Chapter 565   A Big Storm Is about to Sweep into the Mansion

But she was just a maid. No matter how fast she was, she was not faster than the guard’s hand. A guard beside Yun Luoluo instantly caught her sleeve, took her back, and threw her on the ground.

“Guards, take them.” Ao Chenyi put on an evilly cold expression. As he waved his hand, a few ferocious guards came and took away these concubines who came here to give testimonies, Yun Luoluo, and Xiangrong. Commandery Princess Xianyun was about to say something when two eunuchs came over.

“Princess, please go back to your courtyard.” A eunuch raised his wooden face, looking at Commandery Princess Xianyun expressionlessly. The expression was not respectful at all and even aggressive.

Commandery Princess Xianyun had been used to being respected, so she became sullen, ready to fly into a rage.

“Please go back to your courtyard, princess.” Another one looked at Commandery Princess Xianyun with the same wooden expression as if he was looking at a lifeless log.

Commandery Princess Xianyun was shocked and looked up at Ao Chenyi. When she saw his deep, cold, and fierce eyes, she instantly felt a chill pouring into her body from her head. She bit her lips and turned and left. If she stood up to Ao Chenyi at this time, she was sure to suffer.

First, the other concubines in the courtyard saw that Commandery Princess Xianyun was taken away by two eunuchs, and then they were released and driven back to their courtyards. Seeing that the two eunuchs were at the door of the courtyard, they knew that their life had returned to their previous situation that they would not be easily allowed to leave their places.

It was certainly not over when the thing had come to this point. Many of these women were given by the palace, so they were quite clear that although this didn’t seem to have so much to do with the princess ostensibly, this was not true, was it? The favored concubine of Prince Yi was assassinated. Now it was still unknown whether she was alive or dead. Most importantly, Lord Peace’s Manor and Second Young Lady were involved in it. Then anyone knew that the princess would never be innocent.

A “big storm” was about to sweep into the mansion...

When the others left and the door of the courtyard was closed, the badly wounded favored concubine who passed out just now stood up.

“What about her wound?” Ao Chenyi asked the imperial physician.

“It’s not that serious. The attack was with great force, but she avoided it, so her vital organs were not harmed. Although she is a female and was wounded, her condition is not serious,” the imperial physician answered. The person disguising as the favored concubine was a secret guard. As soon as Commandery Princess Xianyun’s hand moved, she had known it. But for the sake of doing a vivid show, she just tried to avoid her vital organs being harmed. Although she bled so much, her wound was not as serious as the others imagined.

“Go and rest first.” Ao Chenyi nodded. After looking at Ning Xueyan, he eased his expression and said, “Come in. Let’s talk inside.”

Ning Xueyan nodded and walked into the house with Ao Chenyi.

This was Ning Xueyan’s house. Although the secret guard playing the “favored concubine” lived here, she did not live in the main room but in a wing room.

“Afraid or not?” Ao Chenyi extended his hand gently over and taking her lightly to the couch beside them, sat down with her.

“No!” Ning Xueyan answered firmly as her eyelashes trembled twice slightly. If this had happened in her previous life, she must have been afraid. But in this life, she had hardened her heart so much that she was no longer Ning Ziying who knew nothing at that time. She knew very well that once she came to Prince Yi’s Manor as a married woman, she would never be able to live a life at ease.

Since Ao Chenyi was now disliked by the emperor, such things would surely happen.

“You will help me manage the backyard of the prince’s mansion in the future.” Ao Chenyi had been holding her hand, which was a little cold. Many times, her hands were so cold, and so were his hands. However, her hands were a bit colder than his.

“Okay, I’ll take care of it.” Ning Xueyan nodded. This was her promise to him. Of course, this was also what she was willing to do for him now, for she was willing to stand in line with him.

Too many concubines lived in the backyard of Prince Yi’s Manor, so there was no choice but to lock them up. But after this incident, part of them would be removed for a proper reason. And she knew that Ao Chenyi was sure to catch this opportunity.

