She wanted to send him back to Jiang Zhi’s residence, but he wasn’t willing to return even on pain of death. And he wasn’t willing to return to the Duan Clan either.
Jun Liyou could only bring Duan Qingyun back with her, and get people to serve him attentively, while she sent others to invite Jiang Zhi over to bring him back.
As he saw that Jun Liyou still had no secondary husbands, Duan Qingyun couldn’t help but regret his decision back then.
He’d only learned from his father not long ago that if he’d waited just one more month, Jun Liyou would’ve married him.
Because there were too many men by Jiang Zhi’s side who he couldn’t win against, Duan Qingyun thought of returning to Jun Liyou’s side.He took advantage of when she was ill to climb into her bed.
Jun Liyou was a very responsible person. She naturally had to take responsibility for what she had done[1].
Hence, when Jiang Zhi came knocking, Jun Liyou stubbornly locked horns with her.
But Jiang Zhi secretly looked for Duan Qingyun, telling him she’d already investigated everything and knew he wasn’t the culprit. She also apologised for being so distant to him.
As the one he liked was still Jiang Zhi, he was coaxed into returning with her after making a show of resisting.
But as Duan Qingyun was now under suspicion of having done something illicit with Jun Liyou, after Jiang Zhi brought him back, she didn’t visit his chambers any more.
As a result, Duan Qingyun once again thought of the days when he was in the Jun Clan.But Jun Liyou was no fool. Ever since he’d chosen to leave with Jiang Zhi, Jun Liyou had no intention of bothering with him anymore.
There is a rather accurate saying, “It’s hard to guard against petty people.”
After several failed attempts at contacting Jun Liyou, Duan Qingyun actually accused her of raping him.
Jiang Zhi had a possessive streak towards her men. Even if she didn’t like him very much anymore, he was still hers.
As a result, Jiang Zhi began deliberately opposing Jun Liyou. The latter counterattacked—but from the perspective of outsiders, it appeared more like she was the one deliberately opposing Jiang Zhi. This persisted until Jun Liyou ended up with a ruined reputation, and her entire clan was executed.
Everyone thought she’d gotten her just desserts even though she’d done nothing to deserve it.
Jun Liyou didn’t understand. Just what had she done wrong for her to end up in this state?
She wasn’t willing to just accept it. She wanted another chance—a chance to live grandly, to protect her family, to ensure her clan’s reputation remained sound.
Of course, the most important thing was to ensure Duan Qingyun got his comeuppance. Jun Liyou believed that other than wasting a few years of his life, she hadn’t let him down in any way. What basis did he have for teaming up with Jiang Zhi to deal with her like that?
Shi Sheng facepalmed and sighed.
‘This Duan Qingyun...is definitely your classic evil supporting female lead. And his ending wasn’t bad either! The FL actually didn’t pursue the matter of him being screwed by someone else!’
Shi Sheng had always thought her three views were warped. But upon having a look at this plot, she knew what truly warped views were.
‘I mean, if the FL liked Duan Qingyun, it would’ve been understandable. But from the plot, it seems like he wasn’t even the one she liked the most! As expected of a modern white-collar worker! In the modern world, who hasn’t been screwed by a prick?’
“Your Excellency, the physician is here.”
Shi Sheng raised her head to find the woman from before leading another woman carrying a box into the room.
“Greetings, Prime Minister.”
The woman from before was called Dai Yue. She was one of the two attendants who were Jun Liyou’s closest confidantes. The other was called Ying Yue.
“Your Excellency?” ‘Why is Her Excellency just staring at nothing? Are her eyes okay already?’
Shi Sheng came back to her senses. She looked at the physician. Recalling that it was because Jun Liyou had later fallen ill, which allowed Duan Qingyun to take advantage, she couldn’t help but cough. She told the physician her eyes were fine, but still got the physician to examine her anyway.
“There are no major issues with Your Excellency’s body—at most you’ve been out in the cold for too long. In a bit, this commoner will write a prescription to get rid of the coldness. Your Excellency should be fine after you’ve taken the prescription.”
Dai Yue let out a sigh of relief. “Then we shall have to trouble you, physician.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble! No trouble at all!” The physician replied, somewhat panicked, before being sent off by Dai Yue.
“Dai Yue, once the rain’s stopped, send Duan Qingyun back.” Shi Sheng stood at the doorway as she gave orders to Dai Yue, who was walking back towards her. ‘I should send this menace back to the FL.’
