It was just a one-night stand. After the night, there would be no further relations between both parties. Women got what they wanted, and men enjoyed great excitement and satisfaction.
“No. We’re just looking for someone. Of course, madam, if you’re willing to sell the girl to us, we’d like to pay.” Jin Ye explained.
He was well aware of the real boss of the brothel. How could he be short of money? The whole country belonged to him. He wasn’t short of anything, and nor was the Empress. It was insulting to talk about money at this moment.
The middle-aged woman narrowed her eyes and raised her chin, signaling them to look at all the girls’ pictures on the wall. She said, “Look at the girls in Manyue Tower. Many of them are beautiful. You can buy back the freedom of anyone you like.”
Then she began to drink tea and looked unconcerned.
“We’re looking for a girl named Ling.” The Empress walked closer. She knew the woman was
Shen Qianshan brushed the wet bloodstain on his clothes. It was not noticed before. When he brushed it, she was greeted with the bloody smell, which pervaded the large main hall.She turned around. Shen Qianshan waved his hand, and then Sha and Jin Ye walked out with Ling from the side hall.Ling’s rope had been untied, but the bloodstains on her clothes were shocking. Her hair was smeared with soil and bloodstains, and her face was dirty too. Though she was not very pretty, any woman wouldn’t allow herself to be so dirty. Ling staggered like an old woman of one hundred years old. After walking two steps, she had no more strength.Sha hurried to help her. Ling knelt in front of the Empress. Her voice was hoarse, and each word she said made her painful. Her voice was dry as if it would be torn anytime.“Your Highness, I’m so sorry.” Then she began to sob.The Empress stood there. She wanted to walk over to
When walking past the Empress, Shen Zhongbai turned around and whispered smilingly, “Qiang, you are pushing me. I have countless excuses to kill you. And you are well aware of what you are doing. You are playing with fire. Of course, I think you will burn yourself soon. Just you wait.”Then he left.Play with the fire and burn herself? Ridiculous! The truth was that she was in a fiery pit and had no alternative but to rebel. If she succeeded, she would hope to kill Shen Zhongbai as well. If he knew her idea, he would fly into a rage.Now that either of them was eager to kill the other, it was meaningless to put on an act.The Empress turned around and said behind Shen Zhongbai clearly and calmly, “Your Majesty, do you still remember who I am?”Shen Zhongbai paused. He didn’t understand what she meant. Was she still struggling? As an old saying went, the little fish couldn’t eat the big fish. No matter how capable the w
Then Shen Qianshan got a notebook from Jin Ye and threw it on the table. Gu Qiang picked it up and read it word by word. It was the corruption record of Hongzhou Governor. Actually, officials were not incorruptible enough. If being investigated, their corruption would be found out sooner or later. If the imperial court wanted to dismiss an official, that official would end up dead after just a small trick.“Take it to the Li Family. I promise Li Cangsi will bring Shen Meng out obediently.” Shen Qianshan raised his eyebrows as if waiting for Gu Qiang’s praise.As expected, Gu Qiang stood up, patted Shen Qianshan with a bright smile, and said, “Your Highness, thank you so much.” Then she headed towards the Li Family.Like a statue, Shen Qianshan reached out his hand to his body part touched by Gu Qiang just now and silently felt the trace left by her, as if her smell and strength had been engraved on his mind, and he could recollect them anytime.
Gu Qiang didn’t know how cute, attractive, and mysterious she was. Shen Qianshan was afraid she would slip away if he loosened his grip. He would do whatever he could to keep her around. Every moment with her was precious for him.His heart was full of warmth and he was wearing a big smile on his face as if spring came and flowers bloomed at that moment. As long as he could stay with Gu Qiang, he was willing to do anything.But was love so easy? He fell in love with Gu Qiang in this world, while he encountered a crushing blow in the other world.The Empress stumbled to her room and slammed the door. Then she leaned against it and sat down on the ground slowly. It was uncomfortable to sit on the icy ground, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.She became a Princess from the Empress overnight. She always yearned for and was in pursuit of a high position, but later she regarded it as less important. She realized it meant nothing
Shen Qianshan couldn’t accept what happened in a short time. He didn’t know how to explain to the Empress that she didn’t need to abort the baby. He found she had no idea of the situation, but he didn’t think it was necessary to protect her.“What do you think?” Shen Qianshan’s eyes became cold. He looked completely different from before and seemed to be more serious.The Empress didn’t respond. Since they woke up on the same bed, they had been quarreling. They didn’t quarrel for a result but for venting their resentment and complaints about what happened. No one was to blame, so they had to hurt each other.“It’s a baby. No matter who its father is, you shouldn’t abort it now that you have been pregnant. If you dare to abort it, you will be punished by God.” Shen Qianshan said more seriously than he did in each quarrel before. His voice was calm and extremely firm. It was the first time that he had regarded her as unreasonable. He didn’t have
“Liang, do you know I had a child before? You may not believe it. It belonged to me and Shen Zhongbai.” The Empress looked into the distance firmly and calmly as if she was talking about something irrelevant to her. But Gusu Liang could feel her helplessness and the pain that still haunted her after so many years.Gusu Liang thought it was just the imagination of her lady. As it was said, the Empress seemed to lose her sanity.“It’s impossible. My Lady, you didn’t marry the Third Prince. He married Gu Zhihua, the Third Lady of our family.” Gusu Liang said while cleaning the fragments of the bowl on the ground.The Empress nodded. She seemed to accept it and said, “Fetch me another bowl of medicine that is good for the fetus.”Gusu Liang paused and then looked up to beam at the Empress. Soon, Sun Linhua brought another bowl of medicine. When passing it to the Empress, she looked away unnaturally as if she didn’t want to have eye con
Sun Linhua was familiar with the smile. It was rare to see a smile on Shen Qianshan’s face. He seemed to be smiling, but he was sneering. Perhaps he was considering how to kill her with the knife, wasn’t he?“Yes.” Sun Linhua admitted. She had never tried to shirk the responsibility since the day she took action. She couldn’t accept that Shen Qianshan fell in love with this woman. What was more unacceptable was that this woman was pregnant with his baby. If she couldn’t kill the woman, she was determined to kill her baby.She thought it was worthwhile to kill the baby at the cost of her own life.“Why did you do that?” Shen Qianshan’s voice was as cold as before. He looked Sun Linhua in the eye. His curious eyes repressed his anger. He knew she didn’t have a reasonable explanation. In fact, he was looking for an excuse to kill her immediately.Sun Linhua was anomalously calm with an expressionless face. She simply explained, “She i
It was improper to talk about it in the presence of Shen Zhongbai and Prime Minister Gu, but Ye didn’t care. She couldn’t helplessly watch Gu Zhihua lose her face again in public.Gu Qiang acted as if she didn’t hear what Ye said.As an infanta, she didn’t need to salute the Third Prince. She meant to greet him, but only to find that he rushed over and wanted to hug her like a hungry wolf hunting its prey. His action and expression seemed as affectionate as those of a lover.Gu Qiang dodged and stared at Shen Zhongbai’s face. He winked at her to spare his blushes, but she shook her head because he was insatiable. The Third Prince turned around and told Prime Minister Gu and Ye smilingly, “I will ask my brother to approve my marriage with Qiang right away. Don’t worry.”Prime Minister Gu turned around to look at Gu Zhihua, who huddled behind Ye like an injured animal staring at the Third Prince. What he said was like a