青春期撞上更年期第1部

“Your Highness, I know what I’m talking about. Even if the Empress Dowager and the Emperor were here, I would say the same thing,” Shao Wanru raised her head and said coldly.

She showed no fear and looked steadily at the Empress, her soft and charming eyes appearing piercing and steely as the Empress watched her closely.

With her current status, the Empress couldn’t punish her in private. Since it was so, she did not have to give in to the Empress. In her eyes, the Empress was just making an empty show of her strength. Shao Wanru knew she didn’t dare to do anything to her.

After Shao Wanru finished speaking, the Empress was so angry that her face turned pale. But as Shao Wanru had expected, her anger gradually cooled. In the end, even her face had strangely softened.

She asked someone to pull the imperial consort up and let her sit aside.

“Princess Chen, I had no intention of asking about the conversation between the Empress Dowager and you, but I’m worried about the peace of the imperial harem. Since the Empress Dowager ordered you to keep it a secret, I won’t blame you. It’s just that you’ve made such a mess with this consort. It’s really embarrassing. No matter what improper things she has done, you’ve been disrespectful.”

The Empress reproached her again, but her voice was not as stern as before.

Shao Wanru withdrew the stern look on her face and stopped before going too far. With great respect, she bowed to the Empress and said in a tone that was neither humble nor pushy, “Just now, I thought someone intended to plot against my Imperial Grandmother, so I spoke too hastily. Your Majesty, please forgive me.”

She said that she spoke impetuously but refused to admit her mistake.

By saying that, she also meant to stick up for the Empress Dowager. Therefore, even if the Empress wanted to blame Shao Wanru, she had no reason. It was because what she said was reasonable, and there was no mistake.

“Your Majesty, please uphold justice for me!” Shao Wanru remained calm, but the imperial consort panicked. She looked up at the Empress and begged while wiping her tears.

She also regretted it in her heart. At the moment, she was in a dilemma. If she had known this result, she would not have rushed out. Unexpectedly, Princess Chen looked so young and delicate, but she had such a strong temper. Even if the consort made a terrible scene, she failed to drag Princess Chen into trouble. If the Emperor learned about this, she might have to suffer.

At this moment, she was no longer interested in gaining merit but only in avoiding blame.

The other imperial consorts lowered their heads. They had wanted to help because the Empress seemed to be in a superior position. But at present, they all felt grateful that they didn’t react fast enough in the beginning.

“You go back first. I will explain it to His Majesty!” the Empress said.

The imperial consort didn’t dare to make any more trouble and left tearfully, holding a palace maid’s hand.

“Princess Chen, I will report it to His Majesty.” The Empress said lightly.

“Thank you for your justice, Your Majesty.” Shao Wanru bowed respectfully again.

“In fact, the most important thing is the matter about your eldest sister. That was why I invited you here. I just asked about your chat with the Empress Dowager in passing. You know, because you had been to the Palace yesterday, a lot of things happened. Since I’m in charge of the imperial harem, I should ask about everything clearly,” the Empress Queen said seriously.

She had brought up the topic of “the discord between the Empress Dowager and the Empress,” so she had to explain it away at this time.

Shao Wanru, knowing full well when to stop, slightly knitted her willowy eyebrows and asked, “Did anything happen to Secondary Consort Shao?”

“She is seriously ill,” the Empress said.

Shao Wanru looked up in astonishment and asked, “Really?”

“She fell ill before. At the start, she just caught a chill, but her condition worsened. The imperial physicians went to see her and said she only had a slim chance of surviving with her illness.” The Empress said solemnly.

“Did all the imperial physicians say so?” Shao Wanru said with a deep look in her watery eyes. “Is Shao Yanru going to die of illness?” She really couldn’t believe it.

“The imperial physicians said so. This time, I asked you to come to the Palace to see her. If anything untoward should happen to her, she won’t feel regretful, for she has seen someone from her family of origin. Recently, no one but you can go here on behalf of the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.” The Empress said.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Shao Wanru agreed.

She couldn’t refuse. Outsiders knew she didn’t get along well with Shao Yanru, but it was not the time to bother about it. When Shao Yanru was about to die, how could she still bear a grudge against her? If Shao Wanru didn’t go to see her, others would look down on her because she was cold-blooded.

“Come on, take Princess Chen to see Secondary Consort Shao.” The Empress waved her hand and ordered.

Nanny Xi stepped out from behind the Empress, took the order with a big smile, and left with Shao Wanru.

Seeing Shao Wanru leave, the few imperial consorts also excused themselves. Right after getting out of the Phoenix Palace, they all breathed a sigh of relief. In their hearts, they secretly decided not to intervene in anything related to Princess Chen in the future because they couldn’t afford to offend her.

They didn’t dare to provoke Prince Chen and Princess Chen!

After everyone left, the Empress’s face clouded, and she revealed the anger she had tried hard to hide. How could even the inferior Princess Chen get the nerve to disobey her?

“Your Highness, don’t get angry. Princess Chen has Prince Chen backing her up, so you can’t punish her without the most careful thought. But without Prince Chen, Princess Chen is nothing!”

A personal Nanny beside her came forward to soothe her.

“Your Majesty, don’t worry. Do you remember Princess Yutao from Xu State? I heard she was a beauty with a heroic spirit. Prince Chen is in poor health, so he will prefer women of valiant and heroic bearing.” Another Nanny advised.

