Chapter 387: Chapter 385: The Commandery Princess is Truly Pregnant
After Gui Quan left, Haitang and Wei Yu looked at Shen Yinning nervously.
Shen Yinning’s face was expressionless as she took a pair of scissors from the embroidery basket and shredded the imperial edict into pieces.
As if still unsatisfied, she swept all the rouge and powder jars off the dressing table. The expensive, ornate bottles shattered on the ground, and the overwhelming scent of cosmetics filled the boudoir, so intense it was suffocating.
Shen Yinning laughed in anger: "What a Lu Ying! What a Lu Jingwei! Everyone says he’s virtuous, upright, and dignified—I see him as nothing more than a beast disguised in human clothing, a hypocrite in scholarly robes! To make me a concubine, he dares to make me a concubine!"
Seeing the set of kingfisher hairpieces Lu Ying had gifted her in the jewelry box, her temper flared as she threw them to the ground and stomped on them furiously.
Haitang gestured for Wei Yu to fetch a basin of hot water, then helped Shen Yinning sit down and began wiping her face and hands clean.
She spoke softly: "You conspired against Shen Yan, yet His Highness didn’t count it against you. He sided with you, even under the pressure of the Shen Family’s followers, showing his care and affection for you. You’ve been with His Highness for so long, but suddenly claiming you’re pregnant with Cui Ji’s child—His Highness’s inability to accept this is understandable. From this servant’s perspective, it’s your overly aggressive way of handling things that’s caused the issue."
A towel soaked in rose water was applied to her face.
Shen Yinning regained some composure, her tone sharp with mockery: "He cannot accept me marrying another, yet I should accept him enthroning an empress and taking concubines? He, Lu Jingwei, sits high above, but am I, Shen Zhaozhao, not human too?"
Haitang knew she was still in a fit of rage, so she dared not press further.
She rinsed the towel in the water basin, rubbed it twice, and suddenly hesitated: "Commandery Princess, hasn’t your monthly cycle been delayed for a few days?"
Wei Yu counted on her fingers: "The Commandery Princess’s cycle was last month, but counting the days, it’s been almost two months now."
It was midsummer; bright sunlight streamed through the canopy outside, casting gentle shadows on the crimson muslin window.
Shen Yinning’s porcelain-white and delicate profile was dappled with flower-like shadows, her phoenix eyes clouded with uncertainty and daze.
She touched her abdomen slowly, disbelief etched upon her face.
Shock flooded Haitang’s eyes; covering her mouth, she murmured, "Ever since the Commandery Princess returned from Jiangnan, she’s stopped taking the abortion pills. Could it be—"
Wei Yu, unable to contain her joy: "Could it be the Commandery Princess is actually expecting?! "
Naive as she was, she hadn’t yet grasped the implications but was simply thrilled for Shen Yinning. She almost wanted to rush to the small kitchen and stew a mother hen to nourish her.
Haitang, however, understood all too well what this pregnancy represented.
Gripping her handkerchief tightly, she spoke with urgency in a lowered tone: "His Highness is about to ascend the throne. The matter of enthroning an empress and establishing concubines has already been finalized. If news spread that the Commandery Princess is carrying His Highness’s first heir... I fear it would never be tolerated."
An open attack is easier to dodge; the hidden ones are harder to guard against.
Setting aside the fact that Shen Yinning and Lu Ying were already at odds over the child—even if Lu Ying believed the child to be his—without giving her a proper status, how could Shen Yinning safely give birth to this child? How could she protect herself and the baby amidst such scheming predators?
Contrary to expectations, Shen Yinning was unnervingly calm.
Her thoughts didn’t linger on how to protect the child.
Instead, they dwelled on whether to keep the child at all.
After decisively severing ties with Lu Ying, did this child still hold any reason to exist?
The oppressive heat of summer faded; the coronation and enthronement ceremonies arrived as planned.
Claiming illness, Shen Yinning did not attend. She reclined under the window on the Imperial Concubine Couch, eating lychees.
After the effects of the pseudo-pregnancy pill waned, she summoned the Prince Mansion’s physician to confirm her pulse. Indeed, she had conceived.
