In the boundless darkness, a faint voice came from afar.
"Daddy, why don't you want me..."
"Daddy, is it because I'm not good-looking?"
"Daddy..."
Shen Yunfeng seemed to be fixed in place and couldn't break free. He could only listen as the voice grew louder and finally exploded beside his ear.
The blood - smeared lump enlarged, scaring Shen Yunfeng to collapse on the ground. It was that child!
That child had already taken shape. It was a daughter, and Shen Yunfeng had aborted her alive. Now the child had come to claim his life!
No matter how hard Shen Yunfeng ran, he couldn't get away. The lump closely followed him and opened its huge bloody mouth, as if it was going to swallow Shen Yunfeng whole.
...
"Ah!"
Shen Yunfeng woke up from his bed in a cold sweat, his mind filled with the child from his dream. He panicked and called the butler, babbling incoherence, "The child, the child has come to claim my life!"
The butler was stunned. He subconsciously thought of the child that Bai Xinrou had aborted after two months of pregnancy.
Shen Yunfeng tightly grasped the butler's hand. He was extremely scared and eager to make amends. "Go, go to my treasury and pick out a few things to send to Baozhu."
Baozhu was also his daughter. Subconsciously, Shen Yunfeng wanted to make up for his guilt on Shen Baozhu.
Thinking of what had happened yesterday, the butler knew that the young masters and miss of the princess's mansion would break with Shen Yunfeng. He gently advised, "Yesterday, the master favored the Taoist priest, and the young princess was not very happy. Instead of sending things to the young princess, it would be better to give them to Miss Bai. It would also make her life in prison easier..."
"What does this have to do with Bai Xinrou?" Shen Yunfeng frowned in disgust. The mother of the child that made him feel guilty could never be Bai Xinrou.
Thinking of that child, Shen Yunfeng's tone became urgent and annoyed. It was his first child, already formed, but he had aborted it himself. The more he thought about it, the deeper his guilt became.
Shen Yunfeng waved his hand and told the butler to go to the treasury to pick out things. Then he lay back on the bed. He wanted to sleep a bit more.
A quarter of an hour later, Shen Yunfeng woke up with a start again.
...
It was not until dawn that Shen Yunfeng was still repeating this process: lying down to sleep, being chased in his dream, and waking up in a fright...
Waking up from another nightmare, Shen Yunfeng stared blankly at the ceiling. He had made a fool of himself yesterday, so he changed his mind at night and decided not to divorce.
The reason was simple. Shen Yunfeng was not a fool. Now everyone in the capital knew that he was despised by God, while Princess Jingning was favored by God. If he divorced now, he would get no benefits at all. It was better to just stay in this stalemate.
But now, Shen Yunfeng changed his mind again.
The recurring nightmares made Shen Yunfeng both hate the child and feel extremely guilty towards the person he loved.
He wanted to divorce and marry the person he loved!
Even though he was so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open, Shen Yunfeng didn't dare to sleep anymore. He simply tidied himself up and then went to find Princess Jingning.
The Shen family would not allow Shen Yunfeng to divorce, so he had to discuss it with Princess Jingning before the Shen family found out.
...
In the main courtyard.
Shen Baozhu was sitting on a chair, tightly holding the chopsticks in her small hands, but with her eyes closed. It seemed that she was not having breakfast but sleeping.
"Baozhu? Baozhu? What did you do last night instead of sleeping?" Shen Heqing looked at Shen Baozhu worriedly. He reached out and pushed her, waking her up.
Hearing her elder brother's voice, Shen Baozhu immediately woke up. She quickly picked up the chopsticks and ate all the shrimp dumplings on the table.
Then she looked at Shen Heqing with a mournful look in her eyes. "I was competing with elder brother for the shrimp dumplings. I couldn't beat elder brother, and he even forced me to read books and practice calligraphy. I didn't sleep well all night."
Shen Heqing felt guilty under her gaze and awkwardly touched his nose. "So you had a nightmare. Then eat more, Baozhu."
[So this is what the cute girl's nightmare is about. It's quite cute.]
Shen Baozhu's mournful eyes fell on the Dragon King's subtitle. If it weren't for wiping the Dragon King's juice on Daddy, she wouldn't have touched the juice, and she definitely wouldn't have been chased by elder brother for the shrimp dumplings in her dream!
The sleepy and angry little girl was unhappy, and her eating speed slowed down.
Shen Heqing quickly coaxed her, "Don't be angry... After you finish eating, elder brother will take you to play with Qiuqiu. Okay?"
