Regent, please maintain your aloof image.

After they left, Su Qianrou asked, "What time is it?"

"Your Highness, it is already the hour of Chen (7-9 AM)."

"Where is the prince?"

"Still handling official business in the study."

"He was always in the study."

"Yes".

At this moment, Qiulan walked in and asked, "Your Highness, would you like to have your meal?"

"Yes, go to the study and call the prince to have his meal."

"Yes".

At the dining table, Su Qianrou and Mu Jinchen were eating. Neither of them spoke, so the room was very quiet.

Just then, Juxia came in and said, "Your Highness, Your Highness, Aunt Fanghua from the Empress Dowager's side requests an audience."

Su Qianrou was very curious, wondering what she was doing there, so she said, "Let her in."

"Yes".

A moment later, Fanghua walked in, followed by several women.

Fanghua was somewhat surprised to see Mu Jinchen there, but she quickly recovered and bowed, saying, "This old servant greets Your Highness and Your Highness."

"Greetings, Your Highness and Your Highness."

Su Qianrou glanced at the five women behind her without showing any emotion, and then asked, "Why is Aunt Fanghua here?"

"Your Highness, the Empress Dowager said that Your Highness is unwell and may not be able to serve the Prince properly. Therefore, she asked this old servant to send a few palace maids over so that Your Highness can focus on recovering."

Su Qianrou looked at Mu Jinchen, "What does Your Highness think?"

"I have no servants to attend to me."

"In that case, I'll trouble Aunt Fanghua to take them all back."

Fanghua was in a dilemma. She couldn't afford to offend either Mu Jinchen or the Empress Dowager, but the Empress Dowager was her master, so she could only bite the bullet and say, "Your Highness, as the saying goes, one should not refuse a gift from an elder."

"Yingfeng, take them to Chunfeng Tower."

Upon hearing this, the palace maids were terrified and immediately knelt down, saying in unison, "Please, Your Highness, have mercy."

Fanghua hadn't expected him to do this, and hurriedly said, "Your Highness, you mustn't."

"What? It's none of your business how I deal with my servants."

"This old servant dares not."

Su Qianrou knew that Chunfeng Tower was the largest brothel in the capital. If they were sent there, their lives would be ruined. So she said, "Your Highness, I happen to be short of a few servants in my courtyard. Why don't you let them stay?"

Mu Jinchen looked at her, knowing that she had softened her heart, and said, "Whatever you say."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Fanghua breathed a sigh of relief and then said to the palace maid behind her, "Hurry up and thank the Princess."

"Thank you, Princess Consort."

"No need to thank me. Whether you can stay or not depends on yourselves. I, the princess, do not keep those who have ulterior motives. If you step forward now, I may not hold it against you and may even let you leave the manor. But if I find out later, it won't be so simple."

The room was silent; no one spoke, and no one stepped forward. Seeing this, Su Qianrou said again, "In that case, Juxia, take them away and hand them over to Granny Qi."

"Yes...everyone, please follow me."

Juxia led them out.

Then, Fanghua said, "If it is Your Highness or Princess Consort who has nothing else to say, this old servant will take my leave."

"Take care, Aunt Fanghua."

Fanghua curtsied and then went outside.

Mu Jinchen said, "Being too soft-hearted is not a good thing."

"They were also caught in a situation they couldn't control."

Mu Jinchen didn't say anything more and continued eating.

Su Qianrou glanced at him, then picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.

A few days later, although the bruises on her knees had not yet faded, at least the pain had subsided. Therefore, Su Qianrou resumed her daily teaching and went to Shengming Academy.

At this moment, she had just returned from the academy. As soon as she entered the room, she saw Yang Shanshan sitting on the couch drinking tea, so she went over and said, "Why are you here?"

"My cousin is back."

Su Qianrou sat down on the couch and casually asked, "What brings you here today?"

"Seeking refuge".

Su Qianrou was about to drink her tea when she paused and asked, "What difficulties are you avoiding?"

"You have no idea, now that my father and brother are not in the manor, my mother can only mess with me. So she nags me every day to get married and introduce me to young masters. Do you know that in just three days, I have met a total of twelve young masters?" Yang Shanshan said helplessly.

Su Qianrou couldn't help but laugh.

"You're still laughing," Yang Shanshan said resentfully.

"This is actually quite good, as it diverts my aunt's attention and prevents her from always worrying about my uncle and cousin."

“I know, so I didn’t refuse, and I even listened to her and met all those young masters. But I really can’t take it anymore. If this continues, I’m going to go crazy.”

"Why don't you stay here for a couple of days and hide out?"

"You and the prince are newlyweds, and it's a time of deep affection between you. It's not appropriate for me to be here..."

"Yes, you're right. You should go back then."

"Cousin, how could you do this?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"You value your girlfriend more than your friends, no, you value your girlfriend more than your sister."

Su Qianrou smiled and said, "Alright, you can stay here for today."

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. My mother and aunt went to the temple to pray for blessings and won’t be back until tomorrow. So I’ll be all alone in the house tonight. I’m scared, that’s why I’m not going back.”

"Why didn't you go with us?"

"Am I stupid? My mother alone is enough to make me suffer. If my aunt is added to the mix... you can imagine what it would be like."

Su Qianrou smiled but didn't say anything.

Saint Ming Academy

The following day, Su Qianrou brought Yang Shanshan to Shengming Academy and taught her how to handle some matters.

"Cousin, why do I have to learn this when you're here?" Yang Shanshan said with a bitter face.

“Sometimes when it’s inconvenient for me to come out, you can handle things for me. Also, you not only need to learn these things, you also need to learn math, so that if I can’t teach in the future, you can also help me.”

"Why can't you teach?"

"No one can predict what will happen in the future, but it's always good to be prepared for any eventuality."

"Oh".

Unfortunately, Yang Shanshan had no interest in these things at all, so she couldn't learn them at all.

"Teacher Su," Xiao Tian walked in.

"Xiao Tian, ​​is there something you need?"

Xiao Tian handed her a note, "Teacher Su, someone asked me to give this to you."

Su Qianrou took the paper with a puzzled look, then opened it. The paper read: "Your mother is in my hands. If you want to save her, go to the back mountain of Qingfeng Temple. Remember, come alone. Otherwise, you can wait to collect your mother's corpse."

Upon seeing the contents, Su Qianrou immediately asked, "Shanshan, you said yesterday that my aunt and my mother went to the temple to pray for blessings. Do you know which temple they went to?"

"Qingfeng Temple, what happened?"

"It's nothing, I'm just going out for a bit. You can go back by yourself later, no need to wait for me," she said, and hurriedly walked out.

"No, cousin, where are you going?" Yang Shanshan called out, but all she got in return was a back view.