Tigers Sniff the Rose - Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Liu Wenji made preparations on two fronts. The first was to dispatch someone to intercept the order, and the second was to seek out Princess Danyang.

In his own private shrine within the palace, an old Daoist priest had finished decocting the medicinal soup the Emperor required. He carefully carried it out of the shrine. This was the old "divine physician" Liu Wenji had brought from overseas for the Emperor, a man rumored to possess both supernatural arts and medical skill.

True or not, the other imperial physicians were all pessimistic about the Emperor’s condition; only this old priest spoke with absolute certainty, claiming he could restore the Emperor’s health. At the threshold of life and death, it was self-evident whom the Emperor would trust more.

Just as the priest was leaving the shrine, he was intercepted by a palace eunuch, who dragged him into the shade of a palace corridor. The eunuch chatted with him with a smirk and delivered Liu Wenji's instructions: "...Eunuch Liu says you are to secretly remove a few ingredients. This bowl of soup must not actually render him infertile."

The priest was placed in a difficult position: "...This would be a crime against the Emperor."

The eunuch delivering the message didn't pressure him, merely adding: "You are a man from beyond our borders, not like us filthy folk; naturally, you don't understand whose words will hold weight in this palace once His Majesty has passed on. You may decide for yourself, Old Immortal."

Threatened and trembling, the priest stood at the entrance of the shrine on that frosty October day, drenched in a cold sweat.

The eunuch had left after whispering those few words, and the priest was still standing there, bewildered, when the eunuch sent by the Emperor to fetch him arrived. Seeing the medicine still in his hands, the eunuch barked: "It’s already decocted, why haven't you taken it over? Are you waiting for His Majesty to punish you?"

As the eunuch reached to snatch the medicine away, the seventy or eighty-year-old priest suddenly moved with surprising agility, sidestepping the reach.

The priest’s face wrinkled into a chrysanthemum-like smile, and he bowed with the utmost humility: "My lord, I suddenly remembered that this decoction is missing an ingredient. Ah, I am old, and my memory is failing me."

The eunuch frowned, instinctively disbelieving. However, this priest was currently the Emperor’s favorite, and it was not wise to offend him, so he waved his hand, telling the man to go and prepare the medicine again.

Liu Wenji listened to the small eunuch’s report and hurried toward the outside of the palace. His mind was in turmoil, and he felt a growing sense of hesitation. However, the closer he got to the gate, the slower his pace became.

He wanted to help Yan Shang... but what if the Emperor discovered he was the one who had sent word to the Princess and used it as an excuse to kill him? The old Emperor had always wanted him dead; it was only because the princes were still well-situated that the Emperor hadn't found the opportunity.

Liu Wenji was unwilling to hand that opportunity to the Emperor himself.

Crossing the Longshou Canal, just before the Danfeng Gate, the path leading out of the palace, Liu Wenji stopped completely. The eunuch who had been following him asked, "Eunuch, are we not leaving?"

Liu Wenji said indifferently, "No."

He turned to go back, but his eyes narrowed as he saw a carriage bearing the insignia of the Prince of Jin's mansion driving in through the Danfeng Gate. The carriage was not of high enough rank to pass directly and was being inspected at the palace gate. Liu Wenji stared at the carriage for a long time, a thought suddenly occurring to him, and he strode toward it.

The eunuch guards at the palace gate bowed their heads one after another: "Eunuch."

Liu Wenji reached the carriage, and without a word, flipped open the curtain. Sure enough, as he had expected, sitting inside was Chunhua. Chunhua’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at him; she hadn't expected him to suddenly lift the curtain, and the maids and guards outside hadn't had time to react.

It was clear that Chunhua had been ordered by that couple to enter the palace to show her filial piety.

Liu Wenji said sarcastically: "The Prince of Jin and the Princess Consort do not come themselves, sending only a secondary consort. Does this not show a lack of respect toward His Majesty? I advise you, my lady, to go back and explain the stakes clearly to your commandery prince. What is the meaning of sending a concubine?"

He climbed onto the carriage, leaned into Chunhua’s ear, and whispered a few words.

Chunhua’s body trembled slightly, and after meeting his gaze, she nodded to him.

Liu Wenji smiled at her. When he smiled, the gloom vanished, his eyes held a hint of spring, and there was a subtle, lingering charm to his expression, looking quite like the spirited, romantic youth he once was. Chunhua was moved by his kindness, thinking that even in his current state, he still cared for an old friend; yet, she also felt a sense of sorrow for him, averting her eyes, unable to bear looking for too long.

