entanglement

Just as Zhao Fanghua was about to turn back to meet Shuyu, someone unexpectedly grabbed her wrist. Zhao Fanghua was delighted, thinking that the person was mute. She turned back happily, but after seeing the face opposite her, the expression on her face instantly faded away.

"Why are you here?" Zhao Fanghua impatiently shook her arm away. Seeing that the person coming was Shen Xiujin, she felt disgusted.

Shen Xiujin, however, seemed oblivious to Zhao Fanghua's dislike, and said affectionately to himself, "Fanghua, do you know that I have been missing you very much these days?"

Zhao Fanghua raised an eyebrow: "What did you just call me? Didn't you get enough from those fifty strokes of the cane?"

Shen Xiujin's face turned pale. The wound from the beating had not yet healed completely and it still hurt a little.

Shen Xiujin took a deep breath and said, "Your Highness, I've been missing you these days, remembering the first time we met. It was at the Qionglin Banquet after the palace examination. You were so bright and gorgeous in your red palace dress. At that moment, even the gorgeously dressed Guanyin goddess at the temple fair pales in comparison..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Zhao Fanghua interrupted him without any hesitation. "What do you want to say?"

Shen Xiujin took another deep breath, softened his tone, and suppressed his attitude in the dust: "During the time we were apart, I thought about you all the time and missed the days before us. I wonder if we can still rekindle our relationship?"

Looking at Shen Xiujin's earnest and expectant gaze, Zhao Fanghua snorted coldly, "Oh, you miss me? You want to borrow my influence, right? You miss the days before us? You miss the days in the Princess's mansion when you were well fed and well drunk, surrounded by servants, never lacking in money, and always surrounded by people when you went out."

Shen Xiujin's expression changed, and he instantly adopted a threatening tone: "I've already begged for peace with you in this way, what else do you want?"

"Heh." Zhao Fanghua sneered and rolled his eyes. "I don't want anything to happen. I just want you to stay away from me and stop pestering me like a dog-skin plaster."

Zhao Fanghua had seen through Shen Xiujin's tactics. He'd initially lowered his stance and begged for peace, only to suddenly change his attitude when he realized his goal wasn't being achieved. People say you have to act completely, but Shen Xiujin couldn't even last three minutes. It was outrageous that such a person was actually the protagonist of the original novel.

Shen Xiujin: "You and I were once engaged. Even if we break off the engagement now, it won't change this fact!"

Zhao Fanghua shook her head: "The imperial decree says it very clearly. From now on, men and women getting married are no longer related to each other. Go back to find your Ruan Jiaojiao and don't bother me anymore."

Shen Xiujin breathed a sigh of relief, as if to understand what had happened. "You've been arguing with me for so long. It turns out you're only concerned about Jiaojiao. She's just a bed warmer. If mother hadn't threatened me with family affection, I wouldn't have accepted her. If I had known you cared so much, I wouldn't have kept her no matter what."

Shen Xiujin's tone was gentle, and even her eyes became very soft: "Your Highness, since you mind so much, then wait until she gives birth to the child, send her to be a nun, and let you raise the child."

Zhao Fanghua looked at Shen Xiujin in disbelief. She never expected to hear such words from him!

Ruan Jiaojiao has his child, and they have been together day and night for more than ten years. Now he is so willing to leave the mother and keep the child for his own future.

He had previously said that he would give Ruan Jiaojiao the status of a concubine, but Zhao Fanghua only thought it was a temporary measure. Now it seems that he will really do it.

A cold-blooded man.

Shen Xiujin carefully studied Zhao Fanghua for a moment. Seeing that there was no trace of joy on Zhao Fanghua's face, he hesitated. Could it be that the conditions he proposed did not meet Zhao Fanghua's expectations? At this moment, Shen Xiujin had already cursed Ruan Jiaojiao countless times in his heart for being a beauty and Ruan's short-sightedness, which had ruined his future.

Shen Xiujin regained his smile and continued gently, "If you really don't like this child, then there's no need to keep the child. I will deal with Ruan Jiaojiao and her child cleanly and will definitely not be an eyesore to His Highness."

Zhao Fanghua's feeling at this moment was no longer incredible, but horrifying.

Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs, so how could Shen Xiujin say such vicious words in such a gentle tone and with such affectionate eyes?

Zhao Fanghua admits that she is not smart enough, but she is not stupid enough to think that he would do such a thing because he loves her so much. He has loved her from the beginning to the end.

But he would definitely blame all of this on Zhao Fanghua. "For you, I'd even give up my own child!"

Zhao Fanghua shook her head and took a step back. She felt that the person in front of her was even more terrifying than Zhao Qinglan.

She didn't even dare to think that if one day he really gained power, she would have to repay him double for the "humiliation" he had suffered from her these days.

Shen Xiujin's patience was finally exhausted during the period of waiting when Zhao Fanghua did not give a reply, and his originally gentle face instantly became gloomy and terrifying.

He said in a deep voice, "Your Highness still refuses to reconcile with me?"

Zhao Fanghua shook her head. "I'm not Guanyin Bodhisattva. You and your mother did such a hurtful thing to me, and you still expect me to forgive you and reconcile with you? Absolutely not."

"Then what do you want me to do?" Shen Xiujin's sudden hysterical roar made Zhao Fanghua's heart skip a beat.

