Chapter 16 Awakening... The next moment, someone hugged me tightly and pulled me back...
Shen Changfeng steadied himself, feeling the blood boiling in his body. He gritted his teeth and kicked him, "Useless trash!"
Chen Yue had already hurried to the bottom of the stairs, but before he could even stand, he was kicked several steps away, and a mouthful of blood suddenly gushed out. He suppressed the bloody rage that surged in his chest, climbed to his feet, knelt, and pounded his head on the ground: "Prince, please allow me to report!"
Shen Changfeng looked at him coldly and snorted, "I've been asking you to keep an eye on someone for only a few days now. Now a living person has disappeared right under your nose. Is this how you, the chief guard of the Ding Kingdom's palace, do things?"
Chen Yue said, "I'm guilty of death! The Crown Princess was talking with the farm women in the inner room at the time, so I couldn't get close. I later learned that she left through a side door, so I immediately sent people to look for her. Someone said they saw her in the fields, but my men searched the farm thoroughly and couldn't find her. I've already suppressed the information and expanded the search to two nearby farms. That's the furthest we can get on foot."
Steward Shen arrived upon hearing the news. Facing Shen Changfeng's gaze, he shook his head and said, "We've asked the grooms at the mansion, and the Crown Princess hasn't returned." The ginkgo leaves outside the window suddenly trembled without a breeze, startling the canaries under the eaves and making them flutter and turn towards the cage pillars. Shen Changfeng's tone was chilling, "Send out all the guards in the mansion, take my seal, and send someone to inform the Princess. Bring everyone in the manor who has seen her to me!"
Shen Changfeng was surprised. Shen Changfeng and the Princess had always been at odds, so why was he willing to submit to the Fengling Guards for the Crown Prince's Consort? This Crown Prince's Consort was truly a significant figure.
Chief Steward Shen immediately summoned his servants to question him, preparing to conduct a thorough search of the palace. He was usually composed and steady, but even the sight of Shen Changfeng's cold and stern face made him shudder. He had also heard about what happened last night. Could it be that the Crown Prince's wife, feeling humiliated, was going to do something drastic?
At this time, the person who many people think is depressed is sleeping soundly.
She was awakened by the noisy voices and footsteps in the distance. She rubbed her eyes, sat up, and stared at the koi by the lake for a while.
This morning, she went to the manor to settle an old account, but when she was about to return, she felt reluctant. She didn't want to see Shen Changfeng so early. She knew that he kept Chen Yue by her side to protect her, but it was also a disguised form of surveillance.
She desperately needed some space to be alone, so she secretly ran to the edge of the field to relax. However, she walked further and further away, and it was a terrible thing to walk back under the scorching sun. She was afraid that Qing'er would worry, so she told the old man who was sunbathing at the entrance of the village that she would hire a carriage and there was no need to wait for her. When someone came to look for her, she could just tell them to go back.
But the old man was so hard of hearing that he only heard Lin Meiju say that she was leaving and not going back.
Lin Meizhu naturally had no idea of the chaos outside. The woman driving the oxcart didn't quite know the way to the palace, so she took her to a side street in the backstreet, a place rarely visited. Sunburned and sleepy, Lin Meizhu thought of going to the common room for a drink of water, but found no one there. She then followed the cool shade of the trees to the Ouxiang Pavilion, drank two cups of tea, and took a nap on the couch.
There were footsteps outside the pavilion, and someone hesitantly asked, "Sister-in-law?"
Lin Meizhu looked in the direction of the voice and saw Chen Chali, who had just returned from school. He had a bulging tiger-striped cloth bag slung across his shoulder, a large stack of drawing paper in one hand, and a black lacquer lunch box in the other.
Lin Meizhu figured out who the tea at Ou Xiangxie was prepared for, and walked over to ask, "Do you want to paint?"
Chen Chali nodded, stopped outside the flower pavilion, and whispered, "This is my homework."
Before he finished speaking, he felt his hand lighten. Lin Meizhu naturally took the rice paper and food box from his hand and said, "It's hot outside. Come in."
Shen Chali reluctantly moved into the pavilion.
The sound of cups colliding and water gurgling came to his ears. Shen Chali slowly took off the cloth bag on his body and turned his head to see a beautiful hand holding a blue and white cup and handing it to him.
Shen Chali took the teacup but didn't drink it. He said, "Well, thank you, sister-in-law."
Seeing that he was sweating profusely, Lin Meizhu handed him a handkerchief and asked, "Wipe it off?"
After a moment of inner struggle, Shen Chali slowly stretched out his hand.
Chen Chali and his younger brother, Lin Zhegui, were of similar age. Furthermore, Chen Chali was frail and smaller than other children his age, clearly suffering from a congenital deficiency. Lin Meizhu already felt a certain pity for him. Furthermore, he was also born out of wedlock, which gave her a sense of sympathy for his kind.
But seeing his distant and hesitant look, she understood and said with a smile, "I'll leave right away."
Chen Chali looked at the new handkerchief in his hand and suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He had thought Lin Meizhu was born dull and stupid. Since she understood what he meant, why did she give him the handkerchief?
He felt hot on his face. Others were really nice to him, but he drove them away openly or secretly, and that person was his sister-in-law.
The moment Lin Meizhu walked out of the pavilion, Chen Chali seemed to have made some kind of decision and said, "Sister-in-law, do you want to try the cakes I brought? I can't finish them all by myself."
