Happy Lunar New Year everyone :)
Thanks for reading our translation with patience. After the holidays, the release will be a bit more consistent where a new chapter part will be released every 2 weeks on Sunday.
A special thanks to Caroll L. for editing our past few chapters 👏
Below the main court, on the left were the male guests who were seated accordingly; first were the princes, then the royalty members, and lastly the officials who were seated according to their ranks. On the right were the female guests and they were seated the same way the male guests were seated. Even though this was just a simple banquet held by the Empress, the females of each family attended based on their ranks. So this time, Li Wei Yang was actually positioned far ahead of Li Chang Le, which made the latter feel hateful to the point of almost biting apart her teeth. She originally thought she could recapture everyone’s attention with her face. However, these people only gazed at her for a few seconds and then fixated their gazes elsewhere. She didn’t expect this from the start.
In actuality, if Li Chang Le didn’t have an alluring beauty, no one would actually give her a glance. This was because her “glorious” achievements had been spread throughout the city. Everyone knew she first offended the Emperor and then caused the Fifth Prince to be punished by the Emperor. They’d also heard that she was dressed magnificently at her mother’s funeral …… Marry a wife for her virtues for the family, but who would dare marry this woman? The Official Wife isn’t a vase that can just casually be placed anywhere; she has to manage the household. If they marry the wrong wife, it will bring damage to nine generations.
Li Wei Yang didn’t even look at Li Chang Le once. Because her position was very close to Ninth Princess, she was being asked all sorts of questions by Ninth Princess.
It had been a while; Tuoba Zhen couldn’t help but fixate his gaze on Li Wei Yang. Even though he could only see her profile, he noticed the blue-colored gem on her forehead, making her look pure and fresh. Observing her from afar, he saw how half of her face showed calm radiance and shone under the lights. The gem on her black, fluffy hair was like the moon amid a misted spring night. Her complexion was white so she didn’t really need to apply any powder. Today she had applied some, which made her complexion even more pure white. On top of her snow white complexion, she also had on a layer of rouge. It was like the clouds in the morning, tender and alluring, making others think that it would break with a blow. She was wearing a dress made with high-quality fabric. With one glance, it looked like it was purple but in actuality, there was a layer of thin purple yarn shrouding the dress, creating a beautiful curve. He didn’t want to move and didn’t even want to blink his eyes. She was even much more beautiful than before; she was only 13 years old then so her body and face hadn’t become fully grown yet. In a little more than two years, she had turned into a young lady. The alluring buds in the past had bloomed. Perhaps, because of his suppressed wild ambitions, her alluring beauty had become even more fascinating in his eyes. Tuoba Zhen mindfully watched her as he thought about how it was a pity to ruin such a beautiful lady.
Right at this moment, Li Wei Yang felt his gaze. Her deep and serene eyes looked towards his direction ------ delusions suddenly appeared right in front of Tuoba Zhen; he felt that this was a beauty with a face covered with rosy clouds. But these rosy clouds quickly dispersed and Li Wei Yang reacted yet he didn’t understand it. Her long brows slightly cramped up and her eyes showed cold disgust and derision. Ultimately, the emotions he felt suddenly melted away as if they had turned into taunts. Tuoba Zhen felt that his mind was suddenly blank and his heartbeat almost gone, instigating endless emotions of anger.
At this time, a smiling beauty walked over to the Emperor’s side. The Emperor actually made an exception and added a seat that was even closer to the throne than the Empress’s. The crowd curiously looked towards the beauty. It’s alright not to look but once the crowd looked, everyone gasped in admiration, similar to adding iced water into an oiled pot.
“This is Consort Lian!”
“I’ve heard she was sent by the Heavens to aid His Majesty!”
“That’s right, the Heavens blessed Da Li!”
Everyone was speaking rubbish. Even though everyone knew stories about the Heavens were all imaginary, so long as the Emperor believed it, then they must believe it too. As for now, the Emperor’s favoritism towards Neng You Lian wasn’t typical so everyone spoke on the same page and believed she was sent by the Heavens to serve His Majesty. Listening to everyone’s admiration, Li Wei Yang couldn’t help but smile. The so-called heavenly figure was simply a deceiving act and the victim being deceived was the Emperor, with the crowd being the spectators for support. Thinking about this, Li Wei Yang’s gaze fell on Neng You Lian. She had only heard about her through Min De and hadn’t seen Consort Lian in person. Carefully looking at her now, this consort was in fact unusually beautiful. She was so demurely beautiful that she made all the extravagantly dressed consorts unflatteringly dull and even more the fire in the lantern. Indeed, this was the first time Li Wei Yang saw another woman who could rival Li Chang Le’s beauty.
