The princess was the official wife. Surely, he married this one, but the consort was different. Although her name was also on the royal list, she was not the official wife, so how could he use the word "marry"?
Commandery Princess Mu Ling knew Ning Xueyan's status. Now she could not help looking at her a little longer. Since the prince used the word "marry", he didn't seem to only treat her as his consort. Initially, she thought that the one who came out to receive her from the prince's manor would be Commandery Princess Xianyun, but she did not expect that it was Ning Xueyan, who was said to have passed out twice on her wedding day and would possibly pass away sometime in the future.
As for the character of her brother, others might not know it, but she knew it. Never before had he been forced to smile a little stiffly when he only uttered a few words.
"Consort Ning, I'm happy to hear you like the customs and practices of Yunnan. When I came t
This was Prince Yi's Manor, not her homeland of Yunnan. She couldn't just do whatever she wanted here.This was Prince Yi's Manor. Even if she married the Third Prince in the future, this was still his uncle's manor. The people here were ranked higher than her.This was Prince Yi's Manor. Only they had ever caused trouble for others, never someone else troubling them.This was Prince Yi's Manor, a place that had always represented power. Although the status of a Commandery Princess was high, a princess with a foreign surname was still beneath the rank of Prince Yi's consort, so why was she scolding the consort?...One simple sentence, yet its meaning was multitude. It was enough to render Commandery Princess Muling speechless. No matter what, it seemed that she had no right to scold Ning Xueyan. The person in front of her wasn't just the unfavored Fifth Young Lady of the Lord Protector's Manor. Who knew if she would e
Ning Xueyan was having lunch when she received Madam Dowager's letter.She pulled out the letter and read it with a thoughtful smile. She would be checking out the Imperial Examination Ranking tomorrow and visiting the Lord Protector's Manor while she was at it. This was a good excuse to gather the family and worship their ancestors together. Even though the excuse was somewhat forceful, it made sense.She put down the letter with a slight smile and a calm expression. "Qingyu, reward the messenger. Tell her I'll check out Brother's ranking tomorrow and will return to the Lord Protector's Manor in the afternoon to worship the ancestors together."The Imperial Examination Ranking was usually announced in the morning. If she wanted to check it out, she would have to visit at that time. Many impatient people would keep watch outside the building, while the bigwigs in the capital would choose to visit during the morning."Yes," Qingyu a
The Emperor had summoned Ao Chenyi to discuss Annan. Little did he expect Ao Chenyi to be so irresponsible as to suggest that Annan hadn't revolted yet. He was so angry that he was on the verge of coughing up blood."It'll be too late by the time they revolt." He looked at Ao Chenyi with a sullen expression."It won't be too late. Brother, they'll naturally retreat if we kill enough of them," Ao Chenyi said nonchalantly. His almond-shaped eyes carried a trace of hostility.His words sounded so blood-thirsty that Ao Mingyu, who sat opposite him, shot him a cautious look and kept quiet."All right. You two should return. If you have any news, inform me immediately." The Emperor waved his hand to indicate for them to leave. He could feel his head hurting. This discussion had been completely pointless."Excuse me then.""Excuse me, Imperial Father."The two of them left.After leaving
The carriage stopped in front of the Literature Recourse Institution. Most people who wanted to see the Imperial Examination Ranking would wait here as this place offered amazing tea and liquor. It was still early when they arrived. Since it didn't make sense to wait inside the carriage, they exited the carriage with their maids and entered a nearby teahouse. They wanted to go upstairs and request a private room directly opposite where the ranking would be announced.They had just entered the teahouse when they heard a voice from behind. "Fifth Sister."Ning Xueyan stopped walking and turned around. She saw a surprised-looking Ning Qingshan standing beside a carriage with Caifen. She was surprised that Ning Qingshan would come so early. She noticed that there weren't many carriages on their way here, and Ning Qingshan's carriage had been stopped before they got here. It seemed that Ning Qingshan had been waiting here a long time ago."You're he
Ning Yuling was feeling smug as she took a carriage to the Lord Protector's Manor with her maid.Of course, the manor wouldn't have invited a mere concubine like her, but she was Ning Huaiyuan's biological sister, and the manor didn't say that it would kick her out of the family records. Even if Madam Dowager wasn't happy with her attending the ancestral ceremony, she wouldn't say anything in front of everyone. On the surface, at least, she was still a lady of the Lord Protector's Manor.Moreover, she had someone backing her up now. When she left her manor earlier, a man dressed as a guard respectfully saluted her by the road. She immediately relaxed. With a guard who knew martial arts, there were no other possibilities for what she was about to do next.Today would be the day of Ning Xueyan's ruin.She returned to the Lord Protector's Manor in high spirits. Even if the guards at the gate weren't enthusiastic about her return and M
All of Ning Xueyan and Xinmei's attention was on the dark, indistinguishable objects. There seemed to be words written on them.They walked until they were about five steps away from the well platform and stopped moving forward. They started at the well from a distance for a while before turning around and walking away in disinterest.Someone abruptly emerged from a big rock on their left and charged at Ning Xueyan. Everyone was well aware of how weak Ning Xueyan was. If she were knocked over, she would surely fall on the well platform. Even if she didn't fall into the well, she would still fall on the side of it and wouldn't be able to get up.If someone else pushed her again at this time, she would fall directly into the well.The other silhouette who charged at Xinmei didn't try to bump into her but reached out to lift her. If Xinmei were just a regular maid, she wouldn't be able to dodge the figure but she wasn't. She evaded th
