Mei Xiyuan remained languidly leaning against the comfortable couch, exuding a faint fragrance of plum blossoms. She elegantly sipped her tea and said with apparent disdain, "Are you referring to that girl Yi Shangyun who accidentally fell off a cliff in the south of the city and whose fate remains unknown? That wretched thing, she'd better be completely pulverized, or I'll see how I deal with her. How dare she use that excuse to delay her shift at the Prince Qin's residence? That's a crime of disobeying an imperial decree, punishable by the extermination of her entire family."
Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao remained silent for a moment. In fact, what she wanted to say was not this, but to get straight to the point and tell her the latest news she had just received.
However, upon seeing that Mei Xiyuan indeed knew nothing, since she had spoken first, he didn't mind following her lead and creating a little interlude to warm things up.
So, she feigned shock and said, "Does my sister know that the news that the Qin King's Mansion has offered a reward throughout the entire Lingkong Continent to find the missing female physician is known to everyone in the streets and alleys of the entire Western Qin Kingdom? Moreover, I heard people on the street say that this is someone whom His Highness the Qin King personally requested permission from the Emperor to find!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the once quiet Shaohua Pavilion was suddenly filled with the sound of porcelain shattering on the ground, a "crack" of pieces falling to the ground.
Then, Mei Xiyuan's extremely surprised and angry roar rang out, "What? Is this true? How come I've never heard anyone inform me of this before?"
While wondering, Mei Xiyuan glared at the lowered faces of everyone in the room, took a deep breath, and fiercely rebuked them, "Are you all made of wood? Or are you all doing this on purpose? Or have I been too good to you all, and you dare to neglect this task like this?"
Upon hearing this, all the servants around trembled with fear and knelt down in unison. The personal maid kneeling beside her lowered her head and said timidly, "Your Highness, please calm down. This was all ordered by Granny Zhao. Granny Zhao said that Your Highness has been depressed and unwell ever since you returned from the City God Temple. So she forbade us from revealing this matter to Your Highness, for fear of disturbing your peace."
However, Mei Xiyuan's already uncontrollable anger did not subside in the slightest. Instead, she became even more furious and slammed her hand heavily on the table beside her, shouting, "You bastards! Have you all rebelled? You don't want me, the princess, to know, yet you still have the high-sounding excuse that it's for my own good? Are you just going to watch me become a fool that the world will laugh at?"
At this moment, Lu Tianjiao saw that she was already burning with anger, and was secretly pleased that she had relieved her anger from the mockery with just a few words. She then slowly advised her, "Sister, don't be too angry with them. Judging from the situation outside, it may not be a bad thing for you."
"Oh? What do you mean by that, little sister?" Mei Xiyuan asked, puzzled.
Lu Tianjiao said, "Nowadays, most people are saying that it's because His Highness is deeply in love with my sister and cherishes her, which is why he's going to such lengths to search for her all over the world. Some even suspect that my sister has already received good news and urgently needs to find her most caring female healer to look after her, which is why he's doing this. So right now, as the saying goes, 'rumors stop with the wise,' if my sister seizes this rare opportunity to turn the rumors into facts and silence the gossip, that would be the best course of action!"
Mei Xiyuan listened attentively to these seemingly reasonable words, then lowered her head shyly to look at her flat stomach, and said to herself, "Sister, are you saying that I should really get pregnant with His Highness's child during this time... How easy is that!"
Mei Xiyuan is clearly at a loss as to how to deal with Xuan Yuanhan's unusual indifference towards her. This man always makes her feel insecure and is far more difficult to deal with than she imagined. She even feels discouraged many times.
However, Lu Tianjiao pretended to be mysterious and said, "We live under the same roof, so we'll see each other all the time. There will always be opportunities. It just depends on whether you can seize them, sister."
"It seems... could it be that you have a solution, sister? In that case, I would like to hear your details. If you can really give birth to a son or daughter for His Highness, since ancient times a mother's status has risen with her son, I believe you will be able to persuade His Highness to take me as a concubine, thus fulfilling my wish. What do you say?" Mei Xiyuan finally calmed down and said earnestly.
At this moment, Lu Tianjiao leisurely glanced at the maids who were still kneeling timidly in the room. Mei Xiyuan saw this and hurriedly said sternly, "Get up! For Miss Lu's sake, I, the Princess Consort, will spare you for now. If you do it again in the future, I will not let you off easily."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. We thank Miss Lu."
It was clearly Lu Tianjiao who started the trouble, yet he has won the hearts of so many servants; his treacherous intentions are evident.
