Prince Ning shook his head. "No."

Those brought before him were all interested in his background; none of them could get along with him.

It's not as fun to be with them as it is with Helian Qing. It's just that Helian Qing is a bit young and is closely controlled by the Crown Prince, so there are many places he can't go.

King Yun also shook his head, "My elder brother is not married yet, and my son is not in a hurry either."

Xie Tingzhou glanced at him and said indifferently, "When the Empress Dowager is talking about you, don't drag me into it."

The Empress placed a dumpling on Prince Yun's plate. "Your elder brother was away in the capital recovering from his injuries, and you and Ning'er are both getting on in years, so I've arranged this for you."

Now that your brother has returned, his marriage should naturally be on the agenda, and yours shouldn't be neglected either.

Xie Tingzhou also picked up a dumpling that Yun Wang liked to eat, took a bite, and chewed it carefully.

These dumplings are filled with shepherd's purse. When the Prince of Yun went on his travels, he ate them once in the countryside and fell in love with them.

After returning to the palace, he couldn't forget it. The empress, who loved him dearly, had it planted in the palace.

To ensure that the Prince of Yun could enjoy the food year-round, the Queen even had a greenhouse built using glazed tiles.

The greenhouse cost ten thousand taels of silver, and the Empress often personally made dumplings for him.

He used to envy his two younger brothers. If Ruoyun Wang was indeed the masked man, Xie Tingzhou couldn't understand why his brother was jealous of him.

Aside from the position of crown prince, Prince Yun received far more than him, and as crown prince, he never suppressed his two younger brothers. In fact, if he had the ability, he could have given up the position of crown prince.

"Alright, then I'll take another look."

Prince Yun also took a bite of dumpling and mumbled his reply to the Empress.

The Empress then served Xie Tingzhou his favorite food and looked at him expectantly.

In the past, the crown prince was watched by many eyes and strived for perfection. From a young age, he would never take a bite of anything more than three times, so as not to reveal his preferences.

Therefore, the Empress found it difficult to understand his tastes. It was only when Xie Tingzhou returned to the palace without concealing his intentions that the Empress found out.

Feeling guilty towards her eldest son, she dared not urge him to get married, but she was still concerned about him, and her eyes couldn't help but reveal it.

Xie Tingzhou asked her, "What does Mother think of Su Yanwan?"

"Not good enough for you."

Prince Ning spoke before the Empress could.

The Empress pretended to hit Prince Ning and warned him gently, "Don't talk nonsense, and you are not allowed to disrespect your brother."

Prince Ning muttered, "It's really not that great."

He wasn't even allowed to tell the truth.

The Empress thought for a moment, "Why are you suddenly asking Mother about this?"

She had some impression of Su Yanwan, but not a very good one. She was a girl who was very ambitious, not very smart, and had ulterior motives.

But she heard that Su Yanwan liked the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince didn't seem to have rejected her.

Xie Tingzhou put down his silver chopsticks. "My son is indeed getting on in years, and the Crown Prince's Palace needs a mistress."

The sooner he gets rid of the masked man, the sooner he can marry Ye Zhenzhen.

"You're going to marry her?"

The Empress was somewhat shocked and displeased.

She also secretly felt that Su Yanwan was not a good match for the Crown Prince, as Su Yanwan did not have the ability to manage the six palaces and be a model of virtue for the country.

The dragon throne is not an easy seat to sit on. If one marries an unvirtuous wife, one's son will have a lot of hardship to endure both inside and outside the home in the future.

Seeing that Xie Tingzhou nodded, she could only say, "The most important thing is that you like her. However, you haven't known Miss Su for very long. Why don't you spend more time together?"

She didn't know why the Crown Prince had taken a liking to Su Yanwan, but matters of the heart are hard to predict.

They had no choice but to stall for time, hoping that with more time, the Crown Prince would see through Su Yanwan's true colors and change his mind.

