Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 39 Prince Duan Refuses

Xue Sui noticed her intimidating gaze and said nothing more.

Today, she only presented her own pastries because Li Zhao disrupted the procedures, causing Xue Yuechen and Li Huan to mistakenly believe that she was fawning on him. That was also the mercy of the Bodhisattva, thanks to that bastard Li Zhao.

Xue Sui felt helpless.

When the old lady saw this, she smiled and was happy to see it happen.

"This old girl didn't grow up in the mansion, but she's no worse than the ladies in the capital. She's steady, kind-hearted, and not arrogant or frivolous. She's very pleasing to me."

Xue Qingzhi also agreed, "He is a good kid."

This flattered her.

She was afraid that Li Huan would think that she was not brought up in a wealthy family and was not decent enough.

Xue Yuechen listened and felt inexplicably sour in his heart.

In the past, these words of praise were used for her, "a kind-hearted lady, a noble lady, a distinguished lady." Now, her grandmother and father praised her sixth sister, and although she knew why, she still felt uncomfortable and her heart was in disarray.

She thought of Fu.

her mother.

Only her mother's heart was always on her side, only her side, but now her mother could do nothing to help her.

The meal was tasteless as everyone had their own thoughts.

Fortunately, Li Huan did not stay long. After a few words of greeting, he said goodbye and left.

The family saw him off to the door as usual.

Li Huan strode ahead, with Xue Yuechen following beside him.

She didn't know what had possessed her, but she panicked for a moment and pulled Li Huan's sleeve as if possessed by a ghost, and whispered to him:
"How does your Highness feel about my sixth sister?"

Li Huan stopped.

She has always been gentle and docile, rarely behaves like this in front of others, and certainly never in such an inappropriate way.

After all, Xue Liu was still her unmarried sister, and he was her husband.

Li Huan looked into those almost anxious eyes and pulled his hand back.

"Princess, be careful what you say."

Xue Yuechen suddenly felt a little ashamed.

After ten years of marriage, she had become as carefree as a little girl, forgetting everything that she usually cared about, namely, modesty and prudence.

Although the Xue family members were far away and no one heard it, she felt as if she had been slapped in the face. For a long moment, she could still hear her own violent heartbeat, and she didn't know why.

Until Li Huan turned around and asked her calmly:
"If the princess is reluctant to leave, it is better for her to stay. Otherwise, when the first lady returns home, there will be no one to mediate."

Xue Yuechen was slightly stunned, and his face turned red.

She had just heard about Liu Shijuan's affairs. Li Huan didn't ask anything, but suddenly asked her this question, which made her feel extremely embarrassed.

She lowered her head in shame and said in a sad tone, "It is not convenient for me to interfere in the affairs of my elders. Staying here will only cause more trouble, so I will not get involved in my mother's family anymore."

Li Huan looked at her deeply with his dark eyes.

"Then the princess comes to interfere in my affairs?"

Xue Yuechen's ears buzzed, as if he had temporarily lost his hearing.

She and Li Huan had been married for ten years, and they treated each other with respect. Li Huan could even be considered a good husband, very tolerant and easy to get along with. Although their relationship was a little dull, he never found fault with her and had no dissatisfaction with her. Sometimes when Concubine Xiao asked for accountability, he would also help her out.

Especially when it came to offspring, as a princess, she had been childless for ten years. If Li Huan hadn't taken all the responsibility on himself, saying that he was too busy with official duties and had no interest in having offspring, given Concubine Xiao's domineering personality, she would have replaced him with a new one long ago.

Over the years, she has fulfilled her duties as a wife, been generous and virtuous, and never fought or competed. She watched new people come into the house without saying a word. In the eyes of outsiders, the couple is considered to be in love.

This was the first time Li Huan accused her.

"Your Highness..." Xue Yuechen's voice softened, and she felt a sharp pain in her heart, her throat choking with sobs. "I have to take care of the harem, and I have no choice. I don't want to marry a new woman for Your Highness, but Your Highness has no children, and that is my fault."

Li Huan looked back at her quietly, his expression indifferent.

"I don't like your concubine sister, so there's no need to bother with her anymore."

After saying this, he strode ahead, took the reins handed to him by the servant, and jumped on the horse.

It took Xue Yuechen a while to react...

Did Li Huan reject Xue Liu?
Xue Yuechen was very puzzled.

Li Huan was not the kind of man who was greedy for women, but he never cared about the affairs of the harem. He only took a concubine, and she was his wife's younger sister. Given his personality, even if he didn't like her very much, he wouldn't directly refuse.

"Your Majesty..."

Xue Yuechen followed closely and asked in confusion: "May I ask you a question, is there anything about my sixth sister that does not please the prince?"

Li Huan pursed his lips slightly, and his hand holding the reins tightened slightly.

Two days ago, he intercepted a secret report from the East Palace.

Xue Liu has been in the Old Mausoleum Swamp for many years, and has a deep connection with the mysterious and treacherous leader of the Yaoguang Sect as rumored in the martial arts world.

Keeping a woman of such a suspicious identity around is like inviting a wolf into the house.

How could he lose his vigilance because of a little beauty?

But he didn't need to tell the women in the back house about this.

"My heart is mine, so there is no need for you to ask, Princess."

