Chapter 605   The Voyeurs Behind the Grove

“Is that Honored Consort Xia? She’s really beautiful.” A young woman carefully peeped from behind the bushes. Though there was quite a distance between them, her good eyesight allowed her to see the mysterious Honored Consort Xia. It went without saying that she was overjoyed as she whispered to the people around her.

The few of them had secretly gone after Ning Xueyan. They had been worried that the people in front would notice them, but it went surprisingly well. One time, one of the ladies accidentally stepped on a small branch and made some noise. The others became too afraid to even move.

To their surprise, Princess Yi and her maid didn’t hear it, as was the smart-looking palace maid. The palace maid appeared out of it, looking deep in thought. This allowed the ladies to follow them and discover such a secret place.

These ladies were more curious than most. The commotion that Princess Yi caused was quite loud but by the time they reached, it was all over. All they knew was that Princess Yi was going to meet Honored Consort Xia. They immediately teamed up and secretly followed her.

“Hey, don’t you think that Honored Consort Xia looks familiar?” One of the ladies grabbed the arm of her companion and shook it.

“She does seem familiar. The look in her eye, why does it look so familiar?” Her companion frowned and fell into deep thought.

Right at that moment, Honored Consort Xia stood up and poured more tea into Ning Xueyan’s cup. Her entire face instantly came into view.

“Oh my, she looks so similar to Third Young Lady Hua!” One of the ladies exclaimed before immediately covering her mouth.

The lady from earlier carefully identified Honored Consort Xia’s face before nodding and said with certainty, “Right, right. She looks just like Third Young Lady Hua. I didn’t realize it until you mentioned it, but once you did, I think she looks like her. The consort looks prettier, but her eyes and nose are similar to Third Young Lady Hua.”

“Does Third Young Lady Hua have a sister?” another lady, who didn’t know Third Young Lady Hua well, asked.

Another lady who was familiar with Third Young Lady Hua shook her head and said, “No. First Young Lady Hua died in the war, Second Young Lady Hua died from a disease. Third Young Lady Hua can’t have a sister.”

“But... they look so similar!”

“Sigh, can we go back now? We’ll be in trouble if Honored Consort Xia discovers us.” One timid young lady among them couldn’t help but speak up. She had been telling them not to go the entire time, but her companions were so curious that she had to follow them.

“All right. Since we’ve seen her, let’s go back.” The ladies’ curiosity had been satisfied. They weren’t fools, so they knew they must not be discovered. Thus, they secretly returned using the same path.

Behind a tree somewhere else, two people were also quietly retreating.

No one noticed them. After the commotion that Ning Xueyan caused earlier, many people learned that she was off to meet the mysterious Honored Consort Xia and they were all curious about it. In particular, the younger guests were unable to control curiosity and secretly followed Ning Xueyan. The ladies weren’t the only group doing so. Besides, everyone was here to tour the imperial garden and no rules were forbidding them from particular places.

Inside the pavilion, Honored Consort Xia was carefully teaching Ning Xueyan about Second Young Lady Hua’s preferences back in the day. Perhaps, it was more accurate to say that she was teaching Ning Xueyan how to act more like Second Young Lady Hua. She was so focused that she didn’t notice several voyeurs slipping away behind the swaying branches. Meanwhile, Yan Zhen’s expression had returned to normal.

Still, she felt rather uneasy.

Where was the maid who was supposed to bring Prince Yi here? Hadn’t she told her to sneakily invite Prince Yi here while he was with the Third Young Lady and tell him that he would fall into a trap if he stayed any longer? They were supposed to rescue him from his incident with Third Young Lady Hua and then bring him here!

Why did they run into Prince Yi along the way? Did that maid fall to find Prince Yi? Or did something happen to the maid?

Otherwise, Princess Ning would be witnessing her master and Prince Yi hugging each other in a joyous reunion at this moment.

How did things turn out this way? Although her master looked at ease, Yan Zhen knew that she was very unhappy. She was so focused on this that she failed to pay attention to certain matters.

Xinmei’s hearing was excellent. Since she was originally a martial artist, her hearing was much sharper than most people. She heard a little of the whispered conversations. She lowered her head, standing there like a respectful maid, but all of her attention was on the other side. However, her master had hinted to her not to stay a word if Honored Consort Xia didn’t notice it.

Naturally, she acted as if she didn’t hear anything at all.

Ning Xueyan didn’t chat with Honored Consort Xia for very long. She had achieved her goal and also learned Honored Consort Xia’s objective. Using the excuse that Ao Chenyi wanted her to return early, she bade farewell to Honored Consort Xia. Honored Consort Xia didn’t try to keep Ning Xueyan. Instead, she politely told Ning Xueyan to enter the palace to meet her often, for she enjoyed talking to her very much.

Of course, Ning Xueyan agreed to this. She stepped out of the pavilion and walked out with Xinmei. She hadn’t gone very far before she ran into the eunuch that Ao Chenyi sent. After the eunuch saw her, he led the way for her. She wasn’t familiar with the palace so it was much easier to have someone who knew the layout well. It didn’t take her very long to reach the same location as before.