"I grew up poor, living with my parents, enduring constant coldness. To ensure I could attend the academy, my parents worked tirelessly, rising from dawn to dusk, wearing clothes so patched they couldn't even mend them, and eating scraps of food. And I, on the other hand, was bullied by the rich kids at the academy. I finally won the third place in the imperial examination, married the eldest princess, and felt proud of my bright future. But my father passed away before he could even enjoy a single day of his life. So why shouldn't I be filial to my mother?"

Zhao Fanghua watched Shen Xiujin's hysterical performance quietly and said lightly: "But what does all this have to do with me?"

Immersed in his own emotions, Shen Xiujin was stunned for a moment: "What?"

Zhao Fanghua emphasized his tone and said word by word: "But what does all this have to do with me?"

Shen Xiujin's face, which had just turned red due to his excitement, instantly lost its color.

Zhao Fanghua: "Your poor background is not caused by me, nor is the suffering you and your parents have endured. You want your parents to live a good life, which is understandable. You can use your salary to buy them a large house and personally perform filial duties in front of them, instead of dumping all this on my head and forcing me to perform filial duties for you. You should not try to take everything in my Princess Mansion for yourself and eat me up completely, using me as a substitute."

Shen Xiujin's face had turned pale.

Zhao Fanghua continued, "You're jealous of me, jealous of my good family background, born into a golden family. You hate me, hate that I'm so high up that I can't be humble to you. You resent me even more, resent that I won't give up everything in the Princess's Mansion. But..." Zhao Fanghua changed the subject, "Why?"

Why should I pay for your past misfortunes just because I live a good life?

Zhao Fanghua looked at Shen Xiujin with an embarrassed expression. He was just a Phoenix man who was just eating soft rice.

In her original world, she had also seen many Phoenix men who had wiped out their families in social news, but they all lay low for many years, either waiting for their father-in-law's energy to fade or waiting for themselves to grow stronger before revealing their true nature and killing or crippling their wife, father-in-law and their family.

And he, Shen Xiujin, didn't even understand how to live off his wife. He skipped the steps of being humble and wanted to ascend to the top and take everything in the Princess's Mansion into his pocket as soon as he got married.

Zhao Fanghua asked herself, if Shen Xiujin had lowered his posture from the beginning, handled Ruan Jiaojiao's matter, and prevented Ruan from causing trouble in front of her, with his looks, his talent, and his humble nature, even if she felt a little uncomfortable at first, as time went by, it would be normal for her, a single woman, to have a good impression of him.

Even if he secretly hid Ruan Jiaojiao in a corner of the capital and gave Ruan a lot of gold and silver to satisfy her desire to become rich overnight, Zhao Fanghua's brain would not be able to detect it at all. As for money, the thing that the Princess Mansion lacked the most was money.

Fortunately, people who love to laugh will not have too bad luck.

Zhao Fanghua thought she had said all the good and bad things to Shen Xiujin, and turned to leave, but Shen Xiujin grabbed her arm tightly.

Shen Xiujin's face was terrifying, and his voice was low and serpentine: "Why did His Highness leave? I don't see any guards around His Highness today..."

"Hehehe." Shen Xiujin laughed. At first, it was just a low chuckle, but then the laughter gradually became louder, and even laughed to the point that his shoulders were shaking, "Hahahaha."

Zhao Fanghua's face turned pale instantly. Not only was she without any guards, even Shuyu was not by her side. If Shen Xiujin wanted to do something to her...

At this moment, a pair of bony hands grabbed Shen Xiujin's hand that was holding Zhao Fanghua's hand, and the dark pattern of Epiphyllum could be faintly seen on the moon-white sleeves.

Zhao Fanghua looked up expectantly. The man's silver mask covered the upper half of his face, revealing only his thin, tightly pursed lips and jade-like chin. His eyes lit up instantly: "Little mute!"

Shen Xiujin became alert to the man who suddenly broke in and shouted, "Who are you? Do you know who I am? Let me go!"

Zhao Qinglan said nothing, but increased the strength of his grip.

Shen Xiujin immediately cried out "Ah Ah" and let go of Zhao Fanghua's hand.

Shen Xiujin protected the part of his body that Zhao Qinglan had pinched, and his venomous gaze swept over the two of them. As if he finally understood, he said to Zhao Fanghua viciously, "You're so good, Zhao Fanghua! I told you I was so humble, but you still insisted on breaking off the engagement. So you have a mistress!"

"Bah!" Zhao Fanghua spat at Shen Xiujin. "Just because you're unfaithful and cheating on your husband, do you think others are the same?"

Zhao Fanghua said as she took Zhao Qinglan's arm: "We are innocent!"

…

…

Zhao Qinglan looked down at Zhao Fanghua's stubborn little face, speechless. The mask covered his slightly red cheeks. He twisted his arms uneasily. How could they look innocent in such an intimate manner?

Shen Xiujin was so angry that his face turned red. He pointed at Zhao Fanghua and said "you you you" for a long time without being able to utter a complete sentence.

Chen Xiujin suddenly sneered, "Don't look down on me because I'm young and poor. Do you think I'll always be just an editor in the Imperial Academy? The day I ascend to the throne and become a prime minister will be the day you and your adulterer die! Zhao Fanghua, wait for your regret!"

Shen Xiujin uttered these harsh words, turned around and staggered away.