Chapter 27: Forcing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to respect himself!
Shen Xingwan lowered his head and bowed obediently, "I will follow the Imperial Concubine's order."
The imperial concubine glanced to her side, and the clay puppet-like nanny immediately came to life. She bowed slightly and walked down the steps to come in front of Shen Xingwan.
The nanny raised her hand and made a gesture of invitation, "Princess, please follow me."
Shen Xingwan nodded, followed the nanny slowly, walked out of the imperial concubine's bedroom, and went to a compartment in the side hall.
The compartment seemed to be a Buddhist temple, with colorful thangkas hanging on the walls. In the center was a huge altar with a golden statue of Tara.
Shen Xingwan was surprised, thinking that the imperial concubine was a Han Chinese from the Central Plains. Logically, even if she had some faith, she would most likely believe in Central Plains Buddhism. How could she worship the gods and Buddhas of the Western Region Tantric Buddhism?
The nanny led her to a desk and said politely, "Princess, please copy here. It's quiet here and you can calm down."
Shen Xingwan nodded in agreement. She had come here on purpose to seek an opportunity to investigate. Now, by chance, she had found such a good person to copy books. She was quite happy about it.
Seeing that she was obedient, the nanny stopped scolding her and ordered people to bring writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, put out the "Female Rules" and "Internal Training" and added a palace lantern, then turned around and left.
Shen Xing sat at the desk, spread out the paper and put a paperweight on it, picked up the pen and dipped it in ink to write several pages of beautiful small calligraphy.
After writing for a while, she pretended that her wrist was sore, put down her pen, pressed her temples with her fingertips, and looked around.
Next to her desk were three sets of desks, on which were placed various Buddhist scriptures. On a small table next to the desks were many scriptures that had not yet been copied. The handwriting was different, and it was clear that they were not written by the same person.
Shen Xingwan sneered in his heart. It seemed that this imperial concubine really liked to punish people by making them copy scriptures.
She raised her eyes and scanned the huge thangkas on the wall one by one. Suddenly, she frowned and felt that the background cloth on one of the thangkas looked very familiar.
She stood up, and immediately a maid came up to her and looked at her warily, "Have you finished copying, Princess?"
Shen Xingwan stretched her arms and said, "I've been sitting for so long, my arms and legs are tired, can't I get up and walk around?"
The little maid lowered her head. "Of course you can, but the Imperial Concubine has ordered that you are not allowed to leave here until you have copied it a hundred times. Please don't make things difficult for us."
Shen Xingwan smiled and said, "I'll just walk around in this room and stretch my legs."
The little palace maid said no more words. She bowed and retreated to the door, where she stood with her head lowered, and turned into a silent clay figurine like a puppet.
Shen Xingwan moved his wrists slightly and walked slowly to the thangka as if strolling.
She narrowed her eyes and took a closer look. The texture of the silk lining underneath the thangka was exactly the same as that of the stolen goods in a case of missing tribute weaving products from Jiangnan that her father had supervised a few years ago.
In order to avoid making a mistake, she picked up the lining cloth and examined it carefully. The double-sided gold pattern was the unique hidden needle embroidery technique used on the stolen goods.
A thought flashed through Shen Xingwan's mind.
The missing silk woven in Jiangnan was used as the backing cloth for thangkas from the Western Regions and hung in the imperial concubine's Buddhist temple.
What is the connection between these...
As she was frowning in thought, she heard footsteps approaching the door. Shen Xingwan immediately let go of the lining cloth in her hand, returned to her desk, and picked up her pen to continue copying "The Rules for Women".
The door was pushed open, and Lu Yuzhi walked in with her face raised. She walked slowly to Shen Xingwan and picked up the paper that she had just copied and the ink was drying with her fingertips.
"You write so sloppily, please don't pollute my mother's eyes."
She sneered, loosened her fingertips, and let the piece of small calligraphy with ink not yet dried fall to the ground. The footers overlapped and the words blended into a blur.
Shen Xingwan raised his eyes and looked at her coldly.
Lu Yuzhi raised her eyebrows, curled the corners of her lips, looked straight into her eyes, picked up the paper she was copying, loosened her fingertips, and threw it on the ground.
Shen Xingwan lowered her eyes and chuckled.
Seeing her reaction, Lu Yuzhi frowned, "What are you laughing at?"
The smile on Shen Xingwan's lips faded, and he took out another piece of paper, smoothed it out, and started copying again.
"You tell me!"
Lu Yuzhi was annoyed and reached out to grab her pen, "What are you laughing at?"
Shen Xingwan leaned back slightly, avoiding her hand, and looked up at her.
Her eyes were cold, and contained the arrogance of someone who had been in a superior position for a long time. When Lu Yuzhi was looked at like this, she felt like a clown.
"Why are you staring at me? I'm asking you a question." Her face turned red. "What on earth are you laughing at?!"
"I laugh at you..." Shen Xingwan stood up, leaned over to her ear, and whispered seductively, "You are really childish."
"you!"
Lu Yuzhi was so angry that she raised her hand to slap her, but Shen Xingwan reacted faster and grabbed her wrist.
"You are already the Crown Princess." Shen Xingwan frowned. "This is the Yikun Palace, not your Taiwei Mansion. Why are you still acting like a spoiled brat? Do you think your position as Crown Princess is too secure?"
