The White-Haired Imperial Concubine

Chapter 25 Meeting Once Again

The palace was lit up with colorful lanterns, making for a festive atmosphere. The Emperor of Lintian was outside of Qian Kun Palace rewarding the three armed forces, rewarding anyone who had a part in the victory this time. Prince Li was the only one who came late.

When it was almost twilight, an extravagant horse carriage bathed in the soft afterglow of the sunset slowly entered through the palace gates, going straight into the center of the palaces. Man Yao speechlessly stared at the handsome man sitting in front of her. From the morning ’til sunset, this was what he referred to as…extent? It seems like Zongzheng Wuyou hated entering the palace even more than she did!”

“Yu—” The carriage entered into a narrow tunnel when a man wearing black clothes suddenly appeared, kneeling in front of the carriage, “Wangye, this subject has an urgent report!”

When Zongzheng Wuyou heard this voice from inside the carriage, he knew right away that it was the Ninth Prince’s personal bodyguard, Leng Han, and frowned, “Speak.”

Leng Han: “Reporting to wangye, His Majesty was furious that the Ninth Prince rejected the marriage he bestowed down and punished him to be beaten one hundred times and then confined to You Si Palace.” You Si Palace was a place where princes or princesses were placed under house arrest after committing a serious faux paus. Most of the time, even if the people who entered there were to make it out alive, they still would have lost half their life.

Zongzheng Wuyou’s face changed, “When did this happen?”

Leng Han: “An hour ago.”

Zongzheng Wuyou: “He…Where is His Majesty right now?”

“Replying to wangye, His Majesty is at the royal study.”

Bestow marriage? Man Yao was astonished. The Ninth Prince was one of the names in her list, so if he was being bestowed a marriage, then it was definitely related to her! As the ruler of a country, since the Emperor of Lintian had already agreed to six months, even if he did not want to stand by what he said, he also shouldn’t have brazenly gone against his promise, allowing her to personally choose her husband only to decide by himself! Could it be…somethin ghappened? She predicted that her days of freedom would not be able to last the full six months, but did not expect that it would be cut off so quickly. Not even three months had passed yet. Could it be that she was going to have to marry someone so quickly? She unconsciously raised her head to look at Zongzheng Wuyou, only to see him happen to look over to her as well. Man Yao knew that the royal study was not a place for just anyone to enter and stood up, “Go ahead. I will take a walk.”

Zongzheng Wuyou contemplated for a little bit and then nodded his head, taking out a jade emblem from to give to her, “The banquet is at Yi Qing Hall. You can show this emblem to someone to have them take you there.”

Man Yao took the translucent, green jade emblem. Feeling its ice-cold touch and smoothness, she knew right away it was one of the highest quality. There was the character for “Li” carved on it. She held it in her hand and smiled as she nodded and stepped off the carriage. Zongzheng Wuyou continued to look at her, his gaze unfathomably deep and unreadable. When the curtain was set down, the carriage continued onwards in the direction of the royal study.

Although this pathway was remote, the scenery was beautiful and peaceful. Holding onto the jade emblem, Man Yao watched as the carriage carrying the handsome man within disappeared from her eyes, suddenly feeling restless. She quietly stood there for a while before she began to slowly walk forward along the path. Recalling about the matters regarding her marriage, she felt frustrated unlike the indifference she showed when she first entered the city.

As time continued to pass, the path seemed to veer off even more. She wanted to find someone to ask for directions, but there was no one in her surroundings, so she could only continue forward. At this time, the sounds of a conversation could be heard, transmitting from the wall on her right side. She stopped walking and put her ears to the wall to heart better.

There was a male voice, “Wu Xiao Men was exterminated. I’m afraid that in the future, even if we pull out even more money, there won’t be anyone that will dare to accept such a request.”

This voice…was the Crown Prince! Indeed, those assassins were sent by him.

There was another voice, “THat’s right. Who knew that Prince Li’s secret forces were so strong! Crown Prine, this official is a little confused. Since Prince Li knows that Crown Prince was behind this, why did he suppress this matter?”