The banquet meant to celebrate Prince Xiang and Prince Fu was destined to be a restless one.

First, the third daughter of Chief Hua of the Imperial Academy was found lying in bed with a drunken man. They claimed not to know each other; one was resting in bed after fainting while the other was simply resting after getting drunk. The drunken man had witnesses that proved that he was indeed reciting poems with them earlier. The man lost, so he drank more wine than the rest and had to look for a place to rest.

Meanwhile, Hua Qiuying had become dizzy from walking and had her maid help her aside to rest.

Hua Qiuying didn’t dare to mention anything about Ao Chenyi. How could a proper young lady like her stop Ao Chenyi without even bringing a maid? If people were to know about this, the entire Hua Manor would be humiliated and their plan would become even more unpredictable.

Everyone knew the kind of person Ao Chenyi was! If she insisted on getting him involved without his agreement, he might get so angry as to kill her. She dared not test his temper.

At this rate, no one could tell what the truth was anymore. It might just be a misunderstanding but it still had to be resolved. Fortunately, both parties were not married. They could just get married to conceal such an embarrassing incident. It would be a glorious reunion, even if only on the surface.

With that settled, Hua Qiuying didn’t have the face to linger around anymore and left the palace early. In such circumstances, the woman would inevitably suffer more. Moreover, she was the only surviving daughter of Chief Hua of the Imperial Academy. She was said to be beautiful and charming and had reached the age of marriage. The only reason she didn’t have an engagement was that the bachelors around her had either too high or too low of a status.

Right now, she had no choice but to marry a random man at will. It was only natural for her to feel upset about it.

It was said that all the young ladies from the Hua family had great fiances. The eldest was engaged to someone from the previous dynasty, but that was still the son of an aristocratic family. Unfortunately, their entire family perished in the war. The second daughter was engaged to Prince Yi but died of a disease. As for the third daughter, everyone had been speculating that she wouldn’t be engaged to an ordinary nobleman.

Who would have thought that things would turn out this way?

News about Hua Qiuying spread very quickly, despite the Empress concluding the matter swiftly and decisively. Hua Qiuying could only lament her unluckiness. Meanwhile, another gossip in connection with Hua Qiuying was being spread among the women.

To think that the mysterious Honored Consort Xia looked very similar to Hua Qiuying! It seemed that she was related to the Hua family, but no one could think of any other young lady in that family.

Suddenly, guesses of all kinds were everywhere!

Some said that she was a distant relative of the Hua family, which was why the Chief Hua of the Imperial Academy didn’t know who Honored Consort Xia was. Some said that she was Hua Qiuying’s younger cousin; cousins could still resemble each other no matter how distant they were. Even so, their distant relationship meant that Hua Manor in the capital wasn’t aware of Honored Consort Xia.

There was another speculation of the most curious kind. Some thought that Honored Consort Xia was Chief Hua’s illegitimate daughter, born during the war. He raised the daughter outside out of fear of his wife. After meeting the Emperor, he brought her to the palace. Honored Consort Xia was kept in the dark because of her shameful identity as an illegitimate daughter.

Although this speculation seemed far-fetched, it seemed to carry a trace of truth upon second thought. How would they explain the similarities between Honored Consort Xia and Hua Qiuying otherwise? They looked just like sisters. It was only natural for them to be connected by blood, and intimately at that.

For the moment, everyone’s curiosity about the mysterious Honored Consort Xia reached its peak.

At the banquet, everyone’s attention wasn’t on Prince Xiang or Prince Fu. They were too busy discussing Honored Consort Xia and Third Young Lady Hua’s marriage.

“Honored Consort Xia?” Over at the banquet for the ladies, Honored Consort Ya who occupied the central seat turned toward the Empress. With a frown, she said, “Your Highness, everyone is asking about Honored Consort Xia. Do you think you should forbid them to talk about her? How can people discuss a consort of the palace so casually!”

An imperial concubine, who had just entered the harem, blinked. With a confused expression, she asked curiously, “Your Highness, who is Honored Consort Xia? Why hasn’t anyone seen her before? Even now, I have only ever heard of her. Does she not like to meet people?”

“Forget it. Not even I have seen her. She doesn’t attend any kind of banquets at all.” An older imperial concubine shook the fan in her hand with a smile.

“What’s the reason? Does she also not attend the Emperor and Empress’ banquets? That’s... That’s too...” The new imperial concubine looked surprised. She sneaked a glance at the Empress and, upon seeing no anger on her face, added, “Has she become so arrogant because of His Majesty’s favor that she doesn’t even respect the Empress anymore?” There was a hint of provocation in her words. No one in this palace was a fool.

“That’s enough. Let’s drop this topic. His Majesty knows what he’s doing,” the Empress couldn’t help but say. “Servants, let it be known that people cannot discuss this matter as they wish.”

While giving her order, a palace servant suddenly rushed over with a panicked expression. Ning Xueyan, who had been paying attention to them, noticed this. There wasn’t much emotion in her eyes but she was smiling. “Here it comes...”