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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 74: Pack Up Everything Without Leaving a Single Article Behind

"You two, pack up all the things in the storeroom," said Ning Shu to the two. "Pack everything without leaving a single article behind."

Yuan Dong and Miao Qing shared a look. Miao Qing glanced at Ning Shu, then bowed as she asked, "Princess, why are we packing? There are a lot of things in Princess's storeroom. Does Princess truly want all of them packed?"

Ning Shu glanced at her and said mildly, "Don't leave even a single needle behind."

Miao Qing's heart jolted when the princess glanced at her with such a cold expression. She felt that the princess had become unreadable ever since she woke up. There was no trace of hurt on her face. She was cold and calm to the point it was scary although she had been in intense agony just a while earlier.

"Understood." Miao Qing didn't dare to question anymore.

Miao Qing led some young palace maids over to pack up the things. Meanwhile, Ning Shu headed over to find Li Wen. When she got there, he was in the middle of perusing through memorials. When he saw Ning Shu, he put down the cinnabar brush in his hand and closed the memorial. His movements were very fluid and casual.

>A cinnabar brush is just a writing brush dipped in cinnabar ink. It's used on official doc.u.ments and stuff because the red ink is a contrast to the typical black ink. The memorial is a memorial to the emperor.

Just Li Wen's looks were enough to make women incapable of escaping from his charm.

However, when Ning Shu faced Li Wen, her attention wasn't focused on his handsomeness at all. She felt very frightened and unconfident. The biggest reason for her decision to leave the Imperial Palace was because she wanted to get away from Li Wen.

This person was way too dangerous. His thoughts were hidden way too deeply for one to guess at. Ning Shu even suspected him of seeing through her.

"Why have you come to look for us?" asked Li Wen indifferently.

Ning Shu took a moment to organize her words, then exposed a bit of sorrow on her face. "Imperial Older Brother. Imperial Younger Sister-, Imperial Younger Sister wishes to live away from the palace."

Li Wen was only taken aback for a moment before he gave a smile that didn't quite seem like a smile. When Ning Shu saw the fake smile on his face, her heart flipped. What did this smile mean?

Ning Shu's face twitched and her lips trembled. "Imperial Older Brother, Imperial Younger Sister wishes to go out in order to unwind a little."

Li Wen lifted a teacup and took a sip before placing it back down, still silent. Ning Shu was restless with anxiety yet she still had to keep an 'I'm very hurt, my heart's tired' expression on her face.

Ning Shu almost couldn't keep it up anymore when Li Wen finally spoke. "Where do you plan to live?"

"Imperial Younger Sister wishes to go to Manor Garden," said Ning Shu carefully as she glanced up to check Li Wen's expression. This guy was seriously like a freaking ice cube! He didn't have even a hint of emotion. She couldn't tell at all whether he would agree to this or not.

Li Wen didn't nod or shake his head. He simply said, "Manor Garden is too far away, it's not safe. The construction of your Princess Residence had already finished long ago, you should just go live there."

Ning Shu's face contorted. This Princess Residence was very close to Duan Xinghui's residence. She really didn't want to stay at the Princess Residence.

However, she had no leeway to choose. Though the status of a princess was said to be n.o.ble and was n.o.ble, all of the honor and respect could be stripped away with one sentence from Li Wen. Could life be sadder?

How could she make this ice cube face have a better impression of her? How could she deepen their sibling affection? Ning Shu's thoughts were a mess. She didn't dare to meet Li Wen's gaze.