Chapter 370 The Sudden Visit by Lady of Xian
Feng Yuran was indeed met with an accident. He fell down from his horse and injured his leg. Even though it was fortunate that this did not make his disabled, he still had to rest for a few days at home due to his prestigious status as a prince. Furthermore, the imperial doctor stated that his leg could really be disabled if he did not rest well!
The entire King Xuan’s Manor was immediately on high alert as good medications and herbs were sent into the manor consistently. Even the imperial palace sent bountiful amounts of medications to King Xuan’s Manor as they were afraid of any mishaps happening to the doted prince of the Emperor, for no one could take responsibility for his injury.
Some were sad, some were disappointed, but others were delighted!
This matter happening at this crucial junction made everyone who had been paying attention to Feng Yuran relax!
He had to rest for at least three to four weeks after having injured his leg. It would be even better if his leg was broken as the Great Qin’s imperial rules stated that a disabled man could not be the emperor. As the face of the country, the Emperor needed not to be handsome, but he had to be able-bodied.
If Feng Yuran did break his leg from falling off a horse, he would lose the opportunity to fight for the throne. Even though not many speculators were interested in this prince despite him “turning over a new leaf” for these two days. Many believed that he was merely putting up a show and could not endure long. However, they still showed their concerns to him as he was, after all, an imperial prince.
It was at Feng Yuran’s Jinwei Hall.
Mo Xuetong was sitting in the little study on the middle floor. She was on the couch next to a desk, embroidering peacefully while being surrounded by the fragrance of the burning sandalwood. Next to the couch, a few precious antiques were placed in the well-decorated cabinet. Inside the long white beautiful porcelain bowl, a few branches of deviously beautiful flowers were blooming within.
A passionate sense of elegance was born out of the beauty, giving the peaceful room a shade of light pink.
She knew that above her, Feng Yuran was discussing with his confidants. Thus she had nothing to do but to embroider instead. With His Highness injured, his consort had to naturally stay here to tend to him or others would accuse her of not being concerned about Feng Yuran. King Ning had entered the palace already. He had gained a good reputation for replacing the imperial princes as the hostage and for his filial piety in rushing back to tend to Empress Dowager’s sickness.
At this time, several princes were met with different incidents and King Ning’s splendid reputation made him the center of attention. Many court officials insisted on choosing a consort for King Ning. Hence, the Emperor had to put up a show and announced that he would allocate an obedient and virtuous girl as his consort. The responsibility of choosing the girl naturally laid with Empress Dowager, who had just recovered from her illness.
The Empress turned sick either due to Feng Yulei’s matters or poor health, which made her unable to tend to matters in the harem from Tianfeng Palace. Thus, Empress Dowager naturally took the power from the Empress, taking control of all the situations from within the internal palace. No matter how enthusiastic imperial noble consort Su was, her position as a consort could not be compared to Empress Dowager.
Even though Feng Yuxuan was involved in politics as well, his support from the imperial harem was less significant than Feng Yuzhen. However, in the official court, Feng Yuxuan held the position as Emperor Zongwen’s son, which made Feng Yuzhen conceal his actual thoughts on the throne, if he did have any.
Even though Feng Yuran had little outsiders’ support, he was the most doted son of the Emperor. He could also be considered a successor to the throne ever since he stopped being a promiscuous bum. It used to be a triangular struggle for power between him, Feng Yuzhen, and Feng Yuxuan. However, due to his leg injury, it was now the conflict between two parties.
The situation became clearer and more intense!
Because of Feng Yuran’s exit, the situation in the imperial city became tenser!
“My Lady, Lady of Xian came to visit.” Mo Lan hurried in and reported.
Mo Xuetong was stunned. King Xuan’s Manor had not much contact with Lady of Xian, and they usually did not visit each other.
Why was Lady of Xian here!
Ever since the meeting with Empress Dowager, Mo Xuetong had never seen Lady of Xian again, and hence she bore no attention to her. Then, Empress Dowager wanted to marry her to King Ning and forced her to admit that she had a marriage contract. Even though Lady of Xian was there, her attitude was unknown. However, Duchess Mingyang and Consort Yu behind her were obviously setting up a trap for her to fall into. Hence, she was particularly concerned about those two individuals!
Ever since entering the imperial city, Lady of Xian had been close to Empress Dowager, greeting her from time to time. Why would she come at such a sensitive time!
“Did she come all alone?” Mo Xuetong placed down her embroideries and asked, frowning.
“Lady of Xian came alone. She ordered a batch of embroideries from Xiuning Workshop and wished to increase the speed for their productions. She heard that Ny Lady is the owner of Xiuning Workshop, and hence came to discuss with My Lady about the production of these goods, as she is in a hurry to use them.” Mo Lan answered, knowing the intention of her master.
“Who told you this?” It was obvious that Lady of Xian purposely spread the news to everyone before even seeing her. Mo Xuetong was curious about her intentions of being so high-key and hence asked after pondering for a while.
“The head maidservant who received Lady of Xian said that.” Mo Lan responded.
The head maidservants of imperial families were the most well-disciplined and would not spread the news of anything before approval from their masters. It did seem that Lady of Xian used this matter as an excuse to talk to her, even though she was unsure of for what purpose, as only Lady of Xian would know what she wanted. Due to Mo Xuetong’s young age and Feng Yuran’s numerous accidents, she almost never left the manor, and only visited Princess Royal once during her stay here.
With Feng Yuran’s leg injury, she had to stay in the manor to tend to him. It did seem that Lady of Xian was intent in meeting her now!
