“No… no… Please… forgive me… I won’t dare to do it again. I won’t…” A shrill scream suddenly came. Shao Wanru looked at Shao Yanru, who was sweating. Shao Yanru seemed to be frightened by something, or she was having a nightmare.

Shao Wanru came to this remote and cold palace with Shao Yanru and she would leave soon. It was also the idea of the Empress. Shao Yanru’s status was different from before, so Shao Wanru didn’t have to stay here all day long. It would be terrible if she offended the Emperor!

Han Dan hurriedly stepped forward to help Shao Yanru breathe smoothly and said in a low voice, “Secondary Consort, wake up, wake up!”

Shao Yanru, who was sweating profusely, suddenly woke up and stared fixedly at something in the air. She was in a daze, looking gloomy and weird.

“Secondary Consort, what’s wrong with you? I’m so scared!” Han Dan hastily shook her lightly as she spoke.

Shao Yanru seemed to be a little sober. She rolled her eyes slowly and let out a deep sigh of relief when she saw Han Dan. It seemed that Han Dan should have been with her. Then she said in a slightly hoarse voice, “Give… give me a glass of water…”

“I’ll serve it right away!” Han Dan let Shao Yanru lean against her nimbly. Then Han Dan turned to the table, poured half a cup of warm water, and brought it to her lips.

Shao Yanru drank it up in a hurry. Because she drank it so quickly, some of the water spilled on her. After finishing it, she said, “Get another one!”

Han Dan poured another cup of water, and Shao Yanru took it and drank it up this time.

After drinking two cups of warm water, she felt as if she had come back to life. She looked up at the surroundings and asked slowly, “Where… am I? Why… is it not where I live…”

“Secondary Consort, this is where you live. Her Grace ordered you to live here. She said that this would be the place where you and I live. Though it looks bad somewhere, I’ll clean it up later. Then it will look much better!” Han Dan said with a gloomy face.

She didn’t expect to follow Shao Yanru to such a remote palace.

Was there such a palace in the imperial palace? She didn’t know it before. Not only was it remote, but it also looked old. Some parts of it were a little dilapidated. She didn’t believe that this place was really for the imperial concubines to live in.

“Isn’t this place really the legendary Cold Palace?”

She just wanted to follow a potential mistress so that she could have a bright future. Unexpectedly, the current situation was not as good as before. However, she had no choice, so she had to endure it.

“Secondary Consort… Her Grace… This is where I live…” Shao Yanru murmured to herself and reached out to press her head, only to feel that the situation was different.

She thought that she shouldn’t be just a Secondary Consort. Getting such a low-ranking title made her shocked!

Shao Yanru had been dreaming just now. She couldn’t remember all the complicated things in her dream clearly, but she still vaguely remembered some. She was the Emperor’s Zhaoyi. How could she be a Secondary Consort? How could she get such a low-ranking title? Moreover, she lived in such a remote and dilapidated place. After all, she was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Xing’s Mansion.

When she touched the bed and was about to sit up, she suddenly met a pair of deep eyes. The cold and sharp eyes made her weak for a moment, and her body fell heavily again.

After being stunned for a moment, she hurriedly turned her head and saw Shao Wanru sitting in front of the table. For a moment, she covered her chest with her hands, widened her eyes in disbelief, and said in horror, “You… Why are you still alive… You… are still alive!”

Seeing that Shao Yanru finally saw her, Shao Wanru raised the corners of her mouth slightly and asked with a sneer, “Big Sister, what do you mean? Why can’t I live?”

“Are… are you a human or a ghost…” Shao Yanru shrank back desperately with panic and fear in her eyes as if she had really seen a ghost.

“Big Sister, do you want to touch me? You can check if I’m… a human or a ghost!” Shao Wanru said with a smile. Then she stood up and walked slowly to Shao Yanru. Her bright watery eyes were mysterious as if something in her eyes was dragging Shao Yanru into them.

“Don’t come over. Don’t come over!” Shao Yanru screamed in horror. “It has nothing to do with me. I didn’t kill you… Don’t come to me. It’s Prince Yue’s order… It’s not me… It’s not me…”

Shao Wanru stood still and looked at Shao Yanru carefully with a trace of suspicion flashing across her eyes. It was not like something that Shao Yanru would say.

“Qin Wanru, you have nothing to do with me… and have nothing to do with Duke Xing’s Mansion… Don’t come over… People of the first branch all died… You… you…” The look in Shao Yanru’s eyes was elusive, and she lost control of her expression as she screamed in a sharp voice.

“Qin Wanru? Prince Yue killed me?” Shao Wanru’s eyes became colder and colder. She was killed in her last life. So Shao Yanru now realized that she and Chu Liuyue conspired to kill her in the last life.

Shao Wanru sneered, lowered her head slowly, and whispered in Shao Yanru’s ear in a low and grim voice, “First Miss Shao… did you hear that if someone who was cut in half at the waist was wrongly accused, she would haunt you for the rest of your life!”

