Chapter 559 The Woman Who Plays the Favored Concubine
“You are Consort Ning, aren’t you?” A delicate voice came from a woman wearing a white gauze dress. The strangest thing was that the woman wore a veil. Although her face could not be seen, it was sure that she was a stunning lady. Most importantly, her face was covered.
The person who could show up with her face veiled in Prince Yi’s Manor was no one but the mysterious favored concubine, whom Prince Yi regarded as his precious and exclusive property.
“You are…” Ning Xueyan was speechless first, but then smiled leisurely and asked naturally.
“A person without t.i.tle or status, in whatever condition, she is not comparable to you, Consort Ning. I heard that you are from a renowned family, and the prince is sure to dote on you dearly in the future.”
These words were put gently, but they carried quite a sarcastic meaning. No doubt, this veiled lady was ridiculing Ning Xueyan by hinting that Ao Chenyi considered Lord Protector’s Manor behind her, so he made her his consort, not because he truly loved her.
Seeing the delicate lady who could almost turn into pieces once she was touched, Ning Xueyan had to lower her eyes to hide the ridicule in them, wondering where Commandery Princess Xianyun had found this woman because every word she said was to imitate the tone of the mysterious favored concubine of Ao Chenyi, and her words were so wisely organized that there was almost nothing meaningful in them.
When these words were carefully a.n.a.lyzed, they showed that she seemed to have said nothing.
It meant that even if Ao Chenyi found it out, her words almost couldn’t prove that she had spoken of her ident.i.ty, and the so-called favored concubine’s ident.i.ty was just Ning Xueyan’s imagination.
Without t.i.tle or status! It could mean that the favored concubine without t.i.tle or status was the most famous favored concubine in Prince Yi’s Manor, and it could also mean that it was just a modest way to introduce herself. After saying so, she would not need to explain her ident.i.ty further.
But the problem was that when people heard these ambiguous words and learned that she was mysteriously dressed, they were sure to misunderstand her ident.i.ty.
But the person she met now was Ning Xueyan. Others might not know the real ident.i.ty of that favored concubine of Ao Chenyi, but she knew.
“Even so, I am still Prince Yi’s consort, whose name is on the royal list,” Ning Xueyan said with a smile, looking calm as if she did not hear the ridicule in what this “favored concubine” present said.
The veiled lady didn’t expect Ning Xueyan to be so calm, and she said even more directly, “What is the point of being a consort? Do you think the prince will like your broken look? On the wedding night, the prince didn’t even enter your courtyard.”
She believed that now Ning Xueyan must think that she was that favored concubine of Ao Chenyi. With such a t.i.tle, she thought that Ning Xueyan would never dare to do anything to her, so she talked sharply and unkindly at this moment.
“Is it that the prince didn’t enter my courtyard because he went to stay with you?” Ning Xueyan refuted calmly. Since the woman had come to play the favored concubine but did not say anything sure, then she had to force her to open her mouth to admit her ident.i.ty.
“You…” The veiled lady didn’t expect to have launched a pointless attack — she did not hurt Ning Xueyan, but made herself so angry. “Sure enough, Ning Xueyan is not easy to deal with.”
“Consort Ning, you are just a consort, who doesn’t have the princess’s position and is not favored by the prince. Is it that you want to wait until your death day in the prince’s mansion? Do you want me to give you a favor, pleading with the prince to release you directly? Then you won’t have to spend your whole life in Prince Yi’s Manor suffering or being bullied.”
The veiled lady composed herself and raised her neck a bit, showing a proud, scornful look.
These words were full of insult. A concubine with nothing even dared to point at a consort and say such words! This was so unruly!
Qingyu jumped out of anger, pushed the veiled lady away, and shouted, “Where are you from? You talked so unwisely. The prince will never listen to you.”
She was so angry that she talked quickly and loudly, and those few women in the pavilion not far away even faintly heard a few words and then watched the scene with more interest. “Unexpectedly, the mysterious concubine whom the prince favors to the bones is confronting his consort. Let me watch the scene carefully. Maybe there is something quite valuable in it.”
They were all sent here by the heads of various palaces in the imperial palace. These heads had long been curious about this mysterious concubine in Prince Yi’s Manor, but the trouble was that Ao Chenyi had been watching her closely, so they didn’t get any information. It was rare to have such an opportunity to watch this mysterious concubine. Of course, these women wanted to watch her to their hearts’ content.
Only by doing so could they give their leaders an explanation.
The veiled lady took a few steps back unconsciously because of the push from Qingyu, then hit a tree hard, and said delicately in a crying tone, “You… you women have gone too far, and I… I’m going to tell the prince.”
As she finished talking, she turned with her face covered as if she cried while running.
After taking a talk and coming here, she did not need to walk farther. Initially, she wanted to drive her cares away, but now she offended the favored concubine of Prince Yi. It was said that another consort of Prince Yi, who pushed the favored concubine previously, could not enter Prince Yi’s Manor and be his consort afterward, and she even lost the County Princess’s position.
“Consort Ning is going to have bad luck.”
“Right, she even dared to touch her. Surely she wants to die.”
“Then the mansion will be in a mess in the days to come. That’s fine. Anyway, it’s boring to stay in the mansion.” Those few ladies watching the fun were people who desired to stir up trouble. When they saw a quarrel down there, they laughed enjoyably, and one of them even took out her fan to rudely point at Ning Xueyan.
