Chapter 254: Chapter 254 The Night Visit to the Boudoir

Ye Yiheng, with an eye veil covering his handsome face, turned towards the Emperor. The voice that came out was extremely cold, sending chills flying in a flash, “Eunuch Ye built a mansion outside the palace, and within it, the abundance of wives and concubines is the envy of many a high official in the court.”

“This matter of kissing, Eunuch Ye is quite experienced.” Ye Yiheng shifted his gaze to the Emperor’s face, “If Father Emperor wishes to see, he might visit Eunuch Ye’s residence, perhaps you could watch for three days and nights.”

The Emperor was already aware of the matter.

But now that the Crown Prince had exposed it, the Emperor looked at Eunuch Ye with displeasure.

Eunuch Ye knelt down in panic, “Emperor, I am a eunuch, how could I have wives and concubines?”

Seeing the Emperor remain silent, Ye Yiheng knew that he would not punish this eunuch.

After all, Eunuch Ye was his most loyal dog!

Ye Yiheng’s eyebrows lifted slightly, “Father Emperor, my feelings for the Commandery Princess are genuine and have been conducted with propriety. I ask that Father Emperor grant your approval!”

At this moment, Eunuch Ye dared not make a sound.

Building a mansion outside the palace was done in secret, and the fact that it housed many women was true. A eunuch’s sustenance had to be approved by the Emperor before getting the nod, and the Emperor did not punish him because he was still useful.

If he made another sound now, who knows what the Crown Prince might say or do.

Eunuch Ye stood with his head bowed, not daring to breathe too loudly.

The Emperor pondered before saying, “Today, I had originally prepared two imperial decrees, but now, I have no choice but to abandon them.”

“Although the Crown Prince and the Commandery Princess truly love each other, the issue of the Commandery Princess’s mother’s reputation has not been settled. I cannot hastily grant marriage.”

“The marriage of the Heir of Tiancheng must be announced to the world, this is to do right by all under heaven and the common folk!”

He righteously gave a long speech, which was nothing more than an excuse not to immediately grant the marriage. However, having successfully gotten him to abandon the two already-drafted imperial decrees was already a victory.

Ye Yiheng and Leng Yu Yan stood respectfully, performing the appropriate courtesies.

Since it was all an act, it had to be done thoroughly.

Hand in hand, the two left the Imperial Study.

When they had gone far, the Emperor sighed, “Qingyu, you’ve seen the situation between the Crown Prince and the Princess of Prince Zhenbei Mansion. It’s just as well that you have a girl you like.”

The girl he liked was none other than the Princess of Prince Zhenbei Mansion. Ji Qingyu laughed self-deprecatingly. To whom could he express this bitterness?

—

Ye Yiheng accompanied Leng Yu Yan back to Prince Zhenbei Mansion.

When Leng Yu Yan was summoned to the palace today, the Old Princess Consort became worried. Upon learning the news, Lai Ran also grew concerned.

Now that they had returned, the Old Princess Consort asked, “Yan’er, was there an urgent matter in the palace today?”

Leng Yu Yan told everything about what had happened in the Imperial Study, along with the two imperial decrees that the Emperor had already prepared. Of course, she left out the details of her cooperation with the Crown Prince.

Lai Ran was burning with rage and crushed a teacup on the spot.

A mere Commandery Prince was nothing in his eyes; when did it come to this?

His daughter, Leng Yu Yan, should be matched with the finest man in the world!

No, listening to his daughter’s account, did she truly like the Crown Prince?

“Yan’er, your Father King is asking you, and you must answer truthfully!”

“Father King, please ask!”

“Do you truly like the Crown Prince?”

Leng Yu Yan pursed her lips. In front of her father, she couldn’t lie.

Ye Yiheng spoke solemnly, “Prince, your daughter and I indeed share mutual affection. My previous proposal was sincere and genuine.”

Lai Ran did not know what to say.

The Crown Prince had helped to resolve Leng Yu Yan’s marriage with Prince Qing, and the daughter actually fell in love with this blind Crown Prince. For a moment, he felt a complex mix of emotions.

Words of censure and opposition could no longer be spoken. What else could he say when his daughter was in love?

As a father, the last thing he wanted was to break his daughter’s heart.

Yet, thinking of his daughter, whom he wanted to take good care for a while longer, the pain in his heart was unbearable at the thought of her being with a blind man.

Seeing Prince Zhenbei no longer opposed, Ye Yiheng took the opportunity to say farewell.

