Chapter 157 Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together.
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci smiled.
That smile was filled with endless mockery and disdain.
"An escape route?" She looked at Huo Yunzhan as if he were a clown. "Don't worry, my lord, I have plenty of escape routes."
“Even if,” she paused, her voice completely calm, “if something really happens to Chu Jichen, this princess consort… has her own way of getting out of trouble safely.”
Huo Yunzhan looked at her confident and nonchalant demeanor, and a thought suddenly struck him.
She did indeed have it!
The Shen family's legendary elite private army was indeed in her hands! That's why she dared to be so fearless!
An indescribable sense of regret and anger instantly swept over his entire body!
How could he not have thought of that?!
Why didn't he notice sooner?!
This seemingly gentle and docile woman is actually incredibly cunning!
He and she were husband and wife for more than half a year, spending day and night together, and he was almost always trying to get the secrets about the private army out of her!
But she remained completely unfazed, keeping him completely in the dark and pretending to know nothing at all!
He personally checked all the dowry she brought to the Huo family no less than ten times, under the guise of inventory!
Yet they found not a single clue!
He simply couldn't understand where she had hidden that damned troop mobilization order!
He never imagined that she would choose to reveal this hidden power only after he faked his death and under the combined pressure of him and Liu Ruolan!
She clearly... didn't love him enough! She didn't trust him enough!
If... if she had given him the troop mobilization order when they were newly married, none of this would have happened!
He didn't need to plot to kill Huo Yunting for the sake of power!
There's no need to put up with that foolish woman Liu Ruolan and feign compliance with her just to curry favor with the Liu family!
It is even less likely that... it is even less likely that excessive indulgence with Liu Ruolan will cause him... to become impotent.
It's all her fault!
All of this is because of Shen Qingci!
If she had handed over that invincible private army to him earlier, whether he used it for himself or handed it over directly to His Majesty, it would have been enough to bring him the immense power and bright future he desired!
How did things come to this?
Now that things have come to this, no amount of regret will help.
That private army, that troop mobilization order—he…was determined to get it!
A sinister glint flashed in Huo Yunzhan's eyes. He glanced at the Regent's Palace guards who were keeping a close eye on the situation not far away, and his expression instantly returned to that of heartbroken and devastated.
He lowered his voice, his tone filled with pleading and remorse: "Aci, I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong."
"These past few days, not a single day has passed without me thinking of you. I've realized that I simply... cannot live without you. Please come back to me, okay?"
Shen Qingci felt a wave of nausea.
She remained unmoved, only letting out a sneer: "Whether the Marquis wants me as a person, or... something else, you and I... know perfectly well."
"Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together." Her voice suddenly turned sharp, filled with a chilling coldness. "This princess would never have any connection with the enemy who killed my entire Shen family!"
"I didn't!" Huo Yunzhan was stung by the hatred in her eyes and roared angrily, "I've already explained! I didn't do those things! Someone framed me! It was Chu Jichen! He set up this scheme to get you and to gain the power of the Shen family!"
Looking at his shameless face, which twisted the truth, Shen Qingci had no desire to say another word.
“If it’s just a frame-up,” she said calmly, “the truth will come out eventually. Let’s… wait until that day.”
“Now,” her eyes held no trace of the warmth of the past, only a cold resolve, “you are nothing but an enemy in my heart. Nothing more.”
"Get out of my way," she said coldly. "Don't block my path."
Looking into her eyes, which held no trace of lingering affection, Huo Yunzhan's last hope was utterly shattered.
The feigned affection on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a ferocious resentment.
"Fine! Very well!" He released his hand from the carriage, took a step back, and gritted his teeth as he uttered harsh words, "Chu Jichen is now in dire straits! Shen Qingci, you will regret this! You will come back crying and begging me!"
Shen Qingci didn't even lift her eyelids, directly lowering the carriage curtain and coldly ordering:
"Let's set off."
The carriage started slowly, its wheels rolling over the bluestone pavement with a soft "clunk" sound.
Wanqing couldn't help but lift a corner of the carriage curtain and look back.
Only after Huo Yunzhan's resentful figure completely disappeared around the corner did she breathe a long sigh of relief and lower the carriage curtain.
"Pah!" She curled her lip, her face full of disgust. "That Huo Yunzhan is like a piece of dog skin plaster stuck to the sole of my shoe, I can't shake him off no matter what I do!"
She leaned closer to Shen Qingci, lowered her voice, and said with a mixture of confusion and worry on her face, "Miss, now that Prime Minister Liu has trapped the Prince in the palace, the situation is not favorable for us."
"Since Huo Yunzhan is so persistent, why don't you just pretend to agree to him? You can take this opportunity to stay by his side and secretly gather evidence of his crimes of plotting against the Shen family and harming your brother?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci slowly lifted her eyelids.
She looked at her maid's face, which was full of "thinking about the big picture," but a cold smile appeared on her lips.
“To deal with a mere Huo Yunzhan,” she said indifferently, yet with an undeniable pride, “I wouldn’t need to… sacrifice myself like this.”
"Moreover," a glint of wisdom flashed in her eyes, "the current situation is far from being at a dead end."
"Chu Jichen... was only temporarily detained in the palace by Liu Wenyuan under a pretext. If he really wanted to escape, how could Liu Wenyuan's rabble possibly hold him back?"
"The reason he remained silent was probably because... he had other plans."
Shen Qingci picked up her teacup, gently blew away the foam, and her voice carried a hint of protectiveness that she herself was unaware of: "His Highness has always disliked me having too much involvement with Huo Yunzhan. Although I am now only... the nominal Regent's Consort, I should still maintain some basic dignity for him."
“After all,” she added with a half-smile, “I still need the position of ‘Regent’s Wife’ for a while longer.”
and……
Shen Qingci's gaze fell upon the majestic palace walls outside the window, her eyes filled with clarity.
She always felt that the reason Chu Jichen was reluctant to completely break ties with Emperor Yongming and Liu Wenyuan was not because he lacked the ability.
Perhaps he also wanted to take this opportunity to let the world see what kind of chaos the Great Zhou Dynasty would be in if he, as the regent, really abandoned all responsibility.
Sometimes, letting everyone experience your importance firsthand is far more powerful than a thousand words of explanation.
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