Chapter 69 Yan Jue is distraught, Chen Pingjin is heartbroken.
As soon as the words were spoken, the air, which had been filled with ambiguity, seemed to vanish completely, replaced by the icy chill of the polar regions.
A deathly silence fell over the surroundings.
After a long while, Yan Jue raised his head. His face was so dark it was almost dripping with gloom. He gritted his teeth, barely managing to squeeze out a question.
"Chen Pingjin, what are you saying?!"
Shen Pingjin, however, acted completely unaware. She picked up the roster on her own, and what she said made Yan Jue want to strangle her.
"The eldest daughter of the Wang family, a beauty of unparalleled grace and charm..."
"The second daughter of the Lin family, a beauty that could topple kingdoms and shame the moon and flowers..."
"This Xiao family girl is also quite good. Look at her portrait on the roster. She is gentle and virtuous. The key point is that she is the niece of the current Consort Shu."
"I think this Xiao family girl is the most suitable candidate to be a concubine. However, I'm afraid she won't be content to be a concubine. If she takes a fancy to her husband, she might kick me out and make me the main wife."
Shen Pingjin sighed with regret, her eyes misting over, looking quite innocent.
Yan Jue was so angry he almost laughed. He strode up to Shen Pingjin, his eyes seemingly filled with tiny specks of light.
He raised his right hand and snatched the roster from the woman's hand.
He opened the register and, upon seeing the portraits of every noblewoman in the capital, felt a surge of nameless anger.
He gripped the woman's wrist tightly, his cold, thin profile almost touching the tip of her nose. His eyes were deep and dark, like a bottomless abyss.
Yan Jue roared, "I'm asking you, did you do this on purpose?!"
The man's voice was low and carried a deep sense of powerlessness. Shen Pingjin looked at the man standing in front of her, her eyes fixed on his bloodshot eyes. A smile slowly appeared on her lips, but it was like a knife, piercing Yan Jue's heart with a thousand holes.
The woman's voice was soft and gentle, yet within that gentleness seemed to lie endless sarcasm. Yan Jue heard it, and Chen Pingjin continued:
"My husband, isn't this what you wanted to see?"
Yan Jue smiled.
He seemed to have lost all his strength, his body went limp as he left Shen Pingjin, his body slowly retreating, his eyes glazed over.
Shen Pingjin reached out and took the roster back. Looking at Yan Jue's expression, she felt a surge of satisfaction. "Husband, if you don't like the ladies on this roster, I think you could consider Miss Wen. I think Miss Wen would agree."
"If Miss Wen is unwilling to become a concubine, I can humble myself and report to the Emperor that I regret what I said that day. Husband, what do you think of my plan?"
The woman's words grew increasingly sharp, like daggers cutting into his heart with excruciating pain. Her red lips chattered incessantly, her eyes filled with icy coldness. Suddenly, Yan Jue was reminded of that day from his childhood—
He was not yet considered a good-for-nothing at that time. Invited by the Emperor and Empress, he was ordered to attend the Spring Banquet. Looking at the young ladies from various families who fawned over him at the banquet, he felt disgusted. To ease his mood, he went to the pavilion by the lush lotus pond.
He had just sat down when he heard a "splash" sound. He turned around and saw a girl splashing in the water, while a few other girls were laughing and playing on the shore.
He instantly understood that the drowning was probably caused by those women. He hadn't intended to get involved, but as he turned his head, he saw who the girl in the water was.
The girl's snow-white arms thrashed in the water, her porcelain-white face bobbing up and down in the emerald green pool. Her clothes were almost completely soaked and clung to her body, but even from this splashing appearance, Yan Jue could tell that the person who had fallen into the water was the beloved he had been thinking about day and night.
Taking advantage of the moment when the girl on the shore left, he resolutely jumped in. The spring chill was still in the air, and the pool water in early spring was icy cold. He held the girl in his arms, looking at her tightly closed eyelids, feeling very anxious.
He knew that men and women should not touch each other, and if someone saw him looking at her body, her reputation would probably be ruined.
He gently placed her on the ground and turned to leave. But little did he know, Su Xuanmao happened to be passing by the lotus pond that day and bumped into Shen Pingjin. He then sent someone to escort Shen Pingjin back to the Shen residence. From then on, he saw how this little girl he had saved constantly hovered around Su Xuanmao.
He felt so sad. It was the little girl he had saved. If he hadn't been so considerate that day, but instead had been domineering, stubborn, and forceful, would he have been able to give up his beloved to someone else?
Unfortunately, he had too many things on his shoulders, so he couldn't do that.
Yan Jue was distraught. He looked at the chattering woman in front of him, her eyes, which were filled with tiny, scattered stars, seemed to be losing their starlight little by little.
He said, "Shen Pingjin, I ask you, do you really want to take a concubine for me?"
The man's voice was deep, but Shen Pingjin inexplicably detected a hint of dejection in it.
She wanted to say yes, but her throat felt like it was blocked by something, and she couldn't make a sound.
"If you want to find me a concubine, then you should find a good one for me, Shen Pingjin. Use your brain and think about it carefully. Those young ladies all have legitimate officials behind them. How could they possibly be willing to become my concubine?"
Chen Pingjin was speechless, because Yan Jue was right.
It was all just something she said in anger to provoke Yan Jue.
But……
She looked at Yan Jue and said in a deep voice, "Yan Jue, you didn't come home last night. Did you go to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion?"
As Shen Pingjin was falling asleep yesterday, she overheard the servants in the mansion chatting, saying that the Regent Prince had not returned home all night and had been lingering at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
She didn't believe it at first, but when she went to Yan Jue's bedroom in the morning and saw that Yan Jue was really not there, she was already mostly convinced.
It turns out he really did go to a brothel.
Later, when Shen Pingjin went out to buy breakfast alone, she heard passersby gossiping. Curious, she went over to listen and unexpectedly overheard Yan Jue's romantic escapades.
"You wouldn't believe it, but the Regent is so handsome and dashing that he bewitched a virgin who had always upheld her purity, causing her to willingly offer herself to His Highness the Regent."
"Of course, His Highness the Regent is known for his romantic escapades. Is it not normal for him to do such a thing?"
"This won't do! The Regent has only been married for a few days. If he acts like this, where will that gentle and beautiful Miss Shen and the Shen family's reputation be? It's obvious he doesn't care about that girl!"
Shen Pingjin was stunned, and what she was holding fell to the ground.
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