Sure enough, there was a path outside the garden, lined with many exotic flowers and rare herbs. Qingmo walked briskly along the path, and after a few turns, she stopped.
She ran along the road without seeing any other courtyards. At this moment, she only saw a small, independent courtyard at the end of the road. The gate was closed, there was no signboard on the gate, and there were no guards in front of the courtyard.
She stared blankly at the house, frowned, hesitated, and took two steps forward. Suddenly, a sense of unease arose in her heart. For some reason, even though she had never been to the Prince Ping's residence before, she felt a sense of familiarity walking here. It was as if a mysterious force was drawing her forward from behind that door, yet she was also unusually afraid to get closer. She couldn't explain what this feeling was, and hesitated, stopping in her tracks.
After a long while, Qingmo gently stroked her rapidly beating heart, slowly walked over, and with a deep, resonant thud, she pushed open the courtyard gate.
The courtyard is small and simply furnished.
"Your Highness," Qingmo called softly a few times, but there was no response. She walked step by step toward the two-bedroom room with the door tightly closed.
Pushing open the door, one is greeted by a warm-toned woman's boudoir. All the furnishings inside are a soft pink, and the floor is very clean, indicating that someone cleans it regularly.
Suppressing her inexplicable fear and fervor, she entered the room and looked around. There was nothing particularly special about it, except that instead of a mirror, there was a painting hanging above the dressing table. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the painting.
The scroll wasn't fully unrolled, but it was clear that there were two people depicted. For some reason, Qingmo instinctively felt that the painting depicted a young couple. The young woman in the painting was breathtakingly beautiful, stunningly so; a single glance could bewitch anyone. She lay languidly on one of the man's laps, her snow-white hair fluttering in the wind, her eyes slightly closed, and a gentle smile playing on her lips, appearing utterly serene and content.
Upon seeing this scene, Qingmo suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, and a heart-wrenching pain spread from the bottom of her heart. Her eyebrows furrowed into a knot, and her hands, trembling uncontrollably, gripped the scroll and pulled down the not-yet-fully-unrolled painting. When the entire painting was revealed before her eyes, she was instantly stunned.
The painting did indeed depict a couple, embracing each other with boundless tenderness. The man looked down at the woman, his gaze deep and affectionate. The half of her face shown in the painting was breathtakingly beautiful, with an ethereal charm. But what shocked Qingmo the most was that beneath the man's eye... there was a bright red beauty mark.
"Ah..." Her head was throbbing, and her heart was breaking with grief. Qingmo clutched her head and squatted on the ground, trembling and aching uncontrollably. She felt as if her body no longer belonged to her.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Who gave you permission to enter this courtyard?" Feng Chenmu asked coldly, his face as cold as ice.
Qingmo raised her head, her face already streaked with tears. "Can...can you take me out of here first?" she asked, her eyes brimming with tears, like a wounded child, her voice incredibly fragile.
Feng Chenmu's face was already showing displeasure, his gaze like a cold knife scraping across her face. After a moment, he impatiently picked her up and strode towards the door.
Once outside the courtyard, the discomfort vanished instantly.
Qingmo jumped up from Feng Chenmu's arms, grabbed his sleeve, and asked eagerly, "Who is the man in the painting? Can Your Highness tell me?"
Feng Chenmu's gaze was icy as he coldly glanced at her with a mocking tone, "Miss Yue really can't be without a man for a moment. If you're going to look for one, why go to such lengths? I'm standing right in front of you." With that, he pulled her tightly into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?" Qingmo struggled unhappily as he held her tightly, but seeing his handsome face approaching, she turned her head sharply, and his perfectly shaped thin lips landed on her snow-white neck.
Feng Chenmu, secretly relieved, watched her with a mischievous grin, then opened his mouth and bit...
"Ah..." A sharp pain shot through her neck, and Qingmo cried out in pain, her delicate eyebrows furrowing into a caterpillar shape. Without hesitation, she raised her foot and stomped down hard.
As if he had a premonition, Feng Chenmu suddenly flashed to the side, giving her a sinister sneer, with traces of blood still on the corner of his mouth. He looked extremely eerie.
Qingmo glared at him fiercely, took off her silk handkerchief and pressed it to her wound. Just as she was about to speak, a strange noise came from the bamboo forest behind her. "Who?" She turned around instantly on alert and vaguely saw a white figure flash into the bamboo forest.
Feng Chenmu's brows furrowed, and he followed.
Chapter 006: The Concubine Selection Competition
Qingmo took a step to chase after her, but a cold voice came from behind her, "Miss Yue, it's getting late. The Prince's Mansion is not suitable to keep guests. Please go back first."
