Chapter 90 Why is my cousin so cruel to Jiaojiao?
Upon hearing this, the Crown Princess looked up in astonishment, staring incredulously at her aunt, who was born to her grandfather's second wife. She thought to herself, "Illegitimate sons and daughters are simply not worthy of being in a respectable position."
Even after one became empress and the other the emperor's brother-in-law, they couldn't hide their petty and narrow-minded nature. At this moment, the crown prince behind them weakly said:
"I wonder what kind of play is troubling my Crown Princess? Why don't you bring it here and I'll choose one for you?"
The Crown Princess immediately turned around gratefully and gave the Crown Prince, who had come to her rescue, a big smile. She then ordered a palace maid to bring out the play selection book and followed him there.
The two of them had to carefully select the plays they performed, completely abandoning those two disreputable pieces. She thought to herself that even if her grandfather scolded her in the future, she would certainly not care today.
Sitting at the table, Yunxi looked at the Empress who had been promoted from Consort and thought she was quite stupid. However, the power struggle between the Xu and Shen families allowed her to escape from it.
At this moment, Yunxi didn't care about anything else and just focused on eating the crab meat that Gu Nanxiao had personally peeled for her.
Just then, the sound of silver bells rang out, and a group of dancers dressed in exotic costumes walked one by one to the center of the stage. Everyone was amazed by their beauty, but Yunxi's gaze lingered on their ankles.
Each dancer wore a string of anklets, made of brass, but the style and color were exactly the same as the one Gu Nanxiao always liked to put on her.
Seeing this, Yunxi's face darkened, and she suddenly felt that the crab meat on the plate had become bitter and unpalatable.
Gu Nanxiao had never been a fan of song and dance, and was currently diligently peeling crab legs for his wife. Meanwhile, Yunxi casually placed her chopsticks on the table.
He suddenly sensed something was wrong and immediately turned to look. Sure enough, he saw a hint of anger on the little girl's face.
Gu Nanxiao keenly followed Yunxi's gaze to the dance floor. After seeing the anklets on the dancers' anklets, his pupils suddenly contracted. He immediately leaned close to Yunxi's ear and whispered, "If I said this was just a coincidence, would you... believe me?"
Yunxi gave a cold snort, her eyes growing even colder. Coincidence? There aren't that many coincidences in the world.
Rather than believing Gu Nanxiao's sophistry, it's better to believe that he treated her as a mere plaything from beginning to end. Otherwise, he wouldn't have put the things the dancer wore on her feet.
Yunxi grew angrier the more she thought about it. She picked up a wine cup and downed it in one gulp, then made a move to refill it for herself. But Gu Nanxiao swiftly snatched the wine pot away.
At this moment, Gu Nanxiao was extremely anxious. If it weren't for the presence of so many guests, he would have definitely held her in his arms and explained everything. But now, he could only lower his voice and whisper in Yunxi's ear again:
“I designed that anklet myself. I didn’t just find it for you after seeing it worn by that dancer. Yunxi, you have to believe me. I will investigate this matter thoroughly and give you an explanation.”
Hearing him say that, Yunxi also felt that Gu Nanxiao was not a liar. But looking at the group of barefoot dancers on the dance floor, she still felt a tightness in her chest.
At this moment, the leader of the group of dancers suddenly took off her outer garment, revealing a blue dance costume that contrasted with the yellow skirts of the others.
With light, graceful steps, she walked towards Gu Nanxiao. The dancer, wearing a veil, ignored the man's dark expression and swayed her body seductively before his table.
Then, she reached out and picked up a wine cup from the table, handing it to Gu Nanxiao with tender affection. At the same time, she removed the veil from her face.
The moment they saw her face clearly, Yunxi and Gu Nanxiao's expressions simultaneously turned ashen. This dancer was none other than Shen Yujiao, whom the Empress Dowager had previously rescued from prison by imperial decree.
When Gu Nanxiao saw her, he was reminded of Yunxi's murder and the loss of her heir. He raised his hand and knocked the cup in front of him to the ground, then stood up abruptly, stretched out his long arm, and grabbed the woman in front of him by the throat, his eyes filled with undisguised murderous intent.
At this moment, the Empress Dowager also saw who the woman was and was very angry about her indecent behavior that night.