Wen Liluo was seated across from her, clutching her golden abacus. A dense stack of account books piled high on the study desk; her fingers flew over the calculations at a speed rivaling ten clerks.
She spoke sourly: "I heard today is the enthronement ceremony for the empress—the palace must be lively."
Shen Yinning responded with a faint "Hmm."
Wen Liluo snorted softly: "If you hadn’t insisted on betraying the new emperor and aligning with Lu Zhengliu only to humiliate the new emperor afterward, you might’ve been granted the title of Noble Consort. I wouldn’t be sitting here, playing the cold bench with you."
"If you don’t like sitting here, then leave."
Wen Liluo was momentarily rendered silent.
It was cool where Shen Yinning stayed, with two brass ice buckets always brimming with chunks of ice—she enjoyed lingering there.
Suddenly, Shen Yinning cast her gaze at her: "Back when General Huo led the border troops south, I heard they took the Luoyang waterway. Thirty thousand men marching in grand formation without alerting local officials—you guess, who helped cover their tracks?"
Wen Liluo fiddled with her abacus.
The perceptive young woman didn’t need to guess; she already knew.
Shen Yinning withdrew her gaze, staring at the leafy greens outside the window: "The Wen Family abandoned their marriage alliance with Lu Zhengliu and turned instead to cooperate with Lu Ying. Your dear sister Wen Kuixiang—I hear she’s about to be granted the title of concubine."
Wen Liluo’s fingers subtly curled.
Though she consistently denied any association with the Wen Family, Shen Yinning had clearly seen through her.
Shen Yinning absentmindedly swayed a White Jade Handle Ice Silk Fan: "I heard Wen Madam died from difficult childbirth, leaving behind a single daughter. Later, the Wen family head married Wen Madam’s younger sister as a second wife, who soon bore a son and daughter. As a result, the late wife’s daughter grew up in a rather awkward spot. When a fortune-teller predicted she’d hinder the Wen Family’s wealth, she was secretly sent off to the Jiangnan Taoist Temple, ignored for years—treated as if she didn’t exist."
Wen Liluo murmured: "As expected, nothing can escape your insight."
"You chose to serve me because of my connection to Lu Ying. Betting everything on me, you hoped I’d get revenge on the Wen Family for you. But as things stand today, I think I’ve let you down."
Wen Liluo’s pale lips tightened.
She lifted her gaze toward the Imperial Concubine Couch, where the dazzling, beautiful woman sat.
After a long silence, she finally made up her mind: "You brought this up suddenly—are you planning to drive me away?"
"Whether you stay or go is up to you," Shen Yinning admitted plainly, "You’ve seen my current circumstances. Protecting myself is already difficult; how could I possibly protect you? Shopkeeper Wen, I can no longer promise to help you take revenge on the Wen Family."
Wen Liluo’s snow-pale face turned colder.
Who knows how long passed before she made her decision: "I won’t leave. I’ll stay with you."
Shen Yinning looked a bit surprised.
Wen Liluo set aside her golden abacus and account books, fetched a jar of wine, and two small cups.
Pouring Shen Yinning a cup, she mused: "The Wen Family has sided with the Huo Family. But as a merchant, my instincts tell me—you won’t lose. Even if you’re soon consigned to being Cui Ji’s concubine, or if the new emperor crowns Huo Mingyan as empress, I still don’t think you’ll lose."
Shen Yinning accepted the cup she offered, phoenix eyes still tinged with surprise.
Wen Liluo, having lived long within the Taoist temple, drank for the first time. Just one sip made her cheeks flush red from the cough.
She lifted her bright, moist almond-shaped eyes: "Boss Shen, I’m betting on you to win."
Shen Yinning suddenly laughed.
After laughing, she swirled the wine in her cup, her long lashes veiling the chill and melancholy in her gaze: "But I’ve already given up on Lu Ying. I don’t want to fight to be his empress anymore. Shopkeeper Wen, this toast of yours seems wasted."
Wen Liluo looked at her.
Whether imaginary or real, she felt that this proud and alluring beauty seemed close to breaking apart.
She suddenly reached out to hug her: "This toast isn’t for your ambitions—I just want to share a drink with you, to happily get through today."
To get through the day when Lu Ying crowns another woman as empress.