Almost instinctively, Shang Ruyi shook her head.
Empress Dowager Jiang looked at her gently and said, "So, whom do you blame?"
Shang Ruyi said, "I blame no one."
Empress Dowager Jiang said, "But I can tell, you are hurting."
"..."
"I'm very sorry to have hurt you, but I am a mother, and I must protect my daughter."
"...!"
Shang Ruyi was slightly taken aback.
She did not blame Empress Dowager Jiang's "selfishness." In fact, she could imagine that if she were in her position, she wouldn't be too kind to her daughter's rival either. She could not guarantee that she could treat herself as gently and kindly as she had in the past.
People are just people, and selfishness is instinctual.
But there is another survival instinct in humans, which is to become numb when intense pain arrives.
So it was only when Empress Dowager Jiang uttered that sentence that Shang Ruyi suddenly realized—she was indeed in pain.