“I’m going to the palace right now. You just go back to the Pear Flower Garden first. When I have come back from the palace, I’m coming here to see you again.” Ao Chenyi stared at her quietly, his beautiful eyes becoming gentler and gentler. After a long while, he reached out to put a strand of her fallen hair into place and pulled her hard, and then she fell into his arms.

“Oh, I will be waiting for you!” Leaning against his chest, Ning Xueyan nodded and asked, “Go to the empress first or the emperor first?”

Going to the palace was not that simple. She knew that this was not over yet. What came next would be a tug of war over it, and the problem was how much the emperor would be willing to compromise.

“Go to my elder brother first. Anyway, it is he who gave this princess to me. No matter what, I must let him know about this incident. As for the empress, she will be coming.” Ao Chenyi’s lips curled up, and the look in his eyes was deep. Since such a thing had happened, the empress would be coming without being noticed.

“You won’t deal with the princess so soon, will you?” Ning Xueyan hesitated for a moment and asked.

Commandery Princess Xianyun would be dragged in this matter in whatever condition, but Ning Xueyan didn’t think now was the best time. On the one hand, the princess was a member of Empress Dowager’s family and a commandery princess conferred on by the emperor; on the other hand, this marriage was arranged by the emperor. If she was punished or something, it was equal to slapping the emperor in the face.

If Ao Chen did act arbitrarily, maybe he would make the situation worse.

“I won’t deal with her for now, but I won’t allow her to wrong you anymore in the future.” Ao Chenyi nodded and curled up her lips slightly, showing a bit lazy manner.

Ning Xueyan became silent and nodded. Then the two of them just sat hugging each other quietly for a while.

After that, Ao Chenyi rose to his feet and left. And it was not suitable for Ning Xueyan to stay here any longer, so she took Qingyu back to the Pear Flower Garden. With the situation having reached this state, she surely knew what he meant. The “favored concubine” in the Fragrance Garden should not “live” anymore, so she had to leave to avoid arousing suspicion.

Inside the study of the imperial palace.

The testimonies of those concubines were laid out in front of the emperor so naturally. On them, there were not only names but also fingerprints of his many concubines.

Most of the concubines granted by the palace were literate.

“Emperor, a few of these concubines were given by the empress, one was from Concubine Han, and another one was from Honored Consort Ya. Brother, you need to back me up. As for these given women, one is more deceitful than the other. They even worked together to deceive me, your courtier. In this case, let those in the backyard of Prince Yi’s Manor be sent to the imperial palace.”

Ao Chenyi raised his eyebrows and spoke frivolously and treacherously. These words seemed to be quite ordinary, but when he said them, they seemed to be with a little ridicule, especially the words “sent to the imperial palace”, which simply meant that the given concubines in his mansion were sent by the women in the palace on purpose. They did so because they wanted to see his mansion be messed up.

The emperor’s face turned dark. He gritted his teeth and said, “Kill all these women with heavy sticks.”

“Only these women? Emperor, only these few women did this way this time, but others may imitate them next time, so I, your younger brother, really don’t dare to accept the women conferred on by the palace, for fear that this might get some palace consorts or other concubines involved. I am timid. If something like this happens, it might cause big trouble.”

Ao Chenyi smiled faintly but leaned against the back of the armchair beside the emperor lazily, showing no sign of coming here to make an indignant complaint.

The emperor felt quite sick when hearing such untrue words. “He even claims he is timid. How could he dare to say so? He also embedded something in his words. What does ‘it might cause big trouble’ mean? What does ‘this might get some imperial consorts involved’ mean? He is warning me that if the given women make trouble again, he will drag the palace into it and make bigger trouble.”

