The Dark Moonlight returns to the capital, and the mad prince is accused of forcing love.

Although Qingyi didn't understand, she still hugged the dog and left, closing the door tightly before she left.

Only two people remained in the room.

Shen Huaijin placed the medicine box on the table and first took her pulse.

Xu Qianhui stretched out her wrist, quietly watching him, waiting for him to speak first.

It took him a while to withdraw his hand.

"The injury is not serious, but you should not overexert yourself for the next few days."

"Shen Huaijin".

"Um?"

"Are you hiding something from me?"

His fingers paused.

The shadows of the trees swayed outside the window, and sunlight streamed in through the windowpanes, illuminating his slightly pale face.

Shen Huaijin remained silent for a long time before finally standing up and bowing respectfully to her.

"My original surname was Xiao, and my given name was Huaijin."

Xu Qianhui stopped holding the teacup.

"The Second Prince?"

"Yes."

She suddenly understood many things.

Princess Fu'an treated her differently at the polo match, and Zuixiangju did not hesitate to come to her rescue.

It turns out that it was never Xu Qianhui who was lucky.

Shen Huaijin was standing behind her.

When did you find out I had come to the capital?

"You haven't been in Beijing for long."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Shen Huaijin lowered his eyes, his voice low: "I don't know how to tell you."

Xu Qianhui looked at him.

This man was always composed, even when questioned by Lin Zuoqing, he remained unfazed. But at this moment, he resembled a boy who had done something wrong, avoiding even eye contact with her.

"Ah Hui, I regret it."

He spoke very slowly.

"Back then, when you wanted to return to Jiangnan, I could have stopped you. If I had just spoken up, Master wouldn't have sent you away. But at that time, I thought that since you had your own things to do, I shouldn't interfere, much less stop you."

"If I hadn't agreed to let you leave back then, none of those things would have happened. You wouldn't have suffered so much alone, and Zhiyi wouldn't have died."

Xu Qianhui's eyelashes trembled slightly.

She recalled the winter rain in Jiangnan, the innocent face of Zhiyi when she tugged at her clothes, and the fact that when she was driven out of the Duke's mansion, no one was willing to say a word for her.

But those things are all in the past now.

"Little Huaihuai".

He looked up.

Xu Qianhui said softly, "These are not your faults, you can't be blamed for them."

The restraint in Shen Huaijin's eyes finally cracked.

"You've never blamed me?"

"No," Xu Qianhui smiled, "not even once."

The room remained quiet for a long time.

Shen Huaijin turned his back, as if he had taken a long time to recover, before speaking again.

"There's one more thing you should know."

Xu Qianhui looked at him.

"Yesterday, Minister Lin beat the drum to appeal, and the evidence of Madam Fu's murder of her mother-in-law has been presented to the Emperor. When the old lady died, she was holding Madam Fu's gold hairpin, and the Duke himself admitted that he was not the old lady's biological son."

"Now that the bloodline of the eldest son's family is unclear, his eligibility to inherit the title has also been revoked."

"The entire Duke's mansion has been imprisoned."

Xu Qianhui gently tapped the teacup in her hand on the table.

She did not speak.

Lin Zuoqing truly sent himself, Madam Fu, and the entire Duke's mansion to prison.

Was he seeking justice for her, or was he trying to atone for his own sins?

Xu Qianhui couldn't tell the difference.

But then she suddenly remembered that rainy night three years ago.

Standing outside the mansion gate, disheveled and begging him to believe him just this once.

At that time, Lin Zuoqing just looked at her coldly, as if she were a shameless liar.

"I want to go see him."

Shen Huaijin frowned slightly.

"Ah Hui, the Duke's mansion is a problem now. Now that you've come out, there's no need to turn back."

"I won't look back." Xu Qianhui looked up at him. "But there are some things that should be made clear."

Shen Huaijin remained silent for a moment before finally nodding.

"it is good."

"I'll take you there."

......

The prison was cold and damp.

Xu Qianhui walked through the long passageway, the stone bricks under her feet damp with moisture.

Inside the cells on either side, some people were sobbing quietly, some were cursing, and there was the harsh sound of chains dragging on the floor.

Shen Huaijin did not follow them inside.

He stood at the end of the passageway and simply ordered the jailer to open the door.

"I'll wait for you outside."

Xu Qianhui nodded and walked alone to the innermost cell.

Lin Zuoqing sat by the wall, dressed in prison clothes with shackles on his wrists.

His once meticulously styled hair ornament was now disheveled, his face was pale, and his eyes were covered with dark circles.

Hearing footsteps, he slowly raised his head.

When he saw who it was, his eyes seemed to light up.

"Afen."

Xu Qianhui stood outside the wooden fence, not approaching.

"What are you doing here?" Lin Zuoqing looked at her, his throat tightening. "I thought you would never see me again."

"We shouldn't have met again, but there are some things I have to tell you in person."

Lin Zuoqing propped himself up and stood up, looking at her through the wooden fence, his voice hoarse.