Li Huan rode away on horseback with his guards without waiting for her.

Xue Yuechen looked at the carriage parked there alone, sighed, turned back to the mansion and found the old lady and Xue Qingzhi, saying that the prince did not like his sixth sister.

Xue Qingzhi sneered when he heard this.

"She must have bullied the doorman on the day she returned home, causing Prince Duan to recognize her." Li Huan had warned him about this that day.

The Prince Duan's Mansion values rules and etiquette, so how could they be willing to accept a person who would bring disgrace to the family into their backyard?
Xue Qingzhi was more happy than worried about this.

This daughter who was found back from the old mausoleum swamp was full of uncertainty. She had a teenage appearance but a pair of eyes that seemed to be worldly-wise and a mind that was hard to fathom, which filled him with dissatisfaction.

Xue Yuechen was not happy.

"Father, I must take my sixth sister to my side... Now that I know the whole story, I will find a way to talk to the prince. The prince is a reasonable man. My sixth sister has been wronged over the years, and he will understand the whole thing..."

Seeing her stubbornness, Xue Qingzhi felt angry.

"Do you really have to have her? If you want to have a child for the prince, just pick a good one in the mansion. In terms of appearance and talent, which one is not better than her? If you don't like the ones in our mansion, there are so many cousins in our family for you to choose from. You can always find one that you like..."

"Father is so kind to all of us sisters, why doesn't he care about our sixth sister?"

Xue Qingzhi had never been contradicted by her before and was embarrassed for a moment.

"Father, your official reputation is more important. Your daughter is also considering you, sir."

Xue Yuechen was not in a position to tell him about the disaster prevention.

After all, it's not very decent to take the blame for her, as it will make people think that she is a cruel sister.

Moreover, Xue Liu's childhood experience also worried her. In the past, she was insignificant and could not help much. Now that she is a princess, it would be a good deed to help her.

Compared with the other two girls in the mansion, Xue Liu's personality is a little colder, but she looks honest and is willing to listen to her.

So Xue Yuechen said, "Sixth sister has been pitiful since she was little, and she doesn't get along with her mother in the mansion. It would be better to bring her to me and let me take care of her."

Xue Qingzhi was furious, "I think you have been blinded by greed! You pity her, why not pity me, your old father? I am in a difficult situation now. You Taichang is haunting me like a ghost, and His Majesty has been looking down on me since the Crown Prince reported me. Even Prince Duan just pointed at me, as if I was the one who did your third uncle's thing..."

Xue Yuechen had no interest in what happened in the court.

Hearing the sound, she looked at him helplessly.

"Father, I have made up my mind. My daughter is returning home."

Xue Qingzhi watched her leave and sighed.

"What a sin this is."

After saying this, he thought for a moment, then gave instructions to the servant with a stern face.

"Go to the Yongding Marquis's Mansion and invite the eldest lady back!"
-
Some are happy and some are sad.

The news that Prince Duan did not like Xue Sui spread throughout the palace the next day.

The eighth and ninth girls laughed as if they had picked up gold ingots. They talked about it wherever they went, for fear that others would not know about it.

As for Xue Sui, the person involved, he seemed to be fine. He sat in front of the wooden table by the window, leisurely polishing a small sandalwood ornament...

Ruyi felt very sorry for her, "It was dark, and the prince didn't even look at the girl carefully, so how could he know the goodness of our girl?"

Being rejected by Gu Jie in the past was already a loss of face for her.

Now, every time she goes to the palace to be a concubine, she is rejected by Prince Duan.

In Ruyi's opinion, the girl's reputation was trampled on.

She couldn't see it clearly, but Xue Sui didn't care, "That day in front of the screen wall, I saw Prince Duan."

In other words, she threw the coins into the water to tease the doorman on purpose?

Ruyi was so surprised that she couldn't close her mouth.

"Girl! Since you are going to marry into the palace, it would be good for the prince to love you. If you do that, wouldn't you be pushing the prince away and making him dislike you?"

Ruyi couldn't understand, "Prince Duan is an upright man, and he is handsome, why does the girl want to make him hate her?"

Xue Sui's face turned a little colder.

"Xiao Zhao, you better control this girl's mouth."

Xiao Zhao responded and made a beheading gesture towards Ruyi, "If you say that again, I'll pull out your tongue!"

Is the girl in their family the kind of person who would devote herself to serving others?
The girl's willingness to go to Prince Duan's mansion doesn't mean she wants to serve Prince Duan.

"I want Prince Duan to be disgusted!"

No matter what others think, Xiao Zhao likes their girl more and more. Compared with the old Ling Marsh, the girl now acts more calmly, has a good brain, speaks nicely, and treats servants well. Who wouldn't be happy to follow such a master?

Xiao Zhao was optimistic, but Xue Sui did not think so.

These words were just to comfort the two little girls.

She had a thorough understanding of Li Huan.

A man who thinks highly of himself and has a great sense of superiority over the whole world.

He wouldn't care about the trivial matter of taking a concubine in the back house.

Unless there was some other reason that she was unaware of...

"Cuckoo."

Lingyu suddenly flapped its wings on the shelf.

Xue Sui slowly turned his head and looked at it, his expression changing slightly.

Li Zhao.

It was him.

　Li Zhao: It's my first day in V, I have to show my face no matter what.