Lin Yanxi saw that there was no one else in the tent except Shen Muzhou and squeezed in through a gap in the small curtain.
"What are you doing here?" Shen Muzhou's voice was cool, devoid of emotion.
Lin Yanxi shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Just wandering around."
Her eyes were lowered, looking guilty, and she refused to look at him.
Shen Muzhou looked up, his eyes covered by a perpetual chill, like an unfathomably deep pool that could easily see through her small thoughts.
The young girl stood there, looking so delicate, her fingers nervously twisting her sleeves, a stubborn and pitiable appearance.
But he forgot, this kind of young girl was never a caged canary, she would leave him sooner or later.
The bird whose wings he had once broken, she was so similar.
Certain emotions buried deep in his heart, little by little, began to leak out, uncontrollably.
He swallowed and looked away, saying calmly, "Get out."
Lin Yanxi felt inexplicably wronged, a heavy stone pressing on her chest, her eyes red.
"I just wanted to tell you that I saw Shen Qingyun and the Empress whispering and plotting something just now. But it seems like you, Your Highness, don't want to see me the most right now, do you?"
Her voice was tinged with a sob, capable of melting anyone's heart into a puddle.
It was as if she were the one who had been hurt.
She was skilled at using such tricks.
After a moment of silence, Shen Muzhou gently turned a page of his book, suppressing his emotions, and said, "Yes."
Lin Yanxi was stunned for a moment, then said angrily, "Fine, then we will never see each other again, not in this life or the next."
"Anyway, I've long been tired of you, tired of living in this prince's mansion, tired of your distant and indifferent demeanor, as if someone owes you money."
After she finished speaking, she rushed out of the tent, the tears in the corners of her eyes falling uncontrollably.
Shen Muzhou looked up and only saw a corner of her skirt.
After Lin Yanxi left, the tent fell silent.
The hunting ground was still lively. The royal family's twice-yearly hunt would not lose its momentum just because Shen Muzhou was injured. For many, it was a good opportunity to make connections and foster relationships.
People walked in groups of three or five, or introduced themselves to each other.
There were also spirited youths on horseback, galloping past shy and gentle maidens. Their eyes met for a moment, and the maiden quickly looked away, her cheeks flushing.
Only Shen Muzhou's tent was as silent as death.
His gaze was vacant, and his heart sank with it.
His mind replayed everything related to Lin Yanxi: her smiles, her anger, her sadness.
Every frown and smile was deeply etched into his memory, tormenting him, shaking him, and tempting him to unleash the beast within his heart.
Gradually consuming him...
"Your Highness, Your Highness."
Shen Muzhou's gaze gradually returned to the present. Seeing the person in front of him, he said, "Why isn't Princess Zhaoyang resting?"
Luo Jingxin gently tapped the book on his desk, changing its direction, and said, "Your Highness, the book is upside down."
"I want to stay here with Your Highness."
After saying that, she sat down opposite Shen Muzhou's desk and began to grind ink for him.
"I see Your Highness's mind is not on these books," she probed.
Shen Muzhou frowned slightly, his gaze towards her filled with a hint of annoyance. "Get out."
"Your mind is entirely on grinding ink. Unfortunately, grinding ink is something my prince's mansion servants attend to. Princess Zhaoyang, please leave."
Luo Jingxin's expression changed. Holding the inkstick, her knuckles turned slightly cold.
His words clearly compared her to a servant in the mansion.
She casually tossed the inkstick onto the table, splashing ink, staining his outer robe and leaving speckles on his book.
"I am infatuated with Your Highness, and I am willing to do anything for you, let alone grind ink. But Your Highness compares me to a lowly servant. Then don't forget that I am the legitimate daughter of Prince Anchang, and your clansmen are still in the territory of my Prince Anchang mansion. If you want them to be safe, I would trouble Your Highness to remember my identity."
Shen Muzhou let out a sarcastic laugh and leaned back in his chair, his expression chillingly cold. "If my clansmen suffer even the slightest harm because of you or Prince Anchang, I will make you all pay with your lives!"
His voice was squeezed out from his throat, each word terrifying and bone-chilling.
Luo Jingxin's words carried a threat, seeking a sliver of affection from him. But the threat in his words was entirely different from hers.
He had no feelings for her, no mercy. In his eyes, she and the Prince Anchang mansion were merely transactions that could be wiped out at any time, nothing more.
"Your Highness's heart is truly like a stone, so cruel."
She laughed self-mockingly, took a deep breath, and said, "Some childhood affections, Your Highness may have forgotten, but I haven't. I will always remember the care Your Highness gave me when I first entered the palace. During that time, Your Highness was the only belief that kept me going."
When she first entered the palace, she was ostracized by the noble ladies. She lived in the harem, and the princesses looked down on her. She was bullied relentlessly and cried in secret when Shen Muzhou happened to see her.
At that time, they were both just seven or eight-year-old children. Shen Muzhou was not as cold and indifferent as he was now. He comforted her, told her not to cry, and often took care of her.
Later, Shen Muzhou's birth mother was implicated in a rebellion. Everyone in the palace avoided her. Her father also wrote to her several times, telling her not to get involved. She had experienced the pain of being ostracized and did not want to be isolated again. She chose to follow the crowd and distance herself from him.
Shen Muzhou said calmly, "Your Highness, childhood memories are all sad things for me. I have long forgotten them. Besides, a piece of candy or a few pastries was just a casual act for me, not worth Your Highness remembering."
