Giving Me the Cold Shoulder the Moment You Return? (Please Subscribe and Vote with Monthly Tickets)

"Mother?!" When Su Wanqing saw who had arrived, surprise and joy instantly lit up her dim eyes, as though a clear spring had poured into them.

She sprang to her feet and threw herself into Hua Rumeng's arms like a fledgling swallow returning to the nest, her voice choked with hurt. "You're finally back!"

Hua Rumeng held her daughter close, her heart aching, and gently patted her back. After comforting her for a while, she gently steered the conversation toward the matter at hand. "Qing'er, what on earth happened? Why are you suddenly entering the palace? What about Mingyuan?"

At the mention of her heartbreak, Su Wanqing's tears rolled down like pearls from a broken string. "Mother, please don't mention Brother Mingyuan again. After the New Emperor ascended the throne, he saw me at a palace banquet and insisted on taking me into his harem.

"I refused him on the spot, saying I was already betrothed. But just a few days later, word came that Brother Mingyuan... he had fallen from his horse while out riding and died."

By the end, she was sobbing too hard to speak.

Hua Rumeng shuddered violently, as though struck by lightning.

She had weathered her share of storms, and instantly understood the filth behind this "accident" and why it had been inevitable.

An uncontrollable fury surged through her, leaving even her fingertips trembling. "Outrageous! This New Emperor is utterly lawless! Forcing an official's daughter into his harem, and resorting to such vicious means!"

She had never imagined that the Imperial House had become so tyrannical!

Hearing her mother condemn the Imperial House so openly, Su Wanqing went pale with fright. She hurriedly caught Hua Rumeng's sleeve, glanced nervously around, and lowered her voice. "Mother! Watch what you say! You can't say things like that