Shen Yuan knelt on the ground, her forehead pressed tightly against the ground, her hands raised high above her head, and presented her engagement letter with Chu Yuning with a humble posture.
"I am Shen Yuan, a woman from Chu Family Village in Jian'an City. I kneel down to plead my case against Chu Yuning, the top scholar in the imperial examination."
"His crimes are threefold. First, he made a marriage agreement with a woman ten years ago, enjoying her financial support, and promised to marry her after passing the imperial examination. Now he has failed to keep his promise, which is ungrateful and untrustworthy!"
"Second offense: He did not sign a letter of annulment with the commoner, and instead sought to marry Her Highness the Princess while still bound by an engagement. This is disloyalty and disrespect to Her Highness the Princess!"
"Three crimes: As a subject, concealing one's betrothal is a crime of deceiving the emperor!"
The sound of Shen Yuan's voice was like weeping blood.
She revealed all this to let Princess Jingwan see Yuning's true colors, so as to avoid entrusting herself to the wrong person.
But Chu Yuning grabbed the marriage certificate and tore the signed and sealed paper into pieces.
"Your Highness, you must not listen to the ravings of this madwoman!"
“This marriage certificate is fake. My mother is also a villager from Chu Family Village. She will be going to the capital soon and she can testify for me that I have never been engaged to anyone!”
Sitting inside the carriage, Xiao Yunyan smiled casually: "You say what she said is false, and she says you're a liar. In that case, why don't you two go to the Jingzhao Court to settle this matter!"
Shen Yuan was not afraid and followed Chu Yuning to the Jingzhao Division. She wanted to win the case and then leave the capital with the annulment letter from Chu Yuning.
But after entering the Jingzhao Division, she realized that she had been too naive.
She was just an ordinary citizen and no match for Chu Yuning.
Chu Yuning not only holds an official position in the Ministry of Revenue, but is also a newly favored person by the Emperor's side.
Even Xiao Yunyan protected him.
Xiao Yunyan could accept her fiancé's flaws and shortcomings, but she demoted her, the one who exposed the truth and advised her, to a slave and brought her into the mansion to be humiliated and tortured.
Later she learned that it wasn't that the messenger didn't go to Chu Family Village to deliver the good news, but that Chu Yuning had deliberately suppressed the matter.
He didn't want her to know that he had already passed the high school entrance exam, so he didn't immediately bring Zhao Juxiang, Chu Chunhua, and Chu Qiuyue to the capital. Instead, he had them stay in the village to keep the matter a secret for him, so that he could marry Xiao Yunyan smoothly.
After Shen Yuan was imprisoned, Chu Yuning immediately sent a fast horse to bring her mother and sister to the capital so that the three of them could testify on her behalf.
She became a traitor who slandered court officials, struggling in the mire until she stabbed Chu Yuning and was thrown into the lake by Xiao Yunyan...
In winter, the lake water is like countless icy needles, piercing into the cracks of every bone...
Shen Yuan shivered violently, finally snapping out of her memories of her previous life. She sat up, leaning on the edge of the bed, gasping for breath.
The feeling of drowning is still vividly remembered by the body.
Shen Yuan raised her hand to her violently beating heart, and it took a long time for her breathing to gradually calm down.
Since arriving in the capital, she has constantly recalled the scenes of being imprisoned in the princess's mansion as a maid, and her hatred has grown deeper and deeper.
Tomorrow will be the last day of the imperial examinations.
She wanted to see if things would continue to develop the same way they did in the previous life.
After resting overnight, Shen Yuan went to the examination hall the following evening.
Wearing a veiled hat and dressed in plain clothes, she blended into the crowd, quietly watching the gate of the examination hall. Before long, she saw Chu Yuning walk out of the examination hall with a radiant smile.
His clothes were worn and tattered, but the smile on his face was undeniable.
He seemed confident of victory.
With just one glance, Shen Yuan knew she had guessed correctly.
Seeing Chu Yuning leave the examination hall and hurriedly walk west, Shen Yuan quickly followed.
Chu Yuning first returned to her residence, changed into clean clothes, and then hurriedly went out to Zhuque Street, the most bustling street in the city.
Throughout the journey, Shen Yuan stayed behind Chu Yuning, following him at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.
Chu Yuning stopped in front of a teahouse in the market, straightened her robes, and walked inside.
Worried that Chu Yuning would notice, Shen Yuan did not follow him inside, but instead went into the jewelry shop opposite the teahouse.
Shen Yuan played with the beaded flower, her attention fixed on the teahouse across the street.
Before long, she noticed a conflict breaking out inside the teahouse. She couldn't see exactly what was going on, but she soon saw the plainclothes guards who were standing guard outside the teahouse, just like her, rush into the teahouse after hearing the commotion.
Shen Yuan immediately understood Chu Yuning's purpose in coming to the teahouse today.
In her previous life, Chu Yuning accidentally saved Xiao Yunyan from drowning, thus winning her favor.
In this life, Chu Yuning participated in the scientific expedition three years earlier. On this day three years ago, Xiao Yunyan did not go to admire the lake, but came to the teahouse instead.
Shen Yuan knew about this because she had heard other maids in the princess's mansion say that Xiao Yunyan had a period of time when she especially liked to go to teahouses and markets to listen to storytellers talk about the romantic affairs of talented men and beautiful women.
Xiao Yunyan could have directly summoned the storyteller to the mansion, but she found it boring to listen to him alone at home, so she disguised herself as a young lady from an official family and went to the teahouse.
However, on one occasion, Xiao Yunyan was harassed by someone.
The person who harassed her was Helan Jun, the second-generation scion of the Yong'an Marquis family.
General Helan, the Marquis of Yong'an, and his family were stationed on the border year after year. His beloved grandson, Helan Jun, also grew up in the Northwest. It wasn't until the Marquis of Yong'an was granted the title of Marquis that Helan Jun followed his grandfather to the capital.
Therefore, he had never met Xiao Yunyan.
He Lanjun saw that Xiao Yunyan was quite beautiful in the teahouse, and he was tempted to flirt with her. He leaned close to her and said a flirtatious word.
Because of this one amorous remark, after Xiao Yunyan returned to the manor, General Helan's entire family was executed for treason, with all 130 members of the family dying in a single day.
Just then, Shen Yuan saw Xiao Yunyan's bodyguards carrying a young man dressed in extremely luxurious clothes out of the teahouse. Even though he was being carried, he still shouted fearlessly.
"You old woman, it's your honor that I, this young master, have even noticed you! Do you know who I am? I am Helan Jun, the eldest grandson of the Marquis of Yong'an."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Yuan saw Xiao Yunyan.
She wore a long, wide-sleeved, purplish-pink embroidered dress. Although the fabric wasn't as luxurious as those in the palace, it was still of excellent quality. Her long, black hair was half-draped over her shoulders and styled in a simple bun, adorned with two gold hairpins inlaid with jade and pearl tassels—very understated.
At this time, she was only twenty-five years old, even more youthful and beautiful than in her previous life.
She stood quietly on the steps outside the teahouse, watching Helan Jun being pinned to the ground by the guards. Her eyes revealed the disdain and contempt of someone in a high position. She looked at him without saying a word, as if she were looking at a dying man.
Shen Yuan unconsciously tightened her grip on the hairpin, and the sharp end of the hairpin sank into her flesh, but Shen Yuan felt no pain.
She stared intently at Xiao Yunyan, at her enemy.
Xiao Yunyan seemed to sense Shen Yuan's gaze and suddenly turned around to look at Shen Yuan.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
