She refused to marry.

"If only you had known this would happen, you wouldn't have done it in the first place." Xiao Xuanjing put down his chopsticks, walked to her side, and took out some ointment from his pocket.

He reached out and took her small hand, applied ointment to his index finger, and gently rubbed it on her hand with his fingertip.

The warm room fell silent, with only the sound of their breathing.

Su Wanwan secretly glanced at the emperor; his features were clear and unassuming, showing no trace of his usual coldness and ruthlessness.

She suddenly realized that Feng Chenjun, whom the entire capital feared, wasn't so scary after all.

But the thought only flashed through her mind for a moment before she extinguished it.

terrible.

It's still quite scary.

But... it doesn't seem so bad anymore.

When Su Wanwan returned to the mansion, it was already dusk. The surroundings had darkened, and the lanterns were just coming on.

Right now, my parents should be inside teaching my third and fourth sisters to study.

Not daring to disturb the doorman, she went around to the back door.

From a distance, a man could be seen standing suspiciously at the back gate.

Then the back gate opened, and Auntie San nervously came out, took something out of her bosom, and handed it to the man, saying, "The price will be higher; I won't sell it for less."

"Don't worry, I never sell anything that comes through my hands at a low price."

Su Wanwan was in the shadows when the man passed by her and heard the sound of jade clinking.

She recognized the man; he was a middleman on the street, a broker who handled secondhand transactions.

He frequently traveled between various pawnshops.

Before the Su family's property was confiscated, they had dealt with this person.

Back in the backyard, Chunhua was sitting at the door looking out. Seeing her return, she happily ran up to her, "Miss, why did you take so long to come back?"

"What's wrong?" Su Wanwan walked into the house.

"These past few days, Third Sister has been looking for a husband for Miss Jinse. Guess who came today?" Chunhua asked mysteriously.

"Could it be the Crown Prince..." Su Wanwan teased.

"Miss, it's the heir of the Prince of Huai," Chunhua whispered.

"The heir of the Prince of Huai?" Su Wanwan frowned. "Is he here to propose marriage?"

The Prince of Huai's mother was the Empress's sister, so how could he marry a woman from the Su family as his principal wife?

Chunhua shook her head. "I heard it's not true."

"What did Third Aunt say?"

"I heard from the servants in the next courtyard that Third Miss is overjoyed, saying that even a concubine is a member of the royal family, which is better than marrying a poor scholar or a lowly merchant," Chunhua whispered, secretly glancing at her young mistress.

Su Wanwan frowned. Poor scholar, lowly merchant?

Could it be that the family already knows about Third Sister's affair?

Thinking of this, he walked towards his third sister's room.

As I walked through the courtyard to Su Yaoyue's door, I heard soft sobbing coming from inside.

"Third sister, open the door."

The door inside opened, and Su Yaoyue, her eyes red and swollen, hugged her second sister, sobbing, "Second sister... Sister Jinse is so infuriating."

"I understand." Su Wanwan patted her back. "When are you going to tell your parents about this?"

Su Yaoyue sniffed. "Second sister, you found out too?"

"Yes, I knew a long time ago. I've even sent a lot of firewood, rice, oil, salt, and clothing to the academy these past few months." Su Wanwan wiped away Su Yaoyue's tears.

"Second sister...aren't you angry with me?" Su Yaoyue asked, looking up with teary eyes.

"It's a blessing to have someone you love and who loves you back; why should I be angry with you?"

However, Zhao Yu himself is barely able to feed himself right now. If you follow him, won't you suffer? You can't possibly use your family's resources to feed that bunch of boys.

Su Wanwan pulled her into the house.

The two sat on the bed.

Su Yaoyue noticed her second sister's hand. "Second sister, what happened to your hand? Did Feng Chenjun hit you?"

"It's alright, you know I can't write, so I got a few lashes from the ruler." Su Wanwan hid her hands in her sleeves.

"I'll go get the medicine." Su Yaoyue took out the ointment from the cabinet and carefully applied it. "Second sister, can you not go? Feng Chenjun did this on purpose."

