Outside the Princess’s estate.
Chu Ruoyan had just stepped out when she saw Yan Zheng’s carriage speeding toward her.
"Young Madam!"
Meng Yang reined in the horse, calling out in delighted surprise. The person inside the carriage lifted the curtain, about to step down.
"Wait! Be careful with your leg—"
Chu Ruoyan rushed forward, only for him to seize her wrist. "How did it go? Did she give you any trouble?"
The street was crowded with prying eyes, and they were right at the gates of the Princess’s estate…
She shook her head quickly. "Let’s talk inside the carriage!"
Inside the carriage.
Yan Zheng’s gaze was cold and sharp as he scrutinized her from head to toe, only relaxing once he confirmed she was unharmed.
"That was too reckless. If something had gone wrong, have you considered the consequences?"
His tone carried a hint of reprimand, born from worry. Chu Ruoyan ducked her head slightly and said in a small voice, "I had no choice. Princess Ansheng is formidable—she had everything arranged the moment I arrived, leaving me no excuse to refuse her..."
Yan Zheng frowned, about to speak, but she quickly added, "But at least I managed to have Nanny Zhou deliver the message in time. That counts as progress, doesn’t it?"
She blinked up at him, her eyes bright and mischievous, and whatever anger he had melted away under that gaze.
Yan Zheng sighed. "Don’t let it happen again."
Chu Ruoyan nodded obediently.
Outside, Meng Yang rolled his eyes inwardly. How many times had he heard that now?
But his young master was utterly wrapped around this young madam’s finger, so he could only pretend not to hear.
"By the way, today I saw firsthand just how shrewd Princess Ansheng is. Princess Qingping and Princess Jiahui are like children playing games compared to her..." Chu Ruoyan recounted everything that had happened, but when she mentioned Granny Sun, her delicate brows furrowed slightly. "Yan Zheng, what do you think the Princess’s intentions are? Why would she hand over such a witness now? Yan Zheng—Yan Zheng? Are you listening?"
The man snapped out of his thoughts and cleared his throat. "I am. Go on."
Chu Ruoyan eyed him suspiciously, and Yan Zheng, unusually flustered, averted his gaze.
While she had been speaking, his attention had drifted to her lips—full and rosy—reminding him of last night, of what lay beneath her robes… He had lost focus without realizing it.
Fortunately, Chu Ruoyan didn’t press him. After listening carefully, she said, "I’ve heard my elder brother mention this person before. She was close to your mother, and nearly all the Yan family’s children were delivered by her..."
"So this can’t be a fabrication?"
Chu Ruoyan arched a brow, genuinely puzzled by Princess Ansheng’s motives.
Was it just to prove the truth of the rescue? Then why tacitly acknowledge Imperial Son-in-law Cao’s actions as if she knew of them?
The Princess neither avoided implicating herself in the Yan family’s affairs nor discouraged them from uncovering the past. Could it be…
A suspicion formed in her mind, and she looked at Yan Zheng, hesitating to voice it.
Yet he seemed to have already sensed it, a shadow flickering in his eyes. "You suspect the truth of the past involves me?"
Chu Ruoyan pressed her lips together.
It was the only logical explanation.
Princess Ansheng feared no retaliation from Yan Zheng and had even helped him repeatedly…
Back then at Cuiping Mountain, she had saved him from Imperial Son-in-law Cao’s blade…
Such protection went far beyond mere kindness to an old friend’s child—especially since Princess Ansheng was hardly the sentimental type.
"Yan Zheng, don’t blame me for overthinking, but when Imperial Son-in-law Cao took Wen Jing to Cuiping Mountain, he kept saying he wanted to kill him to ‘end the Yan line’..." She watched as his face grew colder, but steeled herself to continue. "At the time, it didn’t strike me as odd, but now that I think about it—if you’re alive, how would killing Wen Jing ‘end’ anything?"
Crack!
His knuckles whitened with tension, his face as pale as frost.
Chu Ruoyan knew that if her guess was right, the longer they delayed facing it, the harder it would be for him to bear…
"And this time at Hangu Pass, the Yan family was nearly wiped out—only you returned alive..."
"Enough!"
His voice cut through like ice, sharp and brittle.
Chu Ruoyan looked at him with pity, unsure how to comfort him. She could only place her hand over his. "These are just speculations. Maybe Princess Ansheng has other motives we don’t know..."
Yan Zheng let out a cold laugh, eyes shut. "With the Yan family almost extinct, what else could she possibly want?"
"Luring out a snake? Handing us evidence so we’d dig up witnesses for her, only for her to silence them later..."
Even she couldn’t keep up the farce.
If that were the case, Princess Ansheng could have killed Granny Sun twenty years ago. Why wait until now?
Thankfully, the carriage slowed just then. "Young Master, Young Madam, we’ve arrived at the mansion," Meng Yang announced.
Chu Ruoyan lifted the curtain, and the words "Yan Mansion" came into view.
It felt like an eternity since she had last been here...
"Meng Yang, summon Steward Fang. Tell him it’s urgent," Yan Zheng’s low voice came from behind her.
Chu Ruoyan snapped out of her thoughts and quickly moved to his side. "Let me help you down." Without waiting for his reply, she took action.
Meng Yang had just set down the ramp and gasped. "Young Madam! That wheelchair is heavy—don’t strain yourself—"
Before he could finish, she had already pushed the wheelchair smoothly down the ramp and onto solid ground.
Meng Yang gaped. Since when was the young madam this strong?
Yan Zheng chided, "You’re reckless. What if you hurt your arms?"
Chu Ruoyan grinned. "But I didn’t! See? My strength’s not bad, right?"
She was clearly trying to distract him, and his gaze softened. "Not bad at all."
She beamed. "All thanks to the master Father hired for me. Let me tell you about it..."
They entered the mansion, but when Meng Yang returned shortly after, Steward Fang was nowhere in sight.
"Where is he? Not in the mansion?" Yan Zheng’s sharp tone made Meng Yang hurry to explain.
"Steward Fang left early this morning. He said there was an issue with the banknotes at the money house and went to handle it... But don’t worry, I’ve already sent Shadow to fetch him!"
Half an hour later, Shadow indeed brought the man back.
Steward Fang was drenched in sweat, assuming the young master had some urgent matter. But when he saw Chu Ruoyan, his aged eyes lit up. "Third Young Madam, you’re back? Wonderful! This old servant will prepare a feast and set off firecrackers at once!"
Chu Ruoyan twitched her lips. "Steward Fang, Yan Zheng has something to ask you!"
The steward turned to Yan Zheng in confusion. The latter spoke slowly, "Where is Granny Sun, the midwife who delivered my mother?"
"What?"
Steward Fang’s eyes widened in shock.
Yan Zheng frowned. "You don’t know?"
"No, no—it’s just that on my way back, the Old Dowager also summoned me and asked the exact same thing..." Steward Fang scratched his head. "And she questioned me in detail, as if she wanted to dig up Granny Sun’s entire ancestry."
Chu Ruoyan’s gaze sharpened. "And you told her?"
"Of course! But Granny Sun has been dead for over ten years now!"