Crown Prince: “Yu daren is unaware that when Noble Consort Yun was the only one favored in the inner palace, there were countless people that wanted her life. When she was met with an assassination attempt during her pregnancy, it was this Crown Prince’s imperial mother that lost her life trying to save her. Before Imperial Mother passed, Noble Consort Yun promised Imperial Mother that she would take good care of me, guaranteeing that I would live a peaceful life.”

Yu daren: “I see! In that case, Prince Li must fulfill his mother wishes, and wouldn’t fight with Crown Prince for the throne.”

Crown Prince: “It’s true that Old Seventh doesn’t want the throne, but fuhuang has always wanted to pass the throne on to Old Seventh. If he doesn’t die, then sooner or later this Crown Prince will be stripped of my position by fuhuang, and then slandered to where my life can’t be guaranteed. So, Old Seventh must die!”

Yu daren: “This morning, His Majesty received the Emperor of Qiyun’s letter. Everyone in Qiyun was dissatisfied about this entire matter of the Princess’s marriage being rejected, and demanded a satisfactory explanation as well as wanting to quickly resolve the matter. His Majesty has been racking his head over this matter, he will definitely think of ways to force Prince Li to marry Princess Rong Le. If this marriage really goes through, it will be greatly disadvantageous towards Crown Prince!”

“You don’t need to worry about this. According to Old Seventh’s personality, if he doesn’t want to do something, fuhuang won’t be able to make him agree no matter what. Hmph, fuhuang only wants to help Old Seventh build up power, only to have that person brush him off.”

“Then who does Crown Prince think His Majesty will bestow to Princess Rong Le?”

“Naturally fuhuang will want to bestow it upon Old Ninth. Old Ninth is one of Old Seventh’s people. If he marries Princess, he will have the power of Qiyun backing him up, making it advantageous for Old Seventh. But, this Crown Prince predicts that the Emperor of Qiyun actually favors General Fu Chou who returned triumphant from defeating Beiyi this time.”

“Crown Prince is wise! Fu Chou has already been promoted to ‘Lord Protector General’, if we can draw him over to our side, your position will certainly be more stable.”

“En, you will handle this matter…”

Hearing this, Man Yao was shocked. It turned out that Imperial Brother had already knew of this matter and sent over a letter, yet she had no idea. She had been staying at Prince Li’s residence these past few days and was completely oblivious to what was happening outside! The Crown Prince’s words were correct. If she could not marry Prince Li, then Imperial Brother would definitely choose Fu Chou, that rumored brave and fearless yet scheming young general! Yet she no longer had any room left to choose, unless…Zongzheng Wuyou changed his mind. Thinking up to here, Man Yao’s heart jumped. What was she thinking, she actually wanted Zongzheng Wuyou to marry her! Why did she have such a desire? It must be because since they’ve gotten more familiar with each other, she would feel more at ease. She secretly mocked herself and was getting ready to leave before she accidentally kicked a loose rock. The sound startled the two people on the other side.

“Who is it?” The two people on the other side of the wall stood up, immediately jumping over the wall to inspect but couldn’t find anyone.

Within the tree leaves in the next wall over, Man Yao’s mouth was covered by someone’s hand as she hadn’t recovered yet from her shock of being carried up. She couldn’t see the person behind her, but felt that they did not have any ill intentions towards her.

“That’s weird, I clearly heard something outside.”

Crown Prince: “This place is so remote, there shouldn’t be anyone, or…we might have heard wrongly. Let’s go, the banquet is about to start soon.”

Hearing the heavy footsteps walk farther and farther, Man Yao still didn’t move and calmly sat on the tree branch. The man behind her slowly lowered his hand, not moving either. After a beat, voices sounded out again from the wall, “Crown Prince, it looks like we really did mishear.”

“En. Let’s go.”

Man Yao smirked. When she was able to confirm that these two people really did leave, she finally turned around to look at the person behind her. Seeing him, she was shocked, “It’s you?!”