Chapter 504 Telling Hearts by Interlocking Fingers
“Are you afraid of staying with me?”
“It’s… tolerable!”
“Don’t be afraid. I’m with you!” There was a touch of light pampering in the lazy voice, giving her ears an extremity and comfortable numbness, which were light, but Ning Xueyan could make them out because they were the feelings that she desired but could not get, so she was exceptionally sensitive to them. Inexplicably, she did not avoid his hand but held it this time.
As for the situation of Prince Yi’s Manor, she had already made a guess before getting married: As a backyard where there was no mistress but there were so many concubines sent from the palace or even a few others taken in by Ao Chenyi, it was impossible for it to be not messy; besides, Commandery Princess Xianyun, who had bad intent, would also be here, so all the things in this place would be completely messed up.
No matter how much she wanted to keep them in order, she could not make it, so she had a little pain in her heart inexplicably. It was said that his mother died quite early. After the late emperor died, he had been living alone until now!
Lying in his arms, she raised her head to look at him and saw some smiles in the pair of cold eyes where there seemed to be ripples. His eyes were extremely beautiful, and he stared at her with a slightly pampering att.i.tude, which even softened her flesh and soul somewhat so that her long eyelashes quivered twice.
“From now on, the prince’s mansion will be our home. It is yours and also mine! Are you willing to be with me forever?” The pitch of Ao Chenyi’s voice was not high. At this moment, he no longer needed to call himself Prince of Yours, and he even had a light smile, but Ning Xueyan knew he was sincere.
In her previous life, she loved Xia Yuhang silently, relied on him, and wanted to marry him with great joy, for as soon as she entered the capital and met him, she clearly knew that she would spend the rest of her life with this man, and he was also gentle to her. Just at that time, that was what Ning Ziying, who had lost all her family members, needed most.
When her parents died, Ning Ziying, who was simple-minded and had been living in the backyard, immediately lost the direction in life. So, Xia Yuhang, who appeared at this time, was just like the lighthouse on her way, and the two of them also had a betrothal. The moment she met Xia Yuhang, Ning Xueyan thought that she had found a family member.
Then she naturally stayed with Xia Yuhang wholeheartedly. To keep the little warmth the family member gave her, she, who had felt that the relationship between Chen Hexiang and Xia Yuhang was not ordinary, did not say anything. Even when she was pushed into the water by Chen Hexiang later and almost lost her life, she did not have the slightest wish to blame Xia Yuhang.
Unexpectedly, she gave all her feelings to the wrong person in her previous life.
Having gone through the experience in her previous life, she originally thought that she would not love anyone anymore and only wanted to spend the rest of her life peacefully after taking revenge.
But she had no choice but to bring herself to him, and she even seemed to have gradually fallen in love with the man opposite her.
Arrogant and domineering, he, Prince Yi, had a reputation for Bloodthirsty Ashura.
He had overwhelming power in the realm, and he was cold, but now he made her have some warmth.
Marrying two ladies at the same time was aimed at raising her status. After that, he used the nonexistent favored concubine to stop her from being the target of others. Surely, this was the overall situation he had dealt with.
Just now in the palace of the empress, when he conversed with the emperor, he did not even forget to keep an eye on her and see whether she ate enough or not. This was one of the small aspects…
She knew that she did have an interest in him. She did not know when this man had gradually entered her heart with his evilness, craziness, coldness, and harshness.
She knew that falling in love with such a man would bring her more troubles. It was fair to claim that she would be treading on thin ice.
He was Prince Yi, who was the crown younger brother of the emperor but did not have the real power he deserved. More seriously, even the crown younger brother’s ident.i.ty was not approved by the emperor, for he wanted to choose one of his sons to succeed to the throne, but Prince Yi was his obstacle. That was to say, Prince Yi must be eliminated first before the emperor’s son could succeed to the throne.
So, his status was at stake!
If he failed, he would come to a bad end.
But now she had become a member of his Prince Yi’s Manor and fallen in love with him. No matter how rational she was, she could not control this feeling.
She bit her lips, lowered her eyes, and nodded imperceptibly. The look in her eyes was so shy that she did not dare to look at him, and she only felt that she was burning in his arms.
Ao Chenyi’s eyes brightened instantly. A splendid smile appeared in his thin, long beautiful eyes. Although he said it quite naturally just now as if he had everything in control, he could not suppress the desire from the bottom of his heart at this moment. Finally, his “little wild cat” was willing to sincerely build a family with him.
He held Ning Xueyan’s slim waist tightly, and his lips moved down lightly, in a way that was completely different from his usual arrogant and ferocious manner. Instead, he moved quite gently and lightly as if she were a fragile piece of porcelain. Quite lovingly, he kissed her face, then her lips…
Ning Xueyan did not know what kind of feeling this was. In the previous life, she and Xia Yuhang abided by the feudal code of ethics quite seriously. Even holding hands was only occasional, so she had never experienced such a thing. She only felt that her heartbeat was quickening so much that her heart could almost rush out of her chest uncontrollably, and his heart also beat in the same way.
It also beat fanatically, violently…
After a long time, he finally let go of Ning Xueyan, kissed her softly on the cheek, and then fell back with her onto the couch. Suddenly, he laughed. Although the laughter was not high-pitched, it was extremely joyful. The sound suggested that he was in an extremely good mood, while Ning Xueyan blushed, not daring to look at his evil eyes.
