The Crown Prince Chases His Wife
Chapter 80 Who is it
In the capital, at the Left Prime Minister Mansion, mourning music filled the air.
Yesterday had been the wedding day of the mansion’s eldest son, Wang Jingheng, to Han Shuangling, the only daughter of the Marquis of Guannei. It was supposed to be a day of great joy, but on the very night of the wedding, the old Prime Minister, the family patriarch, finally succumbed to his long illness.
The old Prime Minister Wang had served under two emperors and was also the current emperor’s father-in-law. He had been bedridden for many days, and the family had hoped that the joyous occasion of the wedding might bring some good fortune. However, before the celebration could even conclude, joy turned to sorrow.
Throughout the night, the Left Prime Minister Mansion removed the red wedding decorations and replaced them with mourning attire. The entire household donned sackcloth garments of mourning, and even the newlyweds, Wang Jingheng and his bride, were no exception.
The couple had been roused from their marital bed in the middle of the night with the tragic news, their emotions an unimaginable mix.
Early the next morning, the guests who had recently received wedding invitations from the Left Prime Minister Mansion were now receiving notices of the old Prime Minister passing. The very people who attended the joyous wedding banquet yesterday were now returning to the mansion to pay their respects in mourning.
Whispers spread among the attendees:
“The Wang family was fortunate to have the wedding earlier; otherwise, the eldest son would have had to delay the marriage for several more months to observe mourning.”
“They say the wedding was meant to bring good fortune to the Left Prime Minister Mansion, but now…”
“The old Prime Minister passed away on the eldest son’s wedding night. Could it be that the Han family’s young lady brings bad luck…?”
“Before, when they matched the birth charts for the eldest young lady of the Wang family with the young master of the He family, there were issues. Luckily, they caught it in time. But this time, did they fail to calculate the charts correctly…?”
…..
These rumors eventually reached the ears of both the Left Prime Minister Mansion and the Marquis of Guannei. It left everyone feeling uneasy.
The marriage had been arranged as a political alliance between the two powerful families, and the matter of birth charts was supposed to be just a formality.
But with so many voices casting doubt, the people of the Left Prime Minister Mansion started to wonder if there really was some ill-fated clash between the Han family’s daughter and their household.
———–
Today was supposed to be the wedding day of Xie Changyuan, the Shizi of Marquis of Yongding, and Ye Qingli, the younger sister of the Emperor of Yizhou. However, with the Left Prime Minister Mansion holding a funeral and the Marquis of Yongding Mansion hosting a wedding, the noble families of the capital found themselves in a difficult situation.
They had no choice but to attend both events, rushing between them and carefully managing their emotions. Whether it was celebrating at the wedding or mourning at the funeral, they had to swiftly transition from one event to the other, trying not to offend either household.
Since the day Xie Changyuan had confronted Ye Qingli at the mansion, she had realized that his affection for her was not as deep as she had thought. But she was unwilling to give up. She had a claim on Xie Changyuan—she had saved him, stayed by his side for three years, had once been granted an imperial marriage decree, and now, by the Empress Dowager’s decree, she was to be his legitimate wife. She felt entitled to what she believed was rightfully hers.
Moreover, there was no way for her to return to Yizhou. If she could have, she wouldn’t have ventured alone to Meishan and allowed Xie Changyuan to take her away. Her sister-in-law, the Empress of Yizhou, had grown increasingly suspicious of her, pressuring her brother to arrange a marriage to send her away.
But the match her brother agreed to was with an older man from one of the old aristocratic families of Yizhou, twelve years her senior and already with several concubines. How could her brother have agreed to such a marriage?
She would not return to Yizhou. Xie Changyuan had to be hers.
Ye Qingli tightened her left hand, hidden in her sleeve, where a packet of medicinal powder lay concealed.
Yet, Xie Changyuan never came to escort her to the wedding.
To avoid missing the auspicious time, the Yongding Marquis sent a subordinate in his place to welcome the bride.
