So what if she's my sister-in-law? You seduced me first.

After the Crown Prince left, Wei Qingrou immediately smiled and said, "Ayu, don't take it to heart. He's just a very suspicious person."

Ning Yu smiled and shook her head, instead asking about the incense burning in the stove.

"This was ordered by Physician Lin. He said it was incense to boost my spirits. I was in so much pain last night, and this incense really helped relieve a lot of the pain."

In the past, everything that came to her had been thoroughly inspected. Yesterday, His Highness saw that she was in a lot of pain, so he had someone set it on fire. Now, hearing Ning Yu ask this question, she couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"Does Ayu think there's a problem?"

Ning Yu was taken aback, not expecting Wei Qingrou to trust her so much.

Wei Qingrou seemed to see her doubt and smiled, "I trust my intuition; you wouldn't harm me."

Upon hearing this, Ning Yu stopped hiding her thoughts and walked to the gilded beast-head incense burner.

As she got closer, the luxurious fragrance became even stronger. She opened the stove, holding a silver skewer in her hand, and fiddled with the incense inside.

Pale blue smoke curled upwards. She took a careful sniff, then turned around, picked up the tea on the table, and poured it in.

With a whoosh, the wisp of smoke died down, and the rich aroma dissipated.

At some point, everyone in the tent left, leaving only a personal maid.

Ning Yu turned around and saw Wei Qingrou's slightly somber face. As a legitimate daughter raised by a noble family, she could easily tell that there was something wrong with the incense.

The Imperial Medical Academy doesn't have the guts to do it; the most likely candidate is the Empress.

Thinking of this, a look of desolation flashed in her eyes. Her mother had never liked her, disliking that she had seduced the Crown Prince and left the Eastern Palace empty, and also not wanting her to give birth to a prince, so that the Wei family, as relatives of the empress, could seize power.

But she wanted the child and didn't want the prince to have a conflict with her mother. She had to swallow these bitter pills herself.

"Your Majesty---"

A soft voice came from her, and Wei Qingrou came back to her senses. Without asking what was going on with the incense, she simply ordered someone to throw it all away and then pulled her to go out.

"It's stuffy in here, let's go for a walk."

The state banquet of the Great Xia Dynasty was held in the square, which stretched for several miles, and it was the time when the palace servants were busy.

The two went for a walk by the river and happened to run into a group of people returning from the hunting grounds.

Ning Yu, with her sharp eyes, immediately spotted the man talking to the Crown Prince, who was riding a horse and accompanied by a woman.

"That must be Princess Huayang. I heard she's the future matriarch of the Xie family," Wei Qingrou said, noticing her eyes were fixed on the two people, her mind racing.

Ning Yu paused, slowly withdrew her gaze, and said gently, "Princess Huayang is so beautiful that I was momentarily distracted."

In a large family, nothing is surprising. Wei Qingrou held her hand and said softly, "The young master is gone. You've had a hard time living alone in the Xie family. If you need anything, feel free to come to me."

"What are the Crown Princess and my sister-in-law talking about?"

Suddenly, a group of people rode towards them on horseback. Wei Qingrou turned around and saw that the group had dismounted.

"Rou'er, why are you out here?"

Wei Qingrou was embraced by the Crown Prince. She looked at the man walking over and said with a soft smile, "Praise the Governor and the Princess for being a handsome couple. They are quite eye-catching when they walk in the hunting grounds."

Princess Huayang blushed. "Sister-in-law, don't talk nonsense."

Xie Xun's gaze unconsciously drifted to the woman beside him. She kept her head down, silent, not looking at him, and seemingly not listening to what they were saying.

Her gaze shifted downwards, and there he was again, dressed in clothes that looked like they were for a funeral. A flash of coldness crossed her eyes, but she didn't take a word he said to heart.

"Commander, let's go to the horse farm first."

A woman's sweet voice came from behind him. Xie Xun casually hummed in response, said goodbye to the Crown Prince, and left without looking at Ning Yu again.

Princess Huayang quickly bowed and followed.

When the state banquet officially began in the afternoon, Ning Yu was still in the tent. After she rushed to the banquet hall, the lively sword fighting and dance competition had already begun in the square.

