Chapter 177 - The Revenge Just Started!

Jinguo Grand Princess became white-faced with anger, stroking her head and questioning the Noble Consort, “Since you want to recommend your own niece as my daughter-in-law, why didn’t you tell me before? Now that I’ve already had a daughter-in-law and it is after the Spring Festival, what are you up to by pulling such a trick?”

“Your Highness, absolutely not!” Noble Consort Cui even felt like strangling her niece now. It was fine that Cui Jianlian asked Song Yixiao to give up her husband for others but the Fourth Commandery Princess? Lu Kou’er was the legitimate niece of the Noble Consort!

In this case, how could Jinguo Grand Princess not suspect the Noble Consort of being the chief plotter?

After all, how could a side concubine of the Crown Prince be bold and confident enough to ask a first-rank titled lady to get a divorce?

There must be someone to back her up!

In terms of Cui Jianlian’s identity, who else could be her support but the Noble Consort, the future Empress Dowager?

Noble Consort Cui held back her anger and hurriedly said, “Lu Kou’er is my deceased sister’s daughter, but we rarely meet since she was born. Moreover, her grandmother and father are still alive. Since her stepmother can have fostered such a virtuous daughter as Lady of Yan, she must always adhere to the principle of propriety. Why does Kou’er need me to help with her marriage issue?”

Her words actually meant more than what she said. Wei Mengying, stepmother of Lu Kou’er, was the birth mother of Song Yixiao. Of course Song Yixiao couldn’t speak ill of her own mother. However, Wei Mengying abandoned her previous husband and remarried, who didn’t get along well with her two mothers-in-law. She was generally acknowledged as an unvirtuous woman. Therefore, as her birth daughter, Song Yixiao’s virtue was also worth suspecting!

However, Jinguo Grand Princess, who married three times, didn’t care about what the Noble Consort said. She only sneered and said, “Yixiao has said that she is not familiar with your niece! It is a busy occasion today. What on earth is your niece up to by tricking her into coming here under the guise of her mother?”

“Your Highness the Grand Princess, Your Highness the Noble Consort!” Xiaoman finally came to her sense from a flurry. All of a sudden, she knelt down and made a kowtow, crying, “The Side Concubine met with Lady of Yan for a reason indeed but she never talked about divorcing! It was the old grudge that they were talking about!”

It was not strange that she was muddle-headed. After all, the situation didn’t go as expected!

According to the scheme of Xiaoman and Cui Jianlian, Song Yixiao’s clothes should have something that You Qingchun had placed, which would be found during investigation!

In that case, Cui Jianlian would pretend to wonder what she had done to offend Lady of Yan so that Song Yixiao would hurt her babies. Then Xiaoman would step forward and talk of the past event that happened seven years ago.

Then everyone would be convinced that Song Yixiao hurt Cui Jianlian’s babies for revenge.

However, neither of Cui Jianlian and Xiaoman expected that Song Yixiao had noticed You Qingchun’s betrayal and proved herself and Jinxun innocent in terms of body search. Moreover, she even accused Cui Jianlian wrongly in public of forcing her to get a divorce because Cui Jianlian set up the meeting with her!

In this case, Xiaoman would probably die and Cui Jianlian couldn’t come to a good end!

Now Xiaoman had to tell the “truth”!

“Seven years ago, the Side Concubine was still studying in the girl’s school of Prince of Hengshan’s mansion. One day, she heard of mastiff, so she had two mastiffs brought into the back yard out of curiosity. Unexpectedly, the servants who kept watching on the mastiffs let go of them carelessly. While the two mastiffs were out, they bit the maid of Lady of Yan severely and scared Lady of Yan terribly!”

Xiaoman said sobbingly, “Consequently, the Side Concubine was very self-condemned and apologized several times, but she still couldn’t ease the anger of Princess Consort Wei and Lady of Yan! Therefore, the Side Concubine returned home out of guilt and never went back to the girl’s school of Prince of Hengshan’s mansion.”

“So Jianlian met with Lady of Yan today to …?” Noble Consort Cui narrowed her eyes slightly and asked further.

“To apologize to Lady of Yan again!” Xiaoman said immediately. “The Side Concubine has been reminiscent of this matter and unable to sleep at night since she got pregnant. And it has been an anxiety to her. Over the recent time, despite the Crown Princess’s care, the Side Concubine is still worried with frown of anxiety. She doesn’t want to make it hard on the Crown Princess. Instead, she only feels sorry for Lady of Yan!”

“Nevertheless, Lady of Yan has been married not for long but she is in charge of all the household matters. Supposedly, she must be really busy. The Side Concubine didn’t dare to invite Lady of Yan to the Eastern Palace randomly in case of disturbing her!”

