Hearing what Ye Jiayao said, Ah Ruan agrees “Sure, I will not be formal with you.”

There are a few times Ye Jiayao wants to ask her but she cannot bring herself to, she should just ask Xiao Man later.

After sitting around for an hour, Ye Jiayao finally bids farewell. They have agreed that she would send a chef over after three days.

Ah Ruan sends her off to the door and Ye Jiayao forbids her to see her off any further “Just leave it to Xiao Man, you should head back quickly! The sun is raging outside.”

“Alright then, you have to come three days later!”

Such reluctance to separate, such anticipation in her gaze, how lonely Ah Ruan must be. Ye Jiayao nods, smiling “I will, when have I not kept my word?”

After leaving the main courtyard, Ye Jiayao asks Xiao Man “Xiao Man, tell me the truth, how is the Prince treating the Princess?”

Xiao Man seems to be put on the spot, muttering “The Prince is quite busy.”

Ye Jiayao laughs bitterly inside, what a good excuse, a common one to use regardless of time and space…

They just got married and he is so busy?

Suddenly, she sees a silhouette walk past the corridor, crossing over the hall from the other side.

If it is not Yu Wang, who could it be? Such hurried footsteps.

Ye Jiayao asks “Where is that?”

Xiao Man lowers her head and replies “It is the living quarters of the Lin, the concubine.”

Ye Jiayao is suddenly enraged, her heart feels like it is burning with fire, when did Yu Wang get a concubine? She actually doesn’t know about it. Well, busy, busy, busy, so this is what he is busy with.

Ye Jiayao’s face becomes sullen “Xiao Man, you know that I am the Princess’s only friend in Jin Lin, what else can you not tell me?”

Xiao Man’s eyes redden immediately.

Ye Jiayao hints Qiao Xi to take a look at the situation around, pressing her voice down “Tell me quickly, what is the situation the Princess is in?”

Xiao Man chokes “The Princess is not well at all. On the night of the wedding, the concubine, Lin, also marries in. The Prince says that he is drunk as an excuse, saying that he is afraid that he would be rude to the Princess and left. After that, we found out that the Prince went to Lin’s place and from then on, the Prince has rarely come by. He hands everything in the residence over to Lin and taking advantage of the Prince’s favour for her, she doesn’t even care about Princess. Second Young Mistress, you also know that the Princess’s heart is not here and therefore she just doesn’t bother to vie for anything. But the more she is like this, the bolder Lin gets and sometimes, when the Prince comes to the Princess’s side first when he returns, Lin would send someone over to invite him over, finding all sorts of excuses to get the Prince over…”

Ye Jiayao is so angry she is trembling all over, this is too much, getting a concubine on the day of the wedding night is already too much, he even hands all the household matters over to Lin, then what is Ah Ruan supposed to be? Does he really treat her as a painting on the wall, as a decorative piece?

“Second Young Mistress, the Princess has instructed be time and again to not tell you all these, the Princess said that she is fine like this, so Second Young Mistress, pretend you don’t know anything!” Xiao Man says while wiping her tears.

Fine like this, fine my foot! Ye Jiayao is fuming with rage. If she is really fine like this, would Ah Ruan be this thin? Ah Ruan is just a figurehead as the Queen Consort, given the cold shoulder and neglected. Does she intend to spend the rest of her life like this like a stagnant pool of water? What is the difference between her and an imperial concubine who got banished into the cold palace?

Just because she doesn’t wish to vie and doesn’t vie for anything, she can lead a peaceful life? Little does she know that with the title of Queen Consort, she would be a target of envy, who can guarantee that Lin does not have that wild ambition? The easier she is to bully, the more the other party wouldn’t let it easy and her life would only get worse.

The more Ye Jiayao thinks about it, the more indignant she feels. She turns around and walks back.

Xiao Man says hurriedly “Second Young Mistress, if the Princess finds out that I was the one who told you all these, she would never let me off, the Princess would send me back to South Vietnam.”

Ye Jiayao pauses in her steps, that is right, what is she going to say when she goes over? Should she say, Ah Ruan, you cannot carry on like this, you have to fight for it, fight for what? Yu Wang’s love or the Queen Consort’s rightful rights? Ah Ruan would never let it sink in.

However, she cannot just watch Ah Ruan slowly wither like a flower that has lost all water and nutrients.

Alright, she shall think of another way.

“Xiao Man, serve the Princess well, if anything happens, come and look for me.” Ye Jiayao sighs silently and eventually leaves.

Once Ye Jiayao left, Ah Ruan sits in a daze. Now, the thing she does the most is nothing. She doesn’t know what to think. She dares not think of the past because it is too upsetting and she dares not think about the future even more.

In the past, she is a merry little bird in the forests, wild and free with so many people pampering her. after she came to Jin Lin, she has made plans for the worst, thinking that even if she marries someone she doesn’t like, it is okay because she is doing all this for South Vietnam. However, never would she have thought that she would meet Little Jing and would fall for this person. After that, everything changed.

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Xiao Man enters with the creak of the door.

Ah Ruan asks leisurely “The Second Young Mistress didn’t ask anything, did she?”

Xiao Man hangs her head low, afraid that the Princess would notice her red eyes.

“She did, I just replied her based on how you instructed.”

Ah Ruan laughs self-mockingly “She definitely didn’t believe it.”

Xiao Man replies “Second Young Mistress just said that if there is anything in the future, look for her.”

