Xiao Jingyue did not even glance at Yan Ningshuang. He brushed off nonexistent dust from his robe, his gaze toward Ren Yaoqi still frivolous and unrestrained, as if looking at a woman he could bully and trample at will, his eyes gleaming with an inexplicable excitement.
The person Xiao Jingyue hated most in his life was Xiao Jingxi. The Xiao Family had few descendants, so from childhood, people constantly compared him to Xiao Jingxi. Unfortunately, even when Xiao Jingxi was on the verge of death from illness, he still could not measure up. Eventually, people stopped comparing them, because in the eyes of outsiders, the two stood at different heights—he had lost the qualification to be compared.
Xiao Jingyue’s feelings toward Xiao Jingxi evolved from initial envy and jealousy into disgust and hatred. Later, just hearing the name Xiao Jingxi made him feel uneasy all over. Yet, paradoxically, he also felt desire and longing for everything Xiao Jingxi possessed—including the de facto heir status of the Yanbei Prince’s Mansion, the Zhaoning Hall where Xiao Jingxi lived, and even his initial agreement to marry Yan Ningshuang. It was not only because of the court’s plans but also because Yan Ningshuang was madly infatuated with Xiao Jingxi. When facing Yan Ningshuang, the mere thought of this excited Xiao Jingyue, a naked excitement that manifested itself in bed. This was also why Yan Ningshuang so deeply despised Xiao Jingyue.
From the way Xiao Jingyue looked at her, Ren Yaoqi understood the filthy desires hidden deep within him, which made her extremely uncomfortable. A surge of sourness rose in her stomach, and Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but cover her mouth as she retched.
Pingguo quickly grabbed a spittoon and rushed to Ren Yaoqi’s side.
Xiao Jingyue narrowed his eyes slightly, then shifted his gaze from Ren Yaoqi’s face to her abdomen, his eyes gleaming with an excited and eerie light. Ren Yaoqi instinctively placed a hand over her lower abdomen.
Consort Dowager Yun glared angrily at Xiao Jingyue but also felt a hint of tension from his gaze. She quickly stood up and positioned herself in front of Ren Yaoqi, gently patting her back while blocking Xiao Jingyue’s line of sight.
Xiao Jingyue, however, smiled and took step by step closer to Ren Yaoqi.
Leaning halfway into Consort Dowager Yun’s embrace, Ren Yaoqi suppressed the urge to vomit as best she could. Lowering her gaze, she caught sight of the hem of Xiao Jingyue’s robe gradually approaching and couldn’t help but glance swiftly toward the inner chamber.
Before Princess Yelu entered, Nan Xing had silently hidden herself in the inner chamber. Thinking of Nan Xing’s skills, Ren Yaoqi reminded herself to stay calm—the more critical the moment, the steadier she needed to be.
Xiao Jingyue seemed quite satisfied with the tense, explosive atmosphere in the room. He reached out to pull aside the person blocking his way, but unexpectedly, his movement was intercepted halfway by a hand.
Xiao Jingyue raised an eyebrow, then looked at the red-clad woman who had suddenly blocked his path with a half-smile. “What does the Princess mean by this? If I recall correctly, the condition you agreed to was that after the matter is accomplished, everything and everyone in this mansion would be at my disposal?”Yelü Sage glanced at Xiao Jingyue, inwardly looking down on a man who would betray his family for profit and even bully a pregnant woman. In her eyes, any man who vented his anger on women was no man at all, merely a coward.
Nevertheless, Yelü Sage returned Xiao Jingyue a radiant smile and said, "What's the hurry, Third Young Master Xiao? You Han people have a saying: 'Haste makes waste.' Since the condition states 'after the deed is done,' then we must wait until it is accomplished. Only then will this entire princely residence be yours."
Xiao Jingyue curled his lips and said, "What's so difficult about accomplishing the deed? Once news arrives that the Princess Consort of Yanbei has been beheaded, nearly all of Yunyang City will be under our control."
Yelü Sage nodded with a smile. "Then let's wait a little longer."
