Chapter 56: She Must Be Having An Affair with Prince Mediocre
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
In the room, the Duchess’s face was extremely ugly. “Sister-in-law, what do you mean by imperial concubine?”
Second Madam said with disdain, “I saw Jinniang entangle with Prince Mediocre on the street with my own eyes. Now her father has become Grand Mentor of the Crown Prince, but she still wants to be the concubine of Prince Mediocre!
“Deep in her heart, she is still a short-sighted village girl. She is jealous that her sister has won the favor of His Royal Highness, so she went to seduce Prince Mediocre instead!”
The Duchess angrily slapped Second Madam’s face. “My daughter is definitely not such a short-sighted and shameless girl!”
Second Madam looked at the duchess in disbelief. “How dare you hit me?”
The maids hurriedly went to report to the Old Madam.
When Qiao Jinniang left the Duke Mansion, she went straight to the East Palace. When she arrived at the entrance of the East Palace, she realized that she could not get in at all.
The mighty and armored guards at the gate were very solemn and majestic, even more frightening than the guards in front of the Duke Mansion.
“Miss Qiao.” An eunuch at the door hurried over. “His Royal Highness invites you in.”
In the study, hearing that Qiao Jinniang was here, Lu Chen hurriedly had his men invite Qiao Jinniang in.
He thought that maybe Qiao Jinniang realized that Li Yun was unreliable, so she regretted it and came to him…
Lu Chen straightened his clothes and went out to greet Qiao Jinniang.
When Qiao Jinniang came over, she saw Lu Chen wearing a purple round-neck robe embroidered with golden python. He was holding an umbrella. His face under the umbrella was handsome and dazzling like the sun and the moon.
It was a pity that he was a beast in human attire.
Lu Chen held the umbrella for Qiao Jinniang, took off a jade pendant on him, and said with a smile, “Take this jade pendant. If you want to enter the East Palace in the future, just show the guards this jade pendant.”
Qiao Jinniang took Lu Chen’s jade pendant and smashed it on the ground!
The jade pendant shattered into two halves, and Lu Chen couldn’t help frowning. “Qiao Jinniang, what are you doing?”
Qiao Jinniang looked at Lu Chen with hatred and said, “You said that Ruyu was not arranged by you, but now Ruyu has confessed that she was instigated by a noble in the imperial family!”
There were tears in Qiao Jinniang’s eyes. After wiping away the tears with a handkerchief, she continued. “What did I do wrong? Are you trying to force me to die? If I had known this, I shouldn’t have saved you in the first place. I should have watched you die!”
Lu Chen took a deep breath. “Jinniang, you and I had slept in the same bed for three years. Don’t you believe me? I didn’t instigate Ruyu.
“If I want to ruin the engagement between you and Li Yun, I can tell Li Yun’s father and his two brothers about the relationship between you and I. I don’t believe that Li Yun and the Li Family won’t mind it.
“Moreover, why would I manipulate a little maid to ruin your reputation? How does this benefit me?”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Yes, how does this benefit you? Why do you have to torture me like this?!”
Lu Chen knew that Qiao Jinniang didn’t have any trust in him now, so he just said, “It’s raining heavily outside, come in first. Tuan’er hasn’t seen you for a long time. I will order someone to investigate this matter now to prove that I am innocent and give you an explanation. You can play with Tuan’er for a while first.”
Qiao Jinniang finally calmed down. She’d like to see how Lu Chen would quibble.
She went to Tuan’er’s palace first.
As soon as Tuan’er saw Qiao Jinniang, he hurriedly trotted over and asked Qiao Jinniang to hug him.
Qiao Jinniang squatted down and held Tuan’er up. “Tuan’er, do you miss Mommy?”
Tuan’er nodded. “I miss you, Mommy. I miss you every day.”
Qiao Jinniang lowered her head and kissed Tuan’er gently on the forehead. Her Tuan’er was really pitiful. Fortunately, Xie Yun was a man and would not treat her Tuan’er badly.
After solving a puzzle ring with Tuan’er, an eunuch came to ask her to go to see Lu Chen.
Qiao Jinniang said to Tuan’er, “Tuan’er, play slowly alone. I’ll come to play with you next time.”
Tuan’er hugged Qiao Jinniang’s calf and said, “No, Mommy, play with Tuan’er. Tuan’er doesn’t want Mommy to leave.”
Qiao Jinniang helplessly picked up Tuan’er and went to the main palace together, thinking that she’d better leave after Tuan’er fell asleep at noon.
As the most favored son of the Emperor, the East Palace was magnificent and luxurious.
After Qiao Jinniang entered the main palace, she saw Ruyu kneeling in the palace.
