The Double

Mei Xiang stood outside the door, her eyes revealing worry. It seemed that the crisis had been temporarily resolved, and Princess Yongning had rightfully moved in to live with Shen Yurong, but would things truly go smoothly? Not to mention other concerns, even Mother Shen’s sharp tongue, when faced with Princess Yongning’s innate pride, was bound to clash eventually.

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Princess Yongning’s demotion to commoner status and Shen Yurong’s resignation from his position had greatly impacted the entire Shen family. As a result, Mother Shen held considerable resentment towards Princess Yongning, while Shen Ruyun lost all the care she had been receiving in the Marquis of Ningyuan’s Mansion overnight.

Zhou Yanbang grew increasingly reckless in his actions. He would not return home at night, spending his time seeking pleasure in brothels. When he did return to the mansion, he never visited Shen Ruyun, but would go to Jiang Yue instead.

Following the incident involving Shen Yurong and Princess Yongning, the servants at Marquis Ningyuan’s Mansion began to look at Shen Ruyun with different eyes. Some even said that the incident at the palace banquet, which was supposed to have been Shen Ruyun being treated improperly by Zhou Yanbang, might actually have been her throwing herself at him. They speculated that perhaps Zhou Yanbang did nothing at all, and it was Shen Ruyun who wanted to marry Zhou Yanbang, thus smearing mud on him, accusing him falsely. After all, her elder brother was no better, secretly getting involved with a princess and causing her to bear a child for another man.

Wherever Shen Ruyun walked within the mansion, she could hear these gossipy whispers. And when Shen Yurong indeed resigned from his official position, just as he had said, the mocking grew even more intense, daring to be voiced right in front of Shen Ruyun’s face.

Shen Ruyun was extremely distressed. She hadn’t expected that Princess Yongning, who once brought boundless aspirations and glory to the Shen family, had now become an adhesive plaster that couldn’t be shaken off. Their past relationship with Princess Yongning was no longer seen as a "stroke of good fortune for the Shen family’s ancestors," but rather as a stain reviled by the public. The Marquis and Madam Ningyuan had even called her to their quarters that morning, insinuating obliquely that Shen Ruyun should initiate a divorce, to allow some peace for Marquis Ningyuan’s Mansion, and to avoid becoming a joke in the eyes of others.

Shen Ruyun, seething with anger, nearly nauseous when she left Madam Ningyuan’s quarters, unexpectedly encountered Jiang Yue.