Seeing that she was still so kind-hearted, Liu Wenji couldn't help but sneer, suppressing the momentary ache in his heart.

She thought he was being pure, when in reality, he was merely trying to drag the Prince of Jin down into the abyss with him—using this to establish a connection with the Prince.

He dropped the curtain and, ignoring the apologies and inquiries from the maids and guards of the Prince of Jin’s mansion, turned and walked back into the palace. The servants, seeing that they had dealt with this favorite of the Emperor, were just breathing a sigh of relief that they could enter, when they heard their secondary consort speak from within the carriage in a soft yet very firm voice: "I forgot the shoes I made for the Empress Mother. Let's go back and get them."

Everyone tried to persuade her otherwise, but the usually gentle secondary consort ignored them today. With no other choice, they had to exit the palace.

Once they were a distance away from the palace gates, Chunhua ordered: "Go to the Princess Danyang’s residence."

Mu Wanyao was at her residence seeing Liu Ruozhu, accompanied by her sister-in-law, Yan Xiaozhou. Because the Yan family wanted to ask the Princess to help arrange Yan Xiaozhou’s marriage, it was only natural for Yan Xiaozhou to become more familiar with Mu Wanyao.

Liu Ruozhu had come to say goodbye.

Liu Ruozhu smilingly distributed brushes, ink, paper, and rare, collected books among the Princess and her sister-in-law, her voice gentle and clear: "My husband has been reassigned to the Hexi Prefecture. It is a place where foreigners and our Great Wei people live mixed together. I have heard that many ancient texts there are burned as firewood, which pains my heart greatly.

"Therefore, after discussing it with my family, we have decided to follow my husband to Hexi. I may not be able to see Your Highness for several years, so I have come to bid you farewell."

Mu Wanyao felt a sense of reluctance. During her years in Chang'an, Liu Ruozhu had helped her quite a bit in her daily interactions with the ladies of the capital. Although this young woman was bookish, she was no mere bookworm. Liu Ruozhu was exceptionally perceptive and tactful; even the slight animosity she had felt at the beginning because of Yan Shang had vanished over the years.

Mu Wanyao tried to keep her: "Then let’s hold a banquet for you and your husband another day before you go."

Liu Ruozhu’s eyes curved, and just as she was about to say something, a maid rushed in to report that the secondary consort of the Prince of Jin had arrived. Mu Wanyao was surprised, as due to their subtle political positions, Chunhua never visited her. But today... the curtain was lifted, and Chunhua hurried in, looking disheveled, running toward her with her skirt hem clutched in her hand...

Neither Yan Xiaozhou nor Liu Ruozhu heard what Chunhua said to the Princess, but they saw Mu Wanyao’s complexion change abruptly, and she stood up all at once. Mu Wanyao had no time to greet the two of them and walked straight outside—

Yan Shang was in the hall, discussing official business with the Emperor, specifically the recent matters concerning the Ministry of Personnel. The Emperor kept his eyes closed the entire time. It was only when that bowl of infertility soup was placed on the long table before Yan Shang that the Emperor opened his clouded eyes and stared fixedly at him.

Yan Shang lowered his gaze, looking at the bowl of medicine for a long time.

A sense of bitterness, sadness, and melancholy, mixed with an indescribable feeling of relief, surged within him. He thought this was for the best; at least it would put everyone at ease... He picked up the bowl and drank it in one go.

The Emperor sighed in relief and lay back down.

Yan Shang exited the main hall, the sun shining brightly upon him. He felt dizzy and unwell, standing in the palace corridor in a daze, while Cheng'an, the eunuch following him, did not dare to urge him along. Yan Shang watched as flocks of wild geese flew across the sky, returning from north to south, yet he felt only a sense of desolation and loneliness...

Mu Wanyao’s voice called out from below: "Yan Shang!"

Yan Shang regained his focus, lowering his gaze to look at Mu Wanyao, who had appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of the terrace. She looked up at him, running toward him with her skirt in her hand. Yan Shang offered her a faint smile, his eyes filled with sorrow and acceptance, yet the corners of his lips curved upward slightly.

Mu Wanyao rushed over and grabbed his wrist, staring at him, her tone hurried and almost sharp: "Did you drink it? Did you drink it?"

