The Devious First-Daughter

The emperor’s edict was sent directly to the Bright Mind Garden.

In fact, its meaning was very simple: Due to the flaws in her personal virtue, Commandery Princess Xianyun shall be demoted from a princess to a consort! This was the whole meaning of the imperial edict. Not long after marrying into Prince Yi’s Manor, she had become a consort from a princess. And the situation showed that she was not favored and was even a consort that was watched. The eunuch, who had brought the edict, looked at those few eunuchs guarding the entrance of Prince Yi’s Manor, shook his head, heaved a sigh, and went straight back to the imperial palace.

Before getting married, Commandery Princess Xianyun had been among the top noble ladies in the capital. Even the ordinary princesses had not been comparable to her. After all, she was the young lady of Lord Peace’s Manor, the parents’ home of the Empress Dowager, which had had its heyday in the past. If it hadn’t been for the early death of the Empress Dowager, Lord Peace’s Manor would not be in this situation now.

Unexpectedly, such a noble lady with a good reputation had been demoted to a consort not long after marrying into Prince Yi’s Manor. More importantly, this was what the edict of the emperor meant, but nothing like this was heard to have happened in the past dynasties. What a poor soul!

Of course, a eunuch’s sympathy would not improve Commandery Princess Xianyun’s situation at all. She was looking at the imperial edict in the center of the room in a daze, with tears in her eyes, but with a smile on her face. Although she had known that her case would never be closed so easily, she had never expected the emperor to demote her status.

Compared with Ao Chenyi’s demoting of her, the edict of the emperor was more ridiculous in her eyes.

“It is he who granted the marriage! It is he who demoted me! It’s just been a few days, but he has issued two edicts to me. I am really lucky! I am useless, so he demoted me to a consort without hesitation. He is so practical! No wonder he kept suppressing Lord Peace’s Manor as soon as my aunt had an accident, only because it was useless for him…”

The room was quiet, where she was sitting straight alone. The maids and the older female servants, who had come to live here as part of her dowry, had been asked to stay outside, and the two close maids of hers had all died. Although the room had been cleaned up, she still felt a strong smell of blood, making anyone who smelled it feel sick.

Her smile suddenly became crazy. “Emperor, emperor, do you know you’ve been listening to Ao Chenyi blindly?

“He saw Ning Xueyan by chance? He appointed a consort casually? He married two concubines at the same time for the good of the ‘favored concubine’? And also County Princess Yuanyun, who had been forced to go away before marrying into the mansion. All these things were done for Ning Xueyan. Lord, all was done for her!

“Who could expect the woman Ao Chenyi truly loves to be her, one who seems to die at any moment because of her disease?

“My plots look so ridiculous!” Commandery Princess Xianyun had quite a clear mind at this time.

“What does it mean to say that the ‘favored concubine’ was dead, so Ning Xueyan, who was also framed by me, became the final winner? I thought I planned everything nicely, but I was digging a pitfall for myself to fall in. Yet, I went to jump into it stupidly.

“He did everything for the woman!

“Therefore, she rose to the princess’s position from a consort fast, though the marriage had been granted to both of us. Then, I, who could not get his true love, had to move down from a princess’s position to a consort’s position!

“I thought that Ao Chenyi would never love, and he was heartless and merciless, but it didn’t matter. As his official wife, as long as I got his respect, it was enough. Anyway, I held the official wife’s position, and I had enough wisdom that could make me get his respect, so I would never lose my status in Prince Yi’s Manor.

“The so-called ‘favored concubine’ was just a tale that has passed. If he had really favored her, why wouldn’t he have given her a title? Ao Chenyi, who is evil and crazy, could ask for a consort’s position and get it approved. Anyway, the emperor didn’t care if he would become useless. Since he wanted to get a status for a lowly concubine, the emperor would say yes. No matter what, the emperor would not lose face.

“But Ao Chenyi did nothing, which means that he didn’t love the woman at all but only used her as his excuse, so he allowed her to live in Prince Yi’s Manor with no worry.

“But no one could guess that he was ‘paving the way’ for Ning Xueyan!

“He loves Ning Xueyan sincerely, so he was unwilling to let her be his consort. Due to this reason, he has forced me into this situation step by step and given the official wife’s position to her beloved woman.

“He plotted like that and has been carrying it out step by step to now, but the emperor even doesn’t know anything about it but ended up slapping himself in the face. He went back on his word and lowered my position. He is so ridiculous!

“It is the bitch Ning Xueyan who took Ao Chenyi’s heart, but she is still watching my embarrassment. If I have another chance, I will never let the bitch off…”

“Consort Yun, the prince asked me to bring one thing to you.” A eunuch walked in with a box in his hand, but even the one responsible for taking it was not in the room. He looked around, put it on the table in the room, and left.

Commandery Princess Xianyun stood up mechanically, walked over to the table, and opened the lid of the box. No doubt, Ao Chenyi would not send her anything good at this time. No matter what it was, she would have to endure the suffering. Only by enduring it could she have the chance. She should never be subbed like this and die old in Prince Yi’s Manor.

When the box was opened, she saw the bloody and hideous face of Yun Luoluo.

“Ah!” With a scream, she took two steps back and sat heavily down on the floor, shaking…

The imperial edict, which bore the news of officially making two sons of the emperor princes, had been issued the day when Commandery Princess Xianyun had been demoted.

Compared with Commandery Princess Xianyun’s affair, this one was a little more powerful.

