The Devious First-Daughter

Honored Consort Ya was starting to panic under Ning Xueyan’s sharp interrogation but she quickly harped on one key point. She said angrily, “Do tell, Princess Yi, what it could be if not poison inside this? Should we ask the physician at the Lord Guardian’s Manor to examine it?” She was certain that the powder was poison, so she wasn’t afraid of anyone examining it.

The Madam Dowager of the Lord Guardian’s Manor, who had been standing on the side, nodded at a trusted older female servant. The servant then ran out to summon the physician. It seemed that, come hell or high water, the medicine powder would be tested today. Since the matter happened at the Lord Guardian’s Manor, they had no way of escaping involvement.

“Won’t we have to ask Honored Consort Xia that? Honored Consort Ya, do you dare to remove the handkerchief in Honored Consort Xia’s mouth and let her speak for herself?” Ning Xueyan asked, raising her head. Since Honored Consort Ya had attacked Prince Yi’s Manor, there wasn’t any need for her to be polite to her.

“If we ungag her and she kills herself by biting off her tongue, will you take responsibility?” Honored Consort Ya refused to go along with Ning Xueyan’s suggestion. Before she left the palace, the Emperor had repeatedly warned her not to give Honored Consort Xia the chance to bite her tongue off and kill herself or they wouldn’t be able to implicate Prince Yi in this matter.

Compared to her status in the palace, she was keener on eliminating Ao Chenyi. She refused to listen to Ning Xueyan and continued to gag Honored Consort Xia, not giving her the chance to kill herself. She had no plans of letting Honored Consort Xia go at all. One reckless move, and her plan would fall through.

“Honored Consort Xia didn’t rack her brain to meet His Highness just to bite her tongue and kill herself. But since you don’t believe me, we can let the manor’s physician test the powder before discussing anything.”

Ning Xueyan turned around, choosing to ignore Honored Consort Ya and pretending that she didn’t exist. She walked into the pavilion confidently, wrinkled her nose, and asked coyly, “Your Highness, do you still want that woman?”

She was referring to Honored Consort Xia.

“She’s dreaming if she thinks an abandoned woman like her can return to my side!” Ao Chenyi’s line of sight followed the direction of Ning Xueyan’s finger and landed on Honored Consort Xia. His eyes were cold enough to make Honored Consort Xia, who had collapsed on the ground, shudder. How could she not realize by now that she had been tricked before leaving the palace?

Where did the so-called poison come from? How could it be poison? Even though she wanted the Emperor to die, she had never poisoned him! She didn’t dare to!

“Your Highness, she’s quite pitiful too. It wasn’t her will to be sent to the palace. Now, she’s being framed under such circumstances too. This time, nine generations of Chief Hua’s family will likely die as well.”

Ning Xueyan sounded gentle, as if trying to persuade Ao Chenyi. She was no longer the fierce woman facing off Honored Consort Ya earlier. However, her words were even more shocking to everyone this time.

Everyone turned to look at Honored Consort Xia. Honored Consort Ya had her gagged immediately upon arrival, contorting her face and making her look flustered. Her facial features were a little different from before, and no one had seen her before. Even if a few thought that she resembled Hua Qiuying, they didn’t pay much attention because they thought that she might be Chief Hua’s distant relative.

After hearing Ning Xueyan’s words, even Honored Consort Ya couldn’t help but look closely at Honored Consort Xia. This time, everyone was stunned after a close observation. Many of them had seen Hua Yueying before. Honored Consort Ya, in particular, used to be close to Hua Yueying. Upon closer look, she was sure that Honored Consort Xia was Hua Yueying.

To think that Honored Consort Xia was Hua Yueying! How could Honored Consort Xia be Hua Yueying?

One was an imperial consort who had the Emperor’s favor for many years, and the other was Prince Yi’s original princess. They seemed like people from two completely different worlds, but how could they be one and the same? Could… Could it be that the Emperor had stolen his minister’s woman? His brother’s wife? Such a thing… Such a thing… To think that such a thing would happen…

“It’s Hua Yueying.”

“It’s Hua Yueying! It’s definitely her!”

“How could she be… How did she enter the palace? Shouldn’t she be dead?” Even the composed married women were caught off guard by such a sudden change in the situation. They were so shocked that they were muttering to themselves. This was simply unbelievable! How could the Emperor do something like this? It was too shameless of him!

Honored Consort Ya was also stupefied. She was sure that she was looking at Hua Yueying. She blinked and stared squarely at that face. It was still Hua Yueying. Inside her sleeves, her fingers were trembling. Like everyone else, she never imagined that the mysterious Honored Consort Xia who had been living in the palace for so many years would turn out to be Hua Yueying.

She was the Emperor’s sister-in-law!

Even now, Honored Consort Ya’s mind was a mess. Things were slipping out of her control. How could Hua Yueying be Honored Consort Xia? Suddenly, some old memories began to surface in her mind.

Yes, Honored Consort Xia married the Emperor around the same time Prince Yi was imprisoned because of Annan’s three princes. The sudden appearance of a woman in the manor even made the Empress, then still a princess, argue with the Emperor. However, the matter was soon dropped and all she knew was that the Emperor had a new woman, a mysterious one.