Seeing that she was on the verge of madness, Yan Shang reached out to stop her: "Wanyao, calm down, it’s nothing..."

Mu Wanyao: "No, it is something! It definitely is!"

She supported his arm and dragged him down the steps of the terrace. She was acting as if she had lost her mind: "Go to the Bureau of Imperial Physicians! Find every physician there! I want them to induce vomiting, I want them to neutralize this medicine..."

Cheng'an advised from behind: "Your Highness, this is His Majesty's decree; His Majesty is doing this for your own good..."

Mu Wanyao turned back, her eyes sharp and piercing: "I do not accept it, and I do not need it! Go find me the physicians, find the one who prescribed this, I want to kill him! I must kill him!"

Tears were already glistening in her eyes; she felt as though she were on the verge of collapse, tortured to the brink of insanity by her own ill father—"If something happens to Yan Shang, if it goes as all of you wish, I will never forgive you!

"If Father wants to kill the person who sent me the message, then kill me along with them! If Father wants to kill Yan Shang, then kill me too!"

She was shivering, and the hand holding Yan Shang’s was ice cold. Yan Shang reached out to hold her, and she looked up at him, pitifully: "Do you want to vomit? Can you bring it up? Let’s try to induce vomiting, shall we... Let’s find every physician to look at you, shall we?"

Yan Shang said softly: "Why go to such lengths... I feel it is fine. Since we are husband and wife, won't this make us trust each other even more?"

Tears were about to fall from Mu Wanyao’s eyes: "If marrying me requires such a sacrifice, how can I bear it? I don't want you to become like me, I don't want to use this to prove anything... What kind of evil did you commit to encounter such a sick family as ours... I don't want this for you!"

She gripped his arms with trembling force, feeling miserable: "Can you vomit it out? You can, right? When did you drink the medicine? Brother Yan, listen to me, let’s spit the medicine out... please?"

Yan Shang looked down at her. He felt awful himself, but Mu Wanyao’s complexion was so deathly pale, and she seemed so completely distraught... He had already resigned himself to his fate, but seeing her like this, he still managed a slight smile and said: "Very well, I will listen to you."

Mu Wanyao sobbed, holding him—

When the Emperor heard of the commotion Mu Wanyao was causing, he sighed and let his daughter act out. Being cold-blooded at heart, he asked the old "divine physician" who had prescribed the medicine, and upon learning that the effects were not easily reversed, he felt at ease.

If his daughter wanted to see the imperial physicians, she could go ahead. As for the person who had warned her, he could not be killed, so he would be punished instead. Not only was the secondary consort of the Prince of Jin placed under house arrest, but Liu Wenji’s salary was docked. The Emperor thought that Mu Wanyao was a Princess after all, and she would soon understand that he had done this for her own good.

The Emperor firmly believed he was protecting Mu Wanyao.

Mu Wanyao, however, hated the Emperor to the core.

Yan Shang’s family was still in Chang'an, living right across the street... They saw each other every day; was the Emperor trying to make the Yan family hate her? Just because he married her, did Yan Shang have to be humiliated by the royal family like this?

When the imperial physicians came to the Princess’s residence, Mu Wanyao didn't even dare to make a scene; she didn't dare say it was Yan Shang who was in trouble, only claiming that she felt dizzy and wanted the physicians to take a look. Upon hearing that the Princess was ill, the Yan family was particularly worried. They usually didn't dare to interact much with the Princess, but this time they sent Yan Xiaozhou to ask if there was anything the Yan family could do to help.

Yan Xiaozhou even brought the Princess some of the Lingnan sugarcane candy she was very fond of, smiling brightly: "My second brother often writes to us, saying Your Highness likes it. If it is inconvenient for Your Highness, we will not visit. But if Your Highness finds your mouth bitter after taking medicine, you can have a piece of candy."

Yan Xiaozhou stood on tiptoe in the courtyard, looking worried: "I just saw my second brother returned as well. Is Your Highness very ill? If you recover, could you let my second brother let us know?"

But the people in the Princess’s residence only knew that the physicians were there to treat Yan Erlang; none of them knew what illness was being treated, and the details were likely known only to the Princess and Yan Erlang. Qiusi conveyed Yan Xiaozhou’s words to Mu Wanyao, who was standing in the outer chamber of the bedroom, watching the physicians come and go, each of them lowering their heads, not daring to look at her.

