Chapter 161 Compromise
Ling Chenyi felt that whenever he encountered something related to Shen Anan, he would go crazy. "The emperor wants to contain you in a hundred ways. This is just one of them. By the time you finish your battle of wits and courage with him, a month will have passed."
"Besides, as long as Xiao Ze is alive, he will not be content. It takes a month to go to Jiangnan and back. Have you ever thought about how the situation in the capital will change?"
"When you come back, let alone the years of preparation, I'm afraid it's hard to say whether the Fourth Prince's mansion will still be there. You protected her for a while, but can you still protect her when that time comes?"
Xiao Yuan understood it all, but he was worried about asking him to agree to let Shen Anan leave for Jiangnan on her own.
He slowly applied force with his knuckles, and there was a crack.
With a sound, the ink brush broke into two pieces in his bony palm, and the debris scattered on the rice paper.
Ling Chenyi's scalp began to feel numb.
He seldom saw Xiao Yuan so out of control, and he felt as if he said one more word of advice he would become the broken ink pen in his hand.
"Please think about it carefully. I don't think your cousin's wife will agree to you doing this."
He turned and left the study, standing in the corridor for a long time sighing.
He didn't understand why the emperor couldn't bear to see Xiao Yuan and Shen An'an doing well.
He had long thought about recuperating, but letting Shen Anan leave and return to Jiangnan must have been a whim.
It is also possible that the word Jiangnan aroused his thoughts. After all, Shen Anan came back from Jiangnan.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard the maid's greeting.
"Princess Princess."
He looked up and saw Shen Anan walking towards him, "Cousin."
Shen Anan nodded slightly and glanced towards the study. Ling Chenyi sighed, "He insists on doing what he wants. Let my cousin go and persuade him."
Now the emperor has clearly forced him into a desperate situation. He has no choice but to stay in the capital, unless he leaves and never comes back with Shen Anan.
All great undertakings and revenge were abandoned.
Shen Anan nodded slightly and walked towards the study.
Xiao Yuan sat behind the desk like a sculpture, the broken ink pen still clenched in his hand, his thin lips tightly pursed. It was the first time that Shen Anan felt such a cold breath from him.
Just like the white snow on the mountains, the cold wind in the cold winter, with its ice blades, discourages those who want to approach him.
In the past few days after their marriage, he was gentle and kind wherever she appeared, always looking at her with a smile in his eyes, but this time, he didn't even look up at her.
The slightly drooping eyelashes cast a small shadow on the eyelids, and even Shen Anan felt a little scared and didn't dare to step forward.
The two men faced each other, one sitting and the other standing. The atmosphere was terribly stagnant and neither of them spoke for a while.
"Xiao Yuan." Shen Anan spoke softly.
Xiao Yuan raised his gaze to look at her indifferently, without a trace of warmth, "You know everything?"
Shen Anan nodded.
He pulled his lips together and smiled, "That's exactly what my lady wants. Shouldn't you be very happy? You hurried over here to say goodbye to me?"
For some reason, she was not angry at all when he was being sarcastic today. Instead, she felt guilty and ashamed.
She fixed her eyes on the rice paper pressed on his wrist and said, "You must not leave the capital at this time."
Xiao Yuan didn't say anything. He threw the broken pen into the wastebasket, turned his wrist slightly, and said, "Go back and pack your things. I'll go with you the day after tomorrow."
Shen Anan was a little discouraged. She had talked so much with Ling Chenyi, but how come it was of no use at all?
Looking at Xiao Yuan's extremely cold eyes, she frowned and had to patiently walk towards him step by step.
"I'm really only here for the Lin family. As long as Gu Tan is captured, I will come back immediately."
He hummed indifferently and said nothing.
"Xiao Yuan." Shen Anan called him in a deep voice, "I know what you are worried about. I also told you that you can also send someone you trust to follow me."
In the current situation, love really doesn't matter. Besides, she never thought that Xiao Yuan would be such an irrational person.
