Chapter 90: She's Just Pretending to be a Fool
"Since that person isn't Yao Suluan's subordinate, who does that person serve?" asked Huo Feng worriedly. That person's martial arts wasn't weak at all. She had only managed to land an attack because that person was off-guard. If they had really started fighting, there was no guarantee that she'd be able to win.
"Every fox eventually shows its tail, so we just have to wait. This consort really does want to meet that Yao Mowan now. According to what Yao Suluan said, Yao Mowan's just pretending to be a fool. This consort would like to see how realistic her acting is!" Wang Qinruo's eyes filled with icy light as her lips curved slightly.
"Your Highness… There's someone in Splendid Veneer Palace!" When Huo Feng saw that the palace doors were wide open, she hastily moved in front of Wang Qinruo protectively. As she cautiously entered the palace, she heard laughter come from inside.
"Master, we should go. This isn't Guan Osprey Palace and Consort Shu isn't here either. It's not good for us to be here." Ting Yue wanted to pull Yao Mowan, but Yao Mowan shook her off.
"No! There are so many flowers here! It smells so good! I want to stay here! Ting Yue, look, this one's so pretty!" As Yao Mowan spoke, she snapped the tree peony off and inserted it into her hair.
"How can you do that? Your Highness, these flowers belong to Consort Shu! How could you pick them?" exclaimed Ting Yue worriedly. Just as she was about to walk up, she suddenly heard footsteps from behind her and immediately turned around to find that it was Wang Qinruo.
"This servant kowtows in salute to Your Highness Consort Shu…" Ting Yue hastily walked forward to curtsy and was hit with a strange smell. However, before she could even say anything, she heard her master grumble unhappily.
"What's that smell? It stinks!" Yao Mowan turned around with her brows furrowed and her bright lively eyes landed on Wang Qinruo.
"You stink! You didn't bath?" Yao Mowan covered her nose with both hands and backed away into the flowers with a disgusted expression.
"Audacious!" Huo Feng never imagined that this person would actually speak so rudely. Just as she was about to walk up, Ting Yue stopped her.
"Your Highness Consort Shu has just returned to the palace, so you must find this servant's face unfamiliar. This servant's name is Ting Yue. This servant entered the palace recently to serve in Guan Osprey Palace." Ting Yue's implicit meaning was that the person behind her was Guan Osprey Palace's Noble Consort Yao.
"So it's Noble Consort Yao. Qinruo kowtows in salute to Noble Consort Yao." Wang Qinruo restrained the coldness in her eyes and walked up with a smile to curtsy.
"Stay away! Ting Yue, make her leave! I can't breathe!" Yao Mowan waved Wang Qinruo away in a panic like she was a ghost, then shoved her face in a rose to take deep breaths. Her expression was so exaggerated that even Ting Yue's face felt red.
"Noble Consort Yao, please watch your words!" Huo Feng's gaze was as sharp as that of a hawk's. It was true that her master smelled, but not even His Majesty had reacted to it like this.
"I'm just telling the truth! Why didn't you help her bath? Ting Yue, hurry and get some water for her to wash up. The stench is so bad!" Yao Mowan never imagined that Wang Qinruo would actually give off such a disgusting smell. Back then, when she was empress, she had often interacted with Wang Qinruo. At that time she had never noticed that Wang Qinruo had this sort of affliction.
"Audacious!" Huo Feng's eyes turned cold. Just as she was about to attack, Wang Qinruo stopped her.
"If Noble Consort Yao doesn't like this smell, feel free to leave." Wang Qinruo seriously couldn't reconcile this person who such naive looks and easy-to-read expressions with the image of someone filled with schemes. But why would Yao Mowan appear in Splendid Veneer Palace? This was a question worthy of pondering.
"Alright, I'll leave, but you leave first. Get far far away!" Yao Mowan nodded fiercely.
"Noble Consort Yao, don't you think you're being too much? This is Splendid Veneer Palace. It was wrong of you to enter without an invitation, but now you want this consort to leave the palace? Of course, if Noble Consort Yao is truly dumb to that point, this consort won't bicker with you. Ting Yue, what are you still standing there for? Hurry and lead your master out of here!" No matter how magnanimous Wang Qinruo was, she still couldn't tolerate Yao Mowan repeatedly bringing up the fact that she gave off a stench, especially when she wasn't a magnanimous person in the first place.
