Changning Marquis Mansion, West Courtyard.

Fu Zichuan opened his eyes and found himself lying in a strange room. It was already dark. He slightly turned his head and saw Wen Wan sitting at the round table drinking tea. Judging by her appearance, it seemed she had been waiting for him for quite some time.

Fu Zichuan’s pupils shrank. He remembered that before he fainted, he was initially rushing back to rescue the Imperial Concubine, but unexpectedly fell into a trap. His horse was shot dead and he himself was knocked unconscious and brought here.

Looking at Wen Wan’s leisurely demeanor, the rumors about the "Enchantress Who Ruins the Country" seemed to resurface in his mind, his expression turned grim, "What do you want to do?"

He had just moved a bit and realized that he had been drugged; now his entire body was numb, making it impossible to get out of bed.

"Doesn’t the Princely Heir fancy me? I’m granting your wish!" Wen Wan took a sip of tea, smiling brightly at him, her posture relaxed, exuding allure.

Fu Zichuan’s whole body stiffened.

He admitted that at the first meeting, he had a very good impression of this woman, even momentarily captivated by her beauty, but it was far from reaching the level of liking.

Especially now that he knew about her illicit affair with Emperor Xuanjing, in his eyes, Princess Yong’an was nothing but a mere plaything relying on men.

Like her? Ha! What a joke?

Wen Wan put down the teacup, lazily leaning half her body against the round chair, her tone sounded casual, "The Princely Heir clearly fell for me at first sight but wouldn’t admit it in front of the Imperial Concubine. Now after spending a night at my mansion, how are you going to explain it to her tomorrow morning? Truly a headache."

Fu Zichuan’s expression changed dramatically; Princess Yong’an actually knows the Imperial Concubine has come to Chu Country?!

"The post house didn’t catch fire?" Realizing he had fallen into a trap, an overwhelming rage flooded Fu Zichuan’s heart, yet he had no way to vent it, so he could only stare fiercely at Wen Wan, wishing his gaze could tear her apart.

"It did catch fire!" Wen Wan curled her red lips, "But the fire wasn’t large, it was just to test how much strength the Imperial Concubine had left after being injured."

Seeing Fu Zichuan’s face grow more livid, Wen Wan’s smile deepened, "Don’t worry, until I get what I want, the Imperial Concubine won’t die. Such a cunning and calculating person would be too unfortunate to die so easily."

Fu Zichuan closed his eyes; this mission to Chu Country was their underestimation. They didn’t expect Emperor Chu to act unconventionally, completely ignoring relations between the two countries, allowing assassins and citizens to humiliate them in countless ways, especially the Imperial Concubine. She had just entered the Capital and was shot by an arrow. The imperial physician had diagnosed that it missed her heart by only an inch, signaling a return from the gates of hell.

At the Thousand Autumn Banquet during the day, he had been solely focused on rescuing the Imperial Concubine, not realizing it was Princess Yong’an who set him up.

No wonder she didn’t attend Emperor Xuanjing’s birthday banquet; she was waiting here all along.

Fu Zichuan felt immensely distressed but could only force himself to calm down, taking a deep breath to regain composure, "What do you want?"

Wen Wan made a sound "Hmm," "I want many things, but I’m afraid you can’t afford them."

Upon hearing this, Fu Zichuan’s eyes flickered with cold mockery, "Being a mere plaything relying on men, what you want is but a man’s affection, right? So, tired of the young emperor, you plan to try someone else?"

Wen Wan pondered over "a mere plaything relying on men" and smiled lightly, "Indeed, my next target is Prince Liang."

Implying that even if there were a change, it’d be to become his mother.

Fu Zichuan was furious enough to want to kill Wen Wan, and couldn’t help but curse her, "Bitch!"

The good impression he had initially held for her vanished completely.

It turned out that the feeling of making someone so angry they wanted to vomit blood was quite satisfying, as Wen Wan stood contentedly, "Rest well, tomorrow morning someone will escort you back to the post house."

Seeing Wen Wan about to leave, Fu Zichuan shouted angrily, "Come back!"

The response was only the sound of the door closing, as Wen Wan had already left the West Courtyard completely.

...

The daytime palace banquet had long ended; Zhao Xunyin had returned and was now in the Warm Pavilion of Liufang Courtyard talking with Lin Xiaoyue, while Ah Nuan was sent to the side room to sleep.

Zhao Xunyin was not very familiar with Lin Xiaoyue, but since Lin Xiaoyue was a close friend of Wen Wan, they had Wen Wan as a common topic, so their conversation gradually became more and more open.

Wen Wan had just arrived at the courtyard entrance when she heard voices coming from the Warm Pavilion. She adjusted her mood and walked to the pavilion door, lifting the curtain and entering.

Lin Xiaoyue only knew that Wen Wan had gone out earlier for some matter, but didn’t know what she was doing, so she asked, "Where did you go?"

Wen Wan sat down on the armchair beside the warm brazier, stretched out her hands to warm them, and then said, "I had to take care of some private affairs."

