232 Consort Liu Brings Shame Upon Herself

g disturbances. Does grandmother not know this Or does father also remain unaware of the current situation at the Fourth King’s Manor" Minister Ye could only sigh gloomily. It was precisely because th...232. Consort Liu Brings Shame Upon Herself

In the evening, Ye Li returned to her room and was still frowning as she thought about Princess Changle's matter. Although in Ye Li’s eyes, Changle was still a child, she had actually grown up quite significantly. Even though she would sometimes provoke Consort Liu, she knew what should be said and what shouldn’t. Therefore, when Ye Li asked her questions, she casually made an excuse to deflect them. Ye Li understood that although she was a princess, she wasn't free to do as she pleased. Thus, she didn't force the matter.

"What are you thinking about" Mo Xiuyao came up from behind and gently held Ye Li's shoulders while asking softly. Turning around to look at him, Ye Li smiled lightly and said, "Nothing... I was just wondering about Princess Changle." It seemed rather unreasonable for the Great Chu Empire to send a consort and princess in person for a wedding of a South Zha princess. Of course, it would have been even more unreasonable if Consort Liu had gone instead of Changle, but Ye Li was concerned about Changle's situation, so she didn't care much about what Consort Liu thought.

"You don’t think it’s strange that Prince Mo Jingqi sent a consort and a princess to South Zha for Princess Anxi’s wedding" said Ye Li. It made sense for a princess to go on an official mission abroad, but sending a consort alone was particularly odd.

Placing the teacup down on the table, Mo Xiuyao looked at Ye Li and calmly said, "Mo Jingqi… probably wants to arrange a marriage alliance."

"A marriage alliance" Ye Li was taken aback, unable to process the idea. “Who is going into a marriage alliance With whom” Mo Xiuyao didn’t answer her but simply gazed at her calmly. Soon enough, Ye Li figured out what he meant and frowned: "You mean Princess Changle! But South Zha doesn’t have any princes or nobles who need the Great Chu’s Crown Princess to form a marriage alliance with."

South Zha’s king had no sons, not even living brothers or nephews. That was why Princess Anxi became the Imperial Heir and would be the next Queen of South Zha. So how could a princess marry into such a situation Mo Xiuyao said coolly, "South Zha may not have princes, but they do have King Shen."

"You mean…," Ye Li was speechless and finally understood why Princess Changle’s expression had been so gloomy when she mentioned the matter.

Although Ye Li hadn’t seen South Zha’s king during her time there, Princess Anxi was already in her late twenties or early thirties now. It seemed that he only fathered Anxi at around twenty years old, meaning that he was nearly reaching his twilight years now. If this were true, compared to Changle, the Lady of Ronghua who married Prince Bei Rong back then could be considered fortunate indeed. There was another point: if both sides truly wanted a marriage alliance, they would have first submitted letters and discussed with each other’s officials before organizing the wedding ceremony. Then one side would send someone to welcome the princess as part of an official marriage alliance. Now sending Princess Changle directly to South Zha clearly meant gifting her to King Shen, regardless of future marriage arrangements. In this case, even if they did eventually get married, respect for Changle from South Zha's people would be quite limited. It was truly hard to understand what Mo Jingqi was thinking.

"Mo Jiling secretly had ties with the Holy Maiden of Southern Frontier and several tribes in Southern Frontier; Princess Anxi has always been on good terms with us due to Qingchen. With the current internal and external problems in Great Chu, Mo Jingqi probably wants to ally with King Shen."

"An alliance" Ye Li raised her eyebrows as Mo Xiuyao smiled while pulling her into his embrace, his chin resting atop her head. He said coolly: "This generation of South Zha’s king is ambitious yet incompetent. Years ago he rashly entered the Great Chu Palace and was defeated by this prince nearly resulting in his country's destruction. In contrast, Princess Anxi displayed remarkable political talent from a young age. At fourteen she could help King Shen govern Southern Frontier; without her efforts these past years, South Zha couldn’t have recovered so quickly after that war. And then there is the Holy Maiden of Southern Frontier… although lacking in political acumen, she has good schemes and allies behind her. After that incident where King Shen used the Holy Maiden to balance Princess Anxi’s power, reports suggest their rivalry has intensified over these years. With both sides fighting fiercely, it must be tough for King Shen caught in the middle."

