CHAPTER 353: CHAPTER 351: THE PERSON WHO REPLIED WAS NOT SHEN YINNING AT ALL

De Sun followed closely and said, "The height of summer is approaching, and the weather is stifling. This is precisely the season when one is prone to physical fatigue. I heard that Your Highness has not been eating or sleeping well in the Cold Palace, and this makes me very worried and anxious. In life, one’s health is the true capital. If Your Highness exhausts your body, what will become of you? I would be heartbroken for Your Highness. Please take care of yourself and rest well. When I have some free time, I will personally come to the Cold Palace to visit Your Highness."

Wen Liluo finished writing and blew gently on the inked characters on the paper. "Gentlemen, please wait a moment. I will now have someone print this letter using my boss’s handwriting as a template."

By evening, Gui Quan and De Sun returned to the Cold Palace jubilantly, carrying the letter.

As soon as they stepped into the hall, they ran into Lu Ying, who was dressed in ordinary clothes, practicing swordsmanship in the hall.

His movements were breathtakingly skilled. The force of his sword stirred the long hair cascading behind his waist, accentuating the sharp, noble contours of his face.

With a flash of sword light, the intricately carved windows remained unscathed, yet the pomegranate blossoms beyond fell neatly from their branches in a whispering flurry.

Gui Quan clapped his hands with admiration, "Your Highness, your swordsmanship has improved again!"

De Sun nodded, "Your Highness’s swordsmanship is an awe-inspiring spectacle!"

Lu Ying sheathed his sword. "Enough flattery."

The two exchanged a glance. Gui Quan, smiling cheerfully, presented the letter. "Your Highness, this is a letter from the young princely heir of Su Wang Mansion, delivered from outside the palace. It seems to be written by Princess Zhaoning for you."

Lu Ying, with his back to them, lifted the cup of tea from the desk.

As the rim of the teacup met his lips, he paused and said coldly, "Burn it."

"Ahem..." De Sun cautiously probed, "Your Highness, this letter was written personally by Princess Zhaoning. Won’t you at least take a quick look? The servant heard from the young princely heir that Princess Zhaoning explained the reasons for her betrayal in the letter. I thought, perhaps looking at it before burning it would be the same..."

Lu Ying silently sipped a few mouthfuls of tea.

The dense lashes lowered, obscuring his pupils, casting narrow shadows at the corners of his eyes.

The long, slender bones of his fingers faintly clenched around the edge of the teacup.

Straining from practicing swordsmanship, a sheen of sweat covered him. Drops of sweat trickled from his temple, winding down past his throat to slip into his collar.

He placed the teacup down, his Adam’s apple rolling slightly.

The words "burn it" swirled in his throat but did not emerge again.

He turned around and extended his hand. "Give it to me."

Gui Quan and De Sun let out a long sigh of relief and hurriedly handed the letter to him.

Lu Ying carefully opened the letter. It was Shen Yinning’s handwriting.

As his gaze skimmed over the first half, his expression betrayed no emotion.

The reasons for the betrayal were what he had anticipated—she sought vengeance, prioritizing hatred above personal affection.

As for the so-called "love that endures till seas run dry and rocks crumble," he didn’t believe even a single word of it.

He had been confined in the Cold Palace for days, and even Xue Ling and Lu Jiazhe had come to visit him. Yet she—like a dragon that reveals its head but hides its tail—had not shown herself, not even once!

Too lazy to even appear, yet she dared to brazenly profess such undying love to him?

She had the audacity to write it, but he felt awkward even reading it.

He continued reading.

When he saw Shen Yinning urging him to eat well and rest, his brows furrowed lightly.

An outsider might think Shen Yinning, as his lover, was meticulous and tenderly caring. But he himself knew better—throughout their time together, Shen Yinning had never concerned herself with such things.

She cared only for her own well-being—eating golden bird’s nest stew, sleeping with silk-down quilts, wearing Shu brocade and cloud satin, riding in luxury carriages with scented canopies, and using the finest, most expensive rouge and powder for her skin, unwilling to suffer even the slightest discomfort.

When had she ever cared whether he ate well or slept soundly?

Lu Ying stared at the letter, and an unfamiliar sensation surged in his heart.

In a deep voice, he ordered, "Bring out all the previous letters she wrote to me."

Gui Quan thought he had been moved and respectfully presented the older letters. "Although Your Highness instructed us to burn these items, we believed you might wish to revisit them someday and secretly preserved them."

Lu Ying spread all the letters across the desk.

From the first letter to the current one, the span of time was considerable, yet every character on each piece of paper was identical.

But a person’s handwriting inevitably reflects their emotions. Even the most talented calligraphic master cannot guarantee uniform writing across different times. How could Shen Yinning’s handwriting remain unchanged?

Unless the letters were forged through printing.

Someone had replicated Shen Yinning’s handwriting, creating movable type prints specifically to write him letters.

Lu Ying fixed his gaze on the letter. "Did you personally deliver my responses into her hands?"

Gui Quan explained, "Your Highness, you may not know this, but at the time, the young princely heir of Su Wang Mansion was staying in Eastern Palace. He was responsible for the exchange of letters between you and Princess Zhaoning. Though young, he is reliable, and being one of our own, ensured no one else would know the contents of the correspondence between you and Princess Zhaoning."

Lu Jiazhe had delivered them...

At the edges of Lu Ying’s threateningly dark eyes, flecks of crimson spread faintly, resembling two blood moons.

Lu Jiazhe, that idiot, spent his days on cockfights and dog races, always in a rush to indulge himself in revelry. Where would he find the time to serve as messenger for his correspondence with Shen Yinning?

Unless... there was an entirely different story behind it.

He pressed down on the letters.

Each letter employed a different tone, as though individuals with varying personalities had pieced them together haphazardly.

His voice was extremely low, suppressing the fury of an impending storm. "Summon Lu Jiazhe to face me immediately."

Lu Jiazhe dashed into the Cold Palace with unbridled panic, as if the heavens were about to collapse upon him.

Seeing the letters spread across the desk, he realized Lu Ying had likely uncovered the truth about the fabricated responses—not written by Shen Yinning. If the heavens had already fallen, now they shattered completely, threatening to bury him alive!

With a heavy thump, he knelt to the ground. "I am guilty!"

Without waiting for Lu Ying to speak, he began tearfully confessing everything down to the last detail.

Sniffling, he raised his pitiful little face. "Brother, although we deceived you, our concern for you was genuine. Everyone sincerely hoped you and Sister Shen could achieve happiness together. For the sake of our heartfelt efforts, please don’t punish me!"

Lu Ying sat behind the desk.

Several faces flashed through his mind:

Lu Jiazhe, Wen Liluo, Qian Duobao, Xue Mianmian, and his attendants Gui Quan and De Sun...

As he thought, a spoiled woman like Shen Yinning would never voluntarily write letters to admit her mistakes.

The most irksome was that these people had read every single reply he’d written—likely gossiping about him behind his back.

Years ago, he had written a letter to Shen Yinning only to discover that the response came from her maid, Bai Shuangshuang.

Now as an adult, history repeated itself—the letters he sent her still were not reciprocated by her own hand.

Tension pulled taut across his lean frame, his expression grim to the extreme.

Lu Jiazhe dared to glance at him, noting his pursed lips and brooding silence. He cautiously tested the waters. "Brother? We didn’t mean to mock you; we truly wanted to help you reconcile with Sister Shen..."

Being stared at with those pleading eyes, Lu Ying suddenly found it ironic.

So this was how pitiful he appeared to others in Shen Yinning’s eyes.