Hearing their words, the Empress looked a little relieved and nodded. “I have underestimated Princess Chen. I didn’t expect her to contradict me.”

She had thought it would be a piece of cake to inquire about what had happened in the Empress Dowager’s place from Shao Wanru. To her great dismay, Shao Wanru was so difficult to deal with that the Empress was at a loss for the right words to frame her up. In addition, she acted in an overbearing manner. With Chu Liuchen behind her, the Empress really didn’t dare to do anything to her, not to mention that the Emperor had just rebuked her yesterday.

In the near future, she should not cause any more trouble. But what exactly did Shao Wanru say to the Empress Dowager yesterday? Because of that, the Empress Dowager was in a rage, and the Emperor scolded her.

The Empress was deep in thought, thinking about how to get the answers to these questions. If she knew who was playing tricks behind her back, she would never let the person go!

Of course, Consort of Virtue was the most likely one. Chu Liuyue had been targeting the throne. He and Chu Liuzhou had plotted against each other many times.

“Keep an eye on Consort of Virtue. Whenever Prince Yue enters the Palace, ask some people to monitor his schedule closely!” The Empress said unwillingly. She believed that she could find something if she closely watched Consort of Virtue.

The Empress didn’t get any benefits from Shao Wanru, so she vented all her anger on Consort of Virtue. Although some people had secretly watched Consort of Virtue for her, she dispatched more this time.

From time to time, several servants would pass by the place where Consort of Virtue lived. For a time, all the people in the Consort of Virtue’s place remained in a state of suspicion and fear…

Shao Wanru followed Nanny Xi, and they walked for a long time before arriving at Shao Yanru’s residence. It was a small courtyard much smaller than Shao Yanru’s courtyard in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion. There were only three simple rooms. Although one was the main room, it was just slightly bigger than the two side rooms.

As soon as Shao Wanru entered the room, she smelled a strong smell of medicine.

A palace maid squatting in the corridor heard the sound and looked up. When she saw Shao Wanru, she was pleasantly surprised. In a hurry, she dropped the palm-leaf fan in her hand and ran over to bow to Shao Wanru. “Greetings, Your Highness!”

She was Han Dan, the palace maid with Shao Yanru.

“How is your master?” With a wave of her hand, Shao Wanru motioned her to stand up and asked.

“Our master, our master…” The rims of Han Dan’s eyes turned red. She wiped her tears but couldn’t even speak a word.

“Your Highness, I’ll go back and report to my master.” Nanny Xi didn’t go in. She looked at the empty and low courtyard with disgust and said.

“Thank you, Nanny Xi!” Shao Wanru nodded and said.

“Nanny Xi, please wait a minute. My master has something important to tell you!” Mo Yan, Shao Yanru’s servant girl, suddenly appeared in the corridor. She was sent to the Palace to serve Shao Yanru later. Shao Wanru saw her not long ago, but she looked much thinner and more gloomy.

She walked to the corridor and bowed to Shao Wanru sideways. Then she also saluted Nanny Xi. Mo Yan had met Nanny Xi when in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.

Nanny Xi looked at her from head to toe and said arrogantly, “I have something else to deal with in my master’s place, so I won’t see Secondary Consort Shao.”

After that, she turned around and was about to leave. With Shao Yanru’s poor situation, anyone who saw her would have a bad time. Nanny Xi couldn’t see the benefit of going in.

“Nanny, don’t go yet. It’s from my master!” Mo Yan took out a small purse from her breast pocket and handed it to Nanny Xi. Nanny Xi took it and pinched it to feel what was inside. It was not a banknote but more like a piece of jade. She could feel that it was smooth but angular.

Although she didn’t know what it was, she knew it should be a nice piece.

Before Shao Yanru entered the Palace, she was the legitimate eldest daughter in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion. Thus, she had a lot of good items. This one in the pocket must be one of them. Compared with those cheques for silver, it was much more valuable.

Thinking of this, Nanny Xi immediately smiled and said, “Since your master said so, I’ll go and have a look. Your master has been ill for a long time. If it goes on like this, it will be troublesome.”

“Thank you for your concern, Nanny Xi. Our master said she felt much better and should be fine after drinking a few more doses of medicine.” Mo Yan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled faintly.

Shao Wanru shifted her eyes from Nanny Xi’s face to Mo Yan. So, Shao Yanru was not seriously ill, but just sick.

For this reason, the Empress summoned her to the Palace so that she could ask about what had happened in the Empress Dowager’s place yesterday. Shao Yanru’s illness was just an excuse.

Sure enough, Shao Yanru was not so easy to die. Even though she was in such a mess in the Palace, she could still secretly stir up trouble.

“Your Highness, let’s go in and have a look!” After Nanny Xi finished talking with Mo Yan, she said to Shao Wanru with a smile.

Shao Wanru nodded and walked inside.

She hadn’t seen Shao Yanru for a long time, but no matter how long it had been, she wouldn’t forget that the person lying in this room was a beautiful villain with a murderous heart that was vicious to the extreme. Shao Wanru had to deal with her with the greatest care at any time in case Shao Yanru should take advantage of the information to cause trouble.

Even before she entered the Palace, Shao Yanru had done many dirty things…