The Crown Prince’s cold figure had already walked far away.
Yet Li Fuquan remained standing foolishly in place, pondering Pei Jinyan’s words from moments ago.
Had he heard correctly?
The Crown Prince beside him, who never allowed women to get close, would actually… so simply and crudely… order him to send that girl into his room?
Li Fuquan shuddered.
He felt he could no longer see through the Crown Prince; even what His Highness was thinking, he could not glimpse in the slightest.
Could it truly be, as he suspected, that His Highness had taken a fancy to this palace maid and wanted to force himself upon her?
That shouldn’t be right. When the Empress Dowager had said she would bestow this palace maid upon the Crown Prince, His Highness had refused.
So why this sudden interest now?
In any case, Li Fuquan’s mind was filled with confusion.
But, whatever task the Crown Prince assigned, he would accomplish it no matter what.
Li Fuquan mustered up his courage and raised his head: “Your High—”
His voice abruptly caught in his throat.
Where his gaze fell, Pei Jinyan’s figure was already nowhere to be seen.
Li Fuquan panicked at once, lifting the hem of his robe as he hurriedly chased after him.
“Your Highness, wait for this servant!”
Meanwhile, Nianyao was completely unaware of the commotion caused by the master and servant who had already left the plum garden.
Looking at the things in her hands, she had already put aside the matter of encountering the Crown Prince earlier.
However, by the time she returned to the Buddha hall, it was already late, having missed the lunch hour.
Pan’er looked at Nianyao’s hands, reddened from the cold, the distress in her eyes seeming to overflow.
She glared fiercely at Xu Mo, then hurried forward to take Nianyao’s hands, saying guiltily,
“I just wanted to save some food for you, but that fellow discovered it… I’m sorry, Nianyao, it’s all my fault…”
Nianyao’s gaze lightly fell upon Xu Mo.
He held resentment toward her and the Jiang family; she did not blame Xu Mo.
Nianyao lowered her eyes, instead comforting Pan’er.
“It’s alright. I didn’t do much work during the day, so I’m not hungry. I can wait until evening to eat.”
Pan’er was somewhat doubtful, but looking at Nianyao’s rosy cheeks and slender waist,
she could only think that Nianyao probably didn’t eat much, so missing one meal wouldn’t matter.
She never imagined that Nianyao was already accustomed to it.
During the first two years after entering the palace, hunger and cold had long become commonplace.
Now, although her lower abdomen was faintly aching, Nianyao still forced herself not to let the naive Pan’er before her notice anything amiss.
Pan’er had other tasks to attend to and couldn’t stay with Nianyao all the time.
She glanced at Xu Mo’s back, then looked at Nianyao.
Whispering, she said, “If he still bullies you, tell me, and I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”
Nianyao looked at Pan’er as if looking at her own younger sister.
Her eyes were filled with gentleness as she nodded to reassure her.
“Don’t worry. If I’m bullied, I’ll definitely tell you. Pan’er, don’t worry about me; go attend to your own tasks.”
Pan’er looked Nianyao up and down, seeing that she appeared fine.
Then she took the small porcelain bottle from Nianyao’s hands and left.
Before leaving, she softly reminded her,
“When it’s time for dinner, come find me. I’ll secretly give you more food.”
Nianyao smiled, her eyes curving like a small crescent moon hanging in the night sky.
“Alright, I’ll definitely come find you then.”
Pan’er left, and Nianyao let out a sigh of relief, finally no longer needing to put on a strong front to deal with others.
Even the corners of her eyes flashed with a hint of suppressed pain.
“Stop pretending.”
Nianyao was taken aback. Only when she looked up did she realize it was Xu Mo, looking down at her with disdain in his eyes.
The words just spoken had come from Xu Mo’s mouth.
Nianyao opened her mouth, about to explain something.
But Xu Mo only snorted coldly.
“Every single one of you Jiang family members is two-faced. Don’t think you can put on an act in front of me.”
“Jiang Nianyao.”
Nianyao’s eyes filled with disbelief.
She didn’t understand where Xu Mo’s hostility toward her came from.
After all, she had been so hopeful that she had another relative in the palace…
Perhaps sensing Nianyao’s confusion, Xu Mo averted his gaze.
He was the same height as Nianyao, but his icy demeanor made him seem much taller.
“I advise you not to think about things you shouldn’t. And don’t try to use that foolish girl Pan’er.”
With those words, Xu Mo turned and walked away.
Nianyao watched his retreating figure.
His eyes resembled her aunt’s, but his back looked like that of the man who had ruined their family.
A deep sense of helplessness washed over Nianyao. Even when her hand fell and struck the stone steps beside her, sending waves of pain through her,
Nianyao seemed completely unaware of the pain.
In her heart, she let out a long sigh.
But now, faced with Xu Mo’s rejection, Nianyao had nothing to say.
If it were the Jiang Nianyao from before, who hadn’t yet experienced everything, she might not have understood why Xu Mo despised her so much.
But now, Nianyao could glimpse a reason or two.
Because back then, the Jiang family’s influence had been too great—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say her father had “held sway over the court.”
As the daughter of the Jiang family, if Xu Mo truly was her aunt’s child at the time,
She could also understand why Xu Mo hadn’t revealed himself as a prince all these years.
In the emperor’s eyes, whether her father was a loyal minister or a treacherous one,
His power had grown so immense that it nearly surpassed that of the emperor himself.
Thus, the imperial harem would never allow another prince with Jiang family blood to be born.
It was the Jiang family’s identity that had implicated Xu Mo. Now, his prejudice against the Jiang family was something even Nianyao couldn’t shake.
Nianyao lowered her head, hiding the pain in her heart, and lifted it again to walk toward her room.
The matters of the previous generation were already set in stone, and there was nothing she could do to change them.
But life had to go on. She would find a way, at the very least, to ensure that her only relative in the palace wouldn’t despise her so much.
Yet, in a corner she couldn’t see,
Xu Mo stood facing the wall of the Buddhist hall.
The young man’s frail body was rigid with tension. Suddenly, he punched the wall.
But not a trace of pain showed on his face.
Blood trickled down his knuckles and dripped onto the floor.
The conflict, agony, and endless confusion in his eyes were far beyond what a twelve- or thirteen-year-old child should bear.
And behind him,
The Bodhisattva lowered her gaze, looking upon him with compassion.