Qiuqiu, whose full name was Chen Wanqiu, was the third young lady of the Yong'an Marquis Mansion and also Shen Baozhu's good friend.
Hearing that her elder brother was going to take her to play with her friend, Shen Baozhu regained her eating speed. She wanted to finish eating quickly and go play with Qiuqiu!
In the study.
Shen Yunfeng got straight to the point. "I want a divorce. You can take Baozhu and Haiyan."
Unlike Shen Yunfeng's haggard appearance, after a whole day of rest, Princess Jingning looked radiant. She was sitting behind the table, wearing a crabapple hairpin. Her bright purple short gauze over an apricot - pink thin dress made her look a bit more charming.
This dressing style made Shen Yunfeng fall into memories.
When he first met Princess Jingning, she was also wearing a crabapple hairpin and an apricot - pink long dress. The young girl who had just entered the capital was bright and cheerful, and her smile was so flamboyant.
After they got married, Shen Yunfeng wanted to spend the rest of his life with Princess Jingning in peace. But on the day when Princess Jingning was found to be pregnant, the first letter in the box in the study was just delivered to Shen Yunfeng.
Seeing Shen Yunfeng staring blankly at her, Princess Jingning slightly curled her lips. It wasn't only Shen Yunfeng who could use old feelings; she could too.
While Shen Yunfeng was lost in memories, Princess Jingning handed the prepared silver note to Shen Yunfeng. "I also want Danqing and Concubine Yun."
"If you agree, we'll go to the yamen to get divorced now. Don't worry about the Emperor. I'll handle it."
Concubine Yun and her son had nothing to do with the Mu family. Shen Yunfeng was about to refuse when his eyes fell on the crabapple hairpin beside Princess Jingning's temple. He sighed and advised, "Concubine Yun is my concubine, and Shen Danqing is my illegitimate son. They have nothing to do with you. Why do you want to take them?"
Princess Jingning smiled lightly and didn't give in an inch. "You don't like them either. Why not do me a favor?"
Maybe she was a bit thirsty. Princess Jingning leaned forward slightly to pour herself a cup of tea. As she moved, the hairpin swayed, making Shen Yunfeng's eyes ache.
When he had previously instigated Bai Xinrou to harm Shen Baozhu and Shen Heqing, Shen Yunfeng had been quite self - righteous.
Now, when discussing the terms of the divorce, Shen Yunfeng rarely felt a bit of old affection. He took the initiative to take a step back. "You can only take Concubine Yun away. Shen Danqing is the blood of the Shen family..."
"Mr. Shen, back then, the second young master was registered under our princess's name. In the official household register, he is our princess's own son!" Ziwan gently reminded Shen Yunfeng.
Only then did Shen Yunfeng finally realize that he had fallen into a trap. Princess Jingning had planned this for a long time and deliberately led him to loosen his mouth so that she could take Shen Danqing away!
He gritted his teeth and stared at Princess Jingning. "Fine, excellent! Since you've registered Shen Danqing under your name, you can only take him! Heqing and the others are all my blood. I won't give them to you."
Baizhi stepped forward and scolded, "Bah! Shameless! When you harmed the young princess, the eldest young master, and the third young master before, why didn't you realize they were your children?"
If it weren't for Ziwan holding her back, Baizhi would have rushed up to beat Shen Yunfeng.
Listening to Baizhi's scolding, Shen Yunfeng became even more determined. He would only give Shen Danqing!
Princess Jingning was unwilling, but couldn't resist Shen Yunfeng's persistence. Soon, they wrote the divorce agreement, stating that Shen Danqing would belong to the wife, and the other children would belong to the husband.
Shen Yunfeng walked out of the yamen first, while Princess Jingning, who was walking behind, felt relaxed. She had finally divorced.
Baizhi beside her couldn't help but laugh. "Princess, shall we go out for a stroll?"
"What stroll? You just want to give the eldest young master time to scold Shen Yunfeng!" Ziwan saw through Baizhi's thoughts and also laughed.
The divorce agreement stated that Shen Danqing would belong to Princess Jingning, but in the imperial edict bestowed by the Emperor yesterday, it was written that Shen Heqing, Shen Haiyan, and Shen Baozhu would all return to the Mu family with Princess Jingning.
It was Shen Heqing who had entertained the Emperor yesterday, and he had seen the Emperor write the imperial edict with his own eyes. If Shen Yunfeng wanted to take Shen Heqing home, he would surely humiliate himself.