Chapter 32: The final winner, Min Shian, is far more outstanding than he thought...

Min Shian raised his head when he heard the noise and happened to see Song Chen's stunned expression and Song Sheng in the shadows.

"You can leave first." Song Sheng ordered softly, and the voice was unusually clear in the closed and narrow room.

Song Chen retreated in response. Min Shi'an snorted coldly, looked at his injuries, and said hoarsely, "Sir, are you satisfied now?"

A ray of light hit Song Sheng's side from a small hole above the roof. Min Shian squinted his eyes, and after adjusting to the light, he saw half of Song Sheng's face reflected in the light.

He half-lowered his eyebrows, his expression gloomy and unclear. He turned a blind eye to Min Shian's provocation, and no one knew what he was thinking.

The long silence stirred a strange emotion in her heart. Min Shian pursed her lips, smiled to herself, and murmured dejectedly, "Song Yanxuan, what are you doing here?"

"It's just a matter of success or failure. I, Min Ji, will take responsibility for whatever I do. You come here without saying a word. Are you pitying me?"

Her blue clothes were stained dark red by large amounts of blood. Her hair was loose, and her black hair blended into the dim cell. Only her extremely pale face was vaguely visible.

After a long time, Song Sheng moved.

He walked forward, completely disappearing into the darkness, but came to her.

Min Shian followed him closely with her eyes, watching him slowly walk towards her, until he stopped in front of her and then leaned over.

She lowered her eyes to meet Song Sheng's dark ones. Without a smile, his eyes seemed even more unfathomable, just like their owner. His thick eyelashes trembled slightly, revealing that he was not at peace at the moment.

Song Sheng laughed in a low, hoarse voice and said, "Min Ji, you win."

Min Shian was stunned. She didn't know why his inexplicable words fell into her heart like a dandelion, exploding the seeds of life and taking root and sprouting.

She suddenly became irritated, her brows furrowed unconsciously, and there was a strangeness in her tone that even she noticed.

"Are you done?"

Song Sheng stood up straight, his usual gentle and distant smile on his face. He replied, "I was silent before, but Your Highness said I felt sorry for you."

"I have only just said one sentence, and Your Highness is asking if I have finished speaking."

"Your Highness, I don't know what to do."

Min Shian closed his eyes, pretending he heard nothing and ignored him.

She could feel a burning gaze lingering on her face for a long time. Even so, she still did not open her eyes, as if she had fallen into a coma, breathing deeply.

Seeing this, Song Sheng did not stay any longer and left the imperial prison quietly.

Half a minute later, Min Shian slowly opened his eyelids, wondering why Song Chen had not appeared yet.

Logically speaking, he should have come in and picked up the basin of salt water that had not been poured on her because of Song Sheng's appearance, and then poured it heavily on her bleeding wound.

Min Shian shuddered and stopped her strange thoughts. She reflected on herself and wondered if she was too vicious.

Because if she were Song Sheng, she would probably be in excruciating pain by now, and it would even be unknown whether she could survive.

Song Chen, whom Min Shian was "thinking about so much", was kneeling upright on the ground. It was not too cold in early spring, and the stove in the house was not burning so brightly, but beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

When the princess was imprisoned, Song Sheng ordered him to be fully responsible for the interrogation. Although he did not say it explicitly, the words between the lines revealed that he wanted the princess to suffer. He had been serving Song Sheng since he was a child, so how could he not understand.

Song Chen's head fell heavily to the ground, and then he said in a deep voice: "I acknowledge my guilt and will accept the punishment from my master."

After saying this, he remained kneeling with his head bowed and did not move.

It is often said that serving a king is like serving a tiger, but in fact, it makes little difference no matter which master you serve. For slaves, life and death are just a matter of their master's will.

Just like now, Song Sheng sat at the head of the table after returning home from the imperial prison, with the corners of his mouth raised but no smile in his eyes. He was calm and the air pressure around him was terribly low.

It was obvious that he changed his mind because he was unhappy with the imperial prison.

But as a servant, how could he let his master take the blame?

“Crash—”

The crisp sound of porcelain breaking suddenly rang out. Song Chen looked up abruptly and saw that the green-glazed teacup was shattered all over the floor, and some debris was still remaining between Song Sheng's bright red fingers.

Just as he was about to stand up and treat Song Sheng's wound, he heard Song Sheng's calm voice: "Step back, I will take over the Imperial Prison."

"Yes." Song Chen hesitated for a moment, left the golden medicine he carried with him, and left as he was told.

Song Sheng shook his fingers to get rid of the porcelain debris floating on the surface, and the blood that was stuck in the flesh also shook. The blood that had just stopped gushed out again, but he clenched his palms as if he was unaware of the pain.

He still can't figure it out to this day.

He always knew why Min Shian approached Tinglan. The Song family was extremely powerful. Not only did Min Shian think of this method, but there were always people like him around Tinglan.

However, only Min Shian was accepted by Tinglan.