Mu Wanyao sat down, looking at her palms. Her face was snow-white, her eyes cold and black, and she didn't give any reaction.

A bold physician came to tell her with difficulty: Even if the medicine were vomited up, the effects would surely have already been partially absorbed.

Mu Wanyao’s attitude was firm: "I don't care, I want you to cure him. He only drank the medicine a short while ago; as long as he vomits it out, he will be fine. If you cannot cure him, you will all die."

The physician was in a difficult position: "Perhaps the potency of the medicine is too strong; Erlang has developed a fever, and we should focus on reducing that first..."

Mu Wanyao screamed: "I don't care what you do! You just..."

From inside came Yan Shang’s weak voice: "Wanyao..."

She froze, then pushed aside those beside her and entered the inner chamber. She passed through the screen and saw Yan Shang slumped before the bed, vomiting up a pool of clear water. The physicians didn't know what medicine had been prescribed to him; he had vomited until only stomach acid remained, his spirit was utterly exhausted, yet his face was flushed hot red from the fever...

Mu Wanyao sat down beside him with a heavy heart, supporting him so that he could lean on her shoulder.

He sighed: "Stop struggling... Wanyao, you’re going to be the death of me..."

Mu Wanyao insisted stubbornly: "Endure it a little longer. I want a healthy you..."

Yan Shang closed his eyes, his breathing weak. However, he gripped her cold hand, his voice still gentle and consoling as he spoke: "Even if I were like this, would you stop loving me? Let me rest; I truly cannot vomit anymore.

"Instead of wasting time on me, wouldn't it be better to go and do something useful?"

Mu Wanyao: "No."

Yan Shang sighed: "Wanyao, be good."

Mu Wanyao lowered her head, her voice emotionless: "Why won't you be good? If you listen to the physicians and expel the toxins, you will be fine. You just drank the medicine; you must be able to expel it..."

He groped around, propping himself up slightly to sit, and pulled her into his embrace. Her face rested against his neck, and Yan Shang smiled: "You."

Always doing futile things.

Mu Wanyao looked up to coax him: "Don't speak. We will treat you, we will help you get better. He wants to render you childless, but we will not let him have his way. Later, we will take a concubine for you, we will go sleep with seventeen or eighteen women immediately, just to anger my father..."

Yan Shang couldn't help but laugh, his eyes curving slightly: "What nonsense are you saying again. Do you want to anger yourself to death, or tire me out?"

Mu Wanyao’s gaze was persistent: "This is not over. Brother, don't worry, I will definitely obtain justice for you. This will not end like this... You must get better; do not give up on yourself. Marrying me is something to be happy about, it must not be something that brings you harm. Brother Yan, rest assured, I will not, I absolutely will not... let you be harmed!"

Yan Shang watched her quietly.

He saw that there was no false hope in her eyes; she was not even a little bit happy because of this situation. She couldn't have children herself, but she had never thought to make him suffer as she did. This was his Wanyao... the woman he loved. She was different from her father; she had him in her heart.

Love was not a business, it was not fair. It was not that because I am a certain way, you must be equally miserable. They protected this love painstakingly, carefully fearing they might harm it...

Mu Wanyao whispered: "So, listen to me, listen to the physicians and get treated, alright?"

Yan Shang’s voice was hoarse: "...Alright."

In the afternoon, because Yan Shang had taken too much medicine, he fainted. The physicians were busy searching for ways to reduce his fever.

Mu Wanyao sat in the outer chamber, hearing the thunder rumbling outside, and suddenly felt that everything was unbearably cramped. She could not sit here any longer; the physicians’ worried faces were driving her mad, and the concern from the neighboring mansion made her feel ashamed.

Mu Wanyao stood up abruptly and headed out of the Princess’s residence. Once she was out of the bedroom, the sky opened up, and a torrential rain began to fall.

The Emperor was sleeping soundly in his bedroom when he was awakened by the loud, tumultuous commotion outside. He opened his eyes to see that the palace doors had been opened one after another, and his daughter—drenched, disheveled, yet still arrogant—marched through the water, amidst the lightning and thunder, and intruded into his bedchamber.

The Emperor gestured for the palace attendants to withdraw.

The Emperor looked at Mu Wanyao’s expression and felt relieved, saying: "The effect cannot be reversed, can it?"