“As a result, she took the opportunity of the Lantern Festival Feast to meet with Lady of Yan in private so as to bury the hatchet!”

She added, “The reason why Princess Consort Wei was used as an excuse is that we were afraid that Lady of Yan was still angry and wouldn’t show up by appointment when she learnt about the truth!”

Song Yixiao glanced at her grimly. No wonder this maid could stay with Cui Jianlian for so long. She was not as stupid as Song Yixiao expected!

Xiaoman’s statement not only contradicted Song Yixiao’s saying about the divorce but also explained to Yuguo indirectly that Cui Jianlian didn’t defy the Crown Princess with her pregnancy and that what Cui Jianlian did today was due to her guilt for an accident which happened in her childhood. Xiaoman even made up for the loophole of the messenger!

Noble Consort Cui’s frown got eased and then she said softly, “Lady of Yan, may I ask whether the issue between you and Jianlian happened before?”

The Noble Consort was cunny. After hearing Xiaoman out, she didn’t ask which statement, Song Yixiao’s or Xiaoman’s, was true. This avoided irritating Jinguo Grand Princess on the spot as well as anyone’s questioning why Xiaoman made the statement so late. Instead, she pointed out the core of Xiaoman’s statement. That was, did Song Yixiao and Cui Jianlian have any old grudge?

As long as Song Yixiao said yes, then Song Yixiao’s statement about Cui Jianlian’s forcing her to get a divorce would be suspicious!

Jinguo Grand Princess and Commandery Princess Qingjiang made eye contact with each other and slightly frowned. They looked at Song Yixiao worriedly. Both of them were very concerned about Jian Xubai. How could they not investigate well about his legitimate wife?

Moreover, he even interfered with the grudge between Song Yixiao and Cui Jianlian back then!

While they were pondering over how to help Song Yixiao, she suddenly said peacefully, “Your Highness, I was only eight seven years ago. Xiaoman was about my age! Therefore, even though I and Xiaoman didn’t lie at all, what we said may not be the truth! In my opinions, why don’t we ask Dowager Consort of Hengshan?”

“Dowager Consort of Hengshan?” Noble Consort Cui was slightly dazed.

It was not a secret that Dowager Consort of Hengshan disliked her step daughter-in-law, so she didn’t like Song Yixiao either. Now Song Yixiao proposed asking her rather than her own mother. Wasn’t she afraid that Dowager Consort of Hengshan would take the side of Cui Jianlian and drop the stone on her?

Particularly, Song Yixiao mentioned that Cui Jianlian forced her to let Lu Kou’er replace her!

Even for the sake of her granddaughter, Dowager Consort of Hengshan couldn’t spare her at all!

Although Noble Consort Cui had stayed in the imperial palace for years with a lot of experience, she still failed to understand Song Yixiao’s intention.

As such, Noble Consort Cui couldn’t object then.

After a while, Dowager Consort of Hengshan arrived. Noble Consort Cui didn’t brief her about the whole matter deliberately and only said, “Auntie, I heard that there was some misunderstanding between Jianlian and Lady of Yan seven years ago. Was that true?”

Struck dumb for a second, Dazed Dowager Consort of Hengshan looked at Song Yixiao and said, “What misunderstanding? The servants made a mistake and then scapegoated Jianlian because she was still young, which was also known by Mengying and Yixiao. However, Jianlian was so soft-hearted that she still believed it. Afterwards, she just refused to go to the prince’s mansion and I’ve missed her for years!”

Her words took Noble Consort Cui and Jinguo Grand Princess by surprise. “Please do tell more.”

“Have you ever heard that a mastiff as tall as a female adult can be brought into the back yard at will?” The Dowager Consort said calmly. “It was normal that Jianlian, a young girl back then, asked for some flowers and plants. Why would she ask for a mastiff? It turned out that several new servants went into the wrong door when they were about to lead the mastiffs to the yard specially prepared for the mastiffs. As a result, they made a big mistake. Coincidentally, they had a few relatives working in the girl’s school at that time. In their eyes, Jianlian was a relative of Prince of Hengshan, who was simple-minded and naive, so they coaxed her into taking the blame!”

Then she added, “However, Mengying is always astute and it was her birth daughter who suffered wrong. How could she not look into the matter? Then she found out the truth and punished the servants seriously. Pitifully, Jianlian, the silly girl, has still believed that it was her fault.”

Then she hedged and glimpsed Song Yixiao, saying calmly, “Didn’t your mother tell you about the truth before? I still remember that when you came to pay respects to me two years ago, you asked me why Jianlian who sent you the bracelets with bells didn’t come to the prince’s mansion. How come this matter is brought up again?”