Xie Tingzhou said, "Mother, she is very good. If you get to know her better, you might come to like her too."

There's nothing much going on in the palace lately, Mother, would you like to summon her to keep you company?

After the Crown Prince returned to the palace, he helped to lighten the Emperor's burden considerably, which also made the Empress feel more at ease.

Since it concerned her son's lifelong happiness, the Empress agreed.

Regarding Su Yanwan's matter, she did indeed hear from her subordinates that she should indeed call her over to observe and understand the situation herself.

"Thank you, Mother Empress."

Xie Tingzhou was very happy. "Mother, because of the Su family's matter, the Su family's reputation has also been affected, and Yan Wan has been ridiculed because of this."

Your Majesty, I cannot bear to see her like this. I wish to ask Your Majesty to bestow some more gifts upon her. If she gains Your favor, no outsider will dare to look down on her.”

The Empress's heart sank.

Is she really interested?

She also had to do a facial for Su Yanwan.

I previously thought the Crown Prince liked Ye Zhen, and I was even thinking of helping him get together with her. I never expected that the Crown Prince's taste... is really terrible.

Because of this, the Empress went to the Imperial Study with great concern and told the Emperor about Xie Tingzhou's interest in Su Yanwan.

The Su family are Li Heng's people, and the Crown Prince wants to deal with Li Heng. The Emperor doesn't believe that Xie Tingzhou would be interested in Su Yanwan.

He is probably getting close to Su Yanwan for some other purpose, but he can't tell the Empress about it, otherwise she will find out about his reunion with his son.

The emperor sighed. To conceal one thing requires doing countless things to cover it up thoroughly.

There is indeed no perfect solution in this world. Once I acknowledge my son as my wife, I will have to keep my secrets from her.

We also need to find a way to resolve the Empress's inner conflict and let her know that even if the Crown Prince knows where she comes from, he will not look down on her as his mother.

After thinking for a moment, he comforted him, "Perhaps the child has been wandering outside for many years and has suffered too much. He is easily grateful to anyone who treats him well."

Most noble ladies in the capital are skilled at acting; the Crown Prince may have been deceived. Since you've allowed Su Yanwan into the palace, you should thoroughly investigate her true colors.

The Empress sighed, "There's no other way."

That very day, she summoned Su Yanwan to the palace to accompany her.

Su Yanwan was overjoyed and dressed up carefully before entering the palace, thinking she could get close to the Empress. However, she didn't even see the Empress before being taken to pick up Buddha beans in front of the Buddha.

The Empress intended to test her patience.

When the news reached the Crown Prince's Palace, Xie Tingzhou was focused on handling official documents and didn't even look up.

He instructed Yu Nie, "Keep an eye on King Yun."

A short while later, Fu Guang emerged from the secret passage and said, "Master, as you predicted, Li Heng sent someone to assassinate Imperial Physician Su last night."

Fortunately, the master left two people behind in the open, but secretly ordered him to lead his men to hide in the shadows.

The imperial physician, Su, escaped unharmed.

"I secretly escorted Imperial Physician Su to the Li family, and when I saw that you were going to the Li family to see Physician Su, I returned."

With the Marquis around, even if the Li family didn't want to break off the engagement, they wouldn't dare to act like scoundrels on the surface.

Xie Tingzhou nodded. "How is the second branch of the Su family doing?"

"When Imperial Physician Su learned of what Su Lao Er had done, he was very angry. But he only made the eldest son's family and the second son's family separate. The old Su family house was given to the second son's family. Imperial Physician Su found another house for Physician Su. After the engagement was called off, Physician Su would move out of the Su family."

Hearing this, Xie Tingzhou was not surprised.

When the old imperial physician Su asked him to oversee Su Luoqing's marriage, he guessed that in the old man's heart, the offspring of the second wife were more important than Su Luoqing, his granddaughter.

Otherwise, he could have helped Su Luoqing sever ties with the second wife, thus preventing the second wife from controlling Su Luoqing's marriage.