Su Nansheng felt a dull ache in her chest and her feet felt weak.
"Uncle hasn't been implicated. Why does he have to leave?"
Su Nansheng opened her mouth and only then realized that her voice was extremely hoarse.
"Sister-in-law, what's wrong with your throat? Bitao, quickly bring some tea."
Chen Mingzhu bustled around, but was grabbed by the arm by Su Nansheng. Su Nansheng looked at her seriously.
Only then did Chen Mingzhu remember her question just now and involuntarily said,
"Yeah, but Father doesn't want to rely on others. He wants to go to Xichuan to take a look himself. It's such a rare opportunity. Naturally, I'm going to tag along and have some fun."
Hearing this, Su Nansheng let out a long breath, pressed her forehead, and suppressed the urge to hit someone.
"My lady, the tea is here. You must have been angered just now," Bitao said as she trotted in with the tea. She decided to blame Su Hele for this.
It didn't matter what the real reason was. She was just angered by her.
"Who? Who?"
Chen Mingzhu was extremely curious, but she quickly came to her senses and regretted asking this question. Just thinking about that person made her feel disgusted.
"I know, I know. Don't tell me," Chen Mingzhu waved her hands randomly as if she had seen something dirty.
Su Nansheng couldn't help but chuckle.
"Uncle is going to control the water. Where would he have the time to accompany you to play? You'll feel bored on your own there."
"Alas, Princess Huici will accompany me," Chen Mingzhu replied.
Su Nansheng stopped in her tracks. "The princess is going too?"
"Yeah, we sisters will travel the world together!"
Speaking of this, Chen Mingzhu was extremely excited and couldn't wait to set off right away.
Hearing this, Su Nansheng shook her head helplessly.
Travel the world? It would be good if they didn't cause any trouble. But with the princess around, even if they did cause trouble, there would surely be someone to clean up the mess.
But would Princess Huai allow the princess to just go with Chen Mingzhu like this?
"You two girls must bring more guards when you're outside. Be careful about everything," Su Nansheng couldn't help but remind them even though she knew that everything must have already been arranged.
She thought this matter was already settled, but unexpectedly, Chen Mingzhu was still going to leave the capital. Fortunately, this time she had a choice and could come and go freely.
"It's okay. Her brother will go with us. With him around, it'll be very safe," Chen Mingzhu said without any worry at all. She didn't believe that there would be any foolhardy person who would dare to have any bad intentions towards the princess.
Su Nansheng completely stopped walking. "Prince Huai's heir is going too?"
"Yeah, to protect Huici. Anyway, he doesn't have any proper business to attend to," Chen Mingzhu said as if it was only natural.
Su Nansheng: "..."
She didn't know whether the heir had any proper business or not, but Chen Mingzhu's leaving the capital was getting weirder and weirder. The heir and the princess were going to accompany her out of the capital together?
Could it be that Chen Mingzhu was actually the long-lost...
Forget it. That would be even weirder.
...
When she told He Xun about this matter at night, he didn't seem surprised at all.
"Anyway, those princes and their heirs all need to go out for some experience. This is a great opportunity. They can not only go out to gain knowledge and understand the people's livelihood, but also learn water control from Uncle by the way. Maybe there's also the meaning of keeping an eye on him. It's killing three birds with one stone," He Xun explained.
Su Nansheng raised her eyebrows. So that was the case. It seemed that she had overthought things earlier.
"Sure enough, there's no family affection among the royal family. Princess Huici is Mingzhu's good sister," Su Nansheng sighed.
He Xun looked down at Su Nansheng and then reached out to rub the frown between her eyebrows.
"It may not necessarily be from Prince Huai's side. It could be someone else. Mingzhu should understand this too," He Xun said.
Even if she didn't understand, Chen Xuan should tell her.
There were no small matters around the emperor. Even if they were as close as sisters, they still had to be a bit more careful.
Su Nansheng pulled He Xun's hand down and nodded to show that she understood.
She saw that Chen Mingzhu was so pure and thought that all her friends would be as pure as her.
But how could this be easily achieved? Not to mention others, even when she first met Chen Mingzhu, her motives weren't pure either.
Just as she was thinking, she heard He Xun say,
"You seem to care about Mingzhu quite a lot."
Su Nansheng couldn't help but smile. It was this question again, but this time she knew how to answer it.
"Because she's your relative. I care about you," she replied straightforwardly.
Her answer was so quick that it made He Xun stunned for a moment.
Then he casually grabbed Su Nansheng's hand and let her fingertips stroke his brow bone. He let out a low laugh.
"Who taught you to say that?"
There was a bit of helplessness and a bit of happiness in his tone.
Su Nansheng just smiled but didn't say a word.
Seeing this, He Xun pulled her hand lower and lower until it stopped at his waist.
"You care so much about your husband. Have you noticed that your husband has lost weight?"
Su Nansheng looked at his face seriously. Although she didn't agree with his words, her tone was very firm. "You've lost weight!"
"You're being perfunctory. You have to check carefully."
When Su Nansheng's hand was forced to touch He Xun's strong chest, she was still a bit slow to react.
Weren't they just discussing court affairs? How did it suddenly turn into a body check?
As the breathing became heavier and heavier, someone asked persistently, "Am I fat?"
Su Nansheng's mind went blank. She felt like she was floating on the rough sea without any support and could only rise and fall with He Xun's movements.
"N-No, you're not fat."
"A Sheng, I've been training for an extra hour every day. It's very hard. You should compensate me well," He Xun said.
Su Nansheng wanted to ask him why he was training so hard, but her voice was broken into pieces.
It was a long, long time later that Su Nansheng finally came to her senses.
General He was actually quite vengeful. He really minded that phrase "little chubby guy."
...
In the guest room of Bitaoyuan, Su Hele was sitting halfway on the couch with her eyes fixed on the door.
She was only wearing a thin inner garment. The scenery of her chest was faintly visible through the slightly opened front of the garment.
It was a bit cold in the room. The exposed skin on her body had gotten goosebumps, but Su Hele didn't notice at all.
After returning from Tingfengyuan, she made a vow.
The humiliation she suffered from Su Nansheng today, she would surely avenge a hundred times over in the future.
And if she wanted to take revenge, the first thing she had to do was to reconcile with He Jin and regain his favor.
So even though she disdained it in her heart, she still came to find him on her own initiative to show her goodwill.
She had lowered herself so much. He Jin would surely calm down when he saw her.
But she waited for a long time and there was still no movement outside.
It was already close to midnight. Why hadn't He Jin come back yet? Did he plan to stay out again tonight?
Thinking of this, Su Hele tightened the brocade quilt in her hand and gritted her teeth.
She couldn't find out where He Jin stayed when he said he was staying out, but she hoped it wasn't some vulgar place like a brothel.
"Su Mo pays respects to the second young master," Su Mo's voice sounded in the outer room. It was both a greeting and a reminder to Su Hele.
Hearing this, Su Hele quickly hugged the brocade quilt and buried her head between her knees.
The dim and flickering lamp, the trembling delicate body, and the tear-stained face.
When He Jin entered the inner room, this was the pitiful sight he saw of Su Hele.
"Hubby, I had a nightmare."