On our wedding night, my wife acted strangely.

Consort Hui did not respond, but as she spoke, her eyes began to redden slightly.

Yang Siyu continued, "Once he settles things outside, do you think he'll let you be Miss Su forever? You know that man's personality; if he truly didn't care about you, he certainly wouldn't visit you three times a month at the North Garden! Remember, there's a widow living at the Green Bamboo Courtyard, younger and prettier than us, but Min'er said that since she moved in almost a year ago, the Prince has only visited twice!"

Consort Hui felt a lump in her throat.

Three visits in half a month is quite a lot for a regent who is extremely busy.

He is at least stronger than Nangong Xiong.

Even so, Consort Hui was still unsure.

After all, she had been abandoned by too many people in her life, and she no longer dared to easily trust anyone's kindness.

"Did he send you to tell me these things?"

Yang Siyu smiled and said, "His Highness only said that we should keep each other company. He didn't ask me to advise you on anything, and he never asked me to do anything I didn't want to do."

Looking at her smile, Consort Hui suddenly felt a strange sensation.

You should know that she also suffered in the palace for more than ten years, being bullied by the Empress, neglected by Nangong Xiong, and her daughter was forced to marry.

Logically speaking, she should be more bitter and resentful than I am.

But standing here, she showed not a trace of resentment.

Has she truly let go? Or is she just putting on an act in front of me?

Yang Siyu paused for a moment, then added, "But I feel I should come."

Consort Hui asked, "Why?"

Whoosh—the winter wind blows.

Hongcui quickly tightened Consort Hui's cloak.

She could sense something indescribable between the two women.

It wasn't hostility or closeness; it was more like two people who had crawled out of the same fire, standing on the ashes looking at each other's burn marks, and then comforting each other.

Yang Siyu said, "Because in this palace, only you and I came from that place. You know how hard life was there, and I know it too. You hurt me, and I hated you... but that place forced us to become like that. Now that we're out, there's no need to bring the ghosts of that place into our new lives, is there?"

Upon hearing this, Consort Hui finally shed tears.

With her head down, she looked at the snow that had been crushed under her feet, and tears fell drop by drop onto it, making small dents.

Hongcui was so anxious behind her that she kept rubbing her hands, wanting to say a few words of advice, but she didn't dare to move.

Consort Hui shook her head as she cried, "You make it sound so nice... but some things can't be ignored just because you don't mention them..."

Yang Siyu didn't urge her, but stood aside and waited.

Consort Hui tried to wipe her face with her sleeve, but she couldn't stop the tears from flowing. So she stopped wiping and let them flow freely.

Finally, she stubbornly raised her head and looked at Yang Siyu with red eyes.

"Yang Siyu".

"Um?"

Consort Hui choked up, her voice stuck in her throat.

She had kept this matter to herself for nearly twenty years.

She hadn't mentioned it to anyone for so long because it was just too dirty.

It was so dirty that she didn't even dare to look back.

But she knew that if she didn't speak up today, she would never get over this hurdle in her life.

"Yang Siyu..." she called the name again, her lips trembling, "I'm sorry... when you were pregnant with Nangong Jie that year, the imperial physician prescribed you a medicine to prevent miscarriage... I had something added to it..."

Hongcui gasped in shock, her face turning pale instantly.

Even she didn't know about this!

However, Yang Siyu's expression remained unchanged.

Consort Hui couldn't see her reaction; she just kept her head down, her voice becoming increasingly fragmented and intermittent.

"I had someone add safflower... I couldn't sleep all night after I got back... The next morning I had someone go to the Imperial Hospital to change the prescription... I was determined to harm you, but after I actually did it, I regretted it... I..." She trembled all over and finally couldn't continue.

However, Yang Siyu reached out again.

Consort Hui shrank back, thinking she was about to hit her.

But Yang Siyu simply took her arm and whispered, "I know."

Consort Hui suddenly raised her head.

Her face was covered in tears, her eyes were red and swollen, and even snot was running down her nose.

"You know?"

"Hmm." Yang Siyu nodded. "The imperial physician changed the prescription the next day. I thought the imperial physician changed it himself, but then I lay in bed thinking about it all night and felt that something was wrong. Why would the imperial physician change the prescription for no reason? Someone must have tampered with it first, then regretted it and deliberately had someone change it back."

