Holding the script, I want to give up.

"It's rare for you to praise me like this."

Huangfu Hongxi was in a great mood. The two strolled around the garden for a while, and Shangguan Zitong, feeling aesthetically fatigued, sat down on a stone bench for a short rest. Huangfu Hongxi sat opposite her.

Are you misunderstanding me?

He said to her.

"no."

Shangguan Zitong felt that she had no misunderstandings about him, only prejudice.

"Then why do you hate me?"

Huangfu Hongxi asked, puzzled.

"Have it?"

When she realized she'd been exposed, she scratched the back of her head a little embarrassed.

"...I'm not blind yet..."

He was somewhat speechless.

"I can't say I hate you."

"I just don't like you."

"So it's normal for me to dislike you."

Shangguan Zitong said casually.

Why don't you like me?

Huangfu Hongxi asked in a low voice.

"What, just because you like me, does that mean I have to like you back?"

"If many people like me, should I like them too?"

"Wouldn't that make me a time management master, giving each of them a warm home?"

Shangguan Zitong's analysis was logical and well-reasoned.

"...Never mind, I see you're tired from swimming too."

"There's nothing here but flowers, let's go back."

Huangfu Hongxi's mood instantly soured.

"Okay, let's go then. I'm hungry too."

Shangguan Zitong's stomach responded with a loud growl, as her appetite was very important to her; she would feel hungry if she missed a meal.

Huangfu Hongxi took her away, and on their way back to the mansion, when they passed through the market, he asked the driver to buy her some snacks to tide her over.

Inside Tangxi Pavilion, Shangguan Zitong let out a satisfied burp after finishing her breakfast.

"Burp~ I finally feel full, it feels so good."

She got up and asked the maid to tidy up, while she went for a brisk walk. Isn't it said that if you take a walk after a meal, you'll live to ninety-nine? She wanted to live to be a hundred.

"Your Highness, what do you mean by feeling quite comfortable?"

Leqi asked, puzzled.

"In my hometown dialect, it means comfortable."

"Since we have nothing to do this afternoon, let's go for a stroll inside the concubine's palace."

Shangguan Zitong walked out of Tangxi Pavilion and headed towards Shuiyun Palace. Le Qi followed behind her.

"Oh, it seems I've come at the wrong time."

"I'll come to visit the concubine again this afternoon."

Seeing Huangfu Hongxi and Song Yao eating sweetly like a couple who had just made up after a fight, she felt a bit superfluous. She really wanted to find a crack in the ground to disappear into so they couldn't see her.

"Stop, stay and eat with us."

Huangfu Hongxi said coldly.

"No, I've already eaten, I can't eat anymore. You guys eat, I'm leaving."

After saying that, Shangguan Zitong took off running.

"Ouch, I've got a side effect from running."

She rubbed the sides of her abdomen.

"Princess Consort, you should just soften your stance with His Highness."

Leqi said worriedly.

"I don't need it, don't say that again."

“I am not anyone’s appendage. I want to be myself, not the Crown Princess you all talk about.”

Shangguan Zitong gazed at the blooming and withering flowers in the flowerbed and fell into deep thought.

"These must be camellias. They're falling off in whole blooms, like they're bravely going to their deaths."

She asked Leqi to verify her guess.

"Yes, it is also known as the 'decapitated flower'."

Leqi explained to her.

"Okay, let's go back to Tangxi Pavilion."

Shangguan Zitong thought of Marguerite in "La Dame aux Camélias," who seemed to have a particular fondness for camellias, but sadly died young.

Inside the Shuiyun Palace.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?"

"You've been in a bad mood since the Crown Princess left."

After finishing her meal, Song Yao got up and massaged Huangfu Hongxi's shoulders.

"I'm tired, I'll rest here for a while."

"Please come with me, my concubine."

Huangfu Hongxi stroked her hand and patted it twice to indicate his presence. After the maid finished tidying up and closed the door, he pulled her towards the bed.

"Your Highness, please rest."

"I will stay by your side and accompany you."

Song Yao helped him undress and tucked him in.

"Ah."

Huangfu Hongxi drifted off to sleep.

......

A few days later.

"Let's go, I'll take you to see the lake."

Huangfu Hongxi said to Shangguan Zitong, who was swinging on the swing.

"Oh, let me change my clothes."

After she finished speaking, she went into the hall and changed into a begonia-red fish-scale gauze dress. Le Qi styled her hair into two flat buns and adorned her with suitable hair ornaments and dress accessories. Huangfu Hongxi waited on the stone bench outside.

"Okay, let's go."

After Shangguan Zitong finished getting ready, she called out to him outside the palace. He turned around and looked at her attire, and couldn't help but feel that she shouldn't be confined to the deep palace walls; she should be like a free fish...

