Quick Transmigration: What to Do When the Male Supporting Character You Saved Becomes Obsessed with

Chapter 152 The Ruthless and Disabled Crown Prince (56)

While helping Lu Liruan turn over the soil, Xiao Xizi was working hard with a small shovel, all the while thinking to herself: Should I tell the Crown Princess?

Since the Crown Princess arrived, His Highness's mood has improved, but his health... hasn't. Anyway, Songjing Garden isn't as lifeless and suffocating as it used to be.

If the Crown Princess were to discover the secret of this flowerpot one day, would it cause a rift between her and His Highness...?

"Be gentle, you've broken the flower roots." Lu Liruan hissed and pointed to a broken root protruding from the soil.

"You servant...you servant...you deserve to die!" Xiao Xizi cried out in a panic.

Lu Liruan didn't want to listen to his stuttering.

No one knows what's wrong with Xiao Xizi, but he serves Ji Shumin all day long, and Lu Liruan feels he deserves to die every time.

But every time, he could still be seen serving Ji Shumin. Although His Highness the Crown Prince was unpredictable, in Lu Liruan's opinion, he was not really mistreating his servants. She wondered when Xiao Xizi had become so frightened.

"What kind of flowers does Your Highness like?" Lu Liruan asked Qinghe casually.

Qinghe shook her head: "This servant does not know."

Lu Liruan sat on a small stool and pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized that she didn't know what Ji Shumin liked or disliked.

Ji Shumin disliked all kinds of food.

In terms of expenses and clothing, His Highness the Crown Prince has always been the best, and one cannot sense any favoritism from him.

In real life... he seems to care about nothing and pay no attention to anything.

Lu Liruan thought to herself: Is this really the kind of life he wants? She had no idea what kind of life he had lived before.

When Ji Shumin returned from outside, he changed his clothes and loosened his hair. Dressed in a moon-white wide-sleeved shirt, he leaned back on the soft chair and saw that the Crown Princess, who had been enjoying herself, had been glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, revealing a hint of worry.

Ji Shumin frowned almost imperceptibly. Had she noticed something?

Did I... teach her to be so smart?

Lu Liruan had no idea what he was thinking; if she did, she would surely be both angry and amused.

I rarely think so thoughtfully about you, but you take all the credit for my intelligence. Is it possible that I am just naturally intelligent?

The two were preoccupied with their own thoughts, and neither of them realized what the other was thinking.

As Lu Liruan had suspected, Lu Yushi's arrival that day was by no means accidental.

He's been coming more and more frequently lately, and he seems to be getting more and more distressed every day. Once, when he entered Lu Liruan's room, he lowered his head and buried his face in the table, crying.

She wore light makeup, giving her a pitiful and delicate appearance. Lu Liruan, being a woman herself and also observant, recognized her immediately:

She didn't dress up unintentionally; she clearly dressed up on purpose.

Lu Liruan smiled and said, "Little sister, why are you crying like this all of a sudden?"

Lu Yushi raised her head and said to herself, "Sister Li Ruan, I thought entering the palace was a good way out back then, but now I realize how arrogant I was..."

I didn't see that coming. Didn't you just show off and try to humiliate me a few days ago?

This is something little girls used to do when they were young. Now, they want to try the same thing in the palace? None of the women in the palace are easy to fool.

Even among the princes in the palace who were on good terms with Lu Liruan and did not vie for the position, each of them was shrewd and calculating. Lu Liruan had to be careful when interacting with them.

Seeing that Lu Liruan's expression had softened slightly, Lu Yushi continued hesitantly, "Sister, our misunderstandings stemmed from our childhood. Now that we are both in the palace and are both members of the Lu family, you must help me!"

As she spoke, she grabbed Lu Liruan's hand as if it were a lifeline.

"You're crying so pitifully, but you won't say what happened." Lu Liruan seemed to believe her, sighed slowly, and handed her her own handkerchief.

"When I first entered the palace, the Second Prince wasn't friendly with me, and the First Princess always glared at me." She whispered, "The Second Prince's wife is jealous, and I..."

"Watch your words," Lu Liruan interrupted her. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

Seeing that Lu Liruan was willing to talk to her like this, Lu Yushi's tears fell even harder. She didn't know what method she used this time, but she actually cried quite sincerely.

"Sister, I'm only telling you this." Lu Yushi pouted, looking like she was holding it in.

"Does your family know?" Lu Liruan poured her a cup of tea and asked in a low voice.

"Of course I told her!" Lu Yushi reverted to her sarcastic tone when she brought up the matter.

"But they don't care whether I live or die now! They probably just pretend I don't exist as their daughter! No... they're still hoping that I'll put up with it and get some benefits for them!"

