Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 154

A faint, metallic taste slowly seeped into Gu Yu Qi’s mouth from where her teeth clamped down on his clothing.

Her eyes were red as she stubbornly bit down, just as she had clung to her love for him in their past life.

The taste of bl00d grew stronger. Gu Yu Qi could not hold back her tears any longer and they finally spilled from her eyes, silently falling onto the golden embroidery of Imperial Prince An’s ceremonial robe.

Feeling the heat spreading across his shoulder, Yun Ke lowered his gaze slightly and caught sight of her tear-streaked face. His heart gave a painful lurch.

He had actually driven her to this point. Yun Ke silently sighed in his heart, and it was a sigh tinged with bitterness and regret.

He wanted to speak and comfort her, but he feared that if he did, it would make her resist him even more. So, he kept silent, merely tightening his arms around her and allowing her tears to flow freely.

So this was what it felt like to truly care about someone.

You would feel pain because of her tears. You would feel pain because of her pain. Yun Ke sighed silently once more. He now understood that what he had felt for Zhang Wan Yi in his past life was not love at all. It had just been a sense of gratitude, a kind of affection born from repaying a favour.

The pain in his heart was far deeper than the pain in his shoulder.

Gu Yu Qi tasted the bl00d in her mouth becoming thicker, so thick that she could already taste the freshness of it. The taste of bl00d was not pleasant and it only made her stomach begin to churn violently.

“Ugh!” Gu Yu Qi retched involuntarily, her stomach roiling in protest. She was finally forced to open her mouth.

A faint smear of Yun Ke’s bl00d stained the corner of her lips, light and streaked, as if her lipstick had been smudged.

Her tears had washed away much of her carefully applied makeup, leaving streaks of it crisscrossing her small face.

Gu Yu Qi clutched her stomach with discomfort. The retching from earlier had made her stomach ache, as though it were turning upside down. She could not suppress it and dry-heaved a couple more times.

“What’s wrong?” Yun Ke finally showed a hint of panic. He hurriedly straightened up and lifted Gu Yu Qi into his arms, placing her gently on the bridal bed.

“Someone!” he shouted toward the door. “Summon an imperial physician!”

Outside the door, Wang Yan leapt to his feet in shock. What was going on? How had things escalated so quickly from an argument between the two people to summoning an imperial physician?! His sharp hearing had allowed him to catch most of the conversation inside. Though he did not fully understand what Gu Yu Qi had been talking about, her words gave him an inexplicable ache in his heart. It felt as if she and His Highness had known each other for a very long time and somehow, but why was Prince Fu involved? The whole thing left him thoroughly bewildered.

It must have been that the young lady had angered His Highness and in a fit of emotion, he accidentally hurt her.

Wang Yan, anxious and flustered, dashed off to tell the eunuchs in the palace to ready swift horses to ride to the palace and fetch an imperial physician.

While he ran off, Du Xia was stationed at the door. His expression was cold and unyielding as he blocked a maid dressed in a red coat.

“Young man, please grant me a favour.” Aunty Li smiled ingratiatingly at Du Xia, “This old servant has only come at the command of the new princess consort to invite His Highness.”

Du Xia’s face remained dark and unfriendly. He had been in a foul mood all day and had no intentions of being polite to anyone.

Gu Yu Qi had really married into the prince’s palace. Even though he had long since prepared himself mentally for this, when the day finally arrived, he found that he still could not quite bear it.

Now His Highness and Gu Yu Qi were in the courtyard together. Even though he could not marry her himself, he definitely would not allow anyone to destroy anything that belonged to her.

This nanny, who served the so-called new princess consort, had already been pleading with him for nearly an hour, alternating between coaxing and threatening, but Du Xia was a stubborn person by birth. Even though Aunty Li was an experienced old maid from the palace, she was completely helpless when it came to Du Xia.

The people in this Imperial Prince An’s palace were all freaks!

Aunty Li was on the verge of losing her temper. She seriously needed to go back to the imperial palace to report this incident to her mistress.

How could the legitimate princess consort be left cast outside for almost an hour and a half after she had entered the palace? That Imperial Prince An was going too far. Even if he did not like the new princess consort, this was still a marriage bestowed by the Emperor. By neglecting the princess consort in this way, he was disrespecting the Emperor and, by extension, disrespecting the Virtuous Consort and the Xia family as well!

That Concubine Gu, who had been granted the title of Consort Rou or something, must be exactly the kind of seductive vixen that the Virtuous Consort had warned about! Tongxin Courtyard, the residence allocated to Consort Rou was actually called the courtyard of united hearts. Was that not a blatant slap in the face from His Highness to their family’s young miss? Their Xia family’s young miss is the legitimate primary consort of Imperial Prince An!

She had plenty of tricks up her sleeve to deal with vixens like her.

Seeing a man who looked like a guard hurriedly coming out, Aunty Li immediately turned to Wang Yan.

“Excuse me, guard,” she said. She had already spent so much time trying to persuade Du Xia without getting anywhere, so she wanted to try with Wang Yan to see if she could get the prince to come out and talk.

Wang Yan glanced at Aunty Li with a frown. “Where’d this old nanny come from?” he asked Du Xia, “Did the Xia family bring her?”

Du Xia nodded, his face dark.

What “Xia family”?! Nanny Li bristled inwardly. Back when she was in the palace, even the Virtuous Consort had shown her some respect. The guards in this palace were too short-sighted. Still, why waste time arguing with a short-sighted guard?

The most urgent thing now was getting His Highness out here so he could perform the wedding rites with the young miss.

The courtyard was filled with guests who had come bearing lavish gifts to celebrate the occasion, and they were all watching. The eight-man bridal sedan sat abandoned in the courtyard, ignored and unattended. What kind of scene was this?

