“She really is quite pitiful — sent away from birth, and only back a few days before she nearly gets a taste of household punishment.” Ye Chen sighed, his words full of compassion.
Xuan Yanyu frowned, his voice quiet but weighted. “Where is the Lady of the Prime Minister’s household now?”
“Reporting to Your Highness — she is in the ancestral hall.”
A wicked arc curved at the corner of Xuan Yanyu’s mouth. “Go and give her a good scare.”
“Your Highness, the Lady of the Prime Minister’s household is, after all, the First Young Miss’s mother.” Ye Chen reminded.
Xuan Yanyu gave him a cool sidelong glance. “Who told her to make A’Yao cry?”
Ye Chen started. “Understood, Your Highness.”
Yan Yunning twisted and turned through corridor after corridor before finally finding Yan Shiyao’s Yaozhi Courtyard. Throughout the courtyard, flowers bloomed in full abundance, their fragrance sweet and overwhelming.
Beneath a decorative rockery, fish swam freely and leisurely through the water. The small pathway paved with smooth river pebbles gave a slight, firm sensation underfoot with every step.
“Elder Sister.”
Yan Shiyao was in the middle of organizing scrolls of books. Hearing her voice, she looked up in mild surprise. “Ningning, what brings you here?”
Yan Yunning’s eyes shifted. “Elder Sister, Xuan Yan — the gentleman Xuan said you haven’t had your meal, and he’s very, very worried about you. He asked me to come and talk you into eating.”
Yan Shiyao set the scroll down on the writing table, a faint smile rising at the corner of her lips. “Yanyu-gege is making a fuss over nothing.”
Yan Yunning said with complete seriousness, “Elder Sister, the gentleman Xuan genuinely cares for you very much. Entrusting you to him puts my mind completely at ease!”
Xuan Yanyu, who had just stepped up to the entrance of the courtyard and was about to cross in, heard these words and stopped dead in his tracks. What was this pitiful little thing babbling about?
If it frightened A’Yao, he would make sure to discipline her — so that she would not be so careless with her words in the future.
“Ningning, don’t talk nonsense. Between me and Yanyu-gege — there is no possibility. I… I already have someone I care for.” Yan Shiyao’s cheeks flushed faintly, a touch of shy sweetness flitting across her face.
Yan Yunning’s eyelid twitched. She immediately got in first. “Elder Sister, I also have someone I care for. I have feelings for A’Chen. Elder Sister, don’t you think we’re perfectly matched?”
I’m sorry!
I have no choice!
Yan Shiyao was taken completely aback for a moment. “Ningning, you have feelings for the Third Imperial Prince?”
“Yes, and I will marry no one but him. Elder Sister, who do you have feelings for?” Yan Yunning blinked her eyes, the picture of innocent guilelessness.
“I… I — Ningning, I’m a little tired. I’d like to rest.” Yan Shiyao lowered her gaze, her voice very soft.
“At this hour you’re already resting?”
“Yes.” Yan Shiyao bit her lip, her expression slightly evasive.
Yan Yunning touched the tip of her nose. “Then I’ll take my leave.”
With that, she turned and walked away.
Fafa: 【Master, you’ve put the female lead in a gloomy mood.】
Yan Yunning sighed. 【Alas, I have no other choice.】
“Heavens above — what are you doing here?” Yan Yunning clutched her chest, nearly frightened out of her skin.
Xuan Yanyu stood with his arms folded, leaning idly against the wall, casting her an oblique glance.
Yan Yunning swallowed and forced herself to keep walking forward, only for her collar to be seized from behind. She turned around in irritation and glared at the person behind her.
Then, as if remembering something, the boldness went out of her, and her momentum deflated. “I did go and talk to her.”
“How did you talk to her?” Xuan Yanyu released her collar and dusted off his hands.
“I… I just told her to eat, that’s all. She didn’t listen to me either.” Yan Yunning muttered under her breath.
Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Nothing else?”
“Nothing. Rest assured — I absolutely said nothing else.”
A cold sound of disdain came from Xuan Yanyu’s nose. Still a little liar.
