Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress-Chapter 1332 - 1339: Choosing a Consort for the Qing Luo Kingdom’s Prince (1)

Mo Zili was utterly defeated. To see her just once, he had exhausted all his efforts, bribing the maids at the Mansion of Marquis Jian’an, and the abbot at the Da Guo Temple, even hiding in this Zen room like a thief all morning long. Yet, she responded with such disdain...

After leaving Da Guo Temple, Cheng Cai eagerly stepped forward, about to ask if he had seen the Young Madam, but upon seeing his face full of bad luck, he wisely shut his mouth, opened the carriage curtain, and invited him to get inside.

The horse carriage rattled away from the Da Guo Temple, heading in the direction of Duke Li Guo’s Mansion. Mo Zili sat in the carriage with his eyes closed, his heart stinging as if it were stung by bees, sharp pains assaulting him periodically. Thinking of her resolute face, that hateful expression, her merciless words one after another, filled him with a sense of hopeless entrapment – what could he do to win back her heart?

All along the way, he pondered bitterly. Just as the carriage was about to reach Duke Li Guo’s Mansion, he suddenly opened his eyes, knocked on the carriage wall, and said, "Turn around, go to the Mansion of Marquis Jian’an!"

Sitting on the coachbox, Cheng Cai exclaimed, "Young Master, the Marquis and his wife have already gone to the Hunting Ground, and the Young Madam is still at the Da Guo Temple. What would you do there?"

From within the carriage, Mo Zili’s chilling voice emerged.

"When did I need a servant to question my matters?"

Cheng Cai shut his mouth with a stammer, throwing a helpless look at the coachman who reluctantly turned the carriage around, heading towards the Mansion of Marquis Jian’an.

Located on Changping Street, the Mansion of Marquis Jian’an was a venerable residence with a history of a century. Marquis Wu Shiji, nearly fifty this year and a military commander by origin, had served in the court for many years. He was known for his clean conduct and uprightness, but he had one disgraceful fault – lechery.

Apart from his official wife, he had married eight or nine concubines and countless chambermaids. Among these women, his favorite was Aunt Hua.

Aunt Hua, now thirty, was a stunning beauty who had originally been a dancer given to him by a subordinate out of filial piety. Not only skilled in singing and dancing, she was also knowledgeable in poetry and literature, elegant yet bold. From the moment she entered the mansion, she was the favored one in her own quarters. The Marquis would spend seven or eight days each month in her quarters, even the official wife could not compare.

Favored by the Marquis, Aunt Hua’s children naturally received favor too. She had given birth to a son and a daughter: the son, just seven years old, was robust and had just begun his education, he was the most beloved son of the Marquis; her daughter, Wu Xiangling, now thirteen, had blossomed like a lotus flower out of water. She had initially been betrothed to an illegitimate son from the House of the Auxiliary Duke. However, following Xiang Yun’s divorce, the House of the Auxiliary suddenly renounced the engagement, citing the poor reputation of the Mansion of Marquis Jian’an, leaving Wu Xiangling in tears daily and cursing Xiang Yun, the instigator of the debacle...

Aunt Hua also felt aggrieved about her daughter being implicated by Xiang Yun and hadn’t stopped crying about the injustice beside the Marquis’s pillow for a month. However, the Old Fart, always clear about public versus private matters, refused to be swayed by her coquettish pleas. He insisted that Xiang Yun had done nothing wrong in divorcing and even refused to believe her proposed good intentions of sending Xiang Yun to the Nun’s Convent for the rest of her life.

Unable to overcome him, and with resentment brewing in her heart, Aunt Hua could only vent by slandering Xiang Yun here and there, openly squeezing and mocking her, to relieve her feelings of injustice.

Everyone in the mansion was aware that Aunt Hua was favored, and accustomed to her domineering charm, so even though it was clear she was bullying the miss, everyone acted as if they saw nothing. They let her disparage and isolate the miss, not daring to speak out, much less report the matter to the Marquis and his wife, lest they invite trouble and harm upon themselves.

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