Mu Wanyao stood in the great hall, looking at the old man sitting on the chaise longue in the shadowy gloom, wrapped in a robe. Her face was taut, her beautiful features twitching from intense emotion, her expression twisting into something distorted.

She gritted her teeth: "You madman! You scoundrel! You’ve already ruined me, and now you want to ruin my husband! You ruin Yan Shang, you mean to ruin my relationship with him. You clearly promised we could marry, yet look at what you have been doing!

"Do you want Yan Shang to hate me? Do you want Yan Shang and me to become enemies? You old curmudgeon, what are you doing!"

The Emperor’s face darkened, and he slammed his hand on the desk, though he was weakened by his illness: "Audacious! How are you speaking to your own father? I am doing all of this for your own good!"

Mu Wanyao couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She felt like a madwoman, and she truly was mad to have come here to vent her emotions. But as she stared at this Emperor, she wasn't afraid of him at all. She made no attempt to hide her resentment: "For my own good? Are you trying to say that to protect me from being betrayed by a man, the man must sacrifice himself? Only if Yan Shang cannot cheat on me can my position be secured?

"Is this for my own good? Stop lying to yourself! It is clear you are afraid of Yan Shang growing too powerful... You are afraid Yan Shang will be uncontrollable, you are afraid there will be no one left to suppress Yan Shang... If he has no children, then all is well. He will not be able to pave the way for his descendants, so he can only remain... our tool, our slave, generation after generation!

"Working for us, handling state affairs for a lifetime, yet receiving nothing in return! You want him to be childless... you force him to become a tool. You do this for your own empire, for your own pathological and humiliating desire for control! When were you ever thinking of me?!"

Mu Wanyao took a step forward, her voice sharp: "I only just realized that you knew all along I couldn't have children; you knew all along that I had ruined my health in Wuman. You were not doing this for me; you never had a physician look at my body, never asked me a single word... When others said I couldn't have children, you wished I couldn't! You never wanted to know the cause, nor did you want to remedy it!

"Have you ever thought of me at all? Have you considered that Yan Shang’s father is still here, and his eldest brother and third brother are still in Chang'an! They are living right across the street from my residence! How can you expect us to face them, how can you expect us to tell them—because I cannot have children, my father ruined your son, to keep me company?

"How am I supposed to say such a thing?! You use power to oppress, you use influence to coerce, but you have no heart!

"You are eager for me to have no descendants, and eager for Yan Shang to have no descendants. No wonder you were willing to let me support the humble scholars, willing to let me marry Yan Shang... I had always thought that you had treated me well all these years because you felt pity for the difficulties I endured, that you finally remembered I was your daughter, and that you wanted to be good to me... It turns out you have never changed!

"Imperial power! Imperial power! You only care about this!"

The Emperor slammed his hand on the table again, the lightning illuminating the dark hall and reflecting the deathly pallor on his face. He was trembling with rage at his daughter’s bluntness, yet he still maintained the aura of an Emperor, trying to intimidate her—"Where have I erred? This world has always belonged to the Mu family! For thousands of years, this has been the Mu family’s empire! I do this for the sake of Great Wei, for the peace of the entire world!

"You are a Princess; do you still not understand?"

Mu Wanyao stared at him.

Whether it was rain or tears, they hung from her eyelashes. She blinked gently, and a droplet slid down her cheek, clinging to her chin.

Mu Wanyao suddenly said: "I’m not playing your game anymore."

The Emperor was stunned.

He heard Mu Wanyao say decisively: "I no longer consider you my father; I will no longer do this or that for you. If you want to kill Yan Shang, then kill him; if you want to kill me, then kill me. If you are not going to kill us, then let us go. I will no longer be this Princess... find someone else to support your humble scholars, find someone else to contend with the noble families you are so wary of.

"We are not playing this chess game with you anymore!"

The Emperor roared: "Insolent!"

Mu Wanyao turned and left. She strode toward the outside, the cold wind biting at her face, but it was nothing compared to the coldness and exhaustion in her heart. She exited the main hall, ignoring the terrified looks of the palace attendants. She walked out in a daze, and Cheng'an quickly chased after her:

"Your Highness, Your Highness, please stay!

"Your Highness, His Majesty asks you to return! His Majesty is willing to negotiate conditions with you—Your Highness, please turn back!"

