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Chapter 73: Leave the Imperial Palace?

The Empress spoke a lot of words of concern towards Ning Shu. There was no doubt that she simply wanted to show that she cared a lot about her sister-in-law. Ning Shu also accompanied the Empress in the small talk for a while.

Then, the Empress s.h.i.+fted the topic seamlessly to how much of a struggle it was for her to manage the Inner Palace and, without a trace of unnaturalness, onto the topic of what consort did what.

To put it frankly, the Empress was telling on those consorts to Ning Shu. There was not a single person that didn't fear Li Wen in this Inner Palace. The Empress was urging Ning Shu to complain to Li Wen.

The Empress's words were full of crafty turns but still effectively caused Ning Shu to feel loathing towards those consorts. The original host had ended up becoming the Empress's s.h.i.+eld and errand girl just like this.

Although, she did have to admit that the original host was very suitable for being cannon fodder. The Emperor had also used the original host. However, after he got what he wanted, he did give the original host a n.o.ble status. However, the Empress used the original host without giving anything back.

Ning Shu felt that this palace was also full of danger. Her task was Duan Xinghui and Er Ya so she didn't want to bother with anyone else at all.

Moreover, Ning Shu could see that there was no one in this palace that could help her. It'd already be great if these people simply didn't add more trouble when the matter of marriage was brought up.

Ning Shu was considering leaving the Imperial Palace.

"Jiahui, what are you thinking about?" The Empress saw that though she had spoken a lot, the person she was speaking to seemed absent-minded rather than indignant and itching to rush to the Emperor like she had always done so in the past.

As a woman, there was no way the Empress was willing to share her husband with someone else. However, her current position didn't allow her to be headstrong. She was the mother of the nation. She had to be virtuous, magnanimous, and even had to help the Emperor manage these women well so that the Emperor wouldn't have worries about Inner Palace affairs.

There was no need to mention how much pain the Empress felt looking at these orioles and swallows. For the sake of satisfying the Emperor, she had put out too much. However, the Emperor was still cold and indifferent towards her.

Not only did the Empress hate the women in the Inner Palace, she was also jealous of this princess because Li Wen's att.i.tude towards her was much better. Not even she, this Empress, enjoyed such treatment.

"The person has already pa.s.sed away. Jiahui, you must take care of your health. You're the Emperor's sister, the only princess of Great Yong. There are countless good men out there for you to freely choose from," said the Empress to console Ning Shu.

Ning Shu didn't know if it was her misperception but she actually heard a slight bit of acridness in the Empress's tone.

Ning Shu felt a little tired of this. She glanced at the Empress. In reality, the Empress had pretty good looks. It was just that she had to keep up her majestic presence as the Empress at all times so her manner seemed a little stiff.

The fact that she deliberately tried to put on the airs of an Empress showed that the Empress was very insecure at heart. That was the only reason why she would so strong in order to clearly display her status and power. However, the original host actually felt that only an Empress like this was good enough to be her sister-in-law.

And thus the original host felt enmity towards the consorts of the Inner Palace and felt like her sister-in-law suffered a lot. From Ning Shu's point of view, it was simply the Empress making use of the original host's feelings of sympathy.

Ning Shu acted like the original host and told her troubles to the Empress, "Imperial Sister-in-law, my heart hurts so much. Why did he simply leave just like this?" Ning Shu pressed her handkerchief to the corner of her eye as she glanced to check the Empress's expression.

A trace of delight flashed quickly through the Empress's eyes but on her face she had on an expression as if she was feeling the same hurt as she repeatedly tried to console Ning Shu.

Ning Shu silently made a firm vow, and that was to leave the palace. Aiy, Lord ah, this Inner Palace was full of Li Wen's consorts. If she stayed here, she'd have to keep dealing with these sister-in-laws. It was way too much mental and physical effort.

The consorts either hatred, feared, fawned upon, or tried to drag her, this princess, into things. Due to how much Li Wen doted on the original host, it was inevitable that she was going to be dragged into these Inner Palace women's quarrels.