Even though she thought about the situation in her heart, she still had to bring the woman in. As an imperial relative, Lady of Xian was even of a higher status than Feng Yuran. Mo Xuetong stood up immediately and replied to Mo Lan, “Please ask Lady of Xian to wait in the garden. I will be there immediately.”
This was where Feng Yuran did his office work and was not a suitable place for entertaining guests. Hence, she arranged to meet her in the garden, which was the main garden of the manor. That would show her hospitality.
Mo Lan immediately retreated to bring the guest out. Mo Xuetong ordered a servant to inform Feng Yuran of the matter before bringing Mo Ye to the garden. When she just arrived in the garden, Mo Lan came in with the guest. Mo Xuetong rose at once and saw the plainly dressed Lady of Xian who came with four maidservants. Mo Xuetong walked forward to the doorsteps to greet her. Even though Feng Yuran was of a more prestigious status as King of Xian, King of Xian was more senior than him.
The two exchanged words of greetings before entering the door and sitting down.
“Has King Xuan’s leg recovered?” After sitting down, Lady of Xian asked out of concern.
“His Highness’ leg is fine. But he shouldn’t move much and I was tending to him just now. Your Highness, you know he is of a bad mood now because of his injury, and thus…” Mo Xuetong sighed. Even though she was smiling, everyone could see the hidden concern under her brows.
It’s understandable that this young consort was really anxious due to the numerous incidents happening after her marriage.
“It’s fine. King Xuan is still young and he will recover soon after resting. At his age, he will love to play, jumping up and down, making it easy for him to be met with an accident. You have to take care of him well for he is, after all, a prince. With better health, the Emperor, the Empress, and Empress Dowager will not be so worried in the palace.” Lady of Xian received tea from Mo Lan, moving the tea leaves away with the teacup cover before sipping at the tea, as she comforted Mo Xuetong calmly.
She spoke with a lot of concern as if she really did came to give her elderly advice. Mo Xuetong’s eyes turned red as they misted, with shinning watery marks in her bright eyes. She discovered it and hurriedly turned around to wipe the tears off her eyes, before turning back and forcing a smile.
“Sorry for the embarrassment, Your Highness. But given His Highness’ personality, I really… really… I tried to convince him a few times, but…” She could not even finish her words and bit her lips instead. Her helplessness and sourness in her words were extremely apparent.
It was again understandable that a young consort who had just married would know little due to her young age, even though she was extremely pretty. She was doing a really great job when she did not cry or make a commotion when things went wrong. Furthermore, it was rumored that she grew up in a little down and was never exposed to such affairs!
Her expression of naivety and innocence gave Lady of Xian the feeling that she shouldn’t have come today.
King Xuan’s little wife could really get things done!
She squeezed her handkerchief and put on a fake smile despite the gloominess in her heart. “Don’t worry, men will be more stable after a few years. Just handle his back garden well. I heard that his back garden was properly and well managed by you, and that’s your credit in front of the Emperor!”
Why did she mention the back garden? A simmer of skepticism flashed across her eyes as she turned embarrassed at the compliment, “Your Highness, I don’t deserve the compliment. I am only in charge of my own garden of all the back gardens. The nannies are in-charge of other areas. His Highness said that I was too young now and I could only be in charge of them after a few years.”
Was Lady Mo not in charge of the back garden? This was completely different from what she guessed. Before this young consort got married, Feng Yuran had the reputation of being promiscuous, with a messy back garden consisting of all sorts of women. Dramas and commotions between the consorts happened all the time. No one expected the marriage by the young consort to change the back garden completely. Not only did no one enter the back garden, but there were also no rumors about dramas inside it either.
She used to believe that Lady Mo was an impressive woman to control that lawless King Xuan. However, that seemed to not be the case, which made Lady of Xian reconsider her purpose of her visit.
She did not understand why his husband valued this seemingly ignorant lady so much.
However, the matter that she was involved in had a tight deadline, and she could not find someone she could trust. Lady of Xian often followed King of Xian in bringing troops to the borders, and thus had little contact with the aristocratic ladies of the imperial palace. Furthermore, they couldn’t have much contact with the aristocratic families as they had the military under their control, and doing so would raise the suspicions of the Emperor. Thus, even when Lady of Xian stayed in the imperial city, she seldom visited guests. The only person she was close to was Duchess Mingyang, who came to the imperial city with her, and whose husband was the subordinate of King of Xian.
However, she could not delay the matter further as Empress Dowager was awaiting a reply from her!
“Never mind, I shall just make a last-ditch attempt!”
“King Xuan is indeed concerned about you to have arranged everything for you once you entered his manor. It did seem that His Highness loves you greatly to ‘turn over a new leaf’ for you. When His Majesty mentioned King Xuan recently, his tone was not like how it was used to be. You can see His Majesty acknowledges your credit too. It must be a blessing for His Highness to marry a wife like you!” Lady of Xian laughed as she changed the topic, smiling. “That’s the truth. It’s very important to marry a suitable wife!”
Was she going to talk about taking consorts? As she pondered on who the possible consort would be, her watery eyes turned as she covered her face with her handkerchief out of embarrassment, smiling, “Stop mocking me, Your Highness!”
“How am I mocking you? I am really envious of Your Highness. You are the first one to be so loved by King Xuan in the whole imperial city. If my niece were like you, I, as an aunt and a mother, would have nothing to worry about.” Lady of Xuan spoke casually at first before she sighed with a look of seriousness.
Lady of Xian had no daughter and hence took care of a niece from her maternal family as her own daughter. The niece was always by her side and she doted on her greatly, with the story being known by everyone in the imperial city!
Mo Xuetong suddenly had an idea.
Did something happen between that young miss and King Xuan?
