Chapter 204 Shen Cong Has a Secret
The moment the carriage stopped, Erfeng's voice rang out from outside.
"Miss Ke'er, the Prince requests your presence for a talk."
Li Nanke gestured to Zisu to open the car door.
The magnificent vermilion sedan chair, adorned with heavy armor, was parked imposingly at the foot of the palace wall not far away, drawing considerable attention.
The sedan curtain was half-drawn, obscuring the view inside.
Li Nanke also had something to say to Shen Cong, so he told Song Yi.
"Mother, I'll be right back."
Erfeng smiled and said, "The young master's wife can go back first. I will send someone to escort Miss Ke'er back to the Marquis of Anping's residence safely later."
Song Yi looked at Li Nanke with a hesitant expression.
Li Nanke thought about it and nodded in agreement.
"Mother, please go back first, so Father won't worry. Let Sister Zisu stay with me."
Song Yi handed her a cloak.
"It's getting late. After you finish talking with the prince, go back early."
"Yes, Mother."
Li Nanke agreed and led Zisu toward the vermilion sedan chair.
As they approached, the sedan curtain was suddenly lifted, and Shen Cong's tall and slender figure bent down and stepped out of the sedan.
He was only wearing a dark red brocade robe, without his silver cloak or hand warmer.
"Would you like to accompany me for a walk in the front?"
He nodded forward with his chin, his pale face gaining a touch of warmth in the last rays of the setting sun.
Outside the palace walls, there is a Jinshui River that connects to the palace's drainage culvert. The river is ten zhang wide, and weeping willows are planted all along its banks. In spring, the weeping willows sway gently, creating a unique scene.
But now it is winter, and the willows are bare, with only their bare branches swaying in the cold wind, looking very desolate.
Li Nanke pulled her cloak tighter and glanced at Shen Cong subconsciously.
Although the first snow hadn't fallen yet, it was already quite cold in the winter months. Shen Cong was only wearing a thin single garment, and his lips were bluish-purple.
She could feel his body trembling when the cold wind blew by.
Shen Cong pursed his lips tightly, stood up straight, and walked forward slowly, step by step.
Despite knowing that the blood curse in his body thrives on heat and that the warmer the environment, the more likely he is to vomit blood, Shen Cong can only resist it by using cold.
But Li Nanke still couldn't help but shiver.
She is most afraid of the cold.
She lowered her head, took two quick steps forward, and stood discreetly to Shen Cong's left.
A cold wind came from the northwest, blowing her bangs up.
She instinctively pulled her cloak tighter around herself, but a sneer came from above.
"If you're afraid of the cold, why stand in the wind? You're just asking for trouble!"
Before she could finish speaking, a cold hand grabbed the back of her neck and lifted her to the downwind side on her right.
Li Nanke puffed out his cheeks indignantly.
Let the cold wind freeze him to death!
snort!
Shen Cong glanced at her round little face, and a silent smile appeared on his lips.
"If I couldn't even withstand this little breeze, I would have died long ago!"
Li Nanke's eyes widened.
So he knew I wanted to shield him from the wind!
The next moment, Shen Cong gave her a disdainful look from head to toe and snorted.
"It's not even as tall as my shoulder. If you want to block the wind, first check if you're tall enough."
Li Nanke...
They actually mocked her for being short!
This is intolerable!
She looked up at him defiantly, only to find that they were too close. She could only reach under Chen Cong's armpit, and looking up at him made her appear even shorter.
She angrily took a few steps back, creating some distance, and stood with her hands on her hips, pouting in dissatisfaction.
"Being tall is amazing. One day, I will be very tall too."
Shen Cong's narrow eyes tilted slightly upwards, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Is that so? I look forward to it!"
He looked very suspicious.
Li Nanke gave a light snort, turned around, and walked quickly forward.
She quickened her pace, and Shen Cong quickened his pace as well, walking with her one after the other along the riverbank.