The Prince of Yizhou’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. This was a slap in the face, not only to the Yizhou family but also to the Empress Dowager.
However, since the marriage had been arranged by the Empress Dowager, the Prince of Yizhou had no choice but to hold back his anger and send Ye Qingli to the bridal sedan.
Even the festive music seemed to carry a note of melancholy.
As the bridal sedan made its way to the Marquis of Yongding Mansion, Ye Qingli clenched her hands so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. Her heart bled with resentment—Xie Changyuan had humiliated her so publicly.
In the end, Ye Qingli went through the wedding ceremony alone. Marquis of Yongding, Xie An didn’t know how to face the Emperor of Yizhou or the Empress Dowager after such an insult.
The guests at the wedding, suppressing their curiosity and gossip, waited until they left the Marquis Mansion to gather in small groups, discussing the shocking events in disbelief.
“Shizi Xie is truly arrogant, even daring to snub a marriage decreed by the Empress Dowager.”
“I heard that Shizi Xie was escorting the Emperor to the ancestral temple today. Could it be that the Emperor is backing him?”
“The court is in turmoil today—between the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, the second prince, and the third prince, tensions are high. The situation is unpredictable with the Crown Prince absent from the capital. No one dares to take sides lightly.”
“Do you think Shizi Xie still has feelings for that concubine, A Yan, from his mansion? Is that why this happened today?”
“You’re better off saying he still pines for Princess Zhaoren. I heard that Shizi Xie has already moved out of the Marquisate and built a new residence near her mansion in Xishan. Isn’t that obvious?”
“Tsk, tsk. The new Madam Shizi of the Yongding Marquisate must be pitied…”
“She truly deserves pity…”
The atmosphere was equally somber at the residence of Grand Scholar Mansion.
Tomorrow was the wedding of Shizi of Duan Wang Mansion, Feng Su Bei, and An Yanxi, the eldest daughter of the Grand Scholar Mansion. The rushed and simple preparations were already scaled back due to Duan Wang’s urgent return to Youzhou.
With the passing of the former Prime Minister of the Wang family, both the An Mansion and the Duan Wang Mansion had to further downscale the wedding, opting for a low-key event to show respect.
An Yanxi sat dazed before the bronze mirror as the household’s matron prepared her hair and makeup for the next day’s wedding.
She felt no disappointment, only sadness. She had no expectations for this marriage, so what did it matter whether the wedding was grand or modest?
————
In the capital.
The night was anything but celebratory as Shizi Xie Changyuan still had not returned to the Marquis of Yongding Mansion. The guests had long since departed, leaving a subdued atmosphere in what should have been a joyous occasion.
In the bridal chamber prepared for Xie Changyuan, only Ye Qingli sat alone, drinking cup after cup of the wine meant for the newlyweds.
When she finished the first pot of wine, she ordered the servants to bring more.
The servants of the Yongding Marquisate were surprised to see that the sister of the Emperor of Yizhou, Ye Qingli, bore an uncanny resemblance to A Yan, a woman they had known before. They whispered among themselves, suspecting that she might indeed be the same person. However, living in a prestigious mansion in the capital, they were accustomed to strange occurrences and didn’t make a big fuss. Yet, they were well aware that A Yan’s tolerance for alcohol had never been good, and they worried about the situation.
Gathering outside the bridal chamber, the servants discussed the matter and decided that the only person who could address this issue was the master of the house, Marquis Xie An.
Xie An was in his own room, suppressing his anger towards Xie Changyuan while trying to figure out how he would explain the situation to the Empress Dowager the next day. When a servant reported that the new Madam Shizi, Ye Qingli, was getting drunk and that they were unable to stop her, he felt a fresh wave of frustration.
