Her Power and Favor Span the World

Chapter 78

Chu Mingyang was very worried. "Earlier, my mother had said that she wanted me to marry King Chu. I would never want to marry King Chu! Besides, if I married him, I would only be a concubine. I don't want to be a mistress."

Chu Mingcui's eyes flashed as she said, "King Chu is not bad. The Empress Dowager would not be too harsh on the Princess of Chu. After all, the Princess is the Empress Dowager's niece. Because of this relationship, the Empress Dowager is more tolerant towards the people in King Chu's residence. Look, ever since the Princess married King Chu, she seldom goes to the palace to greet the Empress Dowager, yet the Empress Dowager never says anything about it."

"King Chu..." In Chu Mingyang's mind, the image of a handsome man gradually appeared. The last time she saw him was at the city gate when he had returned from battle triumphantly. He was riding a tall steed, wearing golden armor. He looked very majestic.

She had known King Chu since she was very little. He would always come to the manor, but everyone knew he came to see Eldest Sister.

She indifferently said, "I don't want to marry King Chu."

Chu Mingcui was surprised. "Why?" She knew her younger sister's feelings. Every time King Chu came, she would secretly peek from behind the door.

"He married Yuan's daughter, Yuan Qingling. Since he married a woman like her, I look down on him," Chu Mingyang said.

"He was tricked into it by the Yuan family. He had no choice. Besides, Grandfather said that if you are willing to marry him, he would make King Chu divorce Yuan Qingling," Chu Mingcui said.

Chu Mingyang looked at her elder sister. With upturned lips, she said, "Why does Eldest Sister keep trying to persuade me to marry King Chu?"

Chu Mingcui said, "Eldest Sister wants the best for you. King Chu is rarely a good man. You will definitely be happy if you marry him."

Chu Mingyang chuckled coldly. "Is that so? If he is so good, why don't you marry him yourself?"

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Chu Mingcui's eyes darkened. "That's because he had already married Yuan Qingling."

"Wasn't it you who secretly helped back then so Yuan's plot against Yuwen Hao succeeded at the Princess Residence? Sister wasn't providing assistance in the dark?" Chu Mingyang asked sarcastically.

Chu Mingcui was shocked. "What nonsense are you saying?"

Chu Mingyang shrugged. "Before Eldest Sister got married, I was always by your side. I know everything you thought and did very clearly. I'm not stupid just because I don't say anything. Go back, Sister. There's no need to persuade me. If I want to marry King Chu, it will be of my own free will, definitely not because of your little schemes. Outsiders all say that King Chu let you down, but only I know that you were the one who changed your heart first."

Chu Mingcui was so shocked that she couldn't speak. She stared at this younger sister whom she had always thought was unruly and dumb. She would never have expected her to be so meticulous.

She suddenly remembered what Grandmother had said - there are no simple daughters in the Chu family.

She realized that her pretense of calmness and prudence was just an act. As for Chu Mingyang's obstinacy and unruliness, those were also just an act. What kinds of thoughts were hidden underneath these acts? She was startled by this realization.

Just then, a maid rushed in. "Princess, Second Young Lady, Old Madam has had an accident!"

Chu Mingcui jumped up in shock. "What happened?"

The maid's face was also pale with fright as she said, "Just now, after Old Madam drank a bowl of soup, she vomited blood. Now she has fainted."

Chu Mingcui was stunned. "Oh heavens, heavens!"

It was as if something was stuck in her throat. Her voice could barely come out. Her breathing was suffocated. She felt the world spinning as her vision went dark and she fainted.

When she awoke, she was already in the royal manor.

Prince Qi was sitting by her side, looking at her worriedly. "You're awake?"

She immediately grabbed Prince Qi's hand. Trembling all over, she asked, "How is Grandmother?"

Prince Qi hugged her and patted her back to comfort her. "Don't worry. She's fine. Her throat was just scalded so she can't speak anymore."

She can't speak anymore?

Chu Mingcui seemed to have lost her mind. She cried and laughed at the same time. "Too heartless, too heartless."

