Chapter 39 Your humble servant, He Beiqing, has been ordered to go to Su…
The dashing young man in the audience narrowed his eyes, a wicked smile spreading across his face, and puffed out his chest to reveal the answer:
"I heard that the Crown Prince seems to think that two concubines are not enough. Lately, he has recruited many more palace maids to serve him in bed, changing them every day and one every night. The Crown Prince's palace is almost overflowing!"
A man below echoed:
"His Highness the Crown Prince has finally come to his senses. If I were him, I would definitely have slept with several women in one night. Presumably, his two concubines haven't entered the palace yet, so he's been looking for women to relieve his pent-up desires. But no matter how noble he is, he's still a man, and he can't escape the common desires! No wonder he's the Crown Prince, he has so much energy!"
Shen Jizhao's reputation for virtue and integrity is deeply ingrained in people's minds, and he has always been known for his clean conduct. Now that such a scandal has occurred, people are naturally going to make a few jokes, but they are all harmless teasing, or more accurately, they are envious.
Who doesn't envy the Crown Prince's status? Who doesn't want a beauty in their arms every night?
Jiang Shuifu hadn't paid attention to Shen Jizhao since Su Yang, so she didn't know he wasn't married. She raised an eyebrow, which surprised her.
Hearing the rest, she laughed. Right, he used to be described as aloof and abstinent, but who knew it was all an act! He's the kind of person who gets hard even without being touched; how could he possibly resist!
Even when they were still in the Cold War, he had tried to have sex with her several times. Now that she's gone, someone has to take her place!
Jiang Shuifu had lost interest by this point and was about to leave when she heard the person change the subject and start gossiping:
"I've heard that the former Crown Princess is one of Su Yang's people, from the wealthy and powerful Jiang family! It's a pity that the two elderly people of the Jiang family, who are practically on their deathbeds, have to be talked about behind their backs like this. In their old age, they are ruined by their granddaughter and have lost all face, unable to face anyone!"
The audience roared with laughter, mocking the Jiang family.
"Yes, yes, the Jiang family prides itself on being a virtuous family, yet in the end they still produced such a rebellious daughter. It's truly shameful!"
"This former Crown Princess is shameless. She only got this marriage because of her governor father. Her maternal family only has her uncle, a lowly seventh-rank official, to rely on. How could she be worthy of His Highness the Crown Prince! It's just that the Crown Prince is kind and has allowed her to sleep with him for so many years. Although he's tired of her, he hasn't divorced her! Divorce? Who would believe that excuse!"
The people below the stage laughed heartily. Although they looked down on the Jiang family, they were all envious and jealous. They were jealous that the Jiang family had gotten involved with Jiang Sheng and that Jiang Shuifu had once climbed up to the Crown Prince. Therefore, everyone wanted to put the Jiang family down.
Jiang Shuifu sneered. She couldn't touch the people in the capital, and even Su Yang's people couldn't keep their mouths shut. She hadn't done anything immoral, so why were they humiliating her like this? Not only humiliating her, but also humiliating her grandparents!
Just as she was about to retaliate, a lazy yet courageous voice refuted the crowd before she could:
"A group of grown men bullying a woman has truly opened my eyes. Women are not appendages of men and naturally have the right to divorce. Why is it all the woman's fault if a marriage is unhappy? Daring to start and daring to end—not everyone has that kind of courage. You don't. I bet you won't leave this teahouse today!"
His tone was kind, but the ruthlessness revealed between the lines sent chills down one's spine.
The crowd panicked. They were all blustering but cowardly people. "This official? He actually summoned the officials!"
Jiang Shuifu looked at the man who slowly walked in. He was dressed in a bamboo-green outfit and looked very agile. Behind him was a row of guards with swords. He looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite remember him.
She looked away; she didn't need his help, she could do it herself.
"I am the lowly and shameless former Crown Princess Jiang Shuifu in your mouths. I have divorced you, and His Highness the Crown Prince and the Emperor and Empress have granted my request. But you are not happy about it. Although my Jiang family is a small and insignificant family, it is not a problem for us to lock someone up and keep him in jail for life. Does anyone want to try?"
No one expected that the person they were criticizing was right in front of them. Even without the title of Crown Princess, the Jiang family and the Jiang family were still people they couldn't afford to offend. Therefore, those who had been mocking them just moments before now tucked their tails between their legs and dared not utter a single word.
