Chapter 230: Chapter 230 - Xuepei, Take Care!

Song Yixiao intended to straighten Jiang Muting out. After seeing Yuan Xue’e off, she returned to the feast and kept her eyes on Jiang Muting’s action.

After having a few drinks, she saw Jiang Muting leave the feast, who seemed like going to get dressed. Hurriedly, Song Yixiao also rose and followed her.

Unexpectedly, after Jiang Muting went out and walked towards the changing room for a short distance, she suddenly turned around and headed towards a secluded place.

“Where is she going?” Rather surprised, Song Yixiao wanted to stop her at first. After thinking it over, she still didn’t utter any word and then winked at Qiaoqin next to her to act quietly. Following behind Jiang Muting stealthily, they made quite a few turns and walked into a bamboo forest.

Now it was late. The bamboo forest grew luxuriantly so it was inevitably dark in the forest.

If she didn’t suddenly hear what Jiang Muting called in a low voice—“Xuepei”, Song Yixiao wouldn’t see Yuan Xuepei, who was sitting on a wheelchair not far away.

The situation was within the expectation of Song Yixiao, but she was still astonished to hear Jiang Muting address Yuan Xuepei in such an intimate way, “Last time Muting asked me to send the prescriptions and now she calls him Xuepei. Have they been hanging out in secret these days?”

While she was pondering, Yuan Xuepei asked coldly, “Miss Jiang, may I ask why you asked me to meet you here?”

His facial expression couldn’t be seen clearly, but judging from his words, he was indifferent now.

Song Yixiao was relieved to see his reaction. Jiang Muting must have taken a beating. She was silent for quite a while before saying in a bitter voice, “I… I only wanted to…”

Another while later, she continued sobbingly in a low voice, “I only wanted to call you Xuepei for once!”

She didn’t speak loudly but it was so quiet that not only Yuan Xuepei but also Song Yixiao and her maid could hear her clearly.

They could feel Jiang Muting’s suppressed and yet unconcealable affection.

However, not only Song Yixiao and her maid but also Yuan Xuepei didn’t know what to say to her.

Yet, his reaction was clearly anticipated by Jiang Muting, so she didn’t expect that Yuan Xuepei would respond to her. She only held back her tears and then stood for a while, saying, “Xuepei, take care!”

It seemed that she raised her head to look at her sweetheart a couple of steps away. Nonetheless, it was so dark now. Even if they sat down face to face, they could only see each other’s outline. Staring at him, she could only see a man sitting straightly on the wheelchair, whose eyes were covered in the dark. His eyes were glistening. It was hard to tell what he was thinking about.

Jiang Muting gazed at him for a moment and then left.

Hiding behind the bamboo, Song Yixiao watched her going away with a mixture of complicated feelings, “Does she give up or not?”

Having thought for a while, she still didn’t get an answer. Seeing that Jiang Muting had vanished on the path, she was leaving too. Unexpectedly, Yuan Xuepei said drily, “Lady of Yan, since you are here, why don’t you come and talk with me?”

Song Yixiao was slightly shocked to hear his voice. She followed Jiang Muting here not out of ill intention but it was not a decent deed. Now that it was disclosed by Yuan Xuepei, she still felt embarrassed.

Inevitably, she was considering how to respond. As she still kept silent, Yuan Xuepei yet said with a resigned smile, “Lady of Yan, you think that I am pulling a trick? I am disabled indeed, but I still have ears and eyes. The footsteps of you and your maid are light, covered by the rustling leaves in the forest, but if I hear carefully, I can still notice them.”

“Since you identify our footsteps by hearing, how can you be sure that it is me?” Instead of explaining why she followed Jiang Muting, Song Yixiao walked forward and asked, “There are other people who come to attend the wedding of Xue’e, aren’t there?”

“How can the others be as concerned about Miss Jiang as you are?” Yuan Xuepei grinned and said, “It’s a pity that I cannot accept Miss Jiang’s feelings for me.”

