As Yao Yunyi hurried away, Mingxi felt reassured—if Yu Wangfei had the backing of the Guangxiang Marquis, this crisis would be much easier to handle.
If Yu Wangfei remained stable, Yu Wang would remain stable. If Yu Wang was stable, then Consort Xian and the Guangxiang Marquisate would be stable as well.
Although she had leveraged the Marquisate’s influence, the outcome was a win-win. it wasn’t a betrayal of Yao Yunyi’s trust.
After Yao Yunyi left, Liu Yunhua sighed. “Who would’ve thought things would turn out like this? Do you think He Wanyi will really end up as Yu Wang’s side consort?”
“She has no other choice,” Xu Nanxi said calmly. “Given what happened, her only options are entering Yu Wang’s household or facing death.”
Liu Yunhua shook her head. “What a waste.”
Mingxi turned to Liu Yunhua and said softly, “Jin Wangfei has always doted on her younger sister. She’ll surely try to protect her. But there’s something I don’t quite understand—Consort Gui and the Empress have always had a good relationship, so why would Consort Gui allow He Wanyi to get involved in this mess?”
Liu Yunhua frowned in thought. “Are you suggesting that the Empress and Consort Gui might not be as close as they seem?”
Mingxi smiled faintly and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know.”
Xu Nanxi glanced at Liu Yunhua. “Jin Wang is the Emperor’s eldest son. There’s an old saying—’if there’s a legitimate heir, he should be crowned; if not, then the eldest son should be chosen.’ Logically speaking, he shouldn’t be aligning himself so closely with the Empress’s faction. But I was just thinking out loud—don’t go spreading this around.”
“Of course,” Liu Yunhua nodded. “If I went around repeating everything, how could you trust me in the future? But this information is quite significant. I’ll have to let my family know. Don’t worry, I won’t reveal the source. Is that alright?”
That was exactly what Mingxi wanted to hear.
“Of course,” Mingxi replied with a smile.
Liu Yunhua, now feeling restless, stood up. “I need to return home right away. I’ll treat you both to a meal another day to make up for leaving so suddenly.”
“No need for that. Just go.”
The two of them stood up to see her off.
Once Liu Yunhua had hurried away, only Mingxi and Xu Nanxi remained in the room.
Xu Nanxi looked at Mingxi and said, “if both the Guangxiang Marquisate and Duke Rong’s household get involved, this will be a tough situation to resolve.”
Mingxi nodded. “That’s exactly what we want—so that the Empress and the Crown Prince can’t easily escape this.”
Xu Nanxi couldn’t help but admire her. The meeting with Yao Yunyi and Liu Yunhua had been unplanned, yet Mingxi had skillfully drawn both of them into the situation within such a short time.
No wonder her cousin had acted decisively in the palace. He must have known that Mingxi could handle things on this end.
“What do you think the final outcome will be?” Xu Nanxi asked.
Mingxi shook her head. “It’s hard to say. But for us, the most important thing is ensuring that the Crown Prince and the Empress don’t regain control of the Imperial Horse Bureau.”
“My Father has already been making arrangements to keep an eye on this matter at court,” Xu Nanxi replied.
Duke Wei was always cautious. if he had decided to act, he would see it through.
In matters of such scale, the Dingyuan Marquisate could only exert minor influence. They had no power in the imperial court.
But Duke Wei was a different story.
Thinking of this, Mingxi turned to Xu Nanxi and said, “I suspect there’s trouble within Jin Wang’s household.”
“Hm?” Xu Nanxi was taken aback. “What makes you say that?”
Mingxi looked out the window and said, “It’s simple. If I were the Wangfei, why would I let my own sister become a mere side consort? A noble family should always aim to rise, not decline into a laughingstock.”
“But what if Jin Wangfei didn’t know about it? What if He Wanyi acted on her own?” Xu Nanxi asked. it wasn’t impossible—He Wanyi had always been willful, relying on her sister’s status.
