Although several nannies had been hired to take care of the child, it was impossible for He Yan to completely ignore his newly adopted two-year-old son who had just left his biological father.

The child from the Prince Jing's household was named Xuning, and his personality was as quiet as his name. Coupled with his delicate little face inherited from the Princess Consort Jing, he evoked a feeling of tenderness in people at first sight.

On the day he arrived at the Prince Su Mansion, Xuning only timidly opened his mouth to call out "Father" to the two of them, and never spoke again. It took three or four days of adaptation before he could barely communicate smoothly with them.

Early this morning, a low-key carriage drove out of the side gate of the Prince Su Mansion. Sitting in the carriage were none other than He Yan, Prince Su, and Xuning, who was held on Prince Su's lap.

With the New Year approaching, the streets were bustling as every household was busy purchasing goods for the festival. This was He Yan's first New Year here, and he suddenly had the idea to go out for a stroll. Besides, most children liked lively scenes, so it was a good opportunity to take Xuning out to play.

Perhaps because he had always been raised in the Prince Jing's backyard and had little contact with people, the child was extremely shy. He Yan intentionally took him out more to see the world.

However, as the three of them had sensitive identities and the limelight of the adoption had not yet passed, casually appearing on the streets would be embarrassing enough just from people's stares. He Yan had no intention of attracting attention in the bustling area, so he did not get off the carriage and instead sent servants to buy anything that caught his interest.

After buying a bunch of small trinkets, it was time for lunch before they knew it. He Yan had the coachman go directly to a restaurant owned by Prince Su for their meal.

As it turned out, when He Yan cast his eyes downward after finishing the meal and coming downstairs, he happened to catch a glimpse of a somewhat familiar figure.

It was Xu Lingge.

He seemed to be in a hurry, his steps quite hasty as he left the restaurant, with a servant following behind him carrying food boxes.

Since the Second Prince did not cause a shameful scandal by "forcing the eldest son of Marquis Xinyuan" as he had in the original timeline, Xu Lingge and the Second Prince were still entangled with each other to this day. Without the Fourth Prince's interference this time, it seemed that these two would continue to be entangled for a long time before finally breaking it off, just like in the previous life.

But this had nothing to do with him, so He Yan only looked a few more times and did not take this chance encounter to heart.

However, Prince Su, who was holding Xuning beside him, frowned almost imperceptibly after following his line of sight and seeing Xu Lingge.

Xuning, being a sensitive child, noticed that the father holding him was looking at the other father, so he also followed his gaze.

Therefore, when He Yan retracted his gaze, he saw the two beside him, one big and one small, staring straight at him, one stern and gloomy, the other obedient and timid, forming a stark contrast.

He Yan was somewhat at a loss whether to laugh or cry. "Why are you looking at me? Watch your step on the stairs."

Xuning was relatively easy to handle. After the three of them returned to the mansion, he took the toys He Yan had bought for him today and went to his own room to play.

He Yan had already developed the habit of taking a nap every day. Since Prince Su did not want to miss the opportunity to sleep in the same bed as his princess consort, as long as he was free, he would hold He Yan and sleep together, also developing this habit.

However, he had abundant energy and would wake up much earlier than He Yan every time, not sleeping for long each time he closed his eyes.

When He Yan woke up with his head resting on the man's arm this day, he met Prince Su's gaze as usual, as expected.

The man did not know what he was thinking, but there was a dangerous aura in his eyes.

He Yan was still feeling a bit lazy. He pressed his face against the man's solid chest and rubbed it vigorously a few times with his eyes narrowed.

Prince Su felt itchy all over from his kitten-like behavior. With his other free hand, he found He Yan's lips, pinched his chin to lift it up, and lowered his head to kiss him.

Having slept for so long, He Yan wanted to rinse his mouth first, so he covered his mouth to prevent the kiss. "Get up first before messing around."

Prince Su paid no heed and directly pried open He Yan's slender white fingers, kissing him until he was fully awake before letting go.

After being released, He Yan placed his hand on Prince Su's chest and licked his slightly cracked lip corner that had been sucked on. He asked, "What provoked you this time?"

He even dared to force him. Where did their silly big guy get the guts today?

Prince Su stared at him with dark eyes and silently wanted to kiss him again.

He Yan swiftly pinched his cheeks and said sternly, "Speak if you have something to say. Do you think you're a puppy, only knowing how to bite people?"

Prince Su still did not speak.

He Yan paused for a moment and asked knowingly, "Is it because of seeing Xu Lingge today?"

When he had complained to Prince Su before, he had not concealed the reason why the Fourth Prince had gone to great lengths to frame the Second Prince, so their silly big guy knew the role Xu Lingge played in that matter.

Then it was not surprising that Prince Su was acting so oddly today.

Prince Su, whose face was being pinched, nodded slightly.

Although he had said that day that he would not ask how Xie Ming knew about those things regarding the Fourth Prince, the doubts in his heart had never disappeared.

How exactly did Ah Ming know about those secret matters? What unknown interactions had he had with the Fourth Prince?

He was not being vigilant against Xie Ming, but was anxious about those unknown truths that might one day take Ah Ming away from him.