Leng Yu Yan rose to see him off.

The two stopped at the entrance of the Prince Mansion, and after a pause, Ye Yiheng said, “In a few days, I will send someone to fetch Commandery Princess, as I would like to ask for her assistance with a matter.”

“What assistance?”

“Previously, I’ve seen the Commandery Princess wearing a human skin mask. Please come to the Eastern Palace and help make a few.”

“Sure,” Leng Yu Yan agreed without hesitation.

—

Two days later, Lai Ran spread the news that both he and Li Yuyue had awakened.

The Emperor’s complexion turned ashen upon hearing this news, although the reports said that Prince Zhenbei and Heir were extremely weak upon awakening.

But who wouldn’t be weak after being unconscious for over twenty days?

The route to seizing military power had suddenly regressed dozens of steps, making him exceptionally irritable, with a fire that had no place to burn.

It just happened that after returning to his residence, Prince Xian spent every day seeking pleasure and amusement. Consequently, the Emperor summoned him to the palace and gave him a furious reprimand.

Ye Zhenxian, bewildered by the scolding, encountered Eunuch Ye upon leaving the Great Hall and slipped him a stack of silver notes.

“Eunuch Ye, why is Father Emperor in such a terrible mood?”

After feeling the thickness of the silver notes, Eunuch Ye said, “Prince Xian might not be aware that the Emperor has learned of the extreme weakness of Prince Zhenbei and Heir upon their awakening.”

Ye Zhenxian immediately understood. He did not believe that the Father Emperor was upset because Prince Zhenbei and his son had awakened too weak; he was angry that they had woken up at all.

If the Father Emperor was troubled by Prince Zhenbei and Heir, and if he were to sleep with Princess Zhenbei, by the time Prince Zhenbei and his son heard that Leng Yu Yan had been defiled by him, their frail bodies would most likely perish from sheer anger.

Wouldn’t that relieve the Father Emperor’s frustration?

Yet, how could he sleep with her?

Upon returning to Prince Xian Mansion, Ye Zhenxian immediately ordered his men to monitor every move of Leng Yu Yan.

His subordinate reluctantly said, “Prince, it’s very difficult to monitor the Prince Zhenbei Mansion; I’m afraid we won’t be able to complete this task.”

Ye Zhenxian scolded angrily, “Are you fools? If we can’t monitor the Prince Zhenbei Mansion, then monitor the surroundings. See when the Commandery Princess leaves and where she often goes?”

Once the timing was right, he would get his hands on her and torment her thoroughly.

With that thought, a wave of desire surged through him, and he brushed aside a crowd of palace guards, heading to the back yard.

The women in the back yard no longer satisfied him as they once did, so he summoned his staff and demanded harshly, “Where are the women I commanded you to find outside? Why haven’t I seen the shadow of even one to this date?”

The staff wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, not daring to look at the scene on the bed, and replied with his head bowed, “We are already searching, and we should have a group of them within the next couple of days.”

After the staff left, Ye Zhenxian lay on the bed in a sullen mood, kicking all the women beside him off the bed.

What was going on?

Just a few days ago, he was in peak form. But since yesterday, his vigor had vanished.

And today was even worse!

—

Another day passed.

Late at night, just as Leng Yu Yan was about to go to sleep, she heard a noise from the window.

In the next instant, someone climbed in through it.

“Your Highness, what is this all about?”

Ye Yiheng adjusted his robes, “I’ve come to fetch you.”

At these words, Leng Yu Yan’s eyebrows knitted in confusion, “Who fetches people in the middle of the night?”

And it was he who had come to fetch her personally.

He asked, “Did you go out today?”

The Extreme Joy Powder remaining in her body would take effect tomorrow, so he had to take her to the Eastern Palace tonight. He wanted to stay by her side, ensuring that no other man could catch a glimpse of her enticing, silken eyes.

Leng Yu Yan shook her head, “No.”

Ye Yiheng’s expression relaxed, “Good.”

She asked, “What’s happened?”

“Ye Zhenxian has people surveilling the vicinity of the Prince Mansion.”

She inquired further, “Targeting me?”

He nodded affirmatively, “Most likely.”

She exclaimed indignantly, “Outrageous!”

At that moment, Miao Zhu came in and saw the Crown Prince in the Commandery Princess’s boudoir–and the Commandery Princess dressed only in a thin, form-fitting nightgown…