By the time Shen Huaiming returned to the Shen residence, the carriage had already left the city.
Shen Huaiming was furious. “Why didn’t you wait for me before making such a decision on your own?”
Cui Xuenian’s eyes were swollen red from crying, and her voice was hoarse. “Master…”
“You didn’t see that ugly side of her.”
“She has no grace at all.”
“She’s unfit to bear the responsibility of Crown Princess.”
“As long as we hide her away and make up a reason for His Highness say she ran away from home on her own…”
“Mother.” Shen Rong frowned deeply. “The Crown Prince will only blame our Shen family for losing Second Sister.”
After hearing his eldest son’s words, Shen Huaiming grew even angrier at Cui Xuenian’s actions. “Do you realize your actions could ruin Dingyao’s future?”
He told Cui Xuenian about Xiao Xuanzhou’s determination to protect Shen Qingrou.
Cui Xuenian was so anxious she was speechless.
After a long while, she finally recovered enough to ask, “Why didn’t the family head stop His Highness?”
Shen Huaiming nearly choked on his anger. “You think I didn’t want to?”
“Why don’t you ask Shen Qingrou what kind of spell she cast on the Crown Prince to make him insist on having only her?”
After saying that, he sank weakly into the grand chair.
Then he added, “Send people to bring Shen Qingrou back immediately.”
“Master…”
Seeing that Cui Xuenian still refused to let go of her obsession, Shen Huaiming raised his voice. “Once this succeeds, His Highness will let our Dingyao take control of Xie Chenyu’s military authority.”
The words on Cui Xuenian’s lips were swallowed back down.
If that was the case…
Then everything would be different.
With Xie Chenyu’s military power in hand, the Shen family’s status would soar.
Perhaps the eldest son could even contend for the title of Duke, or rise to become a prince or prime minister.
Only…
“Qingrou’s speech disorder…” Cui Xuenian glanced at her eldest son.
The eldest son replied, “Bring Second Sister back first, then summon back all the servants who attended her.”
“Investigate her stutter thoroughly, then find a way to cure it.”
“As for Zhaozhao…”
“I’ll speak to her myself. I’ll tell her the Crown Prince still has feelings for her, so she shouldn’t hold any more hope for the Duke Jing.”
“Let Zhaozhao stay by Second Sister’s side. In the future, when Second Sister enters the palace as Crown Princess, Zhaozhao can assist her from nearby.”
“Maybe one day, when His Highness grows tired of Second Sister, he’ll finally see Zhaozhao’s worth.”
“In any case, Zhaozhao must enter the Eastern Palace.”
The worry hanging in Cui Xuenian’s heart gradually eased.
Her eldest son handled matters steadily, which reassured her.
“Then… we’ll do it that way.”
Cui Xuenian immediately sent a steward to chase after Shen Qingrou’s carriage.
At the same time, Shen Rong headed toward Shen Zhao’s eastern wing residence.
But at that moment, there was already someone else inside the room.
It was Xie Chenyu!
“Miss Shen, just as you wished, the merchant sailors from my Xie family who disappeared for a year have all returned.”
“It’s a pity you weren’t at tonight’s palace banquet. You missed the officials and their families whispering among themselves.”
“They said the Crown Prince fell twice in one day because he exchanged the Phoenix Star, while my Xie family’s merchant fleet managed to return because the Phoenix Star descended upon the Xie residence and brought us good fortune.”
“The Crown Prince’s expression looked quite unpleasant.”
In front of Shen Zhao, Xie Chenyu felt strangely relaxed.
He didn’t need to guard against her the way he guarded himself against political enemies outside.
More than that…
There was an odd sense of belonging.
Perhaps because…
In this world, only he and Shen Zhao had both been reborn.
They were the ghostly husband and wife who had shared a coffin after death in their previous life.
Shen Zhao smiled faintly. “Although I didn’t attend this palace banquet in this life, I did attend it in my previous life.”
“Just like today, the Emperor and Empress stepped down from their sedan chairs and walked to the palace gates to welcome the Xie family merchants.”
“The only difference is that in my previous life, the Crown Prince and I also followed the Emperor and Empress to welcome the Xie family.”
“But in this life…”
Thinking about Xiao Xuanzhou’s behavior today, Shen Qingrou’s foolish attempts to show off, and the ugly expressions on her parents’ and brothers’ faces
Shen Zhao couldn’t help curling her lips into a smile. “In this life, I am myself.”
Xie Chenyu’s gaze darkened slightly.
He looked at the upward curve of Shen Zhao’s lips. She seemed to be smiling, yet he could faintly sense the pain radiating from within her.
Just as Xie Chenyu wanted to probe deeper, a knock sounded from outside.
“Little Sister, are you asleep?”
“Big Brother wants to talk to you about something.”
Xie Chenyu abruptly snapped back to his senses and stood up to leave.
Shen Zhao reached out and grabbed his arm, pointing at the bed. “Get up there.”
Xie Chenyu thought she meant for him to climb onto her couch alone, but instead, she climbed onto it with him.
The bed curtains fell, forming a closed-off space inside.
