Xiao Yelei stared at her, making her hair stand on end. He was puzzled. When did Yin Chujin, who had been pestering him for years, change? She had sworn to marry him and become his consort, but now she actually took the initiative to ask him to divorce her. It seemed that the torture of the past few days had made her cower. He leaned close to her ear and sneered, "Yin Chujin, since you finally married into the Xiao Manor, how can you retreat so quickly? The game has just begun. Without the blueprint, your Yin family owes our Xiao family and Xin'er even more."
Yin Chujin frowned and glared at him. What was going on now? What did the Yin family owe the Xiao family? Who was Xin'er? Could it be that she transmigrated to this princess's body to repay her debt?
After bidding farewell to the emperor that day, Yin Chujin was brought back to the Xiao Manor by Xiao Yelei. Looking at the leftovers in front of her and listening to Zhu'er's complaints, Yin Chujin could only shrug helplessly. However, she cursed Xiao Yelei in her heart.
One moment, he had agreed to take her back to the residence to recuperate and take good care of her. The next moment, he had thrown her back to Wuyuan and served her with leftovers.
Zhu'er's eyes were filled with confusion when she saw Yin Chujin eating calmly without even frowning. The princess used to be very picky about food. As long as the food cooked by the imperial kitchen was not to her liking, she would throw a tantrum. In the past few days, even a maidservant like her was not used to eating food. The princess actually swallowed it without complaining at all.
"Princess, don't you think this food… tastes bad?" Zhu'er asked carefully.
Yin Chujin tilted her head and thought for a moment. Then, she nodded decisively. "It's indeed not tasty. However, it's already good enough that brutal prince didn't refuse to give us food. It's better than nothing, right?" She wasn't picky about food. At the very least, it was much better than being stripped of her right to eat every few days in the modern world.
Zhu'er was simple-minded. Thinking about what the princess had said, it made sense. The prince was really cruel to the princess. He used violence at every turn.
"Princess, previously in the palace, why didn't you tell the Emperor about this and let him stand up for you?"
At the mention of this, Yin Chujin was speechless. She raised her head and glanced at Zhu'er. In the end, she focused her attention on the rice bowl in her hand. She almost couldn't help but ask Zhu'er why she didn't tell her in advance that the emperor was actually a fatuous ruler. After thinking about it, she gave up. Zhu'er was just a small palace maid. She definitely wouldn't say such treasonous words. However, when she mentioned the palace, she thought of the dangerous handsome man she had only met twice.
"Zhu'er, what kind of person is Sheng Yiming, the Sheng Hao Kingdom's Prince Rui?"
"Ah? Why is Your Highness mentioning him? Could it be… Princess, you've recalled the past?" Zhu'er cried out in surprise.
Yin Chujin rolled her eyes. Why would she ask her if she remembered the past?
"Zhu'er, no. Don't make wild guesses. I met him in the palace and felt that he was not an ordinary person. From his tone, he seemed to be quite familiar with… the old me?"
"Princess, you're thinking too much. If you want me to tell you, that person is just an ordinary person. He's just a hostage used by the Sheng Hao Kingdom to ask the emperor to send troops to provide aid. Moreover, he's sickly. He's always pale and looks like he's going to die at any time. He can't stop coughing when he speaks. The people in the palace are discussing in private whether he might have contracted some tuberculosis. Therefore, everyone will definitely not get close to Shengrui Pavilion if they can. The emperor is benevolent and gives him face. He lets the people in the palace call him Prince Rui and allows him everywhere besides the harem. So Prince Rui often gets someone to help him around and walks all over, as if he's afraid that others won't know that he's about to die. Princess, you weren't familiar with him in the past, but when you met him in the palace… you bullied him a lot."
"Did I hit and scold him before?"
"Not really. You just provoked him verbally."
Yin Chujin nodded and frowned as she fell into deep thought. After listening to Zhu'er's description, she almost suspected that the purple-robed man she had met that day in the palace was Sheng Yiming. Sick? Pale? Coughing non-stop? These characteristics were completely different from what she had seen. His complexion was very normal that day, and every word he said forced her into a dead end. She was a medical student. Although she had gone to develop poisons later on, her medical skills were not wasted. According to her observation of Sheng Yiming that day, he was definitely not sick, but why did he pretend to be sick? Since he wanted to pretend, why was he willing to expose his identity in front of her?
"No one in the palace has diagnosed him?"
Zhu'er replied, "He brought several doctors over from Sheng Hao Kingdom!"
"Sheng Hao Kingdom? What does it have to do with our Yin Xi Kingdom? Why is the noble Prince Rui here as a hostage?"
The more Yin Chujin asked, the more worried Zhu'er became. The princess had completely forgotten about the past and did not even know about the current situation in the world. She looked at her princess with pity and told her about the situation. The world was in chaos. There were countless small kingdoms and three strong kingdoms—Yin Xi Kingdom, Sheng Hao Kingdom, and Xi Yue Kingdom. When the late emperor of Yin Xi Kingdom was in power, his kingdom was unprecedentedly strong and established an unshakable status among the countries. The Xi Yue Kingdom wanted war. The emperor was restless and had the ambition to dominate the world. The new emperor of Sheng Hao Kingdom had ascended the throne and his foundation was unstable. He was the first target of the Xi Yue Kingdom. In order to resist the invasion of the Xi Yue Kingdom, the new emperor of Sheng Hao Country used his younger brother, Prince Rui, Sheng Yiming, as a hostage to seek help from the emperor of Yin Xi Kingdom.
"Princess, are you alright?" Zhu'er looked at Yin Chujin, who had been frowning the entire time. She had been talking for a long time, but the princess did not say anything. She could not help but worry.
"It's fine. There are some things I don't understand. Continue eating and ignore me." Yin Chujin waved at her, still deep in thought.
Zhu'er looked at the food on the table and then at her princess. She wanted to cry but had no tears. The princess was very good-tempered now and never put on airs with her. She also let her sit at the same table to eat, but she was also very absent-minded recently.
"Oh, how pitiful! What kind of place is this? The noble Princess, Princess Consort Xiao. Tsk tsk…" A woman's sarcastic voice came from the dilapidated door, causing Yin Chujin and Zhu'er to turn around.