Chapter 529 - The Beauty Whom He Takes Fancy to
Chapter 529 The Beauty Whom He Takes Fancy to
Ning Xueyan did not expect that she could even so soon meet the Princely Heir of the Feudal Prince of Yunnan, who had an affair with Ning Yuling but was the future brother-in-law of Third Prince.
Commandery Princess Mu Ling was the princess of Third Prince during this granted marriage. Ning Xueyan still had an impression of Commandery Princess Mu Ling, whose previous wish showed that she was deeply in love with Wen Xueran. Unexpectedly, she was granted to Third Prince as his princess.
Later, when Ning Xueyan, a favored concubine, met Commandery Princess Mu Ling, although the decree of the emperor had not been announced, the princess should have known the situation, so she was depressed that day and did not have the slightest wish to get involved, not in the mood at all.
Commandery Princess Mu Ling came together with her eldest brother, Princely Heir Mu. When Ao Chenyi sent someone to invite Ning Xueyan to go over, she was even stunned for a moment, but then she dressed up a bit and went there with Lanning.
In the living room, the one who occupied the head seat was surely Ao Chenyi, who was asking Mu Yunfei questions lazily and casually. Commandery Princess Mu Ling sat beside him, with a natural and graceful smile on her face, and added a few words from time to time. It was a very harmonious scene, which was difficult to meet indeed.
Of course, this was the scene before Ning Xueyan heard what they had said.
“I heard that there are so many beautiful women in Yunnan, but I don’t know if the princely heir has found any women of more beautiful looks in the capital this time?” Ao Chenyi raised his eyebrows in an evilly charming manner and asked.
When Mu Yunfei heard this question, his heart even trembled. When he looked at Ao Chenyi gingerly but did not see anything unusual, then he said with a flattering smile, “Prince, you must be joking. How could beautiful women be found in a place like Yunnan? The truth is that the capital is the place where beautiful women gather. Compared with the beautiful women in the capital, the beautiful women in Yunnan show up in public.”
He did not know what Prince Yi really meant, so he answered the question mainly in a slick and sly manner. The Feudal Prince of Yunnan had many sons. Since he could stand head and shoulders above so many others, naturally he was not truly so lecherous and useless as he seemed.
“Oh, it turns out there are no beautiful women in Yunnan. That’s why you couldn’t wait to hunt for beautiful women as soon as you arrived in the capital, but have you found anyone? If you haven’t, let me pick up several from the beautiful women in my mansion and help you relieve your tiredness on this trip,” Ao Chenyi asked smilingly.
“I can’t say it was a tiring trip. Anyway, this is what I should do.” Mu Yunfei refused hurriedly. This was not a joke. Most of the beautiful women in Prince Yi’s Manor were granted by the palace ruler, so how could he dare to take any of them indirectly. Not to mention that they were now the women of Prince Yi, even when he remembered that they were sent out from the palace, he lost interest.
Different from Annan, Yunnan was not big. The Feudal Prince of Yunnan did not have much military power, so he did not dare to fight against the imperial court. What he wanted to show was just his loyalty, and he did not dare to think about other things. For the Feudal Prince of Yunnan, he was very happy with the result of having won the favor of Third Prince this time, so he asked his son to come here early. Indeed, he wanted to build good ties with Third Prince.
The so-called future relationship between the brother and his sister’s husband was built in this way.
But when he arrived in the capital, Mu Yunfei did not visit Third Prince’s Manor hurriedly. After all, his younger sister had not married him yet, and now he could not so obviously show that he wanted to curry favor with Third Prince. Therefore, he prepared his gifts, hoping to visit the manors of Third Prince, Fourth Prince, and Prince Yi one by one. By doing so, he meant to show the loyalty of the Feudal Prince of Yunnan.
Of course, the first one he should visit was naturally Prince Yi’s Manor. Compared with visiting Third Prince, visiting Prince Yi was more justifiable.
This was the reason why he came to Prince Yi’s Manor today. Of course, he would do his best not to talk about politics. His younger sister was about to marry Third Prince, and he would finally be Prince Yi’s enemy, so talking too much would make Prince Yi suspect him. Since the prince was not afraid of anything, he talked very carefully.
“What? You don’t like beautiful women now?” Facing Mu Yunfei’s slack and sly refusal, Ao Chenyi was confused and especially asked in surprise. Simultaneously, he raised his eyebrows, showing that he did not truly believe him.
“It’s not that I don’t like,” Mu Yunfei said with a flattering smile.
“It’s not that you don’t like, so it means that you don’t like the women I give you, right? Is it that you, Princely Heir Mu, have an opinion on me, the prince?” Sure enough, it was fair to say that Ao Chenyi was subject to changing moods. A moment ago, he was so nice to his visitor that they could even exchange beautiful women, but the next moment, he turned hostile and put on an eerie air. With his eyebrows raised high, he had a look that if Mu Yunfei did not explain it clearly, he would fly into a rage.
Sitting beside him, Commandery Princess Mu Ling was frightened. Although she was still smiling, her smile was a little stiff. She stared at Ao Chenyi nervously, afraid that he would make some trouble.
Mu Yunfei never expected this prince to turn hostile so quickly. He opened his mouth and persuaded with a helpless wry smile, “Prince, really, it’s not that I don’t like what you give me, but truly that I, I can’t enjoy what you give me. The palace has a record of the number of beauties it gave you. Is it really suitable for you, the prince, to give them to others?”
“Don’t worry, and I will give several to you in a while. All of them were selected by the palace concubines. Not only are they coquettish and alluring, but every one of them is beautiful. Anyway, my backyard is almost too small to accommodate them. If you can take several away, you help me make room, and the palace won’t blame you.” Ao Chenyi had a small smile and tapped on the corner of the table totally unconcerned, in a way that he was responsible for the decision.
