Chapter 305: Chapter 306 - Break off the Engagement

Song Yixiao and Nie Wuying had been in the inner chamber for a while which was enough for Song Yixiao to comb her hair again after putting the hairpins away. However, they were still in the inner chamber, Lady of Earl Shouchun couldn’t help suspecting that Song Yixiao couldn’t’ soothe Nie Wuying.

She was worried about it, so she took a chance to get up and go to the inner chamber to see what was going on.

Seeing her get up, the others knew what she was going to do and waited while talking. Unexpectedly, they waited for a long time without even seeing Lady of Earl Shouchun come back. In the end, even Commandery Princess Qingjiang, who stayed to preside over the gathering, showed a confused look and planned to ask a maid to find out what was going on. At this time, Lady of Earl Shouchun and Song Yixiao came back with a smile.

“Where is Wuying?” Commandery Princess Qingjiang stretched her neck and looked behind them but didn’t see Nie Wuying. Her heart did a somersault.

Wei Yinlian also turned pale.

“Wuying accidentally twisted her ankle in the chamber just now. She thought it would be okay after she massaged it. However, it didn’t help, so she could only tell us to say sorry to you.” Lady of Earl Shouchun said with a smile, “Please forgive her!”

The others all put on a strange look when they heard this. They glanced at Wei Yinlian intentionally or unintentionally. After all, Nie Wuying went back to the room after Wei Yinlian mentioned Magnate Shen and his wife, and her two sisters-in-law followed her in one after another. However, she hadn’t returned. How could the others not doubt that the newly appointed County Lady didn’t twist her ankle at all but was just angry with Wei Yinlian for what she said and refused to come out?

Wei Yinlian was the most worried. Before she came here, the crown princess sent someone back to her mother’s house and asked Wei Yinlian to establish a good relationship with Nie Wuying or even say some fine words to please Nie Wuying to show generosity and kindness of the crown prince and the crown princess. By doing that, they could also reassure Emperor Xianjia. However, she messed up!

She wanted to explain and apologize, but Lady of Earl Shouchun politely interrupted her after she said a word, “Miss Wei, please don’t think too much. Wuying is really uncomfortable. She is by no means angry with you. Just now, she told me that she was grateful to you for the story of the blood jade hairpins you told to her!”

Wei Yinlian naturally didn’t believe this, but she couldn’t question Lady of Earl Shouchun in front of so many people, so she had to rest her eyes on Song Yixiao for help.

Song Yixiao shook her head slightly, indicating that she didn’t have to have any misgivings. Wei Yinlian was dubious of that, and wondered, “If it has nothing to do with what I just said, what happened to the County Lady?”

However, Lady of Earl Shouchun was already motioning for Commandery Princess Qingjiang to send the guests off on behalf of Nie Wuying. At the moment, her doubt couldn’t be solved.

When the crowd dispersed, Lady of Earl Shouchun dismissed the servants. Then she told Commandery Princess Qingjiang the whole story, “I also had a look at it. As Yixiao said, it can be repaired, but it’s hard to say whether it can be the same as before after it’s repaired. Moreover, what Wuying said was also right. No matter how it was repaired, it wasn’t intact anymore.”

When Commandery Princess Qingjiang heard this, the blue veins popped out of her forehead, “How on earth did Wanxiang do her job? She actually broke such an important thing?”

Even if we have her beaten to death, the thing will still be broken.” Lady of Earl Shouchun sighed, and said in a worried tone, “We must tell Mother about such a big thing. I hope she won’t be too angry!”

How could Grand Princess Jinguo not be angry?

“There is no outsider here at the moment, so I’ll come to the point!” Grand Princess Jinguo turned livid with rage and said in a cold voice, “This is not a good omen. Does it indicate that the marriage between Wuying and Prince of Su is inauspicious?”

Commandery Princess Qingjiang was surprised to find that her mother seemed to have the intention of breaking off Wuying’s engagement, and hurriedly said, “It’s said broken things bring safety. Maybe after the hairpin is broken, Wuying will be safe and free from twists and turns in the future.”

“But it’s a blood jade hairpin.” Grand Princess Jinguo frowned and said, “Not white jade, jasper, or topaz. Is it a sign of blood? Moreover, the hairpins have been passed on and intact for hundreds of years. One of them was broken just after Wuying got them. Moreover, they are a pair…”

Her face was very pale, “Isn’t this…a sign of losing the spouse?”

