Chapter 9: Old Friend "Then Wan'er must be the concubine of Prince Xiao..."
Reluctantly, Yan Shu drank the poisoned wine. Through tears, she caught a glimpse of Yan Qingwan's bright smile, and hatred surged in her heart.
The thoughts of recollection stopped there. Yan Shu looked at Yan Qingwan who was now kneeling in front of her and crying. The figure gradually overlapped with the woman who had forced her to drink poison in her previous life. She felt even more angry.
"Please, Princess, please keep Wan'er. If Wan'er goes back to Yan Kingdom alone, my father and mother will definitely blame her." Yan Qingwan began to cry and complain about the difficulties she had at home and how she was looked down upon and ignored. Her eyes were filled with tears and she looked very pitiful.
After hearing this in the previous life, Yan Shu's eyes were filled with tears. She helped the man up and comforted him softly as if she felt the same way.
Now Yan Shu thought carefully, even if Yan Qingwan was sent back to Yan State, she would still have the status of a noble lady waiting to be married, which was much better than staying here as a maid or concubine. But she cried as if going back would mean death, so she had no good intentions from the beginning.
It was also because I was too stupid in my previous life. I softened my heart after she cried twice, and thought that Yan Qingwan really wanted to stay with me.
Now, Yan Shu listened to her crying again, and only sneered in her heart. Since her kindness in the previous life was not rewarded, why should she be a good person in this life?
"Oh? So Sister Wan'er wants to stay and continue to be a concubine to compete with me for favor." Yan Shu leaned against the soft couch, her tone gentle but sharp. Her beautiful eyes deliberately swept over Yan Qingwan, pretending to be dissatisfied.
Yan Qingwan was stunned. She had never thought that Yan Shu would point out her thoughts so directly. Her face immediately turned pale and she explained in panic:
"Wan'er just wants to stay and serve the princess. Even if it means being a slave, Wan'er is willing!"
Tsk tsk tsk.
Yan Shu really admired Yan Qingwan's ability to lie with her eyes open.
"Become a slave? Sister Wan'er is really joking." Yan Shu covered her lips and chuckled, "Sister Wan'er, are you really going to give up being a noble lady of Yan State and become a maid in Baohua Palace?"
The tone of the girl in front of her was still as gentle as before, but Yan Qingwan inexplicably felt that Yan Shu was different from before.
If it were in the past, when she wept like this, Yan Shu would have relented and offered gentle words of comfort. However, today, Yan Shu was no longer as friendly as before, and for the first time, she realized the hierarchy between princesses and concubines.
Yan Qingwan bit her lip. She had long been accustomed to Yan Shu's gentleness over these days. Now that Yan Shu suddenly acted so arrogantly, she felt very uncomfortable.
So much so that what Yan Shu said just now became an aggressive question in her ears.
Of course, she didn't stay to be a maid. She was a concubine and should have been the concubine of the new king of Xiao State.
"Wan'er just doesn't want to be separated from the princess and wants to stay with her. Does the princess dislike Wan'er now?" Yan Qingwan looked up at Yan Shu with a pitiful look.
But Yan Shu at this moment is no longer the soft-hearted Yan Shu in her previous life. The more Yan Qingwan is like this, the more she thinks of Yan Qingwan in her previous life who sent her poisoned wine and acted smug in front of her.
"Sister Wan'er, you are so kind! How can you delay your lifelong event just to stay with me? If others knew about this, they would blame me for being unkind and ignorant of the rules." After saying this, Yan Shu pretended to be considerate and said, "Sister Wan'er, just go back to Yan State without worrying about me."
Yan Qingwan's face was filled with surprise when she heard this. She couldn't believe that she had said it so clearly. Did Yan Shu really not understand what she meant? Or was she deliberately doing this to avoid her sharing her affection?
Yan Shu looked at Yan Qingwan's face which turned from white to blue and then from blue to red, and she suddenly felt happy.
Don't you like pretending? Then you can pretend as much as you want.
Yan Shu just wanted to pretend that she didn't understand and see how much Yan Qingwan could endure today.
Just as Yan Shu expected, when she asked Qingtao to see the guest off, Yan Qingwan finally couldn't hold back any longer.
"Your Majesty, Wan'er is your concubine. It is not right for her to return to Yan State alone!" Yan Qingwan immediately knelt in front of Yan Shu, crying.
"Sister Wan'er, you can go without worry. It is the ancestral custom of the Xiao Kingdom to send concubines who have not been favored back. If others hear about it, they will never dare to object." Yan Shu deliberately comforted her.
Seeing that Yan Shu was unmoved, Yan Qingwan finally couldn't help but make things clear.
"But that was another concubine. The princess is now the concubine of Prince Xiao, so Wan'er should also be his concubine..."
As soon as Yan Qingwan said this, Qingtao beside her immediately showed a look of dissatisfaction.
The princess almost lost her life on the day of the palace coup, but she was lucky enough to be favored by King Xiao. This Wan Ji didn't help at all and yet she shamelessly wanted to share the princess's favor. She is really despicable.
Yan Shu, on the other hand, feigned surprise and covered her lips after Yan Qingwan finished speaking. "So, sister Wan'er wanted to be the king's concubine? Why didn't you say so earlier? Why did you beat around the bush and say you wanted to stay with me? It gave people the wrong impression."
