The Grand Princess

TGP Chapter 45: Response

“Your Highness can just move forward with it.”
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Li Rong heard Pei Wenxuan’s words and quietly stared at him.

She was a little confused for a moment. She understood what Pei Wenxuan had said, but there were also some things she did not understand.

Pei Wenxuan liked her, and she had known about it for a long time.

But then Pei Wenxuan said that he didn’t like Qin Zhenzhen, which was a little beyond her expectations.

What surprised her even more was that Pei Wenxuan said these words in such a clear and direct manner that a vague sense of panic took form in the depths of her heart.

She stared at Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan raised his head and looked at her as well. There was hope in his eyes, yearning, and something else in itself that even he himself was unaware of—that fiery light softly flickering in his eyes.

He was like a departed soul that had come to find closure for the regrets in his lifetime, waiting for that one person to extend their hand and set him free of his regrets.

But unfortunately, the person standing in front of him was also wandering in hell themselves.

Li Rong looked into those eyes of his and watched as the hopeful and expectant look in those eyes slowly extinguished bit by bit. It was like a fire that had been lit ablaze, now extinguished as if someone had thrown a basin of cold water over it.

Li Rong tried to get all of her emotions under control as she shifted her gaze downwards and said in a low voice: “What you said just now, I will give it careful consideration. Get back onto the carriage and let us head back first.”

Having said that, she lifted the curtain, sat back down in the carriage and indifferently said: “Everyone, we will be heading back.”

Pei Wenxuan did not answer as he stood beside the carriage. Li Rong set the curtain down, closed her eyes and began to rest for a bit.

The attendants all rushed to come back. The coachman took a look at Pei Wenxuan, who was still standing in place beside the carriage and tentatively asked: “Prince Consort, are you still getting into the carriage?”

Pei Wenxuan lowered his head. He felt a sudden wave of exhaustion washing over him. He suddenly didn’t want to see Li Rong anymore, didn’t want to say another word to her again, or have any other interaction with her.

Li Rong was like a block of ice that could not be melted with warmth, an impenetrable stone that not even the slightest drop of water could seep through. No matter how hard he tried, that person would never respond.

Although he didn’t know how he wanted her to respond to it, he still felt that even if she had even the slightest reaction and scolded him or persuaded him otherwise, loved him back or hated him, he could accept it because it would still be much better than this silence at the moment like that of a stranger’s silence.

He was still standing in the same place. Li Rong noticed that he had not come up into the carriage for a while and finally opened her eyes and calmly asked: “Are you not coming?”

“No need.”

Pei Wenxuan turned around and wearily said: “You can head back first. I will be going to the official bureau.”

“Then…” Li Rong slowly opened her mouth and said: “Be careful on the road.”

Pei Wenxuan replied with a low hum of acknowledgement as if nothing had happened between the two of them. Pei Wenxuan told the other attendants nearby to wait, and before he left, he gently said: “Li Rong, if faced with any unexpected situation, you always keep your emotions buried in your heart and want to use reason to solve everything, but you will one day find that not everything can be resolved purely on the basis of reason.”