When they heard “losing the spouse”, the expressions of Commandery Princess Qingjiang, Lady of Earl Shouchun, and Song Yixiao all changed.

“But Uncle has had Prince of Su adopted and ordered him to stay away from the imperial capital in the future. The crown prince has always been generous and kind. He won’t hurt Prince of Su in the future, will he?” Commandery Princess Qingjiang murmured, “Prince of Su is the legitimate brother of the crown prince. Even for his fame in historical records, the crown prince…wouldn’t hurt Prince of Su!”

Grand Princess Jinguo said in a cold tone, “Don’t forget that the crown prince was raised up by His Majesty!”

Emperor Xianjia killed many brothers back then! Even his half-sisters died at his hands!

Would such an emperor tell the crown prince to mind the evaluation in historical records?

Grand Princess took a deep breath. Although she cared about her brother and nephew, she didn’t want her youngest daughter to be treated shabbily. She closed her eyes, and then said decisively after thinking for a while, “Qingjiang, get ready and follow me into the palace!”

Was she going to discuss with Emperor Xianjia about breaking off Wuying’s engagement?

Unexpectedly, a broken blood jade hairpin would cause such consequences. Commandery Princess Qingjiang hurriedly got up and said, “Mother, I would advise you to think carefully. The imperial edict about Wuying’s marriage has been handed down, and this matter is already a foregone conclusion. If you enter the palace and propose to break off Wuying’s engagement, what will happen to Wuying? Let alone we don’t know if Uncle will agree to your proposal or not!”

“Shut up!” Grand Princess Jinguo snapped at her testily, “You don’t want to go with me? Fine, Shouchun’s wife, you go with me!”

Lady of Earl Shouchun was her daughter-in-law after all. Although she didn’t approve of her mother-in-law’s plan of breaking off Wuying’s engagement, she was more afraid of angering her mother-in-law. Hearing that, she said “yes” carefully.

Seeing this, Commandery Princess Qingjiang kept winking at Song Yixiao, hoping that she could help her dissuade Grand Princess Jinguo. However, Song Yixiao lowered her head and kept silent. After Grand Princess Jinguo got up and left quickly with Lady of Earl Shouchun, Commandery Princess Qingjiang complained, “Yixiao, you know that Wuying and Prince of Su are in love and are finally engaged with His Majesty’s consent. Isn’t it absurd to break off their engagement for a maid’s mistake? What’s more, no matter which party put forward this kind of thing, the bride’s side will be affected most seriously. What Wuying should do in the future?”

Nie Wuying’s origin was already very compromising. If it weren’t for a coincidence, it would be absolutely impossible for her to be a County Lady and princess consort. Although it was indeed disappointing that one of the blood jade hairpins was broken, Commandery Princess Qingjiang didn’t think the matter was serious enough to terminate the engagement. Grand Princess Jinguo entered the palace for this without justified reason and it would be unfavorable for Nie Wuying’s future!

“Qingjiang, you are too worried to see things clearly.” Song Yixiao smiled when she heard that and reminded her, “Mother just said she would go to the palace, but she didn’t say she wanted to terminate Wuying’s engagement. She is just worried about Prince of Su’s future.”

Commandery Princess Qingjiang was stunned when she heard this. She thought about Grand Princess Jinguo’s actions and it suddenly dawned on her, “You mean Mother went to the palace to speak for Prince of Su?”

“Mother doesn’t care about the affairs in the court, so she has never asked about how did they arrange for Prince of Su’s future.” Song Yixiao nodded, “The blood jade hairpin was broken today, which made Mother worry about the future of Wuying. It’s a family matter. So Mother naturally could go to His Majesty with good reason. After all, Prince of Su is not only Mother’s nephew, but also Wuying’s future backing. How can she not worry about him?”

After thinking about it, Commandery Princess Qingjiang was relieved, “You are more considerate.”

With that, she sighed, “What happened this time… Alas… Changxing was ill two days ago and didn’t show up today. I wonder if she has recovered or not.”

Princess Changxing had been ill since the legitimate son of the Intermediate Palace was adopted and became Prince of Su.

Although she told outsiders that she just caught a cold, they all knew what the real cause was.