The lights wound their way out of the palace, and a crowd of palace attendants knelt before Mu Wanyao in the heavy rain. In the flickering light, they begged this Princess to turn back.

Mu Wanyao stood stiffly in the rain, wanting to cry and laugh at the same time—she had won the gamble.

Her father had to lower his head.

Because he had no one else to use.

He deserved it—

Yan Shang’s high fever had broken; he got up from the bed and asked the maid where Mu Wanyao was. Upon hearing that Mu Wanyao had gone out in the afternoon, and listening to the thunder and lightning outside, Yan Shang was even more worried.

He got up, ignoring the maids’ attempts to stop him, and went out with an umbrella, saying he was going into the palace to fetch Mu Wanyao. The maids had received the Princess’s orders not to let the consort run around after waking up, and the physicians were still kneeling outside, sighing—how could the consort be running around?

However, the consort, who was usually gentle and kind to them, had a very firm attitude tonight.

Yan Shang opened his large black umbrella and went out. Once he left the alley, the rain fell as heavily as buckets, drumming on the umbrella surface like the scouring of a great flood. Visibility was blurred on the rainy night, and as Yan Shang was about to leave the alley, he saw a young woman walking toward him through the rain, which the wind was blowing in his direction.

The maids and guards behind her were rushing to hold umbrellas for her: "Your Highness, Your Highness..."

Under the light of the lantern held by the maid, Mu Wanyao looked up, and her eyes met Yan Shang’s, who was standing at the mouth of the alley, watching her under his umbrella.

Yan Shang said softly: "I woke up and couldn't find you; what were you doing?"

Mu Wanyao’s expression was hollow: "I went to threaten my father."

Yan Shang fell silent for a moment, then said: "I asked you to endure, not to go, not to make relations even more strained."

Mu Wanyao said calmly: "What strained relations? What could he do to me? After he did such a thing to you, what else do I have to fear?"

Yan Shang sighed, saying: "What did you threaten him with?"

Mu Wanyao was in a trance for a while, and Yan Shang watched her calmly until she returned to her senses, telling him as if she were speaking in her sleep: "He agreed that as long as we are not planning to commit treason, he will never take away my power. He wrote an imperial decree for the next Emperor, stating that you must be made Prime Minister. He had Cheng'an take the decree to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Court of Imperial Clan in my presence.

"He said that no matter who the next Emperor is, unless they want to betray their ancestors and abandon their clan, they must abide by the decree and never dare to disobey."

Mu Wanyao slowly revealed a hint of a smile: "I used this matter to win us a chance at survival. Did I do well?"

Yan Shang’s heart felt a sharp prick, but he smiled at her. Her political sensitivity now no longer required him to worry about anything. She could easily use a single event to find any opportunity for herself... He didn't need to worry about her, but seeing her like this, he still felt miserable.

Yan Shang’s voice trembled: "I ruined the chance for you to have a loving father-daughter relationship, didn't I?"

Mu Wanyao: "No. You made me see reality clearly, and it’s good to have no expectations of him anymore. Let’s just treat all our affairs as a business arrangement. From now on, I will no longer consider him my father. Those relatives of mine are all evil ghosts that torment me; I want none of them anymore."

The rain dripped.

She didn't even call him Father anymore.

In the darkness, the candlelight flickered faintly.

Mu Wanyao trembled: "He clearly once loved my mother, but why, why does he seem not to understand love at all?"

Yan Shang opened his umbrella and said to her: "Don't worry about those things. Wanyao, come here, let me hold you."

Mu Wanyao stood there staring at him in a daze; she tentatively took a step toward him. He kept his eyes lowered, looking at her with a gentle gaze. And under his gentle gaze, she found her courage. She took another step forward, until she threw herself into his arms and was held in his embrace.

She clutched his damp clothing, wrapping her arms around his extremely thin waist. She thought of the destruction he had suffered, and her heart ached even more, causing her to sob in his arms.

Mu Wanyao murmured with reddened eyes: "I don't want any of them anymore, I only want you."

Yan Shang lowered his head, kissed her forehead lightly, and smiled: "Alright. Big sister Wanyao, stop crying."

However, when he called her "Big sister Wanyao," she cried even more intensely.

In the deep alley, the maids and guards, some drenched in the rain and some holding umbrellas, stood in an entire row. Though they did not know exactly what had happened between the Princess and her consort, for some reason, their own eyes began to sting with tears.