Xiao Yuan remained silent, but looked up at her calmly.
The doors and windows of the study were no longer open at some point, and the heater was burning inside, making it warm. Shen Anan didn't feel cold at all standing here.
"I am not the only one who is with you. You also have those ministers and friends who follow you and are loyal to you. Even if you don't care about your own life or death, you should still care about them."
Shen Anan tried her best to make her voice soft, "Only power can protect the people around you, including me. I am the fourth prince's consort. As long as you, Xiao Yuan, are in charge of the capital, no one will dare to touch me even in Jiangnan, and the local government will do everything they can to protect me."
Power is the best protective color for the capital! !
Xiao Yuan's eyes gradually became deep, staring at Shen Anan's beautiful and gentle face.
"If we get married and I become a burden to you, I will only feel guilty and regretful."
Xiao Yuan looked at her, and suddenly his mind emerged the dream from last night, where she was leaning in an armchair, gazing at the desolate and lonely back of the high wall.
She said that the Fourth Prince's Mansion was a cage, and he was the ghost in this cage.
She said she regretted marrying him and being confined in this small place! !
Xiao Yuan suddenly had a splitting headache. He put his fingers on his forehead and it took him a long time to recover.
"What's wrong with you?" Shen Anan asked with a frown.
Xiao Yuan shook his head and exhaled heavily, "It's nothing. If you want to go, then go ahead."
He will try his best to arrange the things at hand properly, and will look for her after stabilizing the situation in the capital.
What she said was right. As long as she was the Fourth Prince's wife and he was there, no one would dare to touch her easily. Even if he was far away in the capital, he could still protect her.
The prerequisite for all this is power.
Shen Anan heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this, and a smile spread across her face. Xiao Yuan's face darkened again, "Madam, are you very happy to be able to leave me? You are so forgetful that you even forget to pretend in front of me."
"..." Shen Anan didn't say anything. As long as she could go to Jiangnan, it didn't matter if she listened to a few sarcastic words from him.
"Then I will leave the day after tomorrow."
"We'll talk about it the day after tomorrow." Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes, obviously not wanting to talk to her anymore, so Shen Anan also left the study very consciously.
After everyone left, Xiao Yuan leaned back heavily in the recliner, his eyes and brows showing indescribable fatigue, his face terribly gloomy.
Since she was unwilling to be the canary under his wing, he would just let go of her and deal with the affairs in the capital as soon as possible before going to find her.
He couldn't hold the rope too tightly, so as not to make her want to escape. Just like at the beginning, he had to proceed step by step to slowly enter her heart.
In Wutong Garden, Shen Anan sat on the couch, holding a piece of rice paper in his hand, not knowing whether he was reading or in a daze.
While Mo Xiang was packing up her belongings for the day after tomorrow's departure, she asked, "Miss, what exactly was written on the paper that the eldest master wrote? You have been holding it and reading it for two days."
Shen Anan came back to her senses, folded the rice paper, and walked to the candlelight in front of the table. Sparks suddenly jumped up in her hands, fell to the ground, and swallowed up the rice paper in the blink of an eye.
Mo Xiang was stunned.
"I haven't seen my aunt for some time. Today we have nothing to do, so let's go and see her."
“But didn’t the master forbid anyone in the family from getting close to Concubine Shen?” Mo Xiang was a little puzzled.
Shen Anan didn't explain, and told her to go find Uncle Zhong to prepare a carriage, as she wanted to leave the house.
Xiao Yuan was dealing with the accumulated government affairs in the study. He paused to write after hearing the butler's report and looked up, "Where is the car?"
"It seems to be heading out of the city. I didn't dare to ask where it was going."
Xiao Yuan put down his pen, stood up and walked out, then slowly stopped. The housekeeper didn't understand and asked cautiously, "Master, do you want to prepare a horse to chase the prince's wife?"
"No need." He lowered his eyes and returned to the desk after a moment, "Go and get busy."
