The mistress who remarried has returned.

Su Yunxi was familiar with his expression. Because he was usually busy with court affairs, he would also make arrangements for some things during his spare time. She walked over to his horse, but did not stop. She continued to walk forward at a steady pace.

I have no idea where to go.

If she goes to the East Palace, she worries that Qin Huai will remember her past betrayal of him and make things difficult for her.

If she goes to the Su residence to retrieve the cloak, it will suffer the same fate as the cloak...

He started to drift aimlessly, trying to procrastinate as long as he could before his patience ran out.

"Let's mount the horse."

Hearing the sound of footsteps on the snow, Qin Huai looked up and saw Su Yunxi carrying things over. She walked past him and her horse as if she hadn't seen him. He spoke to her, then pushed off the wall with his foot, lifted himself off the wall, grabbed the reins, and led his horse to follow.

Hearing the sound, Su Yunxi turned around and glanced at him. She saw him stepping on the stirrups on the horse's belly to mount it. She turned back to look ahead, said nothing to him, and continued walking forward.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" The sound of horses' hooves crunching on the snow was right behind Su Yunxi. Qin Huai looked at her back; her waist was taut, and her hair swayed at her waist as she walked. He could imagine the ticklish feeling of her hair brushing against his skin. "Still didn't see me waiting here?"

Su Yunxi kept her mouth shut and walked on her own. When the incense-making tools she was carrying became heavy, she would shift them to a different position on her fingers to let the area that had been pinched earlier recover.

They walked like this for quite a while, without hearing the sound of horses' hooves behind them, nor did they hear Qin Huai say anything more, but they could sense that his gaze was always fixed on her back, as if he was waiting for her to give in.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of horses' hooves rushing towards her. Su Yunxi was afraid that the horses would trample her, so she subconsciously turned around to look. Before she could turn her face back, she saw a dark figure lean down. Then, her waist was suddenly tightened as a strong arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her up. He held most of her slender waist in one hand.

In the midst of the chaos, she involuntarily gasped softly as she landed on the horse. Qin Huai held the reins with one arm and wrapped the other around her waist. Her back was pressed against his chest, and when he pulled his arm closer, she was pressed tightly against his chest.

The sudden intimacy made Su Yunxi shift her body uncomfortably.

A soft laugh came from above.

Su Yunxi stopped moving, because the more she twisted her body, the closer she got to him, and her wriggling in his arms seemed like she was deliberately teasing him.

Su Yunxi disliked him teasing her secretly when Xue Wenying couldn't see. She struggled to get off the horse, saying, "I want to get off. I can walk by myself."

Qin Huai squeezed the horse's flanks with his legs and spurred the horse forward.

Su Yunxi struggled against his arms again, "I don't want to ride your horse, I want to walk by myself."

"Your legs don't hurt anymore?" Qin Huai scolded softly. "You made your legs so tired from walking that you could continue to control me. There's a lot more to the Eastern Palace than meets the eye. What else are you trying to extort from me?"

Upon hearing this, Su Yunxi realized that there was indeed only one thing that could be needed in the Eastern Palace: a doctor. However, she lacked the ambition and ability to do so, and could only manage to seek medical help. So she calmed down and stopped trying to break free from his arm. But she was still unhappy that he was hiding from Miss Xue and waiting for her in the distance, treating her like a shameful object.

So she nestled quietly in his arms, no longer speaking.

Qin Huai glanced at the bag of incense-making tools she was carrying under her sleeves, which were now white and stiff from washing. He reached down to take it and hung it on the hook by the horse's belly. Then he took her hand and opened her palm. A mark was clearly visible on her palm. He rubbed the mark with his fingertips, carefully examining the tear stain.

Su Yunxi pulled her hand back, puzzled and helpless, "Is a single mark something to laugh about?"

Qin Huai glanced at her and said, "How do you care about my fun?"

Su Yunxi turned her head and gave him a cheek.

Qin Huai then glanced down at the food box that Su Yunxi was carrying in her other hand.

Su Yunxi noticed his gaze and worried that he would take the food box and throw it away, so she carefully held the food box in her arms and wouldn't let him touch it.

Qin Huai's serious gaze lingered on her cheek from above and to the side for a long time. Even at such close range, he couldn't see any pores; her skin was incredibly delicate.

Su Yunxi realized that Qin Huai hadn't done anything excessive to her food box, but he was much calmer than when she had seen him attending to her illness at the East Palace that day. It seemed that he was quite kind, even though he hadn't witnessed the scene firsthand. She couldn't help but glance at him, and saw undisguised pity in his eyes. Even though she caught this expression, he didn't hide his feelings.

Su Yunxi felt as if she had been burned by that look of pity, and quickly lowered her head. This gaze had followed her for seven years; whenever she stumbled, bumped, or suffered injustice, he would always look at her like this, making her feel like the most precious girl in the world. Perhaps she had been too eager to be cared for these past few days, and thus often misinterpreted his words.

The horses wandered aimlessly through the streets.

"Did Li Changchuan give you my cloak two or three days ago?" Qin Huai looked at her cheeks. If she didn't want to talk to anyone, she probably wouldn't speak for the rest of her life, so he took the initiative to ask.

When Su Yunxi heard him ask about the cloak, she nodded. "He found it at the East Palace Gate and, not knowing what to do with it, gave it to me."

"After he gave it to you, you took the cloak back to the Su residence and put it in your room?" Qin Huai asked again, "You kept it very carefully?"

Although Su Yunxi wanted to sever all ties with him because he had used her for seven years and didn't want to speak to him, she still carefully dealt with him because of Qin Huai's cloak and the fact that the Crown Prince's follow-up appointment was still pending. She nodded silently, "Yes. You were very good to me during those seven years, so naturally I'll keep your things carefully in my room..."

She thought that she had indeed taken the cloak back to the Su residence and put it in her room, so it wasn't exactly a lie.

"You put the cloak..." Qin Huai continued to press, "on your bed?"

Su Yunxi hurriedly looked up at Qin Huai, who was staring at her intently. She remembered the note she had written before. During the two or three years he went to the western coast to fight off the enemy, she had indeed cuddled his clothes and smelled his scent day and night to rest. But this time, she didn't. She just smelled it and thought he was disgusted by her dirtiness, so she sadly destroyed the clothes.

She didn't know how to answer, and somehow, her cheeks turned from pink to red, and her ears also became hot, probably because he mentioned the bold love letter she wrote to him when she was young and naive.

Seeing that even her neck was flushed red, Qin Huai didn't press the matter further. He tightened his arms around her and pressed her closer to him. "I didn't do anything to you, and you're already so red. If I really did something to you, what would you do?"