The man didn't expect her to resort to threats. People only behave when their own interests are threatened. Sure enough, these people apologized one after another.
He approved of her convenient approach. His eyes were clear and straightforward, without much guile, and he said to the guards behind him, "Didn't you hear me? Get to work!"
For a moment, everyone was dumbfounded. It wasn't until they were captured that they reacted and cried out for mercy.
The man gave a legitimate reason: that they were gathering to cause trouble and oppose the emperor's decisions, and imprisoned the crowd.
Jiang Shuifu ignored their pleas for help. She was telling the truth: if they continued to bully the Jiang family, she wouldn't mind locking them up for a few years.
But who is this person? And why is he helping her? She looked at him with a slightly suspicious gaze and examined him carefully.
She remembered; he seemed to be He Rushuang's brother, his name was...
The man noticed her slowness, and with a slight smile, he said to her, "Your humble servant He Beiqing is here by imperial decree to go to Suyang." His lips were very red, just like the woman's lipstick.
His lips were so striking that Jiang Shuifu glanced at them and then looked away, nodding her thanks.
"Thank you for your help, General He. I am no longer the Crown Princess. You don't need to address me as your subordinate. We are just strangers who met by chance and will never meet again. If we do meet again, we will pretend not to recognize each other!"
He Rushuang was, after all, her former husband's concubine, and she was, after all, his sister. She didn't want to have anything to do with him, not even a little bit.
He Beiqing and Shen Jizhao are really very different people. Shen Jizhao is cold on the outside but even colder on the inside, and he pretends to be gentle.
Although He Beiqing was a military general, with a heroic bearing, thick eyebrows like swords, and eyes as sharp as a hawk, he possessed a subtle chivalrous air, and his words were much gentler.
“Mother Jiang, you flatter me. I am not the kind of person who is petty and confined to his home, and I believe you are not either. Today’s events are purely coincidental, and I hope you will not take offense.”
Jiang Shuifu shook her head. Although she didn't need it, he had helped her, and she wouldn't be unreasonable. "General He's arrival in Suyang must make the prefect of Suyang extremely happy. Our Jiang family will definitely bring generous gifts to pay him a visit!"
Having recovered lost territory and expelled key ministers from foreign tribes, the youngest military general of the court personally came to inspect a small place like Suyang, and a grand welcome was inevitable.
He Beiqing smiled politely at her and said, "Then I'll await your good news."
Jiang Shuifu turned and left, his gaze lingering on her for a few moments.
.
The Eastern Palace.
That night, a woman dressed boldly with a cool chest slowly pushed open the door and entered the house, carrying a pipa. She placed the pipa on a fluffy lichen, looked at the extremely noble man with watery eyes, and then began to play a piece.
She was playing a seductive melody, sure to captivate any man, making it perfect for her first time receiving his favor.
When the song ended, her eyes were practically twitching, but the man above her didn't react at all; he even closed his eyes. She had no choice but to try again.
"His Royal Highness, slave..."
The man seated above her, expressionless, coldly interrupted her: "Don't call me Your Highness, the Crown Prince!"
The palace maid who was to be summoned to the emperor's bedchamber was somewhat at a loss. If she couldn't call him "Your Highness the Crown Prince," then what should she call him?
Completely baffled, she could only tentatively offer her assistance: "Shall this servant help the Crown Prince change his clothes?"
Shen Jizhao's aura grew even colder. His tightly closed eyes snapped open, emitting a chilling and malevolent gaze. His palms clenched, and the veins on the back of his hands slowly bulged.
"And don't call me Prince!"
The palace maid who was to attend to him frowned. What did he mean by this? She slowly touched him with her hand. Seeing that he did not object, she did not think too much about it and was very happy. Then, a pair of soft and boneless slender hands climbed up his legs and slid upwards.
Shen Jizhao also let her have her way, letting her slickly and disgustingly seduce him, letting her flirtatiously please him with her seductive eyes.
He needed a new woman, he needed to take a new step to restrain himself from kicking her away.
The areas she touched became increasingly dangerous, slicing all the way from his calf to his thigh, where his strength could erupt at any moment.
His thighs were strong and powerful, with smooth lines, exuding boundless madness.
