Chapter 519   The Marriage of Ning Huaiyuan

When returning to Prince Yi’s Manor, Ning Xueyan even happened to meet the carriage of Commandery Princess Xianyun, but the carriage of Ao Chenyi was not there.

With the help of her maid’s hand, she got off the carriage and looked at the other side, finding that Commandery Princess Xianyun had just come down from her carriage. Since the two had met each other, she, the consort, had to wait for the princess, of course.

“You’ve also just returned, Sister Ning? How is your health? Do you feel unwell?” Commandery Princess Xianyun, who seemed to be in a good mood, walked smilingly to her and said affectionately.

Did she really only want to show their “seamless closeness” by saying that in front of so many people at the gate of the house?

“I’m fine. Thank you, Princess,” Ning Xueyan said gently after she happened to avoid Commandery Princess Xianyun’s hand by taking a step back and then bowed low in a woman’s manner.

Then the two went inside together.

“After having lunch in Marquis’s Manor, the prince couldn’t bear to stay there anymore. I don’t know where he has gone now, and I’m really worried. It’s unknown whether he has had lunch or not,” Commandery Princess Xianyun said, looking like an official wife who was not relived, and she had completely forgotten that Ao Chenyi made her embarrassed and aggrieved earlier.

Ning Xueyan made a sound with a smile and said a few words at random, but did not ask further. When the two crossed the Chuihua Gate in the distance, each asked for a sedan chair, and the older female servants then carried them to the inner courtyard. Indeed, Prince Yi’s Manor was a little big. It was a little too far to go on foot from here to the inside, so sedan chairs were newly arranged at the Chuihua Gate. Of course, they were prepared for the two new mistresses of the mansion and the female visitors coming to the inner courtyard in the future.

This preparation bore the concern that these ladies might get tired. Yet, if a lady had the idea of touring around here, she’d better not take the sedan chair.

Previously, Prince Yi’s Manor did not have the habit of arranging sedan chairs at the Chuihua Gate. Anyway, there was no mistress with a distinguished status in the backyard.

There was a fork lying ahead, and different paths led to the courtyards of the two women.

“Princess, I can’t accompany you to your place because now I have to take a rest first,” Ning Xueyan lifted the curtain of her sedan chair and said to Commandery Princess Xianyun in the sedan chair softly.

Commandery Princess Xianyun also lifted the curtain of her sedan chair, looked around, and said with a smile, “Sister, I might as well visit your Pear Flower Garden. It is said that your Pear Flower Garden is very quiet and has a good environment, but I have never been there yet!”

Since she had said so, Ning Xueyan had no fair reason to refuse her and instantly said politely, “Princess, if you don’t mind, come with me!”

As the sedan chair curtains were lowered, the two sedan chairs headed for the Pear Flower Garden together and finally stopped in the Pear Flower Garden.

Ning Xueyan and Commandery Princess Xianyun walked out one after the other.

“Sister, your courtyard is really big. It even looks a little more exquisite than mine, and it is quiet,” Commandery Princess Xianyun said with high appreciation as she stepped out of her sedan chair and saw the surrounding environment.

“Possibly, it is a little remote, so it looks quiet.” Ning Xueyan smiled and invited Commandery Princess Xianyun to sit inside.

Mother Han asked the bearers to carry the sedan chair back. Commandery Princess Xianyun said at one moment that she wanted to take a walk and look around, unwilling to sit in the sedan chair and claimed at another moment that she did not even know the way to the Pear Flower Garden.

After entering the room, Commandery Princess Xianyun praised the furnishings in Ning Xueyan’s room first, then she sat down, took the tea made by Qingyu, and asked with a smile, “Sister Ning, I heard that your eldest brother has also attended this imperial examination, right?”

Ning Xueyan did not know what Commandery Princess Xianyun had come here for. Anyway, she was just chatting with her casually to be cooperative. When hearing this question, she nodded. “My eldest brother is indeed on the imperial examination site, and I’m wondering about his examination result.”

