Chapter 14 — Get Some Rest

Yin Mingyu didn’t press further with questions. He simply sat patiently, watching Ning Zhaorou eat.

His expression was mild, but just his presence beside her carried an undeniable weight — the natural authority of someone who had long been in power. Yet that pressure was tempered by a touch of scholar-like refinement, carefully restrained.

Ning Zhaorou lowered her gaze, staring at the lychee flesh in her bowl. She recalled the rumors she’d occasionally overheard in the streets — that the current Emperor was all soft appearance and hard heart. In his younger days, he was known to act with cold, ruthless force. After taking the throne, he became harder to read. What seemed like gentle civility could, in the blink of an eye, turn deadly. His very aura made it hard for people to breathe.

A man like that…

Would someone like that really be interested in a girl as ordinary as her?

That night, she had already made a mistake once. Even if she wanted to correct it, the situation was now neither here nor there. Though the Emperor hadn’t explicitly said he would take her into the palace, his actions showed little regard for propriety.

Was he… just toying with her?

Yin Mingyu caught the changing expressions on her face — dazed, confused, faintly afraid.

She was far too easy to read. Whatever she felt inside, it showed clearly on her face. No wonder she was always the one being bullied.

“If you can’t eat anymore, then don’t,” he said mildly, signaling someone to take away her bowl. “Go back and get some rest.”

There were faint shadows under Ning Zhaorou’s eyes. She was still young, so the tiredness only made her look a bit wan. But when she heard his words, she froze slightly, then became visibly flustered.

“Your Majesty, what… what should I do now?”
She didn’t dare ask him outright if she was still meant to enter the palace, so she played dumb and tested the waters with that question instead.

Yin Mingyu didn’t look at her. He merely curled his lips and gave a light laugh.
“Go back.”

Though the tone wasn’t cold, the faint intimacy from moments ago had entirely vanished — as if she were nothing more than dust, easily brushed aside.

Ning Zhaorou stood up stiffly, bowed to him, and retreated from the tent.

No one knew she had been with the Emperor for so long. After returning to her tent, it wasn’t long before Ning Wanqing came looking for her.

Ning Wanqing gave her a once-over, but couldn’t spot anything wrong. Still, the last time she’d returned from Consort Liang’s quarters, she had stayed in her tent for days. And today she’d gone again — and for a whole morning. What exactly had Consort Liang said to her?

Her eyes sharpened bit by bit, as though trying to pierce through Ning Zhaorou’s skin to see what lay beneath.

“What did Consort Liang say to you? Why are you only coming back now?”

Ning Zhaorou forced herself to stay composed and looked at her. She didn’t respond. Instead, under her sister’s increasingly impatient gaze, she bent down, lifted her skirt, and rolled up the hem of her trousers — revealing a knee mottled with bruises.

“Still curious, Eldest Sister?”

Ning Wanqing instinctively shivered. The bluish-purple bruises on Ning Zhaorou’s knee were hard to look at. She thought to herself — the women in the palace truly had their methods. The injuries they inflicted left no easy trace.

Ning Zhaorou let her trouser leg fall again and sat on a chair, waiting for Shuangwu to return with a basin of water.

But Ning Wanqing still didn’t leave. She paced around the tent for a while, then suddenly leaned in close, seemingly speaking with concern:
“What’s the point of all this suffering? You came all the way to E’ming Mountain just to bring this upon yourself. Mother already picked out a good match for you — a respectable scholarly family. Sure, it’s a bit far, but at least everything about them is clear. You wouldn’t be treated unfairly.”

Ning Zhaorou truly wanted to rip that mouth of hers apart. If she hadn’t accidentally overheard the conversation between her mother and Ning Wanqing that day, she would’ve walked straight into that pit of fire without even realizing it.

Her fingers clenched tighter and tighter, as she felt the chill of malice seep in. Ning Wanqing’s face twisted before her eyes, turning into something monstrous — baring fangs and claws, mouth stretching wider and wider as if to swallow her whole.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re after. You think the Chu family is someone you can climb up to? Have you looked in the mirror lately? And besides, His Majesty already said it that day — the young lord of the Chu family isn’t in any hurry to marry, so don’t you dare—” Ning Wanqing was in the middle of her tirade when she suddenly paused, leaning down and sniffing the air near her.

“What’s that smell on you?” she asked, nose wrinkling. The scent was faint, but unfamiliar.

Snapping back to herself, Ning Zhaorou stood up and walked toward the curtain, lifting it.
“If you’ve nothing else to say, Eldest Sister, then please leave. I need to rest.”

Ning Wanqing’s eyes nearly burned holes through her. As she passed by her to leave, she let out a sharp, disdainful scoff.

Only after watching her walk out did Ning Zhaorou let the curtain fall again and return to her seat.

That night, it began to rain. The shower brought a touch of coolness, and the fine droplets tapped rhythmically on the tent, tip-tap, tip-tap, stirring up a vague unease in her heart.

The sound of the rain woke her in the middle of the night. Restless, she tossed and turned before finally sitting up on the bed, staring into the darkness beyond the bed curtain. In that inky blackness, it felt as if countless faces floated in and out of sight — some clear, some blurred…

Her gaze slowly turned vacant.

It wasn’t until a faint light bled through the edges of the curtain that she realized — dawn had come.

Ning Zhaorou let out a soft breath. Her eyes shifted slightly, and she slowly lay back down, wrapping herself tightly in the brocade quilt.

When she awoke again, it was still raining outside. Shuangwu came in to help her wash and dress.

But something was clearly off about her demeanor, and Ning Zhaorou noticed it right away. While having her hair towel-dried, she tilted her head slightly and asked,
“What’s wrong?”

Shuangwu instinctively shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

But how could she possibly hide it from Ning Zhaorou? That look on her face screamed that something was wrong.

When Ning Zhaorou pressed her again, Shuangwu finally gave in and whispered what she’d heard:
“Miss, the servants are saying that if the rain keeps up, we’ll be turning back to the capital.”

Ning Zhaorou froze mid-motion, shocked. “But… haven’t we only been here a little over half a month?”

“I only overheard it when I went to fetch water earlier. The rain doesn’t seem like it’ll let up anytime soon, and His Majesty apparently isn’t in the mood anymore. There’s talk that we might return to the capital at any time.”

There couldn’t have been worse news than this.

Ning Zhaorou felt her head spin and had to steady herself on Shuangwu just to stay upright.

Biting her lip, Shuangwu seemed just as anxious, clearly reaching a breaking point on Zhaorou’s behalf.
“Miss, if it really comes to that… we may have no choice but to enter the palace.”

If, from the very start, Ning Zhaorou had been determined to enter the palace, she might’ve still had a chance. But now… now she suspected that His Majesty had no such intention anymore.

After all, His Majesty already knew she had deceived him.