Shangguan Wan’s heartbeat quickened as her heart pumped loudly. She alertly glanced at her surroundings before meticulously taking out the wooden box.
Even Jiang Yucheng didn’t know that Shangguan Wan had roughly known about all the mechanisms in his study. It was just that she had never done such a thing before. This was because she knew that Jiang Yucheng would definitely fly into a rage once he found out.
But this time, she was really too curious!
Shangguan Wan carefully looked at the wooden box in her hands.
The wooden box was made of agarwood, and it gave off a light fragrance. The surface was smooth and had intricate patterns, looking very detailed and elegant.
For some reason, the lock on it wasn’t closed properly.
Shangguan Wan thought that he had put away the item too hurriedly that day, so he forgot to lock it.
She held her breath in and opened the wooden box—there indeed was a scroll of a painting within!
For some reason, Shangguan Wan was so nervous that her palms were sweating. She had a feeling that this scroll might really contain Jiang Yucheng’s secret…
Then, she took out the painting.
This item seemed rather old. No matter if it were the scroll itself or the paper, they both looked a little yellow. But this painting had been stored very well, and one could tell how precious the owner thought of it.
Without blinking, Shangguan Wan gradually unfurled the painting scroll.
When she saw the contents on it, Shangguan Wan suddenly widened her eyes.
A woman wearing a palace outfit was in the painting. She stood by the lake and turned around to smile happily when she heard something.
She had skin as white as snow and cherry lips. Her eyes looked kind, and her entire appearance complemented her elegant nature well, but her smile added some hints of wittiness to her eyes, which charmed one to no end.
If one said that she was originally as bright as the moon, cold and elegant, which one could not touch, with her smile, she became much friendlier, making one feel that they could just reach out and touch her to get the moon in the sky.
She was breathtakingly beautiful and mesmerizing.
This was probably it.
However, what shocked Shangguan Wan wasn’t that Jiang Yucheng kept a painting of such a woman, but that… The woman in the painting was Shangguan Yue!
That Shangguan Yue who was once high and mighty as if nobody could ever reach her but decided to burn herself to death and fell into the abyss of death!
Kada!
The painting scroll dropped down from Shangguan Wan’s hands, but the woman in the painting still smiled in such a mesmerizing manner.
It was as if all the good looks in the world were gathered in that one person—she was incomparable.
At that moment, it was like thunder striking as Shangguan Wan’s mind turned completely blank.
Her hands kept trembling, and her entire person dropped into an icy hole as the coldness chilled her to the bones. This chill spread from the inside to the outside and from her head to her toe.
She staggered backward, hit the chair, and almost fell to the floor.
“I-impossible! This is definitely impossible!” muttered Shangguan Wan, but nobody knew who she was explaining to or trying to convince. That’s Shangguan Yue…
That’s Shangguan Yue! I knew Jiang Yucheng had once liked Shangguan Yue, but wasn’t that all in the past?! He personally poisoned and kidnapped her to the ancestral hall! It was even him who personally attacked Shangguan Yue and drove her to the road of death! But if he had any form of reminiscence of love toward Shangguan Yue, why would he do that?
It was coincidentally because of all of this that Shangguan Wan believed that Jiang Yucheng had lost all feelings for Shangguan Yue. But it was only now that she suddenly discovered that everything she thought was wrong!
Shangguan Wan’s face was as white as a ghost. Her eyes were soulless, and her heart felt like it was tightly clutched—it was so painful that she almost suffocated.
As if she suddenly recovered her senses, she hurriedly picked up that painting, bit her lips, and looked at it closely.
The Shangguan Yue in this painting looked rather young as if she was only 13 or 14 years old.
At that moment, Shangguan Wan’s heart shook. I remember! This palace outfit was indeed the one that Shangguan Yue wore when she was 14 and became of marriageable age! She was born to be the precious Princess, so her turning-of-marriageable-age ceremony was very important.
Shangguan Wan still clearly remembered that many people came to the palace that day. Everyone was smiling, and everyone was praising Shangguan Yue.
Shangguan Yue—who had just become of marriageable age—was still a young woman, but she had already attracted countless people’s admiration.
Some people were naturally born to be at the top of the mountain and under the spotlight! Shangguan Yue was this kind of existence!
Why would Jiang Yucheng have such a painting? Shangguan Wan’s gaze turned, and she saw the footer below.
It was a line of words: “Yuan Zhen Year 31, Tenth of August. Seeing Yue elates me, and she is where my heart lies.”
Jiang Yucheng personally wrote this on that day in that year! It has already been ten years since that day! Shangguan Wan stared at that line of words with a deadly gaze as if she was going to burn a hole in it.
She clutched the scroll so tightly that her knuckles turned white. If it weren’t because she still had her last bit of rationality, she would directly tear this painting apart!
I see… I see! After so many years, Jiang Yucheng has liked only Shangguan Yue from start to end! If he didn’t miss her, why would he keep such a painting so dearly?! And I—Shangguan Wan—am just a joke to fill in the space!
“Hah!
For the past few years, he planned for me and listened to my every word. All along, I thought that I was different to Jiang Yucheng. But now, I finally know that I’m worth nothing to him. She threw the painting onto the floor and covered her face as she cried and laughed, her entire person deranged.
Earlier, she was still thinking about how to take the initiative to repair their relationship. Even if she had to lower her head willingly, she wanted to do so.
As long as they could make up, as long as the wedding the next day could be held successfully, as long as everything in the future could go on blissfully…
Something seemed to be crazily churning in Shangguan Wan’s chest as her face suddenly flashed white. Then, she directly spat blood out.
Her aura rapidly declined, and she fell onto the chair.
When the guards outside heard the commotion, they knocked on the door worriedly and lowered their voice to ask, “Your Highness, are you alright?”
Shangguan Wan’s mind was in a mess.
She was dazed for a moment before she stiffly put away the painting, placed the box back, and walked outside. Then, she enunciated every word clearly as she asked, “Where exactly is he now?”
…
Zither room, Xin Li Garden.
When Chu Liuyue arrived, she saw Jiang Yucheng standing by the lake.
He was wearing a light-green robe, and he stood with his hands behind his back. He stared at the lake as if in a daze, thinking of something.
Upon hearing the footsteps, he turned back.
When he saw Chu Liuyue, his gaze turned much gentler.
Chu Liuyue’s gaze changed slightly, and she walked over. “Eldest Young Master, why are you looking for me?”
Jiang Yucheng looked at her, and there seemed to be waves crashing in his eyes. After a moment, he suddenly said, “I want to marry you.”