Ah Ruan sweeps a look at her lightly and continues to stare out the window. She does not wish for Sister Yaoyao to be worried for her, in the future, she is satisfied with being able to meet up once in a while.

Ye Jiayao returns to the Marquis’s Mansion with a stomach full of anger. The servants notified her that the Heir-son Lord has returned. Ye Jiayao told Qiao Xi not to follow her in as she enters theroom to question Chunyu by herself.

“Chunyu, do you know about Yu Wang’s concubine?” Ye Jiayao gets straight to the point.

Xia Chunyu has been waiting for her, wanting to talk to her about this matter. Upon hearing her footsteps, he lifts his head up to call her but who knew that she would interrogate him with rage.

Ugh… how does she know?

“Tell me, quick, do you know about it?” Ye Jiayao urges as she sees him dumbstruck. She doesn’t have the patience.

Xia Chunyu clears his throat, patting the place beside him “Take a seat, let me tell you this slowly.”

Ye Jiayao walks over and sits down, saying impatiently “Tell me, quick.”

Xia Chunyu grabs o to her hands, saying guiltily “Weren’t you sick at that period, I was afraid that you would be impatient and that wouldn’t aid your recovery so I hid it from you first. I wanted to find a suitable chance to tell you about it.”

Xia Chunyu was thinking, since she has been so happy for this half a month, he doesn’t want to destroy her mood but she would definitely not approve of this reason.

“Yaoyao…” Xia Chunyu licks his dry lips, beginning with difficulty “I’m just afraid that you would be angry and upset. However, this is the truth that no one can change. When His Majesty wants the Third Prince to marry Ah Ruan, the Third Prince was unwilling too, he only agreed after His Majesty promised to let him marry Lin Wanyin at the same time.”

“My foot, how can they bully someone like that? Is he all that great just because he belongs to the royal family? The Third Prince is a prince but Ah Ruan is also a princess. By doing that, what do they regard Ah Ruan as? What do they regard South Vietnam as?” Ye Jiayao always thinks that the Emperor is a benevolent ruler, at least it seems so on the surface. Besides, His Majesty is not unreasonable but this is too much.

“Keep it down, keep it down.” Xia Chunyu quickly covers her mouth. It is a big crime to criticise the royal family.

Ye Jiayao bites down on his hand ruthlessly.

Xia Chunyu is in pain “Hey, hey, hey, pardon me…”

“I hate you to the core, how can you not sound off a reminder and watch Ah Ruan jump into a fire pit. To think I was still filled with expectations, settling the wedding feast with all my heart, hoping to give Ah Ruan a good start to her happiness. I hate you to death.” Ye Jiayao starts to cry, thinking about Ah Ruan’s thin figure, her heart starts to ache even more.

“Don’t cry…” Xia Chunyu hasn’t seen her cry for a long while. This sudden crying leaves him at a loss.

“Yaoyao, even if you knew about it earlier, what could you do? Persuade Ah Ruan to not marry? Is that possible? Because you are genuinely concerned about Ah Ruan and is genuinely nice to her, therefore, you will feel anger and unacceptable. However, in the eyes of others, Ah Ruan is just a chess piece. A chess piece used to solve diplomatic relations between two countries. To His Majesty, it is fair that Ah Ruan is made the Queen Consort and to South Vietnam, it is already not bad that Ah Ruan can become the Queen Consort. The motive has been achieved. It is not rare that the official wife and concubine marry in on the same day. Besides, in order to take care of Ah Ruan’s face, His Majesty orders that the concubine cannot have any official ceremony, just a simple marriage sedan through the door…”

“Yaoyao, Ah Ruan also knows about it beforehand, she didn’t tell you because she is afraid that you would be worried and upset.” Xia Chunyu says with a sigh.

Ye Jiayao slowly stops her sobbing but her tears fall even more ferociously. Just a chess piece, such words are really hurtful but why should Ah Ruan make such a huge sacrifice, to give up her love and marry someone she doesn’t love at all. She still has an extravagant hope that they can treat each other with respect, who knew that it is actually to treat each other coldly. A man’s tactics but a woman has to make the sacrifice. How shameless.

“Alright, alright, stop crying. Yu Wang is also not someone who doesn’t know propriety, even though he likes Lin, I believe he would not treat Ah Ruan unfairly.” Xia Chunyu coaxes.

Ye Jiayao really feels like shouting at him, OFF WITH YOUR BULLSHIT.

“What do you mean knows propriety, on the night of the wedding, he abandons Ah Ruan to whisper sweet nothings with Lin. Ah Ruan is the Queen Consort but he lets Lin handle the household matters. It has been more than a month since they got married and he has only gone to Ah Ruan’s room a few times and every time he comes and goes in a hurry, you call this propriety? You haven’t seen how thin Ah Ruan has become…” Ye Jiayao sobs.

Xia Chunyu is in a daze, no way, Yu Wang is too…

Xia Chunyu doesn’t know what to say, remaining silent for quite a while before saying “I think, this is only temporary, Ah Ruan is also a smart woman…”

“No matter how smart the woman is, if her heart is still, what is the use? Ah Ruan’s heart is still now, she doesn’t want to vie for anything, doesn’t want anything, she is just a figurehead, stuck in a splendid cage, playing her role as a chess piece.” Ye Jiayao cannot stop her tears from flowing out. Her heart is filled with sorrow “Now I know how much she loves Little Jing.”