青春期撞上更年期第1部

Consort Lan looked quite emotional but gradually calmed down as she heard his words. There was such a sad look in her beautiful eyes. “Chen’er, you know, you are the last person I want to hurt in the world. As long as you are happy, I am willing to do anything. I… All I wanted was to protect you…”

“You shouldn’t have, Your Grace. I almost lost my life under your protection.” Chu Liuchen sat down with a faint smile and tidied up his sleeves. “What can I do for you? If there’s nothing urgent, we’d better not meet. Some rumors might reach Uncle the Emperor. Even if you can clarify the situation, it’s not a good thing and won’t be good for you.”

“Chen’er… you… do you hate me so much? When you were little, you… you had a good time with me, didn’t you?” Consort Lan asked with tears.

“If you feel like talking about my childhood, then forget it. I don’t want to talk about my childhood when I was almost killed. If possible, never mention it!” Chu Liuchen said emphatically.

“You… Is Princess Chen okay?” Consort Lan straightened up, got her breath back, and asked, though the determined look in his eyes sent her in sore distress.

“It will be better if you don’t disturb her!” Chu Liuchen lowered his eyes, and his handsome face looked grim.

“I… I had tried to protect her, but I didn’t expect things to develop so fast. I… I…” Consort Lan stammered and wanted to explain, but Chu Liuchen interrupted her in a brusque tone. “Your Grace, please stop it. You are always in a dilemma, feeling helpless or improper to act. You might as well leave everything alone. In this way, good luck may come to you. As for my affairs, you don’t need to worry about them!”

“What happens to my wife has nothing to do with you. And you needn’t care about whether I live or die. After all, we should stay away from each other!”

Chu Liuchen raised the corners of his mouth, putting on a skin-deep smile. “Your Grace, I can’t stay here for long. I have to go back home to see my wife. She was so badly injured because of me. If I had been in the mansion then, I might have been the one who was murdered.”

Chu Liuchen got to his feet, swung his wide sleeves, and said leisurely. After that, he casually cupped his hands in a farewell gesture to Consort Lan, turned around, and left.

“Chen’er!” Consort Lan called out to him, large teardrops running down her cheeks.

Chu Liuchen came to a halt at the door. Seeing that, she was immediately overjoyed. She suddenly stood up and muttered, “Chen’er!”

“Your Grace, I want you to stay far away from my wife and me. Please don’t look for her again. It can be regarded as a good thing. Besides, manage your affairs well. Don’t let others plot against my wife when they fail to harm you.”

After saying that, Chu Liuchen didn’t stay any longer and strode away.

Only Consort Lan staggered to sit down behind him. Suddenly, she picked up her handkerchief to cover her face and cried bitterly. Did she regret it? She didn’t know the answer, but she just didn’t want to see Chu Liuchen like this.

“Your Grace, don’t be sad. His Highness couldn’t help it. I heard Princess Chen was seriously injured.” Qing Mu, her trusted palace maid, walked out from behind her and comforted her with an undertone.

“But what could I do? I… I couldn’t do anything about it. I loathe seeing this situation either…” Consort Lan leaned against the back of the chair and whimpered.

“Your Grace, I heard some people had been hindering him from returning to the capital city. Something bad happened to his carriage, and he almost lost his life. As soon as he entered the capital city, Princess Chen was also almost murdered. His Highness must have been quite distressed, so he talked to you like that… His Highness finally recovered after all the trouble. Now, some people can’t tolerate him!”

Qing Mu lowered her voice and said. Only she and her master were in the room. They had been through numerous trials and hardships together, so they could say these words, even if they sounded offensive to those in power.

“Why can’t they endure him? Hasn’t they been in peace with each other for so many years?” Consort Lan cried out.

Qing Mu sighed. For the first time, she felt his master was too naive. “In the past, His Highness was in poor health and might collapse any day. Besides, he had given up hope for himself. So, no one had to deal with him. He himself could… Now that he has recovered and is determined to live a good life with Princess Chen, his good condition has surely provoked others!”

Qing Mu reminded Consort Lan, but the latter abruptly changed to another topic. She wiped away her tears and said with a heavy heart, “Is Princess Chen that good? She kindled his desire to live. I’ve devoted myself to him for many years, but he has never shown me kindness. How… how could he be so cruel?”

Qing Mu felt helpless, for she had never thought she would think of it this way. However, seeing things through her master’s eyes, she said, “Princess Chen is a cause of his change, but His Highness also wants to be strong. As soon as he becomes powerful, it will arouse others’ intention to kill. This time, Princess Chen should have been wounded because of His Highness’s affairs.”

“How dare they…” Consort Lan said through gritted teeth, focusing back on this matter. Her beautiful face clouded over, and her eyes were fixed on a square brick on the ground.

