Chapter 382
**Chapter 380: Not Loving Him!**
The response to Li Yuanjing was still a deathly silence.
The palace was quiet, with only the faint sound of rippling water from the Moonlit Lake outside breaking the stillness of the night.
Li Yuanjing couldn’t help but suspect that Shen Wei had been possessed by someone else. He stared intently at her beautiful face, and after a long moment, he angrily swept his sleeve and left.
Once Li Yuanjing was gone, the palace fell into an even deeper silence. Shen Wei lowered her brows, concealing the emotions in her eyes that were hard to articulate.
Her gaze fell upon a bright, shimmering glass palace lamp. She stepped forward, lifted the glass cover, and gently blew, extinguishing the candle inside.
Shen Wei lay back down on the bed, tucked herself in, closed her eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep.
As the night deepened, a howling wind swept through the courtyard. Suddenly, Shen Wei was awakened. She opened her eyes sleepily and caught a whiff of the faint, cool fragrance that lingered on Li Yuanjing.
Li Yuanjing was sitting at the edge of her bed. He had been by the lake, letting the wind blow through him for half the night. He still couldn’t accept the reality, so he returned to the palace to wake Shen Wei.
He grasped Shen Wei’s delicate arm and asked angrily, “Weiwei, did I upset you recently, making you say such nonsense? How could you not love me? Back when you were at the Yan Wang’s residence, you fell for me at first sight! You even worried about my fatigue when I went out, saying I looked thinner and darker.”
Shen Wei yawned repeatedly and sleepily replied, “Fell for you at first sight? I had just sold myself to the Wang residence as a maid and hadn’t even seen you! Where would that first sight love come from? As for saying you looked thinner and darker, that was just nonsense.”
Li Yuanjing: ...
Not willing to give up, Li Yuanjing pressed on, “If you didn’t care for me, how could you have risked your life to come to Yanjing when I was vying for the throne against Prince Heng?”
He still vividly remembered that scene.
Back then, when he was fighting for the throne against Prince Heng, Yanjing was in turmoil. He had placed Shen Wei in a small courtyard on the outskirts, and she, worried for his safety, had rushed out of the courtyard to find him.
Wasn’t that love?
Shen Wei yawned again, lazily glancing at Li Yuanjing. “Honestly, at that time, I was thinking of abandoning my husband and children to run away... I never wanted to enter the palace as a consort. Unfortunately, I ran into you the moment I stepped out.”
Li Yuanjing: !!!
Li Yuanjing was so furious he couldn’t find his words.
He studied Shen Wei’s sleepy face, the palace lamp illuminating her features, which had not diminished with time. How could he have imagined that such a beautiful Shen Wei had been plotting for years?
All those feelings were fake!
Li Yuanjing couldn’t accept it. “I abdicated the throne for you!”
Shen Wei lazily glanced at him. “You can tell yourself that, but there’s no need to say it out loud. Deep down, you never wanted to stay on the throne for long. Letting Cheng Tai inherit the throne was just a matter of convenience.”
Li Yuanjing was both angry and frustrated.
It was true that he had his reasons for abdicating, but Shen Wei’s “illness” was also a factor.
Did Weiwei really think of him as such a despicable person?
Shen Wei rubbed her eyes, soothingly patted Li Yuanjing’s hand, and sighed, “It’s late at night; don’t go crazy. Why get tangled up in the truth of love? Let’s not discuss feelings but actions. I’ve treated you well over the years.”
“Besides, you can’t do anything to me now. My elder brother and sister-in-law are generals with military power, my confidant is the richest man in the Qing Kingdom, my sister is a prosperous farmer, my younger brother is a top scholar, my eldest son is the emperor, and my youngest son and precious daughter have bright futures. My dear friend Zhaoyang is the queen of the Yue Kingdom, and I have a close friendship with Doctor Mo.”
“You can’t deal with me, and I can’t deal with you. If we really go to war, it’s the common people who will suffer. Let’s just get along; what’s the worst that could happen?”
With that, Shen Wei turned back to her bed and quickly fell asleep.
Li Yuanjing: ...
...
The next day, Shen Wei slept until the sun was high in the sky. Cai Lian and Cai Ping came in to attend to her.
After washing her face, Shen Wei asked, “Where’s the Taishang Huang?”
After their argument last night, Li Yuanjing had disappeared in the latter half of the night. Shen Wei had been too sleepy to think much of it; after all, a grown man wouldn’t just get lost.
Cai Ping replied, “Last night, the Taishang Huang was wandering by the lake, and late at night, he galloped off towards Yanjing. Perhaps he’s gone back to the palace.”
Shen Wei shrugged and continued washing her face.
...
In the palace of the Qing Kingdom.
The young emperor, Li Chengtai, had just ascended the throne, and the court was still unstable. He was busy from dawn till dusk. Just when he was at his busiest, his father unexpectedly returned to the palace.
Not for anything else, but to complain.
In the Chang’an Palace, the memorials piled high on the imperial desk, Li Chengtai held a red brush, quickly reviewing the documents. Li Yuanjing paced back and forth beside him, hands clasped behind his back.
Li Yuanjing exclaimed angrily, “Chengtai, do you know that in your mother’s heart, I, as her husband, am not the most important? All these years, she’s been pretending to love me! I’ve never seen such a cunning woman! I’ve been deceived by her for most of my life!”
Li Chengtai quickly finished reading a memorial, scribbling a response while half-heartedly replying, “Oh, oh.”
Li Yuanjing continued, “What a cruel woman! She actually wanted to abandon her husband and children! What did the innocent children do to deserve this? She wanted to abandon three kids and abandon me!”
Li Chengtai finished his note: “Mm, mm.”
Li Yuanjing, exasperated, said, “Although I didn’t truly love your mother in the early years, I later devoted myself to her, making many exceptions for her! Yet she has no feelings for me! I didn’t return all night last night, and she hasn’t even sent anyone to look for me!”
Li Chengtai picked up another memorial, and seeing his father’s incessant complaints, he sighed deeply.
Li Chengtai set down the memorial and said to Li Yuanjing, “Father, when you abdicated the throne to me, you once told me—there’s no lasting love in the royal family; the state comes first, and personal feelings come second. Mother hasn’t placed you in the most important position, which aligns with royal norms. After all, in your heart, Mother isn’t your top priority either.”
Li Yuanjing was instantly thrown off balance.
He retorted, “That can’t be! In your mother’s heart, I must be the most important!”
Li Chengtai: ...
Li Chengtai rubbed his temples, feeling a deep sense of helplessness. “Father, you’re being unreasonable. I’ll have De Shun prepare some cool tea for you. Would you like to go to the side hall for a cup?”
Filled with resentment over Shen Wei’s deceit, Li Yuanjing stayed in the palace for a full ten days.
During those ten days, Shen Wei didn’t come to the palace to look for him; she only sent servants to deliver some of his personal items.
Li Yuanjing felt unsettled.
Even though he was furious and unwilling to accept the reality that Shen Wei didn’t love him—he still couldn’t help but miss her.
On the eleventh day, Li Yuanjing rode away from the palace, returning to the shores of Moonlit Lake.
In the height of summer, the lake was covered in blooming lotus flowers, the sunlight cascading down, creating a breathtaking scene.
Shen Wei was fishing by the lake.
She was quite lucky, having caught a plump mandarin fish. Li Yuanjing reined in his horse, watching from a distance as Shen Wei held the lively fish in her hands, her smile radiant and free, vibrant and beautiful.
Li Yuanjing couldn’t help but watch for a long time.
In the twentieth year of having Shen Wei, Li Yuanjing finally began to understand his wife.
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