Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

26. His Relationship with Nongyue

Translator: Snowball

The arrival of Nongyue and Xuanyuan Sheng was truly the game-changer. Not only did it surprise everyone present, but also totally made everything deviate from the script that Mu Yueli had written before.

Mu Yingxue didn’t feel happy at all to see Mu Yueli kneeling on the floor. Although she won round this time, in her point of view, she had already got the upper hand at the very beginning, not to mention Mu Yueli was barely an opponent to her. Any mental intersection with Mu Yueli would only degrade her.

However, there was one thing that she was still confused about: although the key point that she could survive this was because Xuanyuan Sheng accused Mu Yueli, it was another person who truly convinced Xuanyuan Lie to make the final decision.

Xuanyuan Chen, why did he help her? They were just strangers. Was it because he was helping Xuanyuan Lie? Or the princes were now expanding their powers separately, and he simply wasn’t on the side of the crown prince?

Mu Yingxue didn’t have much clue to figure that out, so she left it behind.

“Your Majesty, it’s my fault not tutoring my daughter right. What a shame to bring a family affair to the public under such an occasion. Please, Your Majesty, forgive her for her ignorance.”

Mu Yunxiao almost couldn’t resist the impulse to slap Mu Yueli right away. She brought him nothing but shame to face his colleagues. But he had to save her life at this point. Since he had already lost a daughter, he couldn’t bear losing another. A daughter of his concubine could at least be a tool for arranged marriage in the future. He was just quite pissed off right now.

Xuanyuan Lie didn’t pursue further and eased the case. After all, what mattered to him was to uphold Luo Wu’s previous verdict. He had every right to take this as the womenfolk in the Mu’s Mansion exposed their tricks in public, “Now that it’s your family affair, go ahead and handle it by yourself.”

When Xuanyuan Lie was young, telling lies in front of him would definitely result in a death sentence, but now he just let her go easily. Xuanyuan Lie signed as he felt good about himself: it was true that time not only aged people, but also gifted people with generous manners. However, even if Xuanyuan Lie was willing to spare Mu Yueli, she had indeed deceived him openly and deserved severe punishment.

After spending so many years with the emperor, Mu Yunxiao knew exactly what he should do to finish this, which would be beating the crap out of Mu Yueli.

Mu Yueli was just a concubine’s daughter, so Mu Yunxiao didn’t feel sorry for her. Bearing great rage, Mu Yunxiao said, “Your Majesty, please forgive me for my discourteous manners.”

“You evil creature!” As Mu Yunxiao shouted, he took off his jade belt and slashed it toward Mu Yueli’s head.

Mu Yueli screamed in great pain, but that failed to stop Mu Yunxiao from waving the belt again and again. After a while, her head was covered with blood and she cried bitterly.

Like others, Mu Yingxue watched this indifferently. Mu Yunxiao could have beaten Mu Yueli on her body, but he chose to beat her head severely. He was so cold-blooded, for his priority was pleasing the emperor. The scene further reminded Mu Yingxue that there was nothing but interests in the Mu’s Mansion, and Ouyang Ruo, Mammy Qiao, and Liu’er were the only ones that she cared about.

After Mu Yueli finally fainted, the farce ended.

But her miserable situation ruined the festive atmosphere. The emperor lost his interest to continue the show, and the others left in a bad mood.

The next day, Mu Yingxue felt quite bored to stay in the Mu’s Mansion, so she took Liu’er to the Moonlight Pavilion. Fortunately, Mu Yueli was half-dead after she was beaten yesterday, and her head had been bandaged like that of a pig. Otherwise, with her making troubles in the mansion, it would be hard for Mu Yingxue to stay there.

When they arrived, Xuanyuan Sheng was already waiting for her in a private room. Xuanyuan Sheng noticed that she liked it here the first time she chose this room, so he booked this room permanently, which caused a lot of complaints.

“You are here early, Prince Sheng.”

Seeing Xuanyuan Sheng’s innocent face, Mu Yingxue suddenly felt relieved.

“You, too, Yingxue. Come and sit. Let’s talk.”

Since the last time she refused to call him brother Sheng, he hadn’t imposed her to call him other nicknames. If she wanted to call him “Prince Sheng”, he would accept that.

Mu Yingxue sat next to him, grasping a handful of melon seeds and eating them boldly. She never behaved elegantly or politely in front of him.

“Eh, I thought you were a graceful lady from a noble family. But I didn’t expect the way you nibbled these melon seeds is no less unconstrained than those gossips on the streets.”

Xuanyuan Sheng expressed his surprise as he waved his fan. He remembered he had once asked Mu Yingxue about her favorite food and snacks. To his surprise, her answer was boiled melon seeds, which didn’t fit his impression of her at all. Even so, he prepared a dish of sweet-smelling melon seeds on the table each time she came here. It was a pity that the condition of Mu Yingxue’s teeth was not as well as hers in the previous life. To avoid the change of the shape of her teeth might be when she ate, after she took a few seeds, she began to peel the seeds unhurriedly as they talked.

