In the flooding season of July, my husband was sent to Jiangnan to manage the floods.

　　Today is the day he returns to Beijing.

　　As the eldest princess, the only daughter of the emperor and empress dowager, I stood with the ministers at the city gate, ready to welcome the hero who had solved the flood problem.

　　He is my husband, Zhou Yi Jun, the Marquis of Jing'an.

　　A carriage slowly approached from a distance, and my maid, Gu Yu, excitedly held onto my arm, saying, "Princess, your husband has returned!" I gently patted her arm, smiled, and nodded, indicating that I knew.

　　The four carriages finally stopped after entering the city gate.

　　I stood at the forefront, watching the person inside the carriage open the curtain and step down a few steps.

　　The man had a dignified appearance, with a tall and slender figure, a pair of phoenix-like eyes that carried a hint of cunning.

　　Traveling to Jiangnan was indeed exhausting, as he appeared slightly thin after not seeing him for several months.

　　The ministers continuously praised him as he got off the carriage, saying, "Congratulations to the Marquis for his achievements in flood management! The people of Jiangnan have been spared the pain of separation and displacement thanks to you." As Zhou Yi Jun got off the carriage, I quickly walked a few steps forward to greet him.

　　However, he didn't even glance at me and turned around, opening the curtain of the carriage and helping a woman wearing a light pink dress to get off.

　　Before I could say anything, the woman knelt in front of me, tears streaming down her face.

　　I couldn't deny that she was incredibly beautiful.

　　Her teary eyes and slightly swollen eyes made her even more charming.

　　"Princess, throughout the journey, Zhou Lang told me that you are a great and kind person, even willing to bring an injured little rabbit back to be treated by the court physician.

　　My family has experienced difficulties, and I was fortunate enough to be taken in by Zhou Lang.

　　I hope that Your Highness can accept me and give me a chance to survive," the woman pleaded.

　　Wow, she came up and gave me a "good person card." Before I could say anything, the woman took two steps forward and hugged my leg, looking up at me with pitiful eyes.

　　Zhou Yi Jun seemed unable to bear seeing the woman being so submissive.

　　He reached out his hands to help her up, but when he caught a glimpse of the ministers whispering behind him, he withdrew his hands and instead knelt before me, lifting up his robe.

　　"Your Highness, Rou Rou is a pitiable person.

　　If it wasn't for the court's delayed disaster relief, her family wouldn't have suffered.

　　It was my insistence to bring her back.

　　If Your Highness wants to blame someone, blame me," Zhou Yi Jun said with an upright expression, as if I were some evil person.

　　Tsk tsk tsk, if I don't accept this woman back into the house, it will be seen as my fault wearing the hat of delaying disaster relief.

　　The woman, seeing Zhou Yi Jun's words, quickly let go of my leg and prostrated herself on the ground, choking with sobs, saying, "It's not Zhou Lang's fault, Your Highness.

　　Zhou Lang kindly saved me, but it was my insistence to come back with him.

　　If Your Highness cannot tolerate me and wishes to punish me, I will have nothing to say.

　　But Your Highness must not let a kind-hearted person suffer injustice!" I sneered in my heart, maintaining a neutral expression.

　　I reached out my hand and helped Zhou Yi Jun up before going to help the woman.

　　"Hearing that the husband was suddenly exposed to the cold in Yangzhou, I was only a few steps late, and it is normal to be delayed for a few days on the journey of disaster relief.

　　The husband's fault is the fault of this palace, which caused the destruction of this girl's family.

　　Since the husband has feelings for you, let's arrange for you to stay in the mansion!" I explained briefly the reason that caused her family's destruction, and then proceeded to arrange for her to stay in the mansion.

　　Although Zhou Yijun's face darkened slightly due to my explanation of the delay in disaster relief, he couldn't help but show a pleased expression when he heard that I agreed to let this woman into the mansion.

　　There were many ministers behind us who were arguing incessantly, but they all fell silent when I ordered to place this woman in the princess's mansion.

　　Then they bowed to me and said in unison, "We admire the princess's righteousness." I sneered in my heart, realizing that Jing Anhou's influence reached far.

　　"Prepare yourself, husband, and get ready to enter the palace.

　　Father, the emperor, is very pleased and has set up a banquet waiting for you in the palace.

　　However, it is not suitable for this sister to accompany us," Zhou Yijun said to the woman after thinking for a moment.

　　I rolled my eyes internally, wondering if they thought the princess's mansion had become his marquis's mansion.

　　The woman respectfully bowed and said, "Rou Rou will listen to Zhou Lang.” After speaking, she timidly glanced at me.

　　But from her timid gaze, I saw a hint of mockery.

　　I understood in my heart that this woman's identity was probably not ordinary.

　　Then Zhou Yijun and I entered the palace to pay respects to the emperor.

　　As I had predicted, there was a grand feast in the palace.

　　The emperor was very pleased to see Zhou Yijun, first praising his achievements on this trip and then rewarding him with many precious treasures.

　　It seemed that the incident at the city gate in the afternoon had not reached the emperor's ears yet, but whether the emperor knew or not didn't matter.

　　What mattered was that rumors would spread throughout the capital tomorrow.

　　The palace was rarely so lively.