She also talked about the bracelets with bells, “Jianlian didn’t come to the prince’s mansion afterwards, but she still sent some gifts to her pals occasionally. As I recall, one of the gifts was a pair of bracelets with bells?”

There were bracelets indeed. Nevertheless, they were sent to Yuan Xue’e and then Yuan Xue’e sent them to Song Yixiao. Since the Dowager Consort said so, Song Yixiao wouldn’t expose her lie. “I also feel that there is not any grudge between me and Side Concubine Cui, but Xiaoman insists that there is! Since we were too young at that time and might not remember all the details, there is no other solution but to ask you to tell the truth!”

Dowager Consort of Hengshan frowned and said, “Well, here is the thing. Jianlian and Yixiao are not makebates. They seldom met each other apart from having classes in the girl’s school. How could they come into conflict? It is true that they are not close, but there is definitely no enmity between them! I am old and have stopped running affairs since some years ago, but I still pay close attention to the girl’s school. I can’t be wrong about this!”

The Dowager Consort’s position in the imperial clan was not low. Even the Empress Dowager had to show respect for her. Now that this Dowager Consort said so with certainty, how could Noble Consort Cui believe Xiaoman’s words?

Besides, Dowager Consort of Hengshan was not close to Song Yixiao. Anyhow, she didn’t look like a person who would cover up for Song Yixiao on purpose!

However, the Noble Consort still couldn’t let go of this easily. Therefore, when the Dowager Consort intended to leave, she thought for a second and said, “Since you are here, there is one more thing I would like to seek confirmation about.”

The Dowager Consort asked in surprise, “What is it?”

“Yixiao said just now that Jianlian asked her to meet here under the guise of Princess Consort Wei for the purpose of forcing her to get a divorce. In that case, Kou’er can marry Duke of Yan!” Noble Consort Cui said with awkwardness, “I’ve never heard of this before! And Her Highness the Grand Princess believes that Jianlian won’t be bold enough to have conjured such an idea and that it must be me who wants to arrange the marriage for the niece! However, I have never engaged in such matter of Kou’er! Please testify to me here, or I don’t know how to explain to Her Highness!”

Amidst talking, Jinguo Grand Princess and Commandery Princess Qingjiang both looked at Song Yixiao. Yet, Song Yixiao, calm and peaceful, didn’t mean to stop her or explain.

The Dowager Consort heard the Noble Consort out and then pondered for a while, saying, “Your Highness, the Noble Consort is right. Kou’er has been raised by me since she was a little child. The Noble Consort loves her indeed but she never mentions Kou’er’s marriage.”

Then she frowns and glances at Song Yixiao, “But Kou’er has never talked of Duke of Yan! I’ve watched her grow up. She may not be very talented and virtuous, but she is never a shameless girl! I think that either Lady of Yan heard it wrong or Jianlian was cheated!”

Song Yixiao responded instantly, “You are right! Therefore, I told Her Highness the Noble Consort just now that Xiaoman was very suspicious!”

Looking at the pale face of Xiaoman, she smiled faintly. This maid’s prompt reaction was very good but she still forgot one thing, that was, the reason why Cui Jianlian hurt Song Yixiao seven years ago!

Xiaoman had distorted the fact and described the intentional conspiration as the servants’ incompetence. Even though her words could deceive others, Dowager Consort of Hengshan would never be taken in because she knew exactly what happened back then!

Whether it was seven years ago or now, it was because of Lu Guanlun that Cui Jianlian wanted to kill Song Yixiao!

However, she was a side concubine of the Crown Prince, who was going to receive an induction for her twin babies. How could the Dowager Consort let Lu Guanlun involved with her?

Thus, Song Yixiao was never afraid that Noble Consort Cui didn’t tell the Dowager Consort what happened today and instead, asked about what happened seven years ago, because the Dowager Consort wouldn’t acknowledge the incidence that happened seven years ago!

Apart from that, even if Noble Consort Cui mentioned that Song Yixiao framed Lu Kou’er, regardless of resentment and anger, the Dowager Consort had to protect Song Yixiao anyway!

Otherwise, if Song Yixiao risked telling everything, what about Lu Guanlun who the Dowager Consort placed great hope for?”

“Luckily, the Dowager Consort doesn’t know or believe that I won’t hurt Lu Guanlun. That’s why I plotted to invite her here through the Noble Consort!” Song Yixiao sighed in her mind. “Otherwise, in terms of Cui Jianlian’s obsession with Lu Guanlun, if I threaten her with Lu Guanlun, maybe she would try to defend for me instead of accusing me of hurting her!”

However, it was not the time to sigh over this. With a faint smile, Song Yixiao stared at Xiaoman shivering. She risked her own life to make so much effort not only to take down a maid!

The revenge for Zhiqin just started!