A scream emerged from the dilapidated courtyard, alarming everyone. Ning Zu'an was the first to arrive as his study was the closest to this place. Looking at the well amidst the ruined stones and broken tiles, he saw Ning Yuling holding onto the side of the well and crying so hard that she was about to faint, as well as Ning Xueyan watching everything unfold quietly with her maid."Father! Father, please save Mother! Please save her! She pushed Mother into the well! Please save her," Ning Yuling sobbed, kowtowing to Ning Zu'an with a face full of tears and snot. She looked panicked, fearful, and sad.Ning Xueyan pushed Madam Ling into the well? Ning Zu'an was shocked but now wasn't the time to worry about that. He turned around and ordered the servants to save Madam Ling.A flurry of turmoil later, the servants managed to get Madam Ling out of the well. However, there was no more life left in her. She laid on the wet ground, cold and stiff. Nin
"Fifth Young Lady, have you gone mad? What nonsense are you saying? Servants! Bring the physician here so he can find out what disease she has, to be saying such crazy nonsense and committing such insane acts. This is terrifying!" A calm-faced Madam Dowager immediately pinned the blame on Ning Xueyan as soon as she showed up.They couldn't afford to care about offending Prince Yi's Manor now. Ning Xueyan was dangerous to leave alive.Besides, Ning Xueyan had committed the crime of killing Madam Ling and they had Ning Yuling as a witness too. She was a criminal. After killing her, they could excuse it as her taking her life out of fear of punishment. All they had to do was produce a body dead by suicide when the representatives of Prince Yi's Manor come.It didn't seem like Prince Yi was sincerely in love with Ning Xueyan anyway. He must have preferred his concubine or he wouldn't have abandoned Ning Xueyan at the Cold Mountain Temple and sought
"What will you do now?" Ning Xueyan had to take two quick steps to catch up with Ao Chenyi's pace. "Destroy the nine barbarian states alongside Wen Xueran?""No." Ao Chenyi raised an eyebrow and smiled mysteriously. "I'll negotiate with Wen Xueran."Confused, she repeated, "Negotiate?""The people of the nine barbarian states have always been different from those of the central plains. They're valiant and barbaric. For many years, they have wanted to invade us. If it weren't for the princes of Annan holding down the front, the nine barbarian states would have attacked us a long time ago. Annan troops have fought the nine barbarian states more than our troops did, and they have a better chance of winning too."Ao Chenyi said calmly. He didn't like the nine barbarian states in the slightest. If it weren't his father forbidding him from going to the faraway hinterland of the nine barbarian states, where death was almost certain, he wo
It didn't take long for Qingyu to return from the Lord Protector's Manor with a new piece of news. It was said that there had been a haunting in the prayer hall of the manor.Rumor had it that an older maid became ill from the fright of seeing a ghost.A long time ago, the Cloud Reflection Courtyard was said to be haunted too. No one dared to come close at that time, not even during the day. Even though the rumors died down later on, a few people who were deeply affected by the events said that the situation was still grave then.Therefore, even though only a maid had seen the ghost, the rumors spread like wildfire in the manor.The prayer hall used to be Madam Dowager's favorite spot. It was later used to imprison Madam Ling for some time. Now that Madam Ling was dead, everyone feared that she was the ghost. It was said that Madam Ling was an evil woman when she was alive. Even in death, she might become a malicious ghost. The sit
Ao Chenyi was so close that his handsome face was all that Ning Xueyan could see, and he didn't look all that happy. Then, she realized that she had been holding tightly onto a strand of his black hair.She flung her hand and hastily released the strand of hair in her hand. She even caressed the hair on his temples with a wide smile. "Why are you here? When did you come? Why didn't you wake me up?"Ning Xueyan looked truly confused as if she really didn't know that she had grabbed Ao Chenyi's hair until it hurt."Playing dumb, huh?" he said coldly, frowning at her. His slender fingers reached out and lightly pinched the wing of her nose."Ouch!" Ning Xueyan held her nose pitifully. Her limpid eyes seemed glazed over as if brewing tears."Now you know it hurts!" Ao Chenyi's thin lips were curved into a smile. He was satisfied to see her not daring to voice her frustration.Ning Xueyan nodded firmly without
"Can you remember it now?" Ao Chenyi narrowed his eyes and knocked on their table with his slender fingers. His voice sounded a tad threatening."I… I really can't remember." Ning Xueyan felt like she had thought of all the possible answers but she was still coming up empty. She had no choice but to admit her fault."You really can't remember?" His beautiful eyes curved into a charming arc and his expression was sinister. Sure enough, this was a bad situation to be in. She didn't even hesitate to grab his hand with a bright smile on her tender face."Even if I can't remember, you can still remind me, right?" She knew it would pay well to cajole this man.Ao Chenyi wasn't polite with her either. He turned his hand over and pinched her soft face. His expression had improved considerably. There was a faint smile on his face as he asked, "If I tell you, can you really understand and remember what it is?""Of course I can!"
