After Transmigrating As The Scumbag Alpha In An Ancient Pregnant-And-Run Novel - Chapter 18

Shen Liunian lifted her foot and kicked toward Yun Chenghuai. Servants did not dare offend their superiors, since that was a capital crime, but she was different. In the past, she had never cared about Yun the dog’s face, and she still would not care now.

If it had been the original owner, she would likely have become angry because of this kick. Yun Chenghuai, however, directly hugged Shen Liunian’s foot and smiled obediently. “Madam, don’t make trouble.”

Shen Liunian: “……”

She had kicked with the intent to hurt her, not to make trouble.

When Yun the dog said it like that, it sounded as if they were flirting. Shen Liunian hurriedly pulled her leg back, only to tug at her injury. Her brows immediately knitted together slightly.

Yun Chenghuai ignored the pain in her chest. The corner of her mouth had only just lifted when she noticed Shen Liunian frowning, and she quickly asked in concern, “Madam, have you applied medicine?”

Shen Liunian was covered with a thick fur blanket, thin socks on her feet as she lay sideways on the beauty couch.

One sentence floated into Yun Chenghuai’s mind: a beauty reclining on a beauty couch.

Shen Liunian’s appearance was breathtaking, especially that aura around her. It was simply soul-stealing.

For someone like Yun Chenghuai, who had never even dated before, one extra glance was enough to make her fall.

“Nanling will help me apply the medicine.” Shen Liunian could not be bothered with her.

“I’ll help Madam apply it.”

Yun Chenghuai gestured for Nanling to give her the medicine, her clean eyes looking straight at Shen Liunian.

Without Shen Liunian’s order, how could Nanling possibly hand the medicine over to her? The two sides remained at a standstill.

After about ten breaths, Shen Liunian calmly said, “Give it to her.”

Nanling paused, then placed the medicine she had prepared long ago into Yun Chenghuai’s hand.

Yun Chenghuai did not feel awkward. She crouched beside Shen Liunian and gently rolled up the other woman’s trouser leg, revealing the injury on her knee.

“It’s this serious!” Her heart tightened.

As a fragile university student, although she was fairly disciplined, got up early to exercise every day, and often arranged to play ball with her classmates, making her physical condition decent enough, little bumps and bruises were still normal. There were always some greenish bruises on her body, and she never knew when she had gotten them.

But Shen Liunian’s knee was covered in bruising. At a glance, one could tell there was blood stasis. Combined with her already fair and delicate skin, it looked especially frightening.

Yun Chenghuai pressed her lips together in distress. The original owner really was a bastard. Such a beautiful woman, and she had not known how to cherish her at all.

She did not know whether she felt sorry for Shen Liunian, or sorry that such snow-white skin had been injured like this.

To make applying the medicine easier, crouching was uncomfortable, so she simply knelt on one knee.

Her action shocked everyone nearby. Shen Liunian looked at her in surprise.

Qianyuan only knelt to heaven and earth, the sovereign, parents, and teachers. On ordinary days, even when meeting superior officials, they only bowed. And Yun Chenghuai had just knelt like that?

Although it was only one knee on the ground, she was still a prince, still the wife-master. How could she kneel to her own wife?

Even an ordinary Qianyuan would absolutely never kneel to her wife.

Yun Chenghuai had no such awareness. In her heart, she still had no division between Qianyuan and Kunze. She only knew that applying medicine like this was more convenient.

She gently used a jade spatula to pick up a bit of ointment, carefully applying it to Shen Liunian’s knee. Then she asked nervously, “Does it hurt?”

“Of course it hurts. It’s this serious, how could it not hurt?”

Without waiting for Shen Liunian to answer, she spoke on her own.

Light flickered in Shen Liunian’s eyes. She raised a hand, telling Nanling and Beizhu to leave.

Her gaze settled on the top of Yun Chenghuai’s head. This person truly was far too abnormal.

She did not care at all about status or hierarchy as she knelt on one knee. The way she applied the medicine was gentle. How did she look anything like a pampered prince?

Originally, Shen Liunian had thought she would go along with Yun Chenghuai once, let the other woman help her apply medicine, then keep her here afterward.

With Yun Chenghuai present, Li Zhaoxian’s people probably would not dare come looking for her again.

However, there were more and more suspicious points about Yun Chenghuai.

“Yun Chenghuai.”

“Mm?”

Shen Liunian called out suddenly, and Yun Chenghuai answered naturally.

She lifted her head in confusion, her eyes so clear they did not look like those of someone from the imperial clan. “Madam, are you cold?”

The charcoal fire in the room burned strongly, making the room very warm. She was only wearing thin sleepwear and did not feel cold.

But Shen Liunian was different. She had just been injured and was also pregnant. Her body was probably not as strong as usual.

After Yun Chenghuai evenly spread the medicine for Shen Liunian, she stood up and discovered that only the two of them remained in the room.

“What exactly are you planning?” Shen Liunian finally asked.

She did not believe a perfectly normal person could undergo such a drastic change. If Yun Chenghuai was pretending, then being able to pretend to this extent—if Yun the dog truly had such deep schemes, she would not have gone from such a good starting point to her current situation.

Yun Chenghuai’s performance today, along with certain details, was completely different from usual.

