Chapter 389: Chapter 387: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The next day.
When Huo Mingyan woke up, Lu Ying had already gone to court.
Huo Mingxu came over to find her, winking mischievously: "Sister, last night you and brother-in-law..."
Huo Mingyan recalled the intimacy of last night, her eyebrows tinged with a faint blush.
"I had thought his feelings for Miss Shen ran deep, even preparing myself for the possibility that he wouldn’t touch me." She put on her earrings. "But it seems that his affection for Miss Shen is fleeting, like morning dew. Brother, his mind is set on the nation, unyielding to worldly passion. He will become the most enlightened ruler in centuries. I want... I want to stand alongside him and be written into the annals of history."
Huo Mingyan looked at herself in the bronze mirror.
After the wedding night, a woman sheds the shyness of girlhood, her apricot-shaped eyes brimming with ambition and yearning.
She lacked exceptional beauty, but she could embody unparalleled virtue and dignity.
She wanted her name, "Huo Mingyan" and "Empress Huo Mingyan," to be eternally entwined with Lu Ying’s, just like other renowned emperor-empress pairs in history.
After finishing breakfast with her brother, Lu Ying returned from court.
He had changed into everyday attire: "Today, we need to pay respects to the Imperial Grandmother and Father."
Huo Mingyan smiled and rose, affectionately linking her arm with his: "I am already prepared, Your Majesty."
The two walked out together.
Feeling the warmth of her arm, Lu Ying inexplicably remembered the time Shen Yinning had written five words on his arm with a brush—
Shen Zhaozhao’s dog.
The young emperor’s handsome face darkened for a fleeting moment, quickly concealed without a trace, just as he had last night when he suppressed the ridiculous urge to whisper "Zhaozhao" in the bed’s canopy.
He had once asked Shen Yinning many times to bear him a child.
But she refused.
Not only did she refuse, but she turned away and became pregnant with Cui Ji’s child instead.
Such unfeeling betrayal—what was there to linger over?
Since the "Broken Thought" gu spell could not solve his dilemma, then let time resolve it.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Eventually, the day will come when he extinguishes all feelings toward Shen Yinning.
A month into the new emperor’s reign, the political situation began to stabilize.
Late summer transformed into early autumn, frost chilled the morning dew.
It was Cui Ji’s wedding day.
Shen Yinning leaned against the window frame, flipping through the bridal gift list from Cui Ji.
Though she was just a concubine, Cui Ji prepared the gift list for her as though she were his principal wife, the listed items extravagant and undoubtedly costing him a fortune.
Haitang stepped over the threshold hesitantly, lips pursed with reluctance: "Commandery Princess, the seamstress has delivered the wedding dress."
Two seamstresses entered, carrying trays bearing a pink wedding dress.
Originally, Cui Ji had prepared a bright red gown for her.
But the palace specially sent someone to oversee the arrangements, forbidding Cui Ji from exceeding concubine standards—Shen Yinning had to be wed by concubine rites.
Shen Yinning grasped the gift list, her long lashes casting shadows over eyes filled with cold glimmers.
Haitang looked at her porcelain-like profile, unable to bring herself to ask her to try on the wedding dress. Instead, she instructed the seamstresses to leave the dress and gave them reward money before seeing them out.
She poured a cup of hot tea and placed it near Shen Yinning’s hand: "Commandery Princess..."
Shen Yinning folded the gift list, the corners of her crimson lips lifting into a faint smile: "Haitang, did you know? Shen Yan is dead now. If I can take down Shen Xinghan and Shen Yunxi next, the revenge for my family will be complete. Then my father and the others can rest in peace beneath the soil."
Haitang furrowed her brows in worry: "Commandery Princess..."
"I know what you’re concerned about. I also know that people in the Capital are mocking me—mocking the once gloriously radiant daughter of the Duke Mansion who, in the end, became just a concubine." Shen Yinning peacefully took a sip of tea. "But Haitang, bearing the identity of a criminal’s daughter exiled to Gan State, I fought to earn the rank of Commandery Princess and carved out a foothold in the Capital. Even as a concubine, I am wed to a man who loves me dearly. Moreover, this man owes me a debt of gratitude and holds boundless prospects of wealth and prestige. Haitang, I have no regrets."
The girl’s bright eyes radiated determination, her smiles light and untroubled, projecting confidence toward the future.
Yet, in her impassioned words, she deliberately omitted mention of the person most crucial.
Haitang lowered her head, holding back tears: "Commandery Princess, you are as clever as you are resourceful. You will thrive anywhere. Assistant Minister Cui loves you deeply; once married, the two of you will surely live a harmonious and enduring life together..."
"Harmony and mutual respect?"
Shen Yinning thought of Shangguan Min.
She doubted she would ever achieve harmony and mutual respect with Cui Ji.
Because on the day of Lu Ying’s imperial decree of marriage, Shen Yinning and Shangguan Min were carried into Cui Mansion in sedan chairs.
One entered through the main gate, the other through the side entrance.
One had a bridal procession that stretched for miles, guests bustling in celebration; the other had a pale pink sedan chair arriving quietly, her courtyard coldly desolate.
Xue Mianmian accompanied Shen Yinning in her nuptial chamber; feeling the icy atmosphere, she suddenly burst into tears behind her silk handkerchief: "That person... that person is truly cruel..."
Wen Liluo held her horsetail whisk, fairly commenting: "Miss Xue, if you consider what my boss did to him, you might not call him cruel anymore."
Xue Mianmian thought of how Shen Yinning not only betrayed Lu Ying but publicly humiliated him by forcing him to kneel in the courtyard, now even carrying Cui Ji’s child, and immediately tried to stifle her tears.
She never imagined that the villainous woman from the storybooks was her best friend!
Shen Yinning lifted her veil, picking up a piece of flower-shaped pastry from the dish: "What sort of expressions are you wearing? My betrayal of Lu Ying happened for a reason, okay?"
As they chatted, a young maid from Cui Mansion rushed inside.
She bowed respectfully and said, "The master sent me to inform the Commandery Princess that the palace is keeping a close watch tonight, and he cannot leave Shangguan Min to come visit you. He asks that you retire early; he will come see you tomorrow."
With the principal wife and concubine entering together, by custom, the groom had to spend the wedding night with the principal wife.
Given that Lu Ying’s people were watching, Cui Ji’s actions were unsurprising.
Shen Yinning wasn’t bothered; Xue Mianmian, on the other hand, was in tears again.
That night.
Cui Ji drank heavily in the front yard, only stumbling into Shangguan Min’s courtyard when the moon hung high in the sky.
After performing the shared cup ritual, Cui Ji waved off the maids attending to them: "I—"
"I know what husband intends to say," Shangguan Min interrupted him. "You married me out of obligation, is that correct?"
"Yes," Cui Ji admitted straightforwardly.
"But I married you willingly. I have read everything husband has written since arriving in the Capital and find your every word profound and incisive. I even had my father transcribe the memorials you sent to the Emperor, especially the one proposing agricultural reforms and wealth redistribution. It was brimming with insight—though regrettably, the Supreme Emperor did not implement them. I admire my husband. Even if you do not hold me in your heart, as long as I can be your wife and remain by your side, I am satisfied."
Shangguan Min’s sentiments were genuine.
After all, she always knew her marriage would be bound to circumstance.
Nobility rarely married for love; better a union with someone she could admire than one with a libertine surrounded by countless consorts.