Knowing that Ye Qingli was, in fact, the former A Yan, Xie An had anticipated future troubles in the mansion. After all, A Yan had publicly disgraced herself at the Longevity Banquet in the past, and now she was Madam Shizi of the Marquis of Yongding Mansion, a position that would undoubtedly bring complications that he, as the Marquis, would have to manage.
Moreover, Ye Qingli couldn’t be allowed to come to any harm. Her current status served as a vital link between the Marquis of Yongding Mansion and the Yizhou, as well as a connection to the Empress Dowager.
Xie An sighed deeply, feeling the weight of responsibility, and stood up to head towards Xie Changyuan’s courtyard.
———-
As soon as Xie An entered the bridal chamber, a woman, fragrant yet reeking of alcohol, unexpectedly threw herself into his arms. He knew instantly that it could only be Ye Qingli, now his daughter-in-law. His body stiffened, arms slightly raised, hands desperately trying to keep their distance from the woman clinging to him. However, Ye Qingli only grew bolder in her actions.
The servants who had followed Xie An were equally startled by the scene. Two maidservants exchanged glances, then quickly looked away. One grabbed a door handle, pulling it shut, while the other stood by the bridal chamber. Though their hearts raced with shock, their faces remained impassive. In a household of this stature, such incidents, though not common, were not entirely unheard of. They had learned not to react with surprise.
Inside the room, Xie An felt the young woman’s increasingly inappropriate actions. He sternly tried to stop her, his voice commanding, “Do you know who I am?”
Ye Qingli, seemingly drunk, dragged out her words in a coquettish tone, “I don’t care, I don’t care…”
Xie An, who had not taken a concubine for years and had long been without a woman, found the sensation of her young, soft body rubbing against him disconcerting. Her delicate hands had already ventured to his waist. His throat went dry, a troubling heat beginning to build within him.
He tried to push her away, but she clung tighter, her actions growing bolder. Just as he was about to speak again to stop her inappropriate behavior, he looked down and met her tear-filled, pitiable eyes. His resolve weakened.
With a voice tinged with tears, she softly pleaded, “Please, don’t leave, okay?”
Xie An was torn. His rational mind screamed for him to leave immediately—this was his son’s wife, his legitimate daughter-in-law. But the growing heat in his body threatened to consume his remaining restraint.
In that moment, Ye Qingli stood on her toes, her moist lips pressing against his. The sensation overwhelmed him, and with a resounding crash in his mind, his last thread of reason snapped, and he lost control completely.
——–
On the wedding night, in the flickering shadows of the red candles, two figures intertwined on the bridal bed, though their relationship was anything but appropriate.
On the marital bed, the two figures became increasingly entangled, sinking deeper into their desires…
A Yan stared up at the festive canopy above her, allowing the man—her father-in-law—to continue his actions. A single tear glistened as it rolled down from the corner of her eye. Xie An, suddenly sensing something amiss, lifted his head from where it had been buried in her neck.
Without pausing his lower body movements, his eyes softened with concern as he gently brushed the tear from her cheek.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
Ye Qingli turned her head away, avoiding his intense gaze.
Xie An, however, firmly turned her face back towards him, forcing her to meet his eyes.
“Now do you see clearly who I am?” he asked, his voice low and filled with an emotion that was hard to name.
Tears welled up in Ye Qingli’s eyes once more, and she bit her lip, refusing to speak.
In response, Xie An’s movements became even more intense. He buried his face in her neck again, knowing that there was no turning back now.
Ye Qingli turned her head to the side, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips.
Beneath the violently shaking bed, hidden under the bedclothes, was the now-opened packet of powder. The powder that had been meant for Xie Changyuan…
Her gaze shifted to the small round table beside the bed, where the nuptial wine was placed. The red candle on the table flickered and cast shadows across the room.
This powder had been prepared for Xie Changyuan, but it had ended up being used on Xie An instead.
He had humiliated her so deeply; why should she remain loyal to him?
As for the man with her now, was his behavior a result of the drug’s effects…
Or simply a reflection of a man’s true nature…