The response to Li Yuanjing was still a deathly silence.
The bedchamber was quiet, with only the faint sound of the night waves from Luoyue Lake outside the courtyard. Li Yuanjing almost suspected that Shen Wei had been possessed—he stared intently at her beautiful face before finally storming off in frustration.
After Li Yuanjing left, the bedchamber grew even quieter. Shen Wei lowered her gaze, concealing the indescribable emotions in her eyes. Her attention fell on the dazzling crystal palace lantern. She walked over, lifted the glass cover, and gently blew out the candle inside.
Shen Wei returned to bed, pulled the covers over herself, closed her eyes, and soon drifted into slumber.
The night deepened, and the wind howled outside the courtyard. Suddenly, Shen Wei was roused from sleep. She drowsily opened her eyes and caught the faint, cool fragrance of Li Yuanjing’s presence.
He sat by the bed, having spent half the night by the lake, unable to accept reality. He had returned to the bedchamber to wake her.
Li Yuanjing gripped Shen Wei’s slender arm and asked angrily, "Weiwei, have I upset you recently, making you spout such nonsense? How could you not love me? Back in Prince Yan’s residence, you fell for me at first sight! You even worried about my exhaustion, saying I’d grown thin and tanned."
Shen Wei yawned repeatedly, replying sleepily, "First sight? I’d just sold myself into the prince’s household as a maid—I’d never even seen you before. As for saying you were thin and tanned, I made that up."
Li Yuanjing: "..."
Unwilling to give up, he pressed on, "If you had no feelings for me, why would you have risked your life to find me in Yanjing City during the power struggle between me and Prince Heng?"
Li Yuanjing still remembered the scene vividly.
Back then, when he and Prince Heng were vying for the throne, Yanjing City was in chaos. He had left Shen Wei in a secluded courtyard outside the city, yet she, fearing for his safety, had rushed out recklessly to find him.
Wasn’t that love?
Shen Wei yawned again and lazily glanced at him. "Actually, I was trying to abandon you and the children to run away alone... I never wanted to enter the palace as a consort. Unfortunately, my luck was terrible—I ran straight into you."
Li Yuanjing: "!!!"
He was too furious to speak.
Studying Shen Wei’s sleepy face under the glow of the palace lantern, her beauty undiminished by time, Li Yuanjing never imagined that such a stunning woman had been scheming for years.
Their love was all a lie!
Unable to accept it, he declared, "For you, I willingly abdicated the throne!"
Shen Wei gave him a lazy look. "You can lie to yourself, but why say it out loud? Deep down, you never wanted to remain emperor. Passing the throne to Chengtai was just a convenient excuse."
Li Yuanjing was both angry and humiliated.
While his abdication had been partly due to his reluctance to rule, Shen Wei’s supposed "illness" had also played a role.
Did she truly think him so despicable?
Rubbing her eyes, Shen Wei patted his hand soothingly and sighed. "It’s the middle of the night—stop making a scene. Why obsess over whether love is real or not? Judge actions, not intentions. Haven’t I treated you well all these years?"
"Besides, you can’t do anything to me now. My elder brother and sister-in-law are generals with military power. My trusted aide is the wealthiest merchant in Qing State. My sister is a major landowner. My younger brother leads the civil officials. My eldest son is the emperor. My younger son and beloved daughter have bright futures. My dearest friend Zhao Yang is the queen of Yue Kingdom, and I’m even close with Mo the Divine Physician."
"You can’t touch me, and I won’t bother you. If we truly fight to the death, it’s the common people who’ll suffer. Let’s just make do—it’s not like we can divorce."
With that, Shen Wei flopped back onto the bed and promptly fell asleep.
Li Yuanjing: "..."
...
The next day, Shen Wei slept until noon before rising. Cai Lian and Cai Ping entered to attend to her.
After washing her face, Shen Wei asked, "Where’s the retired emperor?"
The two had quarreled the previous night, and Li Yuanjing had vanished in the early hours. Too drowsy to care at the time, Shen Wei hadn’t worried—after all, a grown man wouldn’t get lost.
Cai Ping replied, "Last night, His Majesty lingered by the lake, then rode toward Yanjing City at midnight. Perhaps he returned to the palace."
Shen Wei shrugged and continued washing her face.
...
In the Qing State palace, the young Emperor Li Chengtai, newly enthroned, was swamped with stabilizing the court. Just when he was busiest, his father returned—not to help, but to complain.
In Chang’an Palace, memorials piled high on the imperial desk. Li Chengtai swiftly reviewed them with a vermilion brush while Li Yuanjing paced back and forth beside him.
Li Yuanjing fumed, "Chengtai, do you know your mother never truly loved me? All these years, she’s been pretending! I’ve never met such a cunning woman—she deceived me for decades!"
Li Chengtai skimmed a memorial and scribbled a response. "Mhm."
Li Yuanjing continued, "Heartless woman! She even wanted to abandon us—her husband and children! How could she?"
Li Chengtai wrote another note. "Right."
Li Yuanjing huffed, "I wasn’t sincere with her at first, but later, I devoted myself entirely to her, breaking countless rules for her sake! Yet she felt nothing! I was gone all night, and she didn’t even send anyone to look for me!"
Li Chengtai set down the memorial and sighed deeply.
"Father, when you abdicated to me, you said, ‘Royalty knows no lasting love. The realm comes first; personal attachments are secondary.’ Isn’t Mother’s attitude fitting? After all, she wasn’t your top priority either."
Li Yuanjing was instantly wounded.
"That’s different! I must be the most important to her!"
Li Chengtai: "..."
Rubbing his temples, the young emperor felt utterly drained. "Father, you’re being unreasonable. I’ll have De Shun prepare chilled tea—why not rest in the side hall?"
Bitter over Shen Wei’s deception, Li Yuanjing stayed in the palace for ten full days.
Throughout that time, Shen Wei never came for him, only sending servants with some of his belongings.
Li Yuanjing was miserable.
No matter how angry or unwilling he was to accept that Shen Wei didn’t love him—he couldn’t stop missing her.
On the eleventh day, Li Yuanjing rode back to Luoyue Lake.
Under the summer sun, the lake was breathtaking, its surface dotted with blooming lotuses.
Shen Wei was fishing by the shore.
Luck was with her—she pulled up a plump mandarin fish. Reining in his horse, Li Yuanjing watched from afar as she cradled the lively fish in her hands, her smile radiant, free, and full of life.
Unconsciously, he gazed at her for a long time.
Twenty years after making Shen Wei his, Li Yuanjing was only just beginning to understand his wife.