“Look! Now she is still a decent consort, but she will be nothing in a while. Hope she can live.”
They laughed loudly, completely ignoring the consort’s ident.i.ty of Ning Xueyan.
In their view, Ning Xueyan was doomed to suffer this time because she had offended the favored concubine Prince Yi loved dearly. Even if she did not die, she would not have the hope to live for.
Therefore, now no one treated her as the consort of Prince Yi’s Manor, but as a dying person. “Anyway, many beautiful ladies have died of Prince Yi’s wrath in the mansion! What is the point for Ning Xueyan to be so incomparably beautiful?” They pointed at her and ridiculed her, completely in the way of watching someone suffer for joy.
They dare not offend the favored concubine, but they had guts to provoke a consort who had lost favor. Anyway, she was a dying person. Would they, the women granted by the palace, be afraid of a consort?
“Mistress!” Qingyu looked up at those presumptuous women up there angrily.
“Let’s go. We can’t appreciate flowers anymore, so let’s go back the same way.” Ning Xueyan turned around and looked back calmly. Initially, she just wanted to play a consort in a bad mood who came out to walk around and coldly treat Commandery Princess Xianyun for a while at the same time, but she did not expect the latter to have such a trick.
Regardless of those concubines watching the fun, Ning Xueyan turned around and went back from where she had come from, with Qingyu walking behind her indignantly.
Before they arrived at the door of the Pear Flower Garden, Xinmei walked over anxiously. Only when she saw Ning Xueyan did she seem to get relieved, saying, “Mistress, the princess is here.”
“When did she come?” Ning Xueyan said with indifferent eyes.
“Not long after you left just now, the princess came with her maid. Lanning went to serve the princess, and I came out to look for you, mistress,” Xinmei answered. She looked quite anxious, but when she thought about this matter carefully, she found this was not the truth.
It didn’t take much time walking from here to the Pear Flower Garden, and Ning Xueyan spoke of her whereabouts at the door when Xinmei walked out.
“Xinmei, do an investigation and find out who came to visit the princess today,” Ning Xueyan said leisurely. She was sure that the woman who appeared just now was never the concubine in the mansion. Maybe some of the concubines in the mansion were sent by the empress and they stood in line with Commandery Princess Xianyun in the dark, but they never dared to disguise as the favored concubine of Ao Chenyi publicly.
If she was found, she would have to die. In Prince Yi’s Manor, if Ao Chenyi was intended to do an investigation, he would find out the truth.
Only an outsider would think that it was nothing serious to say a few ambiguous words even if Ao Chenyi found her. Anyway, she did not directly say that she was the favored concubine of Ao Chenyi.
Then, Ning Xueyan did not go back to her courtyard hurriedly. Instead, she walked even more slowly. When she was almost at the door of the Pear Flower Garden, Xinmei returned.
“Mistress, someone visited Commandery Princess Xianyun today, and she is the younger sister of Commandery Princess Xianyun, the second young lady of Lord Peace’s Manor. It is said that she paid a special visit to Commandery Princess Xianyun for the thing that happened earlier.”
It was Yun Luoluo, the second young lady of Lord Peace’s Manor. The result was the same as her guess. For Commandery Princess Xianyun, no one but her close relative could help her do this. It was impossible to use someone in the mansion, so she had to bring someone in from outside. Moreover, no ordinary people dared to do such things. Previously, Ning Xueyan met Yun Luoluo, who was so proud of the fact that the family of Empress Dowager’s parents was her family and thought that she herself was quite n.o.ble.
But Yun Luoluo deliberately changed her voice just now, and she also wore a veil, so Ning Xueyan didn’t instantly recognize her but guessed that the person and Commandery Princess Xianyun must have a close relationship.
“Xinmei, go to Yu Jian and tell him…” Ning Xueyan lowered her voice and whispered. In the mansion, the fastest-moving person was no one but Xinmei. Even if the other maids ran, they might not save much time, but Xinmei was different. She was a secret guard, so it was most suitable for her to do such tasks.
“It’s not a long time after Yun Luoluo left me. This place is near my Pear Flower Garden but a little far away from the Great Wisdom Garden of Commandery Princess Xianyun.”
After hearing Ning Xueyan finish speaking, Xinmei fully understood her and nodded. Without saying anything anymore, she turned around and went to a narrow shortcut. As a secret guard of Prince Yi’s Manor, she knew these paths better than Ning Xueyan.
“Qingyu, let’s go in!” After Xinmei left, Ning Xueyan smiled, but her smile was quite indifferent. “Since Commandery Princess Xianyun has repet.i.tively shown that I’ve blocked her path to the bright future and she wants to kick me, the roadblock, away, then I won’t just sit and wait for her to frame me.”
No matter what Commandery Princess Xianyun was here for, she would face and deal with it. Anyway, she could not let the princess come here in vain.
“The location where those few concubines stayed just now is beside the only path leading from my Pear Flower Garden to the courtyard. Would they have especially been there to watch me without the reminder of someone?”
Ning Xueyan put a small cold smile on her exquisite face. “Let me see what performance Commandery Princess Xianyun will give next!”