Qingmo turned around, and the woman in pink who had brought her clothes at the hot spring was speaking to her. She pretended not to see the disdain on her face and smiled slightly, "So it's you, sister. It's still early. I have something to discuss with the prince, so I'd like to wait a bit."
"Hmph," the woman in pink snorted coldly, glancing at her sideways, and said sarcastically, "There's no need to wait. The master will not see you again today. It's the same no matter how long you wait in the palace."
Qingmo frowned slightly as she looked at her, "Why?"
"You're such a chatterbox," the woman in pink said, a hint of impatience in her eyes. "How would we know so much about our master's affairs? Leave if you want, don't leave if you don't..."
"Fenhe, how dare you be so insolent to the guests of the Prince's mansion? I think you're asking for trouble."
As the two were talking, a thin, shrewd old man approached. When Fenhe saw him, her imposing manner instantly diminished, and she humbly stepped aside. The thin old man smiled slightly at Qingmo, "You must be Miss Yue. His Highness has important matters to attend to, so please return first. I will escort you out of the manor now."
Qingmo slightly covered her eyelashes, and after a moment of thought, said, "Is Your Highness's important matter that the white figure in the bamboo forest?"
The skinny old man paused for a moment, then smiled. "I am unaware of the white shadow Miss Yue spoke of, but His Highness does indeed have important matters to attend to today. Please forgive me, Miss Yue."
Having said all that, there's no need to linger. But why would the thin old man deny the existence of that white figure? Judging from the back, it's clearly a woman, yet the information she found states that Prince Ping has no confidante. Could the information be wrong? Also, who exactly is the man in that mysterious scroll?
As soon as they left the palace, Lanman, who was guarding the gate, rushed up to Qingmo as soon as she came out. "How is it, Miss? Did Prince Ping agree to give you the Flawless Pearl?" she asked anxiously.
Qingmo shook her head in disappointment. She hadn't even had a chance to talk to the Prince of Peace before she was kicked out.
Seeing this, Lanman's face darkened. She looked at her nervously and hesitated, "Miss, the Emperor is holding a concubine selection competition at Qiongfang Garden tomorrow. All the daughters of officials of the third rank in Fengqi City who are twelve years old or older are invited, but... but the invitation for you was missed, Miss."
"What?" Qingmo's eyes widened suddenly, her face darkening. She had previously thought that if she could reach an agreement with either Prince Kang or Prince Ping, marriage wouldn't be necessary. Now, after meeting these two princes, she knew all too well that reaching a consensus with them would be a long process, leaving only the option of choosing a concubine. But now, even that path had been cut off; how could she not be shocked?
With a look of deep self-reproach, Lanman lowered her head and said, "It was Manyue Manor that wrote a letter to His Majesty, saying that only the eldest young lady and the third young lady of Yue were participating in the selection of imperial concubines, and we failed to stop the letter."
Qingmo took a deep breath and patted Lanman on the shoulder. "It's not your fault. It was my own fault for not thinking things through. Things will work themselves out. We'll find a way tomorrow."
*
On the eighth day of the eleventh month of the twenty-sixth year of Yong'an, Phoenix City hosted the grandest imperial concubine selection competition since the founding of the nation. On this day, a scroll sealed for many years was opened, and everyone's fate would be rewritten. The Buddhist scriptures written in blood and tears revealed that blood lotuses bloomed and blue wish lamps burned, and that after thousands of years, no one could escape their destiny.
It was already 7:45 AM, and the imperial concubine selection competition was about to begin.
In front of Qiongfang Garden, a dense crowd of people stood. Hundreds of imposing guards with swords held back the ever-pushing masses outside the gate. One after another, ornate sedan chairs were carried into the garden.
Not far away, three identical carriages approached Qiongfang Garden in sequence. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the drivers were all young women with their faces covered by silk scarves.
Suddenly, several men in black appeared out of nowhere on the street. They were dressed in black robes and had their faces covered with black cloths, and they blocked the carriage's path.
The classic black and white combination quickly attracted a large crowd of onlookers. Some sharp-eyed people noticed that the robes of the men in black were embroidered with a bright white moon.
Time ticked by, and the imperial concubine selection competition was about to begin. Outside Qiongfang Garden, crowds still thronged. Suddenly, a bright blue moon appeared in the sky, and someone quietly squeezed through the throng and ran in that direction.