When Yun Luoluo’s matter had been spread, everyone knew that Commandery Princess Xianyun would definitely be punished. But no one had ever imagined that she would be demoted to a consort directly. After all, the marriage edict had been issued by the emperor. Not long after that, he had changed his words. Were these words the unshakable promise of the monarch of the kingdom!

Of course, people only dared to have such doubts inwardly. Actually, the shocking event was that the two sons of the emperor had been made princes.

Third Prince, Ao Mingyu, was made Prince Xiang, and Fourth Prince, Ao Mingwan, was made Prince Fu.

Third Prince’s Manor and Fourth Prince’s Manor were renamed Prince Xiang’s Manor and Prince Fu’s Manor.

In fact, when the two sons of the emperor had grown up, they had already had the idea of becoming princes, so their manors had been built in the style of a prince’s manor. Now when they had become princes, they only needed to change the names of their manors. It was no trouble.

Since the two sons of the emperor had moved out of the imperial palace, the unconfirmed statement of making them princes had been spread. But the matter of giving them the prince’s position had been postponed time after time until now the imperial edict was truly issued. And many who thought the two would have a promising future had been watching the situation for a long time.

Having gotten this news at this time, they instantly became excited and lively, as if either of the two princes would be the crown prince of the Eastern Palace with one more promotion. Therefore, some subtle changes appeared in the imperial court.

Although these changes were quite subtle, they had influenced different people differently. For example, Ning Qingshan had been carried in a sedan chair to Prince Xiang’s Manor three days later as agreed and become a concubine of Prince Xiang’s Mansion.

Bringing a concubine into a house was not considered a marriage. This was the agreement between Prince Xiang, Ao Mingyu, and Honored Consort Ya. For the sake of Honored Consort Ya, the prince had given Ning Qingshan a chance. As for whether she really had a chance or not, it was hard to tell.

Looking at the familiar courtyard before her, Ning Xueyan stood still at the entrance of the courtyard, her eyes cold. The reason why she was here was that Ning Qingshan had written a letter to her. In the letter, she said that she had something important to tell Ning Xueyan and that Ning Xueyan would regret it for a lifetime if she didn’t come.

Initially, Ning Xueyan had cared little about the intentionally mystified words of Ning Qingshan, but the latter had been demoted time after time, from a princess to a consort and finally to a concubine. And she was also inferior to Ning Lingyun. Therefore, she, who had been superior to others, had uncontrollable emotions now. But this was fine. Ning Xueyan thought that she had a few things to ask her.

Since Ning Qingshan had asked her to come, then she dropped by.

Seeing Ning Xueyan, the older female servant at the door of the courtyard came over while nodding and bowing, but Xinmei stopped her when she was two steps away.

Ning Xueyan ignored the older female servant who was currying favor and took Lanning to stroll inside.

Others had already gone out to avoid her, and even the two mammies of the imperial palace Prince Xiang had invited bowed to her respectfully and left.

Only Ning Qingshan was left, sitting in the room, where there was no Mammy Luo, Caifen, or Feilian.

“You’re here!” Ning Qingshan said with an eerily cold expression as she saw Ning Xueyan coming in. Only a few days had passed, but Ning Qingshan seemed to have aged a few years. Her face was no longer gentle and graceful but was giving off gloomy and cold air.

Ning Xueyan didn’t go in but sat in the chair beside the door, with Xinmei and Lanning standing behind.

“I’m here!” Ning Xueyan said lightly. Surely, she didn’t think that Ning Qingshan had especially asked her to come here for such nonsense, so she said, “If you have anything to say, just say it!”

After Ning Qingshan said it, she would have things to say.

“Do you want to know how your dead mother died, Ning Xueyan? Do you want to know when she was poisoned the first time? I sincerely regarded her as my biological mother at that time, but she was indifferent to me but quite good to you. She even wanted to try the poison herself. What a pity! I put the poison in the infusion because she was not nice to me. I was the one who had lost my parents. You had your parents, but why did you take her from me?”

Ning Qingshan had a treacherous smile, and her expression became twisted because of it, even showing a bit of insanity.

“So, you poisoned my mother? It is you who put the ‘Beauty Intoxicated by Peach Blossom’ the first time?” Ning Xueyan cupped her hands into fists tightly, her face ice-cold.

Knowing it was one thing, but hearing Ning Qingshan say it clearly was another. Madam Ming had been poisoned quite early. Later, she had asked the imperial physician of Prince Yi’s Manor and learned that her mother would not have been so fragrant without being hurt by the poison for more than ten years. At that time, anyone who had walked closer would have smelled the fragrance from the coffin.

Madam Ming, with her health damaged by the poison day after day, had been sure to die.

“So what? Her fault was that she didn’t like me, the nice girl, but liked you, a wimpy child who only knew crying,” Ning Qingshan said disdainfully with a bit crazy smile. Remembering that she had come to live in Prince Xiang’s Manor as a concubine she had despised most in the past, she felt she was going crazy.

As the noblest, she was nobler than anyone else and deserved everyone’s favor most, but why did she end up like this? It was Ning Xueyan who had hurt her! Ning Xueyan had tried to take Madam Ming’s favor from her since they had been young, and she had done the same whey they had grown up.

If she hadn’t counterattacked her in the imperial palace that day, she would be the princess of Prince Xiang now!

Ning Xueyan suddenly stood up, but her eyes were fierce. She walked over, looking down at Ning Qingshan, and said coldly and gloomily, “Ning Qingshan, you will be the lowliest one among the senior concubines in Prince Xiang’s Manor. If Prince Xiang doesn’t like you in the future, he can give you to others. What can you use to compare with me!”

She pointed out Ning Qingshan’s weakness with these words.