Marrying the Crown Prince

"Yes, that's thoughtful." Old Mrs. Gao didn't care whether Madam Du was telling the truth or not; as long as the Gao family and Madam Du maintained a proper relationship, that was enough.

The carriage swayed and rattled back to the Zhou family's residence. Zhou Zhou sat in the carriage, thinking about what Old Madam Gao had said, her mood somewhat complicated.

Meanwhile, Mrs. An and Mrs. Gao were also recalling the information they had learned from Zhou Zhou.

Madam An's beautiful brows furrowed slightly, her tone somewhat conflicted, "This... I didn't expect that the one in the palace would also take a fancy to An-ge'er."

"Hmph," Old Mrs. Gao scoffed lightly, "She first took a liking to Zhouzhou, but her son wouldn't listen to her, so she turned to second best and chose Ange'er."

"We're going to compete with a powerful person for someone, I'm afraid..."

Before Madam An could finish speaking, Old Madam Gao interrupted, "What do you mean by 'stealing someone'? How do we know she intends to marry the princess to the Yongjing Marquis's family?"

Upon hearing Old Madam Gao's words, the tightness in An's chest suddenly dissipated.

She looked pleased, her smile even brighter, "Mother is right."

Back to Zhou Zhou, after resting and recuperating for so long, not only her, but everyone else has also recovered. The most obvious thing is that Wang Qingwu sent a letter saying that he would come to pick her up tomorrow so they could go shopping together.

Zhou Zhou crumpled the letter into a ball, threw it into the trash can, picked up his pen and wrote a reply, the content of which was concise and clear: See you tomorrow.

After all, she had been in Chengming City for so many days and hadn't had a proper chance to explore it yet.

The next day, Wang Qingwu arrived at 3:45 AM. Upon hearing the news, Zhou Zhou rushed to the door to greet her. Although they hadn't seen each other for a while, they weren't shy at all and held hands as soon as they met.

Wang Qingwu remained as gentle and generous as ever. "Zhouzhou, I miss you so much, but you haven't even written me a letter. I was starting to think that you were really angry with me, just like what the outsiders were saying."

“True feelings aren’t expressed in writing, but in the heart.” Zhou Zhou’s simple words were enough to appease Wang Qingwu.

Looking at her beaming smile, Zhou Zhou felt that he was quite suited to be a playboy in the dating scene.

Upon arriving at the host's house, it was natural to greet the hostess and her mother, so Zhou Zhou accompanied Wang Qingwu to the old lady's house.

It just so happens that the old Marquis hasn't left the house yet today, so the two elders look at Wang Qingwu with mixed feelings.

"Qingwu greets the old Marquis and the old lady." Wang Qingwu was strong-willed and did not care about other people's opinions of him.

The old lady chuckled and replied, "Miss Wang is so beautiful and has impeccable manners; no wonder everyone who has met you speaks highly of you."

Upon hearing this, the old Marquis coughed lightly.

The old lady glanced at him sideways and let out a heavy snort.

Zhou Zhou silently rubbed his forehead and stepped in to smooth things over, "Grandfather, Grandmother, I'm going out for a walk with Sister Qingwu today, so I won't be coming for lunch."

“Hmm,” the old lady nodded, gesturing for Zhou Zhou to come forward. Then she took a purse full of loose silver from Wang Gui’s mother and placed it in Zhou Zhou’s hand. “Since you’re going out to play, you should bring more silver.”

Zhou Zhou felt a sudden weight in his hand, and looking at the bag of silver, he was both amused and exasperated.

“Grandmother, I still have some silver. Besides, we don’t need that much,” she said.

"Just take it!" The old lady was still in a bad mood.

Zhou Zhou was about to say something more when the old Marquis coughed again.

"Tsk!" The old lady turned her head to look at the old marquis, her brows furrowed. "If you're not feeling well, go and fetch a doctor."

Seeing this, Zhou Zhou quickly accepted the gifts, bowed, and said, "In that case, I'll take my leave."

As Wang Qingwu emerged from the house, a smile spread from his eyes to his face. "The old Marquis and the old lady have such a good relationship."

Hearing this, Zhou Zhou felt embarrassed and sincerely apologized, "I'm sorry, my grandmother is still thinking about you and the Fifth Prince, and she hasn't gotten over it yet."

Wang Qingwu shook his head, his eyes firm, staring intently at Zhou Zhou, and said sincerely, "Zhou Zhou, it is I and he who have wronged you."

Just as Zhou Zhou was about to say something, Wang Qingwu continued, "There's no point in saying anything more, but I'm here today to tell you that if there's anything you need me to do in the future, I will do my best to help you."

A gentleman's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold; Wang Qingwu's words carry considerable weight.

A warm feeling seemed to flow through Zhou Zhou's heart, but she didn't show it on her face. She still teased her, "What? If this hadn't happened, were you planning to stand by and do nothing if I encountered anything in the future?"

Wang Qingwu felt stifled by her words and clung to her, wanting her to touch his incredibly sincere and passionate heart.

The two girls played around in the carriage, and soon they arrived at the market town of Chengming City.

The two had just gotten off the carriage and hadn't even started exploring when they heard someone exclaim, "Someone has fallen into the water!"

Wang Qingwu and Zhou Zhou exchanged a glance and walked towards the crowd. They originally just wanted to see what was going on and if there was anything they could do to help. Then they saw two wet people on the shore.

One is Yang Yu'an from the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, and the other... the other is actually Li Zixiao!

"Go and fetch the clothes I left in the carriage," Wang Qingwu quickly instructed his maid, then squeezed through the crowd with Zhou Zhou.

The two of them jogged up to Yang Yu'an and Li Zixiao.

"How are you?" Zhou Zhou asked Li Zixiao first.

Li Zixiao had just choked on water; her face was deathly pale, and water dripped from her body onto the ground. A gust of wind blew, and she couldn't help but shiver.

Seeing this, Yang Yu'an took off his wet coat and draped it over her.

"I don't need your fake kindness!" Li Zixiao sneered, forcefully sweeping her clothes to the ground.

The situation was urgent, and now was not the time to argue about what had happened. Wang Qingwu suggested, "You just fell into the water, let's go to the inn to wash up first, so you don't catch a cold."

Seeing that she remained unmoved, Zhou Zhou said quietly, "Qingwu's maid has already gone back to get the clothes. If you don't want to wear Young Master Yang's clothes, don't be stubborn."

The threat was indeed effective, and Li Zixiao immediately went into the nearest inn.

"I'd like a bucket of water." Zhou Zhou took out some silver and tossed it to the shopkeeper.

"Alright, miss, please wait a moment, I'll have someone send it to you right away." The shopkeeper looked at the silver with great delight.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. After spending the money, Li Zixiao was soon sitting in the bathtub taking a bath.

As for Zhou Zhou and Wang Qingwu, they stood at the door, looking at Yang Yu'an who had been following them, puzzled. "Why are you still following us?"