This is the truth.

"To put it nicely, she's a concubine; to put it bluntly, isn't she just a mistress who can be abused at will?" Lu Yushi became more and more angry as she spoke, and slammed her hand on the table in frustration.

"Didn't the Second Prince take you to a palace banquet a few days ago?" Lu Liruan asked, taking a sip of tea as if listening to gossip.

“I have no grudge against the Empress Dowager, yet she torments me. One time, the Second Prince discovered this and came to my courtyard. Only then did my life become a little easier…”

Lu Yushi revealed her experiences to Lu Liruan, making Lu Liruan blush.

"Can……"

"Alright, you were so fierce at home, bullying both of my younger sisters. Why are you acting pitiful now?" Lu Liruan's tone softened, carrying a hint of teasing.

“I was young and ignorant.” Lu Yushi lowered her head, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers, revealing a hint of resentment.

"Oh?" Lu Liruan raised an eyebrow.

"Sister Li Ruan, please believe me!" Lu Yushi said, embarrassed and annoyed.

"What use are you to me? I can't help you argue with the Second Prince's Consort." Lu Liruan shrugged.

"No...no need." Lu Yushi's expression turned sour at the mention of this: "I know you can't do anything for me, sister."

"You're unwilling? What, do you think you and I call the shots in this palace?" Lu Liruan retorted lightly.

"No."

"Since you've already suffered a loss, don't let it go to waste. Learn from it!" Lu Liruan tapped the table with her knuckles. "Learn from your mistakes and use the same cunning you have for your sisters!"

Realizing Lu Liruan was being sarcastic, Lu Yushi blushed and lowered her head, remaining silent.

"I really can't help you with anything. You know I rarely leave the house."

"As long as my sister allows me to visit, that's fine. After all, Sister Li Ruan... has a noble status," she said softly.

Lu Liruan secretly chuckled: Saying that must have really put her in a difficult position, making her feel terrible, right?

"You've gone too far."

"As long as people feel that I am of one mind with my sister, and that my sister is willing to protect me, they won't dare to do anything to me easily." Lu Yushi finally revealed the purpose of her recent visit.

“I don’t mind if you come. Anyway, it’s quite boring for me to stay here alone all day.” Lu Liruan pondered for a moment, and finally agreed.

Lu Yushi's eyes lit up: "Sister Li Ruan, thank you, thank you!"

After she left, Qinghe gently massaged Lu Liruan's shoulders and back, and asked softly, "Your Majesty, do you... really believe her?"

"Whether you believe it or not, you have to take your time to figure it out, right?" Lu Liruan curled the corners of her lips. She wanted to see if Lu Yushi had truly changed her nature, or...

Lu Liruan gently stroked the jade bracelet on her wrist with her fingertips, unaware that she looked somewhat similar to Ji Shumin.

"What? Witchcraft?" Consort Rong's expression changed drastically, and she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Mother, please keep your voice down!" The Seventh Prince glanced around instinctively, his brows furrowed tightly, and lowered his voice.

Consort Rong realized her lapse in decorum, coughed lightly, and waved to the palace maid who was already at the door to go and guard the palace gate, leaving only her and the Seventh Prince in the room.

"Is he crazy? How confident are you about this?" Consort Rong got up, her slender willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed, and a rare hint of panic appeared on her beautiful face.

"It's hard to say," the Seventh Prince said truthfully.

"Then how did you..."

"Of course, your son has a way." The Seventh Prince was quite proud of himself. When he was younger, he felt that he was always being held back, but now he was well-informed.

"The Crown Prince has been acting suspiciously lately, and he has secretly sent letters out of the palace several times!" The Seventh Prince had long been eyeing Songjing Garden.

"Do you know exactly what was written in that letter?" Consort Rong pressed.

As a woman in the harem, serving the emperor closely, she naturally understood what was important and what could provoke his wrath.

This witchcraft is a taboo subject for the emperor.

When the emperor was still a prince, he was harmed by witchcraft and sorcery and was almost framed and unable to recover.

Ultimately, this matter is related to the Empress Dowager. She helped the Emperor, which allowed him to escape danger and get out of trouble smoothly.

However, because of this, the Emperor always treated the Imperial Concubine with great respect.

The Empress Dowager has never had any children of her own, and has no conflict of interest with the Emperor, which is why she has been favored until now and is the most carefree woman in the palace.

After ascending the throne, the emperor vigorously rectified the situation and dealt with it severely. For a time, even the common people dared not engage in such practices, and witchcraft disappeared from the capital.

For so many years, no one in the palace has dared to offend the Emperor.

