CHAPTER 376: CHAPTER 376: SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS ARE COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE

"Jun Ning, I genuinely treated you as my benefactor, my sister, cared for you wholeheartedly, even wanted to learn martial arts to protect you if someday your father couldn’t shield you anymore. I would use my life to protect you."

"But you? Calculating against me every step of the way?"

"How can you be so heartless?"

"Tell me, did you investigate me from the moment you adopted me, and start plotting against me?"

Lan Xihe began to cry as she spoke.

Tears streaming down her face, she questioned Jun Ning about the doubts that plagued her, but Jun Ning simply closed her eyes, saying nothing.

Some prejudices are deeply rooted, some misunderstandings are completely unreasonable. Even if she were to speak with her whole body, even with all her strength to explain, it might not change Lan Xihe’s mind.

At this moment, any explanation seems pale and powerless.

Distrust is distrust, nothing said will change that.

Jun Ning didn’t utter a single explanation. She hung her head low, staring at the ground, as if trying to drill a hole through it with her gaze.

Lan Xihe wiped away her tears, looked up at the beams for a moment, and when her tears finally dried up, she spoke again.

"And not just that, Jun Ning, you even stole the person I loved most. Why, why do all my efforts to get close to him not earn his love, while you did nothing and received it all?"

"Do you know how much I like him? So much that at barely over ten years old, when I was still young, I wanted to promise my life to him privately, wanting him to marry me."

"But he doesn’t love me, he loves only you..."

"What a case of the intentional planting of flowers failing, but the unintentional planting of willows thriving."

"How ridiculous it is!"

Lan Xihe laughed at herself, and the tears spilled again.

She didn’t want to cry in front of Jun Ning anymore, hastily wiping the tears away.

Jun Ning asked doubtfully, "Who is the person you love?" She truly didn’t know whom Lan Xihe loved, yet inexplicably bore the brunt of Lan Xihe’s anger, feeling totally aggrieved.

"Who do I love? Haha..." Lan Xihe didn’t answer directly but asked in return, "What do you think? Who do you think I love?"

Jun Ning felt very uncomfortable, her limbs weak, with no strength, but she forced herself to speak, "I don’t know."

If she knew, would she even ask? Is she overeating?

Lan Xihe suddenly burst into tears and laughter, seeming crazy, "Don’t know? You actually said you don’t know? Are you playing with me? Or mocking me?"

Jun Ning: "......"

She felt, Lan Xihe really was insane.

"He loves you so much, yet you claim not to know." Whether it was speechlessness or heartache, Lan Xihe suddenly squatted on the ground, holding her head, saying, "Jun Ning, go away, I never want to see you again."

With barely contained fury, Jun Ning turned around, but couldn’t hold back from speaking again, "Sister Xi He... do we have to escalate things to this point?"

"Just leave..." Lan Xihe shouted in rage, "Do I have to forcefully drive you away?"

"Fine!" Feeling helpless, Jun Ning had to be supported by her maid as she departed, but she had barely exited the side door of Delin Palace when her eyes closed and she fainted.

"Princess..."

The maids hastily caught the fainting Jun Ning to prevent her from falling into the snow, then lifted her back to the sedan chair she arrived in.

Jun Ning’s fainting stirred unrest in the Imperial Hospital; they all mobilized to diagnose her.

When Emperor Yongning heard of Jun Ning’s fainting, he glanced at her twice before going back to busy himself with the departure arrangements for the envoy from Bei Xia and the noble maidens of the Beast Taming Clan.

Now that the truce has been agreed, for the next five years neither Bei Xia nor Eastern Chu will initiate war.

The most critical thing now is to ensure the safe return of the noble maidens from the Beast Taming Clan to Bei Xia, and especially not let anything happen on the road, particularly in Bei Xia’s territory.

For this reason, Emperor Yongning is busy negotiating from all sides, unable to be by Jun Ning’s side at all times.

At this moment, after confirming escort arrangements for the Beast Taming Clan’s noble maidens, Emperor Yongning issued urgent orders to officials at every checkpoint to guarantee safe passage, ensuring nothing goes wrong.

If anything happens to the noble maidens of the Beast Taming Clan at any location, the person responsible will pay with their life.

But the checkpoints are numerous, necessitating constant monitoring from Yongning Emperor.

Thus, the workload increased greatly, leaving Emperor Yongning terribly busy.

Jun Ning had been unconscious for five days without improvement, and even though Emperor Yongning worried for her daily, he could only see her once when she was asleep.

Because when Jun Ning was conscious, she never coincided with Emperor Yongning’s visits.

Every time Emperor Yongning visited, she was asleep.

Days went by like this until Lan Xihe left the territory of Eastern Chu for good, returning to Bei Xia, becoming a genuine noblewoman of Beast Taming Clan, with limitless glory.

Jun Ning spent the entire winter bedridden, devoid of energy.

Jing Shu kept her company, playing and eating together for a while until New Year’s Eve of her birthday came, when she finally improved a bit.

She got out of bed, attended the birthday banquet Emperor Yongning carefully prepared for her, smiling as she accepted gifts meticulously prepared by everyone.

In a flash, she was a year older again.

A gift for each age, a happiness for each inch.

Yet this year, she felt no joy.

...

It’s the New Year, and the entire palace is filled with joy, helping Jun Ning recover amid the joyous atmosphere.

Qiong Hua brought maids to make dumplings; Jing Shu watched eagerly wanting to try but feared her clumsiness would ruin things, so she pulled Jun Ning along.

To ruin together, to be scolded together.

"Auntie, won’t you make dumplings with Jing Shu?" Jing Shu pulled Jun Ning to the dumpling making table, picked out a dumpling skin, ready to wrap, handing another to Jun Ning.

Jun Ning: "I just want to eat dumplings, not make them." Because she didn’t know how to make them, she’d just create trouble.

"Auntie, do make some?" Jing Shu insisted, wanting Jun Ning to wrap them too.

Jun Ning put down the dumpling skin, "I don’t know how."

"You can learn, everyone has a first time."

Saying so, Jing Shu wrapped one herself, but with the filling on the closing end of the dumpling skin, the two edges couldn’t stick together despite repeated attempts. In a panic, she squeezed hard, bursting the dumpling entirely.

She looked at the smashed dumpling, and the stuffing smeared all over her hand, and burst into tears.

Exclaiming, "I’m doomed, I’m doomed..."