Red-faced, she pushed him and pretending to be solemn, said, “Tell me about Honored Consort Xia, prince.”
“Honored Consort Xia? You have to be on your guard against her, quite cautiously.” Ao Chenyi stopped laughing and suddenly became serious, a trace of coldness appearing and vanishing in his eyes. Then he held her hand with his and interlocked his fingers with hers.
“Stay away from her. Try not to care about anything that is related to her. A d.a.m.ned woman! Does she really think that I don’t know her?” Ao Chenyi snorted coldly.
“You know Honored Consort Xia?” Ning Xueyan asked curiously. Ao Chenyi had said before that he had never met Honored Consort Xia. But how could he be so cold to a person whom he had never met? She had already known that Honored Consort Xia was not ordinary, but she did not expect her to have a relationship with Ao Chenyi, so she was curious.
“It’s just a d.a.m.ned woman. It’s a pity that the woman still calculated it wrong, and she got nothing in the end.” As his chilly att.i.tude turned into ridicule with a faint smile, Ao Chenyi said disdainfully, “When I have time later, I will tell you about her affairs bit by bit, but I hope you won’t feel disgusted after hearing them.”
“She did invite me to be a guest at her palace today. She asked me to visit her if I had time in the future. She also told me that she was always lonely in her deserted place, but I heard from the words of the palace maid that the emperor seemed to visit her all the time. She is so favored, but she still talked about emptiness and loneliness.”
Ning Xueyan was really curious. She had never met a woman whom Ao Chenyi gave such a comment to. For Ao Chenyi, he always had two choices about dealing with women: killing or not killing. How could he have such a feeling of disgust? Of course, she could see that Ao Chenyi truly disliked Honored Consort Xia.
“Don’t care about her. She is lonely in her rarely visited room, but she will naturally find ways to solve it. I don’t care what she thinks, but she can’t think about doing anything to you in the end. Otherwise, I will let her die a very terrible death though she is a favored imperial consort,” Ao Chenyi said grimly with a fierce look in his eyes.
These words were terribly unpleasant to the ear, as if to say that Honored Consort Xia did not obey the rules set for women. As for the fierce look on Ao Chenyi’s face, Ning Xueyan was not afraid of it now, and she even gave a smile while listening to him. “What he said is indeed unpleasant to the ear.”
She pulled his hand, showing that she knew it, and she even had a little joy. At first glance, she knew that Honored Consort Xia had some intention. How could someone who never showed up met her and treated her so kindly? She remembered that when she left with Lanning at that time, they met a few palace servants, who said that the scenery there was better…
“What should I do about the affairs of the mansion?” There was no hurry about handling Honored Consort Xia. Anyway, she did not need to go to the palace frequently, and the top priority now was to deal with the affairs of the mansion.
“Don’t deal with this matter in a hurry. Xianyun won’t bear it.” Ao Chenyi touched Ning Xueyan’s dark hair and then patted her on the head. Of course, he would let Ning Xueyan manage the affairs of the house, but now Xianyun was much more justified for it than Ning Xueyan.
He slightly narrowed his eyes, threw his arm around Ning Xueyan’s waist, and leaned his head against her hair, but a cold tyranny glistened in his eyes. “Xianyun doesn’t think that I know what she did secretly, and she did bad things again and again to my marriage. Pitifully, this marriage is never something that she could get through plots.
“The reason why I allowed her to be my family member is that if it was not her, it would be someone else who has relations with the emperor. The status of the person in my fancy is far from enough, and the emperor clearly expressed his idea of intervening in my marriage. Certainly, I can’t expose the person I like to the sunlight.
“Since someone is willing to stand in front of Yan’er, then let the person be there. Anyway, only one more person lives in the mansion, and only a few more pairs of chopsticks are needed, and Prince Yi’s Mansion can afford to raise the person.
“But the precondition is that Xianyun must be well-behaved, but look at her now!
“She even dared to conspire with the empress. It is obvious that my emperor brother likes to see this kind of conspiracy, so he did not intervene at all as if he knew nothing about it.
“Xianyun really has an ambitious heart! In other words, the Lord Peace’s Manor, the family of Empress Dowager’s parents, has never given up…”
The carriage stopped steadily. With the support of Lanning’s hand, Ning Xueyan got off the carriage. The little eunuch had already knelt beside the carriage, so Ning Xueyan had to lightly step on his back to walk down. Looking back at Ao Chenyi, who stepped down leisurely after her, she thought that she would never want to get on this extremely eye-catching carriage of his next time no matter what happened.
Not only was the carriage showy, but getting on or off the carriage was also extremely inconvenient.
When he got out of his carriage, Ao Chenyi, who did not even wait for Commandery Princess Xianyun to come over from behind, strode into the house with a flick of his wide sleeves and an extremely cold smile that appeared on his exquisite lips, followed by a large group of eunuchs and guards. But Ning Xueyan, Lanning, and Commandery Princess Xianyun who had just got off the carriage behind his and looked at him with grievances, were left behind by him.
Ning Xueyan had to stay. Anyway, Commandery Princess Xianyun was Ao Chenyi’s princess, and it was not good for her to enter with him in this way.
“Sister, let’s go in.” Seeing that Ning Xueyan was waiting for her on the side, Commandery Princess Xianyun was happy. As her eyes glistened, she walked over to affectionately take her hand.