His Highness was still holed up in Consort Rou’s chambers and was not coming out. The guests knew this, and where would that leave the primary consort’s dignity?

Inside the sedan, Xia Ying anxiously twisted the hem of her wedding gown, as if the repetitive action could somehow ease her growing unease.

She had been left here for what felt like an eternity. From inside the sedan, she could hear the distant murmur of greetings and congratulations. Yet every time the voices dipped even slightly, she felt certain that the guests were whispering and laughing at her.

As a dignified young lady from a marquis’s household, she was once showered with love and admiration by all. Now, she was ignored, belittled, and ridiculed. The thought made her simmer with a mixture of rage, anxiety, and embarrassment.

This feeling was just like that night, when her clothes had been ripped apart and she had been toyed with so casually. The memory made her seethe with fury, and for a brief, desperate moment, she wanted nothing more than to have the sedan carried straight back to the An Le Marquis’ residence.

However, Xia Ying knew that there was no turning back. The bridal sedan had already left the Marquis’ residence, and there was no reason for her to be sent back.

At this moment, she was consumed with regret, regret for having blindly listened to her mother, regret for not fleeing to the countryside and living out her days in obscurity.

Aunty Li had been gone for a long time and still had not managed to bring out Imperial Prince An. Xia Ying understood that she was not welcome here. Otherwise, with the imperial decree mandating her marriage and her status as Imperial Prince An’s primary consort, how could Imperial Prince An have left her waiting like this for so long?

Gu Yu Qi. It must be that vixen who had bewitched His Highness Imperial Prince An and deliberately kept him by her side, all to show power over her, the primary consort.

If she wanted to establish herself in the prince’s palace, Gu Yu Qi had to be eliminated!

Xia Ying really wanted to pull out the golden threads embroidered on her gown, imagining that each thread was like a piece of Gu Yu Qi’s flesh being torn apart.

Before long, an imperial physician hurried into the courtyard. The guests seated in the main hall immediately noticed and rose to their feet and said, “Is His Highness unwell?”

“Who knows.” Everyone was whispering.

The guests, being mostly from noble and military families, naturally recognised that the person invited was an imperial physician from the Imperial Institute of Medicine. Even those who did not know him personally could tell from his outfit.

“Could it be that Consort Rou is ill?”

“It’s possible.”

“Speaking of which, Consort Rou is quite a remarkable figure.”

“Yes, yes! I even heard she even dared to strike her own father,” someone snickered.

“Such a disreputable, unfilial woman still managed to earn the Emperor’s favour and be granted a title.”

“Don’t you know that she’s the one who solved the plague crisis?”

“No wonder!”

“It seems that this Consort Rou is more favoured. Look, she’s just a secondary consort, but she managed to hold the wedding rites with Imperial Prince An before the primary consort even arrived.”

“Indeed, and the primary consort’s bridal sedan has been here for quite a while now, yet His Highness isn’t coming out.”

“Could it be that His Highness isn’t intending to come out to perform the wedding rites today?”

“Surely not. After all, she’s the primary consort!”

“Who knows?! Let’s wait and see.”

The murmurs, which began as soft whispers, gradually grew louder and every word drifted clearly into Xia Ying’s ears. She wanted to cover her ears immediately.

She did not want to hear any of it! Let it all end soon!

Soon after, someone walked briskly out of the hall and loudly announced that the prince’s palace’s Consort Rou had suddenly fallen ill. His Highness was requesting that all the honoured guests who came to offer their congratulations return to their own residences first. His Highness would personally visit each household in the coming days to express his gratitude.

The messenger’s voice was firm and resonant, causing the entire hall to fall into stunned silence. No one dared to speak for several long moments.

Finally, the guests began to stir, rising one by one to take their leave. As they walked out of the prince’s residence, every guest cast a lingering, complicated glance at the ornate, eight-man bridal sedan still parked before the festively decorated wedding hall.

“Sigh,” someone exhaled quietly. Others, however, covered their mouths and could not help gloating.

“The An Le Marquis has done too many evil things. Is this retribution falling upon his daughter?”

“Shh, don’t speak nonsense.”

Sitting inside the bridal sedan with little to no soundproofing, Xia Ying heard every single sound.

As the sounds outside gradually faded, Xia Ying finally let out a long sigh.

“Miss Xia.” The sedan curtain was suddenly lifted, and Xia Ying was shocked.

Miss Xia… That voice was unfamiliar. It did not belong to anyone from the Xia family.

“Our prince has instructed me to convey that the auspicious time for the wedding has already passed today. Moreover, with bloodshed occurring at the Xia residence today, it is unsuitable to proceed with the wedding ceremony. If Miss Xia wishes to return to the Xia family, we will escort Miss Xia back. If Miss Xia prefers not to return, she may temporarily reside here at the prince’s palace,” the voice continued.

Xia Ying’s whole body trembled uncontrollably, though she could not tell whether it was from rage or humiliation!

Yun Ke, Yun Ke, how ruthless you are. If you really did not wish to marry, you could have just said so outright. What is the meaning of this now?

She had already been ceremonially carried out of the Xia household in a grand eight-man bridal sedan. How could she have the face to go back?!

As a young lady who had never left her maiden home, Xia Ying was entirely unprepared to handle such a situation. She was at a loss, until a familiar voice interrupted.

“Our young miss has already married. Whether or not the wedding ceremony has taken place, she is already the primary consort of Imperial Prince An,” came Aunty Li’s stiff voice, “The date for the wedding was not set by just anyone, it was decreed by His Majesty. What does His Highness mean by this? He wants to send Princess Consort back to her parents’ home? If that is the case, then why don’t we go directly to His Majesty and talk it out!”