All women entering the manor would have to serve tea to the legal wife properly and openly, and then meet the rest of the consorts and concubines. Honored Consort Xia was the only one to not serve the Empress tea, let alone meeting the other women in the harem. Even so, she was able to enter the manor and become an Honored Consort.

Thinking about the timeline, it was just right for her to be Hua Yueying! Why else would she hide from everyone? The fact that the Emperor stole Prince Yi’s princess was enough to make him go down in history for infamy. Historians would remark that he was an Emperor who put his country at risk for lust.

How could the Emperor do such a thing?!

Ning Xueyan paused for a moment before turning to everyone and saying, “Second Young Lady Hua of the past has indeed become the current Honored Consort Xia. She invited His Highness here today to reveal her identity and convince him to take her away. It’s a pity, though. She’s no longer Hua Yueying, Second Young Lady Hua, of the past!”

Unlike Ao Chenyi, she wouldn’t be too proud to explain to the women and let the Emperor take advantage of their silence. Since the Emperor wanted to be the mastermind behind Hua Yueying, she would expose his scandal. This scandal couldn’t be concealed just by gagging Hua Yueying!

Of course, it wasn’t convenient for Ao Chenyi to say this out loud, but the same couldn’t be said for her. How could you expect a young and jealous princess to be dignified and magnanimous about this?

Therefore, she even added toward the end, “Honored Consort Ya, if you don’t believe me, you can let Second Young Lady Hua speak for herself. Let her explain why she entered the palace.”

“No need. We can talk again after testing the medicine,” Honored Consort Ya replied coldly. No matter what, she wouldn’t let Honored Consort Xia open her mouth and speak at this time. It went without saying that this was an unprecedented scandal of the times.

“All right then.” Ning Xueyan smiled and didn’t argue. She sat beside Ao Chenyi and started chatting and laughing with him, ignoring Honored Consort Ya and many high-status married women outside the pavilion. She treated them like air. This wasn’t surprising for Ao Chenyi, but it was impressive that a weak woman like Ning Xueyan showed such an imposing manner. The oldest few of the married women began to have a different opinion of her.

They were the sharp-minded and keen-eyed of the bunch. Not even a court minister would be able to laugh and chat so happily under such circumstances, but the always low-profile Princess Yi was able to do it. She wasn’t a man but was more capable than one. Ning Xueyan was indeed worthy of becoming Princess Yi, and perhaps the highest title as well. With her calm and composed manner, she was capable of standing tall in the imperial harem and ruling as the Mother of the Nation.

It didn’t take long for the physicians to arrive. There were two of them. Both picked up a pinch of the powder in the packet and carefully examined them. Eventually, the two of them exchanged looks and voiced out their conclusion. “This is face powder, the kind used by women.”

“How could it be face powder? Servants! Where did the imperial physician go?” Face powder? Impossible! Honored Consort Ya’s expression was dark as she ordered her maid to fetch the imperial physician. She had come to the manor with an imperial physician in tow, but didn’t ask him to test the powder to stay out of the matter. But, the conclusion of the manor’s physicians made her lose her cool.

How could it be ordinary face powder? It was definitely poison!

Now that things had come this far, the Madam Dowager of the Lord Guardian’s Manor could tell the trick in the matter. She arranged for Honored Consort Ya’s imperial physician to be brought here without another word. There was no doubt that their family had been implicated in this scandal at this point, so she was bound to find out the truth of the matter. She refused to let their family sink too deep into this scandal.

The imperial physician came quickly enough, for he had been waiting to be summoned nearby the Chuihua Gate. Once he started working, everyone else except Ao Chenyi and Ning Xueyan stared closely at him as he examined the powder.

“Your Highness, this… this is indeed ordinary face powder, the kind used by women,” the imperial physician said respectfully to Honored Consort Ya.

It was indeed face powder! How could this be? Wasn’t it poison? The same poison that the Emperor was inflicted with! Honored Consort Ya immediately picked up the letters on the ground. If the poison turned out to be face powder, then fine. What about the information about the Emperor that was secretly relayed out of the palace? How could they be false?

And yet, the letters were filled with nothing but affectionate love poems and depressing songs. There wasn’t anything political at all. How could this be? Impossible! Weren’t these letters said to be private letters smuggled out of the Emperor’s study? Weren’t there supposed to be a letter proving the collusion between Prince Yi and Annan?

Honored Consort Ya stood up and staggered forward, so much so that she nearly fell. She allowed a palace maid to support her stiff body. How could… How could things turn out like this… No… This was impossible…

“I wonder where Honored Consort Xia, the former Second Young Lady Hua, shall we say, has the mood to quietly invite His Highness here. I ran into His Highness on his way here, so I came with him. I was strolling in the rock garden when Honored Consort Xia ran over and asked His Highness to take her away. She insisted that everything that happened was…”

Ning Xueyan stood on top of the stairs and took in everyone’s expressions. There was a faint smile on her face as she explained the matter, but her smile carried a trace of coldness and disdain. Toward the end, she even trailed off without finishing her sentence. Everyone understood what she was referring to and for a moment, silence fell over them.

“His Majesty has issued an imperial decree…” A drawn-out screech emerged from outside the courtyard.

That was the voice that Honored Consort Ya had been anticipating earlier, but now, all she felt was despair.