Mu Yingxue put the peeled seeds in a prepared empty dish on the side, saying carelessly, “Why? Eating melon seeds while chatting is like eating peanuts while drinking. It’s just a hobby, why are you so surprised?”

Xuanyuan Sheng shook his head constantly. In his view, only the tradesmen and porters would eat peanuts while drinking. None of the aristocrats would do such a vulgar thing, not to mention a lady of a Marquis’s Mansion eating seeds while chatting. She must be the only one in the capital who dared to do this.

Seeing him shaking his head, Mu Yingxue could tell what he was thinking. She did not argue with him, but reached out and handed the dish with melon seeds to him, “Here, do you want some or not?”

Xuanyuan Sheng looked at her and then the peeled seeds, asking, “Do I have to?”

Mu Yingxue rolled her eyes, stretched out her hand and put a handful of seeds in her mouth, vaguely saying, “Forget it if you don’t want to. I won’t force you.”

However, the way she ate it was so enjoyable that Xuanyuan Sheng was even curious about the taste. He firstly took a seed carefully and put it in his mouth, but it was tasteless. So he imitated Mu Yingxue and put several seeds in his mouth this time. As expected, the favor was tasty and a little bit salty, quite different from those he had eaten before. As a result, he stuffed his mouth with all the seeds left and required, “I want more.”

Mu Yingxue didn’t mind at all, and beckoned Liu’er to join her. She was unable to satisfy this prince’s need.

Perhaps this was the first time that Xuanyuan Sheng had eaten melon seeds. He fixed his eyes on Mu Yingxue and Liu’er’s hands. As soon as they peeled some, he took and eat them all immediately. He even wanted to take the seeds to the emperor.

“Prince Sheng, are the two of us here to peel melon seeds for you today?”

Mu Yingxue took a handkerchief to wipe her fingers, then pointed at half a dish of seeds while suggesting, “Why don’t you peel them by yourself? You’ll find the taste of cinnamon and anise quite tasty.”

Xuanyuan Sheng not only accepted her advice, but also kept eating the seeds all the time. Since then, once they met and chatted, they would not drink, but take the seeds instead, which would be a future story to tell.

At this moment, Xuanyuan Sheng was eating elegantly like a curious baby. What had happened yesterday suddenly crossed Mu Yingxue’s mind, “Thank you for helping me out yesterday. If you hadn’t come in time, I might have gotten into serious trouble.”

Xuanyuan Sheng took a seed, shaking his head, “Don’t mention it. Nongyue is the one you should be grateful to.”

Mu Yingxue didn’t expect such an answer, asking, “Why should I thank him?”

Xuanyuan Sheng replied, “It was he who told me that you might have gotten yourself in trouble at the banquet. Indeed, when I got there, those annoying flies were buzzing around you.”

Mu Yingxue forced a smile when she heard this metaphor. She wondered, “He foresaw that I would get into trouble?”

Xuanyuan Sheng picked up the teacup beside him and explained to her, “What do you mean ‘foresaw’?” He got closer to Mu Yingxue and whispered in her ear mysteriously, “I’ll tell you what. Nongyue is quite well-informed, as if he knows everything. Nongyue, his existence itself is mystery.”

Mu Yingxue raised her eyebrow, not buying what he had just said, “Why? Is there any dark secret behind him?”

Xuanyuan Sheng shook his head, “I don’t know if there is any secret, but he is the only one that I admire in my life. It’s fair to say that I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Even though Xuanyuan Sheng thought highly of Nongyue, the memory of his snicker behind the mask still made Mu Yingxue believe the opposite. She couldn’t agree with Xuanyuan Sheng, so she refuted, “Is he really that good? Or is he just deliberately mystifying himself?”

Xuanyuan Sheng couldn’t understand why she thought of Nongyue like that, “Yingxue, why do you describe Nongyue like that? Do you have any idea who Nongyue is? Ordinary ministers are no match for him, and his fortune is too much to imagine. My father is fond of him. Father is aware of the relationship between him and me, so he would always tell me directly or indirectly to maintain our relationship.”

Mu Yingxue grasped the key point, “What’s your relationship with Nongyue?”

Xuanyuan Sheng was stunned for a moment. Wasn’t she supposed to ask “Really? How much money does he have” to fit into the occasion?

But he was also clear that Mu Yingxue had never heard of Nongyue, so she had no idea who Nongyue was and asked so.

“Friends, of course. We hit it off.”

Mu Yingxue could see his proud expression when he talked about Nongyue. He didn’t even have that look when he mentioned his father, the emperor. Who on earth was Nongyue?