At this moment, four sedan chair bearers carried a magnificent sedan chair out from around the corner. Inside the sedan chair, a pair of delicate hands handed an invitation to the head guard who was inspecting it. After the head guard, Xia Bin, read the invitation, he waved his hand, and the sedan chair was carried step by step towards Qiongfang Garden.
Just as the sedan chair was about to be carried into the garden, suddenly, a stone flew out from nowhere and hit the knee of one of the sedan chair bearers. The bearer was in pain, and the sedan chair tilted forward. "Ah..." A panicked scream rang out, and a woman fell out of the sedan chair.
The incident happened suddenly. The guards were already some distance from the sedan chair and were completely unable to reach it. They could only watch helplessly as the woman crashed into the hard stone slab. This impact could have ended the life of a beautiful young woman.
A murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd. The head guard, Xia Bin, grimened. If the woman chosen as the princess had been injured while he was on duty, he feared he would be fired. He rushed towards the scene, but was too late. Just as the woman was about to collapse, and tragedy seemed imminent, in a split second, a pair of hands reached out from the sedan chair, pulling the woman back from the brink of death. A bloody disaster was averted at the last moment.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Xia Bin wiped the cold sweat from his face, glanced at the sedan chair, and then, suddenly remembering the sudden hand, his expression darkened again. He waved his hand, and more than a dozen guards instantly surrounded the sedan chair, coldly shouting at it, "Come out, no need to hide anymore."
Qingmo pouted at Liu Yan and reluctantly got out of the sedan chair.
Yesterday, she learned that she did not have an invitation to enter the garden, but she had to attend the concubine selection competition, so she immediately began to check the information of the various young ladies and actually found a way to enter the garden.
Liu Yan, the daughter of the Minister of Rites, had a childhood sweetheart and was initially unwilling to participate in the imperial concubine selection competition. However, due to the imperial decree, her father, a third-rank official, and her own renowned talent in Fengqi, she had no choice but to come. Coincidentally, the Minister of Rites was busy preparing for the weddings of three princes and could not accompany her to the selection. So, she devised a plan to stop Liu Yan's sedan chair halfway and negotiate with her. She gave Liu Yan a pill that would weaken her body, ensuring her failure during the competition. Her reward for helping Liu Yan was that they would ride in the same sedan chair, with Liu Yan taking her to Qiongfang Garden.
She knew the people of Manyue Manor would definitely try to stop her, so she had Tianzhen and Lanman ride in the carriage to attract the enemy's attention. Sure enough, most of the people from Manyue Manor were drawn away, but she was still one step behind. Just when she was about to enter the garden, someone noticed her plan. Alas...
Chapter 007: Imprisoned Awaiting Trial
Two women stepped out of the sedan chair during the imperial concubine selection competition, causing a stir among the onlookers.
Xia Bin, his face grim, asked coldly, "Which of you is the young lady from Lord Liu's family?"
Qingmo and Liu Yan exchanged a glance, encouraging her with their eyes. Liu Yan timidly raised her head, "That's me."
Xia Bin glanced at her. Liu Yan was quite famous for her talent in Fengqi. He had met her once before. Now that she was not wearing a veil, it was indeed her. He said gently, "Miss Liu can enter the garden now. It would be bad if she delayed the selection of the concubines. As for the remaining woman, she should be imprisoned immediately and await the Emperor's personal trial."
Liu Yan looked at Qing Mo with some worry, but she really had no say. In this situation, it was a blessing to be able to protect herself. She immediately got back into the sedan chair and entered Qiongfang Garden.
Seeing that Liu Yan had safely entered the garden, Qingmo took out a jade pendant from his bosom and held it up before the guards could approach, asking, "Does Lord Xia recognize this jade pendant?"
Xia Bin stared intently at her with his bright, sharp eyes. The woman in front of him had her face covered by a silk scarf, so he couldn't tell what she looked like, but her calm and composed demeanor and her clear, bright eyes made her someone not to be underestimated. He glanced at the jade pendant in her hand and was slightly taken aback. "Are you the second young lady of Manyue Manor?"
Qingmo smiled calmly, "Lord Xia has a good eye. I am indeed the second young lady of Manyue Manor. I hope Lord Xia will make an exception for me."
Her clear and melodious voice was like a gentle breeze, and the faint smile in her eyes easily put people at ease. Xia Bin frowned slightly, avoiding her gaze, and said in a businesslike tone, "I'm sorry, Miss Yue, we only look at the invitations for this concubine selection competition. The eldest and third young ladies of Manyue Manor entered with invitations. We cannot show favoritism or cheat. Please forgive us."