Perhaps it was his inner possessiveness at work, but he instinctively wanted to fully understand everything about Ah Ming. He only endured not investigating because he did not want to force Xie Ming.

In the past few days, he had been burying this matter in his heart and trying his best not to think about it. However, after seeing Xu Lingge at the restaurant today, the anxiety that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time suddenly surged out exponentially.

Because he was tormented by this anxiety, he had opened his eyes and silently stared at his princess consort sleeping in his arms after He Yan had fallen completely asleep earlier. It took all his strength to control his desire to tightly hold this person in his arms and not let him go anywhere.

As for Prince Su's excessive possessiveness, He Yan actually had a vague sense of it as well. Although Prince Su complied with him in almost everything, he was unambiguous when it came to clinginess, staying by his side almost all the time.

Even when he was inspecting the shops under the Prince Su Mansion, Prince Su would not leave, even if he was just a silent backdrop on the side.

Actually, He Yan had already noticed that after seeing Xu Lingge at the restaurant at noon, the expression of their family's foolish giant had become a bit off. It was just that at the time, considering there were still children present, it wasn't good to bring up this topic, so he could only pretend not to have noticed.

Just let their family's foolish giant hold it in for a while longer.

He Yan thought with a bit of a wicked heart.

However, he didn't expect that this bit of wicked intent would so quickly come back to bite him.

Licking his own lip corner that had been bitten and broken, He Yan couldn't help but feel a bit depressed.

Prince Su, whose face was pinched, seemed as if his body had been fixed in place. After nodding, he again began to silently look at his own princess consort, his fierce gaze carrying a trace of indistinct anxiety and nervousness.

If he made Ah Ming unhappy like this, what should he do...

He Yan let go, patting his face, his tone not revealing joy or anger: "Finally couldn't hold it in?"

Prince Su immediately nervously shook his head, saying: "No, Ah Ming, I won't ask... Don't be angry."

Seeing the man put on an appearance of his mouth not matching his heart, that trace of subtle displeasure in He Yan's heart suddenly dissipated.

"If you're going to lie, you need to do it more professionally." He Yan's hand slid downward, poking his chest with his fingertips, the corner of his lips slightly curling up. "Obviously itching to immediately force me to say it, yet still daring to falsely shake your head."

"Ah Ming..." Prince Su lightly grasped that mischievous hand on his own chest, softly saying: "Sorry."

He indeed still wasn't able to control himself in the end, making Ah Ming feel pressured.

He Yan withdrew his hand from Prince Su's, continuing to poke downward at Prince Su's abdomen.

The muscles here on the man were a bit harder than the chest muscles above, poking them felt like poking a rock, making the hand sore.

He Yan said: "It's not some unspeakable matter. Telling you is no big deal."

Prince Su's muscles all over his body couldn't help but tighten. This time he reached out and tightly grasped his princess consort's unruly hand, not letting it break free, before saying: "Ah Ming, tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone else."

Was their family's Ah Ming doing this on purpose?

Talking about serious matters on one hand, yet still teasing him on the other...

He Yan's hand was confiscated, so he could only honestly begin telling the story.

Afraid the man would directly go berserk after hearing it, he slightly altered the original plot, only saying that starting from last year, he had intermittently dreamed of some things related to himself that hadn't happened yet.

This included the matter of the Fourth Prince using him to frame the Second Prince.

At first he thought these dreams were just hallucinations and didn't take them to heart. But as the events in the dreams came true one by one, he slowly began to take them seriously.

Because of Prince Su's appearance, the trajectory of his fate deviated from the dreams. After marrying into the Prince Su Mansion, the Fourth Prince had no opportunity to make a move against him again. But after the wedding, he suddenly dreamed of the Second Prince and Mu Yuanwen, so he intuitively speculated that the Fourth Prince had likely found a new candidate.

As it concerned the safety of his good friend, he brought up the matter to Prince Su, and the final facts proved his intuition to be correct.

Prince Su listened to his account without saying a word, killing intent slowly welling up in his eyes. By the time he finished speaking, the man's face had already turned black as if ink could drip from it, his gaze even more fiercely shining. Paired with his somewhat ferocious features, he looked exactly like an evil ghost that had just crawled out of hell.

If it weren't for him... would his Ah Ming have been used by the Fourth Prince and sent to the Second Prince's bed to be ruined?

Thinking of this possibility, Prince Su, while feeling lingering fear, also wished he could immediately charge into the palace and directly stab the Fourth Prince, currently imprisoned in the Cold Palace, to death in one stroke!

The man, on the verge of explosive rage, unconsciously increased the strength in his hands.

He Yan's hand, held by him, hurt a bit, so he struggled and softly complained: "It hurts."

Prince Su was startled out of his raging fury by this small complaint. He hurriedly let go of his hand and discovered his princess consort's knuckles had all been squeezed by him until they turned a bit red. His heart ached even more for him as he said in a low voice, "Ah Ming, don't worry, I will definitely avenge you!"

He Yan took the initiative to hold his hand again and also kissed his chin, comforting: "In the end, this matter didn't happen, right? Besides, the Fourth Prince has already reaped what he sowed. Don't be impulsive. If you really beat him until something happens, the Emperor will be angry."

Mm.

Directly beating him to death won't do.

Beating him half to death will suffice.