"Your Highness, let's head back!" Ting Yue knew that they were the ones being unreasonable so she quickly walked to Yao Mowan to pull her out.
"How am I supposed to leave with her standing there?" Yao Mowan shook her head hard as she continued to cover her nose with both hands. Right at this time, An Bingshan's voice suddenly came from outside. Before his voice even faded, Ye Hongyi had strode in from outside.
"Ow! It hurts…" At almost the exact same moment, Yao Mowan suddenly grabbed her left wrist as tears overflowed her eyes.
"Mowan!" When Ye Hongyi saw that Yao Mowan's face was stained with tears, he abruptly pushed aside Wang Qinruo who was standing in front of him and charged over.
"Your Highness!" Fortunately Huo Feng reacted fast enough to catch Wang Qinruo, otherwise Wang Qinruo definitely would've fallen to the ground. Wang Qinruo felt like her heart was breaking as she watched Ye Hongyi run to Yao Mowan's side. The light in her eyes was as cold as ice.
"Your Majesty… Wan er's wrist hurts!" Yao Mowan looked towards Ye Hongyi tearfully as she sobbed sulkily. Ye Hongyi glanced down and saw that there were three drops of blood on Yao Mowan's wrist.
"Wan er, don't be scared!" Ye Hongyi's gaze turned cold as he swiftly moved inner strength to his fingers and placed two fingers on Yao Mowan's wrist. Three needles flew out from Yao Mowan's wrist and Ye Hongyi quickly caught them with his sleeve.
"Wuuwuu… It hurts…" The sight of Yao Mowan's tears was like the scene of delicate raindrops on a pear blossom. It caused Ye Hongyi's heart to ache with love and pain.
"It's fine now. We'll carry you home!" Ye Hongyi lifted Yao Mowan gently, but after taking a step, he found that Yao Mowan had lifted her hand despite the pain to cover her nose with both hands.
"Your Majesty, make her go away! It stinks!" Yao Mowan pressed her cheek against Ye Hongyi's chest as she looked up at him beseechingly.
"Consort Shu, withdraw for now." Ye Hongyi gave this command without hesitation.
"Your Majesty!" This command was the greatest insult possible to Wang Qinruo.
"Withdraw!" Ye Hongyi's eyes were cold and there was not a trace of warmth in his voice. Wang Qinruo's heart felt like it was dropped into freezing water. She swallowed hard and forced her tears back as she slowly stepped back until she was out of Splendid Veneer Palace.
As Wang Qinruo watched Ye Hongyi strode away while carrying Yao Mowan, the tears she had been holding back finally fell.
"Your Highness, how could His Majesty treat you this way!? The only reason you became like this was for him!" shouted Huo Feng angrily.
"What happened just now?" Wang Qinruo took a deep breath, then forced her tears back.
"This servant was helping you up earlier and didn't see what happened, but this servant is certain that the person who had been eavesdropping that day was here," said Huo Feng.
"As expected, Yao Mowan isn't a fool!" said Wang Qinruo between gritted teeth as cold light filled her eyes.
Ye Hongyi comforted Yao Mowan for a very long time before he finally left Guan Osprey Palace.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" Yin Xue looked towards Yao Mowan's wrist with guilt.
"I'm fine, the one in trouble now is Huo Feng." Yao Mowan glanced towards the three dots left by the needles as she said this with a smile.
"Forgive this subordinate for overstepping bounds in saying this, but Your Highness's plan will definitely make Wang Qinruo aware of the fact that you're not a fool." Yin Xue looked towards Yao Mowan in puzzlement.
"Even if this consort didn't go with this scheme, she would still be suspicious. After all, is it possible that Yao Suluan would actually compliment this consort in front of Wang Qinruo? Rather than deal with her cautious suspicion, doing this saves trouble. This is called returning politeness for politeness, and it counts as revenge for when she poisoned Chu Moxin." Yao Mowan's lips curved in a smile that was like the spring wind. Her slightly narrowed phoenix eyes contained the light of firm resolve.
In Splendid Veneer Palace, Wang Qinruo accepted the bitter tea Huo Feng handed her as she took deep breaths to calm down. Right at this time, Ye Hongyi suddenly appeared at the entrance of the palace and rushed towards Huo Feng to send a palm strike towards her chest.
__________Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira's Corner]Enjoy~
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