She didn't have the energy to deal with these women. The matter of the marriage laid, in the end, in Li Wen's hand. Rather than coming here to curry favor with the Empress, it'd be better to just directly focus the efforts on Li Wen. Moreover, the Empress was nowhere as good of a person as she looked. She was simply someone who looked sweet on the outside but was very bitter inside.

Ning Shu dawdled a little longer with the Empress, then used her handkerchief to wipe off her nonexistent tears before heading back to her own palace with Miao Qing and Yuan Dong.

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Chapter 69: Miao Qing

When Li Wen heard Ning Shu's euphemistic request for him to leave, he narrowed his dark eyes and said mildly, "We shall leave. You should look after your own health. Even if Duan Xinghui is gone, there are still other men."

Li Wen had also said this in the storyline, but Princess Jiahui had responded with 'there was only one Duan Xinghui in the world,' angering Li Wen.

Of course, Ning Shu wouldn't say that. If she ended up irritating Li Wen and he decided to marry her off to get rid of her, there wouldn't even be a place left for her to cry.

Ning Shu allowed irrepressible sorrow to show on her face as she responded respectfully, "Imperial Older Brother, right now Jiahui's head feels very chaotic. Right now, Jiahui doesn't want to think about anything."

Upon hearing this, Li Wen's eyes narrowed slightly. For some reason, every time Ning Shu saw him narrow his eyes, she would feel her heart skip in panic. She was trying her best to mimic the original host's expressions and habits. Could it be that her acting skill was that c.r.a.ppy?

Li Wen nodded and said, "If you need anything, I'll have your Imperial Sister-in-law send it over." Then, he exhorted the two maids, "Serve the princess well."

"Understood." The two maids answered simultaneously. However, Miao Qing's eyes stayed glued to Li Wen until he left Orchid Garden Palace. Ning Shu watched from the side, then shook her head.

The original host seriously hadn't paid attention to her personal maids at all. She had no idea that one like her older brother and one liked her future husband.

How sad.

In the following days, Ning Shu calmly pa.s.sed the time focusing on recovering. However, it was during these days that she truly experienced how pampered the original host was.

Consorts would come to visit every day. The amount of get well gifts that she received each day had to be counted by basketfuls. They were all generally rare and precious jewels. There were even some handkerchiefs that the consorts had personally embroidered and some shoes. In any case, there were all sorts of things.

Of course, Ning Shu didn't meet those people. Her body hadn't recovered yet, and there was no way she would push herself just to meet those people. After all, there were seriously too many women in the inner palace. She didn't f.u.c.king know any of the orioles and swallows in His Majesty the Emperor's harem ah.

Ning Shu saw that Miao Qing and Yuan Dong didn't seem surprised at this display at all. They even looked at these consorts with a bit of contempt. Ning Shu could infer from the fact that these two servants dared to look at ranked consorts with contempt how much the original host had probably looked down on these consorts.

"Princess, why not allow this servant to bring these things to the storehouse?" Miao Qing asked Ning Shu whiled glancing over to check her expression. After a brief hesitant pause, she said, "Princess, these people just want to use Princess in order to see His Majesty and use the affection that His Majesty has for Princess to obtain His Majesty's affection."

The original host and Ning Shu both knew this, did they need a maid to remind them every day? However, the original host actually thought that Miao Qing was a very good person. Ning Shu knew because this was how the original host's heart was reacting.

Miao Qing liked Li Wen. Due to the original host, Miao Qing had a lot more chances to see the Emperor than most of the consorts and concubines in the Inner Palace.

The only reason Miao Qing was saying this was because she was annoyed and envied these consorts. Ning Shu simply glanced at her indifferently rather than echo agreement like the original host usually did. In the past, whenever the original host heard Miao Qing say something like this, she would become furious at the fact that these women were trying to use her.

When Miao Qing saw that the princess didn't pay any attention to her, her heart sunk. She silently went to put the things into the storehouse.