Chapter 228 - 226 The Little Ungrateful Thing

Words : 1574 Updated : Sep 25th, 2025

Shen Yunxi and Shen Xinghan waited outside the room for quite a while, but there was no sound coming from within. The siblings exchanged a glance and, gathering their courage, barged in. Yet they heard the splashing of water behind the folding screen—Lu Ying was bathing, no wonder he hadn’t heard their knocking. Shen Yunxi glanced around. The Zen room wasn’t large and had no place to hide a person. Could it be that she was overthinking things again? Lu Ying’s icy voice suddenly came from behind the folding screen: "What is it? Do you think it’s permissible to intrude upon my Zen room at will?" Shen Yunxi quickly bowed toward the screen and cautiously peeked inside. "Forgive me, Your Highness. It was not my intention to intrude. I merely grew worried because I heard no response from you. Fearing something might have happened, I let my concern get the better of me—" "Get out." Terrified, Shen Yunxi fled in a flash, not daring to linger for even a moment. Seeing that there truly was nothing suspicious in the Zen room, Shen Xinghan also apologized reluctantly and left. Behind the folding screen. Shen Yinning anxiously emerged from the water, weakly wrapping her arms around Lu Ying’s neck. Beneath the surface, her legs rubbed together uncontrollably, like a mermaid swaying its gorgeous, vibrant tail. Her face was flushed as red as dripping blood, her eyelashes glistening with fine droplets of tears. In a soft, hoarse voice, she murmured, "Your Highness..." Lu Ying pinched her delicate chin, slowly and deliberately kissing away the tears on her cheeks. "Your Highness..." Shen Yinning, like a spring breeze turned to water, collapsed limply in his arms. It was only with her body leaning against his chest that she didn’t entirely slip into the bath barrel. Her panting cries carried a desperate fragility. Her hair, like seaweed, floated upon the water, curving in an arc like a fox’s tail, encircling both him and her. Lu Ying lowered his gaze to look at her. This little vixen seemed utterly exhausted. After panting for a while, she had no energy to blame him. Her blinking lashes gradually slowed until she soon fell unconscious. He lifted her out of the water, carefully towel-dried her body, then wrung out her hair before placing her in his bedding. She shivered from the cold and instinctively burrowed into his embrace, murmuring softly in her sleep, "Lu Ying..." Feeling the man holding her in the toasty bed, she finally settled into a peaceful slumber, fully unaware of how uncomfortable her closeness made him feel. It doesn’t matter. It’s only two more days. In two days, she would be gone—he would be gone—and they would never meet again. He could indulge her for these final days. Lu Ying squeezed her soft, youthful cheek. "Ungrateful little thing." At dawn the next day. When the sky was still black, Lu Ying wrapped Shen Yinning in a quilt and silently carried her back to her own Zen room. Shen Yinning awoke in the early morning to find a bundle placed beside her pillow. However, the risqué trinkets she had kept inside were nowhere to be found. Sitting up, she realized that Lu Ying must have been the one to send her back. Recalling the absurdity of last night, she couldn’t help but ponder: having shared a bed with Lu Ying, did this mean they had reconciled? Surely, he wasn’t still upset about that Lantern Festival incident? Thinking this, her spirits inexplicably lifted. After washing up and dressing, a palace maid arrived with breakfast. She carefully unloaded dishes from the food box one layer at a time: "These were specially prepared for you on His Highness the Crown Prince’s orders. There’s the Shengguo Temple’s signature vegetarian noodles and red bean buns, as well as Green Bean Cake, Jade Leaf Cake, and Honey Florentines from the Imperial Kitchen. Although the temple avoids oily foods, His Highness insisted that, given your recovery from the cold toxin, your diet must not be overly bland. So, he quietly had the Imperial Kitchen prepare a plate of tender sprout fried eggs just for you." Shen Yinning picked up her chopsticks. "I could do without the others, but these tender sprout fried eggs are a rare delicacy. It isn’t even past the New Year yet; how could there already be sprout greens?" Accustomed to the finest delicacies, she had developed a taste for the most unassuming wild vegetables. "It was a sheer stroke of luck," the little palace maid said with a cheerful smile. "When gathering wild herbs in the back hills, the chefs of the Imperial Kitchen stumbled upon a sprout sapling just budding. They plucked every last tender shoot. Half were cooked for you, while the others were distributed to the Empress Dowager, Noble Consort Zhang, and the Crown Princess