"You!" Lu Yuzhi blushed, "I can't sit still and think I'm the Crown Princess. What can you do to me?"
Shen Xingwan lowered his head, almost touching Lu Yuzhi's forehead, and stared into her eyes.
"If I want to be the Crown Princess." Shen Xingwan sneered, "How can it be your turn?"
“You, you…you…”
Lu Yuzhi looked at her and became incoherent. She had to admit that she was madly jealous of Shen Xingwan from the bottom of her heart.
But she was so arrogant, and she had a good appearance and family background. As long as she nodded, even if she had been married, the Imperial Concubine and the Crown Prince would definitely divorce her, Lu Yuzhi, immediately and rush to marry her, Shen Xingwan.
"Go wherever is cooler. While I am still not interested in your prince, I will be your princess consort."
Shen Xingwan pinched her soft cheeks and smiled gently but provocatively, "When you have the ability to become the queen, it will be too late to control me."
"you!"
Lu Yuzhi was both embarrassed and angry. She said "you" for a long time, and finally stomped her feet, "Just wait for me!" and turned and ran away.
Shen Xingwan looked at her coldly as she ran away, brushed the dust off his hands, took out another piece of paper, spread it out, picked up the pen, concentrated his mind, and planned to write it again.
"Do you really want to be my princess?"
A teasing chuckle sounded from behind him. Shen Xingwan's hand trembled, and a drop of ink gathered on the tip of the pen dripped onto the gold-mud rice paper, smudged the neat and beautiful handwriting.
She looked back and saw a person appearing from behind the gauze curtain as thin as a cicada's wing.
The man was wearing a royal blue suit. He raised his hand to push aside the veil and slowly raised his head. It was Wei Zilin with a smile on his face.
"Why are you here?" Shen Xingwan felt a chill in his heart and bad memories came to his mind.
Wei Zilin smiled even more, walked over and glanced at the papers on her desk.
"What you said, isn't it only natural for me to come and see my mother?"
Shen Xingwan pursed her lips and secretly observed his condition. Seeing that he looked normal and not as drunk as last time, she estimated that he would not go crazy so easily again.
She felt relieved, but she refused to forgive him. "Is it possible that I am your mother? What are you looking at here? Your mother is in the bedroom in front."
Wei Zilin was surprisingly good-tempered and didn't get angry. He picked up the "Female Ring" on the table and flipped through it. He threw it back on the table and said with a smile: "What's the fun of copying books? You might as well copy the life and death book of the nine clans of your Shen family."
Shen Xingwan's heart suddenly sank.
She looked up and stared into Wei Zilin's eyes, trying to read something from his eyes, but he lowered his head slightly, his long eyelashes drooping over his amber pupils, and he showed no expression at all.
Shen Xingwan's fingertips holding the pen couldn't stop trembling slightly.
Wei Zilin caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye and raised his hand to hold her wrist. Shen Xingwan was shocked and dropped the top-quality wolf hair brush in her hand.
The brush fell on the paper, and the ink spread, as if ripples of memory were spreading in the mind.
"how."
Wei Zilin chuckled, and his gauze-wrapped fingertips caressed the smooth white skin on her wrist, "Are you so afraid of me?"
Shen Xingwan tried to pull her hand back, but Wei Zilin frowned and suddenly grabbed her wrist tightly, making her unable to move.
"Let me go!" Shen Xingwan struggled, trying to shake off his hand.
Wei Zilin's eyes were filled with anger. He pulled her up from the chair and pulled her towards him, asking in a low voice, "Why do you hate me so much?!"
"I am already a married woman." Shen Xingwan couldn't shake him off, and anxiously looked at the little palace maid guarding the door, "Your Highness, please respect yourself!"
"Hmm? Tell me."
Wei Zilin clamped her wrist with one hand, and with the other hand pulled her towards him from behind her waist. He leaned forward and pressed her between the table and himself, looking down at her deeply, "How did I offend you?"
Seeing Shen Xingwan looking at the door distractedly, Wei Zilin frowned and shouted at the door: "Get out!"
The clay-like little palace maids on both sides of the door suddenly came to life, lowered their heads and eyes, quickly left the room without any expression, and closed the door gently.
Wei Zilin raised his hand that was around her lower back, pinched her chin, and turned her face towards him.
"No one is interrupting me." He said word by word, "Go ahead and talk."
"I have nothing to say to you."
Shen Xingwan struggled with her arms to free herself, but he easily leaned over and pressed her down on the table.
"Wei Zilin! Let me go!"
"You're finally willing to call me by my name?" He chuckled and gently stroked her frowning brows, "Don't look at me like that."
"You are really crazy! You..." She put her palms against his chest and tried to push him away. During the struggle, her wide sleeves slipped down to her elbows, revealing a dazzlingly white forearm.
She hurriedly tried to cover it, and in the process, a bright red spot on her arm, as red as a plum blossom in the snow, caught his attention.
Wei Zilin was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. He grabbed her arm and pulled it in front of him, carefully examining the intact toad's blood. His smile became even more intense, with a bit of excitement in his eyes, "He didn't touch you?"
Shen Xingwan pushed him away fiercely, rolled up her sleeves and turned away without saying a word.
"That useless thing." Wei Zilin laughed heartily, stood up straight, and looked at Shen Xingwan from head to toe, "So you still have me in your heart, right?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
