choice but to send his daughter to a remote place to recuperate.

With Yu Yadan's illness serving as a prelude, there were far fewer people who insulted the Yu family for being faithless and treacherous. Of course, there were still some who looked down on the Yu family's behavior, saying that the Yu family was heartless and ungrateful, and that they immediately distanced themselves from the man when he got into trouble... There were also some who praised Yu Haoying for being righteous and sending his daughter away to prevent the spread of rubella to other people.

The outside noise and shouts subsided much more than expected, and Yu Haoying secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Sending Yu Yadan to Futu Temple, seemingly as punishment, was also intended to let her lay low for a while.

A carriage swayed and wobbled towards the city gate. There were no markings on the carriage, and it looked like an ordinary carriage.

No one knew that the person sitting in that carriage was Yu Yadan.

As they approached the city gate, the carriage slowed down. Because it was located at the foot of the imperial city, the gate was heavily guarded.

Yu Yadan sat in the carriage with a veil covering her face. She had left the capital under the pretext of being sick, and to avoid any complications, Guo Sulan had instructed her to cover her face with a veil even in the carriage, in case someone saw that she didn't have a rash on her face.

Yu Yadan sat silently in the carriage. Two people accompanied her to Futu Temple: her personal maid Xiaodie and Guo Sulan's nanny.

There are two more carriages ahead of her; it will be her turn soon.

Yu Yadan lifted the carriage curtain, wanting to take one last look at what the capital city looked like.

At Chenshi (7-9 AM), the streets are at their liveliest. Vendors call out their wares incessantly, and women carrying baskets are arguing heatedly with the vendors. On street corners, there are vendors selling twisted candy and sugar figurines. People of all ages come and go, creating a bustling and prosperous scene.

Outside the carriage, the crowds were bustling, but inside the carriage, it was completely quiet; the two worlds were like one inside and one outside.

Yu Yadan exuded an aura of indifference that said "don't come near me." Xiao Die and the nanny who accompanied her shrank to the furthest place from her, silently lowering their heads.

Yu Yadan looked exhausted. She wouldn't be able to return from Futu Temple for at least a year or two. Yu Haoying said that he would find her a new marriage after she came back, but Yu Yadan naturally refused. However, Yu Haoying said that if she didn't agree, she could stay at Futu Temple and come back whenever she came to a decision.

Yu Yadan was feeling down, and just as she was about to look away, a figure came into her view.

She stared intently at the figure behind her.

That radiant smile was glaringly offensive to her.

"parking!"

The driver did not listen to her. He was someone Yu Haoying had specially arranged, and his mission was to escort Yu Yadan safely to Futu Temple.

"Stop the car! Didn't you hear me? I want to stop the car!" Yu Yadan pounded on the car wall.

The driver stopped the carriage and said urgently, "Miss, the master has instructed that we must not cause any trouble on the road."

Yu Yadan didn't care about all that: "You don't need to use my father to pressure me. He asked you to escort me, not to escort me, understand? I need to get off the carriage to get some fresh air. If you're worried, you can follow behind."

Helpless, the coachman stopped the carriage and quickly followed her.

Yu Yadan caught up with Fu Zhiqiao, still panting heavily. She wanted to stop Fu Zhiqiao and make her stay where she was, but then she thought that they were on the street and she couldn't attract unnecessary attention, so she jogged to catch up with her.

"Fu Zhi Qiao, you really didn't die!"

"Oh, Miss Yu, you haven't left the capital yet." Fu Zhi Qiao turned around, looked at the woman in front of her whose face was covered except for her eyes, smiled apologetically, her brows furrowed slightly, clearly troubled: "I'm sorry, I didn't die and disappointed you, did I?"

Yu Yadan ripped off her veil and glared at Fu Zhiqiao with hatred, her eyes seemingly spitting fire. She had already fallen into a situation where she had to leave the capital to avoid the storm, while the other party was standing here unharmed.

Yu Yadan felt increasingly resentful. If Fu Zhiqiao were dead, she would be willing to be punished, but now Fu Zhiqiao was still alive and well, and didn't even look like she had a scratch, while she was to be exiled to a temple thousands of miles away.

An endless sense of resentment enveloped her like a raging blizzard.

She had only one thought in her mind: she would repay Fu Zhiqiao tenfold for the humiliation she had suffered.

Fu Zhi Qiao remained calm, her dark eyes silently watching Yu Ya Dan's contorted expression. After leaving the villa, she had intended to take revenge on Yu Ya Dan, but considering Yu Ya Dan's status as the daughter of a high-ranking official, she realized that Yu Ya Dan was not someone she could deal with, and it wouldn't be worth risking her own life for revenge.

To deal with Yu Yadan, winning her heart is the best strategy.

Yu Yadan looked down on her, so how painful would it be for her to see the person she once looked down on thriving in Beijing, while she was driven out of the capital like a rat in the street?

Seeing the smile on Fu Zhi Qiao's lips, Yu Ya Dan seemed to suddenly understand. Her face turned pale, and she questioned, "You did this on purpose? You were clearly not dead, but you deliberately faked your death so that they would misunderstand that I killed you. Fu Zhi Qiao, how vicious you are!"

Yu Yadan's voice was sharp and shrill, still in her usual tone, still so self-righteous.

It's ridiculous that the murderer would actually accuse the victim of having a malicious heart.

Unable to bear it any longer, Fu Zhiqiao took two steps forward and slapped Yu Yadan hard across the face.

Yu Yadan's head was slapped to the side. Her maid, Xiaodie, wanted to come over to help, but Fu Zhiqiao said sternly, "No one is allowed to come over!"

Her imposing manner was so strong that Xiaodie was stopped in her tracks.