Ye Li understood that this was a power struggle between an incompetent father and his two capable daughters. Ye Li nodded and said, "I understand. As the King of Nanzhao, he still holds some clout as long as he remains in his position. However, due to Princess Anxi and Shu Manlin having supporters behind them, King Nanzhao is planning on aligning with Emperor Mo Jingqi of Da Chu By the way... shouldn't Shu Manlin have retired from her position as Holy Maiden and gone to that Southern Frontier Sacred Land for retirement long ago"

Mo Xiuyao said coolly, "Rules are made by people." Of course, there were ways to break them. At least now, Shu Manlin was still comfortably seated in her position as the Holy Maiden of Nanzhao and had even gained more freedom and privileges than before.

Ye Li sighed helplessly. In the end, this was all a power game between Mo Jingqi and King Nanzhao, while the only casualty was the innocent Princess Changle.

Mo Xiuyao wrapped his arm around Ye Li and drew her into his embrace. He gently patted her hand and asked softly, "Has Ahli become soft-hearted"

Ye Li sighed and said, "Princess Changle is still just a child." Mo Xiuyao replied, "There are no children in the royal family; she knows what she needs to do." Ye Li frowned and turned to look at him. "Princess Changle asked me for a dagger," she said. Mo Xiuyao thought for a moment and said, "Give it to her."

Ye Li nodded and leaned back into Mo Xiuyao's embrace. She couldn’t save Princess Changle. If it were just the person of Princess Changle, she could simply have someone take her away and hide her. However, the consequences involving the Hua family, Da Chu’s imperial court, the Empress, and countless others’ fates were not something she could control. So if she couldn’t save her… then give her what she wants.

"Xiuyao, I don’t want our baby to marry into another family in the future," Ye Li said softly as she leaned against Mo Xiuyao.

Mo Xiuyao stroked her hair gently; his eyes were filled with warmth. "Our son doesn't need to do anything through political marriages." Upon hearing this, Ye Li couldn’t help but smile contentedly. Yes, their son didn’t need to sell his marriage for any benefit. At that moment, Ye Li was immensely grateful to Mo Jingqi for having pointed her towards Mo Xiuyao. Not only because of herself, but also because of her child. "Xiuyao, I haven't said before, but meeting you is the happiest thing in my life."

Mo Xiuyao lowered his head and looked into Ye Li's clear eyes; his gaze was filled with passionate emotions. Lowering his head to capture her fragrant lips gently, he murmured, "You didn’t need to say it, but I want you to say it every day."

The next day, not only did Mo Xiuyao and the others remain in Yonglin City, Chancellor Liu also remained there with them. When they encountered each other again at the city’s best tavern, Ye Li couldn’t help raising an eyebrow as she looked over Princess Changle and Empress Consort Liu standing beside her. She linked arms with Mo Xiuyao and said lightly, "Empress Consort and Princess are out shopping Where is Chancellor Liu"

Empress Consort Liu watched silently as the two walked side by side; Ye Li naturally held one of Mo Xiuyao’s arms while he showed no sign of disapproval, his expression towards her full of warmth that was not seen when looking at others. Empress Consort Liu’s gaze darkened slightly and she said coolly, "My father is unwell; Miss Ye needn’t worry."

Ye Li had naturally heard about how Chancellor Liu fainted on the spot yesterday due to being put under pressure by Feng Zhirao and Zhuo Jing. As for who was best at pressuring people in Ding Prince’s Manor, besides Feng Zhirao it would be Zhuo Jing. Feng Zhirao grew up in an open environment without any restrictions, excelling in verbal attacks that could easily humiliate someone with a cold expression. On the other hand, even though Zhuo Jing had a blank face as a bodyguard due to being trained in secret missions, his heart wasn’t actually expressionless at all. He was vengeful and occasionally would let loose sarcastic comments that could easily devastate someone’s morale. With Chancellor Liu having offended both Feng Zhirao and Zhuo Jing as well as Mo Xiuyao—the kind of master who never constrained his subordinates—there was no other way for him to leave the scene but by pretending to faint due to illness, wasn’t it So instead of saying he had an ailment, perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was too ashamed to face people

"I see." Ye Li didn’t care what happened to Chancellor Liu, so she just nodded and said with a smile: "Then I wish Chancellor Liu a speedy recovery. My husband and I still need to have our meal, so we won’t disturb the Empress Dowager and Princess Changle. Changle… The gift you asked for is ready; shall someone bring it over" This Consort Empress Liu even tried to make something out of titles. Did she think that if she addressed her as "Miss Ye" then she would no longer be the Duchess Consort Princess Changle smiled and said: "Thank you, Duchess."

