The mistress who remarried has returned.

***

Su Yunxi arrived at the East Palace. The guards briefly checked her and the food box in her hand before letting her pass. She walked to the outside of the master bedroom.

I heard people talking quietly inside the house.

She stood by the door listening and faintly heard Li Changchuan's voice.

"Master, I'm sorry. I know you resent me for pledging allegiance to the Emperor. But if I hadn't pledged allegiance to the Emperor and become the guardian of the Eastern Palace, how could I have stayed by your side?"

Li Changchuan's voice was filled with regret and helplessness regarding the situation.

Upon hearing this, Su Yunxi coughed softly.

Li Changchuan immediately fell silent, stood up, and turned around to see Su Liangdi carrying a food box as she walked in.

"Su Liangdi".

"How is Your Highness?"

"I fed His Highness water twice during that time," Li Changchuan said, looking at the Crown Prince's face. "His Highness turned over once while he was asleep, which means his strength is gradually recovering. He can turn over on his own now, and he can even cry out in pain. As long as he has a follow-up appointment and the medication can be continued, he should wake up in a few days."

As she spoke, her voice fell into melancholy, "But just getting the medication continued for the follow-up appointment is already incredibly difficult."

Su Yunxi placed the food box on the table, took out some easily digestible lean meat porridge from it. Since it was a bit cold, she poured some hot water into a large bowl, put the porridge and small bowl into the large bowl, and warmed it with the hot water.

Immediately, Su Yunxi silently took out a small stove for brewing medicine from the hidden compartment, then looked at Li Changchuan, "Keep an eye on the door. If anyone comes, cough as I reminded you earlier. These days, the guards in the Eastern Palace are all the Emperor's men, so we must be extremely careful with our words. Even if Your Highness is feeling better, you must not make a fuss. In the court, many people do not want the Crown Prince to recover. Even if the Crown Prince does nothing, he is already a target of everyone's anger. There are too many monks and not enough flesh; only when he dies will others have a chance to rise."

Li Changchuan nodded and went to the door as instructed. He kept an eye on the outside while watching Liangdi's steady movements as she prepared the medicine. With Liangdi in the mansion, even in its decline, there was still hope, and it still felt like a home. The head of the household used to be a charming and amorous man who treated all the women well. He feared that the head of the household might wake up as a different person and only be kind to one person from then on. He said, "At this hour, the guards are all having dinner. Liangdi, you can prepare the medicine without worry."

Su Yunxi opened the bag of Chinese medicine. There were only two doses left inside. She would use them today, and then use the last dose tomorrow. After that, there would be no more medicine. She set up a small stove, lit a fire, and started brewing the medicine. Then she stared blankly at the last dose of medicine in the bag.

Li Changchuan said, "Once the medicine runs out tomorrow, there won't be any more."

Su Yunxi nodded, but didn't explain where the medicine came from. However, Li Changchuan was very clever and could guess it without her saying so. She sighed, "Yes."

Li Changchuan didn't pressure Liangdi. She was a weak woman, and he couldn't bring himself to force her. She was already trying her best to find a solution, only saying, "I'm useless. I can't protect my parents, I can't protect the head of the family, and I can't offer any advice to Liangdi."

"Li Changchuan, you are already far superior to those who have fallen on hard times and are now scattered and seeking their own way out. You are far superior to them."

Su Yunxi glanced at Li Changchuan, then lowered her head and said nothing more. Since Kang Yin hadn't replied yet about whether she could come for a follow-up appointment, she would eventually have to ask Qin Huai for his opinion. Judging from Qin Huai's attitude just now, he wasn't angry about her refusing to kneel before him at the Xue residence, and was even quite kind and gentle to her today.

Furthermore, Qin Huai said he would talk to her later about things they hadn't touched on in the past four years, and told her who he had come to the Xue residence for tonight.

It's very intriguing.

Her mind was in turmoil, and she couldn't help but let her imagination run wild. She dared not hope that the answer would be that he came to the Xue residence for her sake.

She hadn't forgotten that rainy night in the barracks four years ago, when she ran excitedly to find Qin Huai to verify her story, only to leave his tent in despair, looking utterly lost and distraught.

Su Yunxi asked Li Changchuan to help support the Crown Prince. After feeding the Crown Prince his medicine and food, she carefully extinguished the medicine stove and hid the medicine bowl and the last dose of medicine in a hidden compartment. These items must not be discovered by anyone.

The Emperor forbids the Crown Prince from taking medicine, and she has no way to bring medicine in. If it is discovered that the Crown Prince has been secretly seeking medical treatment and taking medicine, it will be a huge disaster for both of them. They must be extremely careful.

"I have other matters to attend to, so I'll probably be late tonight, or perhaps tomorrow," Su Yunxi said. After attending to the sick, she began to worry again about the cloak she had ruined for Qin Huai. Frustrated and dejected, she said, "If I can never come again, tomorrow you must brew the last dose of medicine for His Highness. The rest is up to fate."

Li Changchuan asked with concern, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Su Yunxi thought that she had ruined the cloak made by Qin Huai's grandmother, and that she had caused a scene at the Xue mansion, which resulted in her father's new bride being beaten by Qin Huai. Her father would definitely not treat her well. In short, a lot of bad things had happened.

This is probably what they mean by a life full of twists and turns.

But she didn't like sharing her private matters, so she just shook her head and said, "It's nothing."

Qin Huai and others were waiting for her at the teahouse so they could go to her residence to retrieve the cloak; she couldn't delay too long.

Li Changchuan said, "I'm here, so you don't need to worry. These guards don't dare to mistreat the head of the family easily, partly out of fear of that imperial lineage. The Emperor only ordered the flesh and bones to be cut off, but didn't behead the Crown Prince. Everyone's smart enough to be afraid that the Emperor might suddenly remember his first child."

Su Yunxi picked up the empty food box and left the East Palace.

They walked back to the outside of the teahouse.

Even just recalling what happened four years ago, without even thinking about it, feels like it would kill her. After all, she loved him so much back then.

The sky gradually darkened, and it was already sunset.

She entered the teahouse and searched for Qin Huai's figure in the lobby.

When the shopkeeper saw that it was the young lady who came every day to ask if anyone from the General's Mansion had arrived, he pointed to the window and enthusiastically gave her directions, "Miss, you've finally found your husband. He's sitting by the window waiting. The waiter told me that his horse has the character 'Qin' on it. It's true that he's from the General's Mansion you were looking for. He's indeed a handsome man. No wonder you come to ask him for news every day."

"Uncle, he is not my husband."

Under the shopkeeper's questioning gaze, Su Yunxi looked away and saw Qin Huai by the window. Someone was speaking to him. Indeed, he was extremely busy, with countless matters constantly coming his way. She deliberately avoided approaching him when someone spoke. She was a married woman, and even if Qin Huai didn't keep his distance, she would consider his feelings and stay away to avoid increasing his resentment.

Su Yunxi didn't stay at the door for long before Qin Huai looked over, as if he would glance over here every now and then.

While listening to his confidant's report, Qin Huai gestured to Su Yunxi, signaling her to come over.

Su Yunxi understood that the person who came to report was his subordinate, so there was no need to avoid people because of their affair. He stopped trying to hide and walked straight over.

Sigh, the two of them are just having an affair, she really can't think of any other relationship. In short, she only thinks about it in her heart and won't let others see her thoughts. There's no need to hide anything.