Chapter 431 - Asking for the Peony Garden
Chapter 431 Asking for the Peony Garden
Feng Yuran smiled lightly and spoke casually. However, Mo Xuetong understood what he meant immediately.
The Princess Royal was King Jin’s daughter and had been sent away at a young age. Other than the secret guards King Jin prepared for her secretly, she would also have some people she could command to ensure her safety. These people’s identities should be hidden and they would move around the Princess Royal’s side doing all sorts of things. The abbot of Repayment Temple was probably one of them.
This could also explain why Mo Xuetong’s mother had asked her to ask for help. She was still asking help from the Princess Royal, but in this way, it would be easier to hide the fact that her mother and the Princess Royal were biological sisters.
Meanwhile, Feng Yuran had strong points on his own to build his faction. Things were complicated in King Xuan’s Manor so setting up a stronghold outside was the best possible idea. However, there was something Mo Xuetong could not understand. Why did the Princess Royal hand over some of her people to Feng Yuran so easily? Bai Yihao was her biological nephew.
So why did she treat Feng Yuran so well? Did she pity Feng Yuran for his mother’s death?
This did not make sense either. There were so many consorts in the palace and Emperor Zongwen had more than one consort who died. For example, the third prince, King Yan, Feng Yulei’s mother had also passed away. Why didn’t the Princess Royal treat him better than others then? If it were really about how close of a relationship they had, King Ning, Feng Yuzhen, was the Empress Dowager’s grandson. The Princess Royal was raised by the Empress Dowager. She was closer to Feng Yuzhen than to Feng Yuran.
Mo Xuetong was very confused and only barely managed to stop herself from asking Feng Yuran about it directly. She felt it difficult to accept that she was King Jin’s granddaughter. She would much rather be the granddaughter of the Old Madam of the Fu General Manor. In her past life, and in this life, only the old madam had truly loved her.
Mo Xuetong touched her slightly pounding head. She felt that the Princess Royal treated Feng Yuran differently. It was not only because he was her nephew though. Otherwise, why would she help Feng Yuran despite the fact that it could possibly reveal her true identity? She even handed over the men in her hands to Feng Yuran.
“Why are you not pretending to be Peony Master now?” Mo Xuetong felt a little confused. She could not understand what was happening at this moment. As such, she bit her lips and turned the topic back to what they were originally speaking about.
Ever since the last incident, there was no news of Peony Master ever again. It seemed that Feng Yuran did not wish to make use of that identity right now. That gave Mo Xuetong a new idea. She opened her eyes wide and looked at Feng Yuran with anticipation.
“I’m busy right now and most of my men are out doing other things. There’s truly no one left in the peony garden. So it was left empty.” Feng Yuran said with a smile. He could not help but reach out to pinch her nose. He could tell that she was up to something just by her cheeky expression.
Empty? Mo Xuetong’s watery eyes twinkled. She patted away his naughty hands and said sweetly, “Then why not give me that peony garden? The peonies there are so beautiful. It’d be a waste not to use them!”
Those beautiful peonies should be admired. However, the peony garden used to be under the control of the Peony Master, and not many people could enter in. There were many noblewomen and young ladies who had never seen it before. If she could hold a banquet there, it would be elegant and leisurely. Furthermore, the identity of the Peony Master was very attractive to Mo Xuetong.
She felt that there were some things that were difficult for her to do with her identity as Consort Xuan. She had to greet many people when she left the house unlike the past when she could travel without any burdens. She could even make use of Peony Master’s reputation to get some things done.
Feng Yuran raised his eyebrows high in shock. “You want that peony garden?”
Mo Xuetong tugged on his belt cutely. “Of course, would that be alright?”
Feng Yuran said readily. He tilted his face and pointed at his thin lips. “Alright. Here!”
Mo Xuetong flushed. She did not expect him to blackmail her like that.
Feng Yuran said with an expression of pity. He glanced at Mo Xuetong with a devilish satisfaction. “Tong’er, are you unwilling? Then forget it. Anyway, that peony garden is taking up a lot of space. I’ll have people tear it down tomorrow. The flowers there will be given to others. I have a few precious purple peonies there. They are extremely precious and came from far away. It is such a pity!”
Feng Yuran was not giving the garden to her but was going to tear it down and give it to others. She looked at the pleased expression on his face. He was obviously trying to blackmail her. This made Mo Xuetong feel a little embarrassed and annoyed. She reached out to pinch his waist viciously and pouted her pink and soft lips with an expression of displeasure.
An expression of unbearable pain immediately appeared on his handsome face. He clutched at his waist and his cheeky expression disappeared. “Ow! That hurts. Tong’er, that hurts!”
Did she really hurt him? He could not be that fragile!
Mo Xuetong felt a little guilty. She blinked and then pretended to be angry and said, “Well, how dare you try to provoke me? I wouldn’t have pinched you if you hadn’t.”
Feng Yuran pretended to look pitiful when he saw how Mo Xuetong pretended to be strong even though she felt guilty inside. He pointed at the spot that she pinched and said sadly, “Tong’er, it’s already bruised.”
Mo Xuetong felt a little uncertain when she saw how he was holding his waist. She glanced at his waist and then at his frowned eyebrows in pain. She bit her lips and then helped him to rub the spot while complaining, “It’s all your fault. See if you dare to do this again!”
“I won’t, I won’t dare to do this again. I will do everything you say.” Even though Mo Xuetong’s lips were pouted, she could not help but sneak glances at his waist. She looked guilty and distressed. Feng Yuran’s eyes shone brilliantly at the successful prank. He reached out to pick up Mo Xuetong’s chin and kissed her lips. He was gentle and sweet and it made her heart flutter.
Her face grew hot. Before she could react though, he had already let her go.
