Chapter 268 - A Storm of Jealousy

Consort Cui lived in the haram and couldn’t get the news from outside as quickly as the crown prince.

Hearing that the crown prince had come, she thought that he came to see her, so she said with a smile, “Come in.” Noticing his son’s unusual expression, she hurriedly dismissed the maids and told him to sit in front of her, asking with concern, “What happened?”

“There are rumors in the imperial capital that I was behind the scenes when the grandson of the Su Family was disabled.” The crown prince didn’t conceal his worry from his biological mother, and he quickened. “I don’t like these words, and I didn’t take them to heart. However, when Prime Minister Gu saw me just now, he told me that he suspected this matter might be…”

He paused for a while. When Consort Cui got nervous, he continued with difficulty, “It might be Grandma who did that.”

“What?” Consort Cui’s pupils became narrow, and she grasped the handkerchief subconsciously. Then she took several deep breaths before calming down. She stated anxiously, “I know that the Empress Dowager would be partial to Daiguo, but Hexiao, don’t worry. The bitch Sikong lost her parents’ support in the past, and her maids were arranged by me. When we were at the summer resort, I told somebody to drug her little by little. However, I didn’t expect that the Empress Dowager loved you yet changed her mind so soon. I planned to make Sikong have a sudden attack in a few days, in case that the imperial doctor who checked her pulse suspects. In this case, then…”

“Mother!” The crown prince interrupted her and continued in a deep voice, “I think it’s too late to carry out your plan. After all, Grandma has changed her mind now. Even if Hehao’s wife has an accident tonight, can he ask Aunt Jinguo to marry Nie to him tomorrow? Everybody would be suspicious of the cause of her death. Even if your people made it perfectly, but Hehao asks another woman to marry him as soon as his wife dies, wouldn’t Aunt Jinguo doubt that he is fickle? As you said, Aunt Jinguo loves my cousin Nie a lot. How would she agree to marry Nie to a fickle man?”

Consort Cui was petrified to hear the crown prince’s words. After she came to her senses, her face was ghastly pale at once. “So…now…”

“Mother, I came to ask you. Has something happened to Grandma recently?” The crown prince calmed down and then added, “As you said, Grandma loves me for so many years. Even if she wants to consider for Aunt Daiguo, how would she change her attitude after only a few days? I think that there must be insider information.”

“Inside information?” Hearing that, Consort Cui frowned for a while and then blurted out, “Does it have something to do with the fact that they would choose a wife for Prince of Zhao?”

The crown prince asked in a hurry, “What happened?”

“When we were on Cuihua Mountain, the empress wanted to choose a wife for Prince of Zhao as it was convenient while the girls went out.” Consort Cui didn’t know what happened between Prince of Zhao and Nie Wuying, nor did she know that Empress Su spread the news that she would choose a wife for her son in order to make Aunt Jinguo stop suspecting her, so now she had to tell her son what she knew. “But we were on the mountain then and everything was inconvenient, so she just chose several girls and planned to make a decision after we came back.”

As a result, before they returned, Su Bofeng was in trouble. Empress Su worried about her grandnephew, and Prince of Zhao wasn’t at the age that he needed to marry, so she delayed choosing the legitimate daughter-in-law.

After she delayed it, “The other day, the Empress Dowager heard that the empress had cried several times because of Su Bofeng’s disability and didn’t want to eat or drink for a few days, so she sent Yuguo to the Palace of Weiyang to comfort the empress and mentioned the marriage of Prince of Zhao. She wanted to distract the empress with this thing seemingly, in case that the empress will be sad in the following days.”

The crown prince pondered for a moment and couldn’t figure out what it had to do with the Empress Dowager’s changing attitude. He just asked repeatedly, while Consort Cui couldn’t remember what else had happened to the Empress Dowager recently.

She had been a noble consort second only to the empress in the imperial palace for so many years. Even though she was degraded a few days ago, because her son was the heir to the throne, her foundation was still steady. If she couldn’t know something after inquiring in the palace, the crown prince wouldn’t find it.