The only reason why Li Wei Yang could look at Consort Lian with an ordinary mind was because she wasn’t one who relied on her looks to achieve what she wanted. So she didn’t really care about others being much more beautiful than she was. On the other hand, Li Chang Le couldn’t even maintain an ordinary mind. She furtively looked at Consort Lian’s face, inch by inch, bit by bit as she scrutinized and analyzed. She meticulously compared herself to her and became even more terrified as she compared. This Emperor’s newly favored consort was a rare beauty. Not only could her features rival hers, but also her noble disposition was like a bright moon in the night sky. Li Chang Le clenched her fist; she could only rely on her beauty but now that someone’s beauty triumphed over hers, what else could she depend on!
“Older Sister, don’t you know? This jewelry was sent as a gift by a foreign ambassador! Since the past year, His Majesty treasured this so much and he placed it in his storage. I asked for it many times but he wasn’t willing to give it!” Consort Ruo, who was the birth mother of Ninth Princess and Eighth Prince, smiled and semi-genuinely said.
The bloody agate was a glorious gemstone that couldn’t escape the notice of others, especially when the large red gemstone at the middle of necklace was the center of attention. Virtuous Consort Zhang looked and calmly smiled: “Consort Ruo, how can you be compared to Consort Lian. She is His Majesty’s dearest!”
The Empress looked at all the consorts from above: “Consort Lian is such an alluring beauty that I can’t even remove my gaze. Do you all remember when you first entered the palace, each of you were like flowers? Look at how many years have passed. Looking at the young and beautiful Consort Lian now, I can’t admit defeat. Time has passed by really quickly.”
This was why she was the Empress. With a few words, Able Consort Wu’s, Virtuous Consort Zhang’s, and Consort Ruo’s mood all turned sour. The Empress wanted to remind them that they were already old and were no longer as favored and also to remind Consort Lian that even with such a beautiful appearance, she still had nothing in hand. Age is the most powerful factor that is ever-changing. It’s only the Empress’s throne that will never change. Besides the Empress, everyone else is nothing.
Consort Lian smiled slightly with no change to her expression as if she didn’t hear the cutting remarks made by everyone. Her gaze was actually fixated towards the area below the platform and eventually landed on the Jiangs. Her expression in her eyes had slightly changed but not for long; her eyes moved away as if nothing had happened.
“The Crown Prince has arrived!” Up until here, a door eunuch announced as the Crown Prince walked in. By his side were two magnificently-dressed beauties; one was his Crown Princess and the other was the highly-favored consort Jiang Lan. Crown Princess of the He family came from the House of Duke Wen’s. She had a tall stature, a duck egg-shaped face, short eyelashes, mid-sized eyes, slightly plump nose, and a drooping mouth. She is considered a beauty but compared to Jiang Lan on the side, it was still fairly lacking. Jiang Lan inherited the Jiang’s tall forehead and had a pair of bright eyes and a pointy-shaped face. Her appearance compared to the arrogant Main Furen and Duke Wei Furen was more gentle and elegant. She stood behind the Crown Princess and didn’t appear to be too intimate with the Jiangs as she didn’t even look at Jiang Xu.
Li Wei Yang thought that this Crown Prince’s consort was a figure. In her memory, the Crown Prince loved her so much that they were inseparable and even treated the Crown Princess coldly because of this. The Crown Princess had complained to the Empress multiple times but because the Empress wanted the Jiangs’ support, she also sided with Jiang Lan. Because of this, the Crown Princess became depressed and passed away two years later. If the Crown Prince did successfully inherited the throne, then Jiang Lan would have had the fate to become an empress. But whether it’s in the past life or now, the Jiangs were still indifferent towards this consort. Not only did they not help her out or even heavily back the Crown Prince, but they also didn’t lend a helping hand when the Crown Prince was forced to a dead end. As for Jiang Lan, the first thing she did was abandon her husband and run back to the Jiangs …… thinking about this, this was beyond comprehension. She had thought in the past that, witnessing the love between the Crown Prince and Jiang Lan, their marriage was perfect. However looking at the result, the Jiangs had never thought of backing the Crown Prince and even Jiang Lan was just a facade. Besides having their eyes on the throne, this whole family only paid their loyalty towards the successor of the throne. As for who becomes the successor, this really depends on that person’s capabilities.
