Chapter 11 Does she like you?

Shen Wantang had never met Chu Yanluo. In her previous life, she spent most of her time in a nunnery. Although she was later taken back to the Ning Prince's Mansion by Xiao Qingyuan, she rarely went out to show her face.

However, everyone who has met her says that she is indeed very beautiful, and she likes to wear white clothes. She looks like a fairy who is untouched by the world, elegant and aloof, with an otherworldly temperament that makes people dare not profane her.

Shen Wantang considers herself an ordinary person who loves money and enjoys life. She holds grudges and seeks revenge if she is bullied. She doesn't have any otherworldly air about her, and she is currently wearing red, so it's impossible for her to have the same outfit as Chu Yanluo.

Xiao Qingyuan said she was just imitating Dong Shi, which was utterly absurd.

However, Shen Wantang was not angry. Her tone remained calm: "I have never met the prince's beloved, so there is no such thing as imitating her. The prince should not falsely accuse me."

As she spoke, she raised the scissors.

A crack appeared on Xiao Qingyuan's incomparably handsome face: "What are you going to do to me? Even if you kill me, it won't do any good. I'd rather die than like you!"

Shen Wantang lowered her hand expressionlessly and cut the rope binding his hands.

Then it was on the feet, and then on the body.

After she finished cutting, she put down the scissors and quietly slipped out.

Xiao Qingyuan stood there, stunned.

After a while, he sat up, took the ropes, got out of bed and went outside.

There were a bunch of maids and nannies outside, but he couldn't find Shen Wantang anywhere.

She actually kept her word; after cutting the rope, she avoided him.

Xiao Qingyuan was a little unaccustomed to it. In the past, his mother had arranged for him to have many maids in order to help him forget Yan Luo.

Those maids all resembled Yan Luo to some extent, and every day, maids would try to climb into his bed, using all sorts of means to seduce him, always creating various chance encounters, and one by one they would desperately try to get close to him. No matter how much he scolded them, it was useless; those maids still rushed towards him one after another, always thinking that they could win his favor just because they looked a bit like Yan Luo.

It's quite strange to suddenly encounter someone avoiding him like this.

He frowned and left the courtyard, heading to the princess's quarters.

When the princess saw him, she showed him no kindness whatsoever: "Who gave you permission to step out of your room? Who was the blind fool who untied you? Granny Quan, throw that servant who untied him out of the palace!"

Just as Granny Quan was about to leave, Xiao Qingyuan said coldly, "She untied me."

The princess glared at him: "Who is she?"

Xiao Qingyuan had no idea what the name of the woman he had married was. He frowned and looked at Granny Quan: "What's the name of the woman who just entered the house?"

"Your Highness, the Princess Consort is the second young lady of the Shen family. Her given name is Wantang, which is taken from the poem 'A thousand petals of cold red fall on the cold pond, and the evening pear blossoms are adorned in the rain.'"

"Why did you explain so much when I asked for your name?"

The princess's expression softened slightly: "So it was the Crown Princess who helped you with this."

"Didn't Mother just say that she wanted to kick the servant who untied me out of the palace? Then hurry up and kick her out, she's an eyesore to me!"

"You bastard!"

The princess slammed her hand on the table in anger, making the teacups clang loudly: "Wantang is the crown princess personally chosen by your father and me. She is not a servant! No one in the entire palace can untie you, except for the crown princess, because she is your lawfully wedded wife and the future mistress of our Ning Prince's Mansion!"

"You want to kick her out? I want to kick you out too! If you dare to go see that nun again, I'll have your father depose you as the crown prince!"

Xiao Qingyuan's expression was as cold as ice: "So what if he's crippled? Do you think I really want to be this heir? I don't care about these empty titles at all. I only care about Yan Luo. She is my everything!"

The princess was furious. She grabbed a teacup and smashed it over his head, yelling, "Get out of here!"

Xiao Qingyuan did not dodge, letting the teacup hit his head.

Blood streamed down his forehead, but he still stood ramrod straight: "I don't want that Shen Wantang. No matter how much she looks like her, she's not Yan Luo. I only want Yan Luo. I want to marry her. Only she is qualified to be my wife."

The princess was so angry that her hands were trembling: "Yanluo, Yanluo, all you ever think about is Yanluo! That woman has been sleeping with another man for a long time, and she's even pregnant! She's unfaithful, shameless, and even encouraged you to propose to her family while she's pregnant with another man's child. I would never allow such a scheming woman to enter my home, even if I die!"

Xiao Qingyuan shouted, "The marriage proposal was my own choice, not something Yan Luo encouraged me to do! She was pregnant with another man's child, and that wasn't her own intention either; she was forced!"

"Who said she was forced? She was clearly willing, otherwise how could she have kept the child! Do you think the people in our Prince's Mansion are all pushovers? I've already had someone investigate. She had an affair for half a year, and after getting pregnant, she hoped that man would marry her. She never thought about aborting the child; she only wanted to marry into a high-ranking family because of the child!"

"Mother, do you think your words hold water? In this world, besides the palace, who is of a higher social standing than our Prince Ning's Mansion? She wouldn't even agree to marry me. She's not the kind of person who would climb the social ladder for power and wealth. She's the most virtuous and purest woman in the world! Mother, don't slander her!"

"If she were truly virtuous and pure, she would never have had an affair before marriage, much less conceived a child with an illegitimate child!"

The princess was furious: "You've already ruined the entire royal family's reputation for this thing. If you marry her too, your father and I will have no face to show in the capital! If you want to be the father of that bastard, you'll have to ask your father and me for permission first!"

Xiao Qingyuan's eyes were red: "She's already suffered enough. If I leave her too, she'll have no way to survive! She's kind-hearted, that's why she can't bear to abort the child; after all, it's a life!"

"If you continue to be so stubborn, then I won't hesitate to make those two lives, one big and one small, disappear!"

"Mother!"

"Get out of here and live a good life with the Crown Princess. Have a son or daughter with her. It's not that I can't tolerate that nun living on."

"But I don't like her!"

"Do you really think she likes you? The whole capital is laughing at you now. Do you think any woman would want to marry you? If Shen Wantang wasn't being forced to marry by her family, do you think she would choose a fool like you?"

The princess gritted her teeth and said, "In the whole world, only your Yanluo is miserable, only she is pitiful, but others aren't pitiful? On the wedding day, you didn't lift the veil, didn't perform the marital ceremony, and just left the bride behind. You caused her to be talked about and ridiculed. Isn't she pitiful? How is your behavior any different from that of the man who caused Chu Yanluo to fall into her current predicament?"

"Even so, have you ever heard Wan Tang utter a single complaint? She knew that if she untied you, you would definitely leave her to go find Chu Yanluo, yet she still untied you. Doesn't this magnanimity and broad-mindedness deserve your kindness?"