Chapter 255 - Thank You for not Marrying Me!

“What does His Majesty mean?” Even womenfolk who were not interested in the affairs of the previous dynasty couldn’t help muttering to themselves. When the Crown Prince was injured for protecting his son, Emperor Xianjia not only visited him in person, but also reappointed Gu Shao as the Prime Minister, which caused disorder for Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao!

As a result, since these days, everyone believed that the emperor was determined to ensure that the Crown Prince would ascend the throne in the future. Why did he come here today?

Emperor Xianjia had celebrated the birthday of his sister before, but he would only come when her age was the multiple of ten.

However, today was just an ordinary birthday of Daiguo Grand Princess. Besides, from a political point of view, it was also inappropriate for him to attend the birthday banquet of Daiguo Grand Princess in person.

In this way, people here couldn’t help muttering: Was the emperor in favor of the Crown Prince or Prince of Wei?

It was just that none of the important people on the side of Prince of Zhao would spend their birthdays recently. Otherwise, if Emperor Xianjia appreciated Prince of Wei, he might also appreciate Prince of Zhao?

In a word, Emperor Xianjia’s arrival today made everyone feel that they were unsure about the emperor’s thought.

As the saying goes, it is hard to predict the thought of the emperor.

For a moment, people felt quite confused.

Even if Emperor Xianjia only showed up at the banquet and returned to the palace soon because of his health, his appearance stirred up overheated speculation and discussion.

“Do you think His Majesty wants to persuade Aunt to give up by showing his affection to his sister?” Xie Yiren turned her head and whispered, “After all, His Majesty’s partiality to the Crown Prince is witnessed by everyone. Anyway, it is impossible for him to come here to just show his indulgence to Aunt Daiguo.”

Song Yixiao thought this idea was too naïve, “Aunt Daiguo is the only younger sister of His Majesty. And His Majesty has always doted on her. Over the years, have you ever seen that Aunt Daiguo has been wronged? If Aunt can be touched, will she wait till now?”

“Alas!” In fact, Xie Yiren knew that her guess was inconvincible. She sighed with depression, and murmured, “After this banquet is finished, how many disturbances will arise repeatedly in the court?”

“His Majesty stayed for a long time when he went to visit the Crown Prince, while today he just went back after showing up for a while. It can be seen that in His Majesty’s mind the Crown Prince is more important!” Song Yixiao comforted her, “What’s more, events related to the previous dynasty naturally will be handled by those officials at court. As womenfolk, we learn quite different things when we are young, and thus we are unable to meddle in even if we want to.”

Xie Yiren was about to reply when someone called her name diagonally. She looked up and said to Song Yixiao, “It’s my maternal sister-in-law. I’ll go and greet her!”

“Go ahead!” Song Yixiao nodded. After seeing her off, she looked towards Nie Wuying. In the past, her little sister-in-law always followed her to take part in this kind of banquet. Now she was pregnant, and Jinguo Grand Princess was afraid that she would get tired, and let Nie Wuying follow Lady of Earl Shouchun.

Even so, Song Yixiao was used to taking care of Nie Wuying during the banquet. Now she was free, so she couldn’t help but pay attention to her. Lady of Earl Shouchun was now leading Wuying to talk with some elder ladies, who were studying her secretly. Without thinking, Song Yixiao knew that they wanted to bring their relatives together with Nie Wuying.

“Can they succeed?” Seeing this, Song Yixiao couldn’t help but think of Pei Yourui and Jiang Muting. These girls were all good-natured, while their paths to marriage were not smooth. It’s really a pity.

Thinking about this, she unconsciously drank several cups of fruit wine, and gradually became tipsy. At this time, it was hot outside. Although it was cooler in the mountain, and there were many utensils contained with ice in the room, she still felt stuffy given that the banquet had started for a long time and there were many people in the room.

Song Yixiao felt quite uncomfortable after getting tipsy. She looked at Xie Yiren, only to find that she was still talking to her sister-in-law. She thought Xie Yiren would not come back for a while, so she supported herself by the hand of Yuedeng and stood up, “Let’s go out for a walk!”

Daiguo Grand Princess was indulgent and got very extravagant tastes. Her side yard as a summer resort was also exquisite and gorgeous. Song Yixiao originally intended to go back after sobering up. However, the layout of the courtyard was so exquisite that she could not help strolling around and unconsciously came to a rockery.

The rockery was about twice or three times the height of a person. Its shape was like a pen holder, covered with vines as Ficus pumila and dodder.

Close to the top of the rockery, there was a cluster of dense branches and leaves. Song Yixiao looked up at the leaves, trying to recognize whether the tree was the plum tree or the cherry tree. Suddenly, she heard a man’s deep voice from behind the rockery, “I heard that my cousin wants to marry you recently. Is it real?”

“Whether it’s real or not, Your Highness should be discreet in speech. It’s about the reputation of a girl!” When the man spoke, Song Yixiao felt that his voice was familiar, but she couldn’t remember who he was for a moment. She recognized the person who answered the question on hearing his voice. It was Yuan Xuepei. His tone was indifferent, “Besides, Your Highness also says that Miss Jiang is just your cousin. It seems that Your Highness is not qualified to interfere with the main matter in her life?”