In Song Yixiao’s view, she was unlucky. A year ago, she married a man who was inferior to her in the rumor that she took away others’ man by force. However, in less than a year after she got married, her husband married a concubine and got her pregnant before she could get pregnant. Although the child was aborted in the end, her brother suffered a crushing defeat and became her cousin. If she were Princess Changxing, she couldn’t withstand such a heavy blow, either!

However, she couldn’t help her with such a thing, so she took an opportunity to change the topic after lamenting what happened to Princess Changxing.

Because she didn’t know when Jinguo Grand Prince would come back from the palace, Song Yixiao sat for a while and then went back to her mansion.

When she just returned and entered the door, Liyu, who was left in the mansion, came up to her and said, “Your Highness, Miss Wei has been here for a while. She said she had something important to ask you!”

“Where is she?” Song Yixiao was slightly surprised when she heard that. Just now, she was inconvenient to directly tell Wei Yinlian what had happened in front of so many people, but she had given her a hint privately. She thought that Wei Yinlian had understood what she meant. However, Wei Yinlian still came to her home. Song Yixiao calculated the time and guessed that Wei Yinlian came directly from Grand Princess Jinguo’s mansion after she left here.

Liyu said, “She’s having tea in the drawing room.”

Then she added, “She has been waiting for a while.”

Song Yixiao nodded. Without going back to her room to change clothes, she went to the drawing room directly. When she just entered it, Wei Yinlian walked up to her quickly and asked in a hurry, “I didn’t offend County Lady Jinghui today, did I?”

“No.” Song Yixiao waved her hand to motion for the servants to retreat, took Wei Yinlian’s hand, and sat down with her, saying, “My second sister-in-law has told you it had nothing to do with you. I’ll be frank with you. One of the blood jade hairpins given by Her Majesty was accidentally broken by the maid in the inner chamber!”

Wei Yinlian was shocked, “What?”

Then it dawned on her, “No wonder County Lady Jinghui went in and didn’t come out!”

In such a case, even those who didn’t care if it was a bad omen at all would feel distressed because of the blood jade hairpin’s value and the blessing it carried. Naturally, Nie Wuying was not in the mood to entertain the guests anymore.

Last year, Nie Wuying ran away from home on her birthday, which shocked the whole imperial capital. What she did made the courtiers and the public know how important she was to Grand Princess Jinguo, but also gave them the impression of being sensitive and willful.

So it was not surprising for her to ignore the guests for a broken hairpin while wrapping herself in sadness.

While breathing a sigh of relief, Wei Yinlian thought of the pair of hairpins and couldn’t help but feel distressed, “Although I’m not in any position to blame County Lady Jinghui’s maid, I have to say the blame is imputable to her maid. She was too careless! She should have been more careful about such important things! That’s the only pair of blood jade hairpins in the world. They can’t be more valuable!”

Song Yixiao sighed, “You are right. It’s just that the hairpin is already broken. What else can we do?”

She paused and pressed her lips, “Moreover, after hearing this, my mother-in-law felt that it was a bad omen. She had gone to the palace in person with my second sister-in-law.”

It dawned on Wei Yinlian, which enabled her to tell the hint in her words. Her expression suddenly changed. She got up and said, “Thank you, Shanyao. I have something else to do. I’m leaving and see you later!”

“Not at all,” Song Yixiao knew that she was going to report the news to the crown princess, so she didn’t keep her. After all, whether Prince of Su could have a good future depended on the attitude of the crown prince. For the sake of Prince of Su, she couldn’t let the crown prince misunderstand Nie Wuying.

Grand Princess Jinguo wanted Qingjiang Commandery Princess and Lady of Earl Shouchun to go to the palace with her, but she didn’t ask Song Yixiao to do that because Song Yixiao was pregnant. Moreover, she hinted that she wanted Song Yixiao to explain this matter to the Eastern Palace on behalf of Nie Wuying.

Song Yixiao sent Wei Yinlian off and went back to her room to change her clothes. When she just went out of the room, the maid came up to her with another message, “Her Highness Liang is in labor!”

“Princess Consort of Liang?” Song Yixiao calculated the days, “Isn’t half a month left till her due date? She is going to deliver ahead of time?”

The maid, “I heard she had an accident!”

Song Yixiao couldn’t help frowning. Why were there so many accidents today?

She sighed inwardly and asked, “What happened to her?”

Princess Consort of Liang had the support of the Sikong Family and Prince of Liang’s back yard was peaceful. Moreover, Princess Consort of Liang was not a pushover. How could something happen to her?