Dai Yue was delighted. “Yes.”
‘I never liked that Duan Qingyun. The reason why Her Excellency has never taken any secondary husbands was because she wanted to marry him.
But what did he do? He somehow got involved with the Ning Princess, and even made Her Excellency lose so much face!’
When their lady had suddenly brought him back, both Dai Yue and Ying Yue had been very worried that she would do something inappropriate.
Duan Qingyun had probably never expected to be sent away like this, for he appeared unwilling to leave and made a scene about wanting to see the Prime Minister.
He was one of the Ning Princess’s secondary husbands after all—the servants didn’t dare to use force to expel him, so they could only ask Shi Sheng for instructions.
Shi Sheng was currently suffering from a bit of a headache—a real one. Hence, upon hearing the report from a servant, her temper flared. “Who wants to see him?! If he won’t leave, just beat him up!”
The servant was scared into trembling. She followed Shi Sheng’s orders and chased Duan Qingyun out.
...Though they didn’t dare to beat him up as she told them to. In any case, he was still the Ning Princess’s secondary husband.
Duan Qingyun didn’t dare to cause a scene once he was out of the Prime Minister’s residence. He was clear of his current identity. He just couldn’t help but harbour a bit of resentment towards Shi Sheng.
‘She was the one who brought me back, so how could she chase me away so heartlessly?’
......
In a matriarchy, other than the positions of men and women being reversed, everything else was the same as in any society.
As Shi Sheng was the Prime Minister, she had to attend the morning court every day.
‘I really have to wake up earlier than chickens...’
Since she had to attend court, she naturally met the female lead.
Although Jiang Zhi was reputed to be a useless Princess, under the efforts of the current her, she was about to rinse herself of this name. Furthermore, she did a good job of pleasing the Empress. As a result, the Empress gave her more responsibilities.
Recently, the Empress had even allowed her to attend court and listen to the proceedings. This was treatment that only the Crown Princess should have.
As Shi Sheng was the Prime Minister, she was to stand with Jiang Zhi at the front.
“Her Majesty has punished the Crown Princess by making her copy scriptures these past few days... Do you guys know what’s going on?”
“No...”
Seeing as the Empress hadn’t arrived yet, several officials began gossiping.
“I heard it’s because the Crown Princess harassed a man outside the palace...”
“The Crown Princess can have any man she wants, so why does she keep stirring up trouble outside?”
“Prime Minister, do you know the reason?” An official who was standing close to Shi Sheng asked her in a whisper.
“No.” Shi Sheng had an aloof expression expected of a Prime Minister.
‘Even if I(bbb) knew, I wouldn’t tell you!’
The Crown Princess found Jiang Zhi to be an eyesore recently because the latter had grown more favoured by their Imperial Mother. Naturally, the Crown Princess would cause trouble for Jiang Zhi.
And the result was that the former was punished to copy scriptures by their Imperial Mother.
This was proof of the absolute principle various other side characters had used their lives to demonstrate: never oppose the female lead. Of course, that was under the condition that your IQ wasn’t online.
Jiang Zhi cast a rather complicated glance at Shi Sheng. The latter glared right back. ‘What’re you looking at? Never seen a flawless beauty like me(bbb)?’
Setting aside her own ability, the reason why Jun Liyou could have such a high position at such a young age had to do with having the Jun Clan as her backing.
The Jun Clan had already produced three successive generations of Prime Ministers, so the connections and wealth they’d accumulated was enough to cause the Empress to feel wary.
This was the reason why Shi Sheng was unafraid of the FL.
Not even the Empress would dare to do anything to her.
‘Though this FL looks rather delicate...’
In a matriarchal society, all women appeared tougher on average. After all, the women had to do the men’s work now. If they appeared too weak and fragile, they wouldn’t be able to give others the feeling of dependability.
Jiang Zhi was startled that Shi Sheng glared at her. ‘I haven’t even gone looking for her yet, and she has the gall to glare at me?’
Jiang Zhi was about to speak but a loud cry interrupted her.
“Her Majesty, the Empress is here—”
The sounds of discussion immediately died down, as all those present lowered their heads.
[1] Don’t forget, this is a society where roles are reversed. In our world, this situation would be like one where a guy is screwed by a girl but has to take responsibility for her because she’s assumed to be the one taken advantage of.
