Free Web NovelChapter 154: Chapter 153: Kept Like a Shrine (Monthly Ticket 290+)
The figure of Princess Nanyan was already out of sight.
Du Yunluo let out a faint sigh. She didn’t know much about the affairs of this county princess, yet she always remembered this person.
Princess Nanyan, as a woman who grew up in the palace, led a life that was both ordinary and extraordinary.
In the past, her marriage was enough to be criticized.
Nanyan, who was the study companion of Princess Yunhua, was married off to the princess’s own uncle to become a secondary wife.
Although there were examples in the royal family of two generations of females entering the palace to serve the Holy Emperor, it was not the norm. With the status of Princess Nanyan by Princess Yunhua’s side, she could have avoided becoming a secondary wife.
Now it seemed that the Empress Dowager had intended her to become the Princess Consort Rui, which was a thousand times better than being a secondary wife of Prince Rui.
However, unfortunately, in a past life, the youthful Nanyan ended up as a secondary wife, and she was even a year younger than her stepson, Li Luan.
The palace was deeply secretive about this marriage, but Du Yunluo had heard Mu Lianhui mention some things.
When Mu Lianhui returned to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, she drank a bit too much at the feast, and while holding onto Du Yunluo, she spoke at length, mentioning the newly-married young stepmother.
There wasn’t a single good word from head to toe.
Mu Lianhui said it was because Nanyan and Prince Rui were entangled in the Imperial Garden, witnessed by a palace attendant, which led to this marriage. Because of this, Princess Yunhua was so furious that she smashed a display shelf of curios, and even the Empress Dowager, who rarely raised a hand, slapped Princess Nanyan.
Mu Lianhui, intoxicated, spoke convincingly, claiming Prince Rui Li Xiang was not a thoughtless man. The late princess had been gone for years, and he hadn’t remarried a secondary wife. The rear courtyard was managed by a concubine, and since Mu Lianhui entered the household, the household management was handed over to the daughter-in-law, which was rightfully so.
Li Xiang wasn’t lacking in women; the mansion housed various beauties, including titled concubines and chambermaids. Occasionally, he would indulge in romantic escapades outside, which was no secret in the capital.
He also had a seventeen-year-old son, Li Luan. In the near future, grandchildren would be popping up everywhere. Why would Li Xiang bother bringing in a secondary wife?
Moreover, the person was the study companion of his own niece whom he had watched grow up—Princess Nanyan.
If Nanyan hadn’t taken the initiative to seduce, would Li Xiang ever have become entangled with her, clothes in disarray?
Du Yunluo once asked Mu Lianhui if Princess Nanyan admitted it herself.
Mu Lianhui sneered, saying Nanyan insisted it was Prince Rui, having drunk too much, who clung to her.
She said, "Yunluo, you see, what a perfect excuse drinking too much is. But at that time in the palace, if Prince Rui were drunk, how could there not be a single attendant by his side? Why was it that only she, Nanyan, appeared beside Prince Rui?"
Du Yunluo fell silent.
No one could refute this because no one believed Nanyan.
The Empress Dowager was angered, resented, but in the end, considering Nanyan’s deceased parents, she made her a secondary wife rather than a concubine, though she thereafter remained cold towards Nanyan.
Until the Empress Dowager’s passing, she never saw Nanyan again.
Nanyan understood in her heart. On occasions like New Year or festivals when she should perform rituals in the palace, she always claimed illness, unable to disturb the nobles with her frail health, thus staying in the mansion, closing her doors alone.
From when Nanyan married Li Xiang to when Li Luan committed patricide, nearly a decade passed during which Princess Nanyan never bore a child for Li Xiang.
Mu Lianhui said, "What if she had? Could any child born of her displace Li Luan?" If she was honest and true, once Li Luan assumed the throne, the couple would still provide for her.
Perhaps aware that her future lay in the hands of Li Luan and Mu Lianhui, Nanyan remained quiet, never causing trouble for Mu Lianhui.