"sorry."

Xu Qianhui did not respond.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have trusted Mother, I shouldn't have forced you to leave, I shouldn't have treated you like that during your most difficult time..."

He gripped the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"I didn't know you had a child, I didn't know you had suffered so much. I thought you were lying to me, that you only approached me for the wealth and status of the Duke's mansion."

"Ah Hui, I was wrong."

Xu Qianhui looked at him and suddenly felt very tired.

She had waited many years for this apology.

But when the time finally came, I didn't feel the joy I had imagined.

"You don't need to apologize."

Lin Zuoqing froze.

Xu Qianhui slowly spoke: "Because there is one thing you did not wrong."

"What?"

She looked up, her eyes gradually reddening.

"I was responsible for that accident involving the old Duke."

Lin Zuoqing's expression suddenly changed.

"What did you say?"

"He didn't die in an accident." Xu Qianhui's voice was very soft. "That day, I followed his carriage and tampered with the incense he usually used. The coachman had a heart attack, which is why the carriage rushed down the mountain road."

Lin Zuoqing suddenly took a step back, his back slamming against the cold wall.

"impossible."

"You keep asking me why I followed him that day. Because of him, my brother died. I want him dead, I want his life!"

"Impossible!" Lin Zuoqing's voice suddenly rose. "Grandfather wasn't that kind of person! He was an upright man his whole life, teaching me to read and to understand principles. How could he possibly do such a thing?"

Xu Qianhui's tears fell, but she still stared straight at him.

"Cousin, have you ever thought about what he was really thinking when he held your hand and taught you to write?"

Lin Zuoqing's breath hitched.

Xu Qianhui's words, one by one, felt like a dull knife pressing down on his heart.

"Does he ever wish this child would grow up faster?"

"Stop talking."

"Why didn't your father let you study, but instead sent you to learn martial arts at a young age? When you were little, did you ever wonder why your father was so nervous every time the old Duke called you to his study?"

"Stop talking!"

Lin Zuoqing held his head in his hands, as if he could no longer stand, and slowly slid down the wall to sit down.

Those fragments he had ignored suddenly became clear.

Every time his father saw his grandfather touch him, his face would turn ugly.

His father never allowed him to stay overnight in his grandfather's yard.

Later, when he was older, his father would rather be scolded by his grandfather than allow him to enter the study alone.

He once thought his father disliked him.

It turned out not to be.

"Impossible..." Lin Zuoqing murmured, "Grandfather wouldn't be that kind of person."

Xu Qianhui raised her hand to wipe away her tears.

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, the old lady was also an accomplice. Do you remember Old Huang, the coachman? His son died at the age of eight at the hands of that old bastard."

After he finished speaking, the cell fell silent.

It was a long time before Lin Zuoqing finally raised his head.

His eyes were bloodshot, as if all his strength had been drained away.

"And what about us?"

Xu Qianhui did not hear clearly.

"Ah Hui," he asked in a hoarse voice, "do we have a future together?"

She stood there, tears welling up uncontrollably again.

Three years ago, I asked myself a similar question.

She asked him if he could trust her just this once.

He did not.

Xu Qianhui covered her mouth, trying to suppress her sobs, and only spoke after a long while.

"If only you had believed me three years ago."

Lin Zuoqing's eyes were red, and his fingers were gripping the ground tightly.

"Then you'll have a very cute child. Regardless of gender, they'll be very good-looking."

"Unfortunately, everything is irreversible."

She turned away and didn't look at him again.

There were no footsteps following behind, only the sound of shackles hitting the ground, one after another, dull and heavy like a weight pressing on my heart.

Xu Qianhui was released from prison, and the sunlight was so bright that she couldn't open her eyes.

Shen Huaijin stood at the bottom of the steps, holding an umbrella. He didn't ask her what she had seen, but simply handed her the cloak.

"Let's go back."

Xu Qianhui took the cloak and said softly, "Okay."

After returning home, she slept for three whole days.

For three days, the capital was thrown into chaos by the case involving the Duke's mansion.

Some say that Madam Fu murdered her mother to seize power, while others say that the bloodline of the Duke of Rong's mansion is chaotic, even enraging the Emperor.

Xu Qianhui acted as if she hadn't heard anything.

She would wake up each day, eat something, and then lie back down holding Bai Ze.

Qingyi was so anxious she was pacing around in circles, but she didn't dare to pressure her, so she could only stand at the door boiling water and changing the incense.

On the evening of the third day, Shen Huaijin came again.

Xu Qianhui sat under the eaves basking in the sun, and her complexion finally regained some color.

"Why are you dressed so formally today?"

Shen Huaijin was dressed in a dark blue brocade robe, with a jade pendant at his waist, and two palace servants followed behind him.

He looked at her and said slowly, "I'll invite you to the palace banquet tomorrow."

Xu Qianhui raised her head.

Shen Huaijin took out a gold-embossed invitation from his sleeve and handed it to her.

"Ah Hui, come with me to the palace."