“Or are you playing some ridiculous game of hard-to-get again, trying to make me change my mind and restore your position as Crown Princess?”
“I’m warning you it’s impossible.”
“Father Emperor has already issued the marriage decree for me and Rou’er. Stop using such disgraceful tricks to cling to me.”
After convincing himself that he had seen through Shen Zhao’s schemes, Xiao Xuanzhou flicked his sleeve and turned aside.
He refused to look at her any longer.
He feared that giving Shen Zhao even one extra glance would only make her overstep and forget her current position.
Shen Zhao stood where she was, quietly watching him speak to himself.
In the past, she would surely have felt heartbroken in secret and grown cautious, terrified that one day Xiao Xuanzhou might truly stop caring about her.
But now…
Faced with his arrogance, conceit, and self-importance, her heart no longer stirred in the slightest.
If there was any feeling left, it was only the urge to carve his heart out.
“Your Highness, you misunderstand me,” Shen Zhao said calmly.
Her composed tone only made Xiao Xuanzhou frown more deeply in dissatisfaction.
Then she continued,
“The Duke truly came to the Shen residence to ask about my preferences.”
“What a coincidence?” Xiao Xuanzhou sneered in disbelief.
He had just happened to bring Shen Qingrou to Qionghua Pavilion, and Xie Chenyu just happened to be inside Shen Zhao’s room?
Did she really expect him to believe she hadn’t deliberately left Xie Chenyu there to provoke him?
“By the command of parents and the arrangement of matchmakers, even if he wished to ask such things, Duke Jin should have asked your elders. How could he privately question you inside your chambers?”
Xiao Xuanzhou pressed relentlessly.
No one noticed the flash of schadenfreude in Shen Qingrou’s eyes as she stood behind him.
She was delighted to see the Crown Prince insulting Shen Zhao.
Xie Chenyu stepped forward.
“That is because I treasure the future mistress of the Duke Jin Manor like a priceless jewel. I wish to please Miss Shen so much that I would gladly place every treasure in the manor into her hands. Naturally, I respect each and every one of her preferences.”
“Is that answer satisfactory to Your Highness?”
Before Xiao Xuanzhou could respond, Xie Chenyu turned slightly and let his gaze sweep indifferently across the Shen family.
“However, it was indeed discourteous of me to bypass Miss Shen’s elders and come directly to her today. Tomorrow, I will send generous gifts to express my apology.”
Yet even such sincere words failed to satisfy Cui Xuenian and the rest of the Shen family.
Or rather…
From beginning to end, they had never intended to let Shen Zhao marry into the Duke Jin Manor at all.
Just as Cui Xuenian was about to order Xie Chenyu to leave, Xiao Xuanzhou gave a cold snort.
Then he said to Shen Zhao:
“I don’t care what schemes you’re plotting. I did not come to Qionghua Pavilion today to see you.”
“I came to order you… to give Qionghua Pavilion to Qingrou.”
“Rou’er is frail. Qionghua Pavilion contains a hot spring bath, and its feng shui nourishes the Phoenix Star. It is beneficial to her.”
“You will move out immediately and stay in Madam Shen’s courtyard instead.”
Afraid Shen Zhao might make a scene, Xiao Xuanzhou’s tone became commanding.
“This is my decree. If you disobey, I will sentence you to twenty strokes of the board.”
Only then did Shen Zhao finally understand the true reason why Xiao Xuanzhou and the entire Shen family had come to Qionghua Pavilion in such force.
She turned and looked around the courtyard she had lived in for fifteen years.
Qionghua Pavilion had two floors.
It was said that when she was born, Daoist Luoshan personally designed the residence according to her fate.
Ordinary daughters of noble families only received their own independent courtyard after the age of twelve.
But from the moment Shen Zhao was born, the elders of her family had begun preparing a grand standalone residence for her.
Half the construction expenses had been funded by the imperial family. Even the number of workers had been meticulously calculated by Daoist Luoshan.
One hundred and twenty workers symbolized five groups of the twenty-eight constellations, while the number five itself represented the gathering of the Five Stars.
The workers had to complete Qionghua Pavilion on the exact dates Daoist Luoshan specified, and Shen Zhao herself moved in only on the auspicious day he selected.
On the very night she entered Qionghua Pavilion, the heavens displayed the rare phenomenon of five stars aligning an omen signifying peace under heaven, the rise of a wise ruler, and flourishing national fortune.
The water in the hot spring bath had been diverted from Fengyan Mountain Manor. It was a genuine natural hot spring.
It also symbolized the celestial river nourishing the Phoenix Star.
And Daoist Luoshan himself had come from the orthodox Celestial Masters’ Manor of Qingcheng Mountain, a true and proper Daoist master with unparalleled skill in divination, calculations, and observing the stars.
What a pity…
In both her previous life and this one, Xiao Xuanzhou had betrayed Daoist Luoshan.
Returning to the present, Shen Zhao said simply:
“Fine. I’ll give it up.”
I’ll just wait quietly for your misfortune to begin and for calamity to consume you.