The moon had somehow appeared on the treetops, and frost had fallen to the ground, casting long shadows of the two people.
Li Nanke stared at the long shadow on the ground, her eyes shifting slightly. She put her hands behind her back, tiptoed, and hopped to the side.
Yes, I stepped right on the shadow's chest.
He jumped again and stepped on the shadow's head.
hehe.
Let you laugh at me for not growing tall!
Little did she know that her childish behavior was being observed by Shen Cong, who let out a low laugh.
Li Nanke turned around and met Shen Cong's ambiguous smile, causing her face to flush slightly.
With her hands behind her back and her small feet moving quickly to the side, she stared at the Jinshui River, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.
Shen Cong followed her example, standing beside her with his hands behind his back, also looking at the Jinshui River.
The river shimmered under the moonlight, flowing peacefully.
Li Nanke could no longer keep up the act and was the first to give in, asking, "Your Highness's arrival today is so timely; did you know some news beforehand?"
Shen Cong glanced at her indifferently.
"When do you think I entered the palace?"
Li Nanke's grape-like eyes darted around. "Isn't it in the afternoon?"
Erfeng, who was following them at a distance, came up and whispered, "Miss Ke'er, my lord went to the palace this morning."
When you entered the palace, you overheard two palace maids instigating Princess Zhaoning to switch your and Xue Ting's answer sheets. The prince then ordered his subordinates to follow you to Zishan Hall.
When they arrived, they discovered that the Empress's people had already switched Xue Ting's answer sheet and replaced Ke'er's answer sheet with a blank sheet.
On a whim, the subordinate quietly followed her, retrieved Xue Ting's answer sheet, and put it back into her paper tube.
When Princess Zhaoning's people went to make the switch, they swapped Xue Ting's answer sheet back with the one the Empress had prepared for Xue Ting, and gave it to the young lady instead.
Erfeng chuckled, tugging at his beard.
"Miss Ke'er, wasn't my move amazing?"
Li Nanke looked shocked.
Unexpectedly, the answer sheets in the paper tube had been switched twice and the seal had been changed once before the lecturer arrived!
"No wonder my answer sheet was a perfect first chapter of the 'Admonitions for Women'; it turns out it was prepared by Her Majesty the Empress for Miss Xue."
No wonder the Empress was so angry with me.
Shen Cong's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
"My sister-in-law, she..."
"Does Your Highness mean to say that Her Majesty dislikes me and doesn't want me to be Princess Zhaoning's study companion?"
"You're quite clear-headed."
Li Nanke pouted and whispered, "I don't like her or Princess Zhaoning either."
Shen Cong silently curled his lips into a smile.
Li Nanke curtsied to him and thanked him sincerely.
"I am very grateful to Your Highness for helping me out of this predicament today. If it weren't for Your Highness, I'm afraid I would have had a hard time leaving the palace alive."
Especially since the matter also involved the pregnant Consort Shu, if Shen Cong hadn't proven that he gave her the pills, His Majesty probably wouldn't have believed her innocence so easily.
There was also the matter of studying outside the palace...
"Your Highness is truly a very, very good person. I will always remember your great kindness and virtue."
She patted her chest, her eyes smiling, as if she had remembered it well.
Shen Cong looked at the calm river with his hands behind his back, and the smile on his lips seemed to widen a little more.
Her voice remained faint.
"It was just a coincidence; I wasn't doing this to help you."
Li Nanke blinked in confusion.
"By the way?" Does that mean he had his own purpose, and while achieving his own, he helped her incidentally?
The silvery moonlight poured down on his face, making him look even more aloof, as if nothing in the world mattered to him.
Half of his face was hidden in the shadows, and he looked indescribably lonely.
The Shen Cong at this moment looked very different from the Shen Cong in the palace just now.
In that instant, she suddenly realized that Shen Cong also had secrets!
It's like she's carrying the secret of a dream, while he...
What is his secret?
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