Chapter 159: Court Debate

"Miss," Mo Xiang pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing the distraught Shen Anan, he immediately trotted forward and said, "Miss, are you okay?"

Shen Anan shook her head slowly, "Don't call me Miss in the mansion from now on. If he hears it, he will be unhappy again."

Mo Xiang nodded. Qing'an had corrected her countless times, but she could never remember. She had been used to calling him "girl" for more than ten years.

"Did you have a quarrel with your uncle?"

"Yeah." She nodded weakly.

In fact, it wasn't really a quarrel, but Xiao Yuan was just getting angry unilaterally. She tried her best to remain calm from beginning to end.

Mo Xiang took out a bracelet from her bosom and handed it to Shen Anan, "This was just made by the craftsman, and I brought it to you immediately."

Shen Anan took it, shook it gently, and then put it on her wrist. Mo Xiang couldn't help but say, "Miss, if your son-in-law finds out about this, he will definitely be very angry and it will hurt your relationship."

Shen Anan didn't say anything, but asked her, "How much dosage was added to it?"

"According to your request, not much. I guarantee it will have no effect on your body, but at the same time, the effect will not be that good. I can only say 70%."

"That's enough."

Her health is the most important thing, and she has no intention of not having children in the future. But now, she doesn't want to, and she is even more afraid.

If it was like in the previous life, when the two of them seldom slept together, she would not be worried at all. But now Xiao Yuan did it too frequently, which made her a little worried.

Mo Xiang was still afraid, "Miss, if the son-in-law knew about this, something bad would definitely happen."

"You've already said it, it won't have any effect on your body, don't worry." Shen Anan patted Mo Xiang's arm, "When everything is stable, he and I...if we can be a normal couple, I will consider taking off the bracelet."

If they ended up the same as in their previous life, even if they had a child, it would just be one more tragedy. She believed that the birth of a child should be based on the parents' joy and expectation.

Just like her and big brother.

That night, Xiao Yuan did not return to his room and even had dinner in the study.

When Ling Chenyi arrived, he was surprised for a while, "Why, the novelty wore off so quickly, are you bored?"

Xiao Yuan gave him a lazy and cold look.

Ling Chenyi smiled, "Look at you, you look so sad, what's wrong, did you have a fight? What's the reason?"

Xiao Yuan was feeling upset at the moment. Qing'an and Qingfeng didn't dare to come in and disturb him, but Ling Chenyi had the guts to come and cause trouble.

"Why are you coming to my place instead of preparing the banquet and choosing a husband for Hua Sheng?" He casually put his legs on the table and leaned back in the chair, acting more unruly than ever before.

When Ling Chenyi mentioned this, he frowned and sighed, "I'm worried too. I don't know what's wrong with that girl. She won't say anything when I ask her to choose. Even after I choose her, she says yes and acts like she doesn't care."

Xiao Yuan raised his eyes and glanced at Ling Chenyi, and asked, "Does she have a lover?"

"Tsk." Ling Chenyi sat up straight with a start. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten about it. I'll have to ask her carefully later. If her family background is average, it's not a bad idea."

Xiao Yuan sneered, "If that were the case, she wouldn't have kept it a secret."

"What you said makes sense." Ling Chenyi was conflicted again, and after a while, he started talking to Xiao Yuan about business.

"I've heard about what happened in Dongcheng. What are you going to do?"

Xiao Yuan's eyes darkened and narrowed dangerously, "The person behind that person is not Xiao Ze."

"How can you be sure?" Ling Chenyi said.

"Intuition." Xiao Yuan slowly turned the jade ring, "Xiao Ze's reaction today doesn't seem fake. He probably doesn't know about this."

Ling Chenyi frowned, "If it's not Xiao Ze, then who else could it be? Looking around the court, besides Xiao Ze, who else would be your enemy?"

"It's hard to say," he shook his head. "That person is very alert and knows the relationship between the Lin family and the Shen family and me very well. When he sensed something wrong, he immediately made a plan to frame the Lin family and returned to Jiangnan. If he is not hiding from the limelight, it is very likely that his financial sponsor is in Jiangnan."

"But you haven't been to Jiangnan, how could you offend anyone?" Ling Chenyi said, and suddenly raised his eyebrows, "There is only Zhang Yeyang, who may have the hatred of having his wife stolen, but he doesn't have the ability to do so."

Xiao Yuan glared at Ling Chenyi coldly, his face extremely gloomy.

The hatred for having his wife taken away from him is also his hatred for him.

He and she were destined to be together in the previous life.

Thinking about this, Xiao Yuan suddenly realized that he seemed to have not had those dreams for some time. Was it because the two of them got married?

"Tomorrow morning, we will go to court and first protect the Lin family. Then we can figure out how to catch Gu Tan."

Ling Chenyi nodded, "I always feel that the Gu Tan family background is a little too strange, as if it was done on purpose for us to see, but everything is right, without any flaws."

Qing An came in with a quilt to make the bed. Ling Chenyi was stunned for a moment, and a smile of interest appeared in his eyes, "Tsk, it's so serious that they were kicked out."

Xiao Yuan stood up and uttered one word coldly, "Get lost."

He immediately stood up leisurely, making a few more sarcastic remarks before leaving.