It was really not easy for the listener to answer when he heard this.
Ning Xueyan just came at this time and bowed gracefully in a woman’s manner to Ao Chenyi first.
“Yan’er, come here. I am here listening to the Princely Heir of the Feudal Prince of Yunnan talking about the local customs and practices of Yunnan.” Ao Chenyi tapped on the chair beside him, closed his beautiful eyes a bit, and said in a little carefree manner.
Ning Xueyan gave a small smile, sat in the chair beside Ao Chenyi, then she smiled at Commandery Princess Mu Ling, and asked gently and curiously with Ao Chenyi’s cue, “Commandery Princess, is it that the local customs and practices of Yunnan are quite different from the ones here? I’ve been living in the Lord Protector’s Manor. Not to mention the ones in Yunnan, even I have so little knowledge of the capital.”
Ning Xueyan spoke very politely with a delicate look, so it was very easy for others to have a good impression of her.
But Mu Yunfei was shocked when he saw her. “The lady before me is obviously the woman in the portrait of a beauty I’ve hidden.” As soon as he arrived in the capital, he got such a portrait of a beautiful woman. The lady in the painting was too young, but she was stunning. He knew that the source of the portrait was strange, but he accepted it and especially visited the Cold Mountain Temple to meet the beauty.
As expected, he met the lady, who was so beautiful and refined, just like a fairy falling down to the secular world. Then he became quite restless. “No matter who this beauty is, I’ve been lured into the trap of others, anyway. Even if I approach her beautiful looks and I am found, what’s the trouble of it? At most, I will have to make her my woman. Being able to get such a beauty is an unexpected joy for my stay in the capital.”
So, he pretended that he knew nothing and did not ask anyone to investigate her. As a newcomer in the capital, if he asked someone to investigate this and that, it was very easy to draw others’ attention. With his identity and status, he would never allow his men to do anything. He would rather let others mistakenly think that he had been trapped by someone. In whatever sense, he would not suffer losses to get such a beauty.
Therefore, he pretended to be a fool. No matter who set the trap, when the time came, he would only need to make an excuse that he knew nothing. As long as he could get the beauty, why not do it?
But he did not expect to meet something unexpected that he was battered unconscious and thrown randomly to a place. As a smart person, of course, he would not try to get involved when he woke up. The beauty was rare, but his life was more important. “The capital is such a complicated society, and I really shouldn’t offend anyone whom I can’t afford to offend.”
Then he wanted to leave, and he met Ning Yuling later. Although the one before him was not as nice and attractive as the lady in the painting, she was beautiful and so charming. No doubt, he would not lose the chance to lure her because he did not want his special visit to the Cold Mountain Temple to be in vain.
More importantly, he learned that she was just the concubine of Xia Yuhang. Then he got such an idea.
When he went down the mountain, initially he wanted to think of an idea to meet her again. He was lonely in the capital and also famous for being dissolute, so this was not something shameful for him, and he was happy to do it.
When he went out one day, he met Ning Yuling again unexpectedly, so he ran into her on purpose and knocked her down. Surely, what happened next was quite natural. One did want to flatter, and the other accepted him indirectly. Then, the two hooked up with each other. Of course, due to this reason, he learned that this woman was Ning Yuling, who was the daughter of the official wife in the Lord Protector’s Manor originally and the quite famous Second Young Lady in the Lord Protector’s Manor in the capital previously.
When Ning Yuling asked him to lend her a guard, he agreed generously. Anyway, even if anything happened, he would have no relations to it, for he was just a dissolute Childe. For a woman, this kind of thing was a disaster, but for him, this was not something so terrible. Since he was dissolute, doing something like luring a woman was nothing serious indeed.
Anyway, his status was higher than Xia Yuhang’s. Even if Minister Xia wanted to do something, he did not go to his home to seduce Ning Yuling. When that happened, as long as he claimed that Ning Yuling must take full responsibility, he could get rid of trouble unharmed.
He had such a plan, but he never expected to meet Ning Xueyan here. He kept the painting from then to now. She was a beautiful woman he wanted but could not get, but he always remembered the beauty, with the only concern that this might attract others’ attention. Originally, he decided not to look for her until others stopped keeping an eye on his whereabouts. He didn’t believe that he would not find the beauty whom he took fancy to.
But what was happening now? Who could tell him why the beauty whom he took fancy to was Prince Yi’s woman? Seeing her look and demeanor, he knew that she was not an ordinary concubine, who was either Prince Yi’s princess or his newly married consort. Now he had unapparent sweat on his forehead, and his bright smile that appeared just now turned stiff and was a little likely to disappear.
“What’s the matter, Princely Heir? Is it because you don’t think you have ever met a beautiful lady like my dear consort?” Ao Chenyi asked playfully, but no one could tell if he was happy or angry by looking at his deep eyes.
“No, I really haven’t met anyone like her, but I don’t know this…” Feeling that Ao Chenyi’s eerily cold eyes fell on him, Mu Yunfei stopped looking at Ning Xueyan and did not dare to look straight at her anymore. “This prince seems to be angry, but why? Is it because I stared at his woman a little too long?”
Mu Yunfei suddenly felt that there was cold air around his neck. “If I had done something to the beautiful lady that day, I would have lost my life, wouldn’t I?”
After thinking in this way, he instantly felt that he was a little uncomfortable from head to foot, much in a restless state.
“That is my newly married consort. Princely Heir Mu, you haven’t met her, right?” Ao Chenyi’s voice that seemed to have some evil coldness sounded in his ears, giving him a weird feeling.