Transmigrated Into A Novel As A Scumbag Princess’ Consort - Chapter 48

48:

Seeing Yun Chi’s indifferent “say it or don’t” attitude, Ye Xuejin’s heart inexplicably stirred.

For no apparent reason, she suddenly wanted to confirm something.

“Consort, aren’t you curious about my past?”

Yun Chi looked at her blankly: “Why would I be curious?”

Ye Xuejin opened her mouth, but—yes, why would she be curious?

Then why was she herself always unable to resist wondering about this person’s past?

For a moment, Ye Xuejin felt a pang of confusion, raising a hand to press against her chest.

“What’s wrong?” Yun Chi noticed her odd expression and gesture, asking with concern.

Ye Xuejin suppressed the turmoil in her heart and said slowly, “It’s nothing. I just wanted to tell you about Sister Yi. We’ve known each other since childhood. Back then, she wasn’t yet a princess…”

Princess Yi’s real name was Wen Yi, and at that time, she was still the daughter of the Western Expedition General.

Initially, Ye Xuejin hadn’t paid much attention to Wen Yi.

Everyone in the court knew the Western Expedition General cherished his daughter dearly, so Wen Yi became a tool to keep him in check.

However, after the Western Expedition General pacified the southwestern border and was ennobled as the Southwestern King, he showed no intention of bringing his daughter back.

Logically, the Southwestern King, now over fifty, had only Wen Yi as his daughter. Though granted a title as a king of a different surname, his military power had been stripped. He could have requested to bring his daughter back, and the Emperor likely wouldn’t have objected.

But the Southwestern King acted as if he’d forgotten he even had a daughter.

Not long after, rumors spread that the reason the Southwestern King forgot about his daughter was that he had a son in his old age, now five years old, and feared his strong-willed daughter would return and compete with her brother for the title.

When the rumors spread, Wen Yi knelt outside the palace gates, begging the Emperor to allow her to remain in the capital at the General’s residence forever, swearing never to return to the southwest.

That year, during the first snow of winter, Ye Xuejin entered the palace to pay respects to her father, the Emperor, and her mother, the Empress. As she arrived, she saw Wen Yi, who had been kneeling outside the palace gates since early morning.

The teenage girl knelt motionless, unlike the gentle and refined ladies of the noble houses Ye Xuejin was accustomed to. Wen Yi wore a fitted martial outfit, her hair tied high, her silhouette exuding a spirited and valiant air.

As Ye Xuejin passed by, she couldn’t help but glance at her a few times.

How to describe that feeling? It was like seeing a field of blooming flowers, only to find a sharp, gleaming blade hidden beneath—keen, fierce, and brimming with heroic spirit.

In that moment, Ye Xuejin saw in Wen Yi’s face the commanding presence and vigor unique to a military general.

After leaving the palace, she inexplicably sent someone to inquire about her, her heart filled with boundless regret.

Accomplished in both literary and martial arts, well-versed in military strategy, and determined to become a female general…

If such a woman had the chance to pursue her ambitions, she might not be inferior to any man—no, Ye Xuejin even felt Wen Yi would surpass many men.

Later, it was Wen Yi who took the initiative to seek her out.

“Everyone says His Majesty treasures the Princess like a pearl in his palm. A single word from Your Highness outweighs three hundred from the court’s ministers. Would Your Highness be willing to help this humble girl?”

It turned out Wen Yi had been biding her time, retreating to advance. She didn’t want to stay in the capital as a caged bird; she had always longed to return to the southwest and soar freely.

After that, they grew closer in private, analyzing court politics together, studying military strategies, and envisioning the future of Dashao Kingdom.

At this point, Ye Xuejin’s gaze grew complex: “As Father grew older, he became increasingly suspicious and never fully trusted the southwest. After discussing with the Grand Tutor, I offered a plan to Father, saying that Wen Yi harbored deep resentment toward the Southwestern King and her unseen younger brother, and that she was determined to inherit the title…”

Ye Xuejin still remembered how her father stared at her for a long time that day, then let out a strange laugh. Afterward, he not only ennobled Wen Yi as a princess but also issued an edict to establish the Caozhou Guard, ordering Wen Yi to swiftly gather all the Southwestern King’s former subordinates into the Guard, placing them under the court’s control.

To avoid suspicion, Wen Yi couldn’t meet with her before leaving but sent a message through the old Grand Tutor to the Princess’ residence.

“In the future, if Your Highness comes to the southwest, Wen Yi will welcome you with open arms and answer any summons.”

But her father passed away too soon. The Caozhou Guard took root in the southwest only six months after his death.

That same year, Ye Xuejin’s mother, the Empress, fell gravely ill and summoned her to the palace to attend to her.

