Chapter 57 I’m Gonna Kill You Today!

Ever since Hong Ling learned of Xiang Qiao’s movements, she had paid special attention to Qinxue Courtyard. Unfortunately, she had waited for more than half a month without noticing any movements. Today, she finally found out that Xiang Qiao met that lad servant again. She was extremely excited. “Miss, Miss, there is finally a movement in Qinxue Courtyard.”

Maybe because of the influence of Hong Ling, Shen Ninghua also paid special attention to Shen Linghan these past two days. When she heard this, she was a little curious. “What movement?”

“After Xiang Qiao met that lad servant, she took out the aphrodisiac and brought it with her. She would probably take action in the next two days.” The lad servant bought a relatively low-quality aphrodisiac for Xiang Qiao. Hong Ling asked Shen Ninghua for a more advanced version of aphrodisiac called The Pleasure and replaced it. Now, she was waiting to verify its effect.

Shen Ninghua was smiling when Bai Ruo walked in. “Miss, master wants you to get dressed and go to the front yard. The Second Prince, Third Prince, Fifth Prince, and Master Chu have all arrived.”

Shen Ninghua restrained her smile and turned to look in the mirror. She raised her hand to tidy up the coiled pearl hairpin decorated with ruby and stood up. “Qing Que and Bi Zhu, you follow me. Bai Ruo and Hong Ling guard the courtyard.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Just as she approached the garden, Shen Ninghua saw the Fifth Prince Baili Jinze standing on the path which she must pass through. Shen Ninghua stopped to salute. “Greetings, Your Highness.”

“You are in such a hurry when you know my second brother has come to see you.” Baili Jinze narrowed his eyes and looked at her with anger.

Shen Ninghua frowned. “Your Highness, please don’t talk nonsense. A girl’s reputation is very important.”

Baili Jinze sneered. “Reputation? Do you still care about reputation? What benefit did my second brother give you so that you help him like this? It was you who sold him the war manual that my father praised endlessly, right? What else do you want to help him with? Why didn’t you sell him the rare prescription this time?”

Shen Ninghua looked at him with disdain and disgust. “I have lots of prescriptions. I can give them to whoever I want to. What does it have to do with you? What, are you jealous? If my guess is correct, you wanted to take advantage of the Second Prince’s return from war to attack him, right? Since I ruined your plan, you are mad at me. Right?”

Baili Jinze seemed to be enraged by the emotion in her eyes. He raised his hands and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Shen Ninghua, my second brother is already married. What can he give you? Do you want to be his concubine? Can’t you guess why I’m so angry?”

“Why? Are you saying that you have deep affection towards me, so that you feel pitiful for me?” Shen Ninghua stopped Qing Que with her gaze who was going to block Baili Jinze and carefully observed his expression. She just wanted to see what kind of insincere words this ruthless man in front of her would say.

“Since you know, why are you hurting me with those words?” Baili Jinze’s eyes were sad and he frowned slightly with a sense of unspeakable bitterness. “Ever since I saw you for the first time in the Shen Mansion, I…I can’t stop thinking about you. I hope you can love me the way I love you, so I suppressed my desire and didn’t express my feelings. I waited for you to fall in love with me, but you…”

Shen Ninghua took a step back and abruptly broke away from his hands. She looked at Baili Jinze as if she were looking at a pile of rubbish. “Your Highness, don’t say that anymore. The moment you say it, I feel even more disgusted and want to vomit. There are still people waiting for me in the front yard. I don’t want to be impolite by making them wait much longer.”

“Shen Ninghua!” Baili Jinze clenched his fists, and his heart was surging with rage. “You just trample on my heart like this?”

Heart? When did Baili Jinze have such a thing as heart? Now that he knew that she was useful, he came forward to show his heartfelt emotion. Was his heart eaten by a dog when he threw her into the cold palace?

Shen Ninghua looked at him coldly. “I can answer your first question. I would rather be a concubine in the Second Prince’s mansion than be your princess!”

“You…” Baili Jinze’s face turned red as he angrily glared at Shen Ninghua. “Are you willing to humiliate yourself like this?”