“Your Grace, for all this, why wouldn’t they dare to do it? I’m afraid that keeping His Highness safe won’t be as easy as when he was sick.” Seeing that her master still didn’t understand, Qing Mu explained in detail and made her realize the reality.

Consort Lan lurched to her feet, and her velvety eyes suddenly turned as chill as ice and frost. She twisted the handkerchief in her hand hard twice before saying slowly, “Invite His Majesty to come over tonight!”

“Your Grace, are you willing to meet His Highness?” Qing Mu asked, feeling pleasantly surprised. Consort Lan’s place was generally considered a Cold Palace because the Emperor wouldn’t visit her even a few times for a whole year. For one thing, it was inconvenient for him to come here. For another, Consort Lan had been holding a negative attitude and felt reluctant to see the Emperor. Gradually, her living place became deserted and quiet.

If it hadn’t been for the guards at the gate, the other favored consorts would have been trampled down at her palace.

Consort Lan nodded and said, “Since they are unwilling to let us go, why should we let them go? It has been so many years… For so many years, everything should have belonged to Chen’er. No one else can take it away from him!”

“Your Grace, it’s great you can think in this way. It… It should be his in the first place. His Highness is the authentic crown prince.” Qing Mu knelt with tears in her eyes.

She knew the bitterness in her master’s heart and understood why her master felt helpless. Nevertheless, she believed everything should be Prince Chen’s. In any case, Prince Chen owned everything, not the other unjustifiable ones.

“I was seriously wrong, but I won’t repeat my mistakes!” Consort Lan wiped away her tears and pulled up Qing Mu, who had been wailing miserably. At this point, her faith went very deep. She could no longer compromise. For the sake of Chu Liuchen, she should make no concession. Since those people wanted Prince Chen to die, they would have to step over her dead body first.

Otherwise, she would step over their corpses.

She had always known that this path was accompanied by wind and rain reeking of blood. Any royal family member was fully aware of that. In the past, she stood aloof from worldly success because Chu Liuchen was in poor health. There was nothing to fight for, and the most important thing for him was to take good care of himself. Back then, those people didn’t hold so much malice against Chu Liuchen.

Chu Liuchen had recovered, and it was okay for him to run for thousands of miles, which meant that he had restored his health. What had happened before made Consort Lan realize that she would only become the victim of others if she chose not to fight.

She would never fall prey to others. No one could stop her!

It was enough to fall victim once in this life. For the rest of her life, she would fight for Chen’er. Even if she would be smashed to pieces, so what? Anyway, she was past caring about anything else long ago!

“Tell the imperial kitchen to prepare wine and dishes for His Majesty in the evening.” Consort Lan ordered coldly, and her eyes darkened. Only at this time did she demonstrate her original demeanor. In the past, Consort Lan, seemingly weak, had been staying aloof from the affairs to keep herself safe and peaceful. But she was no longer the person that she used to be.

“Your Grace, the imperial kitchen may not prepare anything good for us.” Qing Mu hesitated for a moment and said.

It had been rumored that Consort Lan’s place had always enjoyed a superior status. Guards, who wouldn’t even allow the Empress to enter, were protecting the so-called Cold Palace. It could be seen that Consort Lan was unique. In the beginning, she appeared out of the ordinary in other people’s eyes. However, she had been confined in her palace for so long, and the Emperor seldom visited her. In this case, who would care about such an imperial consort?

There were so many beauties and imperial consorts who moved to living in the Palace after her. Who would pay attention to a deserted imperial consort like her? Many imperial consorts who had newly moved to the Palace didn’t even know her existence, so how could other people in the imperial harem pay attention to her?

The imperial kitchen had provided her with meals, but they were usually the most common and even worse ones. However, Consort Lan didn’t mind it at all. Therefore, when Qing Mu occasionally went to the imperial kitchen, she would ask her fellow villager to prepare some good dishes for her master secretly. As for the others, they might not even know who Consort Lan was.

However, those good dishes secretly prepared still couldn’t be compared with those of other imperial consorts. Consort Lan didn’t eat much and only liked a few dishes that were not precious. She just needed several better dishes.

But it was not enough for the meal today, for Consort Lan had specially invited the Emperor to come over. Of course, some good dishes were needed. In this case, these people in the imperial kitchen would not ignore her.

“Ask them to prepare a decent meal for me today. If they refuse, you can make a scene there.” A trace of coldness flashed in Consort Lan’s eyes. “The Empress can’t even fend for herself, so she won’t have time to deal with this minor matter.”

Apart from the Empress, no one else in the imperial harem could discipline her.

She had been bearing silently for so many years and desiring for nothing. But now, since they had forced her and Chen’er into this miserable situation, how could she endure any longer…