Chapter 283 Terrified, Trapped in King Yan’s Manor
Mo Xuetong was completely shrouded in the quilt and couldn’t see anything no matter she looked up or down. However, she knew the two people were dexterous. Though being carried, she didn’t feel uncomfortable. Apparently, these two were good at carrying people. “Is there a yard where they especially send abducted girls to? I don’t think so.”
She felt that they had walked for a long distance. It must be a big family’s mansion. “Since that somebody wants to use me, he might from those great manors. And I heard that only in prince’s manor do they have the practice of wrapping up women after washing, like what the Emperor and consorts do in the palace.”
The two people walked steadily and quickly. “They must have been doing such things all the time.” Remembering the things she just heard, she had a vague idea in her mind.
“Someone wants to trap the person in this manor, and I am his ‘tool’. If I’m found in his bed, Father must be furious. Father is in charge of the security in the capital and has been the first one to know those princes’ war over supremacy. But Father has always been only loyal to the Emperor and doesn’t want to take sides in the war at all.
“Someone is trying to force Father into taking sides!”
She bit her lips and her hands quivered in the quilt. She felt a chill from head to toe and even her heart had been frozen. “Someone wants to set up Father, and I’m the chess piece that will force Father into a corner.” Her heart raced and then she collected herself. “I must stay calm. The last thing I want right now is to get flustered.
“That person not only wants to destroy my life, but also take Father’s life. How vicious!”
Mo Xuetong’s ears were flapping for any sound outside the quilt. She didn’t know how long they had been walking when they stopped. Then she heard a woman’s coy smile. “Aunt Ling, who’s coming over today?”
Aunt Ling, the woman Mo Xuetong had heard previously, answered smilingly, “Who else could it be? Of course it’s Her Highness Han. His Highness loves her the most. When His Highness left today, he especially told me to fetch her.”
The woman politely chuckled. “It’s Her Highness Han! Quickly, send her in. It’s already heated in the room and His Highness will come back soon. The people in the front yard have told me.”
After the two women changed a few words of greetings, Mo Xuetong felt the two who had been carrying her moved again. This time, they seemed to have entered a room because she immediately felt warm around her body.
Aunt Ling didn’t follow and just smilingly said to Yirong, “Sister Yirong, we’ll place Her Highness Han in the inner room. She just washed and you don’t need to attend to her right now. It’s warm inside. Her Highness Han said she felt tired so she’d sleep for now. When His Highness returns, she’ll attend to him.”
Since Aunt Ling was blocking the door, Yirong wouldn’t want to be rude to barge in. Furthermore, Her Highness Han was now in His Highness’s favor, so Yirong didn’t want to interrupt her plan, because she might have come up with a new trick to cater to His Highness. She remembered that one time, Her Highness Han came in such a flimsy dress. Her Highness Han herself didn’t feel awkward or something, but those maidservants in the room all blushed.
Yirong secretly snorted. “A girl from those whorehouses. She’s seen many things and people. Even if she didn’t ever receive anyone, she can’t compare to girls from good families. When His Highness grows tired of her, she’ll know who’s in charge in this manor.
“She just looks slightly like the one, and she should really see herself as His Highness’s first wife!”
Though thinking like that, Yirong talked even more courteously. “Since Her Highness is willing to wear herself out, we’ll wait comfortably in the outer room. His Highness is about to return. Tell Her Highness Han not to worry.”
In the inner room, the two people unfolded the quilt. Mo Xuetong rolled out from the quilt. One of the two servants listened for any sound at the outside, and then she pouted her lips to gesture at another. Mo Xuetong immediately felt that a hand reached her. Next, the person ripped the clothes that covered her chest, which nearly shocked her to death. “Well, servants in the prince’s manor who carry and wash beauties must be girls too.” Thinking like that, she managed to control her emotions and didn’t let out a cry.
“They must have wanted to make the scene look more provoking.”
As expected, a woman asked in a muffled voice, “Elder Sister, are we done yet?”
Another hand gripped her and loosened her belt. Another female voice rang. “We’ll leave her like this!”
Then, they left and footsteps rang.
Mo Xuetong shut her eyes and lay still on the bed, listening carefully to the surroundings. It was quiet in the room and there must have been nobody else. A faint orchid scent flowed into her breath. They must have lit scented incenses in the room. Mo Xuetong opened her eyes slowly, only to see a spacious bedroom and a too wide bed. Sky blue net curtain embroidered with golden silk was hung on the bed, fastened by a large golden hook decorated with spiral cloud patterns.
She saw a thin amethyst camlet quilt embroidered with iridescent silk, a jade partition painted with “Beauty like Jade” painting shrouded in a red gauze, and a potted narcissus whose rugby pot was decorated with jade on a nearby treasure rack. In front of the windows, there was a table with a carved nanmu wood crossbar and decorated with silver ornaments. On the table, there was a silk hollow scent ball decorated with pomegranate flower patterns, along with rare bird and exotic plant motifs. It was giving off the fragrance of orchid.
One could tell from the furnishing in the room that the owner had a fortune.
“Moreover, they call him His Highness. He must be King Chu Feng Yuxuan, or King Yan Feng Yulei.”
Swallowing, Mo Xuetong picked herself up on her one arm, only to feel still a little sore and weak. She got up in a hurry and almost fell down. She supported herself on the bedpost and then got back on her feet. She first tidied up her clothes, refastened her belt, and slowly walked to the windows. She must carefully observe the situation to find a chance to run away later.
