Chapter 58 It might be Lord Shen who spends the night with His Highness.

"Pfft." Sun Yan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Get out."

"Oh." Shen Chu nodded, then quickly got up and left.

"Come back," Pei Yuan said through gritted teeth. "I didn't tell you to get lost, so keep talking."

Chen Chu felt a pang of regret. She looked up at Pei Yuan's ashen face and solemnly assured him, "Your Highness, I assure you that I only had those thoughts and did nothing else."

At most... I just touched His Highness once, and that's when my purse fell into His Highness's clothes.

"You even touched this prince?"

"Ah! Your humble servant is guilty, and I know that I have committed a heinous crime."

Pei Yuan rubbed his temples before suppressing the urge to kick Chen Chu away.

That damned Shen Chu, he actually... he actually touched himself.

Why does he have no recollection of it at all?

The drug was so potent that night that his memory of the night was very vague.

All I remember is being like a wild beast, constantly taking; I remember nothing else.

If he remembered that Shen Chu had touched him, he probably would have crippled Shen Chu that morning, hmph!

"So you saw who the woman was with me that night?"

Shen Chu blinked, sighing inwardly.

One lie requires a thousand more to cover it up.

She feigned surprise and asked, "Your Highness, didn't you see clearly who the girl with you was? You two spent the night together... Your Highness should know better than anyone else."

Pei Yuan pursed his thin lips, naturally not telling Shen Chu that he couldn't see at night.

"I am now asking you a question, do you see?"

Shen Chu forced a smile and said, "That was a dark room. I really couldn't see anything."

She raised her hand and swore with a serious expression.

Pei Yuan squinted, seemingly assessing the truthfulness of her words.

After a long pause, he asked in a cold voice, "You really weren't with me...?"

"No, absolutely not." Shen Chu quickly waved her hand.

“Your Majesty, I dare not. I feel deeply that I cannot defile Your Highness. I grit my teeth and leave the dark room, where I happen to run into my maid.”

That night, I was with my maid. When I woke up, I realized my purse was missing, so I went back to the darkroom to look for it.

Seeing that His Highness did not remember what happened last night, and fearing that he would be angered and punished, they concealed the matter.

Later, because what happened that night was truly difficult to talk about, I thought of secretly taking the purse back.

Shen Chu looked annoyed. "I misunderstood. I should have confessed my sins to Your Highness in person and asked for my purse back."

She glanced cautiously at Pei Yuan's expression, feeling somewhat uneasy.

It was only half true, and I don't know if Pei Yuan would believe it.

She wasn't afraid of Pei Yuan investigating. Hongxiu did indeed go to Jingguo Temple with her, but she complained that there was no good food at the temple and secretly ran back to the capital.

Hongxiu, a mere maid, would not attract anyone's attention at all.

Pei Yuanhua's eyes were half-closed, revealing no emotion, and it was unclear whether he believed her.

Shen Chu blinked and asked cautiously, "Your Highness, considering my honesty, could you please return my purse?"

"Want a purse?" Pei Yuan shook the purse in his hand, raising an eyebrow slightly. "You swear you're telling the truth?"

Shen Chu immediately raised two fingers and said, "I swear to Heaven that if I have uttered even the slightest lie, may I die young in my position as a fifth-rank censor."

Anyway, she never intended to be an official forever; God understood her.

Shen Chu silently gave herself a thumbs up in her heart.

She's such a clever little thing.

"Your Highness, may I now present the purse to you?"

She looked at Pei Yuan with anticipation.

Pei Yuan stared at her intently, twirled the purse, and chuckled softly, "It's just an old purse. I'm curious, why is Lord Shen so nervous and concerned?"

Shen Chu sighed deeply, her eyes immediately reddening.

"Your Highness may not know, but although the purse is old, it is the only keepsake left by my master."

I grew up in a Taoist temple and was raised by my master. Before I died, all I left behind was this purse.

Over the years, whenever I have encountered difficulties, this purse has been there to give me strength.

Therefore, I have always carried it with me all these years, as a token of my longing for my master. I beg Your Highness to return the purse to me.

She clasped her hands in a respectful bow, then watched as Pei Yuan put the purse into his pocket.

Chen Chu... really wanted to curse.

Pei Yuan stood up straight and gently tapped her shoulder with his jade-bone fan, his voice slightly cool.

"Chen Chu, you have disrespected this prince. Think carefully about how to apologize to this prince."

"You may take your purse when I've calmed down."

Chen Chu watched helplessly as Pei Yuan leisurely left, and could only awkwardly call out:

"Your Highness, you must keep it safe. It really is my master's keepsake."

Dejected, Hongxiu returned home and emerged from the outhouse, clutching her aching back. She asked weakly, "Young master, did you get the purse back?"

"No," Shen Chu said sullenly. "I almost got caught by Pei Yuan. Luckily, I was quick-witted, otherwise your young master wouldn't be back today."

She slumped weakly under the grape trellis.

Acting is really tiring; today's scene exhausted her energy after several days of rest.

"How is this possible?" Hongxiu exclaimed. "The person I found should be very reliable, how could they have been discovered?"

The fact is, it has been discovered, and Shen Chu no longer has the energy to investigate how Pei Yuan discovered it.

Hongxiu leaned closer, "Young Master, how did you manage to fool the Sixth Prince?"

Chen Chu glanced at her, recalling Pei Yuan's disgusted expression back then, and chuckled, "I said I coveted him, touched him, and that's why I dropped my purse with him."

"ah?"

"I also told you that I've already taken you as my wife. Remember, you're my woman from now on, so don't let it slip to anyone else."

"Ahh!"

Hongxiu's exclamations grew louder and louder, "What does this have to do with me? Young master, are you afraid that the Sixth Prince also has designs on you, so you're using me as a shield?"

"Hehe, what do you think?"

"I think you're overthinking it, young master. The sixth prince is even more handsome than you, he wouldn't covet you... Ah, I need to go to the outhouse again."

As Chen Chu watched Hongxiu rush towards the outhouse again, his frustration lessened considerably.

Sigh, how can she apologize to Pei Yuan to get her purse back?

I don't know if Pei Yuan believed me or not.

A similar conversation also took place in Pei Yuan's study.

"Your Highness, do you believe what Lord Shen said?" Sun Yan asked.

Pei Yuan remained noncommittal. "Do you think her words are credible?"

Sun Yan thought for a moment, "I think Lord Shen has no reason to deceive His Highness. What he said is airtight and can be explained."

However, if the purse belongs to Lord Shen, then our original plan to find the woman from that night using the purse will not work.

Pei Yuan pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling inexplicably irritated.

Jinbao suddenly exclaimed, "Heavens, Your Highness, you were really touched by Lord Shen?"

Pei Yuan shot him a cold, sharp look.

Jinbao covered his mouth, then couldn't help but chuckle and say:

"Young Master Shen is handsome and refined, so Your Highness is not at a disadvantage."

Pei Yuan's brow twitched, and he could no longer contain himself. "Chen Chu is a man."

"He's a good-looking man."

Pei Yuan... Shen Chu is indeed quite handsome.

Jinbao suddenly had a strange idea, "Your Highness, is it possible... that the person you spent the night with was actually Lord Shen?"

Pei Yuan's face suddenly darkened, and he rejected Jin Bao's words without even thinking.

"impossible."

Jinbao scratched his head. "Your Highness, try to think outside the box. After all, you weren't fully conscious at the time, and you couldn't see."

And since Lord Shen has also been drugged, perhaps there wasn't even a woman involved; it was Lord Shen who slept with His Highness.