Shen Ninghua abruptly turned her head with more disgust in her eyes. “I am just willing to humiliate myself. Please, noble Fifth Prince, stay away from me, the farther the better!” After saying that, she turned around and left.

Baili Jinze narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave. After a while, he slowly restrained the emotions on his face, tidied up his clothes and walked towards the front yard.

Not long after he left, Chu Junyi, who was behind the artificial hill, walked out and casually threw away the peony flower in his hand. Then he chose another path and left quickly.

When Shen Ninghua arrived at the flower hall, the people inside were chatting and laughing. It was very lively. But when she entered the hall, the hall fell into silence for a moment.

“Greetings, Second Prince and Third Prince. Greetings, father, and greetings, Master Chu.”

“Miss Shen, please don’t stand on ceremony.” Baili Jinchuan said gently.

Shen Dong’s attitude was intimate. “Ninghua, come over here. The princes just wanted to see your embroidery of the Rising Sun over Mountains and Rivers.”

Baili Jinchuan said, “Eldest Miss Shen’s embroidery skills are truly amazing,”

Shen Ninghua smiled. “Thank you, Your Highness, for your compliment.”

Just as they were talking, butler Wang Fu quickly ran in with a big smile. Gasping for breath, he said, “Master…Master, hurry up…the imperial edict came from the Palace!”

“What?” Shen Dong hurriedly stood up and walked out with joy. “Prepare the incense table to welcome the imperial edict.”

Baili Jinchuan and the other guests naturally followed out. Shen Ninghua was a few steps behind them. Chu Junyi passed by her side, smiled and said, “Which option would you choose? The second prince’s concubine, or my wife?”

Shen Ninghua raised her head and coldly glanced at him. “The former.”

Chu Junyi’s footsteps paused, but the smile on his face did not change. He opened the folding fan in his hand and walked forward in a leisure way. Shen Ninghua frowned. Qing Que did not notice that Chu Junyi was also in the garden. It seemed that his martial arts improved.

The imperial edict was very long. Shen Ninghua’s knees were numb when the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict. Shen Dong was very happy. The emperor had unexpectedly promoted Shen Xuanye as a rank-six Xuande Manager. Although his official rank was low and he didn’t have any real power, Shen Dong was still delighted. Apart from the military generals who had made contributions to the battlefield, no one in the Da’an Dynasty had been given a title without true merits. Shen Xuanye had an official position before the age of fifteen. This was unprecedented in Da’an Dynasty!

After Shen Dong respectfully put away the imperial edict, the Second Prince Baili Jinchuan said, “Congratulations to Prime Minister Shen, congratulations to Xuanye.”

Shen Dong laughed. “Thank you, please take a seat, Your Highnesses.”

Wang Fu ran over. “Master, Duke Wei and his wife have arrived.”

Shen Dong’s smile froze. Then, he said as if nothing had happened. “Quickly welcome them in.”

Shen Ninghua’s eyes lit up as she thought to herself. “Here comes the wonderful part.”

As soon as Zhao Kun and Madam Zhang entered the door, they commanded the lad servants behind them to bring the gift up.

Zhao Kun cupped his hands and said, “Congratulations, Prime Minister Shen. Xuanye is so inspiring as to win the emperor’s appreciation. In the future, I’m sure he will make great contributions to the court.”

Shen Dong replied hypocritically, “You really overestimate him. Please take a seat.”

Although Madam Zhang had dressed up meticulously, the haggard look on her face could not be concealed. She looked around and said sadly, “Xuanye was able to win the emperor’s favor. It’s a relief. It’s a pity that my niece, Linghan, was so unfortunate. She was one of the auspicious pigeon pair, but now she has to recover from injuries. Are her legs cured now?”

Shen Ninghua smiled and said, “Aunt, don’t worry. My second sister is much better now. She has no problem walking on the ground. The doctor said that she will recover in a few days.”

“Oh?” Madam Zhang was overjoyed. “She can walk now. That’s really the blessing of our ancestors. Prime Minister Shen, we have so many good news today. Why don’t you invite my sister and niece over for a bit of fun?”