The gates of Qiongfang Garden were indeed difficult to enter. Qingmo put away the jade pendant, smiled indifferently, and said as if jokingly, "Lord Xia, if I said that I could cure the old ailments of Prince An and Prince Ping, do you think His Majesty would allow me to enter the garden?"
These words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd.
Everyone in the world knows that the Fengyue Dynasty has few heirs, and the three princes are all disabled. Even the most famous doctors in the world cannot cure them. Now, a young girl claims that she can cure them. Anyone would be both surprised and skeptical.
Hearing her words, which seemed both true and false, Xia Bin frowned slightly. "Can the Second Miss really cure him?"
Qingmo's long eyelashes were slightly closed. In truth, she wasn't 100% certain, but given the current situation, she was absolutely certain: "Yes."
Xia Bin stared intently at her, as if trying to discern something amiss in her eyes, but they remained unmoved, innocently allowing him to gaze upon them. After a long while, he relented and waved his hand, immediately sending a guard into the garden to report.
A moment later, the guard returned, accompanied by Chief Eunuch Du, who served His Majesty. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Qingmo walked step by step towards Qiongfang Garden. Years later, when she recalled that scene, perhaps many things were already destined from that moment on, a love tragedy of a thousand-year-old fate, from which she could never escape.
"You are Yue Qingmo? Take off your veil and raise your head."
A dignified male voice, emanating from the air, rang out. Qingmo slowly raised her head. Seated in a high position was a majestic old man over fifty years old. Under his sharp, eagle-like gaze, she calmly removed her veil.
“Uncle, I don’t believe this woman of unknown origin is the second young lady of the Yue clan. Everyone knows that the women of the Yue Ling clan are all beautiful, and the men are all handsome and refined. Look at this woman, even the lowly maids in the royal palace are prettier than her. How could she be the second young lady of the Yue clan?” The man in brocade robes sitting to the side said disdainfully as he saw her remove her veil.
Qingmo looked at the speaker, and sure enough, it was that person.
That day, after she saved Prince An, she sent Lanman to investigate the culprit. The investigation revealed that the noble young master who had bullied Prince An was actually Feng Luochuan, the only son of Prince Rong. Meeting him today at the imperial concubine selection competition—this was probably what people meant by "enemies meeting on a narrow road." Her long eyelashes slightly lowered, she calmly said:
"The Moon Spirit Clan has produced beauties for generations. I am an exception among them, and since I cannot control them, I do not mind. I wonder if Your Highness has ever heard the poem, 'A little wine can dispel worries, and an ugly wife can grow old together. One need not travel by carriage, and one need not wear a fox fur coat.' There is also an old saying, 'A family with an ugly wife will prosper.' So, it is not impossible to marry an ugly woman."
The Phoenix Emperor narrowed his sharp eyes slightly. The woman below the hall lowered her head, seemingly humble and respectful, but when she spoke, she showed no sign of humility. She even had a bit of courage and cleverness, and seemed quite poised and generous. He then asked, "You say you are Miss Yue the Second. Can you prove your identity?"
Qingmo took out a jade pendant from his bosom, and someone immediately took it and presented it to him.
After a moment, the Phoenix Emperor said softly, "The jade pendant is indeed genuine."
“Uncle, the jade pendant being genuine doesn’t prove this woman is Miss Yue Er. Some people who specialize in murder and robbery actually try to impersonate others; perhaps…”
Qingmo suddenly looked up. Feng Luochuan was looking at her with disdain, his face revealing undisguised smugness. On the surface, it seemed that Feng Luochuan was deliberately making things difficult for her, but that wasn't the case. He had simply guessed the Emperor's thoughts correctly; otherwise, the Emperor wouldn't have said, "The jade pendant is indeed genuine." Although she hadn't yet figured out why the Emperor was doing this, she knew that if she couldn't prove her identity now, she would definitely face death today.
She immediately knelt down, her body prostrate on the ground, and Qingmo's soft voice became serious, "Your Majesty is wise. Even if I had ten times the courage, I would not dare to do such a heinous thing. For this selection of concubines, there are three young ladies from Full Moon Manor. Why not summon my eldest sister and third sister as well? They can surely prove my identity."
“Uncle, the concubine selection competition is already underway. If we call the contestant out during the competition, it might be unfair to the other participants…”
Before Feng Luochuan could finish speaking, the Emperor Feng made a gesture, and Steward Du hurriedly left.
Qingmo kept her head down, standing to the side like a well-behaved and quiet little wife. However, as a martial artist, she naturally knew that the Phoenix Emperor had sent someone to invite her two sisters.