Ning Shu had no other choice but to go live in the Princess Residence. If she tried to negotiate with Li Wen and ended up irritating him, she wouldn’t even have a place left to cry. At the very least, if she left the palace, she wouldn’t have to deal with the Inner Palace quarrels.
“This sister-subject thanks Imperial Older Brother for this grace.” Ning Shu curtsied towards Li Wen and immediately prepared to beat it. The more she could avoid Li Wen, the better.
>When speaking to Li Wen, Ning Shu refers to herself as ‘this subject and younger sister’ which I’ve shortened to sister-subject. I’ve seen this term used in Victorian era stories too, I think.<
“Wait a minute.” Li Wen stopped Ning Shu. Ning Shu turned around to look at him questioningly and he said mildly, “Come here and grind the ink.”
Ning Shu said ‘oh’ in reply and walked over. Lifting her sleeve back gently with one hand, she added a bit of water to the ink stone before picking up the cinnabar ink stick and starting to grind it. Ning Shu was inwardly very nervous. She had never ground ink before; she was simply going by what the original host remembered.
The good thing was, though the movement was unfamiliar, she slowly got comfortable with it. Li Wen glanced at her. When she saw him look over, she immediately grinned at him.
Li Wen shifted his gaze away back to the memorial in front of him. Lifting the cinnabar brush, he continued circling certain places on the memorial. Ning Shu didn’t dare to glance around and lowered her head to look at the ink stone.
The room was very quiet with only the slight rubbing sound of the ink stick. Ning Shu was very depressed. She really wanted to leave. Staying by Li Wen’s side made all her hair stand up on end. Goosebumps were even about to rise.
She hadn’t felt this way even when she was facing Ling Xue in the last world. She couldn’t tell what Li Wen was thinking at all. She couldn’t even figure out what mood he was currently in right now. Happiness, unhappiness, anger, or joy – it couldn’t be made out at all.
Even the original host had never truly looked at her biological brother.
In Ning Shu’s opinion, Li Wen was a person that had forfeit his humanity by giving up all emotions. Due to that, he was too deep to read.
“Why did you suddenly want to leave the palace?” Li Wen spoke abruptly.
Ning Shu was deep in thought and was startled by Li Wen’s sudden question. Her hand movement abruptly stopped, causing some of the cinnabar liquid in the inkstone to splash out. Some splashed onto Li Wen, and some even splashed onto the memorial in front of Li Wen.
Ning Shu’s facial color changed slightly. The little figure inside her heart was covering her head and shrieking: my pitifully short life ah, she was going to die aaah.
Ning Shu hastily took out a handkerchief and wiped at the little red dots on the memorial in a charming manner. Then she moved to wipe the cinnabar ink on Li Wen’s clothes.
Li Wen blocked Ning Shu’s movements with his hand and put down the cinnabar brush, his expression as indifferent as always. Ning Shu’s heart rapidly thumped twice. She wound around the table and saluted Li Wen. “This sister-subject didn’t do it on purpose and hopes that Imperial Older Brother will pardon this.”
Li Wen’s brows lifted as he asked, “What were you thinking about, to be so absent-minded?”
“Duan Xinghui.” Ning Shu dragged Duan Xinghui out as a scapegoat without even thinking about it. Li Wen’s face still didn’t have any expression.
Ning Shu seriously suspected that this guy had facial nerve paralysis; all the nerves on his face had probably died.
“We wish to ask you why you suddenly wanted to leave the palace. Has someone in the palace caused trouble for you?” Li Wen didn’t continue the topic Ning Shu pulled out and instead repeated his earlier question.
“This sister-subject wishes to have a change of environment,” replied Ning Shu honestly.
Li Wen didn’t say anything and simply waved towards Ning Shu to have her withdraw. Ning Shu left as if she had been granted amnesty. She left the Imperial Study, then strode all the way out of the palace before heaving a sigh of relief. No matter what, she had obtained her objective.
Li Wen watched as Ning Shu hastily left and narrowed his eyes slightly. His gaze was deep but also seemed to contain billows.