Luo Jingxin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Whether it's worth it or not, I decide."
"It seems that no matter what I do today, I won't be able to win Your Highness's favor. Then I will withdraw for now."
Lin Yanxi stayed in her tent all afternoon. Wanwan stayed by her side, asking what was wrong, but she refused to say.
"Yanxi, I've been with you all afternoon and I'm starving," Wanwan said, sitting next to her and leaning on her. "Even if you don't want to say anything, you still have to eat."
Lin Yanxi patted her forehead. "Then let's go. It should be time for dinner."
Wanwan happily pulled her out of the tent. The first dinner at the hunting ground was to be shared with His Majesty. However, it was still early, and Emperor Nanmin and the Empress had not yet arrived.
As soon as they arrived at the banquet, they saw Shen Yu following behind Luo Jingxin, saying something to her.
Luo Jingxin looked very dejected. After Shen Yu said a few words, she was finally coaxed into a smile.
"Wanwan..." Lin Yanxi noticed Luo Wanwan's dejection.
Luo Wanwan forced a smile and said, "Every time I see Shen Yu following behind my elder sister, I feel so sorry for him. Being deceived by the woman he loves, by my Empress, by... by me, having to be tied to me his whole life, living a life that doesn't go as he wishes."
Lin Yanxi found it difficult to comment on this matter. She sometimes wondered what she would do if she were in this situation.
She would probably find it as difficult to balance as Luo Wanwan.
Lin Yanxi pulled her away and walked in another direction, no longer looking at them. "You have your own difficulties. Among those close to the royal family in this capital, who can live a life that goes entirely as they wish?"
"Besides, Shen Yu has never made things difficult for you, so he must understand your hardships."
Luo Wanwan nodded, her mood somewhat lifted. "Yes, he treats... me very well."
At least Shen Yu was no longer as resistant to her as he was at first. He now returned home every night. However, he had moved all his belongings to the study. Wanwan was not a person who wanted to secure her position through her children. Since he didn't like her, she naturally wouldn't try to please him.
They were as respectful as guests, living in peace and freedom.
Lin Yanxi pulled her to a seat at the very end.
More and more people gradually filled the seats. Everyone's status was considered in their seating arrangement. For example, the seats closest to the Emperor were naturally reserved for the Ninth Prince, followed by Shen Yu and several young princes and princesses. Shen Qingyun, on the other hand, sat at the very end of the imperial bloodline.
The positions next to the imperial family were for powerful officials. Those who were favored and powerful sat in the front, new rising stars sat in the middle, and at the end were ministers who were unwilling to participate in the power struggle and preferred to keep to themselves.
The seats after that were not counted. They were basically for wives or children who came along, or for those who had some connection and entered the hunting ground to build their social network.
Lin Yanxi sat among these people, in a position that was too far to be seen clearly by Emperor Nanmin, who sat in the high seat.
"What a coincidence, we meet again." Luo Qizhe sat down next to Lin Yanxi, waved at her, and gave a proper smile.
Lin Yanxi frowned as she looked at him. "Why are you sitting here?"
Given Luo Qizhe's status, although he was a hostage, Dongyang had declined in previous years, and he had suffered much neglect. However, since the drought in Nanmin, Dongyang had developed rapidly and gained the Emperor's attention. He should naturally be seated in the front.
After Luo Qizhe sat down, he ran his fingers through his hair and said, "I wanted to sit here."
Lin Yanxi found him strange, as if he were deliberately approaching her. She couldn't figure out what he wanted.
She gave him a perfunctory smile and ignored him.
When Emperor Nanmin appeared, everyone stood up to pay their respects. After taking their seats, they noticed that besides the Empress and the Emperor, Consort Yu was also present in the high seats.
Consort Yu sat on the outermost side, looking somewhat anxious. Emperor Nanmin noticed her discomfort and gently patted her hand, which eased her tension slightly. She still dared not meet the Empress's eyes.
Emperor Nanmin raised his wine cup, said some perfunctory words that were the same every year, and then drank it down.
"May Nanmin prosper and flourish."
After everyone offered their felicitations, they also drank their wine and sat down, marking the beginning of the banquet.
Wanwan had a large appetite and a preference for sweets. Lin Yanxi saw that she liked the sweet rice cakes and gave her her own bowl.
"Why do all young girls like sweet things?" Luo Qizhe remarked.
"Oh, do you, Your Highness, also like sweet things?" she teased him, implying that he was like a woman in his preference for sweets.
He placed his sweet cake on Lin Yanxi's table and said, "Naturally not."
He said this with such a serious expression that it made Lin Yanxi find it rather amusing.
Shen Muzhou sat in the head seat, his face stern. Occasionally, when someone bravely toasted him, he would reciprocate, and with each round, his face took on a hint of drunkenness.
He looked at the sweet rice cakes on the table and remembered that they were Lin Yanxi's favorite.
The image of her looking wronged in his tent earlier, and the harsh words she had spoken, inexplicably flashed before his eyes.
"Your Highness, these sweet rice cakes are a specialty of today's dishes, different from those in the palace. You should try them," Luo Jingxin said, seeing him staring at the sweet rice cakes and smiling.
His gaze swept across the guests at the banquet, and he immediately spotted Lin Yanxi, sitting far away.
She was sitting with Luo Qizhe, chatting and laughing.
He squeezed his wine cup, stood up abruptly, and said, "Teng."