Qi Xiao sat up and said after a pause, "Actually, it's not a big deal. I came out not to avoid suspicion, but because I was afraid it would be difficult for you after the matter came out."

Hearing this, Bairen felt even more uneasy. He also sat up, anxiously asking, "What... what exactly are you going to do?"

Seeing how worried Bairen looked, Qi Xiao couldn't help but laugh. "What are you thinking? Do you suspect I'm going to assassinate the emperor?"

Bairen frowned. "Walls have ears, don't talk nonsense."

Qi Xiao smiled faintly. "Don't worry... It's not time to kill him yet. Alright, I won't tease you anymore. I didn't do much, just had someone send a big gift back to your royal father."

Bairen was stunned. "My royal father?"

Qi Xiao smiled coldly. "Regarding the matter with Kangtai and Qi Hua... My people have been spreading rumors, but the Feng household keeps opposing me and suppressing it. They want to settle things peacefully? Fine, then I'll make sure to send this matter all the way to Lingnan, and let your royal father see for himself what kind of things these pampered children of his are."

Bairen was speechless. "Send... all the way to Lingnan? How did you do it?"

"It's nothing. I just sent a few people... pretending to be from the Feng household to send a congratulatory gift to Lingnan, and casually mentioned the love at first sight between Kangtai and Qi Hua in the Empress' palace." Qi Xiao smiled sinisterly.

"I had them say that the Lingnan family's second miss is very fond of the second prince, and the second prince also swore that he would marry no one but Princess Kangtai. The two are a perfect match, inseparable... It's just that the Emperor has been reluctant to bestow the marriage.

"The Emperor is dissatisfied with this marriage, so as the maternal family, they have no choice but to come beg Your Highness. They implore His Highness to cherish his daughter and submit a petition to the Emperor to grant the marriage."

Bairen swallowed and said softly, "I guess... my royal father probably only heard 'a perfect match, inseparable' and 'the Emperor's dissatisfaction with this marriage'. I hope my royal father didn't get so angry he died..."

Seeing Bairen's dazed look, Qi Xiao felt fondness in his heart. He ruffled Bairen's hair and smiled gently, "Don't worry, he's not dead."

Qi Xiao smiled humbly, "He is my esteemed lord, how would I dare to be rash? But according to those who returned... It's true that lord became ill from anger. When he heard those words, he immediately smashed an entire tea set and scolded the people I sent, kicking them out. I heard he later went to the palace of that favored concubine and harshly reprimanded her, scolding her for not properly educating her children and raising such a shameless thing, hehe..."

Bairen empathized. If his royal father even scolded Madam Xia, it seemed he was truly furious. But it made sense. His unmarried daughter had gone far to the capital, originally to be married off and broaden her horizons by meeting the Empress and princesses.

Who knew Kangtai would stir up such a matter. To put it nicely, Kangtai and Qi Hua fell in love at first sight. To put it harshly, the two disregarded propriety and were impure and filthy. Most importantly, the Emperor had no intention of granting the marriage at all.

This was equivalent to slapping Kangtai in the face... Even if she threw herself at him, no one wanted her.

Bairen thought for a bit and suddenly had a realization. He asked, "When... when did you send people?"

Qi Xiao smiled faintly, "Half a month ago, right when it happened... The people your royal father sent should be arriving in the capital in the next few days. Your royal father disciplining his daughter might extend to you too, punishing you for lack of supervision. I didn't want you to have to deal with them, so I simply brought you out."

Bairen laughed in spite of himself. "You... had planned this half a month ago?"

Qi Xiao smiled without a word. Bairen sighed softly, "Fortunately, I didn't stubbornly clash with you back then. Otherwise, who knows what fate I'd suffer now."

Bairen's casual remark took on a different meaning in Qi Xiao's ears. Qi Xiao turned over, pressing on top of Bairen again, and laughed in a low voice, "I'm actually a bit regretful... If only you weren't so obedient back then. I would have resolutely used all sorts of methods to deal with you. Perhaps... I would have gotten my hands on you long ago. Then it wouldn't be like now, hugging you all night just to sleep."

Bairen's face instantly turned red. Qi Xiao fiercely bit Bairen's lip, "The more I dote on you, the more delicate you get. Crying at the slightest touch, unable to bear any pain..."

Hearing this, Bairen couldn't help protesting in a small voice, "I said last night that I'm not afraid of pain..."

Qi Xiao sneered, "Then don't tremble. Your legs were shaking like a sieve, clearly knowing I feel distress for you..."

"Trembling from pain, I can't help it..." Bairen's voice got lower and lower as he spoke, his face growing even redder. He mumbled, "I didn't do it on purpose..."

Qi Xiao kissed his lips, "I know you didn't do it on purpose. If you dared to fake being in pain... I would have just had my way with you last night. Forget it, we'll take it slow. Wait until you can handle it..."

"Wait, wait." Seeing Qi Xiao's hands getting frisky again, Bairen hurriedly stopped him and asked urgently, "Did you do a clean job having people impersonate the Feng household? If it gets found out, it'll be a big deal."

Qi Xiao stared at him without speaking. Bairen grew anxious, his tone becoming more urgent, "Say something..."

Qi Xiao smiled, "Before, whenever something happened, you always worried about Roujia first, then thought of yourself. Now... the first thing you think of is whether it will implicate me."

Having his innermost thoughts pointed out, Bairen felt even more embarrassed. He pretended to be angry, "What's so hard about answering a question? Why bring up those things..."

Bairen's worried little appearance warmed Qi Xiao's heart. He smiled dotingly, "Don't worry. Those people all have unfamiliar faces. Your royal father isn't close with the Feng household, so he can't tell. Besides, after completing this mission, I transferred them to the army. Even if your royal father later connects with the Feng household and realizes those people aren't from the Feng family, wanting to dig up old scores, there will be no one to target. The people are gone without a trace, it was handled quite cleanly."