The meaning of "providing for" from Mu Lianhui’s mouth was something Du Yunluo didn’t understand before. Only when she too was "provided for" did she come to know the real meaning—merely not dying of hunger or cold.
But in the end, Nanyan still died, before Mu Lianhui.
After Li Luan committed patricide and surrendered, Mu Lianhui knelt in the palace, pleading for forgiveness from the Emperor and Imperial Consort, and after nearly ten years of not leaving the Prince Mansion, Nanyan also appeared, kneeling outside the Princess Mansion, asking the princess to plead with the Holy Emperor.
The Holy Emperor spared the lives of Li Luan and Mu Lianhui.
Before Mu Lianhui was sent to the Imperial Mausoleum, she returned to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion one last time, saying that Nanyan committed suicide after the Holy Emperor’s judgment. She hanged herself in the confiscated Prince Mansion.
The Lian Family muttered, saying Nanyan, in the end, ended up like her mother, accompanying her husband on the road.
Just because the word "hanged" was so heavy, Du Yunluo always remembered her.
Remembering to this day, Du Yunluo suddenly realized that Nanyan might now be marrying Li Luan, such a disparity and change truly made her feel a complex mix of emotions.
Frankly speaking, Du Yunluo still hoped Li Luan would marry Mu Lianhui; otherwise, how could Mu Lianhui end up toiling herself to death, meeting the same end as in her past life?
Like how it was now, after Prince Rui Li Xiang’s unsuccessful rebellion, Nanyan most likely wouldn’t have hanged herself, and Mu Lianhui would have remained completely uninvolved.
To make Mu Lianhui pay the blood debt, it seems another path must be taken.
Ahead, Aunt Ming had already lifted the curtain, and Du Yunluo quickly collected her thoughts, entering the main hall with Princess An Ran.
The Empress Dowager was in the West Warm Pavilion, with a chessboard displayed on the small table of the Arhat Bed, and the Imperial Consort accompanying her in a game of chess.
Du Yunluo stepped forward to pay her respects, her gaze sweeping across the chessboard. More than a hundred moves had been played amid the crisscrossing lines, suggesting that while Princess Nanyan was here, the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Consort had been playing chess all along.
Princess An Ran came to express her gratitude with a formal and solemn curtsey.
The Empress Dowager beckoned her to rise, took a few looks at Princess An Ran, and said, "You’re indeed getting married. An Ran has become much more composed and obedient these days."
Princess An Ran lowered her eyes, a flicker of sarcasm passing through them, so fleeting the keen-eyed Empress Dowager did not detect it.
Her composure and obedience stemmed not from the prospect of marriage but from recognizing the situation.
The Empress Dowager offered a few words of admonishment and didn’t keep her longer.
Princess An Ran retreated, and as she turned, her phoenix-like eyes glanced at Du Yunluo with a half-smile.
Du Yunluo smiled back. They both were cut from the same cloth, indeed they both saw it as it was.
Once Princess An Ran left, the Imperial Consort gestured for Du Yunluo to come closer and asked, "Girl, do you understand chess?"
"I only know the basics," Du Yunluo replied respectfully.
The Imperial Consort smiled warmly, "Knowing the basics is enough. You help me with the game, along with Aunt Ming. The three of us, as amateur strategists, might just surpass the Empress Dowager, the Zhuge Liang."
Though said in jest, Aunt Ming’s chess skills were lacking, and Du Yunluo was on par with the Imperial Consort. Compared to the Empress Dowager’s calculated steps, they still lagged far behind, and thus lost mid-game.
Even though the game was lost, the Imperial Consort was not particularly concerned. She slipped a string of Purple Sandalwood Buddhist Beads from her hand onto Du Yunluo’s wrist. "There’s still time today, no rush to return. It’s just over half a month from now to February nineteenth. Help me transcribe some scriptures."
