Having come out of the Imperial Institute of Medicine, Shao Wanru got on the comfortable sedan chair and Yujie walked abreast with it, which was carried all the way to the side hall of the Phoenix Palace and put down outside it.

There was a small side door in the side hall, through which Shao Wanru could go inside and avoid going to the main entrance of the Phoenix Palace. This saved her a lot of trouble.

When she got into the room, she saw Shao Yanru reclining with a soft look on the couch against the window. She was neatly dressed, but her face was ashen, looking like she was quite ill. The hair on her temples was slightly loose with a little of her tiredness, showing that she was delicate and poor in the bones.

Her hair was a little messy, but it was not ugly. Instead, it made her look uniquely weak and soft, quite different from the usual dignified look in public. Yet, in her current weak state, even if someone thought that she was different from before, it didn’t matter. The situation that she could not fully exhibit her momentum when she was physically weak had happened in the past.

In the past few days, Shao Yanru had always changed her state calmly. She had turned her high-status and dignified image into the current poor and fragile look.

When Shao Wanru met Shao Yanru in her previous life, the latter had already been a concubine of the emperor. She had always posed as someone superior and arrogant. Sometimes she would pretend to be well-behaved and gentle. Seeing Shao Wanru being brutally trampled on by her subordinates, she would have a sympathetic look, meaning that this was what Shao Wanru had asked for and that she would have wanted to let her off mercifully.

Indeed, Shao Wanru had never seen her like this before.

She glanced at Shao Yanru’s thin and light clothes, which were quite fit, clearly showing her slender figure. Shao Yanru was in a woman’s golden age. With her thin waist tightly bound at the age of 17 or 18, her chest looked so bugling. Although she was more gorgeous, Shao Wanru had to admit at this moment that her sister had a more beautiful figure.

It was because when she was in the reclining position, the collar of her dress was a little loose, giving her an inexplicable charm.

Shao Yanru was so fully prepared today.

“Are you feeling better today, sister?” Shao Wanru stepped forward and asked lightly in a routine manner. She asked like this every day she came over.

“I’m fine!” Shao Yanru said lazily. After that, she covered her bugling chest and rolled on her side, coughing a few times. Then, she rolled back and said weakly, “Wanru, please put the painkiller into the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician and boil them together.”

Shao Wanru nodded, and Yujie retired and took the medicine to the palace servant responsible for boiling herbs.

“Why did you get up today, sister?” Shao Wanru sat still in the chair next to her, picked up the teacup at hand, took a sip, and asked.

“If I lay all the time, I would lose all my bones for being too lazy. Anyway, I have to get up and walk. If I can recover early, I can go back to our mansion. Staying in the side hall of the empress all the time is not suitable anyway,” Shao Yanru lowered her head and sighed. “I don’t hope to get anything now. I just hope that you can achieve what you want. After all, you are a member of Duke Xing’s Mansion. You can’t let others look down upon you!”

What she said was true as if she were supporting Shao Wanru wholeheartedly.

The four ladies of this generation from Duke Xing’s Mansion had entered the imperial palace to attend the Consort Selection, but due to various reasons, only Shao Wanru was left now. In this case, the family could only put all their hopes on Shao Wanru. Before the Selection, Shao Yanru had been a very promising candidate, but she ended up like this today. Anyone who had such an experience would feel discouraged.

Actually, there was nothing wrong with her current state. Besides, having survived a disaster, she had thought through those things that she could not think through and she no longer wanted to fight for those things that she had wanted to strive to get.

Without the previous reasons to excel over others, her concern about Shao Wanru looked much more natural.

In their mansions, young ladies competed with their sisters for jewelry, the attention of the elders, and even resources. But now in the palace, sometimes what they competed for was life!

She almost lost her life, so what else should she take to heart?

Compared with her own life, things like jewelry were too superficial.

Shao Yanru thought that her performance at the moment could probably satisfy Shao Wanru and let her put down her guard. She knew that she had hurt her sister many times in the past, but she, who was always prudent in handling things, had often been behind the scenes. So, she didn’t think that her sister had sensed many of her actions. At most, her sister would think that she was the helper of her mother and their grandmother.

Now she showed the white feather, so Shao Wanru would probably put down her guard against her!

“First Miss, Fifth Miss, Prince Xin is here!” Han Dan came in and reported.

Shao Wanru took a sip of tea in silence. The owner of this place was Shao Yanru, so she didn’t need to give instructions.

“Invite Prince Xin in!” Shao Yanru said. She moved slightly and Shuqi helped her sit upright hurriedly.

Chu Liuxin strode in. Seeing that Shao Yanru had sat up and freshened up, he looked her up and down in surprise and asked, “You’ve recovered, First Miss Shao?”

When he came to visit the patient in the past, there had always been a gauze curtain between him and her. The curtain was not thick, but he could only vaguely see the figure inside. He could only see Shao Yanru lying in bed and Shao Wanru, looking silent, sitting next to her.

