Chapter 1060 Engaged Couple, Each with Their Own Motives
“Her Highness will keep this gold bracelet. A few days ago, imperial guards came to investigate. They said there were remaining evildoers of the former dynasty. Now such a strange gold bracelet has appeared…” Yujie said and beamed.
The servant girl huddled up with fear and repeatedly begged, “Your Highness, I saw nothing and knew nothing. I just walked past the bushes and saw you and two sisters. I was scared and hid. I don’t know anything else.”
“You can withdraw now!” Shao Wanru answered with a soft smile.
“Yes, I’ll leave. I’ll go now!” The little servant girl said in a hurry. After kowtowing to Shao Wanru a few more times, she scrambled up and was about to run out.
“Wait a minute!” Qu Le stopped her.
“Sister Qu Le, is there anything else?” The servant girl wiped off the cold sweat on her forehead and asked timidly.
“If anyone comes to inquire about this matter in the future…”
“Sister Qu Le, please rest assured. If someone keeps asking about this matter, I will definitely report it to you.” The little servant girl hurriedly expressed her loyalty. It would be a capital crime to involve the remaining evildoers of the former dynasty. What was worse, not only she but also her whole family might be implicated.
The servant girl was young, but anyone working for this mansion knew this kind of crime was a felony. Whoever got involved might be sentenced to death. The best way was to stay far away from the trouble.
Even if they couldn’t avoid it, they had to make their master understand they were innocent.
When the servant girl occasionally got this bracelet, she thought she was incredibly fortunate. At this moment, she recognized that she was, in fact, exceptionally unlucky. How could she have come to that place? Why would this bracelet come into her view? She was somehow bewitched and wanted to hide it secretly. How she wished she had presented the golden bracelet to Princess Chen directly.
The little servant girl was very sensible and seemed to be smart, so Qu Le didn’t make things difficult for her this time. Instead, with a smile, she told her to leave.
Only when the little servant girl left did Qu Le return.
In the room, Shao Wanru was still comparing the two bracelets. The longer she looked at them, the more she felt they were made of the same gold. After Chu Liuchen gave her a pair of gold bracelets, there was no follow-up. Thus, she had no idea if what had happened now had anything to do with this past. Besides, Chu Liuchen was not around.
“Put away the bracelet and wait for His Highness to come back.” Shao Wanru ordered.
This matter couldn’t be simple or might be beyond her control. Shao Wanru had the wisdom to know herself. Plus, in precarious times, she wouldn’t act rashly.
Anyway, she should cope with shifting events by taking a very cautious approach. Waiting for Chu Liuchen to return to the capital city would be her best choice. She couldn’t ruin Chu Liuchen’s grand plan for some trivial things. It was easy to make things worse if she rashly intervened in a matter that she was unclear about.
It no longer looked like a matter of the inner court.
As expected, Nanny Yu came to report that everything seemed normal. She had watched that place for about two hours but didn’t see anyone walk there. Only a few servant girls and old maids passed by, but no one went there on purpose.
The only unusual thing was the bracelet in Shao Wanru’s hands.
After composing herself, Shao Wanru carefully adjusted the collage of maple leaves again. This craft was almost done.
It was a portrait of a noble lady in autumn woods.
Maple leaves of different shades danced in the glow of the sunset, scattering on the woman’s dress and belt fluttering in the air. With some simple and light lines, Shao Wanru decorated a few crucial parts. Maple leaves cut into different shapes were placed on the rest of this piece of art. There were the beauties of nature in the gentleness. In the end, a few deeper lines on pieces of maple leaves decorated the dress corners, adding natural strokes that no painting brush could make.
Maple leaves made the picture more natural and attractive.
“My Lady, will Her Majesty like this painting made of maple leaves?” Yujie, serving her carefully nearby, couldn’t help asking.
She had been to the Palace many times but had never heard that the Empress Dowager had such a hobby.
“Her Majesty will like it very much.” Shao Wanru nodded and took two steps back to see the overall picture. Though she appeared leisurely, a trace of coldness flashed across her eyes.
In her previous life, it was said that a painting of maple leaves triggered the disaster on the Empress Dowager’s birthday. Then there were a lot of rumors flying around, but she couldn’t find out the details of her status at that time. The Empress Dowager fell sick and remained in bed. After that, the Empress was put under house arrest, and her power was taken away. A complete change occurred in the Palace. In that catastrophe, many people were killed.
This great disaster was one of the major causes of Prince Zhou’s rebellion.
After the Empress fell from power, Prince Zhou, the legitimate son, was in a tottering position. Hence, he made the reckless move in desperation.
This matter had nothing to do with her, but she heard Prince Chen was also implicated. Shao Wanru reached out to rub her head but still couldn’t remember how exactly he got involved in trouble. Perhaps, or to say she didn’t know it at all. Anyway, she only knew this matter was very important.
She had no idea how the Empress Dowager got that painting. This time, she intended to destroy the picture and replace it with hers. The Empress Dowager shouldn’t punish her severely for accidentally ruining the original painting because of her love for Chu Liuchen and her artwork.
Then who sent the original painting to the Empress Dowager?
She could remember the painting caused serious trouble but didn’t know where it came from. Why? It seemed that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager didn’t punish anyone.
