Chapter 452   The Most Crucial Part of It

There was no sorrow or joy on his handsome face, but somehow made her feel that he was gloomy and lonely.

He was the only one traveling alone in the secular world. In the empty wilderness, there was only the rolled dark brocade robe and the bright red flowers reflected on it which looked like a touch of darkness wandering in the bloody red hell.

“What’s wrong? Are you afraid?” She didn’t know when Ao Chenyi withdrew his gaze, lowered his head to look at her unwearied eyes and lifted the corners of his mouth to show a faint smile.

Suddenly, Ning Xueyan shook her head solemnly, blinked her watery eyes and finally looked at Ao Chenyi’s face. “Your Highness, rest assured. I’m not afraid!”

Her words sounded strange and even not corresponding to Ao Chenyi’s question. Nevertheless, her stubborn gaze and her active action of holding Ao Chenyi’s hand firmly inexplicably convinced him that the fragile girl in front of him was telling the truth. She was not afraid, or it was more like her promise to not be afraid.

Even if she was afraid, she would stand by his side and never waver because of anything else. Just like that day, although she was afraid of him, she still stood firm in front of him and talked over the terms of their trade with ease and fluency. She seemed to have forgotten that the person in front of her could kill her as long as he raised his fingers.

Ao Chenyi’s dim eyes almost became bright in an instant. He grasped her hand backhand and pulled it hard, and then Ning Xueyan involuntarily fell on him. Her dark and bright hair was hanging loose, making an extremely small space where the two of them could only feel the warm breath of each other.

Pulled by him, Ning Xueyan subconsciously cried in a low voice. When she stabilized herself, she had lain prone on him with her forehead pressed against his, which was quite ambiguous. Looking at the deep sparkle across his handsome eyes, she suddenly blushed and pushed him away with her hands.

However, she was so weak when confronting him that she could only be held by him tightly. He, who usually had a cold smile, showed a gentle and soft smile and slightly raised his eyebrows. Watching Ning Xueyan timidly rolling her bright watery eyes which were full of rosy ripples, he showed a more joyful smile and held Ning Xueyan tightly.

“Your Highness, you can go now. If you keep staying here, Commandery Princess Xianyun will find out that you’ve stayed in my courtyard all the time and come up the mountain again. It will cause a big trouble.” His gaze made Ning Xueyan feel ashamed and annoyed. She pushed him hard. Her current movement made her seem to be closer to him than she was when pretending to be his favorite concubine.

“Yan’er, are you jealous?” Ao Chenyi chuckled and said, seeming to be in a good mood.

“Your Highness, I’m serious. With your favorite concubine as the shield, of course I would like to hide myself from the limelight as much as I can,” Ning Xueyan said seriously and gave him a helpless look.

She actually didn’t think so. However, these days she had an accident, and Commandery Princess Xianyun had come up the mountain once. Although Ao Chenyi had come here twice for good reasons, anyway his presence attracted others’ attention. She didn’t want to become the target of all women in Prince Yi’s Manor before marrying into the manor, let alone the target of Ao Chenyi’s opponents.

For example, she still couldn’t figure out why Ao Mingyu did that today. Nevertheless, it must have something to do with Ao Chenyi. After all, she was Ao Chenyi’s future co-consort granted by the imperial edict. If something disgraceful happened to her, Ao Chenyi would be the disgraced one.

“Okay, I got it.” Ao Chenyi had to let go of Ning Xueyan. He stood up and tidied his clothes. Looking at the sky, he found that he did have stayed here for a long time. Fortunately, he had got prepared. He turned around and patted Ning Xueyan, who got up after him.

“You haven’t recovered yet. Take a rest for another while.”

“Your Highness, please kick the door violently when you leave!” Ning Xueyan smiled slyly, pointed to the door of her room and blinked her watery eyes under her long eyelashes, showing some naughtiness of a girl.

“Okay, I’m angry now, so of course I’ll kick the door violently.” Ao Chenyi almost understood Ning Xueyan’s meaning at once and said with a wicked smile. A trace of rage flashed across his eyes which were still icy cold. The superior Prince Yi showed more gloom and elusiveness on his handsome face.

He took a few steps and got out of the inner room. At the door of the outer room, he violently kicked the wooden door, and it shook twice and almost fell down from the frame. After that, there came a series of suppressed sobs from the inner room. Although they were low, it could still be heard that a girl was crying.

Walking to the door and seeing Ao Chenyi coming out with a cold face, Lanning hurriedly lowered her head and leant to one side to give way to him. However, seeing him leave with a cold face, she showed a trace of suspicion in her eyes and couldn’t figure out what had happened in a short time. She had seen Prince Yi come in with her master in his arms.

The Prince Yi, who looked cautious and gentle before, looked completely different from the current Prince Yi.

Suddenly, Ning Xueyan’s suppressed sobs came to Lanning’s ears. With no time to think much, she hurriedly walked in with the tray in her hands. Because she walked fast in anxiety, several grapes on top fell from the branches, rolled on the tray and then fell to the ground. But Lanning had no time to care about it at the moment and hurried to walk inside.

Her master had never been so out of control before. Could it be that something had happened but she didn’t know?

She lifted the bead curtain of the inner room. After clearly seeing that Ning Xueyan, who was sitting in front of the window, was secretly looking out of the window while wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, she couldn’t help bursting into laughter and became capable of holding the tray in her hands firmly again.

