It was early in the morning after that Ming Feiyong's army departed the capital. By the time Ning Xueyan woke up, Ao Chenyi was no longer beside her and even the bed next to her felt cold to the touch. She didn't know what time he had left.
All was calm in the capital over the next few days. However, there was a rumor that the Emperor had passed away. This rumor was, of course, circulating only among the ordinary folks. The Emperor was still in a coma but he was undoubtedly alive. The Empress had been serving him the entire time, and several imperial consorts were guarding the door as well. Even though they couldn't meet the Emperor, they could see the imperial physicians going in to help change his medicine.
It was tense inside the palace.
The Emperor had many children, but few managed to reach adulthood. Most of his imperial consorts were without children. If something were to happen to him, they would be done for. Therefore, they refused to
"What should we do now?" Ao Mingyu asked, going straight to the point, and looked at Xia Yuhang. He didn't have time to waste.Xia Yuhang thought about it before asking, "Do you want to save Honored Consort Ya or deal with Prince Yi first?""Deal with Prince Yi!" Ao Mingyu replied coldly without hesitation. His mother was imprisoned but not charged with any crime. She wouldn't have the freedom to move and her living environment would be poor, but that was all. Saving her wasn't as important as dealing with Ao Chenyi."Now that Prince Yi is the Crown Prince, he's staying in the Eastern Palace. The Eastern Palace is undoubtedly heavily guarded right now. It won't be easy for you to deal with him," Xia Yuhang replied, frowning. Ao Chenyi had outstanding guards. No assassin had ever succeeded in hurting him. Now that he had become the Crown Prince, his protection would only increase. Prince Xiang wouldn't be able to do anything to him.
"What is it?" Xia Yuhang asked, stopping in his tracks.The maid in black wiped the sweat on her head and said in a panic, "Someone is… Someone is looking for you."She was contradicting her previous words. He didn't immediately understand her intention, so he went straight to the point. "Who is looking for me? Madam or someone else?""Someone came for you for an urgent business, Eldest Young Master. He has been taken to the study. Madam is panicking because she couldn't find you anywhere."The maid was a clever one. She stopped stuttering and explained the matter to him.Who was looking for him? Why did his mother lead the guest to his study? Xia Yuhang was surprised. His mother never interfered in his business. Why did she take matters into her own hands and invite the guest in? Why was she desperate to find him? Did they have a special guest?He contemplated for a moment before telling the maid, "Tell m
It took a long time for Xia Yuhang to compose himself after Wen Xueran left. He walked back to the backyard calmly to meet his mother. Mrs. Xia let out a sigh of relief after hearing that Wen Xueran was gone. Xia Manor had fallen, and if their family was dragged into a rebellion, they would be damned.Everyone in Xia Manor, including Mrs. Xia, was like a bird that would be easily startled by a mere twang of a bow.After calming down his mother, Xia Yuhang returned to his study and ordered a maid working there to visit Madam Wu Yao with an invitation under Mrs. Xia's name.The invitation soon reached Wu Yao.Wu Yao was an alluring woman, seemingly only in her early thirties. Though she was not exactly young, she took such good care of herself that she still carried an elegant charm. She had a pretty face too. She picked up the invitation and read it. Then, without taking anyone with her, she headed for the side door in the back.
Ning Xueyan was surprised that Heng Yuqing was invited as well.The poetry exchange at Wu Manor was a bigger event than she thought, and the guests more influential than she expected. These people formed what felt like a politically-neutral faction of people and leaders who dared to criticize the monarchy. Some noble families and off-shoot imperial families sent their daughters as guests as well.Unlike the typical guest list full of rich, honorable, and beautiful ladies, the women invited to the poetry exchange were known to be talented. One could say that most of the guests were from noble families, but some ladies weren't invited despite their honorable families.For a moment, people in the capital took pride in receiving Madam Wu's invitation.Someone even said that this was the most meaningful gathering in the capital for the past tens of years. The lack of an invitation meant that the lady was vulgar and boorish. Initially, t
It would be easy to investigate which household such a material went to. The palace would have kept records of outgoing gifts.The Empress had bestowed the material to both her and Commandery Princess Xianyun, but she received only a small roll of the material. She ended up fashioning several handkerchiefs out of the material, which was why she found the current handkerchief so familiar. Lanning recognized it as well.Most families wouldn't be able to afford to use such material. Lanning had met many noble ladies lately, but she didn't know the lady earlier.Even more familiar was the cluster of orchid embroideries on the corner of the handkerchief. It was her master's favorite symbol. It was embroidered on some of her master's small decorative items.But, she didn't know why this symbol would appear on this handkerchief."Lanning, you can just put the handkerchief away." Ning Xueyan smirked, staring out the window wit
Xia Yuhang remained seated upstairs. The screen blocked only his vision, but not the noise. He heard Lanning's frank words clearly, as well as Cheng Yu's apology. His face turned pale with anger and resentment.He didn't expect to fail at generating rumors about Ning Xueyan's affair with another man in this rare meeting. That meant that he wouldn't be able to justify her disappearance as an elopement after kidnapping her. Moreover, he wasn't the only one involved in this scheme. Madam Wu Yao was in on it, too.He planned to have everyone witness Ning Xueyan and Cheng Yu's ambiguous relationship in public. A maid running into Cheng Yu with a handkerchief in hand could be explained as Ning Xueyan ordering her maid to send the handkerchief to Cheng Yu, evidence that the two had known each other for a long time.Thus, if Ning Xueyan were to disappear one day, the reason that he had cooked up would be a serious attack on Ao Chenyi. It might even rui
"What's wrong?" Ning Xueyan returned to her senses and turned to look at the book in Heng Yuqing's hand, but didn't notice anything odd about it."It's strange. The copy of that I once read… didn't have this part," Heng Yuqing replied uncertainly."What's missing?" Ning Xueyan asked, surprised."This part. Look, Your Highness… This part wasn't in the book before… I remember liking this piece a lot. I tried playing it, but couldn't finish it as the piece was incomplete. I failed every time. It sounded as if the music had abruptly been cut off. It left me quite uncomfortable."Heng Yuqing said, pointing at a zither piece.She was pointing at an incomplete piece in the zither section, but the damage was minimal. Looking at the scope of the zither piece, there were very few missing verses. In other words, if one were to repeat the final verse of the piece, one might be able to treat this as a complete piece and play it as
Ning Xueyan's carriage continued moving toward the zither store at a steady pace. It didn't take them long to reach because it was so close. The carriage stopped and Ning Xueyan and Heng Yuqing got down one after another.A cold smile appeared on Ning Xueyan's face when she looked up at the sparkling store signboard. Since those people had put so much effort into luring her here, she would play along and find out what they were up to.Her thoughts were hidden from Heng Yuqing, who was pointing to the zither store and saying enthusiastically, "Look, this is the store. Just look at the storefront. This must be the property of a top-tier noble family. I wonder which family managed to run it so well. There are many zither lovers in the capital, but all of them approve of this store."Suddenly, a surprised voice resounded behind them. "Huh? Isn't this the Crown Princess? Did you come to pick out a zither in preparation for Madam Wu Yao's banquet?" N
"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