Chapter 566   The Edict of the Emperor

“Blessed by God, the emperor says in his edict, ‘Consort Ning of Prince Yi is humble, virtuous, pure, and graceful... so she is specially granted the title ‘Princess of Prince Yi’. Over!”

A eunuch finished reading the imperial edict with a long voice. First, he took a look at Consort Ning, who was kowtowing to express her gratitude on the ground. No, she should be called Princess of Prince Yi now. But then he concentrated on the extremely handsome Prince Yi sitting on the only chair in the great hall.

The late emperor gave the order that Ao Chenyi could choose not to kneel to the incumbent emperor when seeing him. Since he didn’t need to kneel to the emperor himself, he didn’t have to stand respectfully when meeting such an imperial edict. Moreover, he even had a seat either in the emperor’s study or the throne hall.

“Prince, do you think...” the eunuch said with a flattering smile, afraid that the prince was not satisfied. However, the imperial palace had turned into an angry zone because of this matter. Even the empress was reprimanded by the emperor. In the imperial palace, the one who had never been scolded loudly by the emperor was the empress living in the middle palace. But that day, when the eunuch stood trembling outside in waiting, he heard the angry shouts of the emperor and the low crying sound of the empress.

He was just a little eunuch on duty in the emperor’s study, so he had to cower at the corner, pretending that he had not heard anything. Later, when the empress left, the chief eunuch asked them to go in and sweep the floor, they saw debris all over the floor and could hardly believe that the emperor, who was always calm, would flare up to such an extent.

But later, the chief eunuch warned these eunuchs and palace maids that if any rumors flew around, they were sure to die.

Therefore, the little eunuch bringing the imperial edict buried such things in his heart, but he also grew in awe of Prince Yi from his heart, for the prince dared to refute the emperor, but the latter was speechless. At last, he had to agree to promote Consort Ning to the princess’ position, without even mentioning the so-called co-wife’s or co-princess’ title.

But two princesses will appear in Prince Yi’s Manor from now on. They were Princess Yun and Princess Ning.

If there was any difference, the difference should be that relatively speaking, Princess Yun had a higher status because the emperor issued the marriage edict to her first and she came to this mansion with the princess’ title. But now the situation was different—the real ruler of the backyard of Prince Yi’s Manor was Princess Ning.

From today on, Princess Ning would be the real princess, who was a consort in the beginning but became a princess because of these things.

This was great luck!

“Well, someone, take the rewards!” Ao Chenyi looked satisfied. Leaning against the big Phoebe Nanmu chair lazily, he skewed his body slightly, revealing the white shirt under the loose ink-colored brocade robe and even faintly showing a bit of his solid white chest. As a matter of fact, he looked a bit alluring and evil.

Eunuch Zhu came over with a smile, took the imperial edict, and also took out a bulging sachet from his sleeve, passing it over.

The little eunuch took it and understood what Ao Chenyi meant. After kowtowing to him from a distance, he turned and left with his followers.

“No matter how the emperor and Prince Yi fight each other, this has nothing to do with the unimportant people like us. Although I am a subordinate nurtured by the chief eunuch and need to be loyal to the emperor, it is hard to predict Prince Yi’s future. The chief eunuch is old, but I am young, just like the situation of the emperor and Prince Yi.

“No one can foresee the future!

“People can see that the case of princess and co-princess ended up with Prince Yi’s wish fulfilled, and even Consort Ning has been promoted to the princess’ position. In fact, Consort Ning does have very good luck. Previously, Commandery Princess Xianyun wanted to show that she was generous and virtuous, so she proposed to allow two concubines to marry and enter Prince Yi’s Manor at the same time.

“Not long after that, Commandery Princess Xianyun was forbidden to leave her courtyard due to her conflicts with the favored concubine. Now the favored concubine is dead, but Consort Ning, who is said to have been framed, survived the disaster and even became a princess. More importantly, the emperor has announced her title to the public with an edict.

“The princess’s title is not what it means on the surface, but it is related to her future children. From now on, the children of Consort Ning will be the real sons and daughters of an official wife, and they will be different from the sons and daughters of an ordinary co-wife. In truth, this is an example of ‘Even the dog swaggers when its master wins favor’.

“She... is so lucky...”

After thinking in this way, the little eunuch was stricken by something—he suddenly felt that he had learned something extraordinary. Immediately, he stopped thinking about it and took a few quick steps. “Anyway, these things are for those respected lords to consider. As a little eunuch, I had better known as little as I can.”

Ning Xueyan rose to her feet and saw the little eunuch walking hurriedly away even with somewhat panic. Momentarily, she did not know what had happened to him. “He just came to announce the imperial edict, but why does he seem to be running away?” She did feel that this eunuch walked too fast. Just now, she even saw that he was almost tripped over and fell.