So the crown prince considered for a while and then decided to inquire personally in the Qingxi Hall.

After all, if the Empress Dowager hadn’t planned to depose him, he wouldn’t be wrong to show respect to her as her favored eldest grandson. If she had this plan, she might feel guilty in front of her grandson as she just started to take actions. If he went to see her in time, not to mention winning her heart back, it would be fine to make her hesitant and give himself more time.

At this thought, the crown prince said goodbye after talking with Consort Cui randomly. He walked out of the Xifu Palace and then headed to the Palace of Mingren. The Xifu Palace was near the Palace of Renshou where most of the empress dowagers lived in the past, but it was far away from the Palace of Mingren.

The crown prince would arrive after passing a few halls, yet he was middle-aged, and it was nothing if he walked.

When he was on the way, behind a row of trees with flowers, a female voice with jealousy came from a path where people’s shadows could be seen indistinctly. “Yo, you have such a beautiful face. Gee! Even I feel happy to see it. No wonder you can serve His Majesty all day long while we are idle every day and don’t know what to do.”

The crown prince frowned slightly after hearing that. He was anxious to see the Empress Dowager. Moreover, judging from her tone, this woman must be in a higher position than a Jieyu who was third-rank. The crown prince didn’t fear such a consort of a high rank, but he had to call her “mother” after seeing her and couldn’t show disrespect. He was not free now, so he furrowed his brows and walked more quickly, planning to avoid this dispute.

Unexpectedly, after he took only a few steps, a big sound of clattering appeared in the grove behind him all of a sudden, with silk clothes being torn and several palace maids’ screams. “My Lady!”

The crown prince looked back subconsciously, and he couldn’t help but fix his eyes.

Among the broken branches with leaves, a woman in green lay on the ground feebly, and half of her sleeve was rolled up, revealing a part of fair-skinned arm, on which there was a new scratch with blood. Her terrified and confused expression was mixed with this scene, and it made people think of a lotus which had experienced a storm in summer.

It was weak after being damaged, yet it made people feel joyful for no reason.

The crown prince looked at her in a daze for a moment unexpectedly. After Beautiful Lady Nuan rolled her eyes and noticed his stare, he realized it suddenly and calmed down in an instant. Then he turned around and continued to walk forward.

Fortunately, Beautiful Lady Nuan didn’t plan to ask him for help. After glancing at him, she tried to get up silently, and her maids naturally came to help her in a hurry. However, the consort who made things difficult for her refused to let it pass and even walked out of the crack where she had fallen, evilly stepping on the back of Beautiful Lady Nuan’s hand which just supported her body. The latter was in pain and screamed in a low voice before falling again.

“Alas!” It was autumn in the eighth lunar month, but it was still hot in the imperial capital in daytime, so this consort had a fan in her hand. Now she covered her lips with it and pretended to be surprised, shouting, “Why are you so careless? I planned to help you, but… Look at you. Why did you put your hand under my foot? Are you injured? Shall I ask an imperial doctor to check on you?”

While speaking, with complacency in her eyes, she put forth more strength on her foot and trod on Beautiful Lady Nuan’s hand.

Beautiful Lady Nuan had cold sweat on her forehead in pain, and her lips trembled, yet she lowered her head and expressed in a low voice, “I dare not.”

“What are you talking about?” That consort bent over and enjoyed Beautiful Lady Nuan’s scared expression at leisure. She lifted Beautiful Lady Nuan’s chin with her fan and smiled. “You are going to serve His Majesty later. Your hand is injured, so it would affect you when you are working. Then won’t you neglect His Majesty? You…”

“Fu, you always say that you miss my father. Why don’t you accompany him in the Palace of Xuanming?” Unexpectedly, a sweet and clear voice appeared and a lady snorted, interrupting her. “But you pester Beautiful Lady Nuan here. You would make a scene every two or three days. You are not fed up, while I am tired after seeing it.”

