"No need to be polite." Fu Yuheng nodded and motioned Shen Qingwan to stand up. "Where are you going, my beloved concubine?"
Shen Qingwan stood up and lowered her head slightly as she replied, "Your Majesty, I made an appointment with Sister Shufei to look at paintings a few days ago. I happened to be free today, so I wanted to go to Sister Shufei's courtyard."
"I see. I just want to send Xinyu back. I have to pass by Concubine Shu's courtyard. You can come with me."
Shen Qingwan paused, thinking to herself that she was unlucky. She didn't want to go with these two people at all. It was obvious that Li Xinyu had received the emperor's attention for some reason. She was caught in the middle and could only embarrass the three of them.
But since he had spoken, she had no proper reason to refuse, so she had no choice but to nod and agree.
The three of them walked side by side. Because Li Xinyu was not feeling well, she walked a little slower. Fu Yuheng was concerned about her health and deliberately slowed down his pace to accompany her. Shen Qingwan had no choice but to accompany the two of them and walk slowly.
"The Queen lost her child a few days ago. She has been restless and not in good condition recently. Have you ever gone to see her?" Fu Yuheng asked, tilting his head.
"Your Majesty, I have done my duty recently, and of course I will visit the Empress. But... the pain of losing a child is useless for others to say, I can only take good care of the Empress and let her get over it." When talking about Xiao Shushen, Shen Qingwan still felt a little sad. The lineup was opposite, but she still respected life.
After hearing her words, Fu Yuheng's eyes darkened and he didn't say a word for a long time. In the end, he just sighed deeply, put the topic aside and didn't mention it again.
Shen Qingwan didn't show it on the surface, but she was still a little disappointed in her heart. Although from her point of view, she didn't want Fu Yuheng to be only interested in Xiao Shushen. But she suffered such a great disaster, and Fu Yuheng didn't care much, and even turned around to take a leisurely walk with Li Xinyu in the spring, which inevitably made her feel a little desolate.
She did not take the initiative to bring up any topic, and Fu Yuheng did not turn around and say anything to her. Although the two of them were walking together, they seemed to be thousands of miles apart.
Li Xinyu, on the other hand, was interacting with Fu Yuheng in a weak voice, enjoying the scenery in the courtyard by the roadside together, and occasionally saying one or two folk sayings to make Fu Yuheng laugh. Although it was March, some flowers were already in bud, but the weather was still a little cold, and most flowers were still shrinking in their natural protective shells, not daring to poke their heads out.
Shen Qingwan remained quiet the whole time and did not interrupt deliberately. When Li Xinyu mentioned her several times with ill intentions, she just responded with a smile.
"Your Majesty, we have arrived at Sister Shufei's courtyard. I will take my leave first." Shen Qingwan paused and bowed to Fu Yuheng again.
Fu Yuheng was talking about calligraphy and painting with Li Xinyu. He was in high spirits and didn't pay much attention to her. He just looked at her and nodded, then turned to look at Li Xinyu.
Shen Qingwan watched the two of them walk away, talking and laughing, and suddenly felt a little tired. She lowered her eyes, no longer looking at the two of them, and turned to enter the Shufei's courtyard.
"Sister, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?" Wu Ling asked with concern when she saw Shen Qingwan walking in with a bad look on her face.
"Nothing. I went to bed a little late last night and I'm a little sleepy. I'll feel refreshed after looking at the paintings later." Shen Qingwan said.
Wu Ling nodded and took Shen Qingwan to the study in her yard. "These paintings are all collected by my father. I borrowed them with great difficulty. I have to let you take a good look at them..."
It was already getting dark when Shen Qingwan came out of Concubine Shu's courtyard. She refused Wu Ling's offer to send someone to escort her and walked back alone.
Today was a rare day without Lianyun or Xiaoman by her side, and Shen Qingwan felt a little uncomfortable, but she also knew that sooner or later she would have to get used to being alone.
Not long after returning to his own yard, he heard someone come to report that Li Xin was visiting.
"Sister, I heard that you were back, so I came over to invite you." Li Xinyu walked in with high spirits. Her smug expression did not show her weak appearance in the afternoon at all.
Shen Qingwan didn't care about her little boasting, she just smiled and responded, "It turns out that my sister is always paying attention to my yard. I was wondering why my sister came right after I came back."
Li Xinyu gritted her teeth, then relaxed her expression, looked at Shen Qingwan with a fake smile, and said, "It's just a coincidence. The emperor wants to have a meal in my sister's yard today. I thought that my sister and I met by chance today. It would be more meaningful to have a meal together in the evening. Sister, you won't refuse, right?"
"That's really sorry. Lianyun has already asked the servants to prepare dinner. I won't disturb my sister." Shen Qingwan said indifferently.
"You!" Li Xinyu couldn't hold back for a moment and his face looked a little ugly.
Just as she was about to say something, she was interrupted by a sudden male voice, "Xian Fei, please come along. I just ran into Lian Yun and told her not to go prepare dinner. It's a little far, so I've asked the sedan chair to wait outside."
The two were surprised when they saw Fu Yuheng coming in. They were about to greet him but were stopped by Fu Yuheng, "No need to be polite, let's go."
At this point, Shen Qingwan had no way to refuse anymore and had to follow the two of them back to Li Xinyu's yard.
Li Xinyu in the yard had already known that Fu Yuheng would come over for dinner tonight, and had already prepared an elaborate banquet, waiting for the three of them to come and take their seats and serve the food.
After all the dishes were served, Shen Qingwan took a quick look and found that they were basically the types he liked. Although they couldn't know his exact preferences, they could get a rough idea if they were careful. Shen Qingwan sneered in her heart. She was really thoughtful.
Only after Fu Yuheng picked up his chopsticks did Shen Qingwan and Li Xinyu start picking up the dishes.
"Your Majesty, this udon soup is the chef's specialty, please try it."
"Your Majesty, this meat is tender and delicious, please try it."
Shen Qingwan was eating quietly by herself, while Li Xinyu had already picked up all the dishes for Fu Yuheng. She thought helplessly that she might have gone too far this time.
Sure enough, Fu Yuheng was discussing the dishes with Li Xinyu at the beginning, but after a series of discussions, he frowned and stopped Li Xinyu's actions, "I know, you can eat too."
Li Xinyu's hand that was about to pick up the food stopped in mid-air, and she could only take it back in disappointment.
Fu Yuheng turned his head to look at Shen Qingwan on the other side and found that she was not looking away and was only focused on eating her own food. He felt a little disappointed for some reason.
He was silent for a while, and took the initiative to pick up a few dishes that were far away from Shen Qingwan, without using the serving chopsticks, "Concubine Xian, don't just eat the ones in front of you, try the ones over here too. Is it inconvenient?"
Shen Qingwan was almost choked, but she still spoke helplessly, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will do it myself."
"Yeah." Fu Yuheng did not move, but his eyes stayed on Shen Qingwan. Li Xinyu saw all this, but she was very angry but did not dare to show it.