Shen Si’s clear eyes brightened upon hearing these words, and her tears stopped. She took the initiative to grasp his Dragon Robe: “Then could Your Majesty not be so close to her? Si Si feels a bit uncomfortable inside.”
She knew this request was excessive, but Ning Ruoxue was a woman who had betrayed His Majesty, carrying another man’s bastard in her womb. She absolutely could not be allowed to touch Gu Lingyun.
Seeing that her fuss was all for this reason, Gu Lingyun withdrew his sleeve from her grasp: “She is a Noble Consort, with status and position. Moreover, she is a favored consort I personally elevated. Shen Si, I will always be close to other women.”
Shen Si steeled her heart and stepped forward to embrace the man: “But it can’t be her. She is filthy; Your Majesty must not touch her.”
Gu Lingyun did not push her away. The number of times she had offended imperial authority was beyond counting on both hands. Such indulgence was what he had granted, and he could not take it back.
“Do not speak these words to anyone else. I spare you the death penalty.”
Shen Si felt indignant and couldn’t help but emphasize: “Your Majesty, believe me. I would never lie to you.”
Gu Lingyun stared into her innocent, guileless eyes. All the treasures in Yuchen Palace could not compare to half the brilliance in her eyes.
“Haven’t you lied to me enough already?”
He pulled her hands away. This was how she had always sweet-talked him, coaxing him into exhausting his efforts to dote on her, only to end up insisting on marrying someone else even if it meant death.
Recalling her past actions, Shen Si indeed had little credibility. In her anxiety, she grabbed the jade pendant tied at His Majesty’s waist: “That was me being bewitched. Your Majesty, I’m sorry.”
“Then in my next life, I am willing to serve Your Majesty as an ox or a horse. My very life belongs to Your Majesty.”
Gu Lingyun glanced back at her. Did she truly think he would not lay a hand on her? “Let go. Do you not know your place?”
Shen Si knew it all too well, feeling a surge of frustration and displeasure in her heart: “Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely seek a divorce very soon. I will surely return to Your Majesty’s side!”
Gu Lingyun stared at her coldly, then had no choice but to leave the jade pendant behind and turn to leave.
Shen Si stared at the pendant, then looked at His Majesty’s departing figure. He just gave it to her?
Holding the pendant happily, she thought, this was the jade pendant His Majesty always carried with him, a keepsake from his late mother given to him in childhood. She carefully stored it away.
After a while, Tai Fei walked in.
“Si Si, what secrets were you whispering to His Majesty?”
Seeing her blushing, smiling, and shy appearance, it was clear the young girl’s heart was stirred.
Shen Si’s face flushed, realizing she had been seen through: “Tai Fei Niangniang~ Don’t tease me.”
But then she remembered something. Tai Fei had always been in good health. How could she have passed away so suddenly in her previous life?
Someone must have harmed Niangniang. The people she cared about were few, and in her past life, aside from His Majesty, they had all left her one by one.
Including the Shen family… later, the entire clan was exterminated.
She had thought it was His Majesty’s cruelty that wronged the Shen family, but later she learned it was all Xie Queshan’s doing. He eradicated the Shen family solely to help his Noble Consort Ning and her clan, enabling one person’s success to bring honor to all their followers.
“Remember, in this world, only His Majesty can protect you. Don’t be willful in the future,” Tai Fei advised her, pleased to see her reconciling with the emperor.
Shen Si nodded and said she understood.
…
At Qinzheng Hall.
The cold wind howled. The snow from last night had been swept to both sides of the palace path. She lifted her skirt and hurried out along the long stretch of red walls and yellow tiles.
Outside Qinzheng Hall, the morning court session had just concluded.
Xie Queshan emerged with several colleagues in tow. The man stood tall like a crane, clad in a purple court robe, a jade belt cinching his waist over leather, and black court boots subtly patterned with auspicious clouds. Though young, he carried the imposing authority of a first-rank official, weighty with power.
Catching sight of a flutter of apricot-pink skirt nearby, he exchanged a few words with his subordinates before walking over.
The others noticed as well and began to comment.
“Marquis Xie and his wife truly are deeply affectionate. They’ve only been apart a few days, and already his wife has come looking for him.”
