Chapter 530   The Consort: A Woman the Prince “Married”

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 to the capital this time, I’ve brought a few little things from Yunnan, and I’ve just asked people to send them to your mansion. Consort Ning, it’s great to hear you like them,” Mu Ling said with a smile, trying to free her eldest brother from the awkward situation.

“Thank you, Commandery Princess Mu Ling!” Ning Xueyan had a broad smile and extended her gratitude.

“Yan’er, Commandery Princess Mu Ling seldom comes to our palace, and you can take her to the courtyard. The princely heir and I are talking happily, and we should chat a little longer.” Ning Xueyan did not sit here for too long before Ao Chenyi began to drive her away. She rose to her feet helplessly and invited Commandery Princess Mu Ling smilingly.

“Commandery Princess, you’ve never come here, and then let me be the owner today and ask you to tour around the courtyard of the prince’s house.”

Mu Yunfei was bitter-faced. He also wanted to tour around the courtyard and did not want to “talk so happily” with Prince Yi. The prince’s words seemed to contain other meanings so that he had to keep up more than all his spirit to continue the dialogue. Then, how could he be happy? The beauty he had been missing but could not get became Prince Yi’s consort, and now he did not dare to even look at her for too long. Mu Yunfei felt that for so many years, he had never been so frustrated.

Prince Yi had given an oral instruction, and Ning Xueyan, the consort, had also invited her, so Commandery Princess Mu Ling would not disrespect or refuse them, of course. The purpose of their coming to Prince Yi’s Manor today was to make friends with Prince Yi. Now she seemed to find that the consort of Prince Yi didn’t seem to be the one who was not so favored or loved and was completely waiting to die in Prince Yi’s Manor as the rumors outside claimed.

“Consort Ning, your face looks much healthier than before! Previously, I heard that you passed out twice on your wedding day and your health would be even a little worse,” Commandery Princess Mu Ling said directly with a smile as they two strolled in the courtyard.

Seeing Ning Xueyan’s face, she found that it was much healthier than what she saw in the Cold Mountain Temple previously. Either her figure or her cheeks or other aspects all suggested that she seemed to be completely different from her previous self. Although her face was paler than those of the ordinary people, it was as nice as white jade. Her light-color lips were not ugly, and they even gave others a feeling that she was pure and soft.

Beneath the long, curling eyebrows were a pair of water-like eyes. When she smiled, she was stunning.

She was almost like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. The previous inconspicuous, extremely thin and weak girl had grown into a beautiful woman.

“I have a weak body and I was frightened on my wedding day, so I passed out. It’s not that I was so unhealthy that I could not stand the tiredness of getting married,” Ning Xueyan said with a smile. Then she pointed at the octagonal pavilion in front and asked smilingly, “Commandery Princess, let’s go there and sit for a while, shall we?”

Walking in and out all the way here, she did feel that her feet were a little sore.

This was Prince Yi’s Manor. As a guest, Commandery Princess Mu Ling surely accepted her hostess’s suggestion. She nodded, went together with Ning Xueyan into the pavilion, and sat down there. The maids brought snacks and tea, then they went outside the pavilion, and waited there.

The pavilion enjoyed a good location by a lake. There were willows on the bank, which half-screened a pond of dense lotus leaves in the lake and made them more beautiful. Although the lotus flowers were not in full bloom yet, the lotus leaves were fully grown and round. When water drops fell on the emerald leaves, each one of them was crystal and shining just like pearls. With a gust of wind sweeping past, thousands of lotus leaves moved like a group of young ladies in green dancing.

The scenery was quite beautiful.

“Sister Xianyun has made Prince Yi’s Manor really beautiful. Previously, I saw the lotus in the Lord Peace’s Manor where she once lived. Now when I look at the lotus in this pond, I can see that she has spent a lot of time and effort on this. I also planted a pond of lotus in the palace in Yunnan, but it was not as beautiful as the one in Prince Yi’s Manor.”

Commandery Princess Mu Ling seemed to be attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of her and complimented the lotus leaves a lot. After finishing speaking, she seemed to have suddenly remembered something and turned and asked Ning Xueyan, “Why didn’t your princess come out, Consort Ning? Is it that she has got married and puts on so great airs that others will have to go to her door and see her?”

What she said seemed to be just playful, but Ning Xueyan knew that she was deliberately mentioning Commandery Princess Xianyun, especially when she was talking to herself just now, she used the title “Commandery Princess Xianyun”. But now she used the title “princess”. This showed that she thought that Commandery Princess Xianyun, the princess, was only qualified to receive her or she looked down upon Ning Xueyan, the consort, in her heart.

Ning Xueyan just smiled as if she understood the deep meaning of Commandery Princess Mu Ling’s words, curled her lips, and looked at the woman in front of her. “Commandery Princess, you are wrong about the princess. She investigated something for the prince earlier and found that something is related to the palace, so she has been busy these few days. When she is free someday, she will visit you, the commandery princess, for sure. Commandery Princess, you are about to get married, and it will be more convenient to see you later.”

Commandery Princess Mu Ling used to have a good personal relationship with Commandery Princess Xianyun. Of course, she stood in line with Commandery Princess Xianyun. Moreover, both of them would all be princesses in the future, so she was very displeased with the consorts like Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan. Just now in the living room, she would surely not say anything because Ao Chenyi was there.

