After spending a few hours in her home, Chuntao left with the Fourth Prince to the Palace. After silently walking behind the Prince, she stopped as the Prince had halted in front of a Horse Cart.
Nianzu turned to Chuntao and told her to get into the Horse Cart. It was the first time Chuntao had seen a Horse Cart. She saw the door and went towards it. She found that it was tough for her to get inside the cart as the door was at a good height when she heard Nianzu. "Miss, pardon me." She tilted her head when she felt Nianzu's hand on her waist as he carried her up.
"Place your foot there," Nianzu said. Chuntao quickly did so and entered the cart. She quickly turned and saw Nianzu had also entered the cart. "Sit over there," Nianzu said, showing the wooden bench made on the backside.
Chuntao put the bundle of clothes which she was holding at one side and then sat on the bench there. Nianzu told the coachman to start the Horse Cart and closed the door. He sat beside Chuntao and the horses at the front pulled the cart.
Chuntao found that Nianzu was not conversing with her properly after he had returned from the house of the Village Headman. But it could be her delusion about him.
Nianzu thought that he had forced Chuntao to live in the Palace. He felt that he did wrong to Chuntao but then somewhere he was thinking the young lady needed protection.
"Your highness, there is something I need to tell you," pronounced Chuntao thus, bringing Nianzu out of his thoughts. He had an inquisitive expression on his face.
"Your highness, I am thinking of selling the fields to pay off my debt to you. The remaining debt I will pay by using the salary his highness will give me monthly," Chuntao proclaimed.
"Do you want to pay the debt as soon as possible? What will you do after a year? The field is the only source of your income," Nianzu affirmed. He was baffled for a moment.
"Your highness, there is this man whom I have known for a long time. He likes me and even I like him. So, I have agreed to marry him. I do not want him to keep waiting for me, so I thought to pay my debt this way," Chuntao asserted.
"Miss, what if I tell you that you do not need to sell the fields? Miss, I do not even intend to take the money from you. But because you insisted that day, I agreed with that. That is the only source of income you have, so you shall keep that to you," said Nianzu.
Chuntao nodded her head in agreement.
Nianzu found that Chuntao had come easily into the words of the young man who proposed to her to marry him. Nianzu had cautioned Chuntao for not trusting others too much but it seemed to him that she did not pay heed to his advice, so he thought not to comment on Chuntao's personal matters anymore.
Soon they arrived at the Palace. Nianzu got out of the cart and extended his hand out for Chuntao who placed her hand over his. Stepping down from the cart, she followed Nianzu and stepped inside the Fu Imperial Gates.
They reached the main Palace grounds where Nianzu told Chuntao to leave for her quarter. Chuntao bowed her head and thanked Nianzu for taking her there. She was going away when Prince Lei Wanxi stopped her.
"Miss, do not go away. I have been searching for you since the morning," Lei Wanxi said.
Chuntao lifted her eyes. "Pardon me, your highness. Did I forget to do something?" She asked.
Lei Wanxi moved his hands in the air and refused. "Sister Qing wants to meet you," Lei Wanxi replied and turned to Nianzu. "Brother, you shall come too. Sister Qing wants to give something to you," Wanxi added.
"What does sister Qing want to give me?" Nianzu asked.
"She did not tell me," Wanxi replied and then turned to Chuntao. "Sister Qing is the only Princess in the Palace and the only sister among us seven brothers. I told her about you so she expressed her desire to meet you. Let's go. She is waiting for us," Lei Wanxi said and grabbed the arms of both Nianzu and Chuntao thus, taking them away from there.
As they were walking towards the chamber of Princess Qing, they encountered Lei Wanxi's mother, the third Consort of Han Wenji, Consort Yinlong.
The three greeted her, who accepted their greetings except Chuntao's. Chuntao kept her head lowered and stepped back. "Mother, why are you here on this side of the Palace?" Lei Wanxi asked.
"I have something urgent to tell you," Consort Yinlong said.
"What happened, mother? Is everything alright?" Lei Wanxi questioned.
"Yes, everything is fine, Prince. His majesty and her majesty took a decision to marry off the remaining Princes and the Princess except for the youngest Prince so, regarding that I went to your chamber to converse with you but you were not there," Consort Yinlong stated, keeping a tiny smile over her lips.
"Marry?!" Lei Wanxi exclaimed. "I will not marry. I do not intend to," Lei Wanxi immediately pronounced.
"Mother, so the Princesses from various states will be invited to the Palace soon?" Nianzu queried.
"Yes. In the next two weeks, the Princesses will be invited for the four princes. Princess Qing has received the marriage proposals already so, his majesty and her majesty will decide the groom for her," Consort Yinlong answered the query of Nianzu.
"I do not want to marry. I am going to meet my father to converse about this," Lei Wanxi stated and left from there in anger.
"Wanxi, Wanxi," Consort Yinlong shouted his name, but he did not listen to his mother. Yinlong took his leave from there, while Nianzu bowed his head as she walked past him. She lifted his head and drew his brows together.
"What is the Empress trying to do this time?" Nianzu wondered.