Commandery Princess Xianyun’s eyes glistened. “Sister, I heard that your eldest brother’s reputation and scholarship have been good, but I don’t know if he has been betrothed?”

“I don’t know about... it.” Ning Xueyan put on an embarrassed expression.

In fact, this could not be regarded as her evasive statement. At least on the surface, the Lord Protector’s Manor had not made Ning Huaiyuan betrothed, but she did not know if the private situation was also like this.

“Could you help me ask your Madam Dowager about it, Sister Ning? If your eldest brother is not betrothed, then I want to recommend him a good marriage,” Commandery Princess Xianyun said with quiet a mysterious smile.

“Recommend a girl to Ning Huaiyuan?” Some profoundness appeared and vanished in the eyes of Ning Xueyan. “It seems that when Commandery Princess Xianyun went back to her parents’ home today, she was provided with a new strategy. Previously, the wretched affair of the Lord Protector’s Manor was made known to the whole capital. I don’t believe that Commandery Princess Xianyun doesn’t know about it, but she is now putting on an air of recommending a girl to my eldest brother, showing that she really wants to build a good relationship with me.

“Everyone knows the fact that Madam Ling murdered Madam Ming. Due to this matter, Ning Huaiyuan and I can’t be affable brother and sister without grudges.”

“As his sister, it’s really not suitable for me to talk about it. Commandery Princess Xianyun, if you do want to help recommend a girl to my eldest brother, go straight to my grandma and ask her. Maybe that’s a little better.” Ning Xueyan gave a small smile but refused her directly. No matter what Commandery Princess Xianyun wanted to do, she was unwilling to interfere.

“Sister Ning, it is a little more euphemistic for you, her granddaughter, to raise this subject, anyway. Sister Ning, if you don’t help me talk about it and I am refused by your mansion’s Madam Dowager, I will seriously lose face,” Commandery Princess Xianyun said sweetly and softly, making her relationship with Ning Xueyan closer silently. “Anyway, when the thing is done successfully, we two will be the matchmakers together. Then, we will have done something good.”

“I really can’t go, princess,” Ning Xueyan said with a wry smile. “Princess, you should know the affairs of the Lord Protector’s Manor. The grudges between my eldest brother, his mother, and my mother remained for so many years until my mother died in the end. No matter what relationship built on blood between us it is, my mother’s kindness to me is greater, right?”

Ning Xueyan’s words were extremely gentle, and slight ripples appeared in her eyes. At first sight, one would know that she was quite emotional, but in the depths of her eyes, there was only coldness. “Commandery Princess Xianyun, you are working to force me to say this, then let your wish fulfill, and let me see what on earth you want to do.”

“Sister Ning, you are wrong. A mother’s kindness is extremely great, but in the aristocratic families like ours, even we ourselves will be sacrificed sometimes. The relationship built on blood is something that we can’t deny, and this relationship is inseparable. Sister Ning, it’s really not right for you to be so indifferent to your eldest brother. Anyway, you brother and sister cannot remain not visiting each other all your lives or even not caring about each other at all only because of a few small errors of your parents.”

Commandery Princess Xianyun spoke solemnly as if she was the one who occupied the commanding heights of morality. She never thought that she was the one who talked with eloquence but did not consider the problem by standing in the shoes of her listener.

“Which one would you like to recommend, princess?” Ning Xueyan raised her eyes and did not want her to act anymore. Today in a whole day, she went outside and returned, and this tour had tired her indeed. Initially, she planned to rest early when Commandery Princess Xianyun left, but now it seemed that Commandery Princess Xianyun did not want to leave right now.

“She is a younger sister of mine, the daughter of a concubine. Sister, you don’t have to worry about her conduct and morality because she always behaves well. And she is beautiful. The reason why she hasn’t gotten betrothed is that her conditions are good in all aspects, but she was too picky, so her marriage has been delayed.” Commandery Princess Xianyun did not expect Ning Xueyan to change the subject so quickly. After being absent-minded for a moment, she replied flexibly at once.