The palace maid lowered her head and leaned closer to Shen Jizhao.
"My lord, your servant is here to serve you..."
Her voice trailed off, full of passion in the darkness. Just as she was about to succeed, the unmoved man suddenly grabbed her face and stared at her fiercely.
"Who gave you permission to call me 'I'? You're not worthy!"
The palace maid was terrified and immediately apologized. Had she misunderstood? He forbade her to call him "Your Highness" or "Crown Prince," so she thought he wanted some flirtatious words for their intimate encounter.
Shen Jizhao once again uttered harsh words, his eyes extremely ruthless, as if he were dealing with a prisoner: "Don't touch me, you're dirty!"
The palace maid dared not do it anymore and desperately begged for mercy, disregarding her grievances.
He was utterly disgusted. He quickly released her chin and repeatedly wiped his hands and legs with a handkerchief. There was a pungent, erotic smell about her! It was utterly repulsive!
"Get out! All of you, get out of here!"
Soon, the palace maid scrambled out, leaving only Shen Jizhao in the bedchamber. His head ached terribly, and he kept rubbing his forehead.
At this moment, a familiar voice echoed from the empty bedchamber, a voice that shifted from full of concern to utterly heartbroken:
"My lord, I've made you some herbal soup. Drink it while it's hot, or you'll catch a cold!"
"My lord, I will obey you, I will do whatever you say! Please don't be angry!"
"Your Highness, no one is stopping you from taking a concubine, and you shouldn't stop me from disliking you!"
"Your Highness, please don't do this again when you meet someone you like!"
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His head was in turmoil; his mind was filled with the woman who had abandoned him.
The moment he heard a palace maid address him as "Your Highness the Crown Prince," he thought of her heartless words about divorcing him, and his throat began to itch.
The moment he heard the palace maid call him Crown Prince, he recalled her vivid and proud expression when she was arguing with him, and his heart was thrown into turmoil.
Upon hearing the palace maid call him "my lord" in such an ambiguous, almost lover-like manner, the last taut string in his mind snapped under the relentless tugging.
Only she could call him "husband"! And only she could do all sorts of intimate and ambiguous things with him!
He suddenly realized that his world seemed to be filled with her voice!
Regardless of what you call him, only she can address him!
Other women are violators! Violating his forbidden territory! Violating her privileges!
Shen Jizhao took several deep breaths, the veins on his forehead throbbing as if they were about to burst, his eyes radiating dominance:
"Why should you be able to marry whenever you want and leave whenever you want? It's not that easy! You've messed with me and you're not going to take responsibility. Did I approve that?"
He seemed to have made a decision, or perhaps he had made it a long time ago and only now dared to look directly at the truth. He was extremely determined, his eyes filled with sharp glints that pierced through layers of dark clouds, and his whole being suddenly enlightened.
"Guards! I must know her every move!"
Jin Qing quickly presented the letter. Shen Jizhao clenched his fist tightly, paused for a moment, then tore it open with great speed, reading ten lines at a glance. But he slowed down after reading only the first line.
A brothel?
Shen Jizhao looked at it carefully, pondered each word meticulously, and repeatedly confirmed that his eyes were not blind.
Finally accepting the fact, the letter in his hand was so crumpled and deformed that it was unrecognizable as it was before.
His face changed color repeatedly, first turning red with anger, then turning ashen, completely unable to accept that the woman he had been longing for day and night had found someone else so quickly behind his back.
His face then turned completely deathly pale, yet his expression was terrifyingly dark, making his face appear both white and black, resembling a blue-faced, fanged soul-reaping messenger from hell, grinning grotesquely.
"Excellent! Excellent! Going to a brothel to find men? Hahaha..."
He laughed for a long time, and the entire hall was filled with his anger.
He couldn't maintain his fake smile any longer; his throat itched unbearably, and he choked on his breath, spitting out bright red blood. He wiped the blood from his lips, leaving streaks on half his face, his eyes filled with extreme obsession, and issued commands:
"Send a message to He Beiqing: prepare to await the Emperor! I am going to capture her!"
That's right, He Beiqing was sent to Suyang on his own initiative; besides official business, she was also part of his mission.
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Author's Note: A little content was added to the previous chapter. Those who bought the previous chapter can go back and reread it, otherwise the flow of the story will be disrupted.
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