Chapter 385 It's always been me, I hate you all.

The incident happened so suddenly that no one expected Li Anning to suddenly use a whip to overturn Shen Chu's veil.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Ling Ce quickly picked up the veiled hat from the ground, put it on Shen Chu's head, and roared at Li Anning with a stern face.

Haven't you made enough of a scene?

Li Anning's fingertips, which were gripping the whip, turned white.

Although it was only a fleeting glimpse, she still caught a glimpse of the face beneath the veil.

That's totally Shen Chu's face.

"You, you all..."

Her gaze lingered between Shen Chu and Ling Ce, her expression a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

Shen Chu sighed silently, knowing that Li Anning had seen her face clearly.

"Miss Li, let's talk in the study."

She turned and walked towards the study first.

Li Anning bit her lip and glanced at Ling Ce.

Ling Ce's eyes flickered, and for a moment he suddenly felt a little flustered.

"Go inside and talk."

Upon entering the study, Chen Chu removed the veil from her head.

Although he had already seen it from outside, seeing it again still shocked and confused Li Anning.

She was completely stunned when she saw two identical faces.

"What exactly is going on?"

Shen Chu glanced at Ling Ce.

Ling Ce understood, gave Li Anning a deep look, gritted his teeth, and peeled off the human skin mask he was wearing.

Li Anning was dumbfounded.

"This...you're not Shen Chu, who are you? Or has Shen Chu been wearing a human skin mask all along?"

She looked at Chen Chu with some panic, and subconsciously took two steps forward to get a closer look.

Shen Chu knew that she wanted to see if she was also wearing a human skin mask.

He shook his head when Li Anning got closer.

“I am not wearing a human skin mask. I am Chen Chu. As you can see, I am a woman.”

Li Anning trembled and instinctively backed away.

She retreated to the door and leaned against it before she came to her senses and muttered to herself.

"How is this possible? My God, I've actually fallen for a woman, I..."

Upon hearing her words, Ling Ce's eyes darkened.

Li Anning was completely flustered. She rubbed her face vigorously before she could finally calm herself down.

"Are you the young Lord Shen in the imperial court?"

Shen Chu nodded, "That's right. I disguised myself as a man to serve as an official in the court in order to seek justice for the Shen family."

"Due to circumstances, we had to conceal this matter previously; we hope Miss Li will forgive us."

Li Anning stared intently at Shen Chu's face.

It was definitely her familiar face and eyebrows, but perhaps it was because of the woman's attire, or perhaps because she was pregnant.

It was clearly the same face, but the Shen Chu before me was somewhat different from the handsome and gentle Lord Shen who always wore official robes in the capital.

She couldn't quite put her finger on what was different.

Li Anning looked at Shen Chu's face, then at Shen Chu's belly, and for a moment didn't know what to ask.

Her mind was filled with the thought that she had fallen for a woman, making her dizzy and disoriented.

It took her a while to suddenly remember, "Has he been impersonating you ever since we arrived in Yangzhou?"

Shen Chu nodded and patted her stomach.

"He is my third senior brother, Ling Ce. My belly is getting bigger and bigger, and I really can't show it to people."

Left with no other choice, I had my third senior brother impersonate me wearing a human skin mask.

Just now, it wasn't that my third senior brother refused to let you release He Wei, but he didn't dare to make the decision rashly, fearing that releasing He Wei would implicate me.

"Don't worry, I've reviewed almost all of Magistrate Jiang's accounts and evidence. At the latest, Miss He should be able to return to the He family tomorrow."

Li Anning's mind was in complete turmoil at that moment.

It took him a long time to realize the meaning behind Shen Chu's words, and he nodded blankly.

Then he suddenly looked up at Chen Chu.

So, the person who accompanied me shopping and bought me jewelry wasn't you?

Shopping, buying jewelry?

Shen Chu looked at Ling Ce with a puzzled expression.

Ling Ce's voice was a little hoarse, and he lowered his head and said in a low voice, "It's me."

Li Anning's expression changed as she recalled the time she almost kissed "Lord Shen" in the duty room, which was witnessed by Prince Rui, and the day she spoke to Prince Rui about it.

"The last time you were on duty, when Prince Rui saw you... was that you too?"

Ling Ce nodded slightly, "It's always been me."

Li Anning suddenly gripped the whip in her hand tightly, her face turning somewhat pale.

"You...you all..."

She thought that after arriving in Yangzhou, her relationship with "Master Shen" would progress rapidly.

The day "Master Shen" bought her jewelry, she was so excited that she didn't sleep all night, trying on every single piece of jewelry.

After the near-kissing incident during her duty shift, she dreamt all night of "Master Shen" gently kissing her.

She would smile foolishly for a long time after waking up, even fantasizing about what it would be like to marry "Master Shen".

Now it turns out that all of this was fake.

She had been dealing with a fake Shen Chu all along!

A mix of emotions—shame, anger, and grievance—rushed into Li Anning's heart, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Without thinking, she raised her hand and slapped Ling Ce hard across the face.

*Smack*

Five finger marks instantly appeared on Ling Ce's face.

He covered his face and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry."

"What's the use of 'sorry'?" Li Anning roared. "You and your fellow disciples find it fun to manipulate people like this, don't you?"

Haven't you all laughed at my stupidity, my ignorance, even my shamelessness behind my back?

Ling Ce blurted out, "We don't."

Although Shen Chu didn't know what had happened between the two, she could guess some of it from Li Anning's appearance.

“It was indeed wrong of us to hide it from you, Miss Li, but we absolutely did not mean to deceive you.”

We didn't laugh at you behind your back, we..."

"Enough!" Li Anning interrupted Shen Chu sharply. "I don't want to hear any of your explanations."

Who knows what lies you'll come up with this time?

"Chen Chu, I hate you, I hate all of you!"

Li Anning opened the door and ran away.

Chen Chu sighed, and seeing Ling Ce still standing there blankly, she kicked him in annoyance.

"What exactly did you do to that girl? What are you standing there for? Go after her!"

“But…” Ling Ce hesitated for a moment, then put the human skin mask back on his face and chased after them.

Meanwhile, in the capital city, at the Imperial Study.

The Longqing Emperor smiled and put down the memorial.

Prince Heng said, "I wonder what good news Father Emperor has seen? May I share in his joy?"

The Longqing Emperor tossed the memorial over, saying, "Take a look for yourself."

Prince Heng glanced at the document and exclaimed with delight, "The delegation from the Southern Yue Kingdom is about to arrive in the capital!"

"Excellent! This is the first time the Southern Yue Kingdom has sent an envoy to visit our Great Wei. We must give them a proper welcome and demonstrate the grandeur of our Great Wei."

“That’s right.” Emperor Longqing stroked his beard and chuckled. “I’ve heard that the Southern Yue Kingdom is skilled in swordsmanship and spear fighting, and even the common people are quite adept at martial arts.”

This time, they even specifically requested in their official letter to have a match with the martial arts practitioners of our Great Wei.

A martial arts competition will inevitably be held then, so you need to quickly find some skilled individuals.

Prince Heng didn't take it seriously, "Don't we have our sixth brother? His martial arts are so high that he can easily take on three opponents at once."

Emperor Longqing frowned slightly. "Oh dear, speaking of this, I'm reminded that the sixth prince should still be recuperating at home."

I wonder how well his wound is healing now?

Prince Heng's gaze shifted slightly.