Of course, these women were dispatched to Prince Yi’s Mansion with some other missions. It was even fair to say that it was the emperor’s will that got these women picked up and sent to Prince Yi’s Mansion, but it was unsuitable to take all of them there in the name of the emperor. Therefore, they were from the consorts of different palaces. In fact, a few consorts had no guts to send people to Prince Yi’s Mansion.

“I will ask people to take away all the women conferred on by the other palaces.” Forced to this point, he had to give his word.

“Then in the future...”

“You won’t have women given by the palace anymore in the future, and you will just need to take care of your daily life, but many concubines have been in your mansion from then to now. Anyway, you have to promote a few of them; otherwise, your concubines are too few only with one princess and one consort. Years ago, when our emperor father was still alive, he wanted you to marry early, give birth to many children, and live a life at ease.”

The emperor had to agree.

“Brother, please rest assured. I will promote a few good ones. Brother, since you mentioned the matter of arranging marriages for me, I think you made me suffer so much.” Now Ao Chenyi became greedy even after he had achieved his goal. He pressed step by step and ridiculed mercilessly, “Then let’s talk about Xianyun. Emperor, you said you would give me a gentle and quiet lady from a respectable family, but look at her now. She is a black sheep!”

“This is just a mess caused by a maid. It doesn’t have much to do with Xianyun,” the emperor summoned up his courage and said.

“You even believe this, emperor?” Ao Chenyi’s ink-black eyes had a horrifying and cold look, which then disappeared instantly. “Or I’ll torture the maid with the 81 torturing methods of the Imperial Guards when I go back in a while, and let me see if the maid still admits she is the only criminal. Emperor, if a palace maid murdered your Honored Consort Xia, when she was found, she just said that it was a mistake and she killed the wrong person, would you believe her?”

When a woman without title or status was compared to the favored Honored Consort Xia in the palace, the emperor should be angry, but his reaction at this moment was suspicious.

The emperor’s eyes had a bit alert when he narrowed his eyes. He looked at Ao Chenyi but just saw his curled evil but charming mouth. “It seems he is sneering indeed and did not mention Honored Consort Xia on purpose. Torture? Needless to say, once the methods of the Imperial Guard are used a few times, the maid is bound to expose Xianyun.”

“No matter what, Xianyun is the biological niece of Empress Dowager and can be counted as your cousin. Don’t let outsiders watch the fun, let alone the maid made the matter like this anyway, though maybe Xianyun is the cause of it,” the emperor said with a gentler voice as he massaged his forehead, showing this was a headache for him, so he wanted to use these words to persuade Ao Chenyi.

As for this matter, he had completely fallen into a disadvantageous situation and couldn’t help but hate Commandery Princess Xianyun in his mind. “Why were you so stupid? You made such trouble just after getting married for a few days. You were so stupid that Ao Chenyi found you at the crime scene.”

“This woman is so vicious. Brother, take her back, please. She even went to kill my favored concubine and framed Consort Ning. If she continues to stay in my mansion, all my mansion members will have to die. Brother, I don’t think you will agree she does this way!” Ao Chenyi talked in a way of asking for an answer, which made the emperor so angry that he felt a bloody taste rushing up from his chest.

“He is threatening me, but I have to accept it. When I gave the marriage to him with an edict order, I did say that Commandery Princess Xianyun has both political integrity and ability. Besides, I got the throne because of Empress Dowager’s help, so I can’t let my officials think I am an ungrateful person.”

“Don’t make Xianyun’s matter go public for now. Just lock her up in her courtyard. After all, she is the biological niece of Empress Dowager. As for the other two, I will have them rewarded in a while.”

“Let the consort be a co-princess; as for the other, if she can survive, let her be a consort!” Ao Chenyi made the decision as if he didn’t know how shocking his words were.

The emperor was truly about to spit blood this time. Holding his chest, he glared at Ao Chenyi’s arrogant but handsome face, silent for a long time. Not the same as an ordinary family, the royal family did not have the “co-wife” title.

“The empress is coming!” A eunuch’s loud voice came from the distance outside.