Golden Age Legitimate Fei
/ Golden Age Legitimate Fei Chapter 95: A Marriage That Comes to Nothing 1
What Lei Teng Feng had said stunned everyone in the hall. The way they looked at him was full of surprise and unhappiness. Nobody could have thought that he would put forward such outrageous terms since Prince Li had married a legitimate prince way before Princess Ling Yun. What Lei Teng Feng asked for clearly stated that the legitimate Prince Li who was a noble of Great Chu shouldn't bear Prince Li's child before Princess Ling Yun did. More importantly, nobody of the royal family would like to see a royal offspring with Xi Ling's blood in its veins.
“That's impossible!” Without giving it much thought, the Empress dowager sternly refused him immediately.
Lei Teng Feng raised his brows and smiled: “Then, we have nothing to talk about. Good bye. As for today's humiliation... Great Ling remembers!” After he had said that, he turned around and held Princess Ling Yun: “Let's go.”
At first, Princess Ling Yun thought the wedding would carry on. But now her cousin took a sudden turn and gave her such a big surprise so she didn't say anything. Glancing at Mo Xiu Yao and Ye Li who were sitting by the side, she turned around to follow Lei Teng Feng and left quickly.
The day that Prince Li was going to marry a consort, the bride's cousin took her and stormed off in a huff.
Nobody knew whether the capital had learned about what happened between Prince Li and Princess Qi Xia but the news that Princess Ling Yun abandoned Prince Li on their wedding day spread across the capital in no time.
Lei Teng Feng returned to the embassy with Princess Ling Yun. Having sent someone to lock the delighted princess up in her room, he left for the furthest room in the embassy with a flick of his sleeve. Kicking the door open, he went inside.
In the dim room, the woman in black was reading leisurely while leaning on a couch, only sitting up slowly after seeing him in the room, smiling: “Back already? Did you enjoy Ling Yun's wedding.”
Crack! Lei Teng Feng slapped across that veiled face hard after gazing at her for a good while. “Bitch! I've warned you not to act blindly without thinking.”
The woman in black dropped back onto the couch because of that sudden and violent act. She lifted her head and glared at the man in front of her after recovering from shock. Gritting her teeth, she said: “Lei Teng Feng!”
“Bitch! What on earth do you want? Do you really think I don't dare to kill you?” With hidden cruelty and ferocity in his gloomy eyes, there was only coldness in his words.
The woman in black stopped for a moment but returned to her usual self quickly. She giggled and said: “You have brought Ling Yun back, haven't you? Hah hah... you didn't agree to form an alliance with Great Chu through marriage at first. Now, everything happened as you wished for. Why aren't you happy with it?”
“You fool!” Lei Teng Feng cursed: “Who do you think you are? There are countless talents in hiding in the capital of Dong Chu. Who do you think you would be able to trick? Get the fuck up. We'll be leaving at once!”
“Leaving?” The woman in black was surprised, a little hesitation in her eyes.
Lei Teng Feng sneered: “It's okay if you don't want to leave. I'll send you to Prince Ding's Manor later. Haven't you been thinking of him all this time? You can rest assured that I'll “explain” for you when I'm back in Xi Ling!”
“No!” The woman in black screamed while jumping off the couch. She grabbed Lei Teng Feng and said: “I'll leave with you!” Nobody else knew Mo Xiu Yao better than she did. If she was in his hands, she would die without anyone knowing.
Lei Teng Feng got rid of her hand with disdain and left. What a woman. Bold, yet afraid of death. Greedy and never satisfied...
Without question, the wedding of Prince Li's Manor turned out a total farce once again. Besides the fact that the bride left before the ceremony, what was worse was that His Majesty ordered the masters of Prince Li's Manor, which were Prince Li, Princess Li, Consort Xian Zhao to go to the palace soon.
The bride was gone, so were the bridegroom and the masters of the manor so the guests didn't have any good reasons to hang on in the manor or cage a meal. Thus the guests bid farewells with stomachs full of tea but no food. Shortly afterwards, the previously lively Prince Li's Manor returned to serenity. Only those red gauzes decorated with lanterns and colored streamers looked a little lonely.
Since the emperor didn't order Prince Ding and Princess Ding to come to the palace, Ye Li and Mo Xiu Yao left Prince Li's Manor and its unfinished wedding as others. However, they ran across Xu Qing Chen soon after they left Prince Li's Manor.
Xu Qing Chen had always been coming and going like a shadow. Even those of Xu Family might not be able to see him whenever they want to. After her wedding, Ye Li had only seen him on the day that she returned to her parental home so she was a little surprised to see him today. After a few words of greetings, the three of them went to Chuxiang Pavilion to dine.