Yu Yadan's eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe that Fu Zhiqiao would hit her. She touched her cheek, and the stinging pain told her that she had indeed been slapped by Fu Zhiqiao.

"Fu Zhi Qiao, how dare you hit me?"

If looks could kill, Fu Zhi Qiao would probably have been burned to ashes by Yu Ya Dan by now.

"What, is the pain on your face unreal?"

Yu Yadan's eyes were bloodshot. Her face was contorted with rage, and she raised her hand to retaliate.

Fu Zhi Qiao quickly stopped her hand in mid-air. "Yu Ya Dan, you harmed me first, how dare you call me vicious? You don't think that just because I'm not dead, you don't have to go to Fu Tu Temple, do you?"

When her thoughts were exposed, Yu Yadan's face stiffened. When she saw that Fu Zhiqiao was still alive, she did have the idea of ​​turning back home.

Before she could answer, Fu Zhiqiao spoke up again: "Miss Yu probably doesn't know, but I have the evidence that you hired someone to commit murder."

Upon hearing that Sun Chi had fallen into Fu Zhi Qiao's hands, Yu Ya Dan couldn't believe her ears: "What did you say?"

Fu Zhi Qiao looked up and met Yu Ya Dan's panicked eyes. She didn't answer Yu Ya Dan's question because she knew Yu Ya Dan understood.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about." Yu Yadan withdrew her hand, her voice tense as she spoke.

Faced with Ya Dan's sophistry, Fu Zhi Qiao didn't care. She just glanced at her indifferently, a look that regarded her as nothing special.

That disdainful look fueled Yu Yadan's anger even more. She felt humiliated, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Although Yu Yadan is arrogant, she is not really stupid.

She knew that ever since her mother learned that the prince might not be able to have children, she had been thinking about breaking off the engagement, but her father was unwilling to do so.

Why did Father change his mind so quickly?

She was initially puzzled, but after hearing Fu Zhi Qiao's explanation, she understood.

While investigating human traffickers, the Crown Prince was ambushed by members of the Death-Snatching Sect. Enraged, the Prince ordered a thorough investigation. The investigation revealed that Sun Chi had previously contacted the Death-Snatching Sect, making him a suspect. Sun Chi was arrested on his way back to his hometown to avoid trouble and confessed to hiring a hitman.

Yu Yadan quickly figured out the ins and outs of the matter.

The prince harbored resentment towards the Death-Snatching Sect. Just then, he learned that she had bribed the sect's assassins to kill Fu Zhiqiao, which made him disgusted with her. He then used this opportunity to pressure his father to annul the engagement, saying that if the engagement was canceled, he would not hand Sun Chi over to the authorities.

Yes! Both families are prominent ones. If it weren't for the Crown Prince's instigation, the engagement wouldn't have been called off so quickly, and Father wouldn't have agreed to the annulment so easily, because eliminating a merchant's daughter wasn't an unforgivable thing for her.

Sun Chi was clearly captured by Xie Zhuo, but now Fu Zhi Qiao says that Sun Chi is in her hands, which means that Xie Zhuo handed Sun Chi over to Fu Zhi Qiao to deal with...

It must have been Fu Zhiqiao crying and pleading with her deceased son.

That must be it!

Now that the engagement between the two families has been cancelled, it means that the matter has been properly resolved. What she instructed Sun Chi to do will not be exposed. Fu Zhi Qiao's words are just a bluff to scare her.

Thinking of this, Yu Yadan arrogantly raised her chin: "Do you think you can marry into the royal family without me?"

If Fu Zhi Qiao knew what she was thinking, she would definitely laugh out loud.

Perhaps because alliances between noble families are mostly maintained through marriage, Yu Yadan's mind is full of love and romance, which is why she asserts her dominance in front of Zhang Qian.

"I don't know if I can get into the Prince's mansion, but I can be sure that you definitely can't."

Fu Zhi Qiao smiled faintly, "I'm so sorry, Miss Yu, I've made it impossible for you to marry the Crown Prince."

Fu Zhi Qiao's feigned annoyance infuriated Yu Ya Dan, who felt as if she had punched a cotton ball with all her might, only to have the fist bounce back and hit her instead of hurting the other person.

Yu Yadan's face turned bright red, from her neck all the way to behind her ears, and her chest heaved violently.

Fu Zhi Qiao met her gaze with a faint smile on her face.

What should I do? I'm happy to know you're really unwilling to accept this.

Perhaps it was a woman's innate intuition, but from the very first glance, Yu Yadan felt an inexplicable hostility towards Fu Zhiqiao.

At first, Yu Yadan didn't know that the woman riding in the carriage with Xie Zhuo at Guangji Temple was Fu Zhiqiao. But for some reason, she disliked Fu Zhiqiao from the first moment she saw her. Later, when she found out that the woman next to Xie Zhuo was Fu Zhiqiao, her disgust for Fu Zhiqiao reached its peak.

The two stood not far apart, and Yu Yadan could clearly see Fu Zhiqiao's flawless face. Her hair was as black as lacquer, and her skin was as white as snow. The makeup on her face was not heavy, but the light touch made her look elegant and refined.

Seeing beauty up close has a greater impact on people.

Fu Zhi Qiao stood there quietly, exuding an innate nobility. It was as if the surrounding noise had no effect on her, and she could deal with anything without changing her expression, like a solitary orchid, making her seem unapproachable.

Yu Yadan disliked her calm and composed demeanor the most.

Despite being just a lowly merchant's daughter, she possessed the refined elegance typically found only in daughters of noble families.

A feeling of annoyance welled up from the bottom of my heart.

"You must be very proud of yourself for beating me," Yu Yadan said, full of resentment.

Fu Zhi Qiao stared at Yu Ya Dan for two seconds, then slowly walked closer and stopped two steps away from her. She then gently waved her hand, signaling both of their maids to step back.