Rong Rong found it amusing.

Did he expect her to say that she was returning to the Eastern Palace for him?

Of course, she couldn’t speak so directly and mock him, fearing it might anger him and end up being her own loss.

She also couldn’t fabricate lies; if she did, and he actually believed she had feelings for him, it would still be her loss.

No matter how she considered it, it seemed like whatever she did would only result in a losing deal.

Encountering him, she admitted defeat.

However, even in a losing gamble, there might be a way not to lose.

That way was simply not to gamble.

“If… if His Highness isn’t like that day, I would be more at ease returning,” she said.

The crown prince’s eyes twitched violently, and his expression grew darker: “Xue Rongrong! Do you even know who you’re speaking to?”

“I…” Rong Rong was used to being meek in front of him.

Still soft-hearted for Yuanbao’s sake, she said, “Your Highness, my heart is in turmoil. Please don’t pressure me.”

The crown prince’s gaze shifted.

Turmoil…

He wasn’t any different.

Seeing her averted gaze and downcast look, he suddenly felt a pang of softness.

Had he really pushed this woman to the point of no return?

“Go back to your room,” the crown prince said, his voice tinged with fatigue.

Rong Rong was somewhat surprised; she hadn’t expected him to let her go so easily tonight.

She sighed in relief and initially thought of blessing him before leaving but suddenly realized he had intruded into a private residence and did not need to be saluted.

The crown prince noted her relieved expression and frowned as she decisively turned around.

A sudden chill settled in his heart.

“The words I spoke that day still stand,” he said.

Rong Rong’s heart raced, and she didn’t dare to look back. She simply said, “Your Highness, please return soon. Yuanbao will be frightened alone.” With that, she hurriedly opened the courtyard gate and dashed into her room.

At the moment she closed the door, it felt as though he had lost a part of himself.

He was momentarily dispirited.

He could see that she was not lying.

She stayed in the Eastern Palace only for Yuanbao, and it had nothing to do with him.

……

Jingning Marquis’ residence, Rongkang Courtyard.

The maid, Xinya, stepped forward and said, “Madam, the Marquise has sent word that the Young Master will be staying at Rongkang Courtyard tonight. She asks you to make preparations.”

Wang Yilan’s expression was indifferent.

Upon hearing Xinya relay the message, she gave a half-smile and said, “It’s already the hour of the pig (9-11 PM). Can he still make it?”

Xinya, who had been sent by the Marquis’s wife, Madam Zhai, to serve at Rongkang Courtyard, replied, “Madam, don’t worry. Since the Marquis’s wife said the young master would come, he surely will.”

Since that night when she had caught him in the act, Xie Yuanchu hadn’t come to Rongkang Courtyard for several months.

Wang Yilan seemed numb to it all.

What did it matter if he came? Xie Yuanchu always just went through the motions. He was displeased, and she was deeply hurt.

“Madam, the young master has arrived,” a maid happily announced from the hallway.

He came?

No matter what, Wang Yilan was still delighted.

She straightened her hair in front of the mirror and added a butterfly gold hairpin before standing up.

Today, she didn’t go to the courtyard gate to greet him as she used to; she simply stood in the hallway.

Moments later, she saw her husband Xie Yuanchu walking in from outside the courtyard.

Xie Yuanchu was undoubtedly handsome.

Whether in talent or family background, he was a standout among the noble sons of the capital.

When Marquis Jingning brought Xie Yuanchu to propose marriage, Wang Yilan did the only rebellious thing in her life: she dressed as a maid and sneaked into the front hall to get a glimpse of him.

For this, she was beaten by her father and made to kneel in the ancestral hall, but she had never regretted it to this day.

Today, Xie Yuanchu wore a sapphire blue silk robe, which added a scholarly air to his usual appearance.

Seeing him approach, Wang Yilan bowed slightly from the hallway and greeted, “Young master.”

Xie Yuanchu hadn’t looked at Wang Yilan closely for several months.

Seeing her now, much thinner than before, he felt a twinge of pity and was about to speak when Xinzhu hurriedly approached from outside and whispered something in his ear.

Xie Yuanchu frowned slightly and, leaving only a quick, “We have guests at home,” hurriedly left.

Wang Yilan watched his figure disappear and turned back to her room.

…

“Why have you come at this hour? You dragged me from my wife’s bed,” Xie Yuanchu said as he pushed open the study door, only to see the Crown Prince sitting in his chair, looking gravely concerned.

Xie Yuanchu’s expression turned serious. “Is something wrong?”

“She said she stayed in the Eastern Palace only for Yuanbao,” the Crown Prince said, an ambiguous statement at first, but Xie Yuanchu quickly understood.

He waved for Xinzhu to close the doors and windows, then pulled a chair to sit opposite the Crown Prince.

Thinking about the woman connected to both him and Yuanbao, he immediately had an answer.

“Are you talking about Rongrong?”

The Crown Prince didn’t confirm, but his silence was telling.

Seeing the Crown Prince’s serious expression, Xie Yuanchu chuckled lightly, surprised. “Liu Zhen, I never would have thought…”

“Speak your mind, and don’t pick up Fu Quan’s bad habits.”

Xie Yuanchu laughed heartily and asked, “Did Rong Rong really say that? She’s quite bold, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, having known you for so long, this is the first time I’ve seen you like this.” Xie Yuanchu seized the opportunity to tease the crown prince, “How’s it going? Don’t tell me you still haven’t been intimate with Rong Rong?”