Prince Qi looked at her puzzledly. "What's wrong? Who is heartless?"

Chu Mingcui thought of her grandfather's cold eyes, then of his viciousness. His wife of many years had only said some unkind words about Concubine Xi, yet she suffered such a malicious fate to lose her voice.

Suddenly, Chu Mingcui felt very scared.

She curled up in Prince Qi's arms, sobbing softly. "Grandmother is already old in age. To suffer such a blow, it really is the heavens being heartless!"

Prince Qi stroked her hair to comfort her. "This king has already investigated. It was a maid of the residence who mistakenly took medicine as soup and brought it to your grandmother. Because your grandmother's body is weak, she couldn't handle the medicine which led to her losing her voice. In the future, summon the imperial physician to treat her. She will be fine."

In her heart, Chu Mingcui cursed Prince Qi for being so foolish to actually believe such a preposterous excuse.

For the first time, she felt that she might have chosen the wrong person. If it was Elder Brother Hao, he would have surely seen through the abnormality and taken precautions, which would have given her a sense of security.

Thinking of Yuwen Hao, her heart ached.

Back then, scheming against him was unavoidably necessary because Grandfather had decided to fully support Prince Qi. And the Supreme Emperor was critically ill and unable to attend to Elder Brother Hao. She could only painfully let him go.

She didn't want to bear the reputation of being unfaithful. She could only secretly send someone to get close to Second Madam at the Marquis Jing Manor and teach her to plot against Yuwen Hao when he visited the Princess Residence. She also deliberately created opportunities for Yuan Qingling. She had only intended for the Emperor to take Yuan Qingling as a concubine to save face, even if he loved her. She didn't expect that Yuan Qingling would directly become the principal wife.

She really resented this for a period of time. But after marrying Prince Qi as she wished, she temporarily forgot about it. How could she have known the situation would change?

Prince Qi didn't know what she was thinking. Feeling her body go limp, he thought she was worried about her grandmother's illness, so he held her even tighter.

Marquis Jing Manor

Recently, Marquis Jing really felt like he was going to be angered to death. He had finally gotten what he wished and met with Chancellor Chu. If the two families wanted to reconcile, Yuan Qingling just needed to give up her position as Princess. He had promised he would do his best to persuade Yuan Qingling to agree. But before he even had the chance to plan, after Second Madam had spread some rumors, Chancellor Chu had already gone to see the Emperor. The news he got was that Yuan Qingling had even opposed taking a concubine, let alone giving up the Princess position.

When he went to the Chu manor to see Chancellor Chu again, he couldn't even get past the front gate.

Not only that, the official performance reviews at the Ministry of Personnel would begin soon. The head of the Ministry of War told him that the Ministry of Personnel would focus on reviewing him.

The Ministry of Personnel was under Chu's influence. He knew this was Chancellor Chu warning him.

When he returned, he felt more and more uneasy. There was still a chance to remedy the situation. He had to call Yuan Qingling back to scold her well and persuade her to obediently give up the Princess position.

He immediately ordered someone to go to the royal manor, still using the excuse that the Old Madam was critically ill, to call her back.

He didn't know the messenger came back saying that because the Princess had to take care of the injured Prince, she could not return. She asked the Marquis to invite an imperial physician to treat the Old Madam.

Marquis Jing flew into a rage. Disregarding his status, he cursed loudly in the study. "She's grown wings now? Taking care of the Prince? Does she even know how few times she's seen the Prince since marrying over there? This is preposterous! Go tell her right now that if she doesn't come back, she'll regret it."

The servant could only go deliver the message again.

The imperial physician living at King Chu's residence was surnamed Cao. Because Yuan Qingling had trouble with tones, she heard it as imperial physician Grass Cao. Nowadays, Grass Cao treated Yuwen Hao's wounds every day. The wounds were slowly scabbing over. Seeing how the wounds were sutured, he felt it was amazingly meticulous work. If this was done on the palace's embroidery ladies, it would completely surpass all of them.