The grand square was filled with blazing torches, and hundreds of banquet tables were set up as far as the eye could see, with a lively atmosphere in the open space in the middle.

She had no real interest in the banquet and ate the delicious food on the table in small bites.

She just felt like someone was watching her. There were so many people at the banquet, and when she looked around the crowd, she couldn't see anyone looking at her.

Intense gazes, burning like thorns in her back, pierced through the lively dance battle and fixed their gaze on her.

In that instant, she caught it quickly, immediately looking up and seeing Murong Huang's face through the distance.

He was drinking, swaying as he looked at her, his eyes narrowed as if he were thinking about something. When he saw her looking over, his expression instantly turned harmless, a smile spread across his face, and he raised his glass to clink with hers across the crowd.

Ning Yu didn't want to talk to him and lowered her eyes. Just then, a little eunuch came up behind her, bent down and said to her, "Princess Consort, the Governor wants you to go to the South Garden."

Ning Yu frowned upon hearing this and subconsciously looked at the men seated above, but he was nowhere to be seen.

She pursed her lips, put down the pastry, wiped her mouth, and went to eat.

Behind the grand square lies the South Garden, lush with water and grass, and surrounded by large tents.

When Ning Yu arrived, she did not see Xie Xun, but instead saw a woman dressed in palace attire.

She immediately sensed something was wrong, but steeled herself and walked up to the woman, heading towards the large tent at the back.

"Where is the Crown Princess going?"

That's right, the person who summoned Ning Yu was Princess Huayang.

When she saw the woman who had actually arrived, her suspicions seemed to be confirmed, and her face turned extremely ugly.

She was also testing this Ning family girl; when they met by the river at noon, she sensed something was off between them.

They were from the same household, yet they acted as if they didn't see each other. She initially wondered if the governor was just cold-hearted and the two weren't familiar with each other, but then she vaguely saw the governor looking at her, which she initially thought was a hallucination.

During the banquet that night, she secretly observed the governor. He glanced in Ning Yu's direction several times, but she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or not, so she decided to test him.

Unexpectedly, they actually came.

"Is there something you need, Princess?"

Hua Yang stared at her coldly, his arrogant gaze sweeping over her from head to toe. It was unclear what he disliked about her, but his look became even more unpleasant.

"You seduced the Commander-in-Chief in the mansion?"

Ning Yu was taken aback by her words and her expression turned cold. "Princess, please watch your words."

Princess Huayang, who had been superior to others since birth, had never been humiliated like this before, and her expression changed drastically.

"You dare to reprimand me?!"

"This is not a reprimand, but a reminder to the Princess: my marriage to the Heir Apparent was personally bestowed by the Emperor. How dare you speak ill of others?"

Princess Huayang snorted coldly, "The young master died in battle, who knows if you have some other ulterior motives?"

Ning Yu felt uncomfortable being talked about like that. She had no choice but to provoke him in order to save her life. She thought it was just a transaction, but he refused to let her go and forced her to be his plaything.

If this gets out, it will cause a huge uproar in the Xie family, and her life will be in danger.

Thinking this through, she immediately pretended to be wronged, rubbed her forehead as if helpless, and said, "Princess, please don't talk nonsense. You are about to marry into the Xie family, and we can be called sisters-in-law. We should take care of each other in the future."

She spoke sweetly, but Hua Yang always felt something was off. When she thought about her sister-in-law, she got even angrier. Who would want to be on equal footing with a girl from such a humble family as her?

If the Crown Prince hadn't been involved in that disaster, how could the Xie family have possibly married her?

She said resentfully, "Then why did you come when the Governor-General summoned you?"

"I heard it from my mother. Just now, an old man said that the governor was drunk, so my mother sent me to come and see."

Princess Huayang was furious at her sharp tongue, but she couldn't find a reason to lash out. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Go to the tent and bring me my fan."

Upon hearing this, Ning Yu knew that Hua Yang was deliberately making things difficult for her; a higher rank could crush a lower one.

As she was pondering how to refuse, a sharp slap came flying towards her face. She instinctively moved her hand, about to grab the opponent and throw her over her shoulder, when she suddenly heard a strange noise behind her.

Her hand tightened, and with a loud slap, she received the blow.

"How dare you disobey this princess?"