“Who are you! What are you doing inside Crown Prince Big Brother’s carriage?!” Liang Bingyue demanded shrilly, her astonished eyes flashing with sudden irritation as she made it crystal clear that she had zero tolerance for this sudden interloper.
Standing quietly off to the side, Lu Wanyan uttered not a single word, though her complexion seemed to have paled a fraction, and a look of genuine shock flickered through her eyes.
Once Nanzhi had steadied herself, she slowly raised her head, revealing a breathtaking visage that left Liang Bingyue utterly dumbstruck.
Could she actually be even prettier than Sister Lu? The thought flashed through Liang Bingyue’s mind. The moment she snapped back to reality, her brows knitted together into a deep, stubborn frown.
What is going to happen to Sister Lu now? Crown Prince Big Brother belongs to Sister Lu, and no one else is allowed to steal him away! The thought instantly filled Liang Bingyue with fierce hostility as she shot a pair of sharp, unfriendly glares up and down Nanzhi’s figure.
Lu Wanyan hadn’t caught a clear look at Nanzhi’s face initially, having only seen her graceful, slender silhouette from behind. She certainly hadn’t expected the girl to surpass her own looks. Coupled with the blatant preferential treatment the Crown Prince had just displayed, the uneasy knot in her stomach grew into a churning wave of anxiety.
“Your Highness, who might this be?” Lu Wanyan asked, keeping her exterior remarkably composed while her fingers crushed the silk handkerchief clutched tight beneath her sleeves.
Nanzhi offered no response, simply directing a soft, delicate smile toward the two women. The radiant charm of that smile nearly dazzled everyone present; all eyes snapped back to her, brimming with open curiosity and probing evaluation.
Though a web of complicated gazes fixed heavily upon her, Nanzhi paid them no mind. She was long accustomed to such scrutiny. Whenever she had ventured out onto the streets in the past, people would routinely stare at her with that exact same unbroken gaze. While she hadn’t been fond of it at first, after experiencing it time and time again, it had simply become second nature.
Eyes belonged to other people; even if she found it grating, she couldn’t very well go around gouging people’s eyes out.
Though Nanzhi didn’t recognize either of the two women, hearing the girl in the pink dress familiarly address him as “Crown Prince Big Brother” made it easy to deduce that her relationship with the Crown Prince was relatively close, and her lineage likely quite impressive.
As for the other young lady clad in willow-yellow robes, Nanzhi wagered her status was equally elevated. Standing quietly with unyielding poise, her natural, noble aura was impossible to conceal—the quintessential portrait of a dignified, refined daughter of an elite household.
Yet intuition told Nanzhi that despite this young lady’s quiet demeanor, her gaze harbored a distinct, chilling hostility directed right at her. If her guess was correct, this woman undoubtedly harbored romantic feelings for the Crown Prince.
Barely arrived in the capital on her very first day, and she was already crossing paths with the Crown Prince’s adoring admirers. They had come with ill intent, and goodness only knew how many more troublesome headaches would come knocking on her door from here on out.
Nanzhi detested trouble; all she wanted was to live a carefree, ordinary life. She would have gladly handed the Crown Prince over to anyone who wanted him—she had zero desire to fight these women for his affection.
Secretly, she found the prospect of serving as another woman’s concubine entirely unacceptable, even if the man in question was the Crown Prince himself. She simply longed for a quiet, peaceful existence.
Yet even that humble wish had apparently become an unreachable luxury.
Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Nanzhi tugged lightly at the sleeve of Shen Huaixu’s robe beside her, casting a look of feigned, innocent perplexity his way. Catching the cue, Shen Huaixu finally offered a leisurely, unhurried declaration: “She belongs to Gu.”
“Let’s go.” Without another word, Shen Huaixu strode straight toward the grand entrance of the Eastern Palace. Seeing this, Nanzhi tossed a polite, faint smile toward the two stunned figures and trailed close behind the Crown Prince, leaving Liang Bingyue and Lu Wanyan frozen in place like statues.
She actually belongs to the Crown Prince? Since when has there ever been a woman by the Crown Prince’s side?
Lu Wanyan’s grip on her embroidered handkerchief tightened until her knuckles turned white. Though her expression remained outwardly calm, her mind was in absolute turmoil.
The Crown Prince had always held himself to the highest standards of propriety; the Eastern Palace didn’t even house a single concubine to this day. Countless noble daughters across the capital harbored daydreams of marrying the Crown Prince, yet he had consistently turned a blind eye to every single one of them.
Calming herself quickly, a new thought took root in her mind: the Crown Prince would reach his crown-shaving age of twenty next year, and the Empress was currently in the midst of selecting a Crown Princess candidate. Given her own prestigious family background and upbringing, she still stood a very strong chance.