Lin Meizhu turned around and saw Chen Chali standing there uncomfortably. As if afraid that she wouldn't believe him, he opened a corner of the food box and said, "There's quite a lot. Why don't you eat one before you leave?"
Lin Meizhu smiled: "Okay."
Seeing her sitting back on the beauty chair, Shen Chali's mouth curled up. Now he wouldn't regret it so much that he would want to slap himself when he thought about it at night.
The food box happened to hit a corner of the Sleeping Lion paperweight, and the wind blew away several scribbled drawings, causing them to fall to the ground.
Chen Chali hurried to pick them up. Lin Meizhu leaned over and picked up the water lily painting, saying, "Are these all your homework? Do you need to draw so many?"
It's rare to find a child as self-conscious and studious as him.
Chen Chali: "There are about ten of them that belong to my cousins."
Lin Meizhu sighed: "You two have such a good relationship."
Chen Chali said, "One hundred taels each."
Lin Meizhu: ...silently crossed out the words "studious and positive" and "brotherly love" in her heart.
Perhaps it was because of the kindness she inadvertently revealed that he relaxed his guard. After Shen Chali blurted out, he realized that he had accidentally let the cat out of the bag and hurriedly made amends: "Talking about feelings between brothers and sisters will hurt money..."
Lin Meizhu covered her lips and smiled: "Isn't it that talking about money hurts feelings?" She touched Shen Chali's head and said softly: "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else."
Chen Chali didn't know where to put his hands. He responded with "hmm" and "oh" a few times, and couldn't help but complain in his heart: This sister-in-law is really something. I'm not a child, why is she touching my head?
Lin Meizhu saw his cheeks flushed, and he was grinning like a fool in a trance. His half-grown front teeth looked very silly, and it was clear that he was extremely embarrassed. She wanted to help him out and pointed at a few figures in the distance: "Look, what are they doing over there?"
Shen Chali stretched his neck to take a look, "It's someone from Big Brother's courtyard, and he seems to be looking for something."
Lin Meizhu's eyes flickered slightly: "Really?"
Chen Chali stuck out his tongue and said, "I told the servants not to come here." After all, the business he was doing could not be seen in public.
He looked at the idle Lin Meizhu and said, "Sister-in-law, aren't you going to take a look?"
Lin Meizhu said perfunctorily: "Well, I'll go right away."
Despite her words, she showed no sign of moving. She thought to herself: Whatever he was looking for, it wouldn't be me. If he was, it probably wouldn't be a good thing. Was he asking her to serve wine to his guests? Or to imitate a concubine and sing? She wouldn't be surprised by anything.
Shen Chali looked at her with a strange look. Wasn't she very anxious when Shen Changfeng was injured a few days ago? Why did she seem so nonchalant about things related to her eldest brother now?
He picked up the last painting and suddenly saw Manager Shen and a few others looking over here, and called out from a distance.
Shen Chali, feeling guilty, hid the painting behind him and asked loudly, "What—?"
Shen Zongguan asked again in a hoarse voice: "I say! Has the young master ever seen the dead..."
A strong wind blew and the painting slipped out of his hand. It turned in the air and fell straight to the lake, and finally got caught in the bushes.
Chen Chali cried out in horror: "My one hundred taels--!" He turned over the beauty chair while shouting, and stretched out his trembling arms to grab the hanging vines.
Lin Meizhu hurriedly called out to him, "No, no, this slope is so steep and high, it would be terrible if you fell down, let me do it!"
She quickly pulled the person back, stepped onto the protruding railing, and was about to jump out while holding the railing, but the next moment she was forcefully grabbed and pulled back.
Those arms were strong and domineering, with enough force to crush her and stuff her into his arms.
Shen Changfeng's heart was beating wildly, and his voice was shaking without him even noticing, as he shouted, "Are you crazy?"
He had already learned the whole story from Qing'er and the other servants. He had indeed wrongly accused Lin Meizhu. Thinking carefully, was his rage last night simply because of those obscene books?
Did he hate her hypocrisy, or was he afraid that she was like the others, approaching him for ulterior motives and her kindness to him was all fake?
He hasn't come to his senses yet. I'm afraid he had expectations of her, or he fell in love with her unintentionally, so he was disappointed, angry with her, and even became angry and embarrassed after his hopes were dashed.
Only when he held her tightly in his arms and could truly feel her breathing and heartbeat did Shen Changfeng's heart finally settle down. Then another strange emotion filled his chest, forcing his eyes to feel hot and sore.
He was anxious to say something to cover up his abnormality, and said coldly, "I just said a few words to you, why are you so angry?"
"The water here is only knee-deep, not enough to drown an adult. Moreover, according to the laws of the Wei Dynasty..."
Lin Meizhu slowed down her struggles and continued, "Well...if a descendant harms himself while his grandparents and parents are still alive, he will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane...I know that."
He originally wanted to use the Discipline Ring to scare Lin Meiju away, but seeing how calmly she spoke, it seemed she had no intention of acting impulsively. Instead, the end of her tone... seemed to carry a hint of loss?
Shen Changfeng couldn't help but slow down his voice, and even felt that his voice was a little strange. "If you have anything to say, let's talk about it when we get back."
Such a helpless and pleading tone made Lin Meiju pause, and her heart was slightly scratched.
"I didn't mean to do anything stupid. I'm afraid the prince has misunderstood."
She calmly pried open his knuckles one by one, her words distant and cold: "Don't bother, my lord."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