Shen Liunian did not believe in ghosts and spirits, nor did she believe Yun Chenghuai was so calculating.

Could there be someone behind Yun Chenghuai giving her instructions? But no matter how formidable the person behind her was, if Yun Chenghuai herself was incapable, then it would still be useless.

Yun the dog’s own behavior was absolutely not that simple.

The more Shen Liunian thought about it, the more chaotic her mind became. Thinking that her relationship with Yun Chenghuai was already stiff anyway, she might as well ask directly.

After all, their relationship was already so stiff. If it became even stiffer, it did not matter.

Yun Chenghuai set the ointment aside, weighing how she should answer.

Could she say that she was not the original owner? Would Shen Liunian treat her as an abnormal creature and burn her?

Should she trust Shen Liunian, or continue fighting alone?

To be honest, she did not have absolute confidence that she could change her own situation. She was facing imperial daughters who had fought since childhood, as well as many deeply scheming people.

She was only twenty years old. She was more mature than her peers, but that did not necessarily mean she was more mature than ancient people.

Whether because of television dramas or the original owner’s memories, she knew that those who had survived in the imperial palace since childhood—how many of them could possibly be kind?

Moreover, the current Emperor’s harem was far from peaceful. Among the imperial daughters who had survived safely to adulthood, how many could be fools?

Oh. The original owner had been protected too well when she was young, and she also possessed an exalted status. Not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, she was one of those fools.

Yun Chenghuai thought for a long time. Shen Liunian covered her legs with the fur blanket again and sipped her tea, not rushing her.

Yun Chenghuai tried saying, “What if I said the old me was the one pretending?”

“Pretending to be a useless waste?” Shen Liunian spoke too bluntly, choking Yun Chenghuai until she could not speak for a moment.

“If you said you were pretending to be a wastrel prince who did not participate in the succession struggle, I might believe you. But if you were truly pretending, why participate in the succession struggle at all?”

Other imperial daughters hid their ambitions for the throne deep in their hearts. No matter how much they did in secret, on the surface, they still acted like proper subjects and daughters. Yet the thoughts of Prince Chuxiang, Yun Chenghuai, were practically known to everyone.

If she wanted to stay out of it, being a wastrel would have been the most direct path. Why did she insist on fighting for the throne too? Did she think Shen Liunian was stupid enough to fool?

Yun Chenghuai was speechless. The original owner, that idiot, had done things too absolutely, leaving her not even a reason to disguise herself.

She had exposed too many flaws today. There was no helping it. After all, she was an entirely new person. Besides, the original owner’s actions had gone too far against common sense. How could a normal person possibly act like that?

If even Shen Liunian could not be fooled, then once Yun Chenghuai left the prince’s manor in the future, entered the palace, or met that Crown Princess sister of hers, and faced so many people who might be familiar with her, what kind of situation would that become?

She had to find a reason for her change. Just as she had originally thought, it would be because she was about to become a mother, and having a child had made her mature.

Yun Chenghuai coughed softly, sat down on the small couch opposite Shen Liunian, and deliberately said with a solemn expression, “Imperial Mother has no imperial grandchildren to this day. The throne of our Great Qin must be inherited by a Qianyuan. Among the imperial grandchildren, there are countless county princesses, only a few commandery princesses, and not a single imperial grandchild who is Qianyuan.”

Of the children born to imperial daughters, a Qianyuan would be an imperial grandchild. The legitimate eldest could request to be granted the title of Commandery Prince. A legitimate eldest Kunze would be granted the title of Commandery Princess. The rest would have their titles lowered according to whether they were legitimate or concubine-born. Those without ability could only become idle members of the imperial clan.

“The Eighth Imperial Daughter, Prince Xunyang, has a Qianyuan,” Shen Liunian reminded her irritably.

“So what? Old Eight is of low birth. Her father committed a capital crime punishable by the extermination of nine clans. It is already good that Imperial Mother did not implicate and blame her too. The Qianyuan in her household might as well not exist.”

Yun Chenghuai imitated the original owner’s tone and said, “This prince is different. This prince is of noble birth, a legitimate imperial daughter. If I have a Qianyuan, that child will be the legitimate eldest imperial grandchild of our dynasty.”

With the words spoken to this point, what she was thinking was very clear.

Shen Liunian pressed her lips together and said nothing. Sure enough, just as she had guessed, Yun the dog wanted to use the child to turn her situation around.

But she had not yet decided whether to give birth to this child or not. Yun the dog was thinking far too early.

Yun Chenghuai secretly glanced at Shen Liunian, not knowing whether the other woman believed her or not. In any case, she herself believed it. This was a reason she had spent a long time thinking up.

Rather than saying she had become better, it was more accurate to say that, for the sake of benefit, she had no choice but to change.

“Madam, you and I are one. Now that you have rendered great merit, of course I must treat you well.” Yun Chenghuai spoke sincerely, and it did sound somewhat believable.

Shen Liunian’s gaze was deep and unreadable. It was unclear whether she believed Yun Chenghuai’s words or not.

After the two were silent for a while, she mocked, “How do you know I’m willing to give birth to this child, or willing to be one with you?”

Yun Chenghuai: “……”

Good! Sure enough, the cart had overturned.