She shivered and said, “Your Royal Highness, I, I’m just a little maid. How dare I frame you?!”
Lu Chen, who was sitting on the seat of honor, put down the teacup in his hand and said, “You said that you were instigated by a noble in the royal family to go to the Tasty Pavilion to harass Miss Qiao? Who is that noble?”
Ruyu said, “Your Royal Highness, please spare my life! If I say who he is, that person will never let me off!”
Lu Chen’s voice was extremely cold. “If you don’t confess, I will kill you right now!”
Ruyu kept kowtowing. “It’s Prince Mediocre. He ordered me to go to Miss Qiao. I was afraid that he would pick on Young Master, so I did what he wanted me to do!”
Lu Chen waved his hand and said, “Come on, drag her down, cane her ten times and then send her back to the Li Family!”
Qiao Jinniang came out and said, “No need. She is also a poor person. Just let her go.”
Lu Chen waved his hand, signaling to let Ruyu go.
Lu Chen walked up to Qiao Jinniang and said, “You heard it yourself, right? It was Prince Mediocre.”
Qiao Jinniang nodded. It made sense if it was Prince Mediocre.
Lu Chen was a little puzzled. “Aren’t you curious why he did this? He shouldn’t know the relationship between you and I…”
Qiao Jinniang put down Tuan’er and said, “On my birthday, Prince Mediocre gave me a piece of mutton-fat jade, and when we met on the street later, he specially came to talk to me…”
When Lu Chen heard Qiao Jinniang’s words, he understood the situation and said angrily,
“It’s been almost four years, but Prince Mediocre is still so stupid!
“I thought it was stupid enough for him to use Qiao Ruofeng to win over the Duke Mansion, but now he has actually cast his eyes at you.”
“Qiao Ruofeng?” Qiao Jinniang asked Lu Chen, “What does this have to do with Ruofeng?”
Lu Chen said slowly,”Prince Mediocre wanted to win over the Duke Mansion, so he kept writing to Qiao Ruofeng when he was still at the border. A few months ago, Qiao Ruofeng met with Prince Mediocre when celebrating her grandmother’s birthday in Luoyang and the latter promised to marry her. My secret guards have already reported this matter to me.”
Qiao Jinniang shook her fan and said, “You’re not slandering Prince Mediocre, right?”
Lu Chen said, “Him? I have never taken him seriously. A thorough fool who can only deceive ignorant literati and innocent girls!”
Qiao Jinniang said, “But back then, he was the one who caused you to lose your memory, right? You fell into his trap… It shows that you are even more stupid!”
Lu Chen said unhappily, “Three years ago, I didn’t fall into his trap, but I couldn’t bear watching the people suffer, and I never thought that he would ignore the lives of the people of a whole county. Did you say that because you care about me?”
Qiao Jinniang said, “No! I’m just concerned about Tuan’er. The royal family’s struggle for the throne is so dangerous. I hope it won’t involve Tuan’er.”
Lu Chen said, “Sure. I will definitely protect you and Tuan’er!”
Qiao Jinniang sneered. “I’m going to marry Li Yun soon. I don’t need you to protect me. You just need to protect Tuan’er!”
Lu Chen gritted his teeth and said, “With Ruyu, you still want to marry Li Yun?”
At this time, Nuomi watched nervously outside, and Qiao Jinniang let Nuomi come in and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Miss, Old Madam had the housekeeper go to the Duke Rong’s Mansion to find you. She is now asking you to go back quickly.”
Reluctant to leave Tuan’er, Qiao Jinniang took the last glance at him, but regardless of his cries, she forced herself to leave the East Palace.
She hurriedly returned to the courtyard of the Old Madam, only to hear Qiao Ruofeng’s cry from afar.
“Grandmother, I went to visit Princess Fu’an today, but she said that she had never seen Second Sister.
“Then why does Second Sister often go to Duke Rong’s Mansion? And who gifted her the gold jewelry that was only produced in the Imperial Palace?
“She must be having an affair with Prince Mediocre!
“But Aunt slapped my mother in order to maintain her reputation!
“Grandma, you must get justice for my mother!”
Among the granddaughters, Old Madam liked Qiao Ruofeng most. Seeing her so aggrieved, the Old Madam felt distressed too…
Qiao Ruoshui added fuel to the flames on the side. “Like I said, a countryside girl is always a countryside girl even with the bloodline of our family!
“She must despise the husband Mother found for her, so she went to seduce Prince Mediocre, in an attempt to be his concubine!”
The Duchess was extremely annoyed when she heard her words. “Shut up, I believe Jinniang absolutely did nothing of the sort!”