She and he…
Shared the same bed.
Shen Zhao did not notice how the man beside her had flushed red all the way to the tips of his ears.
Facing the man outside, she said, “Big Brother, what is it? I just lay down.”
The door creaked open.
Shen Zhao knew exactly why Shen Rong had come.
Xie Chenyu knew she had been reborn, but outsiders did not.
Shen Rong entered and stopped outside the bed curtains.
Only a single curtain separated the three of them.
If the man outside reached out and pulled back the curtain, he would see a man and woman lying together on the bed.
Although Xie Chenyu felt tense and uneasy,
he still knew how to restrain his breathing so Shen Rong would not discover another person in Shen Zhao’s room.
Shen Rong stopped outside the curtain and said, “Brother came to speak with you about His Highness the Crown Prince. Let’s talk face to face.”
Shen Zhao raised an eyebrow.
Shen Rong’s hand suddenly slipped through the gap in the curtain.
Xie Chenyu’s brows instantly knitted tightly together.
But Shen Zhao calmly stopped him. “Big Brother, I’ve already changed clothes. I’m only wearing my inner garments.”
The hand that had reached in quickly withdrew.
Shen Rong said, “Then Big Brother will just speak with you from outside for a bit. Mother will also speak with you again during breakfast tomorrow.”
Shen Rong said, “Then Big Brother will just chat with you from outside for a moment. Mother will also speak with you again during breakfast tomorrow.”
Anything involving the Crown Prince was naturally about persuading her to willingly become the Crown Prince’s secondary consort and properly help Shen Qingrou become Crown Princess.
A cold smile curled across Shen Zhao’s lips.
Then she heard Shen Rong say, “After the palace banquet ended, His Highness summoned Father and me to the Eastern Palace.”
“His Highness told us that he had many unavoidable reasons for appointing Rou’er as Crown Princess.”
“The harsh words he said to you were because he didn’t want to deceive you.”
“He and you, Little Sister, share a childhood bond. He will not abandon you just because you’re being willful.”
“In the coming days, you should move back to Qionghua Pavilion and live together with Second Sister.”
“Father and I both hope you can guide Second Sister as her elder sister and get along well with her.”
“In the future, you will enter the Eastern Palace together and serve His Highness.”
“His Highness will not mistreat you.”
Sure enough…
It was exactly as she had guessed.
Then…
Back in her previous life, after the Shen family learned that the Crown Prince’s true beloved was Shen Qingrou, how many of the things they had said to her were actually sincere?
Shen Zhao thought carefully about it. Looking again at the faces of the Shen family now, she suddenly felt…
All of it was false.
In that case, when she raised her blade against them, there would be no need for mercy.
“Is there anything else?” Shen Zhao asked coldly.
Hearing the displeasure in her voice, Shen Rong comforted her, “Big Brother knows you’ve suffered grievances these past few days.”
“When I return from suppressing the bandits in Yanqing, I’ll make up another birthday gift for you.”
“You should listen to Big Brother. I’m doing this for your own good. I would never harm you.”
“I understand.”
Using the excuse of “for her own good” while acting as accomplices together.
This kind of “kindness” could be saved for Shen Qingrou instead.
Thinking she had agreed, Shen Rong did not continue the topic. “Alright then, rest early.”
Shen Zhao responded with a dismissive “Mm,” and Shen Rong turned to leave the eastern wing and return to Cui Xuenian’s room.
The entire room had been waiting for Shen Rong to return.
Cui Xuenian asked, “How did it go?”
“Little Sister agreed,” Shen Rong replied.
Cui Xuenian let out a sigh of relief. “I raised her according to the standards of a Crown Princess. Her temper is strong, so I was worried she would keep making trouble.”
Shen Rong smiled. “Mother, your teachings are excellent. A future empress should possess the mentality of enduring humiliation and patiently biding her time.”
“I believe Little Sister will understand your painstaking intentions.”
“I also told her that at dawn tomorrow, she’ll move back to Qionghua Pavilion.”
“It’ll be more convenient for her to personally guide Second Sister.”
Cui Xuenian had no objections.
Xie Chenyu, however, had many objections.
After Shen Rong left, Xie Chenyu stepped down from the bed and asked, “Did your family treat you like this in your previous life too?”
“They personally sent me to my death. What do you think?” Shen Zhao replied with a smile.
But the smile on her face never reached her eyes.
Xie Chenyu asked, “During the Yanqing bandit suppression, do you want your elder brother killed, or merely seriously injured?”
Shen Zhao looked at him. A straightforward person like Xie Chenyu was truly worry-free to deal with.
She took a bottle of medicine from inside her robes and pushed it toward him.
“I want you to seriously injure him, so he can watch with his own eyes as I marry into the Duke Jing’s household instead.”
“I’ll enjoy the power and status they desperately sought all their lives, while he can never obtain it again, living on in unbearable agony.”
Just as she had died in unbearable agony in her previous life.
She didn’t just want Shen Rong to suffer.
She also wanted her parents to experience…
The pain her body,
her heart,
had once endured.