Seeing Yan Shu's surprised look, Yan Qingwan became more jealous and thought that Yan Shu was deliberately humiliating her, but she still pretended to be weak and vulnerable.
"Wan'er has absolutely no intention of competing for favor. She simply wants to fulfill her duties as a concubine."
"Alas, I also want to help my sister, but this matter is not something I can decide alone." Yan Shu deliberately looked embarrassed.
Yan Qingwan pressed on: "The king dotes on the princess so much now, how could your words be ineffective? Princess, please help Wan'er!"
Of course Yan Shu didn't want to keep Yan Qingwan, the trouble.
Even though the cup of poisoned wine was given by Xiao Yu in the previous life, the person who delivered the poisoned wine was her, Yan Qingwan.
She had stood before the couch, her lips curled in a smile as she declared she would be crowned a beauty the next day. That smug smile still stung Yan Shu's heart. Yan Qingwan had personally come to serve her wine, simply to show off her current favor and then deliberately watch her fall into the mud to feel smug.
Yan Shu could understand Xiao Yu's hatred, after all, she had pushed him into the snake den with her own hands in her previous life. But Yan Qingwan's betrayal chilled Yan Shu to the bone. She had never betrayed her, yet she hated her so much that she wanted to kill herself.
It's understandable that Yan Qingwan climbed up step by step to seek a better future, but how could she, Yan Shu, be the bones crushed under her feet when she climbed up?
If she still keeps Yan Qingwan by her side in this life, who knows what kind of shady tricks he will use to plot against her in the future.
Furthermore, Yan Shu felt a lump in her throat whenever she recalled how Yan Qingwan had boasted to her in her previous life that Xiao Yu would make her a beauty.
After all, in her previous life, she had truly liked the gentle Xiao Yu. Even though she later knew that he was the hostage Xiao Xun and that everything he did was for revenge, they had made love so many times, how could Yan Shu not be moved at all?
How could Yan Shu not mind that her former lover, who had been entangled with her in love, wanted to take another person as a concubine, and this other person was Yan Qingwan, whom she treated like a sister?
Although Yan Shu will no longer have any extra feelings for Xiao Yu after this rebirth, nor will she care whether Xiao Yu will have other women in the future, she will never allow anything that may endanger her life.
After all, she had finally been given a second life, so of course she had to live well.
Her plan has just begun, how can she let it be ruined by irrelevant people?
"Sister Wan'er, it's not that I won't help you. After all, the king is not the former King Xiao Wei. There are no other women in the harem except me. If I keep you rashly, what if the king is unhappy?"
Yan Qingwan's face turned pale when she heard this. She never thought that Yan Shu would reject her so directly.
But she was really unwilling to return to Yan State like this.
She had avoided the lustful and old King Xiao Wei in the past, but now King Xiao was young and handsome. He was not as lustful as King Xiao Wei, and his appearance and character were first-class. Naturally, Yan Qingwan did not want to miss him.
Yesterday, Yan Qingwan just took a sneak peek outside the Baohua Palace, and when she saw Prince Xiao's handsome appearance, she felt her heart beating fast.
Since Yan Shu could win the favor of King Xiao, why couldn't she? Although she was not as beautiful as Yan Shu, Yan Qingwan believed that she was more considerate and gentle than Yan Shu. If she could stay and become a concubine, she might be more favored than Yan Shu in the future.
"Wan'er doesn't have to be a concubine, she can be a slave or a maid, as long as the princess keeps Wan'er!" Yan Qingwan continued to cry and beg unwillingly, as if she would not stop crying until Yan Shu agreed.
Of course, this plan was Yan Qingwan's worst option. Even if she became a maid now, she would always have the opportunity to contact King Xiao in the future.
Yan Shu was really troubled by her crying. She didn't expect Yan Qingwan to be so difficult to deal with. She could only pretend to say, "Sister Wan'er, what are you doing? If you really want to stay, I will ask the king for you later."
Yan Qingwan finally stopped crying and was about to say something else when Qingtao stepped forward and half-invited, half-dragged her out of the palace gate.
Yan Shu fell on the couch and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She would never mention Yan Qingwan in front of Xiao Yu. It would be best to send Yan Qingwan back to Yan State as soon as possible to avoid any more trouble.
In fact, Yan Shu felt that she had been merciful enough. If it were someone else, Yan Qingwan would have been retaliated against eight hundred times.
Now she is just sending people back, which is really kind.
Qingtao sent Yan Qingwan out of the hall, and after watching her walk away, she immediately instructed the servant guarding the gate that if Yan Qingwan came again next time, he should just say that the beauty was not there. After the servant agreed, he returned to the house.
Seeing her princess lying on the couch in a daze, Qingtao couldn't help but speak anxiously.
"Princess, please don't keep Wanji! I don't think she has any good intentions. She just wants to get a piece of the pie because she sees you are in favor now!"
Looking at Qingtao's indignant expression, Yan Shu thought of Qingtao in her previous life who was also like this today.
When she agreed to let Yan Qingwan stay in Baohua Palace as a female attendant, Qingtao was the first to object. Her words were no different from what she said today. But at that time, Yan Shu only thought Qingtao was too suspicious and didn't believe that Yan Qingwan, with her timid personality, would harm others.
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