Lin Xiaoyue didn’t ask further, muttering to herself as she lowered her head, "I wonder how things are at home now."

According to Wen Wan’s instructions, tonight they had to stay at the Changning Marquis Mansion, but she kept worrying about Mr. Qi, afraid that he might not handle things alone and might get into trouble.

Wen Wan didn’t hide anything, "The people who were planning to kidnap Ah Nuan went to the Su Family during the day." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Lin Xiaoyue’s already tense heart jumped at once, "Then what happened? How did things turn out? Is Mr. Qi hurt?"

"His Majesty sent reinforcements," Wen Wan replied, "Those hidden guards have already been captured, Mr. Qi should be fine."

Lin Xiaoyue frowned, "Wen Wan, how did you know those people were targeting Ah Nuan? And who are they? What is their purpose in kidnapping Nuan?"

Today’s events made Lin Xiaoyue realize that danger lurked all around her and Mr. Qi, and a single misstep could lead to losing their lives without them even realizing it.

Although they were close friends, Wen Wan didn’t plan to tell Lin Xiaoyue about her ability to foresee events, only replying, "I got the information from His Majesty. The ones intending to kidnap Ah Nuan are Beiyang people. You should remember the countless assassination attempts you and your husband faced on the way to the Western Border last time, although they were all blocked by the Ti Qi and Hidden Guards, they still haven’t given up."

"So you’re saying their target is still Amuer?" Lin Xiaoyue thought of the child far away at the Western Border and couldn’t help worrying, "When Mr. Qi and I left, we entrusted Amuer to the Great Clan Leader, who promised to do everything possible to ensure Amuer’s safety. But I’m feeling uneasy now."

"There are people from His Majesty guarding there," Wen Wan said, "If the Beiyang people could directly take Amuer, they wouldn’t be targeting Ah Nuan and using Nuan to threaten Mr. Qi, but would directly go to the Western Border to snatch him."

"But I still can’t figure out why Beiyang wants to take Amuer," Lin Xiaoyue looked troubled.

It’s because the Imperial Concubine has Jiuli beliefs in her bones, firmly believing that Amuer is a reincarnated king with the superpower to bring order and peace, and they want to take him back to unite the world under her.

However, Wen Wan didn’t feel it was appropriate to explain this directly to Lin Xiaoyue, so she half-true, half-falsely said, "You went to the Western Border, so you should have heard of the Beiyang Imperial Concubine Li Yuan. She was once the Princess Xiyue, Amuer’s aunt, later married to Beiyang. Now that West Yue has been subdued by Great Chu, the Imperial Concubine probably doesn’t want Amuer to fall into the hands of Chu Country, so she repeatedly tries to take him."

"No wonder I overheard the Great Clan Leader cursing her once. She truly is a mad woman!" Lin Xiaoyue said with resentment.

Amuer is now considered a person of Chu Country. If he goes to Beiyang, would Emperor Yan tolerate him?

What is wrong with Li Yuan’s mind?

With things to do tomorrow, Wen Wan didn’t want to stay up late. After sitting for just a short while, she urged Lin Xiaoyue to return to her room to rest.

Lin Xiaoyue was taken to the guest room by Dou Kou, while Linglong brought in hot water for Wen Wan to wash up.

Wen Wan didn’t bother returning to her room, planning to squeeze in with Zhao Xunyin.

After the mother and daughter lay down, Zhao Xunyin asked her, "Wanwan, at today’s palace banquet, His Majesty announced the pregnancy of the Empress. Did you know about this beforehand?"

Wen Wan nodded, "Yes, but at the time, the Empress didn’t want me to mention it, so I didn’t bring it up with you."

Zhao Xunyin understood and then asked how she managed to have Fu Zichuan brought to the mansion.

Wen Wan smiled at this, "To sow discord, of course!"

Wen Wan had long obtained the distribution map of Beiyang’s hidden stakes in the Chu Country Capital, but she didn’t want things to be so calm and uneventful. The waters needed to be muddied a bit more.

...

Early the next morning, before Fu Zichuan was even fully awake, he was dragged onto a carriage, and by the time he came to his senses, the carriage had already stopped at the gate of the post house.

The driver was not a regular carriage driver but a skilled guard from the Changning Marquis Mansion. He originally wanted to throw Fu Zichuan out with a few quick moves, but when he lifted the curtain and made eye contact with Fu Zichuan, the guard froze for a moment, then said, "Since Young Master is already awake, please, the post house is here."

After spending a night at the West Courtyard of the Changning Marquis Mansion, even though nothing was done to him there, Fu Zichuan felt extremely humiliated. Amid his humiliation, he also felt a sense of cold irony.

Stupid, shallow woman, thinking that this would sow discord between him and the Imperial Concubine? How naively ignorant!

As he knocked on Li Yuan’s door, Fu Zichuan was contemplating how to conspire with the Imperial Concubine to retaliate for the humiliation he suffered yesterday. But just as the door opened, a loud slap greeted him.