“The daughter of a concubine who is beautiful but was too picky?” Ning Xueyan really didn’t know if she should feel sorry about the poor performance of Commandery Princess Xianyun or her bad speaking skills. “Does the daughter of a concubine have the qualification to be too picky? Since you, a commandery princess, was not too picky, how could the daughter of a concubine be too picky?

“Anyway, Ning Huaiyuan had been raised like the son of an official wife previously. Either in etiquette or in other aspects, Ning Huaiyuan is not bad. When working to get a wife for him in the past, the family made selections from the daughters of official wives. The reason why the decision has not been made should be that he wants to marry a lady with both ability and morality from a renowned family. So, he never needs to consider those daughters of concubines.

“Although he has now been reduced to the son of a concubine because of Madam Ling, Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an do not think so. Therefore, that Commandery Princess Xianyun asks me to recommend her sister, the daughter of a concubine, to him is clearly aimed at humiliating the Lord Protector’s Manor through me.

“Madam Dowager might think that I recommend the daughter of a concubine to Ning Huaiyuan for the sake of humiliating him.

“If I make the Lord Protector’s Manor unhappy, I, a married daughter, will lose some confidence. It seems that Commandery Princess Xianyun has come with a very unkind purpose today.”

“Princess, my eldest brother was the son of an official wife previously, so he will never marry anyone but the daughter of an official wife!” Although Ning Xueyan was smiling, her expression became a little cold, and she simply gave up the indirect talk with Commandery Princess Xianyun. “Princess, no matter how good your sister is, she is only the daughter of a concubine. If you recommended Second Young Lady Yun, I would be happy to go back and say it.”

“Since Commandery Princess Xianyun pretended not to understand what I said, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to feign ignorance anymore. As for some things, if I don’t talk about them, Commandery Princess Xianyun will really think that I am a pushover and she can abuse me as she wishes. Besides, I promised Ao Chenyi previously that I would manage the backyard for him. If Commandery Princess Xianyun continues to keep a strong attitude, I will have no chance to interfere.”

So, Ning Xueyan thought that it was very necessary to show her strong attitude appropriately.

Commandery Princess Xianyun really didn’t expect Ning Xueyan to talk so directly. “She even says that my sister, the daughter of a concubine, does not have a high enough status and she wants my younger sister, the daughter of an official wife, to marry her brother.” Then, Commandery Princess Xianyun could not help but stop smiling. Today she went out together with Ao Chenyi, but the prince left on the way.

Then, returning to the home of her parents for the first time as a married woman became the lonely business of her own. When she went back to her Lord Peace’s Manor, she just felt that she had lost face and was angry. Later, she had a discussion with her mother and decided to start her plot with Ning Xueyan. “Since I, the princess, have had a bad time, I cannot let the woman of the Lord Protector’s Manor who seduces men have a good time.

“Anyway, I have to make the woman forsaken by her relatives and friends. Without the favor of Prince Yi and the support of the Lord Protector’s Manor, Ning Xueyan will have to rely on me in the end. By then, Ning Xueyan will turn into my most powerful weapon, and giving the daughter of a concubine to Ning Huaiyuan is part of my plan.”

Commandery Princess Xianyun thought that using the daughter of a concubine to anger the Lord Protector’s Manor was quite worth it, so she came to Ning Xueyan’s Pear Flower Garden to raise this subject in spite of the tiring trip.

She did not have much contact with Ning Xueyan. “Although I know that Ning Xueyan is smart, but what’s the use of the smartest woman? Without the favor of her husband, she will have a much more terrible time than I, the princess, have. If Ning Xueyan is smart, she will not simply refuse my proposal and make me unhappy.”

But she never expected Ning Xueyan to refuse her so simply, in a way of almost refusing her mercilessly in her face. Although Ning Xueyan’s smile was gentler, Commandery Princess Xianyun still felt that she herself had flown into a rage. Instantly, she put down the cup in her hand heavily and looked at Ning Xueyan coldly.