"I'm not going."
Shen Muzhou blurted out the two words without a second thought, his face expressionless.
---
The Imperial Palace of Nanmin.
Dozens of seats were set up in the Imperial Garden. The Empress and the Emperor occupied the main seats at the top. Amidst the lush greenery, various exotic flowers and rare plants vied for attention.
Beauties nestled among the flowers, their cloud-like hair adorned with golden hairpins and jade ornaments, their brocade robes a riot of colors and styles, outshining the blooming garden.
Lin Yanxi, head bowed, followed behind the Crown Prince, her mind racing about how to refuse the marriage proposal later. If she was too blunt and angered the Crown Prince or the Emperor, the Grand Tutor's mansion would be implicated.
Since Lin Yuan had not entered the palace, had she dodged the calamity of being a disaster star...
Curses!
She suddenly raised her head, her heart tightening. It was the aura of curses, how could it appear in the palace?
The scenery of the Imperial Garden was the same as in her previous life. There were too many women in brightly colored dresses weaving through the flowers, elegant young men holding fans and composing poetry, and palace maids and eunuchs serving them.
There were too many people. The aura of curses flashed and disappeared, making it difficult to capture.
"Crown Prince Brother, you actually brought this idiot." Shen Huajun approached, surrounded by several noble young ladies.
Lin Yanxi withdrew her thoughts and looked at the woman before her in a flashy red dress, six golden hairpins in her hair, her face heavily powdered, like a proud pheasant.
In her previous life, Shen Huajun's birth mother had a humble background. To establish her princess's dignity in front of these noble ladies, she had often bullied Lin Yanxi at various gatherings, as if only by stepping on the Grand Tutor's daughter could she prove her status as the Third Princess.
Shen Qingyun sternly reprimanded, "Jun'er, mind your words! As a princess of the royal family, your speech is crude. Besides, Yanxi's old illness has healed, and her mind is sound."
Shen Huajun was stunned. "Her mind has recovered? When did that happen?"
She had intended to mock Lin Yanxi as usual to boost her own prestige. Normally, Shen Qingyun would pretend not to hear and wouldn't interfere, but today she had been lectured and lost face.
A faint smile appeared in Lin Yanxi's eyes as she said, "Greetings, Third Princess. This humble subject has indeed recovered, disappointing the Third Princess."
Shen Huajun, her hidden intentions exposed, was angered. "What could this princess be disappointed about?"
Lin Yanxi raised her eyebrows, smiling without speaking, her dark eyes holding a hint of disgust as she looked at them.
Shen Qingyun appeased, "Sister Yanxi, please enjoy the flowers here. I have official duties to attend to and will return during the hairpin ceremony later."
He maintained a scholarly and gentle smile, his tone and demeanor humble and courteous, leaving no room for fault. After leaving the Imperial Garden, his smile instantly vanished, his eyes darkening.
"Are you prepared?" Shen Qingyun asked coldly in a secluded spot behind the rockery.
A thin figure hid in the entrance of the rockery cave. His face was obscured by the darkness. Upon hearing the question, he extended a small section of his arm and handed out a wooden box.
His voice, disguised by a voice-changing technique, was indistinguishable from male or female. "Master said that as long as the Crown Prince cooperates with us, these are trivial matters. Do not worry."
The exquisite wooden box had a bronze lock. The person in the cave snapped his fingers, and the bronze lock fell to the ground with a clatter. Inside the wooden box lay a white jade hairpin.
Shen Qingyun pondered for a moment, then let out a low "Mm" and hurried away.
---
Lin Yanxi fidgeted with her fingers, tilting her head back and sighing silently. The marriage was not yet annulled, and her soul ring had already been taken by that malevolent god.
The urgent matter at hand was to get the marriage annulled, but this required careful planning and could not be rushed. She glanced sideways at the young eunuch following her, who was clearly sent by Shen Qingyun to keep an eye on her.