Xiao Jingyue snorted with a laugh and finally did not step forward again, though his eyes never shifted away from Ren Yaoqi.
Ren Yaoqi breathed a sigh of relief, yet her heart tightened again. She was worried about the Princess Consort's safety. From what Xiao Jingyue had just implied, they had indeed sent people to intercept the Princess Consort and had no intention of leaving any survivors.
The Prince of Yanbei, Xiao Jingxi, and the Commandery Princess were all absent from the residence. If any emergency arose, the Princess Consort, given her status, might be able to secretly mobilize forces in ways unknown to others. That was why Xiao Jingyue and his allies planned to have her killed before she returned to the residence, to avoid any unexpected complications at a critical moment.
Xiao Jingyue found a chair in the room and sat down himself. Yelü Sage also took a seat. Consort Dowager Yun did not return to her original seat but instead sat beside Ren Yaoqi, holding her tightly in her arms, her lips pressed firmly together without uttering a word.
An eerie silence settled over the room.
After an unknown length of time, a man dressed as a guard walked in from outside and approached Xiao Jingyue, addressing him as "Young Master."
Both Xiao Jingyue and Yelü Sage turned their gazes toward him. Xiao Jingyue lazily asked, "Well? Is she dead?"
Consort Dowager Yun and Ren Yaoqi also looked in his direction.
The guard paused, then spoke with difficulty, "Reporting to Young Master, Mu Hu suddenly appeared midway with a team of men and rescued the Princess Consort. More than half of the men we sent out were killed or injured."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingyue immediately straightened up, narrowed his eyes at the guard, and gritted his teeth. "Mu Hu? Wasn't he guarding the city gates today? How could he suddenly appear out of nowhere?"
The guard lowered his head, not daring to meet Xiao Jingyue's eyes. "This subordinate does not know. Mu Hu's appearance must have been... a coincidence."
They had planned today's operation for a long time. Logically, the people in the princely residence should not have detected any issues; otherwise, the Princess Consort would not have left today, and the residence would not have fallen under their control so quickly.
They had not anticipated that their mere precaution of diverting the two martial-skilled maidservants by Ren Yaoqi's side would attract her attention and suspicion. Consequently, Ren Yaoqi had sent Nan Xing to fetch the Princess Consort, and Nan Xing naturally entrusted the task of escorting the Princess Consort back to the residence to Mu Hu, while she herself stayed behind to protect the young mistress and the child in her womb.
Xiao Jingyue's hand on the chair tightened violently. With a sharp crack, a corner of the pearwood chair's armrest broke off.
"Go keep an eye on the situation outside. Inform my father that his men can prepare to move!"The guard received the order and withdrew in confusion.
Yelü Sage also looked displeased. She turned to Xiao Jingyue and said, "Alerting Mu Hu means alerting the garrison of Yunyang City. Now we’ve become the ‘turtle trapped in the jar’? Truly, fortunes change over time."
Anyone who learns a foreign language can’t resist showing off their vocabulary, regardless of whether the phrase is used correctly.
Xiao Jingyue remained silent with a cold expression for a moment, then suddenly smiled. He shifted his gaze to Ren Yaoqi and Consort Dowager Yun, stroking his chin with ill intent. "A turtle it is, then. We’re not short of bait here. I wonder if the Princess Consort will return on her own for the sake of her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."
Yelü Sage’s gaze also settled on Ren Yaoqi and Consort Dowager Yun. Although she disdained bullying the weak, she was still a princess and understood the necessity of compromise when needed. After hesitating for a while, she said nothing more.
Xiao Jingyue glanced at the silent Yelü Sage, then stood up with a smile and slowly walked over to Ren Yaoqi and Consort Dowager Yun. He looked at one, then the other. Consort Dowager Yun tensed, holding Ren Yaoqi tightly as she glared coldly at Xiao Jingyue.
Xiao Jingyue grinned, half-serious and half-mocking. "Should I cut off an arm or a leg and send it to the Princess Consort, so she can make the right decision quickly? But whose should I cut?"