“Marquis Xie doesn’t even take concubines—such devotion between husband and wife. My own wife often says why can’t I learn from Marquis Xie, haha.”
“The Marquis is truly fortunate.”
Shen Si’s expression darkened at those words. Fortunate, indeed—daring to share intimate moments with the emperor’s woman, even conceiving a child in secret, while I alone suffer a living hell.
Xie Queshan approached, his expression icy to the extreme. “You want a divorce?”
Shen Si raised her eyes to look at the man she had married three years ago. In their previous life, after seven years as husband and wife, he had never once truly looked at her. When he poisoned her, had there really been not a shred of pity or remorse in his heart?
“Yes. From now on, you go your way, and I’ll go mine. Our ties are severed, and we shall never meet again.”
There was no lingering attachment or hope left in her eyes. She no longer wanted this man, and she would make him pay.
Let the entire Xie family share the fate of the Shen family in her past life—let him taste the ruin of his entire household.
Xie Queshan stared at her, his tone indifferent, unmoved by her ‘threat,’ his gaze cold and sinister. “I told you before we married—I could never love you.”
“Now, trying to force me with divorce is useless. Even if you truly wish for a divorce, I will not agree.”
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.”
Shen Si’s eyes widened. Why wouldn’t he agree?
He never liked her in the first place—why keep her trapped by his side?
“Xie Queshan, do you think I have no recourse if you refuse? Let’s each sign the divorce papers and avoid an ugly scene later. Don’t push me!”
Xie Queshan frowned, staring at her. Clearly, she knew how to make a scene. Three years ago, he had refused the marriage, but when the Emperor decreed it, he still had to marry her.
“Shen Si, either you shouldn’t have married me at all, or now that you have, divorce is impossible—unless I die.”
With that, he strode away.
Furious, Shen Si kicked a pillar, her eyes reddening slightly. “So heartless! How can there be such an unreasonable person!”
He still wanted to watch her suffer—only then would he be satisfied!
No, she had to seek an audience with the Emperor.
Ningde Palace.
Gu Lingyun listened as Liu Cha’en reported on the matter between Shen Si and Xie Queshan.
“The wife of Marquis Xie has indeed been neglected for three years. The Marquis is often away and never visits the rear courtyard. The lady frequently complains to the elder Xies, but it hasn’t made any difference.”
The man had changed into informal attire, the dragon robe set aside on a clothing rack. The black robe draped down, enhancing his noble bearing.
Gu Lingyun sat down, picked up a memorial, and took a sip of tea. “She met with Xie Queshan?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The lady initiated the request for divorce, but Marquis Xie did not agree.”
Liu Cha’en reported respectfully.
Thus, it seemed more like a marital rift—a minor quarrel between husband and wife.
A junior eunuch announced from outside, “Your Majesty, the wife of Marquis Xie requests an audience.”
Liu Cha’en dared not look at the Emperor’s expression. After last night’s commotion, His Majesty was likely somewhat annoyed.
After all, this was a domestic matter—how could the Emperor intervene?
Gu Lingyun rubbed his temples. This time, he didn’t hear the woman’s tearful, shouting cries. “Admit her.”
Liu Cha’en withdrew, perceptively dismissing the others.
Shen Si entered in an orderly manner and, upon seeing His Majesty, promptly knelt to pay her respects: “I pay my respects to Your Majesty.”
The man seated above, with the majestic bearing of a dragon and phoenix, did not speak, merely flipping through the memorial in his hand.
The room fell silent for a moment.
Shen Si’s rudeness the previous night had been entirely due to fright, but now she dared not act that way again. She knelt obediently, not daring to move a muscle.
Even as her knees ached from kneeling, tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back, refusing to cry.
Gu Lingyun glanced at her: “What is the matter?”
Shen Si lowered her head, tears slowly trickling down. She felt deeply aggrieved: “I wish to divorce, but he refuses to agree.”
“Your Majesty, I do not wish to return. May I stay in the palace and serve by Tai Fei’s side?”
The matter of divorce could be handled slowly, but she absolutely refused to go back.
Gu Lingyun’s voice turned colder: “The state has its laws, and the palace has its rules. You have neither lost your husband, nor has your husband committed any fault, nor are you and your husband estranged. How can you remain here long-term?”