novelThe Secret About the Past (131)
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Apart from Tuoba Gucheng, An Xiaoning had never stumbled upon any other members of the royal family throughout the past few days of following Tuoba Danxue around.
However, she was not in a hurry since she realized that she would see the other members sooner or later as long as she stayed close by the princess.
They initially thought that Tuoba Danxue would get over Feng once she accepts the situation and moves on. However, she seemed to be getting worse than before.
For the following consecutive days, Tuoba Danxue had completely lost her appetite and could not sleep well at night. It was tough on An Xiaoning, having to accompany her throughout the day and night.
A few days later, she still could not sleep or eat well. Thus, both An Xiaoning and Zhi Yin remained put and continued to stay by her side.
That morning, An Xiaoning was summoned by Zhi Yin as soon as she put on her mask.
"Her Highness is throwing a tantrum and demanding to see Mr. and Mrs. President at all costs. The situation seems to be getting out of hand. Go with me to accompany her, " Zhi Yin explained.
An Xiaoning agreed right away without another word.
Tuoba Danxue appeared extremely haggard and weary, seemingly having suffered a great blow. An Xiaoning simply could not figure out why she would put herself through such torment for a man who does not love her at all.
No one could stop her if she wanted to go down the path of self-destruction.
An Xiaoning could sense that Tuoba Danxue must be thinking of bringing up the matter about Feng to her parents. However, it was indeed rather inconsiderate of Tuoba Danxue to insist on acting impulsively despite knowing clearly the reason behind Jiang Feng's reluctance to accept her.
An Xiaoning did not try and stop her since she could not do so anyway. Besides, she wanted to take the opportunity to meet the president and his wife.
This time, they decided to set off by car instead of on foot.
They soon arrived five minutes later.
Upon alighting from the car, Tuoba Danxue quickened her pace and sprinted toward the entrance.
No one dared to stop her.
An Xiaoning scanned her surroundings while proceeding toward the door. There was a large piece of bare land next to the lawn as well as a basketball hoop.
There was barely any greenery in sight.
After much thought, Zhi Yin decided to speak up, "Your Highness, don't act rashly. Otherwise, I'm afraid we might implicate Feng and his family."
"I know what to do."
Tuoba Danxue entered through the door to see that her parents were sitting on the couch. She walked toward them and said, "Father, Mother, I have something to talk to you about today."
Upon noticing the haggardness of her daughter's face, the president's wife, Shi Xiaoyu, asked worriedly, "Danxue, why do you look so awful? Sit down and tell us what you have in mind."
Tuoba Danxue sat down and stared at her parents."I want to start dating."
"You're 22 years old this year. It's indeed time to start dating. Do you have anyone in mind?" asked an unsurprised Shi Xiaoyu.
"Will you and Father agree to it if I'm interested in a servant or a bodyguard?"
A sullen expression formed on their faces upon hearing their daughter's words. An Xiaoning could tell clearly that they were displeased.
After a moment of silence, the president, Tuoba Rui, answered, "Are there no other handsome and outstanding youths who are compatible with you?"
"No..."
"Danxue, you're already a grownup. Why are you still so insensible and muddled up? We will never allow you to marry someone whose family background is so much more inferior than ours. Don't even think about it, " Tuoba Rui said, brushing her off bluntly.
Having already expected her father to react that way, Tuoba Danxue said, "More inferior to us? Father, didn't you read the news? The only male heir of the Jin family married an orphan who grew up in the mountains. Why can't I be in a relationship with the person I love?"
An Xiaoning was surprised that Tuoba Danxue had used her and Jin Qingyan as an example.
"She may be an orphan, but did you know that she's the goddaughter of the Gu family? I've even heard that the Chief of Staff and the Commander-in-chief are her godparents too. She may have humble beginnings, but she has a powerful backing to make her worthy of marrying into the Jin family. Tell me, just who is it that you fancy!?!"
Tuoba Danxue shivered in shock from her father's sudden outburst."I don't have anyone I fancy."
Clearly unconvinced, Tuoba Rui said, "Would you have come forth to talk to us about this if you didn't already have someone in mind? Drop any ideas about this. We will never agree to it."
Tuoba Danxue stood up abruptly and stared at her parents before saying, "I do fancy him, but he doesn't wish to accept me precisely because I'm your daughter. He'll definitely reciprocate my feelings for him as long as you two agree to it. But from the way things are now, he'll never accept me again. I've given up all hope on marrying him too. I'll just live the rest of my life following your orders. I really wonder what I've done to be born in such a family. I can't even have a say in my own marriage!"
She turned around to leave right after she said her piece.
Tuoba Rui yelled for her to stop in her tracks but to no avail as she ignored him and left straight away with Zhi Yin and An Xiaoning.
"Hubby, what do we do about this?" Shi Xiaoyu asked.
"What do we do..."
Tuoba Danxue had indeed hit the nail on the head. Being born in a royal family meant that she had to adhere to the life arrangements made by her elders, and marriage was merely an institution mandatory for broadening her family's connections. It was no different from ancient political marriages. Well, that was the case for the majority of the upper-class society. One will never be allowed to date freely or marry just anyone they liked.
Noticing that her husband was remaining quiet, Shi Xiaoyu said, "Let me handle this matter. I can guarantee that Danxue will never bring up anything like this again. I promise I'll make her accept reality."
Seemingly having already guessed what she planned to do, Tuoba Rui waved his hand and refuted, "There's no need to go to such extremes. He's not at fault at all, why must you implicate the innocent?"
"It's his fault for making Danxue fall for him." Shi Xiaoyu stood up and gestured for the servants to come forth, after which she whispered something into their ears.
"What's the point of doing that?" Tuoba Rui objected, realizing how stubborn his wife was.
"I'm going to punish him to warn others. By the way, I've long heard about the Jin family's Young Madam, An Xiaoning, and her splendid fortune-telling skills. She's known to be highly accurate in her readings. Shall we hire her to read our fortunes?"
"No. Did my words fall on deaf ears? I said that no one in our family is allowed to have their fortunes told!" Tuoba Rui refuted vehemently in a harsh tone.
Shi Xiaoyu quickly looked away and said, "Fine, we just won't go ahead with it, then. You don't have to be so uptight."
"That's enough, I'm going to look through the documents now, " Tuoba Rui hissed in annoyance.
Shi Xiaoyu was boiling with anger as she watched his figure recede. She knew clearly the reason behind his insistence on forbidding fortune-telling in the house. Even after all these years, he still could not forget that woman in the end.
Pursing her lips, she returned to her bedroom.
She activated the secret contraption below the bed and made her way down the stairs.
There were several lustrous night-luminescent pearls along the stairs. After reaching the bottom, Shi Xiaoyu slowly walked toward a woman whose arms and legs were shackled to chains.
As she approached the woman, she grimaced maliciously and sneered, "Rui is still as smitten with you even until now. Don't you feel very honored?"
The woman remained silent while kneeling on the ground, appearing extremely disheveled.
"But so what if he hasn't forgotten about you? To his knowledge, you've already died long ago. I gave birth to two sons and a daughter with him. We're the real family."
Shi Xiaoyu would repeat such snide remarks to that woman every now and then. She would never get sick of repeating herself for she enjoyed watching the woman tremble uncontrollably every single time the latter heard her words.
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