Shen Youying looked away somewhat embarrassed and gave a soft "hmm".
Xue Shen had previously suggested that she move to the main courtyard, but she refused. So Xue Shen simply moved into her courtyard himself.
I just didn't expect the Crown Princess to be so well-informed, even knowing this.
Jiang Yun teased, "Now do you believe me?"
Shen Youying nodded weakly, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Sister-in-law, could you tell me more about the Prince of Qin when he was young..."
As she spoke, her voice grew softer and softer, and even her ears turned red. She didn't dare to look at Jiang Yun.
Seeing her blushing face and timid demeanor, Jiang Yun thought to herself, no wonder even the King of Qin could be softened by her charm. Such a delicate and gentle beauty would even make her heart soften a little.
"Oh..." the Crown Princess drawled, "So you were pretending to see me, but you really wanted to get information from me."
Shen Youying felt increasingly embarrassed by her teasing and could only say in a barely audible voice, "If you keep teasing me, I won't dare to come next time."
Jiang Yun's smile widened, but she stopped teasing her and took her hand, saying, "No, I've been looking forward to you coming to keep me company and help me pass the time. Tell me what you want to hear, and your sister-in-law will tell you everything."
Shen Youying didn't know what she wanted to hear; she just wanted to know more about him. She pondered blankly for a moment and said, "Sister-in-law, just say whatever you want."
"Okay, let's start with the one that impressed me the most."
Jiang Yun pondered for a moment, a hint of reminiscence appearing on her face, and said, "That was before I married His Highness. It was during the Flower Festival, and His Highness invited me to go on a spring outing. The Prince of Qin was probably bored in the palace, so he also secretly slipped out of the palace."
"At the time, I didn't know he was the Crown Prince. His Highness only told me that he was his younger brother at home, and that I had nowhere else to go but insisted on following him. His tone was full of disdain."
As Jiang Yun recounted the past, a gentle smile appeared on her face: "The Prince of Qin was actually only two years younger than His Highness, but probably because he wasn't married yet, I always thought he was much younger than His Highness. So I just treated him like an ignorant little boy and told him not to pay attention to His Highness and just play together. He probably realized I didn't recognize him, and he actually called me 'sister-in-law,' which made His Highness so angry that he dragged him aside, and the two brothers got into a fight."
"I was quite shocked when I later found out that he was actually the crown prince."
Shen Youying listened to Jiang Yun's story with great interest, but she couldn't imagine the scene of Xue Shen deliberately calling her "sister-in-law" with a sly expression.
She tilted her head, a smile involuntarily appearing in her eyes: "He seems so mature now, I never imagined he was like that when he was young..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but the two sisters-in-law exchanged a knowing smile.
“This is just the beginning.” Jiang Yun continued, “Later, we went on a spring outing together, and on the way we met a girl being bullied by debt collectors. Your Highness has always been unable to stand such bullying, so he stepped in to help and drove away the debt collectors. Unexpectedly, the girl became obsessed with Your Highness because of this and insisted on becoming Your Highness’s concubine.”
At this point, Jiang Yun covered her lips and laughed: "You didn't have the chance to see it. Everyone says that His Highness is fearless in the face of danger, but back then, he was so frightened by a woman that he almost jumped up. He kept turning back to look at me, afraid that I would be angry, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt such a weak woman... It was Prince Qin who stepped in to save him. Do you know what Prince Qin said?"
Shen Youying shook her head, her eyes full of curiosity.
Jiang Yun kept everyone in suspense before saying, "The Prince of Qin went up to that woman and said, 'Why are you bothering my brother? He's already married, and his wife is fierce. None of the concubines who enter his household have survived more than a month. You'd be better off with me than with him. I don't have a principal wife, but I have twenty-three concubines in my household. They get along well and are like sisters. One more of you won't make a difference.'"
The woman was stunned by his words and hesitated. His Highness then took the opportunity to distance himself.
"And then?" Shen Youying recalled that Xue Shen now had a bunch of concubines living together harmoniously in his harem, and her feelings suddenly became complicated and subtle.
"Later, the woman was persuaded and wanted to become a concubine of the King of Qin. The King of Qin asked her name and family background, gave her ten taels of silver, and told her to go home and wait to come to his mansion."
Shen Youying's expression grew increasingly subtle: "Did he really take that woman as a concubine?"
After asking, she felt it was impossible, but she still felt a little down and subconsciously bit her lip.
"How could that be? That woman's origins are unknown. Given the King of Qin's status at the time, even if he were to take a concubine, he wouldn't take a woman of unknown origin."
Jiang Yun glanced at her teasingly before continuing, "After the woman left, full of gratitude, His Highness became anxious. Guess what the Prince of Qin said? He said the woman's exposed arms had bruises and marks, clearly indicating she had been severely beaten. Although those debt collectors were setting up a honey trap, if she returned empty-handed, she would likely be beaten again. So he gave her that silver ingot to take back and appease those who had manipulated her. As for the concubine matter, he said such vile honey traps could not exist under the Emperor's nose. After finding out the woman's location, he pretended to take her as a concubine, but in reality, he led the government officials to arrest all the honey trap swindlers. Besides that woman, he also rescued two other women who had been coerced into participating in the honey trap."
After Jiang Yun finished speaking, she held Shen Youying's hand and said, "Look, isn't he a very good person? Even though he is in a high position, he cares about whether a woman who is trying to scam people will be beaten again when she gets back."
A strange, indescribable feeling welled up inside Shen Youying. She blinked and said, "He is indeed very good."
She was so good to him that she almost dared not think about what had happened to turn him into the person he was later.
Jiang Yun patted her hand and said, "You and the Prince of Qin are both very good people. His Highness and I both hope that you can live in harmony and spend the rest of your lives together."
Shen Youying smiled gently and nodded solemnly, as if fulfilling a promise: "I will."
*
The Crown Princess was pregnant and not in good spirits, so Shen Youying sat for half an hour before taking her leave.
On the way back to the mansion, it suddenly started snowing heavily. Shen Youying lifted the carriage curtain and saw an old man carrying candied hawthorns and hawking them on the road. His thin clothes were billowing in the cold wind, and his exposed hands were red and swollen from the cold.
"Go and buy all the candied hawthorns that old man has," Shen Youying said, feeling a pang of pity. She ordered the carriage guard to go and buy them.
The guards bought them back, and Shen Youying took one string of them. She had the guards take the rest back to the palace and distribute them to the servants.
Upon arriving at the Prince's residence, Shen Youying took a candied hawthorn skewer back to Tingmei Pavilion. Before she even got close, she saw Xue Shen sitting under the eaves watching the snow. Perhaps because of the distance, and the swirling snowflakes obscuring her view, Shen Youying couldn't see the expression on his face. But perhaps because of the story she had heard about the Crown Princess, she felt that Xue Shen was surrounded by a resolute loneliness.
Like a pine tree standing alone in the wind and snow, or a lone wolf traversing towering mountains alone.
Loneliness, alienation, and a desperate gamble.
Shen Youying felt a momentary jolt of fear, but when Xue Shen smiled and looked at her, that feeling vanished instantly, as if it were just a fleeting illusion.
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