Chapter 77 She absolutely would not allow it.

Chapter 74

After returning to the princess's residence, Shen Panyan lay on the couch with her eyes closed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

She caused a scene at the palace gate tonight, and her father will definitely find out about it tomorrow. She needs to think about how to deal with him tomorrow.

Now, she only hopes that Lin Xiao won't do anything impulsive.

The room was quiet, with flickering candlelight.

Suddenly, the beaded curtain swayed, making a crisp tinkling sound, as if someone had lifted the curtain, and a tall, elegant black figure appeared outside the screen.

Shen Panyan was stunned. She suddenly got up from the couch, and the next moment, the shadow had already gone around the screen and arrived in front of her.

“Your Highness.” His dark eyes gazed at her, as calm as a whirlpool.

Upon seeing him, Shen Panyan was both surprised and delighted. She quickly got off the bed and looked him up and down thoroughly. Seeing that he was unharmed, she couldn't help but get angry at him, "Why did you leave without a word? Didn't I tell you to wait a little longer before I took you from Father? Why did you...?"

"Your Highness," Lin Xiao interrupted her calmly, "Your health has only recently recovered. I am not worthy of your great sacrifice and much effort in doing this. You always say that you hope for my safety, but I also hope for your safety."

Shen Panyan paused, pursed her lips, and disagreed with what he said. "Don't overthink it. I've never thought you weren't worth it, and it doesn't take much effort at all. I just need to pretend to be sick..."

Pretending to be sick?

His Majesty is not stupid. With so many imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital, how could he possibly hide a mere feigned illness?

She must be genuinely ill.

Lin Xiao shook his head. "Your Highness, you don't need to say anything more."

"Wanting to leave the Dark Guard Camp is my own business and has nothing to do with you."

"How can this be unrelated? You saved me and protected me. Humans aren't plants or trees; how can they be without feelings? Lin Xiao, I've never treated you like a servant. I want you to be well. Can't you understand that?" Shen Panyan said anxiously.

Of course he understands.

It was precisely because he understood this that he was unwilling.

Lin Xiao: "I have already made up my mind about this matter, Your Highness need not say any more."

Shen Panyan: "You...you really are..."

Why is he so stubborn!

Shen Panyan said angrily, "Is it because of Gu Jinyan that you're acting so recklessly..."

“No,” Lin Xiao said calmly. “This decision was made by my subordinates a month ago and has nothing to do with Gu Jinyan.”

He had this thought in his mind ever since the day His Highness told him not to come looking for her again.

This idea didn't come about overnight.

He simply couldn't get away at that time.

Shen Panyan didn't believe it. "If it has nothing to do with Gu Jinyan, then why did you suddenly leave today? You clearly had three days off."

Lin Xiao pressed his thin lips into a straight line, looked away, and lowered his eyelashes. "Your Highness, there's no need to say anything more."

"This is the last time I will see you before I leave the Dark Guard Camp."

"Your Highness, I have come here to tell you that you need not worry about me. I know what I'm doing."

He knows what he's doing, but what could he possibly know? As a secret guard, what other way could he possibly escape the secret guard camp besides defecting?

Don't think she can't guess what he's thinking.

"I won't allow it!" Shen Panyan said, barely suppressing her anger.

But Lin Xiao clearly wouldn't listen to her. He put the scroll he was holding aside and said, "Your Highness, I'll take my leave."

"Don't leave!!"

She reached out to grab his clothes, but he was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from the room completely, as if he had never been there. Shen Panyan's head was buzzing, and her knuckles clenched so tightly that they turned pale.

He really was... a nameless anger suddenly surged in his heart.

"Lin Xiao, come out! I know you haven't left yet, come out!!" she shouted.

The wind blew by, and apart from the flickering candlelight, there was no sound; all was silent.

Shen Panyan's brow twitched, suppressing her anger, "Lin Xiao, if you don't come out to see me today, then don't ever come to see me again."

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

The candlelight flickered, making a soft crackling sound.

He still did not appear.

He seemed determined to do this, and Shen Panyan stomped her feet in anger, turned around, and her face was tense.

Whether he shows up or not, she will stop him.

Tomorrow, she will go to the palace to see the Empress and her father.

She will definitely get him from her father before he leaves the Dark Guard Camp.

Shen Panyan walked to the bedside, intending to rest and sleep so she could go to the palace early the next day, but then she suddenly remembered the scroll that Lin Xiao had just put down.

Why would he give himself a scroll of painting for no reason?

Could it be an apology?

Shen Panyan pursed her lips and slowly unfurled the scroll. In an instant, a portrait of a beautiful woman with a smiling face came into view.

The woman's appearance was five parts similar to hers, and almost instantly, Shen Panyan guessed who the woman was.

...This is a portrait of her mother.

Shen Panyan abruptly put away the portrait, lowered her eyelashes, and felt a stinging and soreness in her nose.

Don't assume that she will forgive him for acting on his own initiative just because he sent her a portrait of his mother.

She absolutely disagreed.

*

The next day, the sky was clear and the breeze was gentle and calm.

Emperor Gan Ning had just returned to his study after the morning court session to review memorials when Eunuch De Yuan reported that Princess Mingyue had rushed back from Cining Temple the previous night, making a scene outside the palace demanding to see him, though he didn't know why.

Emperor Gan Ning pondered for a moment, then sent De Yuan out of the palace and summoned Shen Panyan back to the palace.

When Eunuch Deyuan arrived at the princess's residence, he saw Shen Panyan hurrying out and quickly stopped her, "Oh dear, Princess, where are you going? His Majesty invites you!"

