Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"Madam Jia, the Empress Dowager has been very lenient with you."

Even His Majesty is filial and respectful in front of the Empress Dowager, and never goes against her wishes.

If the Empress Dowager weren't a kind and compassionate person, given what Lady Jia had done, she probably wouldn't have been able to leave the palace today. Lady Jia, please think carefully, lest you disappoint the Empress Dowager's good intentions.

The head eunuch who led the way, for reasons unknown, offered Wang Xifeng some advice as she left Weiyang Palace.

Wang Xifeng paid no attention to this and just walked forward in a daze.

Having finally returned to Fengzao Palace, Wang Xifeng could no longer contain her grief when she saw Jia Yuanchun, Grandmother Jia, and others who were waiting for her with concern. She threw herself into Grandmother Jia's arms and burst into tears.

"What's wrong, Feng'er? What did the Empress Dowager say to you?"

Wang Xifeng cried uncontrollably, and even Grandmother Jia and the others couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Madam Wang and Madam Xing pressed her for answers, fearing that Wang Xifeng might offend the Empress Dowager and bring disaster upon the family.

Faced with everyone's concern and questioning, Wang Xifeng cried, "Empress Dowager, sob sob, the Empress Dowager wants... she wants Second Master Lian to divorce me... sob sob sob..."

Upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia and the others were somewhat stunned.

Yuan Chun's expression tightened at first, but then relaxed. With the information she had, she understood many things almost instantly.

Since the Empress Dowager was involved, Grandmother Jia did not dare to defend Wang Xifeng and hurriedly asked, "What exactly happened? Tell us about it."

Then Wang Xifeng told the story of how the Empress Dowager was biased and wanted to take Jia Lian away to give to some princess.

As for the Empress Dowager's criticisms of her, she naturally avoided mentioning them if possible.

After hearing what Wang Xifeng had to say, Grandmother Jia and the others were shocked, never expecting such a thing to happen.

Yuan Chun then explained, "Princess Zhaoyang was born to the former Consort Yi, who was the Empress Dowager's niece. Therefore, after Consort Yi passed away, the Empress Dowager took Princess Zhaoyang into her care and raised her personally."

Because of the Empress Dowager, Princess Zhaoyang was the most favored and pampered princess in the royal family from a young age. Even His Majesty treated her differently from other princesses, so even though she loved riding and archery from childhood, His Majesty never interfered.

As Yuan Chun spoke, she looked at Wang Xifeng with a hint of sympathy in her eyes.

Like Yuan Chun, Grandmother Jia felt great sympathy for Wang Xifeng, who was in a state of utter despair.

But since it was the Empress Dowager who wanted to deal with Wang Xifeng, Grandmother Jia couldn't muster any emotion to speak up for her.

However, Madam Xing and Madam Wang didn't feel anything. In fact, Madam Xing felt secretly pleased to see Wang Xifeng in such a miserable state.

Jia Lian was one thing, but he was the pillar of the family, someone she couldn't afford to offend.

But what is Wang Xifeng? She is still Wang Xifeng's nominal mother-in-law, but she doesn't receive any respect from Wang Xifeng at all.

Therefore, she had long disliked Wang Xifeng, but since Wang Xifeng had always been in charge of the household and held great power, she didn't want to offend her.

Seeing Wang Xifeng being punished by the Empress Dowager now naturally brings a perverse sense of satisfaction.

As for Madam Wang, she originally felt quite sorry for Wang Xifeng, but some previous events made her realize that Wang Xifeng was not on her side, so her feelings of pity for the younger generation naturally faded.

However, Yu Shi, sitting in the corner, had a different state of mind than the others.

Because of her connection with Jia Lian, she felt somewhat afraid of Wang Xifeng.

Now that it seems the threat from Wang Xifeng can be eliminated, she hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief before she became even more worried.

Wang Xifeng is actually alright. Even if they discover her affair with Jia Lian, she will at most make a scene, but Jia Lian can keep her in check, and in the end, nothing serious will happen.

But what if the object of affection were a princess...

As the mistress of the Ningguo Mansion, Lady You had also had some dealings with the royal family and knew all too well the coldness and even cruelty of these high-ranking people.

Offending Wang Xifeng is something you can still manage to deal with, but if you offend the princess, she might just make you disappear...

Thinking of this, Lady You couldn't help but shudder, and suddenly interjected, "What does the princess look like?"

Upon hearing You Shi's question, even Wang Xifeng temporarily lowered her sobs.

Yuan Chun glanced at Wang Xifeng and said, "Princess Zhaoyang is beautiful and graceful, and people say that women are just as capable as men. Therefore, there are countless admirers among the young talents and noblemen in the capital."

Upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia and the others had nothing more to say.

From their perspective, they couldn't see any possibility that Wang Xifeng could turn the tables, so they could only look at her with increasing sympathy.