She slowly stood up and took a few steps back, turning to leave. The eunuch nimbly followed and asked in a soft voice, "Where is Miss Lin going? The hairpin ceremony is about to begin."
She said impatiently, "I need to go to the restroom."
The eunuch paused, hesitating. "This..."
She continued, "What? Everyone has urgent needs, and the restroom is the most urgent. Are you going to stop me? Are you bullying our Grand Tutor's mansion by virtue of being from the palace?"
The eunuch quickly bowed, "I would not dare, I would not dare. His Highness the Crown Prince fears that Miss might have another accident after just recovering her senses, which is why he sent this servant to follow and take care of you."
She waved her hand, "Enough, I know the way. You wait for me here."
The eunuch dared not follow further. Seeing that she was indeed heading towards the latrine, he felt relieved.
She couldn't refuse the marriage, so she had to escape for now.
Having avoided the calamities of her past life and prevented Lin Yuan from entering the palace, the disaster star of Nanmin should no longer pose a threat. Her current priority was to find a way to leave the palace and return home. Once her father and mother returned, she would reconsider the annulment of the marriage.
"You've been acting suspiciously since just now, where are you going?" Shen Huajun, accompanied by several maids and noble ladies, blocked her path.
Lin Yanxi subtly glanced at her without replying. The disdain in her eyes further ignited Shen Huajun's anger.
She was in a hurry to leave, but if this Third Princess sought death, she wouldn't mind playing along.
Shen Huajun said fiercely, "I suspect you of stealing something from the palace. Come, search her!"
"You want to search me? You are not qualified. Do you know that falsely accusing someone and slandering the daughter of the Prime Minister is equivalent to slandering my Grand Tutor's mansion? Can your birth mother protect you?"
Shen Huajun's sore spot was her birth mother, who was a former laundry maid and, after more than ten years of struggle in the harem, was still only a concubine.
"You! I am the Third Princess of Nanmin. Whom can I not search? Why would I need my mother to intervene!" She naturally refused to lose face in front of others.
One of the noble ladies accompanying Shen Huajun chimed in, "Exactly, daring to be rude to a princess!"
Lin Yanxi swept her gaze over the noble lady, her eyes filled with a terrifying coldness. "A mere daughter of a minister, do you think you are qualified to meddle in my affairs?"
With that, the woman sullenly shut her mouth, not daring to speak further.
Lin Yanxi's lips curved upwards, her smile laced with hostility. "You cannot search me. Today, whoever dares to take a step forward will be opposing my Grand Tutor's mansion, and there will only be one outcome."
She parted her red lips and uttered a word that sent a chill down everyone's spine: "Death!"
Shen Huajun was so frightened that she dared not step forward. These noble ladies of the capital already looked down on her, secretly laughing at her and her birth mother's low status. Over the years, she had managed to regain some face by bullying the Grand Tutor's legitimate daughter.
If she were to be intimidated by Lin Yanxi, losing face would be minor. She would revert to being the despised Third Princess. No, she wanted to be high above, stepping on everyone.
She sneered, "Who do you think you are? What good is the Grand Tutor's mansion? Is it more noble than my Third Princess status? Do you not remember last year at the hairpin ceremony, you dived into the water like a dog to retrieve my handkerchief? Hahaha."
The two young ladies behind her also recalled the scene from last year and couldn't help but laugh together.
Lin Yanxi looked at the lotus pond beside her and revealed a faint smile. "I don't remember. Perhaps the Third Princess can help me recall?"
While they were laughing triumphantly and unprepared, Lin Yanxi took two steps back and forcefully pushed Shen Huajun towards the lotus pond.
"Ah, help! Help... help me!"
"Ah—"
A splash erupted in the lotus pond, and water sprayed onto the ladies, causing them to gasp in shock and scream, soaking their carefully chosen new dresses.
Shen Huajun flailed in the pond. The pond was not deep, but her thrashing stirred up the mud and sand from the bottom.
