Chapter 567 Ning Huaijing’s Choice
The favored concubine of Prince Yi was a.s.sa.s.sinated. Besides, the princess, the consort, the second young lady of Lord Peace’s Manor, and a few concubines given by the palace were involved. When this news was spread, almost no one believed it.
But the major move Prince Yi’s Manor conducted next made all the people so shocked that their jaws almost dropped.
At first, the concubines of Prince Yi’s Manor given by the palace died or were sent back to the palace. No Beautiful Lady given by the palace was left in Prince Yi’s Manor. After that, Commandery Princess Xianyun got sick. To better help her recuperate, Prince Yi moved her to the quieter Bright Mind Garden.
Most people had no idea about the layout of Prince Yi’s Manor. The Bright Mind Garden, which even sounded quite abnormal, was indeed a bit quiet and secluded place. It was said that the day when Commandery Princess Xianyun was married into Prince Yi’s Manor, Prince Yi did not spend the wedding night in her place. Then, people became even more suspicious.
As for the second young lady of Lord Peace’s Manor, the news had it that she also went to live in the Bright Mind Garden because she cared about her elder sister’s health. By doing so, she could take care of her elder sister near at hand.
The most surprising thing was that the emperor even issued an edict to promote Consort Ning to be an official wife. Commandery Princess Xianyun was still the official wife, but another one was promoted to be a princess. This was beyond everyone’s expectations. Although Commandery Princess Xianyun was unarguably the one with the highest status, the prince now did have two princesses.
But now she was ill and had to live in Prince Yi’s Manor peacefully to recover from her illness. Of course, the newly promoted Princess Ning would be the only one to manage all the affairs, big or small, of the mansion. In this point of view, Princess Ning was more like the princess of Prince Yi than Commandery Princess Xianyun. How could the emperor issue such an edict?
Many people were quite suspicious about it.
Some said that Commandery Princess Xianyun had done something that angered Prince Yi.
Some said that Consort Ning bewitched Prince Yi with her looks.
Others said that the second young lady of Lord Peace’s Manor also loved Prince Yi, so she stayed in Prince Yi’s Manor. Surely, these words were a little unpleasant to the ear…
No matter what guess was correct, people could not find out the specific situation. After all, it was Prince Yi’s Manor, the den of the imperial guards, which meant that not anyone could find the answer by doing a simple investigation.
After that, Princess Ning, who was said to be virtuous, promoted a few of those left concubines to be senior concubines one after another. Thus, the basic structure of the inner courtyard of Prince Yi’s Manor had been decided.
In the beginning, people could not accept the fact that there were two princesses. In an ordinary family, there was a co-wife, but a co-wife was just a co-wife, who could not be called an official wife, but it was obvious that Prince Yi also regarded Madam Ning as a princess this time. However, this was decided by the emperor, who also issued an edict, so people just talked about it.
And they gradually accepted this fact. Anyway, Prince Yi was the younger brother of the emperor! He was different from ordinary princes. Now he had married two princesses, with one being superior and one being inferior. If he became an emperor in the future, his two princesses would just be an empress and an imperial consort. That was still reasonable.
Even the thing that two empresses existed at the same time had also happened in history, but the matter of two princesses had never been heard of.
But this was Prince Yi’s family affair, which had been approved by the emperor with an edict. In this case, no one would be so stupid to impeach him. Instead, all of them just shut their mouths tightly. Not anyone who wanted to criticize Prince Yi’s affairs could do that. No matter what, they must be quite careful.
Some people wanted to visit Lord Peace’s Manor and inquire about it. All in all, not only Commandery Princess Xianyun but also the second young lady was now in Prince Yi’s Manor. Perhaps some news might come out, but the people of Lord Peace’s Manor held their tongues. When this question was raised, they would just say that the younger sister was worried about her elder sister and their sisterly love was deep. Apart from that, they refused to say anything else.
Some careful people found that the handling of affairs of Lord Peace’s Manor had become more and more low-key.
Compared with Lord Peace’s Manor, which kept silent and was rarely visited, Lord Protector’s Manor was completely different. When the imperial edict was issued and the news was spread to Lord Protector’s Manor, Madam Dowager immediately climbed out of her sickbed, feeling that she was quite energetic and all her discomfort was gone.
Finally, Lord Protector’s Manor had a princess.
Initially, she thought that Ning Qingshan was hopeful and Ning Xueyan was just a tret, but she didn’t expect Ning Xueyan to be so lucky that the emperor had promoted her status. For Madam Dowager, she never dared to imagine such a good event.
Being so happy, she asked someone to invite Ning Xueyan with an invitation. To celebrate such a good event, she surely needed to invite others to have a feast or something in the home of Ning Xueyan’s parents. Of course, she had to discuss the details with the fifth young lady. Now the latter was a princess with an exceptionally high status, not the previous inferior consort.
Although “princess” and “consort” were just two different words, their meanings were quite different from each other!
Madam Dowager immediately asked someone to prepare paper and a writing brush. Indeed, the person she invited was Ning Xueyan, but what if Prince Yi also came? If that happened, it would be great and bring honor to Lord Protector’s Manor. It was said that Prince Yi did not accompany the princess when she returned to her home Lord Peace’s Manor for the first time after getting married. Then, if the prince could come here with the fifth young lady, Lord Protector’s Manor was sure to have a higher reputation.