When Shen Panyan saw Eunuch Deyuan, she paused slightly. "I'm going to see my father."

"Then please get in the carriage quickly, His Majesty is waiting for you."

Shen Panyan sat in the carriage, lifted the curtain, looked at Eunuch Deyuan beside her, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Eunuch Deyuan, does Father Emperor know about what happened last night...? Is he angry?"

If she gets angry, she'll have to find another way to deal with it.

Eunuch Deyuan: "This old servant dares not guess what His Majesty is thinking, but since His Majesty has not lost his temper, he must not be angry."

That means you're not angry anymore.

Shen Panyan: "Thank you for informing me."

After saying that, she gestured for Qingdai to give him two gold leaves and lowered the carriage curtain.

"Your Highness is too kind to this old servant." Eunuch Deyuan declined with trepidation, but Qingdai forcefully stuffed it into his hand, and his face immediately lit up: "Thank you for the gift, Your Highness."

The carriage traveled all the way to the palace. Shen Panyan got off the carriage and followed Eunuch Deyuan to the Imperial Study.

As soon as she stepped into the imperial study, Shen Panyan knelt down and began to shed tears. "Father, Mingyue knows she was wrong."

Emperor Gan Ning: "..."

He hasn't said anything yet.

Seeing her thin, frail back trembling, Emperor Gan Ning put down his pen and sighed, "I haven't punished you yet. Get up and tell me, why did you make such a scene at the palace gate last night?"

Shen Panyan didn't say anything, she just knelt on the ground and kept shedding tears.

Emperor Gan Ning: "..."

He rubbed his temples. "Mingyue, how am I supposed to know why you're upset if you don't tell me anything? You have to tell me the reason so I can resolve this matter for you!"

Shen Panyan apologized in her heart, "I'm sorry, Mother."

She hesitated for a long time before finally sobbing, her voice soft and weak, "Father, Mingyue is sorry to Mother, Mingyue is unfilial..."

Emperor Gan Ning: "..."

"What... does this have to do with your mother?"

Shen Panyan choked up: "Mingyue stayed at Cining Temple for two nights. Every night she dreamed of a woman whose face she couldn't see, who called her Mingyue. She told Mingyue that she felt very cold here, that she missed home, and that she wanted to go home to see her family."

"At first, Mingyue didn't know who she was. Until yesterday, after returning from her mother's ancestral hall, Mingyue was distracted and couldn't eat. In her daze, she dreamed of her again. This time, Mingyue saw her face clearly. She looked five parts like Mingyue. Father, it was Mother. Mother kept telling Mingyue that she was so cold down there and wanted to go home to see her, but Mingyue never understood what Mother meant. Father, Mingyue is unfilial. Mingyue is sorry to Mother!!"

The following statement was seven parts true and three parts false, but Emperor Gan Ning did not doubt it. Instead, it reminded him of the past.

He remembered when Wanwan first returned to the palace with him. She was very happy then, but later she became more and more depressed. Even though she pretended to be happy in front of him, he could still see her forced smile.

A woman followed him from her hometown to this unfamiliar place with strict palace rules. Even though he was an emperor and did his best to protect her, there were times when he couldn't see her.

Like a flower in full bloom, it gradually withers after leaving the land that nourishes it.

She said she missed home.

He asked her if she wanted to leave the palace, and if she regretted coming back to the palace with him.

She didn't say anything.

But he could tell that she regretted it.

She had lost a lot of weight, and even though he was an emperor, he always felt powerless and unable to grasp the wind when he was with her.

He was afraid that she would never want to come back after leaving, so he refused her request to go home for a visit.

Even now, he still remembers the shocked, bewildered, and disappointed look in her eyes when she looked at him.

Emperor Gan Ning slowly tightened his knuckles.

He confined her to the palace, forbidding her to step out of the palace gates, and tried every means to promote her rank, preventing others from bullying her, and she rose all the way to the position of Consort Shu.

However, such favoritism naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction in the harem. He had few children to begin with, so in order to maintain the balance of the harem, he could only spread his favor evenly among the concubines and have them stay with other concubines.

Later, she had a child and no longer missed her hometown as often as before. She eagerly awaited the birth of their child and regained the passion he had shown when they first met. He had already decided that as long as she gave birth, he would promote her to Imperial Noble Consort and let her go back to her hometown to visit.

But he didn't expect... thinking about what the Empress had done, Emperor Gan Ning wished he could tear her to pieces.

If it weren't for her, how could his Wanwan have faded into obscurity at the age of eighteen?

So many years have passed, and he thought he had almost forgotten this pain. However, now, her voice and appearance seem to be right before his eyes.

"Your Majesty, I want to go home..."

"Father, Mingyue wants someone to build a shrine for Mother in her hometown so that she can return to her homeland. Is that alright?" Shen Panyan looked up at him, her eyes blurry with tears.

Emperor Gan Ning snapped out of his daze, his voice hoarse, "I understand."

"I will have my subordinates do it."

Seeing that her father had agreed, Shen Panyan then revealed her purpose.

"Father, Mother misses her hometown very much. However, it takes several months to travel from the capital to her hometown. If we use the post stations, it will be too slow. Therefore, Mingyue would like to request that a secret guard be sent on horseback to Mother's hometown to urge the people below to finish building the ancestral hall. Is that alright?"

She has already decided on the choice of this bodyguard: Lin Xiao.

He would never run away from working for his mother unless he didn't care about her.

During this time, she could just get him from her father.

Later, once her mother's ancestral hall is completed, she can send her mother's memorial tablet back to her hometown, which will also be a good opportunity to send Lin Xiao away and set him free.