Chapter 144 Second Update
"Commandery Princess." There was no intention to speak within the carriage, and Ju Nanyi performed his salute with neither servility nor overbearing pride, his gesture limited to the salute, without any desire to engage in conversation.
Zheng Nianru immediately felt somewhat amused. Was this ignorance?
Indeed, it was possible he did not know; when Wen Zan went to ask for the painting draft, he naturally did not say it was hers. With this thought, Zheng Nianru no longer felt her anger was justified. Perhaps when Fu Gong spoke with Wen Zan, he never even mentioned her name.
"Scholar Ju, is the remaining half of the painting draft finished?" Having reached this thought, Zheng Nianru didn’t feel as angry as she had when she arrived.
"Commandery Princess, this official has recently been preoccupied with the preparation of the birthday exhibition flags for the Hanlin Academy and also had to deal with river channel matters. I have not had a moment.." Ju Nanyi never raised his head; his tone was calm but tinged with difficulty. On one side were official tasks weighing him down, and on the other, the weight of aristocratic family power; he was clearly in a difficult position, seeming to be caught between a rock and a hard place.
"So you are saying, Scholar Ju, that you haven’t finished the painting?" Zheng Nianru was one hundred percent disbelieving; Ju Nanyi had never had the habit of leaving a task half-done.
"Yes." In his experience, and from what he understood, although Prince Duan had fallen out of favor, he was after all Empress Dowager Yan Ping’s most beloved son. Although stripped of military power, Prince Duan still held sway, it’s just that he did not wish to engage with it.
The Crown Prince seemed to have also seen this, hence in the past three years, the Crown Prince had indeed put in a lot of effort with Prince Duan, starting from carefully drawing closer without leaving any trace, to now having gained Prince Duan’s trust.
So, what was he doing now? Attracting the attention of the person in front of him with this pitiable method that was laughably pathetic.