Mu Jingrui turned around and grabbed Chu Xiaolian's throat. Chu Xiaolian felt like she couldn't breathe.
She kicked and hit Mu Jingrui, trying to get rid of his restraints.
"Do you know that Shangguan Wanning is my woman?"
Mu Jingrui's voice was almost squeezed out from between his teeth. He watched Chu Xiaolian's face gradually turn blue, loosened his fingers, raised his hand and slapped her in the face.
Chu Xiaolian staggered a few steps and fell to the ground. She covered her hot cheek with one hand and looked at Mu Jingrui in disbelief.
"I will resolve the grudge between me and Guan Wan Ning myself. If it weren't for the fact that you saved my life, I would kill you right now."
Mu Jingrui's murderous eyes made Chu Xiaolian back away involuntarily, feeling shuddering.
"Don't appear in front of me again in the future. If you touch a hair of Guan Wan Ning's head again, I will kill you all."
After Mu Jingrui said that, he angrily walked away.
Sun Jinyao sent Shangguan Wanning back to the Prime Minister's Mansion. Lu Xiangzi came to check her body. After confirming that she was fine, Shangguan's wife still stayed by her side and never left her.
"Ning'er, you have suffered a lot..." Mrs. Shangguan burst into tears with heartache.
If Sun Jinyao hadn't arrived in time, the consequences would have been disastrous.
Shangguan Wan Ning's thoughts gradually calmed down, and she did not expect that Mu Jingrui misunderstood her so deeply that he would torture and retaliate against her in this way.
She felt that as his power and achievements gradually increased, Mu Jingrui was also evolving towards the King of Zhennan she remembered from the previous life.
And Yiyong Houfu and Xiao Zhenting also seem to be getting closer and closer.
Shangguan Wan Ning suddenly felt very tired.
She understood that Mu Jingrui no longer trusted her.
Since the relationship will never come to fruition, she should try every means now, at least to save her parents and the Shangguan family's family business.
"Mom, I'm fine..." Shangguan Wanning wiped away her mother's tears and comforted her, "Don't worry, everything... will be over soon."
Mrs. Shangguan looked at her daughter. She didn't know why, but she always felt that there seemed to be an uncontrollable sadness in her eyes.
Shangguan Wan Ning rested for a few days. During the period of recuperation, she thought about many things in her past life.
Now, if you really want to make a complete change...
She took a deep breath and paced back and forth in the long corridor under the cold moonlight.
Seeing that there was still candlelight in her father's study, she mustered up the courage to knock on the door and go in.
"Ning'er is here," Shangguan Yue put down the pen in his hand and said with a smile, "Why don't you go to bed so late?"
Shangguan Wan Ning slowly walked towards her father and found that the tea in her father's hand had gone cold, and she felt an inexplicable sadness in her heart.
"What's wrong?" Shangguan Yue noticed his daughter's depression and asked with a sigh, "Still thinking about what happened before?"
Shangguan Wan Ning shook her head slightly. Finally, she raised her head to look at her father and asked softly: "Dad, how many years have you been an official in the court?"
Shangguan Yue was startled and calculated seriously.
"It's really been twenty-five years since the day I won the first prize in the exam."
It must have been a very difficult road to go from a poor scholar to the head of a hundred officials with one person under one person and more than ten thousand people.
"Dad, for so many years, you have not only taken care of your family, but also managed the government... Have you ever thought about resigning and returning to your hometown to live an ordinary life with your mother and me?"
Shangguan Yue looked at his daughter with meaningful eyes.
He stood up and walked to Shangguan Wan Ning, staring at her for a long time.
"Ning'er, do you want dad to resign and go into seclusion?"
Shangguan Wanning nodded.
"Dad, I know it's not easy for you to get to where you are today, but... you are now at the top. It's so cold at the top. If you continue, it will probably be the bloodiest and cruelest battle in the change of dynasties."
Shangguan Wan Ning was still in pain when she thought of the tragic scene in her previous life when all her relatives were hung above the city gate by Xiao Zhenting.
"Dad, there are some things that my daughter shouldn't have said originally, but... now, I just want our family to be together in peace. Over the years, you have been busy with official duties and rarely have time to accompany me and my mother. How about... how about...
Just retreat from the rapids."
Shangguan Yue looked at his daughter in his palms. These words made him truly realize for the first time that she had grown up.
She seemed to have a more thorough understanding of the situation in the imperial court than he did.
"Ning'er, who do you think will win...the Crown Prince or the King of Qin?"
Shangguan Wan Ning lowered her eyelids and sighed deeply.
She is the one who already knows the outcome.
"I only know that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the orthodoxy of the country."
Shangguan Yue nodded secretly.
"Ning'er, you hope that dad can give up his power and go into hiding. You have a good intention. But there are two problems."
"Dad is worried... that he can't leave even if he wants to?"
The situation in the DPRK is treacherous and unpredictable. For Shangguan Yue to be able to achieve his current status, many people depend on him for their lives.
Prosperity, wealth, wealth and life.
If he withdraws, it will affect the interests of many other people.
"This is one of the reasons. The other one..." Shangguan Yue paused and said, "If I resign, I will have to leave the capital. So you and Jingrui... have you ever thought about your future?"
"Dad, do you think there will be a future between him and me?"
Shangguan Wan Ning's heart was still, and it could be seen from Mu Jingrui's behavior of escaping from the cell and then returning that he had completely lost trust in her, the Shangguan family, and the Zheng family.
She no longer wanted to force anything.
Without her, perhaps Mu Jingrui would have followed the original trajectory of his previous life and become the King of Zhennan, assisting Xiao Yujue in ascending the throne.
"If you really make up your mind to give up this relationship, then... dad will find a way to resign."
Shangguan Wan Ning's eyes were full of surprise.
"Dad, did you agree?"
Shangguan Yue smiled and patted his daughter's head. "As long as you and your mother are happy, nothing else matters. Your father and I have lived a soul-stirring life, that's enough."
Shangguan Wan Ning cried with joy and leaned on her father's shoulder. "Thank you, Dad."
Shangguan Yue sighed silently, feeling infinitely sad.
Shangguan Wan Ning thought about it for several days and still felt that there was still a lack of a real ending between her and Mu Jingrui.
She asked Lu Tong to go out and inquire about Mu Jingrui's whereabouts these days, and learned that he would go to the Shenji Camp for inspection in the afternoon.
Shangguan Wan Ning knew that Mu Jingrui had a habit of stopping by Liuye Villa to have tea and rest on his way back from inspections at Shenji Camp.
She asked the housekeeper to prepare a sedan chair and go to Willow Leaf Villa in advance to wait.
"Miss," Lu Tong knocked on the door and walked in with a strange look on her face, "The boy who was guarding the door just now came to report that Mr. Mu has arrived. But..."