Fafa: 【Master, from tomorrow onward, the novel’s main narrative begins. The Emperor of Qilan has commanded the imperial princes to conceal their identities and go experience the lives of common people. The female lead secretly followed the male lead.】
【What?! They’ve gone off to experience the lives of common people?!】
Fafa: 【That’s what the novel says. The other princes are little more than window dressing. The Emperor of Qilan’s real purpose in doing this was to give Qi Qingchen the opportunity to better understand Qilan Kingdom, so that he may one day inherit the throne.】
Fafa: 【After returning to the capital, the feelings between the male and female leads heat up rapidly — one declaring he will marry no one but her, the other that she will wed no one but him.】
【What about Xuan Yanyu? Does he not have any part in this? He didn’t try to sabotage them?】
Fafa: 【Of course he did. But it didn’t stop the male and female leads from getting together in the end.】
Yan Yunning: 【……】
She refused to give up. She was absolutely going to rewrite the ending that awaited her!
Fafa: 【Master, it’s Xuan Yanyu who kills you. Instead of splitting apart the male and female leads, you’d be better off winning Xuan Yanyu’s favor!】
【What nonsense are you talking about? Am I out of my mind? Go and win his favor?! As long as the male and female leads don’t get together, Xuan Yanyu won’t go mad and threaten the female lead, and then I won’t be killed.】
Fafa: 【Master, but what if the female lead ends up with someone else? Wouldn’t you still be in danger?】
【…… That’s impossible! I won’t hear it! Stop talking!】
Fafa: 【……】
“What are you thinking about?” Xuan Yanyu suddenly leaned in close to her.
His warm breath fanned across her cheek. An indistinct, subtle fragrance bored straight into her senses. Yan Yunning stuttered, “You… you get away from me.”
【Fafa — if it weren’t for the fact that he happens to have a remarkably handsome face, I would have smacked him by now.】
Fafa: 【Master, are you sure it’s not because you’re afraid of him?】
【Shut up — stop saying things that are true. I don’t like hearing it.】
She had already come up with a perfectly good reason for herself!
Fafa: 【……】
Xuan Yanyu let out a contemptuous scoff and lifted his eyelids with lazy indifference.
Yan Yunning felt a surge of irritation just looking at that expression of his. She tossed out a parting line: “From now on, when nothing is going on, keep your distance from me — I’d rather not see you!”
And with that, she bolted away at her fastest speed.
Xuan Yanyu was so incensed he couldn’t form a single word. He raised his foot and delivered a heavy kick to the wall.
“Your Highness, please calm down, calm down.” Ye Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He lamented inwardly. His Highness had been pampered and indulged since childhood, and no one had ever provoked him to such a state of fury.
No one had ever dared make him this angry.
Xuan Yanyu’s eyes narrowed to slits. His voice carried an edge of fury. “Have some gifts selected and sent to the Lady of the Prime Minister’s household.”
Ye Chen ventured carefully, “Your Highness… you’re no longer going to frighten the Lady of the Prime Minister’s household?”
He had already arranged everything.
“What reason is there? She did well today!” Xuan Yanyu’s expression darkened.
“Your Highness, wasn’t it you who said — because the Lady of the Prime Minister’s household upset the First Young Miss, you wanted to…”
He had only gotten halfway through his words when Ye Chen looked up and caught the icy chill in Xuan Yanyu’s gaze. A shiver ran straight through his heart, and he swallowed the rest of his sentence whole.
“Understood, Your Highness. I’ll see to it immediately.” Ye Chen lowered his head and did not dare utter another word.
……
Morning light filtered through the latticed window, casting a gentle warmth across the soft bed. Yan Yunning slowly drifted awake.
She let out a yawn and rubbed her bleary, sleep-heavy eyes.
Fafa: 【Master, the male and female leads — and the second male lead — have already met up.】
【They’ve already left??!】 Yan Yunning climbed out of bed and walked to the washstand to freshen up.
Fafa: 【Yes.】
After washing her face, a maidservant handed her a toothbrush crafted from green bamboo.
【Then what am I supposed to do?】 Yan Yunning rinsed her mouth with clean water.
Fafa: 【Master, even the second male lead — someone that capable — couldn’t pull the male and female leads apart. You’d be better off letting it go and simply enjoying your life. It’s hopeless.】
Yan Yunning took the cloth the maidservant handed her and wiped the corner of her mouth. 【Without trying, how would you know whether it’s hopeless?】
Fafa: 【…… Then do your best, Master!】
Yan Yunning: 【……】