After Huangfu Hongxi led her to their destination, he got off the carriage first and then draped a moon-white cloak over her shoulders.

"It's windy outside. You're not feeling well, so be careful not to catch a cold."

He said to her.

"Well, thank you."

"Ugh, what an idiot! This cloak is so thick! If you want to suffocate me, just say so! Don't do this stupid thing!" Shangguan Zitong was already cursing Huangfu Hongxi to the core in her mind.

"Is this lake beautiful? I discovered it by chance during my patrol."

"Well, it's beautiful."

Damn, when are you taking me to the market? What's so interesting about this lousy lake? It's just a pond with some big trees and flowers around it. Do I have to come up with some poetic descriptions like "autumn waters blending with the sky" or "shimmering light dancing on the water, still reflections like jade sinking into the water"?

Shangguan Zitong was so tired of looking at the scenery that she was aesthetically fatigued and couldn't muster any interest in anything.

Why are you being so perfunctory? Don't you like it?

Huangfu Hongxi felt that her words were very flattering but lacked emotion.

"Uh..." No, it's probably because I've seen too much scenery, and everything looks the same to me now.

Shangguan Zitong explained patiently.

"Let's take a walk together. Maybe we'll have a different experience."

He took her boating on the lake.

"okay."

Help! Swimming across this entire lake would be half her life-threatening! She considered pretending to sprain her ankle and stop walking, but she was afraid he would see if she really had sprained her ankle.

"Your Highness, have you been quite free lately?"

Why do you take me out to play every day?

Shangguan Zitong asked, somewhat puzzled, her unease growing stronger, needing the system's companionship every night to fall asleep.

"What, you don't like it this way either?"

"I was worried you'd get bored staying at home all the time. The physician said your health will improve."

"And you're the one who's hosting the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and taking you on this trip is to help you find inspiration."

"What's wrong? No ideas?"

Huangfu Hongxi suddenly felt that all the effort he had put into showing her the scenery had been wasted.

"No, that's not it. I've thought it through, but I'm not sure if it will work."

"Let's try it when we get back."

"Let's continue boating on the lake."

Shangguan Zitong felt that Huangfu Hongxi had been unusually sensitive lately, always asking "why." She wasn't an encyclopedia who knew everything.

"Ah."

"What are your thoughts on the concubine's child?"

Huangfu Hongxi asked tentatively.

"???"

"What ideas can I have?"

Shangguan Zitong looked completely bewildered.

"For example, raising it under one's own name."

He prompted her.

"Oh, no, I didn't have that idea."

"I can't even support myself, let alone my children."

"Children are naughty and difficult to raise."

"Besides, this is your child with your concubine, why should I raise it?"

"I'm not a maid in this manor."

"What? I'm here to be a nanny, and you two are supposed to raise the child while you two enjoy your sweet, romantic time alone?" Shangguan Zitong was going crazy.

"That was not what I meant."

"I mean that way you won't have to have children, and your father and the others won't make things difficult for you."

Huangfu Hongxi explained.

"It's simple, I'm just too weak to have children."

Shangguan Zitong spoke so lightly; he was practically shattered in the wind.

"In the end, you still don't want to have a child with me."

"How could he say such a thing about himself?"

Huangfu Hongxi said with a hint of sadness.

"Um... alright, alright, stop swimming, let's go back home."

She felt that if she kept swimming, she would become mentally ill.

Upon arriving at the mansion, Shangguan Zitong immediately got out of the carriage ahead of him and quickly ran back to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"I'm doomed, that guy is still thinking about having my baby."

"They've been so nice to me these past few days, are they saving up for something big?"

Shangguan Zitong was already packing her bags, preparing to run away.

【warn!warn!warn! 】

[Host detected signs of slacking off. Slight punishment being applied.]

"No, Ahri, let's be reasonable."

"If we don't run now, when will we?"

"Am I supposed to wait until he takes advantage of me before I run away? By then it'll be too late."

"Please, have mercy on me and spare my life."

Shangguan Zitong put everything back in its place; it was too obvious. She decided to leave with nothing.

She was struck down by an invisible bolt of lightning the moment she took her first step out the door.

"Damn it, you son of a bitch..."

Before Shangguan Zitong could finish her last words, she tumbled down the steps in front of the palace, landing sprawled on her back.

Leqi came to bring food to Shangguan Zitong and saw her fall in front of the hall, the food box she was carrying falling to the ground.

"Your Highness, what's wrong? Quickly, summon the imperial physician to examine you."

Leqi quickly ran over to help her up and said to Yibai beside her.

"it is good."

Yi Bai used his internal strength to leap away and ran towards the direction of the imperial physician.

......