Chapter 304: Chapter 302: How Could Shen Zhaozhao Dislike Him?
The young girl was obstinate.
Lu Ying knew that beneath her soft, delicate ruqun, there lay a spine as straight and firm as bamboo. Once she decided on something, not even ten oxen could pull her back.
Why is she so stubborn?
He didn’t want to yield. "My mind is made up. In two days, a carriage will be arranged to escort you to Gan State."
"I don’t want to go..." Shen Yinning whimpered in his embrace, trying to wheedle him. "Gan State is a bitterly cold place. I don’t want to suffer there again! Lu Ying gege, you’ve never been to Gan State, so you don’t know how crude and bland the food there is—it doesn’t suit my taste at all!"
Though Lu Ying had never been to Gan State, he had once trained in the military and stayed at the harsher northern borders.
However, the delicate girl before him was naturally different from him.
He frowned. "I will arrange for two Imperial Chefs to accompany you. As for clothing, food, or supplies, everything will be replenished from the Capital."
Shen Yinning clenched her teeth. "I don’t have any friends there to talk to or pass the time!"
"I’ll have Xue Mianmian accompany you."
Shen Yinning: "..."
Mianmian might be delighted, but she suspected that the lunatic Xue Ling might chase after them halfway and kill her!
Having just returned to the Capital with great difficulty, Shen Yinning vowed she would not go back to Gan State no matter what.
Lu Ying yearned to ascend that throne, and the next two years were critical. She couldn’t allow the woman by his side to be Shen Yunxi. That would only deepen the bond between them as husband and wife who share weal and woe. Even if Lu Ying didn’t love Shen Yunxi, he would not permit a woman who had stood by him for so long to face harm in the future.
Moreover, one or two years would be enough time for her to accomplish many things concerning the Shen Family.
To return to Gan State now would mean abandoning everything she had worked for and starting over.
She refused.
Shen Yinning casually fabricated a third excuse. "But I can’t bear to leave Lu Ying gege. I can’t live a single day without you."
Lies.
Lu Ying thought darkly.
The vixen before him only cared about herself. All she desired was vengeance for her father and brothers—she wouldn’t truly be unable to part from him.
She wouldn’t even hesitate over wealth and treasures, let alone him.
Shen Yinning loosened the hidden buttons on her collar. The upper ruqun slid down her arm, revealing a large expanse of her snowy neck and shoulders, dazzling white under the spring sun and as delicate as fine silk.
She held his palm and pressed it against her chest, her lips honeyed with sweetness. "Lu Ying gege, my heart is already yours. To me, one day without seeing you feels like three years apart. If it were a year without your presence, this heart of mine would be like a winter flower—unable to endure the chill, wilting before it ever sees spring. Lu Ying gege, could you bear to watch it wither?"
The girl’s heartbeat pulsed steadily within his palm.
Strong and vibrant, like a seed buried beneath deep snow, harboring boundless vitality.
Lu Ying liked this seed.
His eyes darkened as his hand slid to the hollow of her waist, and he lowered his head to claim her lips in a kiss.
Shen Yinning sat astride his waist, leaning slightly back to meet his kiss, drawing him to kiss her deeper and harder.
The small lattice window was pushed shut.
Slivers of daylight filtered through the carved openings, illuminating a room shrouded in intimacy. Ink brushes, paper, and inkstones on the desk had been swept onto the ground. The girl perched on the edge of the desk clung tightly to Lu Ying’s narrow waist, submitting wholly to his every whim.
Her disheveled dress gathered loosely around her waist, resembling crumpled petals of a peony.
A loosened white silk ribbon extended a considerable length: one end tied around Lu Ying’s wrist, the other circling Shen Yinning’s slender waist, resembling the blank spaces in a watercolor painting that outlined a stolen moment of passion.
As their intimacy reached its fervent peak, Shen Yinning pulled the white ribbon from his wrist and tied it around his neck.
Her upper body lay back on the desk, one hand firmly gripping the ribbon, pulling him closer.
Her other jade-like hand circled around Lu Ying’s neck. Tilting her head up, she traced his sharp, cold brows and noble eyes with her fingertips, recalling how, during his younger days, he had drawn countless portraits of her in his copy of the Analects. How he had secretly collected the hairpins and accessories she discarded, preserving them as treasures in an embroidered box.
She suddenly found herself confused. How did the boy who had liked her so much become this cold and distant man?
Unable to resist, she ran her tongue across the corner of his lips, leaving a wet trail.
Her water-clear Dan Feng eyes held onto a thread of sobriety. "Lu Ying gege, you used to love me when we were young. When did you start growing tired of me? Was it because I did something to displease you?"
Lu Ying’s arms braced on either side of her.
He could feel the fiery heat emanating from her, layer upon layer, like petals spiraling around him, forcing him toward surrender. A fine sheen of sweat gathered at his temples.
He replied, "Does it matter?"
"I want to know..." Shen Yinning initiated another kiss, pressing her lips against his. "To me, it matters a lot..."
Lu Ying didn’t want to bring up the past—not in a moment like this.
Whenever he thought of that drizzling afternoon, his heart felt as though it was being wrenched apart with rusty iron pincers—the pain reaching muscle and bone.
The girl he had secretly adored for so many years, the one he had resolved to marry as the Crown Princess Consort, had kissed his younger half-brother behind his back. She had even openly expressed disdain for his taciturn nature, finding him utterly repulsive.
He knew he had always been different from others, unlikable and isolated. But why did Shen Zhaozhao have to dislike him?
After all...
He had treated her so sincerely. He had gifted her presents with the changing of the seasons, accompanied her to banquets and strolls whenever he could spare time, bought her jewelry and favorite delicacies, and remained upright and faithful—never indulging in fleeting flirtations or casual affairs.
What had he done wrong to deserve such hostility?
A hollow ache settled in his chest.
Lu Ying’s narrow eyes glistened faintly red as he silently grasped the back of Shen Yinning’s head, reversing the roles to kiss her deeply and passionately.
Her taste was fragrant, soft, and sweet.
He sank deeply into it, wanting more with every breath.
The beast inside his chest roared for an unyielding possession, as if it sought to merge her into his very bones.
"Mm..."
Shen Yinning began to falter under his intensity, but she couldn’t voice her discomfort as he relentlessly claimed her lips. She tried to push him away, yet it was like an ant attempting to topple a tree—utterly futile. She could only endure his passionate dominance.
Two trails of tears slid down the corners of her eyes.
Shen Yinning had come to realize—mentioning the past was a mistake.
Every time she brought it up, Lu Ying’s mood turned sour, no matter how good it had been before.
And yet, she still couldn’t fathom what had happened that year to make Lu Ying’s attitude toward her take such a drastic turn.
She remembered that year vividly—the moment Lu Shiyan left for Jiangnan, her family faced catastrophe immediately after.
It seemed that from the moment trouble befell her family, Lu Ying had avoided her entirely.
Was it because, as the Crown Prince, Lu Ying could not abide a subject’s treason and thus transferred his disgust onto her?
After much thought, this seemed to be the only plausible explanation.
She resolved not to mention the past again until she could clear her father and brothers’ names, lest she provoke his anger once more.
Out of breath, and only once Lu Ying had finally concluded their passionate encounter, she gently kissed his neck and shifted the subject with practiced obedience. "Lu Ying gege, I beg you, please let me stay in the Capital?"