“Sister Xianyun found that something is related to the palace?” Commandery Princess Mu Ling narrowed her eyes and asked subconsciously as she frowned.

Ning Xueyan smiled more gently, nodded, picked up the teacup at hand, and took a sip. “Something has happened in the mansion... Commandery Princess, you know that our prince’s mansion and the future mansion of Third Prince all belong to the royal family. When facing some things, we can’t judge them with the common principle. Of course, Commandery Princess Mu Ling, if you must see our princess, I’ll take you to disturb her now.”

Ning Xueyan said it politely. As she spoke, she stood up, with the air of taking Commandery Princess Mu Ling to Commandery Princess Xianyun.

“Since Sister Xianyun is busy, I dare not bother you, consort.” Prince Yi did not ask Commandery Princess Xianyun to come out, but if she insisted that she should see her, no one knew what Prince Yi, a man with a special character, would do. Commandery Princess Mu Ling clearly knew that she came to the mansion for the sake of making friends with Prince Yi, so she could not do something like this—she failed to make friends with Prince Yi but offended him.

Therefore, she immediately reached out and stopped Ning Xueyan. Commandery Princess Mu Ling had her own plan. “Ning Xueyan mentioned that Commandery Princess Xianyun investigated something and found that something is related to the palace, so it is not a trivial matter. Even if I have married Third Prince now, I must not step into it easily.”

As for the ideas of Third Prince and Prince Yi’s Manor, anyone who had a little careful heart would know them quite clearly.

“Commandery Princess, since you don’t want to disturb the princess, you’ll have to wait for the princess to visit you next time she is not so busy,” Ning Xueyan said with a gentle smile and sat down again.

“Consort Ning, I heard that Prince Yi has a favored concubine, who is the most favored one in the backyard. I don’t know what kind of beautiful woman can make Prince Yi’s heart settle down. I want to know if you can introduce me to her, Consort Ning?” Commandery Princess Mu Ling asked curiously, but sarcasm appeared and vanished in her eyes.

She really despised Ning Xueyan. “Every daughter of the Lord Protector’s Manor is willing to be lowly. The two elder daughters were good ladies, but they went to become concubines. The third and fifth daughters are all consorts. To put it unpleasantly, they are also concubines. All the daughters of the manor are concubines, so how could the Lord Protector’s Manor have any grace?”

Now when she could not meet Commandery Princess Xianyun, Commandery Princess Mu Ling could not help ridiculing her.

Ning Xueyan was a concubine, one who was not favored or was better than a concubine without status, so she didn’t think that Ning Xueyan could still smile.

Everyone outside the mansion held the rumor that on his wedding night, Prince Yi was not in the courtyard of the princess or the courtyard of the consort. Instead, he spent one more “wedding night” happily with his favored concubine, and the two women he married at the same time all became a joke. No doubt, the princess bore greater shame.

Commandery Princess Mu Ling was fighting for the justice for Commandery Princess Xianyun. “When something like this happened, the consort still doesn’t feel ashamed to show up, but why does the princess seem to be unable to afford to lose face? Then it seems that Prince Yi treats the consort nicely. As for the princess, she doesn’t seem to be all right, anyway!”

Therefore, she meant to use these words to mock and frustrate Ning Xueyan and also inquire about Commandery Princess Xianyun. After finishing speaking, she stared at Ning Xueyan without blinking, hoping to see something problematic from her face.

But Ning Xueyan was not an ordinary lady. How could she tell her true heart just when she heard a simple question? With her watery eyes raised, she smiled and had an answer. “Commandery Princess, you really care about the affairs of our prince’s house and even know who our prince’s favored concubine is, but I really don’t know. Could you please give me a reminder so that I can ask someone to go to these few courtyards and make an investigation about our prince’s favored concubine? If I find her, I will bring her here and let you take a look.”

Hearing this answer, Commandery Princess Mu Ling blushed.

As a consort of Prince Yi’s Manor, Ning Xueyan did not even know the thing of Prince Yi’s Manor, but how could she, the future wife of a nephew, know it so clearly? Was it that she had been keeping an eye on the affairs of Prince Yi’s Manor? But why did she do so? Others would guess whether there were other hidden secrets in this. Previously, the young prince and the young lady were unmarried, and it was possible that they had some relationship, but finally due to some errors, one married another woman, and the one married another man.

If this guess was spread, Commandery Princess Mu Ling would be too ashamed to live.

She hit the table hard with her palm, turned serious, and reprimanded, “Consort Ning, don’t you know that some things are unspeakable!”

Ning Xueyan was waiting for her to say so. Since entering the courtyard, Commandery Princess Mu Ling had been showing that Ning Xueyan was unpleasant to her eye, and she put hidden meanings in all she said. But now Ning Xueyan was no longer the Fifth Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor whom anyone could bully as they wished. In this place, she was the representative of Ao Chenyi’s honor, so she could not let Commandery Princess Mu Ling defeat her.

Now when she raised her face, her smile was cold and alienated. As her black jade-like eyes fell on the face of Commandery Princess Mu Ling, she gave her a reminder. “Commandery Princess, this is Prince Yi’s Manor!”

These words successfully made the power on the face of Commandery Princess Mu Ling disappear, and her face turned blue and red...