But seeing that Gu Nanxiao had choked her until her eyes rolled back, she had no choice but to speak up to save her. The Empress Dowager said urgently, "My dear grandson Xiao'er, let go quickly, don't hurt her."
When Gu Nanxiao heard his grandmother's words of rebuke, he could not ignore them, so he forcefully threw Shen Yujiao onto the main hall, and then angrily sat back down in his seat.
Shen Yujiao was first choked to the point of near suffocation by Gu Nanxiao, and then thrown heavily to the ground of the main hall. At this moment, she felt pain in her throat and knees.
But his position happened to be directly opposite Yunxi, who was sitting upright in her seat. He also happened to see clearly the blatant mockery in her eyes.
Shame and anger overwhelmed her, she turned to Gu Nanxiao and cried out, "Cousin, why do you always treat Jiaojiao so cruelly? Am I, the legitimate daughter of the Shen family, really inferior to a lowly concubine? And I have already humbled myself and agreed to do..."
"shut up!"
Two angry shouts rang out simultaneously, one from Gu Nanxiao and the other from the Empress Dowager on the main seat.
Gu Nanxiao knew what Shen Yujiao was about to say, but he absolutely could not let Yunxi hear about his agreement with the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager, however, vividly remembered Gu Nanxiao's instructions. If the agreement were to be revealed within a year, Xiao'er would never again take Shen Yujiao into the family.
Amidst their angry shouts, Shen Yujiao regained some of her composure and realized she had almost said something inappropriate. At this moment, she could only lower her head and sob softly.
Looking at the three people's reactions, Yunxi felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure it out, so she simply let it go.
Just as the Empress Dowager was about to order Shen Yujiao to be dragged away, she heard the Empress, who had been holding back her anger, say in a sarcastic tone:
"This Shen family girl's upbringing is really quite poor! She is clearly a lady from a respectable family, yet she imitates those lowly dancers, dressing provocatively and dancing barefoot. It's truly an eye-opener."
His mention of "Shen family girl" caused the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the Crown Prince to all turn somber.
The Empress Dowager's face darkened because all the empresses since the founding of the dynasty had come from the Shen family. Therefore, the empress's remark about the Shen family was an insult to both the Empress Dowager and all the previous empresses.
The Emperor's sullen face was because he believed he deeply loved the late Empress. Therefore, Empress Xu's use of the phrase "woman of the Shen family" naturally included his first wife and his mother.
The Crown Prince's somber expression stemmed from his preconceived notions about his mother's death. Hearing his mother's posthumous name being brought up for criticism, even the usually mild-mannered Crown Prince couldn't help but show a hint of anger.
The Emperor spoke first, rebuking, "If the Empress is drunk, she should be helped away by the palace maids to rest. She should not talk nonsense here."
Upon hearing this, the Empress stiffened her neck, looked back at the Emperor with tears in her eyes, and appeared heartbroken, as if she were blaming the Emperor for embarrassing her in public.
In fact, that was exactly what the Empress thought. She believed that since the Emperor had made her Empress, he should give her the same respect as the late Empress.
Little did she know that the Emperor's gesture of asking her to step down was the true way of giving her dignity. The Empress didn't understand, but the Empress Dowager did.
The Xu family is an in-law family that the Emperor has been supporting in recent years, with the aim of counterbalancing the Shen family. Although the Empress is foolish, the Emperor will still protect her as long as she is still of use.
But at this moment, the Empress refused to leave, and the Empress Dowager, even more unwilling to let her go, mimicked the Empress's tone and spoke in a similarly sarcastic manner:
"With your surname Xu, how dare you presume to marry a woman from the Shen family? At least in our Shen clan, there has never been a case where an elder brother's fiancée seduced her younger brother-in-law, and even in front of hundreds of guests, she was with two men at the same time."
How can the Shen family raise such a shameless harlot? What face do they have to criticize other families' upbringing in front of everyone?
Hearing the Empress Dowager's sharp words, Yunxi couldn't help but praise her in her heart, "You are mighty!" All talk of playing the game and making sarcastic remarks is no match for absolute power; they can only be crushed.
She was enjoying the play when she suddenly felt dizzy, and it felt as if an unnamed fire was raging inside her.
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