Chapter 580: The Fallen Handkerchief

Sure enough, Yun Luoluo got the timing right—she waited until Ning Xueyan woke up from her afternoon nap to come over.

She brought only a maid with her. Yesterday, she had formally apologized to Ning Xueyan with the excuse of being deceived and even indignantly expressed that her sister had gone too far this time. Thus, she was able to visit today without any burden.

Since Yun Luoluo was a guest at Prince Yi’s Manor and they had also agreed to put the past behind them, Ning Xueyan had to respect her. After receiving her master’s order, Lanning invited Yun Luoluo in with a bright smile.

“Princess Ning, I hope you won’t find me a nuisance for visiting you again!” Yun Luoluo saw Ning Xueyan the moment she entered and her face was immediately full of smiles.

Ning Xueyan’s room was so well-decorated that even an experienced person like Yun Luoluo couldn’t help being envious after seeing the decorations inside. Her elder sister’s room was so simple that it couldn’t be compared to this place at all. Even the decorations in the Great Wisdom Garden were notably inferior to the ones here. It seemed that her sister had truly angered Prince Yi this time, resulting in him making great compensations to Ning Xueyan.

What envy-inducing luck! How could Ning Xueyan be so fortunate? Prince Yi’s favored concubine was dead, yet her compensation was left in Ning Xueyan’s hands.

Everything came down to luck! How nice would it be if this luck was hers?

“You’re too polite, Young Lady Yun. How could you be a nuisance when you’re such a rare guest?” Ning Xueyan went along with Yun Luoluo’s words politely while indicating Lanning to prepare a seat for her guest.

“Princess Ning, the decorations in your room are so pretty. They’re from the palace, aren’t they? I don’t think I’ve seen them even in the Empress’ palace.” Yun Luoluo shook the circular fan in her hand with a wholehearted smile, sounding like a cultured young woman.

“I heard that these decorations have gone out of style, but they’re from the palace, after all. The Prince said that they might as well be put to use here rather than staying in the storeroom. The Empress wouldn’t be using such old-fashioned decorations,” Ning Xueyan replied calmly with a smile.

As expected, these decorations were only given to Ning Xueyan because they were out of style! All that glitters was not gold. It seemed that her sister was right. Ning Xueyan was only glorious thanks to the luck of that unnamed favored concubine. That woman’s death had unexpectedly blessed Ning Xueyan instead.

Ning Xueyan was still nothing to the Prince!

These old and unwanted decorations were dumped on the Pear Flower Garden. Fortunately, they were quite pretty, or Ning Xueyan would be humiliated. Yun Luoluo curled her lip in the dark, though she didn’t show her disdain on her face. She continued to be polite to Ning Xueyan.

“What are you saying? The Prince treats you so well. Why would he leave secondhand decorations that couldn’t be kept in the storeroom to you? There must have been a misunderstanding, Princess Ning.”

She sounded like she was praising Ning Xueyan but her words brought no actual joy. The well-educated Ning Xueyan pretended not to notice the innuendo and showed no embarrassment on her face. She maintained her smile as if she didn’t hear the mockery in Yun Luoluo’s words.

This made Yun Luoluo look down on her even more. How could such a stupid woman be so lucky?

“Princess Ning, the weather is pretty nice today. Why don’t we go on a walk?” Yun Luoluo suggested.

“Sure.” Ning Xueyan stood up with a smile. Taking Xinmei with her, she followed Yun Luoluo to the courtyard. She was about to throw a flower-viewing banquet and it so happened that she hadn’t been able to visit a few parts of the courtyard. She could take this chance to visit them. Of course, she was curious to see what was up Yun Luoluo’s sleeve.

The two of them chatted about insignificant things as they walked.

Yun Luoluo was half a step faster, so Ning Xueyan was inadvertently following her pace. They didn’t have a destination in mind, so Ning Xueyan paid no attention to it. Besides, Ning Xueyan’s expression made it look like she hadn’t noticed anything.

Somehow, the two of them ended up arriving in front of the Moon-embracing Tower. Yun Luoluo stopped walking and looked up at the tower that was much taller than other buildings in the manor. “Princess Ning, is this Prince Yi’s Moon-embracing Tower? It’s so tall.”

Ao Chenyi’s Moon-embracing Tower was located in the inner courtyard. As the only male master of the manor, it was only normal for him to have a private courtyard here.

“This tower is indeed the tallest building in the manor. It looks much taller than other buildings,” Ning Xueyan replied softly, looking up as well.

A thought came to Yun Luoluo, prompting her to ask, “You haven’t gone in before, Princess Ning?”

“Not the top floor. I’ve entered the ground floor when receiving the Prince’s message.” Ning Xueyan lowered her head and appeared somewhat awkward when saying this. Any woman would feel humiliated if she was treated like an outsider by her husband, forbidden from visiting the top floor.

Her sister was spot-on, Yun Luoluo thought. Ning Xueyan wasn’t favored at all. Looking at the woman who looked so frail that she would collapse from the slightest breeze, Yun Luoluo was increasingly certain that she wouldn’t bear any heirs. Besides, her elder sister also said that Ning Xueyan had been poisoned by her stepmother while she was still in the Lord Protector’s Manor.

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No one knew if she could even give birth.