　　Everyone toasted Zhou Yijun one by one to celebrate his achievements in flood control.

　　Meanwhile, the empress dowager left the table early due to feeling unwell, and as the eldest princess, I naturally left as well, claiming to be worried about the empress dowager.

　　After leaving the table, instead of going back to the palace with the empress dowager, I took a detour and waited for my shadow to return.

　　Yes, since the day Zhou Yijun left the city gate, there has been a shadow following him, but there has been no news from this woman.

　　Zhou Yijun had already returned to the capital, and my shadow did not make me wait for long, just a quarter of an hour, when a tall figure in a black night suit stood beside me.

　　The shadow whispered a few words softly in my ear, and warm breath brushed against my ear.

　　I nodded slightly and stepped back a little.

　　After he finished speaking, I ordered, "You don't need to follow me these days, take good care of your injuries."

　　Upon hearing this, the shadow knelt on the ground in silence.

　　Only his dark eyes, hidden behind the mask, stared straight at me.

　　The shadow is the leader of the best martial arts guards selected by the emperor from the secret guards.

　　Each leader of the secret guards is called the shadow.

　　I didn't like calling him the shadow, so I called him A Zheng.

　　Seeing him in this way, I was helpless.

　　I wondered if the emperor had given me a guardian for my safety or a big puppy.

　　"I only ask you to rest for a few days, nothing more," I explained.

　　After A Zheng withdrew, I returned to the princess's mansion with Guyu.

　　By the time I returned to the mansion, it was already late in the evening.

　　The sound of a qin reached my ears, and I followed it to find a woman named Rou Rou playing the instrument in the Hu Xin Ting pavilion.

　　Her music was graceful and melodious.

　　As soon as she saw me, she stood up and bowed gracefully, her delicate figure seemingly fragile and about to be blown away by the wind.

　　I didn't ask her to rise immediately.

　　After a while, when she seemed a bit exhausted, I leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Does the Third Princess of the Southern Kingdom truly wish to become a chess piece at the mercy of that useless man and be his concubine?" Upon hearing these words, Rou Rou was stunned for a moment before her strength seemed to wane.

　　I smirked and continued, "I can give you everything you desire, including the person you want.

　　Think it over and come see me." After speaking, I lost interest in observing her reaction.

　　Today, I accompanied Zhou Yi Jun to perform a grand play at the city gate and enjoyed watching Zhou Yi Jun prance around like a clown in the palace feast.

　　Although acting was not tiring, I did find delight in it.

　　But now, I really should think about the next move in this game.

　　When I returned to my palace quarters to wash up, it was already very late.

　　Before blowing out the lamp, I took out the well-made ointment for wounds from the medicine box and blew the whistle to summon Ah Zheng.

　　I knew that tonight, my father, the emperor, would certainly keep Zhou Yi Jun in the palace.

　　In just a moment, a black figure flipped through the window.

　　Unlike in the palace, the young man's face wasn't concealed by a mask.

　　His black eyes didn't resemble those of a killer, but rather those of an obedient servant.

　　I pointed to the wound ointment placed on the table and said, "Take good care of yourself.

　　When your injury has healed, you can resume duty." Ah Zheng's lips moved for a while before he spoke, "Your Highness, my injury is on my back.

　　Can you really handle it for me?" I didn't say anything but examined Ah Zheng with a scrutinizing gaze.

　　Seeing that I didn't respond or blame him, he came forward, took the ointment, and was about to leave through the window.

　　"Wait, take off your upper garment and wait for me on the bed." Who could refuse a big servant like this who seemed so wronged? After washing my hands, I held the ointment and went to the soft bed.

　　What I saw was this scene: the young man's back was lean and powerful, and I could clearly see the scapulas.

　　Perhaps due to rarely seeing the sun, the skin on his back was white as snow, contrasting with the black color of his lower body, creating a unique beauty.

　　However, this beauty was disrupted by a half-foot long knife wound on his back.

　　It seemed that in his haste to return, the wound hadn't been properly treated and was still oozing blood.

　　I carefully sprinkled the ointment on Ah Zheng's back and my gaze shifted down to his sturdy waist.

　　Suddenly, my eyes were drawn to a red birthmark on his right side, shaped like an open bow.

　　My expression froze, and I reached out to lightly touch that birthmark.

　　"Hiss..." The young man unexpectedly took a sharp breath.

　　"Did I hurt you?" I asked.

　　"Your Highness, it's itchy," Ah Zheng and I spoke simultaneously.

　　The atmosphere, which had been normal just moments ago, suddenly became a bit strange.

　　I couldn't help but recall the smooth touch of the young man's waist, causing my face to flush with heat.

　　This heat lingered until after applying the ointment, and it only faded somewhat when Ah Zheng had finished putting on his clothes.

　　It was only then that I asked, "How much do you remember about what happened before you were four years old?" Ah Zheng seemed to try to recall something, and his beautiful eyebrows knit together.

　　"It's very blurry, but I vaguely remember a little girl.

　　She should be my younger sister."

　　"I nodded, and Azheng seemed uneasy and continued, 'I don't care about my background, I just want to accompany Your Highness and protect you.' I couldn't help but smile and said, 'Okay.'