After everyone thanked him and stood up, Lu Tianjiao suddenly looked nervous and said to Mei Xiyuan, "Sister, we can discuss the matter of a mother gaining status through her son later. As the saying goes, 'Where there's life, there's hope.' However, there is a more urgent and troublesome matter that we must deal with as soon as possible."
"Oh? What is it?" Mei Xiyuan asked, looking at Lu Tianjiao with surprise.
Lu Tianjiao paused, took a deep breath, and said, "Sister, I just saw His Highness return to the manor and then rush out again. Do you know what happened?"
"Your Highness has returned? When did you return?" Mei Xiyuan, the mistress of the Qin Prince's mansion, was completely unaware that Xuan Yuanhan had ever returned.
Lu Tianjiao sighed and said helplessly, "Sister, you should spend more time on His Highness! You stay in this Shaohua Pavilion all day, what can you possibly know?"
“But His Highness doesn’t like me wandering around! I don’t want to upset him or annoy him. Besides, once I leave Shaohua Pavilion, there are guards watching me closely, both openly and secretly, so I…” Mei Xiyuan said helplessly, hesitating to finish her sentence.
Lu Tianjiao shook her head and continued, "Sister, you are the mistress of this Qin Prince's Mansion. Who dares to stop you from going wherever you want? Do you intend to remain a mere figurehead Princess Qin forever? Or are you waiting for someone to suddenly appear and take your place? Sister, do you know that that vile hussy Yi Shangyun is not dead at all? She's still alive and well. His Highness just returned from quelling the rebellions on all sides, and he's already gone out to look for her again. Moreover, this time he seems quite confident. This woman's life is harder and more stinking than a rock in a latrine! If she really comes back this time, I'm afraid you and I will..."
Lu Tianjiao was still talking to himself when Mei Xiyuan, who had just heard the news that Yi Shangyun was still alive, could no longer sit still. She stood up in shock and said, "What? Yi Shangyun is really still alive? Where is she?"
Lu Tianjiao frowned and said in a deep voice, "I heard from that little maid in the manor that His Highness went to Peach Blossom Village to look for her."
"Peach Blossom Village... What should we do? What should we do? We absolutely cannot let this woman come back. I never want to see her again." Mei Xiyuan was truly panicked. She clutched her clothes tightly with one hand, and as soon as she finished speaking, she collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Indeed, Mei Xiyuan's feelings were particularly complicated at this moment.
She hadn't heard any news about Yi Shangyun for many days, so she figured she must have died after falling off the cliff.
Since that's the case, there's no point in keeping Lu Tianjiao by my side any longer. I was just thinking of a reason to send him away when, unexpectedly, my maid brought back a mysterious anonymous letter from Sihai Tea House that afternoon.
After some probing, she indeed seemed particularly mysterious about the information in the letter, suggesting that her relationship with the Sihai Tea House must be quite complicated.
Therefore, Mei Xiyuan planned to secretly investigate the affair between her and Sihai Tea House, then fabricate a charge against her to get rid of her. In that case, Lu Tianjiao wouldn't be able to blame her for breaking her promise and abandoning her after using her.
To her surprise, she was now being told that Yi Shangyun was still alive. Therefore, their previous deal had to continue.
As she pondered this, a sudden, unreal feeling washed over her; it must be a cruel joke played on her by fate.
At this moment, should she be grateful or hateful? Grateful that her stepmother's only bloodline is still alive, or hateful that the person who took away everything that originally belonged to her is still alive and well, and will continue to fight and struggle against her.
It seems that they were destined from birth to be forever in conflict, forever unable to reconcile, forever in a fight to the death.
If she cannot find a way out of this contradiction, she will definitely be the one who loses the most completely in her life.
The so-called liberation is nothing more than choosing between fighting and not fighting. But now, can she still choose not to fight? Does she have any way out? If she doesn't fight, then what is she?
If it were Yi Shangyun, what would she choose? She would have no way of knowing, but she knew that no one in the world would willingly choose between a noble princess and a useless, ugly woman.
As the saying goes, "Every man for himself," so her final choice today is...
Just as Mei Xiyuan was making up her mind, she suddenly heard Lu Tianjiao, who was deep in thought, mutter, "Yes, we must not let this woman come back, and we must not let His Highness see her again. Let my sister think it over carefully, think it over carefully. This time, we must come up with a foolproof plan so that she will never have a chance to live again!"
"What did you say? You can't give her a chance to live? You want her... to die?" Mei Xiyuan asked, looking at Lu Tianjiao's face in surprise.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com