Consort Dowager Yun watched him warily. Xiao Jingyue sneered, "Hasn’t Your Highness always been indifferent to your descendants? Why are you acting so protective today? It seems we’ve all misunderstood you before."
As he spoke, Xiao Jingyue suddenly raised his palm and struck toward Ren Yaoqi’s abdomen. Consort Dowager Yun was horrified and turned to shield Ren Yaoqi. At that moment, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air. Xiao Jingyue, trained in martial arts, sensed danger instinctively and immediately withdrew his hand, dodging to the side.
But it was too late. An unknown-shaped hidden weapon sliced fiercely across Xiao Jingyue’s face with a sharp momentum. With a "ding-dong," the weapon fell to the ground—it was actually a woman’s hairpin.
Almost simultaneously with Xiao Jingyue’s dodge, a slender figure darted out from the inner chamber. Yelü Sage, standing farther away, sensed something amiss and tried to rush forward. However, the person from the inner chamber delivered a heavy kick to Xiao Jingyue’s chest, sending him stumbling toward Yelü Sage.
Forced to dodge aside, Yelü Sage watched as Xiao Jingyue crashed heavily to the ground, landing in a heap with the already unconscious Yan Ningshuang. He groaned, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Yelü Sage had no time to tend to Xiao Jingyue. She had already advanced again, engaging in combat with the person who had emerged from the inner chamber.
Ren Yaoqi looked up and recognized the woman fighting Yelü Sage as Nan Xing, who had earlier hidden in the inner chamber.
Nan Xing, entrusted with important tasks by Xiao Jingxi and capable of subduing a man like Mu Hu, naturally possessed considerable skill. Though Yelü Sage’s martial arts were formidable, Nan Xing held her own without falling behind.Xiao Jingyue, his face deathly pale, clutched his chest as he tried to stand up. Having just been kicked hard by Nan Xing, his ribs were likely broken, and he had also suffered internal injuries.
Pingguo, standing beside Ren Yaoqi, noticed Xiao Jingyue’s movements. Seeing that Yelü Sage was entangled with Nan Xing and unable to intervene, she gritted her teeth, picked up the long-unused bronze incense burner from the shelf, and without regard for the risk of being caught in the crossfire, charged fiercely toward Xiao Jingyue. Raising the bronze incense burner high, she smashed it down on Xiao Jingyue’s head.
The first blow left Xiao Jingyue dazed, blood gushing from his forehead. Pingguo ignored it, pursed her lips, and continued smashing his head without a word.
The second blow, the third blow—each strike was fiercer than the last. Xiao Jingyue’s head and face were soon a bloody, mangled mess, and he finally collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling back. Seeing him fall, Pingguo seemed to lose all her strength and slumped to the floor, but her gaze remained fixed on Xiao Jingyue, and she did not let go of the incense burner. It was as if she would resume smashing him the moment he opened his eyes. Her face was wet—splattered with Xiao Jingyue’s blood and her own tears, which she seemed unaware of. She glared fiercely at Xiao Jingyue, like an enraged mother beast.
Pingguo was the most taciturn maid by Ren Yaoqi’s side, yet no one could match her in loyalty. In Pingguo’s heart, her young mistress was akin to a deity in the heavens, not to be profaned by anyone.
That beast Xiao Jingyue had dared to verbally harass and insult her young mistress and even attempted to harm the child in her womb—this was utterly unforgivable! Thus, Pingguo erupted.
Even Yelü Sage and Nan Xing, who were locked in combat, were drawn to the commotion caused by Pingguo. They glanced at the gruesome sight of Xiao Jingyue lying on the ground, then exchanged strange looks before resuming their fight.
Ren Yaoqi and Consort Dowager Yun stared blankly at Pingguo. Ren Yaoqi, too, was witnessing Pingguo’s ferocious side for the first time.
Yelü Sage and Nan Xing fought to a stalemate, neither able to gain the upper hand. At that moment, the dozen or so guards Xiao Jingyue had left outside heard the commotion and rushed toward the main hall.
Apologies for being late again...
〒_〒.
OpenNovel