Shao Yanru burst into tears and smashed the cushion in her hand hard on Shao Wanru’s body. “It’s not me. It’s really not me. You’re in our way… Your death is good for many people… Anyway, you won’t be able to get better in that state… You… you’d better die…”

Her words were incoherent, but Shao Wanru heard some other meanings. She couldn’t help sneering. Because she had lived a miserable life, Shao Yanru wanted to take her life. Shao Yanru was unreasonable thoroughly.

There was no more disgusting excuse than this.

She threw the cushion back to her, and her eyes were as cold as a sharp dagger.

Shao Yanru, who was lying on the bed, seemed to have woken up at this time. She reached out to rub her head, looked at Shao Wanru, and then looked around. After that, she looked at Han Dan, and some frightening scenes that had just happened in her dream were slowly fading away in her mind.

She slowly recalled what had happened before.

She really passed out. She had told Shuqi about it before and threatened Shuqi with the lives of her family. If something out of control happened, Shuqi would commit suicide to apologize and take the blame for her.

However, she didn’t expect that the plan would fail. In panic and fear, she fainted. When she woke up, she only felt that she had a nightmare. In her dream, she was a Zhaoyi and killed Qin Wanru. But she couldn’t remember anything else.

After all, it was just a dream, and everything in front of her was real. Qin Wanru had changed her name to Shao Wanru. If possible, she was really unwilling to let Shao Wanru return to her ancestral home.

Shao Yanru took a deep breath, held the quilt, and asked, “Fifth Sister… did I have a nightmare?”

Seeing the clear look in Shao Yanru’s eyes, Shao Wanru knew that she really got sober at this time. She straightened up, looked at her, and said, “Congratulations on entering the palace, Big Sister. From now on, you are a Secondary Consort. I have something else to do, so I won’t accompany you. I’ll go back to the Chuxiu Palace!”

“What did you say? I… I’m just a Secondary Consort?” Shao Yanru asked in disbelief. Just now, she should be a Zhaoyi in her dream. Why was it such a low-ranking title?

“Madam, you truly are a Secondary Consort!” Han Dan muttered on one side.

“Why… why… It shouldn’t be like this… I am the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Xing’s Mansion…” Shao Yanru said in a panic and reached out to hold Han Dan’s hand. It seemed that she wanted to know the answer from her.

After the Emperor left, she had guessed that she would enter the imperial palace. Although it was not what she had in mind, she could accept it unwillingly, but why was she in such a low position?

“Secondary Consort, this is Her Grace’s order. You have already moved out of the side hall of the Phoenix Palace!” Han Dan replied carefully. If possible, she was unwilling to come here, but she had to come. Besides her, the palace maid who decocted medicine for Shao Yanru and the palace maids who were in charge of cleaning the side hall before also came here. It seemed that the Empress was very generous.

However, all the palace maids who followed Shao Yanru here blamed her. No one was willing to live in such a place, like the Cold Palace.

Shao Yanru suddenly stood up and said, “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. I’m going to see Her Grace. No, I’ll go to see His Majesty…”

Shao Wanru, who was standing aside, looked at Shao Yanru coldly and said, “Big Sister, I advise you to give up the struggle. Maybe Duke Xing has been implicated. You were really scheming and asked me to go to the Imperial Institute of Medicine early in the morning, but there are many smart people in the world. Don’t you understand what I mean?”

“What… what do you mean?” Shao Yanru said in a trembling voice and stared at Shao Wanru fiercely as if Shao Wanru had made her get into trouble.

“I have no implied meaning. I just want you to recognize your current situation. You are now a Secondary Consort, the ninth-class title. You are not favored by His Majesty and are detested by Her Grace. It’s unknown how long you can stay in the imperial palace. I guess that Old Madam will not give you any support in the future. An abandoned catspaw is useless.”

Shao Wanru mercilessly dealt a blow to Shao Yanru’s confidence. Then she turned around.

“Shao Wanru, is it you? Is it you?” Shao Yanru suddenly pounced on Shao Wanru and seemed to try to pull Shao Wanru’s clothes. Shao Wanru stepped aside and happened to avoid Shao Yanru’s grip.

Shao Yanru fell heavily by the bed, which made her wound hurt again. She couldn’t help groaning with her hands covering her chest.

“Shao Yanru, you hurt others in scheming ways. You are very smart, but some people can be convicted without evidence. Everything in the imperial palace is complicated, and you will enjoy your life in the palace from now on. No one will support or dote on you. Disgust will linger around you. Maybe next time we meet, you’ll just be a skeleton!”

Shao Wanru looked down at Shao Yanru, who was in a mess, and destroyed her confidence with her words. Then she didn’t give Shao Yanru a chance to argue. She only glanced at Han Dan, who was standing aside, turned around, and strode away with Yujie.

No one saw the gloom in the corners of Shao Wanru’s eyes. As long as Duke Xing was still her uncle, Shao Yanru would not stop. She was patient before the truth was exposed…