“Then have you considered—why did He Wanyi set her sights on Yu Wang? And how did she even get close to him in the first place?”
Xu Nanxi had no answer. “What does that have to do with Jin Wang’s household?”
In her past life, Mingxi had heard that Jin Wang deeply loved his side consort, Madam Qian. She didn’t know much about the inner workings of the Jin residence, but she did know that later, Jin Wangfei and Side Consort Qian became bitter enemies.
In her past life, Jin Wangfei had only given birth to a single daughter, while Side Consort Qian had borne three sons.
She couldn’t recall whether Side Consort Qian had suffered a miscarriage in her past life, but in this one, her miscarriage had been followed by He Wanyi’s scandal.
it was hard to say whether there was a connection between the two.
What if Side Consort Qian’s miscarriage was related to Jin Wangfei?
But these were just her own speculations. Without evidence, she naturally couldn’t bring it up to Xu Nanxi.
“I heard that Jin Wangfei and Side Consort Qian don’t get along, and He Wanyi often visits Jin Wang residence, so I just thought more about it. Maybe I’m overthinking,” Mingxi said.
Xu Nanxi, however, replied, “Hmm? That’s not entirely unreasonable. When Side Consort Qian had a miscarriage, I heard people say it had something to do with Jin Wangfei…”
She looked at Mingxi. “Could it be Side Consort Qian herself?”
“Even if Side Consort Qian did it, she would at least need a way to connect He Wanyi with Yu Wang, wouldn’t she?”
“That makes sense. This really is baffling,” Xu Nanxi sighed. “Looks like the New Year won’t be peaceful.”
Mingxi thought, indeed.
When Duan Qi arrived in Qinan and Fengcheng Marquis’s memorial reached the capital, that would be when the real chaos began.
In the end, how things were handled would still depend on the Emperor.
If the Emperor once again firmly protected the Crown Prince, then all her and Xiao Muchen’s efforts would have been for nothing.
So, that absolutely couldn’t happen.
Just then, Xu Nanxi suddenly remembered something and clapped her hands. “Look at me, I was so focused on Yunyi and Yunhua that I forgot about our own matter.”
Mingxi looked at her. “I thought you were just here for tea.”
“I wish,” Xu Nanxi said, spreading her hands. “But my cousin entrusted me to pass a message to you.”
Mingxi smiled. “What did Wangye say?”
“My cousin said that the Xingan Marquis Manor will likely seek help from Jingyuan Marquis Manor to protect He Wanyi. But Qingying and the Marquis shizi probably won’t cooperate. As for their affairs, he said that this time, you shouldn’t help Qingying with any ideas.”
Mingxi: …
“Something this trivial, Qingying doesn’t need my help,” Mingxi chuckled. “I’m not some savior.”
Xu Nanxi muttered, “I’m just passing the message. I don’t care about the rest.”
Mingxi poured her some tea. “Alright, I got it.”
Seeing Mingxi’s calm expression, Xu Nanxi also relaxed and said, “You don’t know, ever since Qingying’s younger brother became the shizi, that manor hasn’t had a moment of peace. Oh, and there’s something you might not know—Jingyuan Marquis’s Madam picked a marriage prospect for Qingying. She actually set her sights on a widower with a son. Qingying was furious and scolded her, saying she could be a concubine herself if she liked, but she shouldn’t expect Qingying to do the same. The argument was quite intense.”
Mingxi stiffened. “What’s the widower’s name?”
Xu Nanxi thought for a moment before saying, “I think his surname is Xie, but I don’t know his full name.”
Xie Jingyang…
It really was him.
She vaguely remembered this being mentioned before, but at the time, it hadn’t materialized yet. She hadn’t expected Jingyuan Marquis’s Madam to push him forward so quickly.
“Qingying has Yu Wangfei above her. How dare Jingyuan Marquis Madam arrange such a match for her?”
This wasn’t like Qingying’s past life when she had no other options.