The Empress smilingly said: “Truly worth a beating, the banquet is starting soon, you actually dare allow your Imperial Father to wait for you!” Behind these words, there was actually no intention of punishing him.
The Crown Prince turned back to coldly glare at the Crown Princess. They originally were going to arrive earlier but this Crown Princess caused a ruckus in the residence, which annoyed him. Now he appeared late in front of everyone which was a loss of etiquette! The Crown Princess coldly glared back at him, her eyes filled with taunts. You allow a consort to have preferential treatment well above that of a Crown Princess that you even brought her to welcome the foreign ambassador. Since you’ve already made me lose face, then there’s no need for you to save yourself from losing yours!
As the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince were raging at one another, Li Wei Yang watched and could only shake her head. Restlessness within the inner chambers was a shortcoming of the Crown Prince. In the upcoming battles, Tuoba Zhen took advantage of this point. These two have been glaring at one another like black-eyed chickens, did they not notice the Emperor was starting to be impatient? No matter what, the Empress ordered a young eunuch to set up a table. It wasn’t until they’d finished working in a rush that a table was set up right beneath the Emperor.
“Crown Prince Brother has always doted on Jiang Lan, the Crown Princess is very angry! Both married to the Crown Prince on the same day but in the end, the Crown Prince stayed over at Jiang Lan’s, such a deep grudge!” Ninth Princess whispered to Li Wei Yang, “It happens that Imperial Mother always sides with Jiang Lan, which infuriates the Crown Princess. I’ve heard there’s a small ruckus every three days and a big one every five days! The Crown Princess even broke the bed in Jiang Lan’s chamber!”
Li Wei Yang with astonishment looked at the Crown Princess, such a petite stature …… didn’t know she could be this overbearing. But, no one can be happy having to share a husband with another woman, especially a gentle one who has been monopolizing her husband’s time. It was difficult for Li Wei Yang to see her having any blood relations with the Jiangs, looking at Jiang Lan’s feeble body and pitiful face. She didn’t even look a single bit like Main Furen and Duke Wei Furen. Pondering upon this, Jiang Lan was birthed by a concubine. So, the way the Jiangs’ attitude towards her compared to the other two differed greatly. This seemed to be the answer to this unfamiliarity.
The Empress noticed Jiang Lan. With a admiring expression, she tugged her hand and praised: “Lan-Er, your make-up today is very unique.”
“Thanks Your Majesty for your praise.” Jiang Lan gently spoke.
The Empress and Jiang Lan began chatting while the Crown Princess was left on the side without a chance to join in, leaving her feeling suffocated.
Not long after, Jiang Lan returned to her seat. Her glance looked towards the side and then swept over Li Wei Yang’s table. They just stopped momentarily and then moved away as if nothing had happened.
“Sister Wei Yang, you don’t know, this Jiang Lan is formidable. She isn’t that beautiful but she is able to tantalize Brother Crown Prince ……” Ninth Princess bent over, whispering happily to Li Wei Yang’s ears, lacking the demeanor of a princess. As she spoke, she turned to look at Jiang Lan but Jiang Lan had already fixated her gaze elsewhere. On the contrary, she was looking towards General Wei Wu, Jiang Nan. Their eyes met and Ninth Princess shivered all of a sudden, feeling that she was deciphered inside-out.
“What’s so extraordinary ……” Ninth Princess lowly uttered and then stopped speaking.
Of course, he was extraordinary. Nowadays, the Emperor’s highly regarded civil official hailed from the Lis while the highly regarded general hailed from the Jiangs. Although since the start of Da Li, civil officials were superior to generals. But the Jiangs were an exception, their feats had already exceeded those of an average general so that they’re only lacking the title of a Duke. Li Wei Yang’s gaze looked past Jiang Lan and Jiang Nan and settled on Jiang Xu. He was exactly the same in her memory. He had a valiant appearance, an upright body, and his smile seemed pleasantly warm. If others didn’t know, they would have thought he was a civil official and would never imagine that he was a well-known first-ranked general. She didn’t understand how his appearance at the banquet would change anything! Thinking of how Jiang Nan deliberately came to provoke, Li Wei Yang already knew clearly that today there would be a mishap, and it would be directed towards herself!
Li Wei Yang slightly smiled, what should she do that would allow her to reap the most profits?
Jiang Xu, Jiang Nan, Crown Prince, Jiang Lan, Tuoba Zhen, Able Consort Wu, and the Empress …… These people and their faces flashed across Li Wei Yang’s mind. She looked down and thought all of them just considered her an eyesore but this eyesore could possibly affect the overall situation.