When she struggled to stand up from the pond, she was covered in mud. Her makeup was smeared with mud and water, her hair was disheveled, and she reeked of a foul odor of mud mixed with fertilizer.
"Ugh... You! You! I'm going to tell Father Emperor and have you punished, have your whole family punished! Wuwu, it stinks so much, ahhhh!" She cried out in a fit of rage and breakdown.
Lin Yanxi found her appearance somewhat amusing. Her voice still carried a hint of residual hostility as she said, "Stepping on others' backs to reach the peak of your desires, you are utterly foolish."
Shen Huajun was already the Third Princess of the royal family. She had plenty of ways to assert her status and avoid being looked down upon. However, she chose to bully a simpleton, only managing to intimidate people for a short while, and never truly winning their hearts.
"If you want to report me, then go ahead. However, when you asked me to retrieve your handkerchief back then, you said we were friends. Now, I am merely asking my friend to help me pick something up."
Shen Huajun was laboriously pulled up by two maids. The noble ladies who had been fawning over her earlier now hid far away, coldly watching her, afraid that the mud and stench on her would stain their dresses.
"Stop this, please." A tall and slender woman in an藕色 silk dress, adorned with gold thread embroidered orchids and a few small pearls at the hem, slowly approached. Sunlight glinted off the gold threads, emitting a dazzling radiance.
The dress did not look gaudy on her; instead, it enhanced her noble and elegant demeanor. She possessed a tranquil and beautiful aura, like a luminous pearl and exquisite jade, her features exuding a sense of comfort.
So this was Princess Chaoyang, the person Shen Muzhou had called out when he was ill.
Those behind Shen Huajun bowed in unison, "Greetings, Princess Chaoyang."
Jing Xin smiled and nodded, signaling them to rise. She then looked at Shen Huajun and said, "It's the hairpin ceremony today. Sister, you wouldn't want the young gentleman you admire to see you in this state, would you?"
Shen Huajun's arrogant demeanor vanished, and a rare hint of girlish shyness appeared on her face. "What admired young gentleman do I have?"
Lin Yanxi then realized that Shen Huajun had someone she liked? It was a pity that she and the person she liked were destined not to be together, because in her past life, Shen Huajun had married into the barbarian tribes as part of a political alliance.
Jing Xin helped her brush a blade of grass off her shoulder. "Hurry and wash up, and re-dress. You can still make it to the hairpin ceremony. Leave this to me."
Shen Huajun was exceptionally obedient to Jing Xin. She glared at Lin Yanxi angrily and was helped away by several small palace maids.
Lin Yanxi's cold gaze swept over the noble ladies who were still watching the spectacle with amusement. As their eyes met Lin Yanxi's, they quickly dispersed. Watching their hasty retreat, Lin Yanxi knew that at least these people would not dare to bully her in the future.
Seeing Jing Xin walking towards her, she inexplicably felt a pang of guilt and lowered her gaze. Was she here to demand justice for Shen Huajun?
Princess Chaoyang's father was a founding hero who had helped the Emperor conquer the empire. For many years, he had guarded the border. The Emperor had enfeoffed him as a king with a different surname and had brought Jing Xin and her sister into the palace for their education.
Surprisingly, Jing Xin did not make things difficult for her. She took her hand and said, "Actually, the Third Princess is just a child with inner insecurity. This insecurity not only harms you but also torments her. Have you been injured?"
Lin Yanxi stared blankly at Jing Xin. In her past life, she had suffered much harm, and no one had cared. Jing Xin, instead of blindly taking the Third Princess's side, had recognized the harm she had suffered.
She came back to her senses and quickly shook her head. "I am not injured."
Jing Xin smiled and gently ruffled her little head, her demeanor warm and affectionate, showing no trace of a princess's arrogance.
"You are the woman His Highness the Ninth Prince rescued this morning and brought back to the capital, aren't you?"