The candle in the study was extinguished early, but the person on the bed tossed and turned until midnight.

It was the first time he knew what it felt like to be so anxious and troubled. He never expected that habit could be such a terrible thing that made him unable to stop in just a few days.

Several times when he was half asleep, he subconsciously stretched out his arms to grab the softness beside him, but he caught nothing and woke up suddenly.

Then he stared at the ceiling for a long time, thinking that the man must be sleeping soundly on the big bed. Not to mention thinking about him, he would probably just roll around in joy on the bed.

Thinking of this, he felt angry, but also overwhelmed by a sense of helpless bitterness.

I began to wonder if I had been pushing her too hard and being too close to her these days, so she wanted to leave.

But he didn't ask her to do anything, and he didn't even care about her purpose of marrying him, or even her feelings for him. Isn't that enough?

He finally fell asleep, but it was a long-lost nightmare. Those fragments flashed before his eyes one by one like a replay of scenes, and each time ended with those disappointed, painful, and hysterical almond eyes.

She said that the Fourth Prince's Mansion was like a cage, and he was the ghost in the cage, not hurting her flesh, but like a blunt knife crushing her soul.

From the beginning, she was full of joy, following him step by step, but in the end, she was full of resentment, pointed at him resolutely and said, "The thing I regret most in my life is that I fell in love with him at first sight at the palace banquet that year!!"

It turned out that she had already fallen in love with him so early.

Countless fragments overlapped in the dream, some were unfamiliar, some happened recently, like a cursory glance. The last scene was her sitting in the courtyard of Wutong Garden in her youth, lifeless, gazing at the high wall.

He knew that she was not looking at the high wall, but at the long street outside the wall, at the infinite possibilities she would have had if she had not married into the Fourth Prince's mansion.

His heart suddenly began to ache, as if someone was clutching it tightly, then slowly pulling it into a corner, torturing it repeatedly.

Perhaps his desire had reached its peak, he suddenly found that he could touch her. Walking into that dream, he carefully placed his hand on her shoulder and called out, "An An."

She turned around suddenly, but her eyes were closed and there seemed to be a smile on the corner of her lips.

Xiao Yuan was startled and hugged her in panic, but there was no warmth in her body, as if she was a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

He knew clearly that this was a dream, but the grief, despair, and heart-burning pain at that moment filled him deeply and drove him madly and uncontrollably.

He found a doctor, gave her medicine, and tried countless methods, but she still couldn't wake up.

Sudden--

An extremely dull and heavy bell sounded, stimulating Xiao Yuan's eardrums and pulling him out of the abyss.

"Master, it's time for the morning court." Qing'an said outside. This was the first time in all these years that the master overslept.

He had a wild idea that maybe his master had not been restrained during the past few days since his marriage and had become ill from exhaustion.

Xiao Yuan's forehead was covered in sweat, and the feeling of powerlessness and despair lingered for a long time, leaving him with lingering fears.

He began to wonder, how did they separate at the end of their previous life? The scene of her lying in the rocking chair and gazing at the high wall was truly desolate and heartbreaking.

He paused for a while, and Qing'an came in to help him wash and change his clothes.

It was not yet fully light, and it was the coldest time of the year. He stood in the yard and looked in the direction of Wutong Garden. He could only vaguely see the faint light emitted by the glass lamp.

Qing An immediately said, "I asked the maid in Wutong Garden and she said that the princess went to bed early and didn't call anyone all night."

"Well, have someone add another heater to the house."

Her hands and feet were always cold at night, so he would hold her in his arms and warm her up while she was asleep. It would take a while for her to slowly warm up.

"yes."

Xiao Yuan retracted his gaze and left the house in the cold wind.

At the palace gate, Lord Lin was talking to Shen Wen with a worried look on his face. His legs were shaking slightly, perhaps from the cold or fear.

"Don't worry, He'er will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly and clear Lord Lin's name."

"Thank you for your help." Lord Lin tightly grasped Shen Wen's arm, tears in his eyes, "If you leave today, I'm afraid my Lin family will..."

"Alas, the only person I can count on is a good son-in-law."

Lord Lin knew very well that today, all the lords and censors were watching covetously. It would be the best outcome for the Lin family to keep their lives. Whether they could escape punishment depended on Shen Changhe.

He couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had agreed to the marriage with the Shen family. Shen Changhe was a loyal man. Otherwise, if it were another family, he would probably want to stay as far away from them as possible.

The carriage of the Fourth Prince's Mansion slowly stopped, and the whispers fell silent for a moment.

Xiao Ze stood in a corner, watching Xiao Yuan get off the car with cold eyes. This time he did not approach him tactlessly.

There's no way to argue with him, and he's just asking for trouble. He saved his strength, waiting to fight him in the morning.

"The Fourth Prince." Lord Lin, Shen Wen, and nearby officials all saluted.

Xiao Yuan nodded lightly. Under the light of the glass lamp, one could see a faint darkness under his eyes, as if he had not rested well.

Shen Wen was a little worried and asked in a low voice, "Is my daughter okay?"

Xiao Yuan nodded slightly.

She is a heartless person, but she can eat and sleep well, so she is naturally fine.

Shen Wen was relieved. "Today's morning court session may not go smoothly. Your Highness, please protect yourself first, and then we can discuss other matters."