That consort turned her head following the voice, to see that Princess Yushan stared at her impatiently not far away with her people. She pondered for a while and moved her foot at last, saying with a smile, “Your Highness, you know what? I was talking with Nuan, but she fell on the ground all of a sudden, so I wanted to help her up. However, since you don’t like me to help her, let’s forget it.”

Seeing that Princess Yushan just pursed her lips after hearing that and felt pity for Beautiful Lady Nuan who lowered her head to rub her hand, Concubine Fu rolled her eyes. She knew that it was useless to say more, so she said something with civility and then left.

After Concubine Fu went away, Princess Yushan raised her chin and ordered her maids to help up Beautiful Lady Nuan, who ignored the pain on her hand and hurriedly expressed thanks to her. Princess Yushan played with a flower that she had just picked up but sighed, saying with disappointment, “Concubine Fu is one of the Nine Concubines, of a higher rank than you, and she was promoted by Grandma to this position, while you are favored by Father anyway. You don’t mind being taunted by her, and we can say that you are sensible and broad-minded, yet you don’t dare to say anything after she bullied you to this level. I hear that the people from your hometown Wuhuan are strong, but why are you so timid as their princess?”

Upon hearing that, Beautiful Lady Nuan smiled with self-mockery. Emperor Xianjia did love her a lot. Since he had a good rest to recuperate, she served him almost all the time, like Concubine Fu said.

But so what?

Emperor Xianjia was not a fatuous ruler who would be brainless after seeing a beauty. He enjoyed her service yet never gave her special treatment. In fact, in front of the emperor, she didn’t dare to speak because in the beginning, she just made a little request cautiously, but as a result, he stared at her for ten minutes seriously before agreeing casually.

During the ten minutes, her coat and underwear were soaked in cold sweat. After she left, although she had a bath and got changed, she almost had a cold later.

This emperor didn’t trust her. He liked her beautiful face, yet he was alert because of her beauty.

Who knew why he slapped her in the face because of the crown prince’s biological mother in the first lunar month?

In a word, she was not as important to the emperor as the outsiders and she thought.

After Beautiful Lady Nuan clearly realized this point, she had to be cautious, let alone being arrogant as she was favored.

So she could do nothing but endure Concubine Fu who made things difficult for her.

After all, she was inferior to Concubine in the rank. More importantly, this concubine was promoted by the Empress Dowager. In the past, the Empress Dowager planned to have Prince of Zhao adopted, and Fu, who was a Jieyu then, spoke for her in public. After the event, the Empress Dowager promoted her to return a favor. From then on, Concubine Fu had a backup, and even Empress Su who hated her couldn’t afford to do anything to her openly.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager always wanted to kill Beautiful Lady Nuan.

However, Beautiful Lady Nuan couldn’t and didn’t want to tell Princess Yushan those reasons, so she just lowered her head in silence.

Princess Yushan felt depressed to see her and shook her head. Then she threw the flower to the road and told her maids to leave with her.

Looking at the princess’ back, Beautiful Lady Nuan bit her lower lip with strength and told the maids, “Help me go back and dress the wound.”

She had to serve Emperor Xianjia later. Although he could easily see the wound on the back of her hand, she knew that this emperor wouldn’t stand up for her in order to show that he wasn’t lured by beauty.

At least he wouldn’t do it openly.

Otherwise, Concubine Fu didn’t dare to do that.

“I don’t know when such a life would end.” When Beautiful Lady Nuan left in depression, she thought of Wuhuan Princess Yushan had mentioned. She had been a princess in Wuhuan just one or two years ago, but she thought that it was a long period.

At the same time, the outstanding young man was clearer in her brain.

If Jian Xubai didn’t refuse to marry her that year…

This thought haunted her. She was in a daze, and if the maids didn’t support her, she would have no idea where to go.

She didn’t know that when she recalled somebody in a trance, a pair of eyes with a complicated expression from behind saw her off.