"Yes." The butler retreated and sat behind the desk without moving for a long time.
He had just said that he couldn't push her too hard, couldn't control her too much, he had to slowly learn to give her space and freedom. At the very least, he couldn't let her look at the outside world in loneliness and despair like in her dreams.
"Qingfeng."
"Master." Qingfeng pushed the door open and Xiao Yuan ordered in a deep voice, "Follow the princess and protect her. Don't interfere with anything else, unless..."
Qingfeng looked up at his master with a puzzled look on his face. Unless what? Why don’t you say anything anymore?
Xiao Yuan let out a long sigh before saying, "Unless you are meeting a strange man, don't worry about the rest."
If that rebellious woman really disliked him for pushing her too hard, she would definitely do something like this, just like what happened with that dead scholar.
“…Yes.” Qingfeng took the order and retreated.
Xiao Yuan did not follow her this time, but his heart had already flown away. He sat for a whole morning, and the pile of documents did not decrease, but his neck was sore from raising his head.
"Qingfeng hasn't come back yet?" he asked Qing'an.
"My Lord, not yet." He added at the end, "The princess has not returned either."
Shen Anan did not leave the city directly to look for Concubine Shen, but sent Mo Ran back to the mansion to meet Shen Changhe first.
The two men's carriages met outside the city, which scared Qingfeng. He was far away and Shen Changhe had his back to him. In addition, the place they chose was remote, so he almost didn't recognize them and thought his master had guessed it.
He had already begun to imagine the scene where he was about to be killed by his master to silence him. Shen Changhe tilted his head slightly and stroked the top of Shen Anan's head. Only then did he see clearly and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where's the Fourth Prince? Why didn't he come out with you this time?"
Shen Anan pursed her lips and said nothing.
"Were you having a fight?"
She nodded slightly.
Shen Changhe frowned, "Why?"
"Don't worry." Shen Anan quickly comforted, "I didn't tell him when I came out this time. There are some things that are inconvenient for him to be present."
Shen Changhe, however, refused to let go, "Why are you guys arguing?"
“…He doesn’t want me to go to Jiangnan.”
Shen Changhe understood and breathed a sigh of relief, "Big brother doesn't want you to go either, An An, it's a long way to Jiangnan, and you're a girl..."
"Brother," Shen Anan called him and said calmly, "You know, I went to Jiangnan for important things, not just for the Lin family. Besides, I was able to come back alone back then, so it's okay to go now."
Shen Changhe's face flashed with self-blame. "At the beginning, it was my elder brother who was busy with his duties and ignored you, An'an. Gu Tan is not an ordinary person. The more I investigate, the deeper I feel. I am really worried about you going. You should wait a while. I will accompany you after I finish the things at hand."
Shen Anan shook her head, "Dongcheng can't leave without someone, and the Lin family can't wait. Brother, we all know that the emperor deliberately wants to separate Xiao Yuan and me. If I don't leave, you will only be in trouble. Instead of being controlled by others, it is better to face the difficulties head-on."
She turned her head to look at the frost on the branches, her eyes deep and dark, "Besides, I really want to know what the royal secret is that he tried so hard to hide."
"An An," Shen Changhe felt upset, "It's my incompetence that left you alone with the death of your grandmother."
She had never spoken about it since her grandmother passed away, but Shen Changhe knew that she had never forgotten it for a single day.
"Don't worry, I will be careful. You should protect the Lin family safely and prevent Miss Lin from getting into trouble. This is the most urgent task. As for me, Xiao Yuan will protect me. Let's work hard together."
Shen Anan comforted Shen Changhe a few words, then got on the carriage and left.
Qingfeng immediately wrote a letter back to report to his master, and then followed him.
At the same time, another piece of news was delivered, not to others, but to the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Study.
"Master." A black shadow landed silently in the imperial study and handed over a paper raft.
The emperor took a moment to look up from his review, his eyebrows slightly raised, but his eyes were full of coldness.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
