Chapter 3 – Demotion of Wife to Concubine
The Emperor gave a meaningful look, his sharp gaze travelled over Ye Yichen and fell onto Murong Xue, “The marriage agreement between Prince Jing and you was agreed upon by your parents and not by issue of my edict. It will be against reason for me to issue an order to annul the marriage agreement. You had better ask the elders in both families to annul the engagement.”
The Emperor does not wish to meddle in the family matters of his courtiers!
Murong Xue narrowed her eyes. She has an idea of how to convince the elders in the Marquis household to agree to break off the engagement but Ye Yichen’s direct elders are a thousand miles away on their fief. The large Prince Jing household only has Ye Yichen as the master. If he conceals this and does not invite his elders to the Capital, where ever shall this engagement drag till before it can be broken off
As though he saw through her worries, the Emperor calmly said, “I will immediately send a letter to old Prince Jing, and invite him to come quickly to the Capital!”
“Thank you so much, your Majesty!” Myrong Xu’s anxiety immediately left her. The Emperor personally summoned old Prince Jing into the Capital. No matter how audacious Ye Chenyi is, he wouldn’t dare to sabotage. She only needed to wait patiently, once old Prince Jing has arrived, negotiations to annul the engagement can start.
Eyeing her upturned lips and faint happiness that she was unable to conceal, a dark shadow loomed beneath Ye Chenyi’s eyes. She is just so happy that she’s breaking off the engagement with him, huh?
“The feast has ended!” The Emperor sharp eyes scanned though the varied expressions of his courtiers, got up and walked down the golden throne.
“To the Emperor!” The court officials kneeled to respectfully send off the Emperor.
Seeing the Emperor’s bright yellow silhouette disappear outside the great hall, Murong Xue stood up and with everyone looking on, calmly waltzed towards outside, without even a glance at Ye Chenyi.
Looking at her determined posture, Ye Chenyi narrowed his sharp eyes. Three years on, Murong Xue is no longer that weak-bodied, shy-smiling, carefully-ingratiating Murong Xue anymore…
“Your Highness, you and Murong Xue’s engagement definitely cannot annulled!” Advisor Xu Tianyou quickly walked to Ye Yichen’s side and quietly reminded him, his eyes flashing with severity that only they understood.
“I understand!” Ye Chenyi looked away, the black of his eyes deep, “Go to Prince Jing Mansion. Tell Seneschal Wang to represent me and present the bride price to the Marquis’ Household. I want to marry Murong Xue as concubine in three days!”
“Yes, sir.” Xu Tianyou nodded and strode out of the great hall.
Ye Yichen looked toward the direction that Murong Xue had disappeared to with deep eyes. He is Prince Jing – that who holds the reins of the military. On the other hand, Murong Xue has a serious illness and does not have any remarkable talents. By allowing her to be his concubine is he was already complementing her. He had already promised the position of first wife to Yuyan; Murong Xue had better not meddle in it for even a bit!
Murong Xue had no idea what Ye Yichen was thinking. After leaving the palace, escorted by her maid, she sat onto the Marquis Household’s carriage.
The carriage was made of incense wood. Inside the carriage, there was a wardrobe, marble table, tea, chess set, bookshelf and many other furnishings readily available; like a mini-bedroom. The implements on the table were very dedicate; every one of them priceless items. In the corner, a purple-gold stove was lit with expensive orchid perfume. The understated luxury made Murong Xue look down.
She remembered that she had agreed to her best friend’s, Ning Qinqin, invitation to go on holiday to Hawaii. Unfortunately, the private jet had met with a strong storm mid-journey. So strong that even the experienced pilot could not avoid, even though he had tried his very best. The new model was torn to pieces by the storm and her body would have definitely been destroyed till nothing is left.
In the sudden darkness the overcame her, she thought that she was a goner. She did not expect that when she opened her eyes again, she had been reborn. And actually reborn into such an ancient world. How unbelievable!
“Eh, isn’t that the page boy Shuangxi?” A young girl’s uncertain questioning travelled to her ears. Murong Xue looked up and saw a young boy of about 14, 15 years standing at the door of a mansion; his young face gloomy. It was, without a doubt, Shuangxi.
Murong Xue’s eyes flashed, and gently said, “Stop the carriage!” After the carriage was steady, she was helped out of the carriage by the maid and then slowly walked toward that young boy.
Sensing someone nearing, the young boy quickly turned around and faced head on with Murong Xue’s beautiful face. He widened his eyes, stunned, and stammered, “Young… young Mistress!” What was she doing here?
Murong Xue hummed in answer and asked, “The Young Master is inside?” Shuangxi is her twin brother Murong Ye’s personal servant. If Shuangxi was here, then Murong Ye would definitely be too.
“Heh heh…,” Shuangxi laughed unnaturally, eyes flashing, “Well… well…”
Watching hawing and humming, unable to explain himself, Murong Xue raised her eyebrows and walked passed him into the big courtyard. In the original person’s memory, Murong Ye is a rich playboy that only knew how to enjoy himself, often forgetting the time; it was not uncommon for him to stay out all night. In a month, he would spend twenty over days outside. How rare to run into him! Of course she had to go and see him.
Walking through the large doors, Murong Xue saw dozens of metal cages on the side of the vast training field. In the cages were black, white, and grey dogs. In the middle of the field, a round-shaped space of about 20 square meters was cordoned using a red fence, and within it a black hound and a grey large hound were fighting.
They had cuts all over their bodies; their flesh turning outwards. Red blood coated their fur with large patches here and there; their muscular bodies bloody, but they seem not to notice, still entangled with each other, wildly biting and scratching.
A young boy in green was standing outside of the fence staring fixedly at the fighting dogs, shouting excitedly, “Bite, bite, bite harder… General Black, bite it to death, bite it to death…”
“Snap!” As though the black dog had understood him, it savagely bit onto the neck of the grey dog until the grey dog had breathed its last.
The young-boy-in-green looked at the broken carcass of the grey and laughed out loud, “Murong Ye, you have lost again. Hahaha… after half a day of fighting dogs, every one that you had bought had died. I really don’t know what to say about your taste in picking things!”
Murong Ye’s handsome face turned slightly black and said unconcedingly, “You’ve only won a few rounds in a row, what is there to brag about? I will immediately buy a ferocious one and completely destroy yours.”
“You have said that same thing for over a dozen times; so many times that my ears are going to fall off. Yet I have not seen you win a single round.” The young-boy-in-green’s lips curled contemptuously as his finger quickly moved through the wad of bills that he had won.
His sore spot touched on, Murong Ye reddened and fiercely said, “I was careless previously. That’s why I kept losing. This time I will be more careful and will definitely beat you. Shuangxi, bring me the money, I wish to choose a dog.”
Shuangxi kneaded the flat purse and walked up with a sour face, “Young Master, we don’t have any more money.”
Murong Ye frowned, “Didn’t I ask you to bring five-, six- thousand silver taels? Why has it finished so quickly?”
Shuangxi laughed bitterly, “Young Master, you bought four dogs, each costing 500 taels. In addition, every stake was a thousand taels…”
“Alright, alright, you can stop detailing the accounts. Hurry and go home to redraw more money!” Murong Xue interruptedly Shuangxi irritably. Since Xu Tianan dared to laughed at his lack of taste, he will splash more money to buy a few more fierce dogs and make him lose every penny. Let’s see how arrogant he would be then!