The mistress who remarried has returned.

Su Yunxi recalled their intimacy the previous night, and her ears and neck flushed uncontrollably. She whispered, "You know perfectly well why I was clinging to you..."

Qin Huai gave her a disdainful look. "I don't know."

Without further delay, we had to leave.

Su Yunxi simply clung to his leg and wouldn't let go. She'd figured out that he wouldn't easily agree unless she begged him. She didn't dare bring up the follow-up appointment and medication abruptly, only whispering, "The cloak thing is over. It's time for you to keep your promise..."

Seeing her clinging tightly to his leg, Qin Huai realized she wasn't wearing a bodice yet, and from his angle, the view inside her neckline was completely visible. She pressed her face against his thigh and brazenly confronted him. He actually smiled helplessly, "I'm going to the capital."

"If you don't agree, I won't let you go to the capital." Su Yunxi lowered her face. "And I will scream 'Indecent assault'."

"You...!" Qin Huai actually laughed in anger, "Who exactly assaulted whom?"

Su Yunxi shrank her shoulders. It was indeed her who was hugging his leg, her face close to his genitals, and in the bronze mirror, she even had a tissue stuffed in one nostril to stop the nosebleed, looking rather lewd. She was more likely to have molested him. "Anyway, once I scream, you'll have to take responsibility for me."

"Don't make a scene about making me take responsibility for this." Qin Huai placed his hand on the top of her neck. "Once you start yelling, there'll be no way to clean up the mess."

Hearing his serious tone, Su Yunxi knew that she, in her humble state, had overstepped her bounds.

She stopped bringing up the matter of making him take responsibility, because she understood that she had never been his favorite, nor had he ever intended to take responsibility for her; otherwise, he wouldn't have kept her as a mistress for seven years without bringing her home. Besides, with Miss Xue, there was no room for anyone else in his heart. She smiled awkwardly, loosened her grip on his thigh, and scratched her forehead. "I won't make a fuss about making you take responsibility anymore. I was just joking."

Perhaps to ease the awkwardness, she pulled down one shoulder of her already disheveled clothes, revealing her thin shoulder covered in hickeys. The deepest hickeys were from an arrow wound. She affectedly hooked her arm around his shoulder, feigning wantonness to hide her eyes that were almost reddening. "Then let me show you my shoulder. This is an extra fee beyond what we agreed on. Please, just agree to the Crown Prince's follow-up appointment. We only have one dose of medicine left..."

Qin Huai's gaze softened. Was it just his imagination? Was she upset because of what he had just said? Did she want him to take responsibility?

He didn't make things difficult for her regarding the matters that had already been agreed upon. He gently rubbed the top of her neck and said, "I will arrange for Kang Yin to go to the East Palace today to give Zhou Yu a follow-up examination. These marks on your body are a gift I gave him after his awakening."

He paused for a moment, then added, "But I doubt you'd dare let him see you. You'll have to behave yourself for a few days."

Su Yunxi ignored his distrust, simply pulling up her clothes and tidying them up. She then stared at the cloak in his hand, asking, "What should we do with this cloak? How are we going to explain this to your grandmother...?"

"You don't need to worry about it. Now that you've done your bad deed, you're acting like a weasel paying respects to a chicken."

After Qin Huai left.

Su Yunxi walked barefoot to the door, gazing at his departing figure through the half-open door. After his figure disappeared outside the side door, she withdrew her gaze, suppressing all her emotions and putting his words, "Don't make a scene about making me take responsibility for this," out of her mind.

You can't see any emotion on his face.

She put on her cotton coat, picked up the food box, and went to the kitchen, where she saw her mother cooking breakfast.

When Su's mother saw that it was Xixi carrying the food box, she said, "Xixi, you're up. Today, your mother cooked millet and sweet potato porridge and also made a pot of pumpkin-filled buns. They're all easy to digest."

Su Yunxi didn't mention that Su Yuanzhou had come to her that night to make her kneel down at the Wang family's house. She just took a deep breath in front of the stove and said, "It smells so good. It smells just like my mother. Being able to eat my mother's cooking is the happiest thing in the world. No matter what I can't get over, eating a meal of my mother's cooking will solve everything."

Mother Su smiled gently and stroked her daughter's hair. She suspected her daughter had been upset after seeing the eldest son of the Qin family and the eldest daughter of the Xue family together at the Xue residence yesterday. However, Mother Su didn't pry. She simply packed food into the food box for Su Yunxi in silence, then pointed to the table, saying, "Leave the food box for me. Go and eat something. A full stomach means no worries. Whether you're happy or sad, it's still a day. Of course, you should be happy."

"Mother, I want to wait for you and Yunze to eat together. Eating together tastes better. Eating alone isn't enjoyable at all." Su Yunxi said, walking to the table, setting out the chopsticks, and then asking, "Where's Yunze?"

Su's mother said, "She got up a moment ago, but I don't know which room she went to."

There were only a few rooms in the backyard. Su Yunxi went to call her younger brother for dinner. It wasn't hard to find him. She found her brother in the small study. She stood by the window and looked inside. She saw Su Yunze carrying the bag of her incense-making tools. He was carefully arranging the items back one by one, following the marks on the table. He looked very serious, as if he was afraid of damaging the incense-making tools.

Su Yunxi smiled and said, "Little brother, let's have breakfast first."

Upon hearing the sound, Su Yunze turned around and saw his older sister standing outside the window looking at him inside. He said "I'll be right away," then placed the last piece of incense clay mortar on the table, put the pestle into the mortar, and walked up to his older sister, saying, "Older sister, when I have time off, I can help you find wood on the mountain so you can make incense."

Su Yunxi stroked her brother's head, feeling warm and touched, and nodded silently.

***

Inside the Qin Mansion.

Liu Shun searched for Qin Huai's whereabouts in many places, but could not find any trace of him. Last night, the master spoke to the general, but the general did not return to the mansion.

Liu Shun was extremely anxious, wondering where Qin Huai had gone after failing to return home twice in a row. He hadn't been home twice recently.

The accountant carried a bag of five hundred taels of silver out of the house.

Liu Shun stopped him and asked, "Where are you going with all that silver so early in the morning?"

The accountant said, "Yesterday, the master had someone take a lot of clothes from the tailor in the capital. The shop assistant came to collect the bill from me early this morning, and I sent him five hundred taels of silver to settle the account."

Liu Shun clicked his tongue. Five hundred taels of silver for clothes, that's really generous of Miss Xue. But he usually doesn't bother with such trivial things as buying clothes for Miss Xue. Why did he suddenly become so meticulous today, sending someone to buy clothes for her himself? He waved his hand and told the accountant to go and do the work. "Go ahead. If we don't settle the bill late, people will think that the mansion is trying to renege on five hundred taels."

Just as it was almost time for court, Liu Shun suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves. He hurriedly jumped out of his residence and saw a guard riding towards him.

Liu Shun recognized this as one of the shadows who secretly protected the general. Since the face was covered, he couldn't tell which one it was, so he asked bluntly, "Where is the general? He hasn't returned to the manor all night."

Shadow reined in his horse but did not dismount. He said to Liu Shunyan from horseback, "The general has already gone ahead to the direction of the palace. He ordered me to come back and tell you to take your court robes, court boots, and black gauze hat and meet him outside the Meridian Gate."

Liu Shun then asked, "Do you know where the general spent the night last night?"

The shadow's voice was solemn, "I know."

Seeing that the shadow had only said half a sentence, Liu Shun asked again, "So, General, where did you spend the night last night? Can you tell me?"

"Can't."

Liu Shun: "..."