That woman possesses an ország-toppling, peerless beauty. It is only natural that the Crown Prince has temporarily taken a fancy to her out of novelty.
Since she had been brought back like this by the Crown Prince, she clearly couldn’t be a daughter of any prominent, high-ranking family. No matter how breathtaking her appearance, so what? She was nothing more than a plaything for the Crown Prince.
“Hmph!” Liang Bingyue’s sharp, indignant huff snapped Lu Wanyan back from her thoughts. Watching Liang Bingyue stamp her foot in anger, Lu Wanyan offered a soft smile and asked, “Bingylue, what’s wrong?”
Frowning and curling her lip in deep dissatisfaction, Liang Bingyue ranted, “Sister Lu, that woman must have seduced Crown Prince Big Brother! She has the look of a seductress—she’s utterly shameless! Sister Lu, you’re so much prettier anyway.”
Nanzhi was nowhere near the malicious caricature Liang Bingyue painted her out to be; the girl simply disliked her and was deliberately smearing her name.
Lu Wanyan’s lips curved upward. Stepping forward, she took Liang Bingyue’s hand and soothed her in a gentle tone: “Alright, alright, stop being angry, Bingyue. You can vent those words here with me, but never let His Highness hear them. That girl is undeniably beautiful, so it’s only natural that His Highness favors her.”
Liang Bingyue’s temper subsided, her expression softening considerably. “Sister Lu, you’re always so understanding. Crown Prince Big Brother is bound to favor you.”
Hearing this, Lu Wanyan lowered her gaze and offered a bashful, demure smile, though out of the corner of her eye, she cast a covert, sidelong glance at Nanzhi trailing behind the Crown Prince. Her gaze darkened instantly, a complex, unreadable emotion swirling deep within her eyes.
Just as Nanzhi was about to cross the threshold into the Eastern Palace, she suddenly halted in her tracks. Turning back, she cast a long, lingering look up at the vast, boundless expanse of azure sky stretching out beyond the palace gates, a quiet pang of reluctance tugging at her heart.
From this moment onward, she would no longer be her own master.
“What is Zhizhi looking at?” Noticing her sudden stop, Shen Huaixu turned back around, a flicker of impatience crossing his handsome, jade-like face.
As Nanzhi turned her head back to meet his cold, detached gaze, she deftly swept every trace of emotion beneath the surface, speaking with an air of absolute casualness: “Your Highness, this concubine was merely curious about this place and wanted to take a few extra glances.”
A lie. My little canary is quite the little liar. Though Nanzhi believed she had hidden her emotions away impeccably, Shen Huaixu easily guessed a fraction of what she was truly feeling. She was likely harboring thoughts she had no business entertaining—and that was something he would never permit.
Without exposing her lie on the spot, Shen Huaixu instead stepped forward, reached out to take her hand, and pulled her along beside him, following the thread of her excuse: “If Zhizhi is curious, Gu will have Qingyu take you out for a stroll another day.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Lowering her eyelashes to swallow down the bitter resentment swelling in her chest, Nanzhi allowed him to lead her inside.
The Eastern Palace was staggeringly vast, dwarfing the Nan estate by several magnitudes. The grand and majestic sights unfolding before her left Nanzhi momentarily dizzy—truly, a crown prince’s residence was a monument of awe-inspiring scale.
Abruptly, Shen Huaixu came to a halt. Releasing her hand, he turned to give an order to Eunuch Chen Ruizhu standing nearby: “She will reside in Jinghua Garden from now on. Send a few capable maids to attend to her, and see that she is never neglected. Is that understood?”
Bending low at the waist, Chen Ruizhu replied respectfully: “This servant understands. Your Highness may rest easy.”
His Highness is certainly placing great importance on this Miss Nan, the eunuch mused inwardly, assigning her Jinghua Garden—the quarters closest to the Crown Prince himself and second only to the Crown Princess’s residence.
“Milady, please follow this servant.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Eunuch Chen.” With those words, Nanzhi readied herself to follow the eunuch, but the moment she took a step forward, she found her body locked in place. Her wrist had been caught in a fierce, iron-clad grip by the Crown Prince.
Lifting her gaze to look up at him with a bewildered expression, she tried to gently tug her arm free, only to find his grasp tightening even further. “Your Highness, please loosen your grip a little. You’re hurting my wrist.”
Doesn’t this jerk know his own strength? He was going to leave bruises all over her wrist at this rate.
Hearing her complaint, Shen Huaixu abruptly yanked her straight into his arms. A wave of fierce, consuming possessiveness broke across his majestic, handsome face as his dark, bottomless eyes locked onto hers. Leaning down close to her ear, he murmured in a voice smooth as aged wine yet chillingly low: “Remember this, Zhizhi—you belong to Gu. Never harbor any foolish notions of trying to escape.”