Chapter 144.1
Du Xiaoyun was beaten into screaming, running around the room and saying, "Look at you, you’re so boorish, how can you be a prince’s consort like this? The Crown Princess won"t ever be like you! She’s a good and proper role model to others!"
"Little wench, you"re going against the sky!"
The Third Prince"s Consort was so angry that she threw away the stick in her hand, took off her shoes directly, and smacked her own younger sister with the sole of her shoes with a ‘papapa’!
The person the Third Prince"s Consort disliked the most in this life was the Crown Princess, no one else!
In fact, in terms of family background, the Third Prince"s Consort was better than the Crown Princess.
The Third Prince"s Consort"s mother was the eldest Di daughter of Duke Luo Estate.
Among the four major families in the capital, Marquis Xuanping Estate ranked first, followed by Duke Luo Estate. The Crown Princess" family wasn’t powerful, and she got where she was today by relying on her own talent.
The Third Prince"s Consort was the same age as the Crown Princess. Since childhood, the two of them had entered the imperial palace to become the princesses’ study companions, and they had been compared with each other almost from a young age.
The Crown Princess beat her in every way. She wasn’t only smarter and more beautiful than her, but also more pleasing to the princes and princesses’ eyes.
The only thing the Third Prince"s Consort had a slight advantage over her was guqin skills, but even this limelight was completely robbed after the Crown Princess saw the real f.u.xi guqin.
How could the Third Prince"s Consort not be jealous of her?
However, while the Third Prince"s Consort was engaged to the imperial family, the woman who stole her thunder everywhere was only engaged to one Little Marquis.
Oh, and this little childhood sweetheart of hers was also three years younger than her!
Actually, the Little Marquis of Zhao had a greater reputation in the capital than the Third Prince. However, no matter how famous he was, he could only become an official while the Third Prince was an imperial prince. This fact made her, as the Third Prince"s Consort, found a wonderful balance in her heart.
Unfortunately, it didn"t take long for the Little Marquis to die in a fire.
Her fiance died even before she could marry into their home. This must’ve made her feel like dying too. The Third Prince"s Consort waited to see her sworn enemy become a joke. However, as soon as the mourning period was over, she married the Crown Prince, who held great power, and successfully became her own co-sister-in-law!
The Crown Princess was now the future empress while she was just a prince’s consort who would be sent away to some fief in the future. What was even more lamentable was that she had to give this sworn enemy a grand salute whenever they met!
This was how people in the capital said it:
"The Crown Princess has always been better than the Third Prince"s Consort since childhood. It"s no wonder she married higher than her."
The whole city loved the Crown Princess. As long as there was the Crown Princess, no one would give the Third Prince"s Consort a look.
She had no control over other people, but as for her dear sister, she could always manage her.
Even after giving her sister a nice beating, the Third Prince"s Consort had yet to completely vent out her anger. She warned harshly, "If you dare to go to the women’s academy, I’m going to break your legs!"
Du Xiaoyun"s stubborn temper was exactly the same as that of the Third Prince"s Consort. She retorted, "Break them then! Break them now if you have the ability! Even if my legs are broken, I will also crawl my way there!"
"You..." The Third Prince"s Consort was truly furious. Throwing away her shoes, she grabbed the broom on the side.
Seeing that her younger daughter was about to be killed by her older daughter, Madame Du hurried forward to smooth things over, "All right, all right. Both of you sisters should say a few words less. Isn’t it just studying? Just let her study then. It"s not like you don"t know how much she loved to study when she was young!"
The Third Prince"s Consort said angrily, "Is it because she likes to study? She’s trying to curry favor with the Crown Princess!"
Du Xiaoyun stared at her, her head resembling a bird nest and her face covered with defiance as she said with a snort, “That’s right! I just want to curry favor with her! Who made her so good? She’s proficient in chess, calligraphy and painting, leaving you a few blocks behind!"
The reason the Third Prince"s Consort had a good relationship with her family was because she never put on airs whenever she visited her paternal home. Otherwise, Du Xiaoyun would have been dragged out and punished to death a hundred of times already!
"You shut up!" Madame Du severely reprimanded her little daughter.
However, everyone was well aware of one thing. Du Xiaoyun didn"t receive an admission card but returned home with one. Now that she got it, they feared it wouldn’t be so easy for her to give up going to the women"s academy.
The Third Prince"s Consort was so outraged that she got into the carriage back home with a black face.
The Third Prince"s residence was located on Zhuque Street, which was quite far from here. On the way back, the Third Prince"s Consort was so upset that she felt the ride was more b.u.mpy than usual.
"That smelly wench! She drives me mad... Really drives me mad... Is there no one better than the Crown Princess in this world? I"m her older sister... Look at how she turns her elbow to the wrong side... "[1]
As the Third Prince"s Consort scolded her younger sister, she suddenly felt her stomach hurt with anger.
The two court ladies accompanying her honestly sat on both of her sides. They dared not make their presence known in the current atmosphere.
"You guys say something ah!" The Third Prince"s Consort said with a frown.
The two people felt their bodies tremble as they looked at each other. One of them, surnamed Xu, said, "But, Your Highness, is it really okay for you to beat up the Fifth Young Miss like that? She is your own sister after all. If this gets out..."
What Court Lady Xu really wanted to say was that her reputation was already not as good as the Crown Princess. If it got any worse than that, there’d be no empty spot left to blacken.
The Third Prince"s Consort gritted her teeth, saying, "Is she even a little conscious of who her own sister is? Whose own sister would always side and speak for outsiders? I told her I would teach her the guqin, but she refused, saying that my way of speaking isn’t as good as that of the Crown Princess! What a joke, she just doesn’t understand, right?"
When her words fell, the Third Prince"s Consort felt her stomach hurt even more.
It was that girl that infuriated her so!
The Third Prince"s Consort covered her belly and her eyebrows tightly knit together.
The two court ladies noticed something was wrong. Court Lady Xu asked, "Your Highness, are you all right?"
"Oh..." The Third Prince"s Consort couldn"t help groaning, rubbing her stomach while holding the corner of the table. She said, "Let’s hurry back home, but let the carriage slow down a bit..."
The two people were stumped.
So, should they go fast or go slow?
The Third Prince"s Consort was in so much pain that she broke out into a cold sweat. She couldn"t wait to go back to the prince residence immediately, but every time the carriage jolted hard, the pain in her stomach would intensify.
The two people at her sides saw that her face was ashened. For a moment, they didn’t know if Fifth Young Miss Du just really angered her this much or if there really was something wrong with her.
"I’m all..." The Third Prince"s Consort was about to say that she was all right when she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She fell down from her seat and landed straight on the floor of the carriage.
This frightened the two court ladies at once.
Court Lady Xu shouted, "Stop… Stop the carriage!"
The coachman pulled the carriage to a stop.
Although there was no longer any jolting, the condition of the Third Prince"s Consort hadn’t alleviated at all and she was still in agony.
"What should we do, Sister Xu?" The other court lady surnamed Liu asked with trepidation.
Court Lady Xu knelt beside the Third Prince"s Consort. Seeing the person before her writhing in pain, she was really scared.
They feared that the Third Prince"s Consort might not make it back to the prince residence...
She lifted the curtain and asked the coachman, "Is there a medical hall nearby?"
1. ↑ — side with outsiders instead of one"s own people.