Chapter 466 Negotiation Failure
Cui Xi stood at the corner of the corridor, watching Yu Lingxiu's thin figure stumbling and running in the rain, like a startled jackdaw. She clenched the handkerchief embroidered with golden lotus in her hand, her nails digging deep into her palm, staring at the direction where Yu Lingxiu disappeared, her eyes full of suspicion and unwillingness.
Yesterday afternoon, Cui Xi had originally agreed to discuss with Yu Lingxiu how to gain a foothold in the palace, but she waited and waited but no one showed up. After asking around, she learned that Yu Lingxiu had actually gone to the Ning Wang's study alone.
Seeing her fleeing in panic with something that looked like a keepsake from the prince in her hand, Cui Xi's heart was alarmed. "This bitch must have reached some agreement with the princess behind my back!"
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, wetting Cui Xi's temples, but she was unaware of it.
Thinking back on how much effort and connections I had put in to get a place in the palace, I finally got this opportunity.
She had originally wanted to cooperate with Yu Lingxiu and support each other, but now it seems that the other party doesn't take her seriously at all.
"She is just an abandoned child of the eldest princess. How can she climb up the social ladder?" Cui Xi gritted her teeth and cursed softly. When she turned around, her skirt swept across the moss in the corner and she almost slipped.
After a sleepless night, Cui Xi tossed and turned in bed, with Yu Lingxiu's smug look and Lin Miaoyin's unfathomable eyes constantly appearing in her mind. As soon as the sky was light, she carefully dressed up, chose a low-key but luxurious silver hairpin to pin in her hair, and hurried to the princess's Qiwu Palace.
Outside the Qiwu Palace, wisps of green smoke floated out of the gilded Suanni incense burner, mixed with the camphor incense from the palace, and diffused in the humid air. Cui Xi took a deep breath, adjusted the hem of her skirt, bowed, and said softly: "This servant asks to see the princess."
"Come in." Lin Miaoyin's lazy voice came from the hall.
Cui Xi walked into the hall with small steps, only to see Lin Miaoyin leaning on the Xiang Fei bamboo couch with a book in her hand. The morning light shone through the window lattice onto her moon-white skirt, illuminating the fine lines on her face clearly.
Cui Xi knelt down hurriedly, her voice soft but sharp: "Yesterday at 3:30 am, I saw Miss Yu coming out of the prince's study, holding the token given by the prince. It's so blatant, aren't you worried, Princess?"
After saying that, he secretly raised his eyes to observe Lin Miaoyin's reaction.
Lin Miaoyin's fingertips holding the teacup tightened slightly.
The memories of last night came flooding back like a tide. Yu Lingxiu's eyes full of expectation and the fertility pills she handed to him with trembling hands seemed to be still before my eyes.
The woman knelt in front of her, her voice choking with sobs: "Princess, as long as you can help me become Beigong You's concubine, my life will be yours from now on."
Before she finished her words, Beigong You walked into the room with steady steps, his eyes sharp as torches. He coldly rejected Yu Lingxiu's request in front of her. The chillness in his words seemed to condense the air.
Suddenly, there was a light cough outside the door, followed by the rustling sound of her skirt sweeping across the blue bricks, which brought her back to her senses.
Lin Miaoyin looked at Cui Xi who was deliberately exaggerating her emotions, and she already had something in mind.
It seems that Yu Lingxiu had just left this place when she bumped into Cui Xi, and she kept her mouth shut about their previous secret conversation. Her eyes darkened slightly, and her fingertips unconsciously stroked the rim of the cup - it seems that Yu Lingxiu was really anxious this time, and was determined to give up the dark and join the light.
The hidden calculations in Cui Xi's eyes spread like a spider web, but Lin Miaoyin remained calm. She just lowered her eyes to hide the sharpness in her eyes, and a hint of confusion appeared at the corner of her lips: "What do you mean?"
Cui Xi slammed her knees heavily on the blue bricks, and she took a half step forward, rubbing the hem of Lin Miaoyin's skirt against her knees. The pearl tassels on the jade hairpin swayed slightly with her movements, and the calculation in her eyes became more profound. "Princess, I have a way to relieve your worries."
Her deliberately lowered voice was filled with honey-like earnestness, but the ending sound swept past Lin Miaoyin's ears like a poisonous snake's tongue.
Lin Miaoyin's fingertips stroked the lotus-patterned teacup and sneered, "Tell me what you want to say!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Cui Xi knelt down in front of her, her face flushed with a sickly color. She suddenly grabbed Lin Miaoyin's wrist, her nails almost digging into her flesh: "Now the backyard of the palace is undercurrent, you and the prince are at odds again, and you only have a little princess..."
She paused at this point, tears welling up in her eyes, "If someone else gives birth to the Ning prince's eldest son first, how will you and the little princess survive in the future? I know my status is humble, if I am lucky enough to give birth to a son for the prince, I will offer the child to you with both hands and let you raise him as your own flesh and blood!"
Lin Miaoyin's pupils suddenly contracted. The word "You'an" was like a poisoned silver needle, piercing her carefully maintained calmness. She clenched her handkerchief, her knuckles turning white, but she still sneered: "There are probably a hundred maids like you in the princess's mansion who are willing to offer themselves for the bed. Why should I choose you?"
Cui Xi raised a meaningful smile, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the silver chain around her waist: "Madam, do you still remember that Master Shen Yuchen is now..." She deliberately dragged out the ending sound, "still in my hands."
"It is in your hands, but it is still in the princess's house!" Lin Miaoyin stood up suddenly, knocked the teacup heavily on the table, and the splashed tea left dark marks on the brocade tablecloth. "The princess is the prince's biological mother. As long as the prince is willing to speak, why worry about Shen Yu not being able to leave the house?"
Cui Xi lowered her eyes to hide the sarcasm in her eyes, and Shen Yu's broken arm appeared in front of her - Which man would tolerate someone who cuckolded him? However, Lin Miaoyin's words woke her up. Instead of dealing with a woman here, it would be better to take Shen Yu to see King Ning.
"It was I who overstepped my bounds." She suddenly straightened her back, her previous flattery gone, and when she stood up, her skirt swept the copper incense burner on the table, making a harsh clash, "Just pretend that I have not been here today!" After saying this, she turned around without looking back, and the hem of her skirt embroidered with gold thread swept over the threshold, leaving only a tense atmosphere in the room.
After Cuixi's footsteps completely disappeared at the end of the corridor, Yuzhu hurriedly opened the Xiangfei bamboo curtain. She looked at the overturned gilded incense burner on the table. The scratches left by the collision between the copper body and the blue bricks were shining coldly. The spilled tea was winding along the edge of the tablecloth with lotus patterns, like a shocking wound.
"What on earth does this slut rely on?" Yuzhu stepped forward quickly, "How dare she be so presumptuous in front of the young lady!"
Lin Miaoyin leaned against the carved couch with dragon patterns, her fingertips pinching the teacup that Cui Xi had just touched, and suddenly sneered. The candlelight flickered in her eyes, turning the sneer into a poisoned blade: "You just use Shen Yu as a bargaining chip, and you think you can hold me."
Yuzhu's throat moved slightly, and the handkerchief embroidered with lotus flowers was squeezed into fine wrinkles. The sound of the night watchman's clapper came from outside the corridor, and the wind at midnight blew the fallen leaves onto the window paper, making a rustling sound.
She looked at Lin Miaoyin's quiet profile, and finally couldn't help but speak: "Miss... Mr. Chen..."
Can the lady really watch him fall into danger?
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