Strangely, despite Xie Yuanchu’s taunts, the crown prince didn’t respond at all.

After Xie Yuanchu had had enough of laughing, he sighed, “I didn’t expect you to care about Rong Rong so much.”

The crown prince himself hadn’t expected it either.

The first time he saw Rong Rong was at the entrance of the hot spring villa.

The villa’s servants were kneeling all around, and only she stood there, staring at him blankly.

At that time, he didn’t feel anything particularly special, or at least, he shouldn’t have.

Later, by the hot spring pool, when Xie Yuanchu summoned her to serve, he noticed her movements as she held chopsticks and served the dishes, and her careful observation of her master’s expressions.

For some reason, there was a sense of familiarity, a kind of long-lost familiarity.

He couldn’t help but look at her a few more times.

She was very beautiful, with a delicate and frail appearance that naturally evoked a protective instinct.

Seeing her look down and avoid his gaze, the crown prince suddenly thought that if he had to keep a woman by his side, perhaps it would be her.

Unexpectedly, Yuanbao also liked her.

He watched Yuanbao and Fu Quan play around, watched them arrange for people to be around her, and even when Yuanbao asked him to fetch her from the marquis’s residence, he agreed without hesitation.

He still remembered her limping as she came to greet him.

She was too thin, and the cotton cloak she wore looked bulky and heavy.

He heard people say she had been punished by kneeling in the snow, and he even had a murderous impulse.

But he ultimately restrained himself and returned to the Eastern Palace with a cold face.

Perhaps it was due to Yuanbao’s request, or perhaps because he genuinely felt something, he immediately had Liuli bring Tiangang Bone Healing Ointment to treat her wounds.

Tiangang Bone Healing Ointment was not the only good medicine in the world, but it was the only one that could be used for her injuries.

That night, he went to her small and narrow room to apply the medicine.

Seeing her terrified expression, he felt a mix of pride and discomfort.

If she were just a maid trying to climb the ranks, things might have been simpler, but she wasn’t.

The turning point came on the night she returned to her hometown for the New Year.

Fu Quan threw her, who had been drugged with an aphrodisiac, to him, and in the Ruyi Pavilion, he suddenly realized a fact he had been deliberately ignoring.

He was fond of her not because of her beauty, but because she resembled someone else.

Jing Rong.

“Your Highness? You…” Xie Yuanchu looked at the crown prince’s expression and sensed that tonight’s events were not simple.

The crown prince closed his eyes, “Yuanchu, do you still remember Jing Rong?”

Xie Yuanchu was taken aback, his expression immediately becoming serious.

The name Jing Rong was as thunderous in his mind.

However, when Jing Rong was alive, Xie Yuanchu had no direct contact with her; he had only encountered her a few times in the Eastern Palace.

She was the crown prince’s personal female official.

Although she was involved in the most intimate matters with the crown prince, she was not much higher in status than ordinary palace maids.

“Do you know? She resembles Jing Rong a lot,” the crown prince’s voice seemed somewhat strained, as if something was stuck in his throat.

“Resemble?” Xie Yuanchu had never closely observed Jing Rong, but he recalled her as a very alluring and seductive woman.

Back then, both he and the crown prince were young and just beginning to explore relationships, talking recklessly without any reservations.

He had once told the crown prince that Jing Rong looked like a fox spirit, preying on men’s souls.

The crown prince’s smug expression at the time was still fresh in his memory.

Of course, the crown prince had given him a hard punch afterward, making him afraid to make jokes about Jing Rong ever again.

“Not just in appearance,” the crown prince clarified. “It’s not about looking alike, but they are very similar in everything: the way they speak, the way they handle things, the way they eat, the way they dress, and even…” Even the way they reject him on the bed.

“I don’t quite understand. But since people can look similar, it’s normal to find similar temperaments occasionally.”

“It’s not just similar; they are essentially the same person, just with two different faces.”

Xie Yuanchu found it hard to believe. “When Jing Rong was alive, Rong Rong was already serving me. I told you about it when she first entered the residence and hadn’t even started serving in the study room yet. Do you remember?”

After saying this, Xie Yuanchu seemed a bit embarrassed and quickly added, “I don’t have any ill intentions toward Rong Rong; I just found her beauty striking, nothing more.”

The crown prince raised his hand, indicating that Xie Yuanchu didn’t need to explain further.

Xie Yuanchu gave a sheepish smile and was about to say more when a sudden thought occurred to him. “Temperament… Yes, temperament… You mentioned temperament and mannerisms. I do find it a bit strange. Rong Rong, her current temperament is completely different from before.”

The crown prince’s gaze sharpened. “In what way is it different? When did it change?”

“She used to be frivolous and shallow, not very likable. But since the end of last year, after I returned from the army, I noticed she was different.

She became very cautious and meticulous in her actions and speech.

I found it odd before, but now that you mention it, indeed, the way Rong Rong used to eat was quite coarse, while now…

as you said, though she has the same face, she’s completely different inside, as if she has become a different person.”

Indeed, she had become a different person.

Zhenzhen and Rong Rong had always been under Xie Yuanchu’s control, and he understood their intentions thoroughly.

But the current Rong Rong was not someone he could easily decipher.