If the Crown Prince really does... then his good days are completely over!

"We don't know exactly what was written, and Ji Shumin is still wary. I can't attract his attention." The Seventh Prince called the Crown Prince by his real name fiercely.

"If he hadn't used some underhanded methods, how could Father have trusted him so much? I heard that being with him... even cured his illness." The Seventh Prince's expression showed a hint of doubt.

"I've never heard of anything so strange!"

Consort Rong pushed her forehead with her hand: "His Majesty's headache is a problem he developed when he was young. How could it suddenly get better... Could it really be?"

The two were skeptical. Although they didn't understand witchcraft, the strange phenomena they were witnessing made them believe that Ji Shumin had used some unorthodox methods.

"Whether it's witchcraft or not, as long as Ji Shumin is involved, it must be witchcraft! Father hates this the most and will definitely not let it go!" The Seventh Prince was determined to bring down Ji Shumin this time.

Without Ji Shumin, the position of Crown Prince would be within his grasp!

The thoughts of the Seventh Prince and the Second Prince were perfectly aligned here.

"Investigate! Even if it's not true... we must make it true!" A fierce and ruthless glint appeared in Consort Rong's beautiful eyes.

In this palace, if you don't fight for yourself, you'll just have to wait to be trampled underfoot by others!

The victors are kings, the losers are villains. This mother and son will never be fish on the chopping block!

Meanwhile, His Highness the Crown Prince, who is hated by everyone, has been living a more and more leisurely life lately.

As the weather got hotter, the Crown Princess dared not leave him in the sun for too long.

After planting flowers in the house, Lu Liruan had a small balcony built near the window.

The place where Ji Shumin sunbathed changed from the outside to a low, small balcony.

A dried fleece blanket was laid out, and Ji Shumin covered his knees with a thin quilt. The book he was reading was taken away by Lu Liruan and replaced with a plate of peeled dried fruit.

When Lu Liruan had nothing to do, she would peel three, eat one herself, and put the other two on a plate, accumulating quite a few.

The unique aroma of nuts spread between his lips and teeth. Ji Shumin couldn't swallow two for a long time. He played with the wrinkled walnut kernels with his slender fingertips and chatted lazily with Lu Liruan.

"Your Highness, eat some more. Walnuts are good for the brain." Lu Liruan was rinsing her pen. She seemed to have finally figured things out. Her handwriting was getting better and better, and she loved writing more and more.

"I've never heard of it." Ji Shumin shifted his body, leaning back more comfortably.

“If I say it’s true, then it’s true.” Lu Liruan said bluntly.

“The Crown Princess said she wanted some, but I don’t need any.” Ji Shumin looked at Lu Liruan’s confident expression and found it more and more amusing.

“Ah—” He suddenly raised his chin at Lu Liruan.

Lu Liruan was confused, but reflexively followed his movement, looking up and opening her mouth.

"Well!"

The walnut kernel in Ji Shumin's hand flew precisely in an arc into Lu Liruan's mouth.

As soon as Lu Liruan closed the box, she crunched it open. The walnut meat had a slightly astringent taste, which made Lu Liruan realize what it was.

"Heh." Ji Shumin chuckled lightly, thinking it was quite obvious: wasn't it crystal clear who should make the change?

Lu Liruan served him walnut cakes for dinner, walnut porridge the next morning, and walnut snacks for lunch.

Xiao Xizi glanced at the Crown Prince's gloomy face and the Crown Princess's leisurely demeanor, as if she hadn't seen anything.

Whether the Crown Princess is intelligent or not is unclear, but she is certainly incredibly courageous. She dared to pull the tiger's whiskers and then held its head down, telling it not to get angry...

"Your father's birthday is coming up soon, isn't it?" Ji Shumin suddenly asked.

"Ah...yes." Lu Liruan paused for a moment and nodded.

"Are you returning home that day, or a day earlier?"

Lu Liruan then remembered that she could go back to the Marquis of He'an's residence to celebrate her father's birthday!

This dynasty values ​​filial piety and believes that even after a woman marries, she should not forget the kindness of her parents. She can return home for a short stay on her parents' birthdays.

Women in the palace who hold the position of principal wife may also return home.

"Let me think about it." Lu Liruan was a little excited. Although life in Songjingyuan was peaceful and quiet now, Lu Liruan still missed the Marquis of He'an's mansion and her close relatives.

"Hmm, whatever you say," Ji Shumin replied casually.

His face was obscured by the dim light and shadow, making it impossible to discern his expression.

After a long while, Lu Liruan suddenly heard him speak again: "If you could leave the palace, what kind of mansion would you like?"