The second prince saw that Ning Shu was attacking him as if he had murdered her father and had no choice but to become serious. As he dodged the attacks, he tried to get closer in order to restrain her, but Ning Shu refused to let him approach.
If it weren’t for the fact that there was a small amount of energy flowing through her body, she probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up for this long. How the fudge was this pervert so strong?
The second prince seemed to have finally run out of patience as he abruptly grabbed Ning Shu’s whip. The barbs on the whip immediately cut into his palm.
He let go of the whip in surprise and looked at his bloody palm. Knitting his brows, he asked, “What are you doing? I just wanted to talk to you a little. Are you a psycho?”
Ning Shu’s body was covered with cold sweat but she no longer felt as much dread facing the second prince. This place still wasn’t Great Yong’s domain so Ning Shu didn’t dare to do much except ignore him.
“Are you Jiahui?” asked the second prince, ignoring his bleeding hand.
Ning Shu lifted her chin in a conceited manner as she replied coldly, “This princess is of course Princess Jiahui. You’re truly audacious, to dare to block this princess’s carriage.”
When the second prince heard Ning Shu admitting to be Princess Jiahui, his eyes lit up and he said with a smile, “You probably know who I am. I’m the person who will marry you, He Lianying, got it?”
Ning Shu was angered to laughter. What made him think that she wanted to marry him? She didn’t feel like bothering with him and simply re-entered the carriage before saying to the driver, “To the palace.”
This time, He Lianying didn’t try to block Ning Shu again. He simply watched until the carriage took a turn and went out of sight before lowering his head to look at his palm. Fresh blood dripped onto the bluestone pavement of the street, making splash after splash of bloody blossoms.
“Princess Jiahui, Li Xueshan.”
Ning Shu first returned to her palace, Orchid Garden Palace, and was enthusiastically welcomed by Miao Qing. Ning Shu felt that Miao Qing had withered a lot since the last time she saw her. Watching over an empty palace was no different from being thrown in the Cold Palace, but Ning Shu still felt that she deserved it.
Barely a few moments after she sat down in Orchid Garden Palace, the Empress arrived. The first thing she asked Ning Shu was if she would stay in the palace long.
The moment Ning Shu nodded, a smile bloomed on the Empress’s face and she started rattling off polite remarks. After a while, her expression turned sad as she said, “It’s just a shame that you’re going to be married off for the sake of peace. Sister-in-law will try persuading your Imperial Older Brother and ask him not to send you off to that barbarous place. However, it will be difficult since Noble Consort Du’s maternal family is expressing support for the peace marriage in court. Say, how can Noble Consort Du be so cruel as to have you, a girl, leave her home?”
The conflicts between the Empress and Noble Consort Du have always been intense. Even in this situation, the Empress wanted her to go fight against Noble Consort Du before being married off. It was clear that the Empress felt that she wouldn’t be able to escape from this situation.
As for going to persuade Li Wen, it was best to just treat those words as wind. She would only end up disappointed if she put faith in those words.
Ning Shu was getting pretty tired of this and stated directly, “Imperial Sister-in-law, Imperial Older Brother is the one who will decide whether I’ll get married, not you nor Noble Consort Du.”
She hadn’t bothered to be polite at all. She almost even said, keep your nose out of this princess’s affairs!
The Empress took in Ning Shu’s displeased expression and was annoyed. In her heart, she was cursing the princess, saying that it served her right to be married off. However, on the surface, she had on an understanding expression as she tried to placate Ning Shu. “You shouldn’t be too worried. Your imperial older brother loves you so much, there’s no way he’ll make you leave all alone to be married.”
Although these were words that were intended to be soothing, her tone contained acrid jealousy. Ning Shu simply said, “Imperial Sister-in-law, I’m tired.”
The Empress’s expression stiffened for a moment, then she left, having no other choice.
After the Empress left, the consorts and concubines of the Inner Palace came to swarm Orchid Garden Palace. Ning Shu really didn’t want to waste her time meeting with these people.