Yun Luoluo’s confidence immediately swelled. She was about to say something when the gate of the Moon-embracing Tower opened, revealing a group of people. The extraordinarily handsome young man right in the middle was none other than Prince Yi.

In the past, Yun Luoluo was so terrified of Prince Yi that she wouldn’t dare to take more than one look at him. The Prince had such a strong murderous aura that she would feel frightened looking at him even from a distance. His long, narrow, almond-shaped eyes would invoke a chill in everyone who looked into them. Thus, she never gave his face a good look.

Today, however, she deliberately paid attention to his appearance. Prince Yi’s eyes were cold and sharp, but even so, he was still as handsome as a god. Moreover, he didn’t look as murderous and sinister as usual at this moment. Even the usual bloodthirstiness and gloominess that graced his expression were gone.

At this moment, Prince Yi was so handsome that Yun Luoluo’s heart skipped several beats. She became filled with excitement. She stared so hard that she fell into a daze. To think that Prince Yi would look so beautifully cold! Compared to Wen Xueran’s devastating beauty and elegance, Prince Yi was even better at making her heart race.

She had never noticed that Prince Yi would be so handsome. For a moment, she forgot the propriety between men and women and stared blankly as Ao Chenyi walked over to them. When she saw him giving her a cold stare, she immediately shivered and lowered her head, not daring to look into his cold and enchanting eyes.

Still, her heart was thumping wildly. She felt as if she had discovered a big secret that was only known to her. Prince Yi was gorgeous, and yet no one in the capital ever mentioned his looks. It was a great pity, but all the better because it meant that no one dared to covet him.

She pinched her circular fan with her head lowered. Her cheeks were flushed with a faint pink.

This was an once-in-a-lifetime chance to leave a deep impression on Prince Yi’s mind. She didn’t want to lose it.

Ao Chenyi gave Yun Luoluo an impatient look. As a vicious glint flashed in his beautiful eyes, he strode toward Ning Xueyan without giving Yun Luoluo any attention. Only when he reached Ning Xueyan that his expression eased, though he still spoke in a slightly admonitory tone. “It gets hot in the courtyard at noon. If you wanted to take a walk, you should’ve chosen to do it in the morning.”

“Second Young Lady Yun is a rare guest, after all. I wanted to check out the courtyard to decorate it anyway, so I came out with her. I just didn’t think that we’d end up in your place,” Ning Xueyan said, smiling.

Yun Luoluo immediately took the chance to join the conversation. Standing next to Prince Yi, she bowed at him and said softly, “Greetings, Your Highness. I’m Yun Luoluo.”

Ao Chenyi finally bothered to look at her. Her bashful and timid expression disgusted him, so he ignored her. “Mother Ruan is almost done with her preparation for the courtyard. You can take a look later. If something isn’t to your liking, you can just tell her. You don’t have to come out on your own.”

He was completely disregarding Yun Luoluo. It was obvious that he didn’t plan on paying her any attention.

Yun Luoluo looked embarrassed. She raised her head and shot Ning Xueyan a sidelong glare. Prince Yi must have found it awkward to express anything because of this woman’s presence. Had she known earlier that she would run into Prince Yi, she would have never come with Ning Xueyan.

If Prince Yi wasn’t around, she would have borrowed Ning Xueyan’s power to enter and tour the Moon-embracing Tower. That was her reason for looking for Ning Xueyan.

“Yes. I’ll return now.” Ning Xueyan looked gentle and deferential.

“I’ll be having dinner at your place tonight. Prepare a few of my favorite dishes.” Ao Chenyi nodded. He had been so busy lately that it had been several days since he spent the night at the Pear Flower Garden. Of course, it wasn’t just because he was busy. He was also following the physician’s advice to leave Ning Xueyan alone until she was fifteen or her body might get hurt.

But if he were just to look at her without being able to do anything intimate, his body would suffer as well!

Alas! If he could only look at her without being able to do anything, he might as well not look at her.

Even so, whenever he was free during the day, he would surely visit her. Sometimes he would come early in the morning, sometimes at noon, sometimes in the evening. He would even drop by while she was taking a nap and leave after taking a look at her.

“I understand.” Ning Xueyan pretended to be a princess who observed proper etiquette and saluted him. But when she saw him winking repeatedly at her as if praising her good acting, she nearly broke character and laughed out loud.

She immediately lowered her head to conceal the mirth in her eyes before straightening her back. She turned around with a poker face, intending to leave with Yun Luoluo.

However, Yun Luoluo refused to give up such a good chance. She deliberately took up the rear like a sweet and harmless girl, allowing her circular fan to fall to the ground. She pretended to panic when it happened. She glanced at Ao Chenyi, who was looking at her coldly, with a pitiful expression before hastily picking up the fan.

With red cheeks, she hurriedly walked away to catch up with Ning Xueyan.

A small handkerchief was left in her standing place. It was of a striking red color.

Ao Chenyi frowned and his eyes turned cold. He indicated Eunuch Zhu to pick it up before leading his men to the outer courtyard.

At the turn of the road, Yun Luoluo saw Eunuch Zhu picking up her handkerchief and a smug smile appeared on her face. It seemed that Prince Yi did have some feelings for her. That would make the rest of the matters easier…