Chapter 138: Chapter 134: Clues

Shen Jingxian talked with Lady Ning Lan for a long time, but the tragic life of this woman could actually be summarized in just a few sentences. Most of the time, she was merely lamenting her life repeatedly.

Lady Ning Lan was the cousin of the Second Prince and was once the Second Prince’s forbidden possession before marrying the current City Lord.

She was able to break away from the Second Prince because her mother took her place. She knew that if she just left like that, she was actually leaving her mother in a pit of fire, but she left anyway.

She thought that from that moment on, she was selfish.

After arriving in Mingxu City, her days indeed improved. The City Lord treated her well, especially after getting acquainted with the culture of Yunyi Country, he treated her even better.

Until she gave birth to a daughter, it was then she realized her husband loved her daughter more than he loved her.

Not the love of kinship, but the love between a man and a woman.

Many times she wanted to save her daughter, just like her mother had saved her, but she did not have her mother’s ruthlessness; she was afraid.

She would rather lose her daughter than lose her husband’s false love.

The arrival of the Second Prince showed her another path. If her daughter was destined to be unfortunate, it would be better to be harmed by her own father than by the Second Prince.

So she personally handed her daughter over to the Second Prince. Consequently, the City Lord became much colder towards her.

Yet she did not regret it; she felt this was the best result she could achieve.

Until she saw the Princess of Yunyi Country, so beautiful, so dazzling, standing in the light, surrounded by people. At that moment, she felt that in her previous life she must have been a villain of all evils, otherwise, how could she be reborn into such a figure in this life?

That day, the Second Prince sent her a message, asking her to get close to and kill the Princess of Yunyi. Otherwise, he would send her daughter back to the City Lord.

She panicked.

At the same time, she grew more disgusted with herself.

The panic in her heart was not because of what she had done to her daughter, but because she feared her husband being taken away again.

Just as Lady Ning Lan said, she was truly going insane.

Apart from that man who gave her false affection, there was no room in her heart for anything else.

It was hateful, yet pitiful.

Shen Jingxian asked the Second Prince for the reason to kill her, and Lady Ning Lan gave an unexpected answer.

“The Second Prince said it was the Princess of Yunyi who enchanted everyone. As long as the Princess is killed, those rebellious soldiers could be returned to normal.”

Shen Jingxian nodded; in a sense, the Second Prince wasn’t entirely wrong.

Shen Jingxian did not blame Lady Ning Lan for anything. In her face-to-face conversation with Lady Ning Lan, she felt the despair that was ingrained in the bone marrow, the despair that one could not resist.

Compared to such despair, death was easy, but ironically, those steeped in despair have their courage to die completely worn out.

Shen Jingxian could not blame Lady Ning Lan; she had no standing for it.

After leaving Lady Ning Lan’s room, the sky had turned to dusk. She looked at the sunset and suddenly felt lost.

Could she really break the game? Thinking carefully, ever since she crossed over, she hadn’t accomplished anything. Those around her always went along with her, pampered her, her father and mother loved and indulged her. Although she feared death, what could she really achieve?

People always say that man can conquer nature, but like Lady Ning Lan, what could she do? Nothing at all.

She could do nothing as well.

Changing the male and female lead, changing the plot—could it really get better than before? She didn’t think the plot would spare her.

Shen Jingxian looked around; she did not find Wen Ranchen, but she felt no disappointment in her heart; instead, she felt that things should be this way.

Wen Ranchen could not possibly wait for her; Wen Ranchen had never waited for her.

This thought lasted until Shen Jingxian walked out of the courtyard’s gate, and there stood Wen Ranchen with his hands folded, looking in her direction from afar.

Shen Jingxian was stunned for a moment. “Ranchen?”

Wen Ranchen naturally walked over, and for a moment, Shen Jingxian felt her heart racing wildly; not only that, but an uncontrollable surge of affection seemed to be welling up.

“Your Highness, are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Shen Jingxian shook her head. At this moment, all she could see in her eyes and mind was Wen Ranchen alone. She felt she had never been so happy.

“Have you been waiting here for me all this time?” Shen Jingxian asked expectantly.

Wen Ranchen found it a bit strange, but he still replied gently, “Of course.”

Shen Jingxian mumbled instinctively, “I thought you would go around to find…”

What she wanted to find, Shen Jingxian couldn’t recall for a moment.

She just felt that according to Wen Ranchen’s original character, even if he promised to wait for her, he’d still go do other things. How could he possibly wait for her here for so long?

Ranchen had never been this good to her.

“Your Highness, wherever you are, Ranchen will wait for you to come back.”

After Wen Ranchen finished speaking, he didn’t receive a reply for a long time, and he then noticed Shen Jingxian’s eyes were blankly staring at one spot, not moving.

Wen Ranchen frowned, suddenly reaching out to grasp Shen Jingxian’s hand, and it was only then, as if startled, that she returned to her senses.

“Your Highness, are you unwell?”

Wen Ranchen’s worried voice sounded by her ears, yet Shen Jingxian felt that something was amiss.

Clearly, something was wrong, but she couldn’t articulate it.

“No,” Shen Jingxian said, yet she lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes folding like butterfly wings.

Wen Ranchen silently observed for a while the person he thought about day and night, then asked with a smile, “Your Highness doesn’t trust me?”

“No,” Shen Jingxian was currently lowering her gaze, not knowing how to describe her feelings, “I just realized that maybe I like Brother Ranchen more than I imagined.”

After she finished speaking, Shen Jingxian ran away as if shy.

Wen Ranchen was stunned for a moment, then reacted and chased beside Shen Jingxian. He wanted to step forward but was afraid the princess would be uncomfortable, so he merely followed not too close and not too far behind.

He did not see that there was no trace of shyness on Shen Jingxian’s face at this moment; rather, there was a hint of coldness.

After a while, Wen Ranchen heard the princess calling him.

“I don’t want to let the Second Prince go anymore; I want to break the agreement.”

After the recent interlude, the calm Shen Jingxian looked somewhat desolate, evidently influenced by Lady Ning Lan.

Wen Ranchen looked very distressed. Without any hesitation, he said, “Okay.”

“About Dongwu Country…”

Wen Ranchen smiled and said, “Your Highness, rest assured.”

Wen Ranchen had long known what Lady Ning Lan was planning to do, and he also knew that after deep contact with Lady Ning Lan, the princess would surely change her mind and would no longer tolerate the Second Prince. So, he had already replaced the thousand taels of gold that the princess had written with a million taels. This way, the Emperor of Dongwu would certainly not accept the terms, yet he would not want to offend Yunyi Country.

An unimportant prince and friendly diplomacy between major countries—Dongwu would surely choose the latter.

And the Second Prince would become a discarded pawn.

It seems that everything was just right.

Mingxu City was now in the bag.

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