Maidservants must be guarding outside, so she couldn’t make any loud noise.
She carefully lifted the curtain and found it was a brightly-lit yard outside. Royal lanterns were hung high from the door of the room to the gate of the yard. Furthermore, besides the lanterns, fancily-dressed royal maidservants also stood below the lanterns. Because their master hadn’t arrived, they causally chatted in groups of two or three.
The so-called Aunt Ling seemed to have already left by now.
Trying to escape out of here in such a circumstance was practically impossible.
Though not knowing the situation outside, she knew there’s no chance for a weak girl like her to escape out of the yard. Besides, there were royal guards outside, who should not be taken lightly.
She was now some else’s chess piece, being thrown into some manor to trap some prince. “If that some prince knows my existence in his manor, I don’t have to be a genius to see that I will be killed after that. Only by killing me can this prince get out of this trap.”
Therefore, she couldn’t just show up in front of this prince and told him about the trap.
She didn’t think her relationship with Feng Yuxuan or Feng Yulei was good enough for them to save her and take the blame.
Bam. The door seemed to have been opened, and there were whispers. Mo Xuetong pondered and walked to the door, leaning to listen. She listened carefully but couldn’t hear things clearly, so she didn’t dare to act recklessly.
A woman asked in a despised tone. She seemed to be collecting things because clangs rang. “Yirong, do we really not need to serve the one inside? What if she finds fault with us, saying we didn’t look after her?”
Yirong said in a disdained tone. Apparently, she really didn’t like the master inside the room. “It’s not that we don’t want to look after her. Just now, Aunt Ling said something like that. If we enter now, we might spoil her mood. Anyway, the main wife is about to move into the manor. And Her Highness Han can only boss people around for a few days. Miss You is the first miss in Mingguo Manor, and surely can’t bear any flaws.”
A somewhat gloating voice rang. “Since she’s in the manor, she’s been bossing people around, thinking that His Highness loves her the most. She’s just a fake. In a few days, His Highness will forget about her. I’ll see how she bosses people around then.”
King Yan Feng Yulei?
Mo Xuetong was startled and then immediately connected what they said with what she heard before. It should be King Yan Feng Yulei. He was the one about to marry You Yue’e from Mingguo Manor, and he seemed to be in a rush. The two families seemed to have only set down the marriage recently, and King Yan wanted to marry her sooner. Royal marriages were bound to be special.
It wouldn’t be exaggerated if the process lasted for half a year or a year. King Yan’s marrying her so soon was really rare.
However, luckily, Emperor Zongwen wanted his soon married soon as well. Therefore, he didn’t question his son and directly set the ceremony two months later, when it was suitable for marrying and going on journeys. That was why the marriage was so imminent.
Before she came to a conclusion, Mo Xuetong heard someone shouting outside. “His Highness has returned. Someone, come and help His Highness.”
Mo Xuetong lifted the curtains and could see Feng Yulei walk to her, supported by servants. His staggering showed he had been drunk. A few maidservants stepped forward to replace the male servants. Another one shouted. “Sister Yirong. Quickly, His Highness is drunk. Prepare soup.”
The maidservants were walking none other than to the room where she was hiding.
Mo Xuetong felt restless and blocked the door by her shoulders in a hurry. Her fingers couldn’t stop twitching. No matter how calm she was, she had never experienced something like this. If she really got trapped in someone else’s bed, she could only kill herself to protect her reputation. In that way, her father would hate Feng Yulei and would even risk his life.
Feng Yulei had the Empress behind him, and he had Ding General Manor, which made him easy to accomplish anything. Father’s making him an enemy would only lead to death.
No, she couldn’t let Father be backed into such a desperate corner.
“Calm down. I must calm down now.” Outside the room, unsteady footsteps were already ringing, along with some flustered greetings. The footsteps drew closer, and Mo Xuetong stopped blocking the door. She reached out and drew the pair of small swords on her head. She held one in her hands respectively and quickly walked forward. She shrank and immediately hid under the bed.
It was spacious under the bed, and tassels hung down from the bed. Through the strings of tassels, she could see at a height where people’s knees were.
The door was forcibly kicked open.
A group of people helped Feng Yulei into the room.
When finally managing to lay Feng Yulei down on the bed, Yirong looked around and slightly let out a “gee”, murmuring to herself, “Where’s she!”
“She’s right here just now. Why can’t I see her?”
Someone shouted. “Sister Yirong. Quickly, feed His Highness with the soup.”
Yirong didn’t have the time to think and hurried to have hangover-cure soup prepared. After the hubbub, she finally laid Feng Yulei down on the bed. Other maidservants all left, and only Yirong and Yiyun stayed to clean the room.
Now, Yirong finally had the chance to ask, “Where’s Her Highness Han?”
Yiyun put down Feng Yulei’s robe and also asked in surprise, “Right. It’s in such a mess in the room. And why didn’t we see Her Highness Han?”
Just now, the room was in chaos, but no one saw Her Highness Han. Where could she be if she’s not in the room!
Yirong hesitantly asked, “Did anyone get out?” Earlier, it was really too messy. They were all attending King Yan, and no one paid attention to anyone else.
Yiyun stood up and also brought Feng Yulei’s stained robe. “I’ll ask them.”
After a while, Yirong returned, her face a little pale. “No one has got out. Girls in the yard said they only saw His Highness return and never saw anyone get out.”
In that way, she was still within the yard!