Shen Zhao left Qionghua Pavilion together with Xie Chenyu.
Behind them echoed the voices of the Shen family and Xiao Xuanzhou fussing over Shen Qingrou with concern.
Shen Zhao did not look back even once. Instead, she told Xie Chenyu another important matter:
“Daoist Luoshan was falsely accused by the Crown Prince. Duke Jin must go to Bodhi Temple quickly and find him before he falls into the hands of the new Imperial Astrologer.”
“He will be killed?” Xie Chenyu asked.
“He will suffer torment worse than death,” Shen Zhao replied, recalling Daoist Luoshan’s final fate.
Then she added,
“The new Imperial Astrologer discovered Daoist Luoshan’s hiding place, dragged him back to prison, and subjected him to the punishment of crippling his knees. Afterward, he was thrown into a pigsty and eventually lost his mind.”
In her previous life, after Daoist Luoshan fell from grace, Shen Zhao had secretly visited him several times.
The final time had been on the night before her wedding, when she brought him celebratory peaches.
Daoist Luoshan had clutched tightly at her phoenix wedding robe and cried out:
“The pig escaped! Quick, the pig escaped! Pig, run quickly…”
At the time, she had thought he was merely suffering another bout of madness.
But now, thinking back carefully, she finally understood what he truly meant:
Run. Hurry and run…
He had likely long foreseen that her wedding night would become the day of her death and wanted her to flee as quickly as possible.
For a master of the Dao with such profound abilities if she could make use of him, why should the world not someday change hands?
Xie Chenyu did not ask further questions and simply responded:
“Very well. I will remember all of Miss Shen’s preferences.”
“After I return to the manor, I’ll have my mother prepare an additional birthday gift for Miss Shen according to your tastes.”
Shen Zhao curved her lips into a smile.
She suddenly realized…
Without needing to flatter and appease the Crown Prince, speaking with an intelligent man felt refreshing to both mind and body. It was practically good for one’s health.
She no longer needed to fear Xiao Xuanzhou’s displeasure and constantly reflect on her own faults.
The one with the problem had always been the Crown Prince.
Not long afterward, the jewelry, ornaments, furnishings, and gifts that Xiao Xuanzhou bestowed upon Shen Qingrou were carried into Qionghua Pavilion box after box.
The servants throughout the estate were dazzled. Secretly, they all thought the Shen household was about to change completely Eldest Miss had fallen out of favor.
The maids Man Yin and Mansu carried several chests of clothing into the eastern wing of Cui Xuenian’s Bibo Courtyard.
Their eyes were red with anger.
Man Yin said,
“Miss, Second Miss is so imposing now. The Crown Prince has sent her countless things. Everyone in the manor is saying Eldest Miss has lost favor.”
Mansu added,
“This servant truly can’t understand it. Even if Eldest Miss can no longer become Crown Princess, she is still the biological daughter of the Master and Madam. How can their attitude change so drastically just because she lost the position of Crown Princess?”
“And the Crown Prince keeps saying that Second Miss brings him fortune.”
“But before Second Miss ever returned to the estate, the Crown Prince already had a virtuous reputation throughout the empire. The senior ministers in court all praised his talents and fame.”
“All of that was because Eldest Miss guided him from behind the scenes.”
“Now all those accomplishments have been credited to Second Miss instead, becoming her wedding gown.”
“This servant is starting to wonder whether Eldest Miss is truly Master and Madam’s biological daughter.”
Man Yin hurriedly covered Mansu’s mouth.
“Mansu, be careful. Walls have ears. This is Madam’s courtyard after all.”
Shen Zhao listened quietly to the complaints of her two maids.
But Mansu’s words reminded her of something important.
She needed to investigate her own origins.
Still, another matter was even more urgent right now.
“In the three days since my sister returned to the estate, has anyone in the household actually heard her speak?”
The imperial marriage decree had already been issued. It was time to tear away the veil hiding the truth.
Shen Zhao very much wanted to see what kind of horrified expression her perfectionist, status-conscious mother would reveal once she realized that the Shen family’s future Crown Princess…
Was someone who could barely speak properly.
The two clever maids immediately left Bibo Courtyard and went to Qionghua Pavilion.
Using Shen Zhao’s name, they claimed they wanted to ask about Shen Qingrou’s preferences so that Shen Zhao could prepare a welcoming gift for her.
The result…
No matter what they asked, Shen Qingrou remained silent.
Hongzhi, Cui Xuenian’s personal maidservant, quickly sensed that something was wrong.
After Man Yin and Mansu left Qionghua Pavilion, Hongzhi immediately sought out Cui Xuenian and informed her of the matter.
Cui Xuenian frowned deeply at once.
Only then did she suddenly realize that ever since Shen Qingrou returned to the estate, she had never once heard her call her “Mother.”
Nor had she heard Shen Qingrou say a single sentence.
Not even one word.
Cui Xuenian instantly rose from her chair, her lips trembling slightly.
“To Qionghua Pavilion.”