Hearing that Madam Zhang wanted Zhao Yunxiang and Shen Linghan to come out, Shen Dong subconsciously wanted to retort. Then he saw Duke Wei silently drinking tea, and his heart suddenly stirred. He almost forgot about Madam Zhao’s powerful family. Zhao Kun was currently in charge of the Zhao family. As Zhao Yunxiang’s elder brother, it was normal for him to visit his sister at this time. Shen Dong could not split up with the Zhao family now.

“Wang Fu, go and see if Madam is feeling well. If there is no problem, invite her to the banquet.”

“Yes, my lord.”

When Shen Linghan heard that her uncle and aunt had come, she hurriedly got dressed. She simply couldn’t stand it anymore! That bitch Shen Ninghua deliberately arranged for a few servants to appear in front of her all day and constantly reminded her of the disability in her legs, which made her extremely angry. She must let her uncle and aunt help her vent anger! What was there to fear since her reputation was already damaged? As long as her background was strong enough, who would dare to say anything? No matter how bad the reputation of the royal princesses was, there would be still many people courting them. Of course, this did not include Princess Anning, who was able to smoke people to death when she got close. After all, people cherished their lives most.

“Hurry up and help me put on my makeup. I’m going to the front yard.”

Xiang Qiao carefully walked over with the medicine and said, “Miss, it’s time to take the medicine.”

Shen Linghan squinted at her. She took the bowl over and drank it all in one gulp. Then, she casually smashed the bowl on Xiang Qiao’s head. Xiang Qiao screamed miserably and fell to the ground. Traces of blood oozed from her forehead.

Seeing this, Shen Linghan chuckled and was in a much better mood. She got up and walked towards the front yard. She looked normal when she walked now, but only she herself knew how torturous it was to feel the pain every time she took a step. Thus, she hated Shen Ninghua and wanted Shen Ninghua to die. She wished she could pull Shen Ninghua’s tendons, skin her, and break her bones! This time, she was determined to make Shen Ninghua suffer!

Xiang Qiao got up and wiped the blood off her forehead. She smiled coldly at Shen Linghan’s back.

Shen Dong sent Wang Fu to invite them so that he could stop Madam Zhao from going to the front yard. Unfortunately, Wang Fu failed to stop her.

When Zhao Yunxiang saw Shen Linghan at the door, she immediately rushed over and cried. She held Shen Linghan in her arms and cried bitterly. “My poor Linghan, you’ve suffered a lot.”

Madam Zhang’s eyelids twitched. She looked at Madam Zhao and Shen Linghan with gloominess in her eyes. She wished she could kill them on the spot. Shen Linghan, this little bitch, made Ruyun unconscious until now. She would definitely not let Shen Linghan get away unpunished.

“Sister, Linghan, you are here. Xuanye was conferred the position of the Xuande Manager today. That is good news. Don’t cry anymore.”

Shen Xuanye looked coldly at Madam Zhao and Shen Linghan. His heart was filled with impatience. No matter how many schemes he had, with these two dragging his feet, his scheme would not be able to produce the expected effect!

Madam Zhao wiped her tears and looked at Shen Xuanye with gratification. “Sister-in-law is right. I should be happy that His Majesty gave such an important position to my son. Linghan, hurry up and congratulate your brother.” Madam Zhao puzzlingly looked at Shen Linghan, who remained silent after paying her respects.

Shen Linghan was somewhat absent-minded. She took two steps forward and walked to the front of Shen Xuanye. “Elder brother, congratulations.”

Shen Xuanye nodded gently. “Alright, quickly sit down and rest. You shouldn’t stand for long given the condition of your leg.”

“Elder brother…” Shen Linghan swallowed saliva with difficulty and softly collapsed towards him.

Shen Xuanye hurriedly supported her. “What’s wrong with you? Does your leg hurt?” Before he could finish speaking, his heart skipped a beat. Shen Linghan held her arms around his shoulders.

“Mm…Elder brother, I feel so uncomfortable…”

Looking at this scene, Madam Zhang sneered and curled her lips. Her eyes were filled with malicious light. Today, she was determined to kill Shen Linghan!