Consort. It’s said everyone found them delightful." Shen Yinning took a bite of the sprout greens and found them indeed fresh and tender. Lu Ying truly cared for her; he must have already forgiven her for the Lantern Festival incident. After finishing breakfast, Shen Yinning packed her belongings into a cabinet. She opened the longevity-patterned wooden box on the desk, intending to check the ceremonial essays inside— Only to discover her essays had been replaced by crude drawings of large turtles. Shen Yinning clenched the papers tightly in her hand. Someone had secretly swapped out her ceremonial essays. It was fortunate that she was cautious—especially when it came to matters concerning her ally, Empress Dowager Li. Otherwise, had she presented these to the Empress Dowager, no matter how evident the sabotage, the Empress Dowager would still regard her as incompetent and accuse her of neglecting her duties to the Honorable Elder Princess. Who could have done this? The assassin from last night clearly wasn’t behind this petty act. Shen Yinning deduced that someone else had entered her room after the assassin left. She immediately began searching for clues in her room, but the intruder had left no traces behind. Thinking carefully, she picked up the wooden box again for inspection. Suddenly, a faint fragrance caught her attention— Silkvine scent. She had once been doused in this scent by Lu Ying. And the silkvine scent on Lu Ying’s robe came from Shen Yunxi. Only she possessed this type of incense. Shen Yinning instantly recalled how, in the Empress Dowager’s presence yesterday, Shen Yunxi had claimed to have also written ceremonial essays for the Honorable Elder Princess. With her poor penmanship, it baffled Shen Yinning how she even had the audacity to present them. Could Shen Yunxi have stolen her essays? At this hour, rewriting the essays was no longer possible. She absolutely had to retrieve those essays from Shen Yunxi. As she deliberated, two palace maids entered to clean the room. Shen Yinning glanced at them as they bowed, then watched them deftly sweep the floor and make the bed. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Yin Shanshan, Gao Yun?" Yin Shanshan and Gao Yun froze as if struck by lightning, lifting their heads in disbelief to stare at Shen Yinning. "This is your Zen room?!" "What else?" Shen Yinning eyed them curiously. "How did you two end up as palace maids?" Yin Shanshan and Gao Yun’s expressions turned exceedingly grim. Just yesterday, they had eagerly arrived at Shengguo Temple, expecting to be treated like other noblewomen and ladies of distinction—graciously received and given the opportunity to exchange Buddhist teachings with eminent monks. But to their dismay, Yin Yang had arranged for them to wear palace maid uniforms! Yin Yang explained that the temple had no spare rooms for them and that he had pulled strings to sneak them in as maids, assigning them to the shared rest quarters for palace maids. Though resentful, the two figured they couldn’t just leave after coming all this way, so they reluctantly went along and sank to cleaning rooms. Shen Yinning observed their expressions closely, seeing through their situation clearly. Obviously, Yin Yang didn’t want to expose his position as a servant of the Eastern Palace, so he had concocted this scheme to bring them into Shengguo Temple. Since the royal ceremony required abstinence within the temple, noblewomen and young ladies weren’t allowed to bring personal maids or nannies. Palace maids were the only ones permitted to attend to them. With employees already stretched thin, Yin Yang likely used their help cleaning rooms to pocket some extra money from the chief steward. Shen Yinning asked, "What about Madam Gao?" She hadn’t forgotten that Gao Yun’s mother-in-law had been insistent on exchanging Buddhist teachings with the Empress Dowager. Yin Shanshan and Gao Yun looked even more uncomfortable. Finally, Yin Shanshan awkwardly replied, "My brother arranged for her to work as an elderly washerwoman, doing laundry for the noblewomen..." Never had they imagined that the three of them would travel to Shengguo Temple only to end up serving others! What a misfortune! Gao Yun’s face darkened, and in frustration, she snapped, "Shen Yinning, if you know what’s good for you, you’d better find proper accommodations for us and arrange for a dozen maids to serve us. Otherwise, I’m disowning you as my sister-in-law!" Shen Yinning regarded their embarrassed expressions thoughtfully, her eyes drifting to the longevity-patterned wooden box containing the ceremonial essays. A bold idea suddenly came to her. Why not use these two to steal back her essays from Shen Yunxi?

Chapter 228 - 226 The Little Ungrateful Thing

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