It seemed that at this point of the letter, the Empress couldn't continue anymore. There were only tear stains on the paper, followed by wide empty spaces.Then, the Empress said how reassured she was that Madam Ming would be taking care of her newborn. Madam Ming would be a fine mother. She had also asked someone to watch over Madam Ming and the newborn. Their statuses in the previous dynasty had vanished like smoke. Time was always moving forward and the changing of imperial dynasties was inevitable.The only tragedy was the eternal separation of her from her husband, and of her from her daughters.The only reason she had written the letter was that she couldn't help herself. If she never said anything, her child would never know the truth. That would have been for the best. Yet, she couldn't accept this, so she would hand the letter to the person who would be looking after Madam Ming. If Ning Ziying's identity was revealed to the world one d
The news of Ning Zu'an's death shocked everyone in the Lord Protector's Manor. Even though the title had been passed onto Ning Huaijing, Ning Zu'an was the patriarch of the family. Even without the title, he was still the most authoritative figure in the manor.Madam Dowager collapsed as soon as she heard the news of his death. She became ill and bedridden, unable to get up.Ning Xueyan couldn't leave the palace freely due to her status as the Empress. She sent Qingyu and Mother Han to the manor and had them inquire about Madam Dowager's health in her place. Mother Han returned to Prince Yi's Manor afterward while Qingyu entered the palace to report to Ning Xueyan.It was inconvenient for Mother Han to live in the palace because she had a son to take care of. Instead of entering the palace with Ning Xueyan, she stayed in Prince Yi's Manor as the housekeeper. Ning Xueyan was prepared to release her from the manor when the situation stabilized in
"The Empress discovered a secret tunnel under Chenyuan Palace by accident. She never told anyone about it. She even killed the maid that discovered the tunnel with her and accompanied her in walking through the tunnel. In other words, she was the only one who knew about it," Ning Xueyan explained.This was the Empress' secret. To prove it, she used Yun Luoluo's incident as an example. When Ning Xueyan was drugged in Chenyuan Palace, the Empress wanted to take her to a room. There, a man would sneak into the palace through the secret tunnel.If Ning Xueyan woke up and discovered herself in disheveled clothes in the presence of another man, she would surely panic. To protect her secret, she would surely agree with whatever the Empress wanted. The Empress wanted to use Ning Xueyan to force Ao Chenyi into accepting his "affair" with Yun Luoluo.Unfortunately, Ao Chenyi had appeared all of a sudden. She didn't dare to do anything with him around, so
Ao Chenyi didn't try to persuade her this time. This had bothered her for so long that she would continue to suffer for it if she didn't cry it out now. He held her tighter and allowed her to wet the front of his robe. She didn't brawl. All she did was close her eyes and let her tears stream down her face. When her tears finally dried, she sat quietly in Ao Chenyi's embrace for a long time.It was so quiet inside the room that she could finally calm down.Her hands were being held so tightly in Ao Chenyi's hand that she could feel the callus in his palm. He was Prince Yi, the late Emperor's beloved prince who grew up to be the infamous Demon King. Those who mentioned his name would often be frightened and alarmed. Only she knew how difficult his life had been.Ao Chenyi was still young when he drew his elder brother's jealousy and suspicion. He was framed, imprisoned, and nearly died. His fiancee abandoned him at his lowest point, sought shelte
"It was and wasn't an accident. He could only blame himself. No matter what, he was the one who forced my hand and cornered me to this state. He ruined my everything. Him dying in my hands could be considered as his retribution."The Empress began to look calm again. She turned her head and stared at Ning Xueyan with a trace of sadness in her eyes. "I invited you here to ask you to let go of my family. It's all my fault and has nothing to do with my family. They're just a small and useless noble family. In exchange for their safety, I'll tell you a secret."Her voice had lost her previous agitation and anger, leaving only a sense of helplessness. She had never put any hope in her family. She thought that she would be able to help her people after gaining power but now that she was in trouble, she was worried that her family would be implicated and sentenced to death.She had resented her family countless times for marrying her off to the Empero