Whether Ning Huaiyuan could be the Princely Heir of Lord Protector’s Manor or not, it was not important anymore. Madam Dowager had thought it through this time. Anyway, Ning Zu’an was not old, so she could get him another wife. When this wife gave birth to a son, he would undoubtedly be the heir of Lord Protector’s Manor. Of course, if Ning Zu’an could not father a son, it would not be a big deal because Ning Huaijing was still there!
In this way, the children of Lord Protector’s Manor were not few!
Madam Dowager instantly thought it through when thinking in this way. No doubt, now she was ready to invite Ning Xueyan to return to the mansion with joy. As this happened, everyone in Lord Protector’s Manor became happy, and their earlier gloom was gone in an instant.
Madam Dowager was not hesitant at this moment. A few days ago, she was still wondering whether to ask Ning Huaijing to come back or not, but she lost her interest now because she wholeheartedly wanted the thing of Ning Xueyan’s return to the mansion to be done nicely. Ning Xueyan returned previously, but something terrible happened at that time. For Madam Dowager, she didn’t want to recall it again in this life.
Anyway, now Madam Ling and Ning Yuling were all dead. It was impossible for another Ning Yuling to come out to frame Ning Xueyan. Now, even the ill-intentioned Ning Qingshan had been locked up, so nothing troublesome could happen next.
What she didn’t know was that Ning Huaijing had already come back.
But he was taken away by the people of Prince Yi’s Manor the moment he walked into the city. Now he was in Ao Chenyi’s study.
“If you become the Princely Heir of Lord Protector’s Manor, will you do harm to Yan’er?” Ao Chenyi asked darkly while looking at Ning Huaijing.
This question was so direct that Ning Huaijing almost didn’t know how to answer, but he knew that he could not disobey Prince Yi. More importantly, he had no evil intention toward Ning Xueyan. At once, he said unhesitatingly, “If I can, I will not do harm to Fifth Sister.”
In the entire Lord Protector’s Manor, he only agreed with Ning Xueyan. Although he didn’t know why Prince Yi had brought him here, he still talked as his heart guided him.
Before now, he had been on a study tour outside and was unclear about what had happened in the capital. Now he happened to go home, but he was stopped by the people of Prince Yi’s Manor before entering the city, so now he still hadn’t figured out Prince Yi’s attempt.
He did not know whether the prince wanted him to set himself against his Fifth Sister or not. In fact, he wanted to tell the prince’s attempt by observing his expression, but the prince’s momentum was so great that he could not even raise his head.
“Okay, you will inherit Lord Protector’s Manor.” Ao Chenyi simply said so and leaned back lazily. He could bring Ning Huaijing here as soon as he arrived at the city gate just because he had already asked his men to keep an eye on him. No matter when he entered the city through the city gate, he would be brought to Prince Yi’s Manor first.
If Ning Huaijing had the slightest hesitation, he would never show mercy.
“Prince, I am the son of a concubine,” Ning Huaijing couldn’t help but reply.
“What’s wrong with that? If I think you can, you can,” Ao Chenyi waved his hand impatiently and said in a nice but cold voice. His aim was to confirm Ning Huaijing’s intention. It seemed that he was indeed like what Yan’er said—he treated her well.
That was best. Otherwise, he would pick up a tamed one from the non-immediate family members of Ning Zu’an. As for dealing with Ning Huaijing, he had many ways to let him disappear silently.
A eunuch came over and said to him politely, “Second Young Master, please!”
Ning Huaijing had to follow him out. When he was outside, he then felt that his forehead had been covered with cold sweat. Although Prince Yi had just said a few words, the amount of pressure he gave Ning Huaijing was excessive. The momentum was never the same as what Third Prince and Fourth Prince had that Ning Huaijing had sensed. Besides, this one also contained faint killing intent. It seemed that if he had made one wrong answer, he would have been in a desperate situation.
“Sir, how is my Fifth Sister’s life in the prince’s mansion?” Ning Huaijing wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead, turned around, and said smilingly to the kind-looking eunuch. Truly, he wanted to know Ning Xueyan’s life here.
“Second Young Master, don’t worry. Our princess lives a very good life. You just rest a.s.sured,” the eunuch said politely. Now, Prince Ning was in charge of the inner courtyard, so he didn’t dare to be rude.
“Princess?”
“I’m asking about Consort Ning,” Ning Huaijing had a cough and said with a reminder.
“Your slave is about talking about Princess Ning. Second Young Master, you still don’t know that the emperor has issued an edict to promote Consort Ning to be Princess Ning, right? From now on, there will only be Princess Ning in our mansion,” the eunuch explained in a stuttering tone.
“Fifth Sister has become the princess of Prince Yi? From a consort to a princess? This is almost impossible.”
“Where is Princess Yun?” Ning Huaijing stopped for a moment and asked.
“Princess Yun is ill. Now everything in the mansion is managed by Princess Ning. Second Young Master, don’t worry. Princess Ning takes good care of the backyard,” the eunuch, who did not find Ning Huaijing’s unusual reaction, still answered in his slightly sharp voice.
Ning Huaijing shuddered and felt a lot of sweat on his back. “If I had answered a bit hesitatingly just now, would I not be treated like this?”
At that moment, he did sense the b.l.o.o.d.y killing intent in the air. After that, he was asked to leave the room without being questioned further. Ning Huaijing knew what this meant, so how could he not have cold sweat all over?
“Fortunately, fortunately, I was not hesitant at that time. Also, fortunately, I do treat Ning Xueyan like my sister. No matter what Madam Dowager and my father will do in the future, at least, I won’t change…”