As she watched the scene around her take place, Shen Qingmei almost wondered if she was possessed. To dream about some whatever crown prince, some whatever eldest prince, some whatever heir apparent to a throne… could it be that she"d watched too much ancient dramas?
She dizzily arose to wakefulness, her eyes opening hazily. Shen Qingmei dazedly stared at the floating aquatic plants around her, and then suddenly sobered up.
Your mother!
What kind of situation was this!?
What had just happened!?
She was… in the water!?
That wasn"t possible! She was clearly just with Master in the bedroom, on his luxuriously big bed, having a nosebleed! And what about him? Was that beautiful, G.o.d-like, impenetrable man okay?!
Lowering her heard, she looked at the jade ring still shining on her right finger. Shen Qingmei seemed to realize something. She reached out a hand to pluck the ring off her finger and observe it. However, the moment her hands brushed against the ring"s surface, the bright light it was emitting immediately disappeared.
At once, the piercing chill of the river suddenly surrounded her. It became impossible to breathe. She was drowning in the water, in the brutal cold.
Shen Qingmei immediately panicked, deciding not to give this matter anymore thought. She used all of her entire might to swim up to the surface of the river, before she froze to death.
At the side of the river, there was a chaotic cacophony of voices. Some of the words could barely be discerned.
“Yao-er, what happened? What are you doing here?”
“Drowned? Where"s the Crown Prince?”
“His Highness the Crown Prince fell into the river… by the time I realized it, he had already disappeared underneath the water… I couldn"t swim, which is why I could only call for people to help me find him… but, I was still too late! His Highness the Crown Prince, His Highness the Crown Prince, he… sank to the bottom of the river…!”
“What?!” Shangguan Nanhong immediately became panicked. He waved a hand, instructing the court officials, “What are you doing, standing there? Hurry up and go down there to find him!”
A person suddenly pa.s.sed by his side. Realizing who it was, Shangguan Nanhong tried to bar them from going further.
“Hey! Eldest Prince! What are you doing here… just let the imperial bodyguards handle it! This river is too cold, you definitely can"t go down there. Or else your body will not be able to endure such a chill…”
The black-robed man glared at him coldly. “What do you understand? If you don"t hurry and save the Crown Prince, both of us are seeking death.”
“Prin—Princess… you, look over there… what is that… floating, floating on the surface…?” Suddenly, seeing a golden object float to the surface of the water, one of the maids" faces turned as white as paper with guilt. She couldn"t help but pull at Shangguan Jingyao"s sleeve.
Shangguan Jingyao didn"t bother to look at her. Her voice lowered as she muttered, “What are you afraid of?! You useless person, don"t talk excessively!”
A moment later, Huangfu Wujie had also noticed that object. Without hesitation, he leaped into the river, swimming ferociously towards Huangfu Chang"an"s “corpse”.
Having spent too long inside the icy river, and being unused to her new pair of strange hands and feet, Shen Qingmei found it hard to stay afloat in the water torrent. She gasped for breath, then sank into the water again, until she had fainted.
The entire world seemed to spin. Suddenly, she was on land.
She could faintly recall someone grabbing her in the water, hugging her waist—if that thing counted as a waist—and dragging her to the river bank, where several people had hurriedly placed her on the gra.s.s.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince! Your Highness the Crown Prince?!”
“Wake up, Your Highness! Please be okay! If something happens to you, we will all be finished!”
Several people surrounded her, shaking her p.r.o.ne body. Shen Qingqiu felt like a tree in autumn being hara.s.sed by the wind, an extremely dizzy feeling surrounding her. She couldn"t help but spit out a mouthful of water, before slowly coming to again.
“Ah! It"s a miracle! His Highness has woken up!”
“Scared me half to death… thank the heavens that the Crown Prince didn"t die…”
That tone, in the weight of what had just occurred, also seemed to hold a few regrets.
She slowly opened her eyes. Shen Qingmei looked around at her surroundings, staring at the people that surrounded her. All of them were wearing an array of strange outfits, as if each and every one of them had come straight out of an ancient Chinese TV show. The robes of the maidservants and court officials brought a fresh and lively charm, even more so now that they were right in front of her eyes.
Were they shooting a movie?!
——This was Shen Qingmei"s first thought.
But this explanation was quickly rejected by her.
Because when she looked past the crowd of people around her, she saw that tender and delicate young lady in the white marten coat. Next to her, standing on tenterhooks, was that green-robed young maid. Those two people"s appearance and clothing were the same as the two people who had appeared in her dream, the exact same!
Shen Qingmei"s heart shook! In front of her eyes, she could see ten thousand gra.s.s mud horses running on the gra.s.slands…
So it turned out that the most frightening thing on this planet wasn"t a nightmare, but rather when you were having realistic nightmare, and about to wake up, only to realize that this nightmare—
Your mother, was real!
Thinking back to the events that had occured back when she was still dreaming, Shen Qingmei felt a fiery anger erupt within her.
That d.a.m.ned woman, how dare she push her into the water?! And even kick her on the head?! And use a wooden stick to beat her?!
She didn"t know if it was because she had suddenly transmigrated into this body, but that anger and resentment broiling inside her immediately multiplied by a thousand times, by ten thousand times, until all Shen Qingmei could think about returning the favor!
Feeling a suddenly cold chill rise within her, Shangguan Jingyao"s heart began to palpitate with fear. It felt like a bee had stung her. She couldn"t help but raise her eyes to stare at that Crown Prince who had come back from the dead.
Before she could take a good look at that person, a round object was rolling towards her direction, with immense speed and great vigor. It was faster than anyone had expected!
“Ah!”
Shangguan Jingyao screeched. In the blink of an eye she had been thrown onto that ground, that round object following suit. It felt like her entire inner organs were being crushed to death!
“You s.l.u.t! How dare you hit me! How dare you plot against me! I have to warn you, if you go against me, you"re seeking death!”
Shen Qingmei sat on Shangguan Jingyao"s chest, raising a hand and continuously slapping that smooth, egg-like face with dozens of blows. If she couldn"t ruin that pretty little face into a pig head, her last name wouldn"t be Shen!
Everyone else could only stare blankly at the current situation, not knowing how to react.