"There are only a handful of concubines in the palace who can exert influence in the Imperial Hospital. Zhao Shuyu doesn't need to go through all this trouble. If she wanted to harm me, she could have just poisoned me. The only person capable of doing something like harming someone first and then saving them—" Yang Siyu looked at Consort Hui, a slight smile playing on his lips, "is you."

Consort Hui was surprised that Yang Siyu had known about this all along, but had never mentioned it or sought revenge.

"You...you don't hate me?"

Yang Siyu thought for a moment and said, "I have hated it."

Consort Hui's heart sank again.

"After Jie'er was born that year, he was always sick and had a fever every few days. I carried him around the palace and tried to soothe him until dawn before he finally fell asleep. At that time, I wondered if the safflower had been replaced, but the dregs were still left in the pot and hadn't been washed clean, so that a little bit of it had gotten on him."

"I'm not sure." Yang Siyu shook her head. "The imperial physician said that Jie'er's condition was congenital and had nothing to do with the medicine, but I just can't get over it. I keep thinking, what if? What if it's because of you that my son is so weak?"

Consort Hui's knees buckled, and she almost knelt down.

Hongcui quickly went to help her up.

"Girl! Girl, please don't—"

"Let go of me!" Consort Hui shook off Hongcui's hand, tears streaming down her face. "She deserves to kneel! This is what I owe her!"

Yang Siyu grabbed her arm, preventing her from kneeling down.

"Don't give me that. With such a big belly, what if you catch a cold kneeling in the snow? Who's responsible if something happens to the baby?"

Consort Hui was pulled back by her, and stood there trembling, crying uncontrollably.

Yang Siyu did not let go, but gripped Consort Hui's arm tightly and sighed softly.

"Let me finish."

"The imperial physician examined Jie'er several more times afterward, and each time he said it was due to a congenital weakness of the spleen and stomach, and had nothing to do with the prescription. I believed him, not because I believed what the imperial physician said, but because I had figured it out myself. You changed that safflower the next day, and even if there were some residues in the pot, the amount wouldn't be large enough to affect the fetus. The reason I couldn't get over that hurdle wasn't because you really harmed my son, but because I harbored resentment and wanted to find someone to hate."

Consort Hui stared at her blankly.

Yang Siyu continued, "Think about it, what kind of life did I have in the palace back then? Even the palace maids and eunuchs dared to give me attitude! Who else could I hate besides you? Nangong Xiong and Zhao Shuyu? Impossible. Only you could I curse in my heart and vent my anger."

At this point, she chuckled to herself, "Hehehe, so you see, I'm not exactly a good person either. I hate you not because you really hurt me that much, but because hating you makes me feel a little better."

Consort Hui's sobs gradually subsided. She wiped her face with her sleeve, sniffled, and went over Yang Siyu's words in her mind.

This is true.

In that place, everyone needs someone to hate.

Without hatred, life would be too unbearable.

She also hated Zhao Shuyu and Nangong Xiong.

Yang Siyu also hated her.

In the end, they didn't hate any particular person, but rather the place that imprisoned them.

"You regret it, and I've let it go... It's all in the past." Yang Siyu looked into her eyes and said his last words: "Miss Su—we were both saved from that place. The fact that we can walk out alive and stand under this plum tree to talk shows that God has been kind to us."

When Consort Hui heard this title, she almost lost her composure.

She could be a Jieyu, a Huifei, an Imperial Noble Consort, Nangong Jin's mother, Lin Yi's woman... She had so many identities, each one like a garment fitted onto her body.

Some fit well, some didn't, but none of them were her own choice.

Only Miss Su's choice was her own.

Lin Yi also told me to just call her Miss Su from now on, and not to wear those labels anymore, and to just be myself.

She couldn't remember the last time she was herself.

She was probably around fifteen or sixteen years old. Back in her hometown of Fuzhou, she was just the young lady of the Su family. Every day, she followed her nanny to learn needlework and competed with the girl next door for the osmanthus blossoms on the osmanthus tree in the yard.

At that time, she didn't need to scheme against anyone or guard against anyone.

After entering the palace, she was no longer herself.

Consort Hui finally couldn't hold on any longer. She grabbed Yang Siyu's sleeve with both hands and fell forward, her forehead resting on Yang Siyu's shoulder.

Then she let out a loud wail.

It wasn't the kind of suppressed sobbing, it was a real wail! Like a child, she let go of all pretense and dignity, crying so hard her whole body was shaking.

She cried and cried, "I'm sorry... Waaah... I'm so sorry...!"