"Since both of you haven’t had your meal yet, why not join us" Consort Empress Liu stepped forward and looked at Mo Xiuyao.

Mo Xiuyao ignored her. Princess Changle frowned slightly; even though there weren’t many outsiders around now, they were still outside after all. This beloved concubine of her father’s was really rather inappropriate. "Consort Empress Liu, my uncle the Duke and Duchess Consort are having their meal together. What do we outsiders have to do with it If you don’t want to eat, then let us return to our inn."

Princess Changle finally understood why Consort Empress Liu dragged her out for a meal; she had said that the food in the inn might not suit her taste. But on this journey, she hadn’t seen her show any concern over Princess Changle’s food at all. If it wasn’t because she was bored and didn’t want to stay in the inn, would anyone eat with her And now, she lacked an appetite when faced with that face which only a saint could touch! To drag her out here to meet Duke Mo and his Duchess Consort by chance… If this happened inside the palace instead of outside, Princess Changle would have scolded Consort Empress Liu without holding back! She had heard that Consort Empress Liu admired Duke Mo in the past, but she hadn’t seen her be so shameless as to disturb a couple’s meal.

But Consort Empress Liu was unwilling to listen to Princess Changle; instead, she looked at Mo Xiuyao and said: "We used to know each other. You can’t even accept an invitation for dinner"

Mo Xiuyao frowned slightly; when he finally showed a trace of smile on his face as Consort Empress Liu thought that he had softened up, he raised his head and frowned again: "I don’t really know you." The smile that was about to emerge on Consort Empress Liu’s face froze instantly. To be honest, Mo Xiuyao wasn’t acquainted with her at all; when he was young, he already had a marriage agreement so there was no reason for him to look at other women. Even if he didn’t have the marriage agreement, it would be impossible for him to like someone whose family was against his. After Su Zuodie left, Mo Xiuyao stayed indoors because of his illness and injury while Consort Empress Liu had already entered the palace; after marrying Ye Li, there were no other women in his eyes anymore. So he really didn’t know her.

Consort Empress Liu was clearly hurt by this answer. Her beautiful face turned deathly pale as she gritted her teeth and said: "I… am truly that unappealing to you"

Ye Li frowned; tugging at Mo Xiuyao, she said: "I’m hungry. Let’s go in for our meal now. Should Empress Dowager and Princess Changle come along as well" She wasn’t being soft-hearted or anything—where they were standing was still a busy restaurant. Consort Empress Liu could care less about her reputation, but Ye Li didn’t like to hear that her husband had something to do with another woman. Mo Xiuyao nodded; tugging at Ye Li and turning around, he entered the room which had been reserved ahead of time. As they passed by Consort Empress Liu, she said in a low voice: "I don’t need your fake kindness!" Ye Li stopped and looked back at her mockingly as she asked: "You’re still coming or not" Her pale face turned slightly pink; gritting her teeth again, she finally followed them.

Mo Xiuyao never had much hospitality. Of course this wasn’t his fault—he was always the one who received warm hospitality wherever he went throughout his life and there were no more than five fingers’ worth of people in his entire life that could receive hospitality from him. So when Consort Empress Liu and Princess Changle came in a few steps later, Mo Xiuyao had already dismissed the waiter who was waiting for them to order their food. All the dishes they ordered were what Ye Li and he liked; only because she knew quite well about Princess Changle did Ye Li add some of her favorite dishes.

And when the table was filled with dishes, Consort Empress Liu looked even more gloomy. Looking at her who picked out a few pieces of green vegetables to eat while sitting on the other side with a sullen face, Ye Li felt rather puzzled; this restaurant’s food wouldn’t be so bad as long as it wasn’t ordered according to her taste! Just as she was wondering about that, Mo Xiuyao put some dishes he knew she liked into her bowl and said softly: "This restaurant’s chef is quite good. Try them…"