Only then did Bairen completely relax. He thought for a moment and couldn't help laughing, "With my royal father sending people... Kangtai has lost a lot of face this time! Wenyu will definitely also be punished, haha... The Feng family is so unlucky! Whenever you do something bad, you push it onto them..."

Seeing Bairen's gloating look, Qi Xiao found it amusing. He couldn't help but have a thought. After Roujia's grand wedding, Wenyu and Kangtai would be leaving. If he took care of these two on their way back... Qi Xiao shook his head. Forget it, Bairen was different from him. A little mischief was fine, but if it really came to taking lives, he might not be able to be so happy.

Qi Xiao had no patience to wait for him to be happy enough. He put down the bed curtain and directly pressed the chuckling Bairen under his body.

Before long, a series of ambiguous moans came from the inner room. Jiang Deqing, who had been guarding outside, only waved his hand to let the maids come back to keep watch after the two had finished talking about business.

The head maid, hearing the movement inside, blushed and asked in a low voice, "Eunuch... The Crown Prince ordered us to prepare a small bowl of yogurt for the young prince before dinner, but because dinner was prepared in time, he didn't eat it. It's so late now... Do we still need to prepare it?"

"Probably won't be needed anymore..." Jiang Deqing hesitated for a moment and shook his head, "Forget it, just tell the small kitchen not to put out the stove, and have things ready. In case the young prince gets hungry in the middle of the night, you won't be able to prepare it in time... The young prince won't say anything, but you know the Crown Prince's temper."

The head maid quickly nodded, "Thank you, Eunuch, for the reminder. I'll go tell the cook right away. Luckily we have fresh cow's milk and eggs, so we can prepare it anytime."

Jiang Deqing nodded and added, "The cook here may not know, so remind him that the young prince likes sweets, and add more sugar." The maid agreed and left.

Jiang Deqing was old, and Qi Xiao didn't let him keep night watch. He was also sleepy after staying up so late. After looking around and seeing that everything was fine, he instructed the maids on night watch with a few more words and then went down.

Nothing happened overnight. The next day, the two woke up late again when the sun was already high.

The two had stayed up late last night, so Bairen was still a bit lazy at this time. He yawned and said softly, "It must be the Chen hour now, right...?"

Qi Xiao laughed, lifted the bed curtain for Bairen to look at the sun outside, and said, "It's the Si hour."

Qi Xiao was originally a person who didn't sleep much, but these past two days, whether it was because he had expended some energy before going to bed at night or for some other reason, he had also started to sleep more. Qi Xiao looked at Bairen's flushed sleeping face and sighed softly, "The land of tenderness, the grave of heroes, the ancients did not deceive me..."

Bairen couldn't help but laugh out loud, but still refused to get up with his eyes closed. Qi Xiao pinched Bairen's face and smiled, "I've discovered that you've become more and more fond of sticking to me lately..."

Bairen was a little embarrassed, but still hugged Qi Xiao's arm and didn't say anything. When Qi Xiao was about to tease him again, Jiang Deqing said in a low voice from outside, "Crown Prince... A letter has arrived from the capital. Would the Crown Prince like to read it now?"

Qi Xiao hmmed, and Jiang Deqing bowed and walked in. Qi Xiao lifted the bed curtain, took the letter, tore open the envelope, shook out the letter paper, glanced at it and smiled, "There's another joke in your family's manor."

Bairen immediately opened his eyes, "What happened?"

Qi Xiao smiled faintly, "Your royal father's people entered the capital yesterday... ordering Wenyu and Kangtai to return to Lingnan immediately, not allowing them to delay for a moment."

Bairen was stunned, "Immediately? Not... not waiting for Roujia's wedding?"

Qi Xiao shook his head, "It seems that your father, Lord Taishan, can't stand these two losing face here anymore. On the surface, he says that a family has been chosen for Kangtai in Lingnan, and he's anxious for her to go back and send someone to take a look... Whether it's true or not, who knows."

Bairen blinked, "So they're leaving now?"

Qi Xiao smiled, "No, Kangtai refuses to go."

Qi Xiao no longer kept Bairen in suspense and directly handed the letter to Bairen. Bairen took it, read it, and laughed, "Kangtai... has really lost all face, inside and out..."

Yesterday, when the people from Lingnan delivered the King of Lingnan's decree to Wenyu, Wenyu saw that the King of Lingnan's words were harsh and immediately went weak in the knees, not daring to say much. He immediately had someone pack up and wanted to submit a greeting memorial to the palace to ask the Emperor for leave.

Just as he was in a mess, Kangtai started making a fuss inside, saying that she wouldn't go back no matter what. Kangtai had somehow gotten wind that the King of Lingnan wanted to betroth her to the nephew of the Xia family. Kangtai had always looked down on that Xia family boy and refused to comply, saying she would rather die than go back.

Wenyu was at his wit's end, trying to persuade and scold her for a while, but to no avail. Kangtai even wanted to go to the princess's manor to find Roujia and ask Roujia to plead for her, causing a commotion from top to bottom.

In the end, Wenyu got so angry that he directly slapped her, ordering people to tie her up before she quieted down.

Bairen put his mind at ease and smiled, shaking his head, "Forget it... It's good that they're leaving. With them gone, I can also be at ease."

Qi Xiao didn't say anything, laughing inwardly. He had been restrained before, hindered by Bairen and unable to act freely. Now that they were finally leaving the Lingnan Prince's manor... Qi Xiao secretly started planning. Wenyu had harmed Bairen so many times, he had to return the favor once or twice to be fair.