“I ask you to manage my mansion from the moment on! What do you think, Yan’er?” Ao Chenyi looked at her, but suddenly raised his eyebrows a bit and narrowed his eyes, without hiding his anticipation on the face, making her feel that all he did just seemed to win a smile from her. Violently, her heart beat twice, and then it softened. She was moved.

Truly, the so-called “favored concubine” was used to deal with those concubines given by the palace in the very beginning. Everyone knew the battle between the emperor and Prince Yi. Under such circumstances, the concubines sent to Prince Yi’s Manor would never be pure in mind, so he needed a “favored concubine” to live in the backyard.

This one was used to suppress those given concubines. In the past, a few of them were even killed because they pushed the “favored concubine”. After that, the backyard became much more peaceful. But now, the death of the “favored concubine” was the result of his will, for he did not want his consort to get aggrieved. This was what he told Ning Xueyan when he returned from the palace.

“Don’t worry. I will take good care of the backyard,” Ning Xueyan promised.

Ao Chenyi had been watching her. First, she blushed, but then she answered seriously. It was not the surprise and coyness he expected, so he was a little dissatisfied and raised his eyebrows. Suddenly, he stood up and simply extended his hands over as if he was about to pull her into his arms.

Ning Xueyan was startled because this was the great hall. Although the maids and eunuchs beside them dare not stare at their master and mistress, this was the great hall after all. So, she took two steps back to avoid his hands and could not help but blush. “This man has become eviler and eviler.”

“I’m very happy, very happy.” She bit her lips, turned her eyes nimbly, making beautiful ripples, and looked at his slightly sullen face. “I’ve never noticed that Ao Chenyi could be so naive.”

“And...” Ao Chenyi was quite dissatisfied. He felt that the words of the “little wild cat” he raised were still not completely what he wanted.

Ning Xueyan did not really know whether to laugh or cry when seeing his intense pursuit and bright eyes. “He is ice-cold and keeps people thousands of miles away. Is that a joke? How could he be so proud and want to be praised? Is such an emotional thing what Ao Chenyi should do?”

But she felt the sweetness in the heart.

In her previous life or this life, she had never been so valued by anyone. With her watery eyes raised gracefully, Ning Xueyan looked at the pair of beautiful eyes, which were as splendid as the most beautiful starlight in the sky. Unconsciously, she felt that she seemed to be absorbed by the thin, long eyes. Inexplicably, she became a little nervous.

After raising his hand with a smile, Eunuch Zhu was the first one to walk outside the great hall.

Lanning followed him, and these few maids and little eunuchs in waiting went out after them hurriedly. Now, anyone who had slightly sharp eyes would know that the master and mistress were unwilling to be disturbed by others.

When Lanning arrived at the spot under the eaves, Eunuch Zhu, who was standing outside, whispered his congratulations to her with a smile. “Congratulations, Mistress Ning.”

“Thank you, Eunuch Zhu.” Now Lanning felt that she had never had such a good mood before. Her mistress had become a princess. From the moment on, her mistress would also be the princess of Prince Yi’s Manor, and no one would be so silly to look down upon her anymore by claiming that she was just a consort.

In the beginning, the fifth young lady was despised by all the people in Lord Protector’s Manor, but she was now the princess of Prince Yi. All the way from then to now, her mistress had gone through numerous trials and hardships. Others might not know that, but she knew. If her mistress were not smart, not to mention taking the princess’ position, even saving her own life would have been impossible.

In Lord Protector’s Manor, no one loved her mistress sincerely. Who had ever treated her as their family member? Madam Ling, Ning Ziyan, Ning Yuling, Ning Qingshan, Ning Lingyun, Madam Dowager, or the marquis? What they always did was upholding interests, without showing the slightest love of this family member.

But now it was all right. Her mistress was no longer alone but had the prince. As her personal maid, she had witnessed his love of her mistress, but she hoped that he could treat her mistress nicely forever because she had suffered so much. Finally, she had a man who loved her sincerely.

Thinking about this, Lanning felt the discomfort in her nose, and then her eyes had tears. No one knew how the young lady below 15 had come to her present-day by overcoming difficulties.

She walked over, closed the door for them again, and then smiled joyfully under the eaves at Eunuch Zhu on the other side.

In the hall room

Ning Xueyan stared at Ao Chenyi quietly, then she blinked her eyes twice, put a smile on her mouth, walked over, and threw herself into his arms. At this moment, her sense could not control her sensibility.

“Chenyi, I love you!”

Stunned first but then surprised, Ao Chenyi held her tightly. Never had he been a man of rules, so his excited eyes became brighter now. He lifted her face with his hand, kissed her gently, and couldn’t wait to show his joy.

“This little creature has always been introverted. I thought she will never say it, but she is the brave one after all.” Now she expressed her love of him so clearly. Then how could he not feel overjoyed?

This poor but lovely little creature was his personal property. No one should take her from him.

He held her thin waist with his hot hand, which almost burned. He was no longer the superior Prince Yi who overlooked the lives of others with pride, but a man with real blood and flesh, holding his beloved woman in his arms...