She left Ye Xuejin with the phrase “the hidden dragon bides its time,” urging her to conceal her talents and bide her time.

Though Ye Xuejin didn’t fully understand then, she obeyed, ceasing to involve herself in or care about court affairs.

Because she had never coveted that position.

Until the new Emperor, her younger brother by the same mother, suddenly decided to arrange a marriage for her. When she refused, he directly issued an edict to the Princess’ residence, ordering her to throw an embroidered ball to choose a consort.

It was then that the retired Grand Tutor secretly sought her out and told her two things.

“Father left a secret edict: the Caozhou Guard answers only to the one holding the secret seal, and Wen Yi is merely its temporary steward.” Ye Xuejin’s expression grew even more complex, her fingers unconsciously tightening around Yun Chi’s hand. “Mother also secretly entrusted Wen Yi to safeguard a cache of wealth.”

At the end of their lives, her father and mother, unbeknownst to each other, had both sought out the old Grand Tutor and made nearly identical arrangements.

Arrangements for her.

“If He’an ever finds herself without control over her fate, the wealth safeguarded by Wen Yi and the Caozhou Guard in the southwest will be handed over to He’an.”

The new Emperor, disregarding Ye Xuejin’s wishes, insisted on issuing the edict for the embroidered ball. To the old Grand Tutor, this signaled that the time had come.

At the end of her recounting, Ye Xuejin gripped Yun Chi’s hand tightly, tears faintly glimmering in her eyes: “Father and Mother exhausted themselves planning for me, worrying for me until their final moments. Yet I thought that by not contending or grasping for power, I could live peacefully. I was too foolish, Consort. I woke up too late.”

As her voice fell, she tilted her head back, forcing back the tears in her eyes. When she looked at Yun Chi again, her expression was desolate yet resolute.

“Consort, I will never be so foolish again.”

Yun Chi, listening to it all, didn’t know what to say. With a sigh in her heart, she pulled Ye Xuejin into her arms.

“None of this is your fault. Your father and mother were merely planning for contingencies. They weren’t certain this day would come, and you, unable to foresee the future, couldn’t have predicted it either.”

But perhaps the old Emperor and Empress knew their children well enough to make such meticulous preparations.

What a pity…

A pity that in the original story, Ye Xuejin died on the road before she could take control of the Caozhou Guard or retrieve that wealth.

Sometimes, Yun Chi even felt this wasn’t a novel world at all. The author hadn’t written such intricate foreshadowing.

This was a fully realized parallel universe, with plotlines even the author hadn’t conceived. The people who truly existed in this world each had their own souls and inner strength.

Like the old Emperor and Empress, with their carefully laid secret plans—unknown to the author, unseen by the readers.

Just as her cousin had complained about the original story: it only showed the surface-level villainy of the scumbag consort, without explaining the reasons or the original host’s desperate struggle to survive.

Yun Chi didn’t dare imagine what would have happened if she didn’t have her cheat system, her rewards. She and Ye Xuejin likely wouldn’t have survived to reach this point.

Ye Xuejin shook her head, leaning into Yun Chi’s embrace, wearily closing her eyes.

Though she hadn’t foreseen it, she truly hadn’t been decisive enough.

If she had awakened the moment she received the edict, if she had been ruthless enough to abandon all her loved ones and flee to the southwest, there would have been no exile later.

She could almost imagine that without Yun Chi, without Yun Chi’s abilities, she wouldn’t have survived to reach the southwest.

If she could do it over, she might be more ruthless, like she is now.

Perhaps…

The carriage slowly came to a stop.

“Your Highness, we’ve arrived at the Princess’ residence.”

Ye Xuejin sat up, quickly composing herself, and stepped out of the carriage with Yun Chi.

Princess Yi led the way, heading straight for the storehouse of the Princess’ residence.

“Your Highness, these are the items the Empress entrusted me to safeguard. She only said they were wealth meant for Your Highness. I’ve never opened them.”

On stone racks, a row of polished black iron chests gleamed without a trace of rust, their seals untouched, a testament to the care taken in their preservation.

Ye Xuejin’s heart stirred with emotion, and she looked at Princess Yi gratefully: “Sister Yi, you’ve taken great care. I express my deepest gratitude to you.”

Princess Yi quickly waved her hand: “Your Highness, don’t humble me. If not for you and the old Grand Tutor’s help, I might still be trapped in the capital.”

How could she have achieved her current status?

Because she held the late Emperor’s secret edict, the Caozhou Guard she managed answered only to the seal, not to her. The new Emperor couldn’t touch her in the short term, let alone the local officials.

In Caozhou City, no one dared provoke her—not even her aging, useless father, who cared only for his son.