“Your Highness, what do you think about what happened today?” Xu Qing Chen tasted the wine in his cup and praised it in a soft voice: “I've heard that Chuxiang Pavilion had the best wine and delicacies in the capital. It does live up to its reputation.”
Ye Li ate the food with her head lowered while listening to their conversation. She was indeed hungry after the farce that had taken up a whole afternoon.
“Brother Xu, you are well-informed.” Mo Xiu Yao said with praise. Xu Qing Chen didn't ask him what had happened. Instead, he asked Mo Xiu Yao's opinion which revealed that he knew well what had happened in Prince Li's Manor.
It was as if Xu Qing Chen didn't hear him, he sighed slightly. Looking at Ye Li a little sentimentally he said softly: “Li-er, why wouldn't your husband call me big brother?”
Ye Li felt a choke in her throat. She forced herself to swallow the food before lifting her head and looking at Mo Xiu Yao then back at Xu Qing Chen. A twitch crawled upon the corner of her lips. Xu Qing Chen was three years younger than Mo Xiu Yao. It would be strange if Mo Xiu Yao called him that. Besides, even if Mo Xiu Yao were able to call him big brother, then he had to call Xu Qing Ze second brother and even had to call Xu Qing Bai forth brother by this logic.
Mo Xiu Yao passed Ye Li a bowl of soup. After seeing her drank it, he turned back to Xu Qing Chen and smiled lightly: “Brother Xu, you are only Ah Li's cousin.”
Xu Qing Chen smiled: “I wouldn't mind if you call me big cousin, Your Highness.”
A sparkle passed Mo Xiu Yao's eyes and a smile crawled upon his mouth. He said: “Then, I believe you remember... Master Qing Yun used to be my instructor. You are his grandson and I'm his pupil. Or do you know that my grandmother has the same family name as the First Lady of Xu Family? They came from the same family. Though they should be two ranks apart in terms of their ages, they were in fact in the same position in the family hierarchy.”
Ye Li knew well that Xu Qing Chen wasn't giving Mo Xiu Yao a hard time. He was just joking. She took out her handkerchief and cleaned the corner of her mouth while smiling: “Big brother, why do you start to care about how you are addressed? If His Highness does use the same form of address as I do, that would make the most handsome man of the capital sound old.”
Xu Qing Chen glanced at Mo Xiu Yao and Ye Li slightly. He had watched how Mo Xiu Yao passed Ye Li that bowl of soup so naturally and he looked a bit more satisfied. Hearing that from Ye Li, he pretended to be upset and glare at her, then he sighed: “Then it's true that a married daughter favors an outsider instead of her own family. Father and second uncle must have regretted agreeing to let you marry at such a young age.” The only girl of Xu Family of his generation now belonged to another family.
A faint blush colored Ye Li's beautiful face. She said: “Big brother, are you here to make fun of me?”
Xu Qing Chen shook his head. The smile on his face vanished and he looked at Mo Xiu Yao seriously.
Mo Xiu Yao pondered for a minute before he said: “Brother Xu, you find that something was wrong with what happened today, don't you?”
“A moment ago... Lei Teng Feng took Princess Ling Yun and left the capital.” Xu Qing Chen said. “He left without even bidding farewell to His Majesty.”
Mo Xiu Yao touched the jade on his waist without noticing it and said with a frown: “Someone was behind what happened today, but... it wasn't Lei Teng Feng. He couldn't have given up on forming an alliance with Great Chu since that was decided before he was here. Unless... something that was out of his expectation happened.”
Ye Li frowned and asked: “Did Lei Teng Feng have the power to decide on the alliance?” The alliance formed through a marriage between two countries was a big deal, even if both sides harbored evil intentions. Though it was Mo Jing Li who made a mistake at first, Xi Ling couldn't benefit from that since Lei Teng Feng scraped an agreement so easily.
Xu Qing Chen smiled slightly: “It wasn't Lei Teng Feng who was powerful. It was his father, Prince Zhenan. The emperor of Xi Ling was weak, plagued by illnesses. He only had a son who was seven years old and several princesses. Though Prince Zhenan wasn't Prince Regent, he did have the power of a Prince Regent.”
“Then... was it the emperor of Xi Ling who wanted to form an alliance with Great Chu by marriage or was it Prince Zhenan?” Mo Xiu Yao asked.
Xu Qing Chen shook his head. Xi Ling and Great Chu had been long-standing enemies and Xu Family wasn't powerful enough to have an informer inside the palace of Xi Ling.
Mo Xiu Yao nodded and said: “I'll send someone to look into it.”
Ye Li thought the two men worried too much. She looked up and asked: “Who was it that admitted Princess Qi Xia into Prince Li's Manor?” No matter how much of an acquaintance Princess Qi Xia was to Prince Li, how easy it was for her to enter and leave Prince Li's Manor, she was a princess after all. How come that none of the servants thought of reporting her arrival to their master on the wedding day of Prince Li? Which was extremely unreasonable.