“Yes, I’m a little better. Thanks for your visiting me, Prince Xin!” Shao Yanru said in a soft and powerless voice. She raised her extremely soft and tender eyes, ill but charming. Coupled with her slender waist and bulging breasts, she could make a man get so interested in her and feel sorry for her.

At this moment, any normal man would be involuntarily tempted by the beautiful woman in front of his eyes.

Shao Wanru glanced at Chu Liuxin’s face calmly. Obviously, this man still had no idea about the charms of women. Staring at such a beauty, he had nothing but joy in his eyes.

“That’s great. With First Miss having recovered, Fifth Miss won’t have to be so tired. She won’t have to shuttle between the Chuxiu Palace and the Phoenix Palace every day!”

Chu Liuyue said in a very good mood, but he didn’t notice that Shao Yanru’s face turned a little stiff because of his words.

Chu Liuxin liked Shao Wanru. He had wanted to find an opportunity and ask the emperor to grant him a marriage. Unexpectedly, the marriage was not granted and First Miss Shao, her sister, from the mansion where she was from, had an accident. If he asked his father, the emperor, to grant him the marriage, his father would be angry. And his mother, the emperor’s concubine, had repeatedly warned him not to act rashly during this period of time, and also asked him to stay away from the sisters of Duke Xing’s Mansion.

But Chu Liuxin didn’t think so. Now was a good opportunity because he could come and visit Shao Wanru. Therefore, he came to the Phoenix Palace every time with the excuse of greeting the empress, and then he would pay a special visit to Shao Yanru.

Visiting Shao Yanru was a lie. Of course, his main purpose was to come and see Shao Wanru. In his heart, Shao Yanru was just the cousin of Fifth Miss Shao, no more than that.

When he was here, the one he talked most enthusiastically about was Shao Yanru, but in fact, his eyes had been on Shao Wanru. Yet, Shao Wanru seemed to have something on her mind, looking dull. When he asked her questions, she only answered simply. Then he could not continue talking with her.

Fortunately, Shao Yanru was also there.

“Fifth Miss, if First Miss goes back home, you can have a good rest!” Chu Liuxin said to Shao Wanru with a smile.

Shao Wanru raised her head, had a small smile, nodded but did not give a reply.

“What you said is reasonable, Prince Xin. During this period of time, Wanru couldn’t eat or sleep well because of me. After leaving the palace, I will surely send some good tonics over to her!” Shao Yanru restrained her anger and said with a soft smile, looking at Shao Wanru with gratitude in her eyes.

Although he found that Shao Wanru ignored him as always, Chu Liuxin didn’t care much about it, and he nodded repeatedly at Shao Yanru’s words. Then he looked at Shao Yanru’s complexion and said in a way that he thought he knew it quite well, “First Miss Shao, you look much better indeed. You look almost the same as Fifth Miss. I think that you’re healthy enough to leave the palace. Or let me go to my mother in a while and ask her to send you out!”

Chu Liuxin thought that he meant well and his words were appropriate, but Shao Yanru got so angry that she almost couldn’t control herself. She pinched her leg with her hand on her knee so hard that she almost screamed.

His words seemed to say that she was a burden for Shao Wanru and that he couldn’t wait to drive her out of the palace.

Should she really choose Chu Liuxin? If possible, she really didn’t want to choose him. But she had no choice now. Chu Liuxin was her best choice.

Compared with the dissolute Chu Liuyue or even the reckless Chu Liuzhou, Chu Liuxin was so insensitive to what she meant.

Shao Yanru always knew how to deal with men. She knew when she should stop talking even if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t think she could communicate with Chu Liuxin now. Couldn’t he see that she was a fragile, helpless beauty who had gone through a disaster?

What was so good about Shao Wanru? Except that her face was slightly nicer than hers, what else could she use to compare with her?

She almost couldn’t control her anger, but she had to put a gentle smile on her face. “Prince Xin, what you said is right. Wanru is indeed tired. Just now, she said that she wanted to go out for a walk and breathe fresh air. The room is full of the smell of medicine, and it’s really uncomfortable to be here!”

Shao Yanru waved her handkerchief gently in front of her nose with a charming look. Shao Wanru stood up quietly and bowed slightly to Chu Liuxin, saying, “Your Highness, I do want to go out for a walk. Sorry, I have to go now!”

Shao Yanru told a barefaced lie, but this kind of lie was harmless. Even if her sister exposed it, it was useless. Either of them would have reasons to defend themselves, but they would be laughing stocks.

She had wanted to find an opportunity to leave here. If she didn’t go out, the next plot of the drama could not go on. Shao Yanru thought so, and so did she. It was appropriate to take the chance to get out of the predicament.

“I happen to be tired…” Seeing that Shao Wanru was going out for a walk, Chu Liuxin was overjoyed and wanted to go out for a walk with her. It was rare to have such a chance to accompany the beauty, so he had to seize it. Eunuch Liu had said that one had to have a chance if he wanted to please girls.

For someone like him who had few chances, he had to seize every one he had.

“Prince Xin, I have something to consult you. Please give me a chance to say it!” Shao Yanru interrupted him with a smile.