After flirting with the aloof prince, the concubine ran away pregnant.

Afu felt a chill in her heart. She quickly changed into dry clothes, dried her wet hair briefly, and loosely tied it up with a hairpin. When she came out again, Xie Xun was already waiting by the carriage.

His carriage, as always, was spacious and luxurious, its black body exuding a cold and oppressive aura in the drizzle.

Afu silently got into the car, huddled in a corner, trying to minimize her presence.

Xie Xun then came up. As soon as the curtain of the carriage was drawn, the small space was filled only with the scent of pine resin on his body and the suffocatingly low pressure.

The carriage started slowly, and the journey continued in silence.

After an unknown amount of time, just when she thought he would remain silent until they returned home, he finally spoke.

"If you were going to look at the shop, why did you go out alone in the rain?"

His voice was calm, revealing neither joy nor anger, yet it instantly made Afu's nerves tense to the extreme.

We must not tell the truth; we must never let him know of A-Zhen's existence.

A-Zhen was her weakness, and she couldn't expose her weakness to this capricious man.

She took a deep breath and spoke her prepared explanation in a calm tone: "Your Highness, the shop is short of a double-sided embroidered screen design. I thought the embroidery from Yunxiu Manor was exquisite, so I went there alone to see if I could find some new patterns."

She paused, her voice lowering slightly: "On the way back, it suddenly started raining heavily. Fortunately, a kind person gave me a ride in their carriage. Once we entered the city, the rain subsided, so I got off the carriage and walked back to the shop myself."

These words were half true and half false. It was true that she went to Yunxiu Manor, it was true that she encountered heavy rain, and it was also true that she was given a ride.

She simply concealed the most important purpose of her trip.

She bet he wouldn't go to such lengths to investigate something so trivial.

After listening, Xie Xun didn't say anything, but simply turned his head and looked at her with deep eyes.

Afu felt uneasy under his gaze and involuntarily lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow under her eyes.

"From now on, take Bai Zhi with you when you go out," he suddenly said. Bai Zhi must be the name of the maid from earlier.

Afu was startled and looked up.

"Achoo! Achoo!" She finally couldn't hold it in and sneezed several times in a row, tears welling up in her eyes.

Xie Xun frowned, but said nothing more, only turning his gaze to the window.

Silence fell again inside the carriage, but this time, the suffocating sense of oppression seemed to have lessened somewhat.

Back at the Marquis's residence, the carriage stopped at the second gate. Just as Afu was about to alight, Xie Xun's cold voice came from behind: "Go back to your courtyard and have the kitchen prepare a bowl of ginger soup."

After saying that, he got out of the car and walked towards his study without looking back.

Afu watched his departing figure, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

What she didn't know was that the moment Xie Xun entered the study, the last trace of peace on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a cold and sinister expression.

Changsong was already waiting in the study.

"Investigate." Xie Xun's voice was devoid of warmth. "Find out where she went today, who she met, and who the carriage that brought her back was.

After he sat back down at his desk, his slender fingers tapped lightly on the surface, one tap after another, as if tapping on one's heart.

She lied to me.

His things can be disobedient, can throw tantrums, but he absolutely forbids anything from being kept from him.

Meanwhile, Afu returned to her small courtyard, feeling dizzy and cold all over. She lay on the bed wrapped in a quilt, only taking a sip of the ginger soup that Baizhi brought her.

She fell ill, and as expected, developed a high fever.

In a hazy, half-awake state, she fell into a bizarre and fantastical dream.

In the dream, there was no cold rain, no muddy mountain path, but a very large and beautiful courtyard. She was wearing a lotus-colored ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and squatting by a green pond, teasing a group of plump koi in the water with a foxtail grass.

"Jiang Fu, don't play in the water, be careful not to catch a cold."

A clear, melodious young voice came from behind.

She turned around and saw a boy who looked to be about ten years old. He was wearing a moon-white brocade robe with a jade belt around his waist. He was tall and elegant, like a jade tree in full bloom.

His face was so handsome that you couldn't take your eyes off him.

That face...

In her dream, Afu vaguely wondered why she looked somewhat like the young master Xu Heng she had met in the carriage earlier that day.

In the dream, "she" was clearly very familiar with the boy. Upon seeing him, she dropped the foxtail grass she was holding, stood up with a grin, and rushed towards him. "Brother Xuheng!"

The boy caught her steadily, gently pinching her nose with a hint of helplessness, but his tone was full of affection: "You're naughty again. How many times have I told you, the poolside is slippery."

"I'm not afraid at all!" she exclaimed, tilting her little face up and proudly puffing out her chest. "You're here!"

The boy was amused by her, and his cool and aloof expression softened instantly. He took her hand.

"Let's go, Grandma wants us to go over for dinner." He pulled her towards the corridor.

"Brother Xuheng," the "she" in the dream suddenly stopped, looked up, and asked in an extremely serious tone, "Will you marry me in the future?"

The boy was taken aback, then chuckled. He crouched down to look her in the eye, his gentle eyes reflecting her small figure and the brilliant sunset.

He nodded solemnly: "Yes, when we grow up, I will marry you. At that time, you won't have the surname Jiang anymore, you will take my surname and be called... Xu Fu."

"It doesn't sound good!" she immediately retorted, pouting her lips.

"What's it called?"

"Let's call her Afu!"

……

"Sister Afu, Sister Afu, wake up, it's time to take your medicine."

A gentle voice rang in her ears, abruptly pulling her out of that warm, unreal dream.

Afu struggled to open her eyes, her vision blurred for a while before she could clearly see Bai Zhi's delicate face.

She was still lying on her not-so-spacious bed, covered with a thick quilt. The sky outside the window was already bright, but it was obscured by thick clouds, making it look somewhat gloomy.

It was just a dream.

Afu thought absentmindedly.

"Miss, you're finally awake! You've had a fever all night." Bai Zhi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her open her eyes and quickly helped her sit up, placing a soft pillow behind her. "This is a prescription that the young master specially ordered the imperial physician to write, and the kitchen has been keeping it warm. Drink it while it's hot, and you'll feel better after sweating it out."

As the medicine bowl was brought to my lips, a strong, bitter taste assaulted my senses.

Afu frowned and drank the bowl of dark medicine in one gulp. It was so bitter that her whole face scrunched up.

Bai Zhi quickly handed over a candied fruit.

The sweet taste melted on the tip of the tongue, suppressing the bitterness.

"How long have I been asleep?" Afu's voice was terribly hoarse.

"I've been sleeping since I got back yesterday evening, it's almost noon now."