"Feng girl, try to be more positive, at least... sigh."

Grandmother Jia didn't know how to comfort Wang Xifeng.

"Ancestor..."

Wang Xifeng took in the attitudes of these people. Seeing that these were her closest relatives and the people with the most say, yet they dared not say a word in her favor, one can imagine how she felt.

At this moment, she only wanted to find Jia Lian as soon as possible, but she was also afraid of finding him.

She hoped to receive comfort from Jia Lian, but feared that Jia Lian would be as heartless as the people before her...

……

Because of the incident involving Wang Xifeng, Grandmother Jia and others had no desire to stay in the palace any longer and frequently set off to leave.

Upon reaching the palace gates, the female servants changed out, and male servants took their place to carry the sedan chair.

Grandmother Jia lifted the sedan curtain and saw Jia Lian walking over. From Jia Lian's expression, she could tell that he knew about this matter, so she didn't explain much and only said, "Feng'er is behind. Go and see her."

Jia Lian nodded and went to the last sedan chair.

Faint sobbing could be heard coming from inside; it was Wang Xifeng's voice.

Approaching, they lifted the curtain and, sure enough, there was Wang Xifeng, dressed in the same bright and beautiful imperial robes as when they arrived, sitting in the sedan chair looking pitiful and wronged, holding up an embroidered handkerchief and crying like a baby.

Seeing the curtain lifted, she glanced outside and, upon seeing that it was indeed Jia Lian, turned her head away in tears.

Little did she know that Jia Lian had already rejected the Empress Dowager, which was why the Empress Dowager approached her.

Knowing that Princess Zhaoyang was the dream goddess of so many people, she even suspected that this matter was planned by Jia Lian and the Empress Dowager, but Jia Lian was too embarrassed to break his promise, so he had the Empress Dowager come to pressure her.

He really is a heartless man.

Wang Xifeng was even more heartbroken.

Jia Lian stepped into the sedan chair, gave an order to the servants, and then lowered the curtain.

Knowing that Jia Lian had entered, Wang Xifeng's crying subsided quietly. She turned her head away and remained silent.

Jia Lian sat down. Because the sedan chair was much smaller than a carriage, the space was very cramped, so Jia Lian easily pulled Wang Xifeng into his arms and gently stroked her shoulders with his hands.

Upon noticing the damp, sweat-soaked skin beneath the fine silk robe, Jia Lian knew that this woman was indeed terrified today.

So he bent down and kissed her forehead to comfort her.

Jia Lian's actions quickly elicited a response. The beauty in his arms seemed to be stimulated, trembling all over, and her soft sobs grew louder.

She turned and threw herself into Jia Lian's arms. After a long while, she sobbed, "You heartless wretch, you have such a cruel heart..."

As she spoke, she began practicing her embroidery boxing in Jia Lian's arms.

Jia Lian found her reaction quite adorable, so he hugged her tighter to calm her agitation, then smiled and asked, "What did the Empress Dowager say to you?"

Upon hearing that Jia Lian indeed knew that the Empress Dowager had summoned her, Wang Xifeng was both heartbroken and furious: "How dare you ask? If you're tired of me and don't want me anymore, just tell me. Do you think I'd stop you from finding someone better and pursuing a better future?"

Why bring up the Empress Dowager to scare people? You have such a cruel heart...

Jia Lian has always been intolerant of Wang Xifeng's wild guesses and nonsense.

He casually slapped her buttocks, which were bulging out of her bright red imperial robes, and then cursed, "You stupid woman, don't you think that if I really didn't want you anymore, would I need to use the Empress Dowager to scare you?"

"You think you're so powerful that I can't handle you alone and need to rely on the Empress Dowager's power?"

Wang Xifeng's mood was extremely unstable at the moment. Seeing Jia Lian hit her again, she had no rational thought left.

Thinking of the grievances she had suffered in front of the Empress Dowager, she suddenly became emboldened and grabbed Jia Lian's arm, biting down hard.

She originally wanted to bite him hard to vent her anger, because she felt that if Jia Lian really wanted to abandon her, he deserved it.

She poured her heart out to him...

However, sensing something unusual in Jia Lian's tone, he didn't close his two rows of neat teeth that were gripping Jia Lian's arm; he just kept them there.

She was waiting to hear what Jia Lian would say next, to see if she had wronged him.

As the weather was getting warmer, Jia Lian wasn't wearing much. However, Wang Xifeng, with tears streaming down her face, threw herself on him, wetting his sleeves. As she rubbed against him, his arm became itchy.

In addition, Wang Xifeng's mouth was soft and sweet, and having a piece of her arm held in her mouth so tightly quickly stirred up different feelings in Jia Lian's heart.

"Are you a dog?" Jia Lian said with a laugh, while his other hand reached into her arms and grabbed the fleshy part of her chest as a counter-threat.