"Sigh, I upset him first. I'll be more careful next time. Tell me about you and Zhao Yu. When did you meet? Do you know anything about his family background?"

The two took off their shoes and climbed into bed together.

Su Yaoyue said to the outside, "Lan'er, go tell Chunhua that Second Sister is sleeping in our room tonight."

"Yes."

Once the footsteps outside had faded into the distance, Su Yaoyue crawled into bed, and the two sisters chattered away until midnight.

Su Yaoyue met Zhao Yu when she went to Chongwen Hall to borrow books. Zhao Yu helped her find and return books, and they became familiar with each other over time.

However, due to the vast difference in their social standing, neither of them dared to bring it up.

Zhao Yu was from Cangzhou. His father was a scholar who had high hopes for Zhao Yu.

After passing the county-level imperial examination, Zhao Yu failed the higher-level examination repeatedly. Not daring to return home to tell his elderly father, he settled down in the capital.

Today, after Su Jinse met with Prince Huai, Su Yaoyue said something bad about Prince Huai.

Su Jinse somehow found out about her relationship with Zhao Yu and pointed her finger at her, mocking her.

That's when she started to cry.

Su Wanwan felt sad, as Su Jinse was usually spoiled.

Su Yaoyue had been bullied by him in the past, which had long since made her unable to argue back. If she hadn't transmigrated into this world in the past two years, her cowardly nature would probably be even more severe.

After comforting her third sister, Su Wanwan still couldn't fall asleep.

Uncle San is not at home now, and the family still relies on their parents for care. If Aunt San says something bad, Uncle San will think that their parents don't like them.

It's a dilemma.

The next day, Su Wanwan went out.

A luxurious carriage stopped in front of her, and a servant stepped forward and asked, "Are you Miss Su?"

She was wondering who she had offended this time.

"What is it?" Su Wanwan frowned.

"Sister Wan... we're not here to pick you up," a silvery voice rang out.

Su Wanwan turned around and saw Su Jinse walk from behind to the carriage. Jinse pointed to the characters on the carriage and said to Su Wanwan, "Sister Wan, this is from the Prince of Huai's residence. Don't you recognize such large characters?"

"....."

Before she could even speak, Su Jinse had already gotten into the car, lifting her skirt.

"Go quickly to the backyard, fetch the carriage, and follow her there. Make sure nothing goes wrong. If you see anything amiss, take her back to the manor immediately," Su Wanwan said, turning to Chunhua.

"Yes, Miss."

Just as the instructions were given, Lord Fengchen's carriage slowly approached.

Su Wanwan stood by the roadside, waiting for the carriage to stop before getting in. Suddenly, she noticed that the curtain inside the carriage was blown open by the wind, revealing the hem of Feng Chenjun's robe.

She froze, halting her movement to get into the carriage.

"What? Are you afraid of me?" Feng Chenjun reached out and lifted the curtain.

Su Wanwan reluctantly boarded the carriage. "Your Majesty, why are you out today?"

"I feel so stifled in the manor, I'm going out for a walk today to clear my head." Xiao Xuanjing's gaze deepened slightly when he saw her restrained and uneasy demeanor.

"Three years ago, someone in the capital boasted that he would ride alongside me and be superior to all of them. Today he has done it, so why is he unhappy now?"

"I was just kidding back then, it was just childish nonsense." Su Wanwan's face flushed red, all the way to the roots of her neck.

"Really? Miss Su was almost of marriageable age back then, wasn't she?" Xiao Xuanjing twirled his thumb ring, unable to suppress the smile on his lips.

Su Wanwan hung her head, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.

That's all things that will be a long time coming.

Besides, when she was making those boastful claims, Feng Chenjun was still handling state affairs in the cabinet. How could he have known and remembered them?

She lifted the curtain, blew some air into her face, and tried to calm her burning face.

"Your Majesty, this is not the way to the Princess's residence. Where are we going today?"

"The Shen family."

Su Wanwan's heart skipped a beat.