Such a major event had happened. Even if no one was punished for being related to the initiator of the evil, the initiator couldn’t go unpunished.
Who could escape unscathed after causing such big trouble?
When Shao Wanru was confused, Chu Liuchen suddenly decided to speed up his pace.
In the past few days, the group set out late when the sun rose high in the sky and rested early before the sun went down, considering Prince Chen’s uncomfortable situation. And no one was allowed to complain about the slow pace.
However, something was not right recently. Their speed was twice as quick as before. They rose to move before daybreak. If they were in the middle of nowhere at midnight, they would set up several tents and casually spend the night in the wilderness.
Under Chu Liuchen’s command, the diplomatic corps made a rapid march. The sudden change confused all the people in the group.
In the beginning, Princess Yuyan of the Xu State tried a few times to appear before Prince Chen. But lately, she had been too exhausted to dress up and go out.
When their carriages moved forward, Princess Yuyan sent for Chu Qing. The Xu State had much fewer rules than the Kingdom of Dongcang. Moreover, everyone had learned about their romantic involvement. Therefore, it was not a big deal for Princess Yuyan to call Chu Qing over to her carriage for a chat. As long as they entered the capital city, it would be perfectly justifiable for the couple to stay together.
“What does Prince Chen want to do?” Just as Chu Qing sat down in the carriage, Princess Yuyan asked gloomily.
She looked charming. Though less delicate than Princess Yutao, she was more gentle and lovely as a woman. Thus, more people in the Xu State would like to marry Princess Yuyan than Princess Yutao.
According to Princess Yuyan’s original plan, family members on her side could take the Xu State under control after driving Princess Yutao away by marriage. Unexpectedly, she ended up with Chu Qing instead. Whenever she thought of this, Princess Yuyan would become furious. So, when Chu Qing came in, she treated him abominably and secretly despised him in her heart.
Chu Qing was handsome. However, Chu Liuchen appeared way more graceful than him and attracted most of the attention as they stood together. At first, Princess Yuyan had resigned to her fate, but now she was a little reluctant to do so. Others saw her and Chu Qing lying together in messy clothes. So what? Nothing happened between them.
Her identity as a princess of the Xu State could make up for her shortcomings. She had considered herself a more charming and good-looking lady than Princess Yutao. How could Chu Liuchen not fall for her?
It was a pity that Chu Liuchen was not attracted at all, and she felt highly wronged in her heart. She had never suffered such a crushing defeat because of a man. No matter how hard she tried to seduce him, Prince Chen looked at her indifferently without affection, as if she were a piece of wood.
She couldn’t even get close to Chu Liuchen, let alone do other things.
After Chu Liuchen ordered the group to speed up, she went to ask him for a reason. However, he just smiled gently, saying he was in poor health. Then he ignored her other questions and sent a eunuch to talk to her.
Since she got no answer from him, Princess Yuyan could only ask someone to call Chu Qing over. As soon as she saw Chu Qing, she got more upset. If it hadn’t been for him, she would have still lived happily in her country and been the most beautiful princess in the eyes of the local men. How could she follow him to the Kingdom of Dongcang so far, far away?
“Maybe he wants to go back to the capital early. Imperial Grandmother’s birthday is coming soon,” Chu Qing said vaguely. It was the Empress Dowager’s birthday, and her age would reach a good round number this year so that the whole nation would celebrate it joyously. Chu Qing also wanted to return early and gave her a birthday gift.
When Chu Liuchen’s poor health hindered them from going back fast, he was worried about the delay. Now, although they were a little more tired, there was still hope for them to get to the capital before the birthday.
“You can ask about it. You’re Commandery Prince Qing, Prince Chen’s brother, aren’t you? What can’t you say before him?” Princess Yuyan cocked her eyebrows and asked coldly.
“How can we be the same?” Since there wes no one else here, Chu Qing put on a straight face and said grumpily.
In his mind, Princess Yuyan was destined to be his wife, so he no longer needed to be as respectful and courteous as before. Moreover, he had become the host ever since they entered the Kingdom of Dongcang.
“Don’t visit Chu Liuchen so frequently when you’re free. As his sister-in-law, you should keep a certain distance away from him. Otherwise, others would gossip about you,” Chu Qing scolded Princess Yuyan again.
He was not happy about his engagement with Princess Yuyan. It never crossed his mind that he would marry a princess from Xu State. He was the one who proposed to Princess Yuyan’s mother that they could marry Princess Yutao to Chu Liuchen. He didn’t expect Princess Yutao to fight back, forcing him to marry Princess Yuyan instead.
It was difficult for him to explain his relationship with Princess Yuyan to others. He especially didn’t know how to face his previous fiancee. So, Chu Qing had been in low spirits along the way. After spending some time traveling, he slowly accepted the reality. If he could do nothing about it, he might as well take the previous fiancee as his secondary legal wife. With Princess Yuyan’s noble status, she should be his wife, and being his secondary legal wife wouldn’t disgrace the previous fiancee.
“Smack!” Princess Yuyan slapped Chu Qing hard across the face, raising her willowy eyebrows in anger. Chu Qing suddenly widened his eyes and looked at her in utter astonishment.
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