“Young Lady, what are you doing?” Lanning certainly knew that her master would not do anything meaningless. So she put the fruit bowl in front of Ning Xueyan, while asking with a smile.

Ning Xueyan wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and showed a smile. Looking at the crystal-like grapes in the fruit bowl, she couldn’t help feeling hungry. So she took one, peeled it and put it in her mouth. It tasted quite sweet. There should be no grapes at this time. She wondered where Lanning got these which were to her taste.

“These are sent here by Prince Yi’s servants. I heard that they are tributes for the imperial palace. There are just a few clusters of them, and His Highness left all of them here,” Lanning said with a smile. She thought that Ning Xueyan was quarreling with Prince Yi, so of course she should remind Ning Xueyan how nice Prince Yi was at this moment.

“I’m fine. If I don’t make a scene, how can I make others know that I’m in trouble with Prince Yi at present? Anyway Ao Mingyu intended to plot against me. Although he failed, it will definitely incur Prince Yi’s anger.” After eating another two grapes, Ning Xueyan took over the handkerchief from Lanning, wiped her hands with it, and said with a leisurely smile.

A man did not necessarily need evidence to lose his temper for discovering a secret meeting between another man and his girl. Any man would be upset after discovering the ambiguous relationship between another man and his girl. Although they didn’t actually do anything immoral, so what? No man could swallow it.

Moreover, Ao Chenyi was Prince Yi who had always been arrogant, despotic and unreasonable.

“Young Lady, I heard that the Third Prince was slapped by Prince Yi in the Third Young Lady’s courtyard. Of course, at the moment, nobody cares whether he is the Third Prince or not. Although he is a member of the royal family, he can’t do something like that. Prince Yi is not only the Third Prince’s uncle, but also the future emperor.”

Lanning immediately understood what Ning Xueyan meant, so she immediately told Ning Xueyan what she had inquired about. Her master was really the smartest person. Although her master didn’t hear anything before, her master could handle it properly.

The Third Prince had suffered a slap for nothing. How could the Third Prince tell others what he had done? Besides, Ning Xueyan had been punished by Prince Yi. In any case, Prince Yi seemed to be the one who suffered a loss. Under these circumstances, it was light punishment to slap the Third Prince. Even if someone found out anything about it, Prince Yi had every reason to do that.

“Go to the temple later and ask if they got any ointment. If they do, get some for me. Just tell them that I need it and don’t need to say anything else.”

Ning Xueyan leaned back and nodded comfortably. Lanning understood her better and better now. There was something that she didn’t need to tell Lanning in detail, but Lanning could immediately understand her thoughts and put them together and even infer other things from them. Lanning was really her good helper.

“Yes, I got it. Maybe there isn’t any ointment in the temple, then I can go to Madam Dowager’s courtyard and ask them. After all, the Third Young Lady has broken her leg, so they should have some ointment for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Besides, this incident was caused by the Third Young Lady. You can’t suffer a loss for nothing.”

Lanning didn’t let Ning Xueyan down, and immediately understood what Ning Xueyan meant. Of course, they couldn’t just let it go like this. Ning Qingshan harbored such a treacherous intention that she dared to ruin Ning Xueyan’s reputation. Ning Xueyan certainly wouldn’t let her get away with it. Besides, she could also spread the news that Ning Xueyan had been beaten by Prince Yi.

Madam Dowager had attached much more importance to Ning Xueyan because of Ao Chenyi. If Madam Dowager knew that her other granddaughter intended to trap Ning Xueyan and ruin her reputation because of some unknown reasons, Madam Dowager would definitely not allow her to do that.

Seeing that Lanning had thoroughly understood what she meant as she expected, Ning Xueyan showed a slight smile. She squinted her watery eyes and waved to Lanning. Lanning understood her meaning, put down the stuff in her hands, came over and lowered her head.

“Ask Xinmei to keep an eye on Ning Qingshan and notice who she’s going to meet. If she meets any danger, ask her to stay away from it and just watch it from a distance. I suspect that there’s another expert behind Ning Qingshan.” Ning Xueyan had made several guesses about it.

Ning Qingshan had a strange origin and was presumptuous, and there was someone who inexplicably came out to help her out. Ning Xueyan had thought it was Ao Mingyu, but now she realized that it was almost impossible. If Ao Mingyu wanted to protect Ning Qingshan, he didn’t have to do it secretly.

Moreover, she thought that Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor was strange, because almost everything had something to do with Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor. In her last life, the one she had encountered must be someone from Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor. After her rebirth, she found that both Honored Consort Ya and the Third Prince, and even Ning Qingshan, all had something to do with Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor on the surface or in secret.

Taking Ning Qingshan as an example, if she really was the descendant of Grand Tutor Ya, why did she grow up in Lord Protector’s Manor? Obviously Ning Zu’an knew nothing about it. What did Grand Tutor Ya intend to do? After going through the previous dynasty and the current dynasty and working for not a few emperors, he remained powerful. Did he really keep his position because of his loyalty?

He had been “loyal” in the previous dynasty and was “loyal” in the current dynasty. So who was he loyal to? What was Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor plotting? Ning Xueyan only thought it extremely complicated. Perhaps Ning Qingshan was really the most crucial part of it. If Ning Xueyan didn’t make use of such an obvious key point, it would be a waste.

Besides, Ning Qingshan had never kept to her own line. She had poisoned Madam Ming before and now trapped Ning Xueyan again and again