They were in charge of being beautiful, and she was in charge of taking the hits.

Sima Lingyu grabbed him, her eyes filled with complex emotions. Yes, it was true; from now on, the two of them would be left to rely on each other in this dangerous place of the princess's residence.

Wu Chengye still had to observe this basic etiquette. She was riding a tall horse outside, with an unhealed scab on the corner of her mouth. Her expression was unreadable, whether she was sad, happy, or angry. She was just waiting there.

Sima Lingyu was dressed in a light green long robe and wore a dark green hairpin in his hair, looking just like his older brother.

Wu Chengye was furious when he saw this. He narrowed his eyes and showed him no respect, directly berating him in front of everyone: "What? Are you dressed up like your brother? Are you trying to win my favor like this? You don't deserve it!"

Hearing this, Lan'er wanted to step forward to stand up for her husband, but Sima Lingyu stopped her and shook his head: "Your Highness, if you don't like me dressed like this, you can just not wear it next time. We still have to go to the palace to pay our respects today, so don't be late and upset the Empress."

"Hmph!" She rode off on her horse ahead, while Sima Lingyu got into the carriage. [Was my brother also suffering like this back then? Will she change for the better like the Fourth Prince?] He still held onto this hope.

During the homage, the Empress always kept the curtains drawn, never showing them her face, which showed that she was extremely unhappy. Even if Wu Chengye was stupid, she could still sense it.

He stormed out and returned fuming. His male concubines were in the courtyard, some playing cards, others eating and drinking. They used to fight for that position, but now that an outsider had taken it, they were united against him.

"Your Highness is really something, marrying the second son when you can't marry the eldest son, isn't that an insult to Sima Lingyu!"

"I don't know what His Highness was thinking. And as you all heard, today His Highness actually humiliated him at the door, saying that he was imitating his brother!"

"Although he holds the title of 'househusband,' I'm afraid his future days won't be easy!"

"Yeah yeah."

When they heard a noise from the gatehouse, they knew that Wu Chengye and his group had returned. They immediately straightened their posture and went to the gate to greet them with graceful steps.

Wu Chengye and Sima Lingyu entered one after the other. They both saw that Wu Chengye had a dark face, while Sima Lingyu was expressionless.

They immediately stepped forward, using all their charm and coquettishness: "Oh, Your Highness, why do you look so unhappy?"

He certainly didn't have time to deal with these women. He rolled his eyes and said, "Get out!" It seemed that there wasn't a single person in this mansion who was truly favored; they were all just tools for him to vent his desires.

After being yelled at like that, they all sat down to the side in a huff, not daring to utter a sound. Sima Lingyu didn't greet anyone either. Logically speaking, all of them, whether they had a title or not, should respectfully call him "Master Husband".

He simply returned to his courtyard, took the time to remove his jewelry, changed into a new outer garment, and washed off all the thick makeup from his face, hoping that Wu Chengye would not come to him again.

On the other side, Wu Ziyan and the others, who had rested for a day, saw that no letters had come from the court and that her poison had been almost cured, so they decided to stroll around the border market to see if there were any unusual items.

However, choosing who should accompany her was difficult, because before she even got out of bed in the morning, both Sima Lingchuan and Han Yuxiu were waiting at her door.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw two handsome men, both of whom were dressed up carefully. She had only mentioned before going to bed that she was going to the market the next day, and they had already gotten ready early in the morning and were waiting for her at the door.

Isn't this a battleground for her? Bringing anyone along will lower the other person's favorability. Bringing them all? That's not a good idea!

"Ziyan, didn't you say you wanted to go and see what's around here? Well, your brother and I are free today, so let's go together."

【Ah, are we really going to have to go through this love triangle?!】 "Okay? Okay! Very good." He had to maintain a normal mindset. After all, this was an otome game, and the system might be quite elaborate. He couldn't be too conservative!

"Okay then." Wu Ziyan simply tied her hair into a ponytail and put on some simple clothes. She didn't know how to do complicated hairstyles at all, and Mo Baiyun wasn't around, so she didn't even have anyone to comb her hair.

The proprietress watched the three of them leave and said, "Miss Ziyan is truly blessed."

"Ah, ha, yes, yes, what a blessing." She was very embarrassed because Sima Lingchuan and Han Yuxiu both had the look of a wronged wife.

She walked out and saw that many people were looking at the two handsome men beside her. She was a weakling with no strength, so wasn't she walking down the street with two gold bars in her pocket?

She saw all the envious glances and the sarcastic remarks, but she didn't care about any of that. However, she wouldn't allow anyone to spy on the people around her.

She looked at the two of them, barely able to reach their shoulders by standing on tiptoe. She put her arms around their necks and pulled them close to her, saying in a novelistic tone, "Why don't you put your veils back on? You're both so beautiful, and you don't have any guards with you. What if you get kidnapped!"

Sima Lingchuan was alright, but Han Yuxiu, who had no official status, was pulled and brought close by Wu Ziyan in the street. He blushed with embarrassment and didn't even hear a word Wu Ziyan said to him.

Sima Lingchuan smiled and said, "Ziyan, don't worry. While you were unconscious, Yu Xiu and I had already explored the area. The security is pretty good, and there are guards following us in the shadows."

"That won't do either. Put your veils on right now. You can only let me see!" She was as stubborn as a child, pouting and putting her hands on her hips.

The two had no choice but to take out veils from their sleeves and put them on their faces. However, their otherworldly aura could not be concealed by a piece of veil. The crowd, unable to see their true faces, became even more curious and kept trying to examine what the two looked like.

"That short woman must be their sister, right?"

"Yes, it's so small, it probably doesn't even have a separate household yet."

“You see, she needs two older brothers to take care of her.”

Sima Lingchuan was very concerned about Wu Ziyan's feelings, fearing that he would be upset by these people's words. However, he glanced at Wu Ziyan and saw that he had no reaction at all, as if he hadn't heard those words. His eyes kept looking around, as if he was looking for something interesting.

After all, she still had to complete the task assigned to her by her superiors. She needed to conduct some research in this market first to see what the business opportunities were. Suddenly, she thought of something and clapped her hands. [What a blunder! What a blunder! When it comes to doing business, we should have brought Fang Yuerong along!]

"What are you doing? You scared me." Han Yu was deep in thought when he was startled by the sound of Wu Ziyan clapping her hands.