He rarely called her by her full name, and his tone was very light and cheerful.

It seemed he was indeed in a good mood.

This made Yu Qingwu feel somewhat uncomfortable...

She inexplicably thought of the outrageous things Xie Jin Yan had done in the past – seducing young widows and patronizing courtesans.

Even though she didn't think he would be interested in someone like Qin Yiliu, seeing his delighted expression still made her unhappy.

Her eyes darkened slightly. She naturally avoided his approach, reaching out to straighten the black outer robe on the rack. In a nonchalant tone, she replied, "Your Highness thinks too much. I'm just curious. After all, that Qin woman has lived a second life. She can predict things. Maybe she foresaw that you're about to have great fortune?"

"Tch, I'm already the Crown Prince. What great fortune do I need?" To go higher would mean becoming the Emperor.

If he became the Emperor, it would mean his father's demise.

That could hardly be considered great fortune.

Xie Jin Yan had originally intended to say that, but halfway through the sentence, he felt it wasn't appropriate, so he changed his words, smiling at Yu Qingwu. "It's possible I'll have great fortune, such as... I have a legitimate son."

As he spoke, he glanced at Yu Qingwu's lower abdomen, his eyes extremely suggestive.

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Yu Qingwu had been filled with displeasure, but his gaze made her feel embarrassed.

Compared to Xie Jin Yan, she was ultimately more bound by rules, and her skin was thinner.

And Xie Jin Yan, though he was the Crown Prince, didn't necessarily adhere to rules. If he wanted to, a single glance could conjure up flowers.

Feeling too embarrassed by his gaze, Yu Qingwu simply changed the subject, saying to him, "By the way, Your Highness, the Shen family has suffered a great loss of vitality and seems to have no chance to re-enter the court. But there's still Liang Ruowei. She is, after all, the daughter of Prince Ning. What do you think – if we continue to have my cousin Yu Zhen accuse the Shen family of seizing the Yu family's property, is there a chance of success?"

There was naturally a chance of success, but even if they won, they probably wouldn't get justice.

Yu Qingwu's question made Xie Jin Yan's mood suddenly heavy.

He knew her obsession with revenge and how disappointed she would be when she realized the injustice of the world.

Perhaps... she would even be disappointed in him?

"Shijie (senior apprentice sister), too many people benefited from the Yu family's assets. If we were to settle accounts, it probably wouldn't be easy."

After a moment of silence, Xie Jin Yan replied in a low voice.

Remembering the evidence he had personally given to Minister Zhou regarding the Zhou family's eldest son's bribery, Xie Jin Yan felt a little guilty.

He reached out, pulled Yu Qingwu to sit on the couch in the room, gently patted her hand, and said solemnly, "Shijie, it's true that the Yu family's assets fell into the hands of the Shen family, but many aristocratic families in the court, along with some newly wealthy people at the time, each took a share. If we were to thoroughly investigate, I fear it would cause turmoil in the court and, as a result, stir up unrest among the people."

"You also know that the realm has only been stable for a few years, and there are still many people who are dissatisfied with Father Emperor's ascension to the throne. If people were to know that the former richest family died at the hands of... died at the hands of a group of powerful officials, if people were to know that the powerful officials divided up the Yu family's property, there would inevitably be those who would use this to incite the people and bring about turmoil in the realm."

"But if we were to punish those aristocratic families at this time, it would inevitably provoke dissatisfaction from those clans. Moreover, many of those people hold important positions in the court and even in the military. If we were to strip them of their positions and execute them, there would be no one available to serve in the court for a while."

As Xie Jin Yan spoke, he held the soft hand in his own even tighter, looking at the woman beside him with an extremely guilty, helpless, and complex expression.

As expected, the delicate and cold face instantly lost its color, and the amber eyes revealed a few glimmers of tears and hatred...

"So, in the end, His Majesty must have known about it, right? But in order to protect the interests of the royal family, in order to have someone available in the court, he turned a blind eye. If the Shen family hadn't taken the initiative to cause trouble, causing me to bring up those past events, His Majesty would have originally intended to cover it up for them, right?"

Her pearly teeth tightly biting her lip, Yu Qingwu's voice trembled, tears welling up in her eyelashes. After a long while, she finally forced out a few words from her mouth, looking at him with a cold smile. "As for Your Highness, you should have known this was the result, right?"

Yu Qingwu suddenly felt a little powerless. She knew that this path would be difficult, but she didn't expect it to be this difficult.

She lowered her head, and tears fell from the corners of her eyes onto Xie Jin Yan's skin, icy cold, stinging Xie Jin Yan's bones and hurting his heart.

He silently looked at her, wanting to answer, but suddenly didn't know what to say.

After a long time, he said gently, "A-Wu, if this matter were really that easy, your brother would have already taken action. Why would he have served in front of Father Emperor for so many years, and even now, with heavy power in his hands, he hasn't taken action?"

Yes, if it were really that easy, with her brother's status as a high-ranking official, how could he still not have taken revenge today?

But even though she understood this reasoning, Yu Qingwu couldn't help but feel sad in her heart, and couldn't help but feel disappointed in the court, disappointed in the Emperor, and disappointed in Xie Jin Yan.

She had thought that walking to Xie Jin Yan's side was at least a shortcut.

But only at this moment did she suddenly realize that even if she had now become Xie Jin Yan's Crown Princess, she was still just an ant.

A tiny ant to be manipulated by others...

She tightly pursed her lips, and large drops of tears fell. After a long while, she suddenly turned her head to look at Xie Jin Yan, sneering, "So, Your Highness, are the lives of ordinary commoners worthless? Even if they are exterminated?"

"A-Wu..." Xie Jin Yan called out to her softly. At this moment, he suddenly wished that Yu Qingwu could be like A-Yue, knowing nothing about the past, at least that way she would live a more unrestrained life.

Xie Jin Yan opened his mouth, wanting to comfort Yu Qingwu, but in the end, he swallowed the words back and just sat silently beside her.

He didn't know how long it had passed when the woman beside him suddenly stood up, wiped the tears from her face, and looked at him. "Your Highness, if we can't wipe them out in one fell swoop, we can always replace them one by one, right?"

"Anyway, Your Highness also needs to cultivate your own people. Otherwise, it would be good to slowly replace them, right?" In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she had not only calmed down but also quickly thought of a new method, and even started whispering sweet nothings into his ear.

For some reason, Xie Jin Yan thought of that portrait.

In the portrait, Yu Qingwu was dressed as the Empress Dowager, with a strong murderous aura in her eyes, vaguely resembling... his Father Emperor.

He loved her, but like many emperors, he didn't want her to have too much power in her hands, even if her brother was a eunuch. But on second thought, eunuchs could also adopt sons, not to mention there was still Yu Zhen.

Xie Jin Yan's eyes fluctuated, and his gaze darkened imperceptibly.

Yu Qingwu was always敏锐 (mǐnruì - perceptive), and she immediately noticed Xie Jin Yan's change.

In the end, in his eyes, she was just a palace woman for his amusement. So-called sincerity was nothing more than that.

As a imperial concubine, how could there be true heart-to-heart with the Crown Prince?

Yu Qingwu sneered in her heart, but her face quickly returned to its previous appearance of delicate tears, slowly moving to Xie Jin Yan's side, squatting down, and gently resting her head on his lap.