He interpreted Song Yixiao’s stalking as an act of showing concern and expressed that he didn’t mean to be with Jiang Muting. For the moment, Song Yixiao felt that all the words were uttered by him and now she had nothing to say then, about which she didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, “Since Your Excellency doesn’t blame me, I will leave then!”

Then she curtsied to him. She was about to turn around when Yuan Xuepei raised his arm to stop her, saying, “Your Highness, do you really refuse to consider the candidate I recommend to Zhiqin?”

“Your Excellency has asked Xubai to tell me about it and I replied to him that I needed to think about it.” Song Yixiao had guessed it must for this issue that he stopped her. Now she was not surprised at all and only said, “How can you say I refuse to consider the candidate? Yet, you also know about Zhiqin’s condition. If I talk to her about this issue recklessly and she gets angry, what should I do then?”

Yuan Xuepei thought, “Since you can send the Side Concubine of the Crown Prince to the hell for her, you two must be really concerned about each other! If you are willing to bury the hatchet, why can’t you mention the matter to her? You were saying so only because you still hate me and you can’t make up your mind.”

He didn’t want to stall this matter. Who knew whether Song Yixiao would give him a blow as it was stalled?

Therefore, after pondering for a moment, he said, “I suppose you have heard what Miss Jiang said to me just now? I’m wondering what you think of it.”

“I thought a man like you wouldn’t gossip behind one’s back!” Song Yixiao raised her eyebrows and said snappishly, “Moreover, as you said, Miss Jiang has feelings for you!”

She emphasized the words—“has feelings for you” deliberately. Yuan Xuepei got her hint and couldn’t help laughing, “Your Highness, you’ve got me wrong. I’m merely sorry that I am not good enough for Miss Jiang. How can I look down on her?”

He knocked the armrests with his slender fingers, saying sincerely, “In fact, as to this lady’s affection, I’m really flattered. You must know about Miss Jiang’s family background, talent and appearance. Even if I were not disabled and didn’t interfere with the fight for the throne, I could hardly be qualified enough to marry her!”

He was kind of deliberately complimenting Jiang Muting but he wasn’t exaggerating too much over.

After all, even though Jiang Muting failed to be Princess Consort of Wei, which ruined her reputation to some degree, as the niece of the Virtuous Consort and the dearly beloved daughter of the Jiang Family, who was also young and beautiful, she didn’t have to worry about her marriage. Even the hereditary marquis like Yuan Xuepei couldn’t marry her easily if he wanted to.

Song Yixiao’s face finally became relaxed when he said that. Then she replied, “Your Excellency, you are a talent indeed. Despite the difficulty in walking, this flaw cannot obscure the splendor of the jade. However, marriage is about the connection of two families. Only mutual affection is not enough. You do know clearly the right thing to do and the principles to follow, for which I really admire you!”

“Miss Jiang is talented and beautiful with a prominent family background. It will be sheer bliss if I can marry her.” Yuan Xuepei learnt that she also disagreed on his being with Jiang Muting but he didn’t get mad. Instead, he was delighted and then said gently, “Deep in my heart, I would never let such a beauty leave sadly; however, from the angle of the big picture, in order not to hurt her or myself, I have no choice but to reject her.”

Then he quickly talked of another thing, “I didn’t mean to cause the tragedy back then, but I did ruin Zhiqin’s life! It is reasonable that you hate me and resent me. However, Your Highness, please think about this. No matter how smart you are, you can vent your anger by bringing ruin and everlasting infamy upon me, just like what you did to Cui Jianlian. However, what good does it do to Zhiqin at the moment?”

He added, “Besides, Xubai knows the ins and outs of the matter. I don’t mean to threaten you, but you should know even if Xubai is on your side now, Xubai and I are childhood buddies anyway. This time, he doesn’t speak for me. How can he not feel guilty about it? If he learns that you don’t show mercy for me, are you really loath to see him feel sad even if he doesn’t blame you for the rest of the life?”

Yuan Xuepei said with a sigh, “You are not in favor of me being with Miss Jiang, which shows that you are clear-minded and aware of the current politics. However, you are hesitant about Zhiqin’s marriage. I suppose you are too concerned about her to make a decision? Yet, have you thought about this? Although you keep Zhiqin in the Duke’s mansion and offer her a well-off life, she cannot walk or speak now. Even though you arrange maids to serve her and treat her like a noble lady, does she really care about leading an extravagant life? If so, how could she risk her life to save you?”