Even though he knew that she approached him with other purposes, Tinglan was still willing to continue interacting with her.

As an older brother, he naturally tried his best to meet all of his sister's needs, so he just went along with them, but he would deliberately avoid them when Min Shian came.

After they grew up peacefully, he witnessed the growing affection between Tinglan and her. After the marriage happened, as he expected, Tinglan came to him to plead for mercy.

His younger sister was about to marry far away, and as a brother, he was unable to help with Yu Tinglan's wedding. Now, the princess, who was like a sister to him, was in trouble. Out of guilt, he argued with his father and finally persuaded his father to make concessions.

From then on, things gradually developed beyond his control.

Min Shian is like weeds that are everywhere. They cannot be burned by fire, but will grow again with the spring breeze.

She broke into his world with an extremely strong attitude, tearing off the mask he always wore to the outside world. She was different from other noble ladies. Perhaps because of Xie Zhuangwan's indulgent upbringing, Min Shian had been very wild since childhood.

She never endured any injustice. When she was young, she beat down almost all the naughty children from wealthy families in the capital, like a little fox with bared fangs and claws.

When she grew up a little, she began to behave like a so-called noble lady. Her behavior was dignified and proper, and no one could find any fault with her. Only when she disliked someone did she show some of her childhood characteristics.

Later, her ambition gradually became apparent. He couldn't remember when he discovered the villa outside Beijing. He only vaguely remembered that it snowed heavily that night.

The flying snowflakes covered his eyes and blocked the wailing in his ears.

It turned out that when the disaster struck, he was not the only one in this prosperous Shangjing City who was trying to lend a helping hand and do his bit.

It was after that night that he completely accepted Min Shian and felt comfortable letting her get along with Tinglan.

Therefore, he also conducted a deeper investigation into her, and he found that what he had seen before was just the tip of the iceberg.

Min Shian is far better than he thinks.

Xie Zhuangwan was trained in almost all aspects. Min Shian was extremely talented and learned everything very quickly. Putting aside the arts of music, chess, calligraphy and painting, she had dabbled in medicine and poisons, martial arts, swordsmanship, and even witchcraft and divination.

He couldn't help but sigh that if she was not a woman but a prince, the imperial power might be revived in her hands.

But he soon felt ashamed of his thoughts. What's wrong with being a woman?

With her ability and bloodline, she overturned the world and sat in that position. What's wrong with that?

Later, when he went to Bingzhou, he didn't see her for half a year. When he returned to Beijing again, for some reason, he always felt that there was something between him and Min Shian.

After a long while, he looked at the two graceful girls from afar, and suddenly realized that they had grown up completely.

So, after learning that Min Shi'an was about to become the disciple of the Grand Tutor, he took the initiative to ask the Grand Tutor to let him take the entrance examination, and the Grand Tutor readily agreed.

He asked the question that had been buried in his heart for a long time, but she seemed to be frightened. Although it was not visible on her face, he already knew some of her subtle expressions and movements.

He always wore the jade hairpin she gave him, and he never changed his hair accessories since then.

When the Grand Tutor ordered him to teach her riding and archery, he couldn't bear to expose what he thought was a clumsy disguise. Looking at her cunning and lively eyes, and her angry shouts, all the fatigue from the accumulated government affairs was swept away.

The journey across the sea made him furious. No matter how dangerous the border was, she was willing to go there disguised as a wife. He really wanted to tie her there forever and keep her within his sight forever.

But he couldn't, and he couldn't bear to see her gradually lose her color and become his puppet.

So he let her join the battlefield and watched her gallop on the sea and shine brilliantly.

The Wu Shi San case was something he had not expected. Those dirty guys were hiding underneath, so he just turned a blind eye. After joining forces with her and going to Cangzhou, he wiped out all those dirty guys.

Not long after returning to Beijing, he vomited blood and fell into a coma.

When he woke up, he saw her face, which was without any makeup but as beautiful as a fairy.

When he saw the wrinkled prescription with only a few medicinal ingredients on it and the name Song Yanxuan written all over the bottom, he chuckled and put it under his pillow for some reason.

After Song Chen found out the truth, he fell into a quagmire and struggled in vain.

He didn't want to believe it, and didn't want to believe it.

It turned out that all her kindness to him was driven by self-interest.

He took control of the villa outside Beijing and sent people to keep an eye on Wen Liu and Xie Zhuangyi. He made everything clear to her, eager to make her truly see his figure.

He wanted to make her suffer as a way of avenging her for being so heartless and profit-driven.

But after seeing the injuries on her body, even though he knew they were not serious, he regretted it.

Perhaps it was wrong from the beginning.

But now he suddenly figured it out. He would rather let the mistake go on, even if she only coveted his power. He would give her whatever she wanted.

He was even somewhat relieved that he still had what she wanted.

Song Sheng casually sprinkled some medicinal powder on the wound on his hand, then loosely bandaged it a few times to stop the bleeding. He ordered the pharmacy to send him the best medicine and went to the imperial prison again.