Both Xu Qing Chen and Mo Xiu Yao was stunned by her question. They considered it pensively and exchanged a look.
Xu Qing Chen suddenly let out a small laughter. He sighed slightly: “It seems that we've overlooked many things. I don't know the capital as I used to since I've been traveling away from it...”
Mo Xiu Yao had a slight frown. “Brother Xu, you are right. It seems the capital does change during those past years when I shut myself up in the manor. I'll send people after that.”
Xu Qing Chen nodded and said: “That sounds good. I'll be leaving the capital in a few days so what happens here is beyond me.”
Ye Li was surprised: “Big brother, are you leaving the capital? For Yunzhou?”
Xu Qing Chen shook his head with a smile: “No, I'm planning to go to Nan Zhao.”
“Nan Zhao?” Ye Li was confused: “I remember that fifth brother told me that you were in Nan Zhao two years ago.”
Mo Xiu Yao held the cup in his hand and said with a frown: “Do you think something will happen to Nan Zhao?”
Xu Qing Chen sighed. He looked at Mo Xiu Yao and said: “I think you are well aware that anything could happen at the moment.”
Once the power of Prince Ding's Manor was lost, each force that used to be curbed by it would seize the opportunity and try to swallow up Great Chu, which including Nan Zhao, Xi Ling, Bei Rong and even those overseas island countries. Who didn't want Great Chu, the most beautiful and richly endowed land on this earth? However, those in power only saw the threat of Prince Ding's Manor so on one hand they did everything possible to suppress it and on the other hand didn't want to foster and help military commanders in fear that would bring about another Prince Ding's Manor. Didn't they think about how Great Chu would end up when they lost Prince Ding's Manor and didn't have military commanders in its place? Or did the man who sat on the throne think he could be invincible on the battlefield relying on his political manipulation?
“Big brother, are you saying that... Nan Zhao would start a war?” Ye Li asked. Though the people of Nan Zhao were valiant and tough, they were not as good soldiers as men of Bei Rong or Xi Ling. Besides, since Mo Xiu Yao had wiped out numerous troops of Nan Zhao in the past, the Nan Zhao at the moment might not have the force to fight Great Chu.
Xu Qing Chen said: “It won't in the past. But now... I'm afraid he would start a war with Nan Zhao.”
“Well?” Ye Li raised her brows and turned to Mo Xiu Yao. She saw agreement in Mo Xiu Yao's calm eyes. “Is he... nuts?”
At first, there were endless disputes between Bei Rong and Xi Ling. If there was a war with Nan Zhao, wasn't he afraid that the three countries would form an alliance and attack Great Chu together? Not only didn't Great Chu have a capable enough military commander right now, it could be facing a quite dire situation even if Mo Lan Yun and Mo Liu Fang were alive.
Xu Qing Chen sighed: “Though the late emperor were young when he assumed the throne, he was carefully instructed by the Prince Regent. But... I think the late emperor didn't have time to guide this one. It seemed he learned only from the Empress dowager.”
The late emperor was only 40 when he passed away. He might have thought he could live another 20 or 30 years so he didn't plan to groom a successor at such an early age to make troubles for himself. Who could have thought he passed away so suddenly? Though the Empress dowager were called a woman of merit, she was after all a woman of the imperial harem. All she could teach the emperor was jockey for power, schemes and intrigues. However, it was exactly her schemes which landed Mo Jing Qi smoothly on the throne after the late emperor passed away. Schemes could be used to take the throne but not ruling a country. Though Mo Jing Qi had a goal to become an emperor of merit, he knew deep down that he couldn't even compare to his own father in terms of ruling so he was more concerned about his throne. Once there was someone who could threaten his position, he would kill it without mercy.
Ye Li frowned and said: “But you can't do anything there, big brother. What if you are in danger?” Looking at the two men weighed down with anxieties, Ye Li couldn't help but sighing. Such was the world. There were ones who raked their brains because of concerns about their countries and people and also those who fought and schemed each other for power. There were clear-headed people filled with pain and those who sang and danced ignorant of what was going on around them.
Xu Qing Chen smiled and said: “I'm friends with the inheritress of Nan Zhao. I'm just there to pay her a visit.”
Inheritress? Ye Li was surprised by how large a circle of friends Xu Qing Chen had.
Mo Xiu Yao raised his cup at him and said: “Thank you.”
Xu Qing Chen raised his cup back and said coolly: “That's nothing. It was my father's will. I'm not doing it for Prince Ding's Manor.” Xu Family would not betray Great Chu. However, it wasn't the savior and didn't have the power capable of saving a desperate situation. They only did what was within their capacities.
Chapter end
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