He narrowed his eyes, “Don’t you think that it is an honest and considerate husband who Zhiqin needs at the moment?”

“Of course I wish that she could meet a good man, who will never leave her alone and keep her from dying in depression for being handicapped and unable to speak.” Song Yixiao stood in the wind for so long that even Qiaoqin felt like reminding her to return to the feast. She finally said in a low voice, “But marriage is a lifetime commitment!”

“Your Highness, please rest assured. I want to make peace with you sincerely rather than breed enmity between us again. Why would I lie to you?” A load was finally lifted off Yuan Xuepei’s mind. He promised with a smile, “The guard of mine doesn’t care about beauty and he admires Zhiqin deeply for her loyal behavior conducted in her childhood! If Zhiqin doesn’t live well after getting married, I’m willing to leave myself at your disposal!”

Speaking of that, Song Yixiao just cut to the chase rather than beat around the bush, “I haven’t told Zhiqin about this issue. As long as she agrees and lives a good life after getting married, the grudge between us will be wiped out then!”

“Deal!” Yuan Xuepei immediately said, “Tomorrow I will send the guard to your mansion so that Zhiqin can take a look at him by herself?”

“Like I said, I haven’t told Zhiqin about it yet!” Song Yixiao was quite speechless to his decisive way of doing things, “I’ll talk to her first. After she agrees, I will send you a message.”

Yuan Xuepei said apologetically, “I suppose that you should have heard of the current political situation. To be frank, my colleagues and I will be much busier in the following days, or I wouldn’t make Xue’e get married in such a hurry! I just fear that I can’t spare the time to take care of her.”

Song Yixiao could feel that he was trying to urge her. After staying silent for a moment, she said, “I will reply to you as soon as possible.”

After this issue was finalized, they didn’t continue staying then. After saying goodbye to each other, they just left respectively.

However, after Yuan Zhan came out of the darkness and wheeled Yuan Xuepei out of the bamboo forest not for long, they saw a girl dressed in colorful clothes came from behind the artificial hill, who was gazing at Yuan Xuepei blankly and yet affectionately.

Yuan Xuepei was a bit surprised to see Jiang Muting come back. He was too into persuading Song Yixiao to notice that this girl came back again after going away.

“I had a grudge against Madam Song before and we took the opportunity to bury the hatchet just now.” Yuan Xuepei hoped that she had better not suspect that he had affairs with Song Yixiao. It was not that serious that Jiang Muting denounced his turning her down, but if she went to make a fuss before Song Yixiao, Song Yixiao would suspect that he sowed discord between the two besties deliberately, which would be really troublesome!

Therefore, he composed himself and was about to explain. However, he had just started when Jiang Muting asked in a low voice, “That is the reason why you agreed to meet me in private?”

The night wind blew up the hem of her skirt. As it was swayed by the wind, she looked so fragile as if she would fly away with the mind, “To get a chance to persuade Shanyao?”

Yuan Xuepei was silent for having no idea how to respond. Today, he did use Jiang Muting to get Song Yixiao to come here so that he could take the opportunity of turning Jiang Muting down to persuade Song Yixiao. That was why he agreed to meet Jiang Muting in private. Now faced with Jiang Muting’s questioning, in light of his wisdom, he could come up with various reasons easily, but somehow, he couldn’t speak of any excuse to the weak girl under the twilight.

After a while, he was going to confess when Jiang Muting chuckled and said, “You said that it was sheer bliss to marry me and that deep in your heart, you would never make me leave sadly. Is it true or not?”

Yuan Xuepei said subconsciously, “Of course it is true, but… Miss Jiang, you and I…”

“I know.” Jiang Muting interrupted him in an abruptly lively voice, “Don’t forget what you said.”

She turned around again and went away, as if she was afraid that he would withdraw his words. In a hurry, she only said, “I won’t make things difficult for you!”