However, he then picked up her hand and bit her gently. He said, “Your hand is so soft it’s like there are no bones. Tong’er, your slender and pale hands are beautiful.”
He sounded coy and flirtatious. Mo Xuetong felt her whole body burn. She did not know whether to be shy or annoyed. She pushed him away and pretended to be angry, saying, “Tell me, will you give me the peony garden or not?!”
She was very loud. However, she only appeared to be strong on the surface and soft inside.
Feng Yuran’s handsome smile had a trace of affection in it. He reached out naughtily to touch her pink and soft face, teasing her intentionally. “Yes, I will give you whatever you want!”
However, he stopped before she truly got angry and then said seriously, “If Tong’er wants my peony garden, then Tong’er has to help me do something.”
“What is it?” Mo Xuetong was feeling annoyed and wanted to beat him up. When she heard that he had something for her to do, she was shocked.
“It is that courtesan Li Youmo fought for. He has nowhere to place her and does not dare to bring her home lest your cousin is annoyed. He left her at the peony garden.” Feng Yuran said with a laugh.
“He didn’t ask about it?” Mo Xuetong asked curiously. Rationally speaking, if they found Consort Xian’s jade pendant, they would ask about it as soon as possible. Why did Feng Yuran take such a laissez-faire attitude toward it?
“He didn’t find out anything, She only said that it was passed down in her family.” Feng Yuran stopped smiling. A hint of sinister darkness flashed in his eyes and his thin lips curved up slightly. He seemed a little colder than before.
A woman from the brothel had a jade pendant that looked exactly like Consort Xian’s. Mo Xuetong did not believe that there was something so coincidental in this world. She thought about it, and Consort Xian seemed to be enshrouded in a layer of mystery. It had something to do with the He family, the royal family, and now, it had something to do with a courtesan in the brothel.
Anyway, she had to help Feng Yuran find out what exactly happened back then.
“What are you going to do with the women in the back courtyard?” Mo Xuetong changed the topic gently when she saw the darkness in his eyes. Even though the women in the back courtyard were locked up separately, it was not nice to keep them like that. Nanny Chen and Xianglan had already told her several times in the past few days that the women in the back courtyard were growing restless and misbehaving.
“Ignore them. Lock them up for now and let them be.” Feng Yuran said carelessly and patted her palm gently. “I will be sick in a few days and find an opportunity to send some of them away. We’ll just keep the obedient ones.”
Did that mean he had decided to make a move on the back courtyard?
Mo Xuetong thought about it for a while and she understood. There were a few women from the back courtyard who were difficult to deal with. She heard that they started to cause trouble long ago. If not for Feng Yuran’s vicious methods, Mo Xuetong would not have any peaceful days. She thought of “his people” who were mingled in that group of women and felt at ease.
Since he had already considered that, then she would not interfere with it!
The two of them chatted and then went to bed!
Mo Xuetong laid in Feng Yuran’s embrace and closed her eyes. She felt safe for some reason. The fear and panic she felt when he was not around had already been forgotten. She did not know when it started but she felt safe in her sleep when she laid in his embrace with his arm under her neck. She snuggled into his chest and found a nice spot before drifting off sweetly.
In the dark, Feng Yuran looked at her beautiful face carefully. His lips curled up in a smile after a while and he dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. He hugged her and then closed his eyes as well.
When Mo Xuetong woke up the next morning, Feng Yuran had already left. He had been very busy recently. He had gone to morning court with Emperor Zongwen in an official capacity and was acting like the prodigal son. Mo Xuetong usually would not see him when she woke up. She touched his side of the bed, which was still slightly warm. He must have left not long ago.
Mo Lan knew that Mo Xuetong was awake when she heard sounds in the room. She picked up the muslin bed curtains and said to Mo Xuetong, “My Lady, it is still early, sleep for a little longer.” It was still dim outside and was quite early. Usually, Mo Xuetong would sleep for a little longer at this time. There were no seniors Mo Xuetong had to serve and the women in the back courtyard were all locked up. There was no one to disturb her from her sleep, so Mo Xuetong would go back to sleep for a little longer sometimes.
However, she could not do that today.
“I’ll wake up now. I have to go to the Empress Dowager’s palace later.” Mo Xuetong yawned and answered softly. She sat up with the help of Mo Lan.
“Alright. Then I will prepare the clothes you will wear to the palace.” Mo Lan answered and left. Soon after, Mo Yu brought in the items needed to wash up. By the time she finished helping Mo Xuetong to clean up, a little maid had already served breakfast.
Mo Xuetong did not eat much last night and felt a little hungry this morning. She ate half a bowl of porridge and some pickled cucumbers before stopping.
“My Lady, which set would you like to wear?” Mo Lan pulled out a few exquisite and beautiful clothes from the closet for Mo Xuetong to pick from.
Feng Yuran had gotten these clothes made for Mo Xuetong when she married into King Xuan’s Manor. There were purple flowers and butterflies embroidered at the edges of some of them. They looked cheeky and refreshing, unlike Feng Yuran’s exaggerated purple robes which were devilishly charming for some reason.
However, their clothes complimented each other very well. Even though it was not obvious when they were apart, they were very well matched when together.
It could be said that Feng Yuran had looked at every single article of clothing there. Mo Xuetong could not help but feel a sweet warmth creeping up in her heart.
“This one!” Mo Xuetong pointed at a white dress. There were colorful butterflies embroidered at the bottom edges of the dress. The butterflies danced together as a pair. One was dark purple while the other was plain. The pair frolicked in the flowers, making the plain-colored dress vivid.
It highlighted Mo Xuetong’s gentleness and her elegant disposition!
It suited Mo Xuetong’s current status very well!