Ye Li lowered her head and tasted the dish; it did smell rather nice indeed. Although it wasn’t as good as the chefs in Duke Mo Manor or Xiangxiang Hall, it was definitely better than what Ye Li could cook. Ye Li didn’t picky about food at all; she even liked dishes that were cooked by herself very much. She raised her hand and put a piece of chicken marinated to perfection into his bowl: "Try this one too; it’s delicious." Mo Xiuyao’s expression turned slightly warmer although he frowned when seeing the chicken. He still lowered his head and finished eating the whole chicken. Smiling calmly as she saw him having his meal seriously, Ye Li picked some dishes for him now and then. Although Mo Xiuyao had eaten mostly vegetarian food for more than ten years because of his illnesses and injuries and didn’t like meat, Ye Li thought that he still needed to have a balanced diet with both meat and vegetables. So she would often pick some meaty dishes for him. Fortunately, even though he disliked these dishes, Mo Xiuyao always ate them if they were picked by Ye Li; after several years of habit formed from having meals together privately, whenever the two of them had their meal together, it was now customary that Ye Li would be picking his food for him. Once when she was thinking about something and forgot to pick dishes for him while eating, Mo Xiuyao actually ate almost half a bowl of plain rice by himself; this made her feel rather helpless over how childish he could be.

“My uncle the Duke and Duchess Consort have great affection for each other.” Princess Changle looked at them and smiled with envy. Although she had seen many couples who were very loving in front of people, she still felt that the scene before her was so beautiful and enviable. Inside the palace, even when her father ate one dish, he would make others try it out countless times to see if there was poison. There were always eunuchs or maids especially assigned to taste his food for him before he could swallow a bite of it; under such circumstances, how many of his concubines or children dared to pick dishes for him At least in Princess Changle’s memory, her mother and father had never picked each other’s food.

Ye Li glanced at her irritably and said, "What do you know about feelings Your Majesty Uncle Ding is very hard to please."

"Miss Ye, knowing that His Royal Highness doesn't like those things, why did you still deliberately pick them for him" The usually solemn Consort Liu suddenly spoke up and picked a few stir-fried green bamboo shoots from the dishes and put it in Mo Xiuyao's bowl with a smile. "I remember that Your Royal Highness likes green bamboo shoots very much." Instantly, the room fell silent as the atmosphere turned tense. Originally, Mo Xiuyao had just set down his chopsticks and picked up Ye Li’s prepared chicken soup when Consort Liu suddenly sent some food to him. His temper flared immediately, and he threw his half-drunk bowl of soup at Consort Liu.

Consort Liu wasn’t a weak woman; as soon as she saw the bowl coming towards her face, she dodged sideways. Unfortunately, the table was small, and they were close to each other, so even though she had moved away slightly, half of her shoulder still got splashed by the soup. The exquisite white porcelain bowl smashed against the wall behind Consort Liu.

"Ding Wang, you!" Consort Liu never expected that Mo Xiuyao would treat her with such brutality; for a moment, she couldn’t speak as her face turned pale.

Seeing Consort Liu’s awkward expression, Ye Li had no sympathy at all. If it weren't to prevent herself from being too impolite, she might have directly cursed: Do you even have any shame!

In this era, let alone in her past life, serving food for others was something that only very close or good friends would do. Ye Li had no idea what Consort Liu could be thinking.

"Get out!" Mo Xiuyao glared at Consort Liu coldly.

"You…" With a pained expression, Consort Liu bit her lip and looked at Mo Xiuyao.

Mo Xiuyao wasn’t moved; his words were even more concise this time. "Out!"

In the end, being a woman, Consort Liu could no longer bear to be treated so coldly by Mo Xiuyao and finally got up and rushed out of the room. Disgusted at the green bamboo shoots in his bowl, Mo Xiuyao pushed it away with his hand. Ye Li silently placed the untouched chicken soup she had set before him into his hand and said softly, "Have another drink." Only then did Mo Xiuyao pick up the chicken soup again and slowly drank two more mouthfuls; his frowning brows gradually relaxed.

Ye Li took an unused empty bowl from one side, refilled a bowl of rice for him, and picked up her chopsticks to continue eating herself.

The Princess Changle smiled as she looked at them and said, "Of course I know that Your Royal Highness Uncle Ding and Wangfei have good feelings towards each other. Because of this, even if Your Royal Highness doesn't like something, he will still eat it all when Wangfei serves him. But for others, even if they serve Your Royal Highness your favorite dish, you would smash the bowl. Wangfei, do I speak correctly"g Kingdom at night, Mr. Mu thinks there's no one else in this capital who dares associate with him now. To put it bluntly, even His Majesty wouldn't dare claim any ties with you at this moment."Mu Qin...