71 Storyline Part 1 Literally donst read if you donst want spoilers (2/2)

13. When Ji Er comes back, she is acting strange and Yu Mei asks her what is wrong. She doesn't say anything.

14. Next day on break, Ji Er hides behind a pillar and waits for Hou Lei to come out. She tails him. When Xu Hou Lei realizes that Ji Er is following him, he speeds up. Ji Er quickly runs in front of him and stops him. She asks him why he is so indifferent to her. He tells her that she is his best friend's woman. How else was he supposed to act?

15. Ji Er can't take it anymore as she once again has to watch as Hou Lei walked away from her. These past months, she tried so hard to avoid him but the moment she saw him, everything she worked so hard to forget came back because she saw him. Ji Er throws everything away as she runs after him and back hugs him. Hou Lei places his hands on hers and closes his eyes for a moment. He almost loses himself in her embrace. He quickly acts fast enough to break away and remind her that she is Prince Nan's wife.

16. Yu Mei who was following Ji Er sees and is shocked to find out that Ji Er knows Xu Hou Lei. Even if she couldn't hear anything, just by their expressions, she could tell.

17. That night Yu Mei goes to Ji Er's palace and confronts her. Finally she gets the answer she has been wondering about. Ji Er is in love with Xu Hou Lei.Yu Mei doesn't understand and asks why she wants Pei Nan's baby then. This question, Ji Er doesn't answer her. Instead she tells Yu Mei that Xu Hou Lei is her childhood lover and they were supposed to get married but she broke it off with him. She doesn't blame Xu Hou Lei for acting indifferent towards her. She doesn't know why Ji Er married Pei Nan but just thinking about Ji Er's situation makes her depressed.

18. Yu Mei comes back to her Southern Palace to see Pei Nan sitting there. She is happy but nervous at the same time at the sight of him. He knows what she is thinking (sleeping together) and he tells her that he couldn't sleep. The two end up having small talk and he falls asleep on the table. Yu Mei goes to his palace to call for his maids but sees Fei Ning exiting the room.

19. Yu Mei stops Fei Ning and they both quarrel. Yu Mei snatches some kind of map from Fei Ning's hand. Fei Ning quickly snatches it back saying it was something Pei Nan requested her to copy for him. Yu Mei doesn't think much of it as she would just ask Pei Nan in the morning.

20. Next day Pei Nan finds out someone has been in his room and stole a military map. Everyone is in question and Yu Mei is about to say it was Fei Ning but Fei Ning was quicker to blame Yu Mei. Pei Nan does a search in both rooms to be fair and finds the map in Yu Mei's room. He asks her if she was the spy sent from Lian. Instead of replying, she asks him if he trusts her. Silence. She understands and asks him to punish her then. He never trusted her once.

21. Pei Nan sends her to the Taiji palace (similar to the cold palace) until further investigation.

22. After a day, Shao hears about it and is outraged. He goes to defend Yu Mei but Pei Nan says the evidence is there and it has been proven that there really was a spy in his palace. He asks Nan if he really thinks that someone like Yu Mei could be the spy. Pei Nan doesn't answer him. He only asks why Shao is defending Yu Mei. Gu Shao replies with ”She is someone I want to protect.”

23. Shao is angered and visits Yu Mei that night. Even though Yu Mei is feeling terrible, she is still happy to see Shao. Shao accompanies her the next few days that she is prisoned. No one knows because she is the only person in the palace.

24. On the fourth day, Yu Mei is released but Pei Nan didn't tell her why. She thinks that it was due to Shao helping her and she is thankful for that. She has Chu'mei hand a letter to Shao. Pei Nan gets the letter first and finds out that the two of them are secretly meeting.

25. When Yu Mei goes to see Shao, she thanks him but he doesn't know why. When she says he helped her, he wanted to say it wasn't him but somehow he couldn't. The only reason why Yu Mei wanted to see him was to personally thank him. Pei Nan is watching from afar and leaves disappointed afterward.

26. This time, it's Nan who visits Shao's palace at night. Shao knows that Nan is going to visit. He saw Nan earlier. He purposely plays with the jade bracelet Yu Mei gave him. When Pei Nan comes in, Shao ”tries” to hide the bracelet but it drops on the ground. Pei Nan picks it up and can tell right away it is Yu Mei's. It was one of the betrothal gifts he gave her. Pei Nan asks where Shao got it.

27. Shao says that he got it from a friend. Pei Nan pretends like he doesn't know and proceeds to have a drink with Shao. They have an intense conversation over Yu Mei. During this time, Gu Shao tells Pei Nan about his blood jade pendant. Finally, Pei Nan realizes where the pendant Yu Mei desperately took back from him came from. He believes that the two exchanged ”gifts”. He asks Gu Shao if he loves Yu Mei. Shao doesn't deny it and Pei Nan doesn't believe he sincerely loves Yu Mei since he thinks that Gu Shao is still in love with Fei Ning. The two part after the misunderstanding never gets cleared.

28. Next day, Yu Mei boldly enters Fei Ning's courtyard and tells her that she's going to find a way to reveal her true face. Fei Ning tells her that Pei Nan loves her and would never believe Yu Mei over her.

29. Ji Er is also feeling very anxious at this time. She happens to run into Hou Lei as he leaves Pei Nan's study room and asks him to run away with her. He tells her that he has already stopped loving her. He is trying hard to not care about her that he doesn't realize how anxious she is. (Ji Er scenes. I could write about them forever but will refrain myself *wuwuwuw*)

***[In the middle of the night, Ji Er and Hou Lei were standing behind a willow tree. Because it was dark, Hou Lei could not see how stressed and anxious Ji Er looked. She tried to keep calm as she stood tall and elegant in front of him. The two of them just looked at each other for a very long time.

”What does Consort Nuan want to speak to me about?” Hou Lei was the first to speak, using an emotionless tone.

”As long as you agree, I am willing to throw everything away to be with you.” For the first time in her life, Ji Er wanted to be brave. If it was any other time, she would never have said these words to Hou Lei. She even wished he could hear how desperate she sounded. Maybe he would agree.

Hou Lei wanted to say yes so bad. He could throw away everything he had for this woman. But he could not throw away the trust and brotherhood he had with Pei Nan for her. Pei Nan was someone who stuck with him when he was still nobody. He never blamed Ji Er for leaving him to be with Pei Nan. He could understand why she would do so. Pei Nan was the kind of man any man strives to become.

Ji Er became even more anxious when he didn't reply. This time, she desperately held onto his hands. Her cold shaking hands grabbing onto his. ”Lei ge'ge, let's run away. Didn't we say we would live where only the two of us existed? Somewhere no one could find us? We can still do that. Run away with me, okay?”

”Ji Er.” It had been so long since he had last called out to her this dearly. ”This isn't like the past. We can't just run away from our lives, our duties. You are the wife of Prince Nan and I am his adviser. If I leave with you now, how could I face my ancestors? Or Pei Nan? This is the decision you chose for the both of us. We can only continue to move forward. It's late, I must go.” Hou Lei felt if he stayed any longer, he would really leave everything and take her away this moment. Ji Er on the other hand let go of his hands as she stared at the ground in front of her. Even after Hou Lei left her side, she didn't move. [Ji Er, this is the choice you made. Lei ge'ge is right. There is no turning back.] Ji Er closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek.]***

***THE REST WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW NIGHT (And yes, she leaves the palace)*** ^_____^

***I reread this and it makes sense to me but then I am the author. But if you guys have any questions or don't understand something from this, please comment and I will try to answer it before posting the final half ^_____^