When Song Yixiao heard this, she suddenly realized that the man who spoke first must be Prince of Wei!

She thought of something suddenly, and motioned Yuedeng to keep quiet. She decided to eavesdrop!

“Anyway, my cousin and I grew up together. Although I don’t marry her, I still hope that she can be happy.” She heard that Prince of Wei said in a light voice, “It’s OK if you are not disabled! Now, look at you. How can your future wife not be implicated by you?”

“I’m willing to be implicated by him.” Song Yixiao was speculating about Yuan Xuepei’s response when a crisp but angry voice suddenly cut in. She sneered, “Just as Xuepei said, why do I have to ask you for advice in terms of my own life? Even His Majesty never interferes in the marriage of his ministers.”

Song Yixiao was startled and raised her head towards the direction where the voice came from. Although she could not see her, she knew that Jiang Muting was on the rockery in front of her. She didn’t know when she came. Did she see her?

“Muting, I know I owe you. But you can’t punish yourself like this even if you are angry…” In the middle of his speech, Prince of Wei was interrupted by Jiang Muting angrily, “Do you think I admire Xuepei because I was abandoned by you? You think highly of yourself! I’ve been blind for a while, yet I won’t be blind all my life.”

Obviously, she said this with rage, because Song Yixiao heard the sound of “Bang” at the same time. It seemed that something had fallen from the rockery. In all likelihood, Jiang Muting threw it out of anger.

Even so, Prince of Wei acted as if he had taken wrong medicine or forgot to take medicine. He pretended that he didn’t see this, and still said seriously, “Muting, you are still young now. You don’t know that marriage is a matter of a lifetime. If you make a wrong decision in a fit of rage, you have to pay for it all your life and it will be too late for you to regret. What do you do then?”

Then he said, “You are blaming me now, so you won’t take my words serious. In the future, you will understand that I do this for your good!”

“Do I need to thank you?” Jiang Muting was so angry that she laughed, “As a matter of fact, I really want to thank you. Thank you for not marrying me in the past. Otherwise, I cannot meet Xuepei when I am still a girl!”

She made no secret of the mockery in her tone. “Whenever I think of this, I feel so lucky that I even want to kneel down and kowtow three times to you and your wife!”

Behind the rockery, Song Yixiao almost laughed when she heard it. She quickly signaled Yuedeng who could not hold her laughter to be silent. Even if Prince of Wei thought that Jiang Muting still loved him, as a prince in royal family, he would not show his “good intention” anymore after Jiang Muting said these words before Yuan Xuepei. He hesitated for a moment, relieved a sigh and said “take care”. And then she heard his vanishing footsteps.

After he left, there would only be Yuan Xuepei and Jiang Muting, because Song Yixiao decided not to interfere and was about to go now.

To her surprise, after taking a few steps, she heard Jiang Muting called her name, “Shanyao, show yourself! I just saw you on the rockery.”

“I take a walk to sober up and came here by accident.” Hearing her words, Song Yixiao had to turn back and explained, “I don’t mean to eavesdrop!”

“I said I saw you!” Jiang Muting pressed her lips and said, “You don’t seem to come here with a purpose. Besides, you’ve already known the story between us. It doesn’t matter if you are here.”

Speaking of this, she looked at Yuan Xuepei not far away with a complicated look, “Sorry. I’m really sorry! If it hadn’t been for me, the man wouldn’t have found trouble with you. “

Today, Yuan Xuepei was wearing a sapphire blue garment with plain round collar. Maybe he was afraid of coldness after his leg got hurt, he was not only covered with a bluish white upper garment made of crepe, but also spread a dark woven blanket on his knees. His black hair was neatly tied in the pure gold crown, and the middle of his crown was embedded with a pearl at the size of a thumb nail. Although his costume was simple, it didn’t decrease his grace.

His deep but not dark blue garment not only set off his fair complexion, but also presented his pale look.

At the moment, he didn’t look at Jiang Muting. Instead, he only gazed at the tiles on the ground not far away and said casually, “Miss Jiang, you don’t have to worry about this. Prince of Wei and I are political opponents, so it is impossible for us to get along well. What’s more, even though Prince of Wei invited me to come here, he didn’t do anything to me. Therefore, there is no need for Miss Jiang to apologize to me!”

“He wasn’t like that before.” Perceiving the estrangement in his voice, Jiang Muting felt aggrieved and a little uncomfortable. Somehow, she said, “I don’t know why he suddenly asked to meet you today.”

She stopped here suddenly because she felt that she said something improper. It was a generally accepted truth among the nobles that she almost became Princess Consort of Wei. How could Yuan Xuepei not know that?

Although she didn’t mean to absolve Prince of Wei from blame, her words made others believe that she was doing such a thing. How could she be so foolish to speak for her previous fiancé when facing her beloved man?

In particular, Yuan Xuepei was still turning her down now. Thinking of this, Jiang Muting even wanted to bite off her tongue!