Chapter 13 :

Just as she was wondering, she spotted an elegant and slender figure in the distance. She recognized this girl; the servants said that she was the Marquis" distantly related young cousin Lin Ruoyou.

She suddenly realized that these two people were having a lovers" meeting.

From her point of view, she could only see Fu Yanlin"s back and therefore, could not see his expression. However, she could clearly see that from Lin Ruoyou"s tender and beautiful eyes, a tear leaked out and slipped down her lovely face. Fu Yanlin lifted a finger and wiped it away.

The two people stood there, as though they had just stepped out of a painting. They like the perfect couple, and with Lin Ruoyou"s eyes filled with undisguised affection, Mu Huanqing thought of yesterday when the first daughter Fu Rong had come to find her. She had said how her brother already had a sweetheart. This sweetheart must be Lin Ruoyou.

Seeing her own husband and another girl having a lovers" rendezvous, Mu Huanqing felt an indescribable feeling. People in the north were very bold and pa.s.sionate. If they liked someone, they would announce it out loud. These types of trysts were seen all the time, especially during the spring when there would be many couples outside secretly meeting.

After all, she was already nineteen years old and had not been married. She had a lot of knowledge about this love subject. Also, Fu Yanlin was like a stranger to her. Thus, even though it was her husband with Lin Ruoyou, she was not particularly affected.

"Who!" Fu Yanlin suddenly angrily roared. His eyes looked straight towards the direction she was standing in.

What? She"d been discovered?

Mu Huanqing was very surprised. She had clearly restrained her aura, yet was still discovered. This person"s sixth sense was very good.

"Come out!" He coldly ordered.

Mu Huanqing thought about it. She wasn"t scared. Since she was discovered, she decided to reveal herself.

Fu Yanlin saw her and first paused in shock before his face darkened. Lin Ruoyou hid behind her cousin"s back in fright, as if she was meeting a man-eating tiger.

Fu Yanlin"s eagle eyes suddenly became ice cold. "Are you eavesdropping?"

"No, I came to look at the horses." she said calmly, without the awkwardness of being caught.

Of course, Fu Yanlin did not believe this. "If you came to see the horses, why hide yourself?"

"You"re hiding from me. Seeing you come, I could only hide myself."

He stopped, not antic.i.p.ating that she would be this blunt.

Mu Huanqing did not wait for him to open his mouth before continuing, "You two, please continue talking. I am sorry to disturb." After speaking, she quickly turned and walked away, as if she was only an outsider.

She would be stupid if she asked why he would privately meet other women behind her back. She had sworn long ago to never be like those girls in the back courtyards who strove for favor and were constantly sabotaging each other because she did not want to be a woman who held grudges.

From other people"s point of view, this marriage was bestowed by the Emperor himself and seemed extremely honorable and glorious. However, if it only looked honorable on the outside, then what"s the meaning when there is nothing on the inside?

Fu Yanlin"s heart did not have room for her, so he wanted to treat her coldly and leave her alone. She might have to live an entire life like a widow. She had thought about all of this, and understood what her future would probably look like.

Mu Huanqing did not want to live the typical life of those back courtyard girls, filled with strife and jealousy. She did not want to compete for her husband"s favor, or give birth to sons to stabilize her position in the residence.

She had her own plan; she would try to find a different path of life. Of course, the less contact she made with Fu Yanlin the better. If he did not come disturb her, then she would not go to disturb him.

Ugh…… I wish Lin Ruoyou won’t be another one of those white lotuses, but chances are she’s going to be exactly that.

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Chapter 14 :

A marriage edict couldn"t tie her down. Therefore, she wouldn"t get involved with whatever Fu Yanlin wanted to do or who he wanted to love.

She left too quickly, so she didn"t see Fu Yanlin gazing at her back with a complicated emotion within his eyes.

"Cousin?"

It was when he heard Lin Ruoyou softly calling him that he withdrew his gaze, glancing at her worried expression.

"She"s….. not angry right? If cousin feels awkward about the matter of taking me as a concubine, let"s just forget about it……."

Her pearly white teeth nibbled on her lips as she slowly lowered her head down.

Fu Yanlin frowned and lifted her chin up. Sure enough, her beautiful eyes were glistening with tears.

He lightly scolded her, "What are you afraid of? I"m here, don"t be scared. It"s just that I won"t be able to grant you a position as the official wife. I"ve wronged you."

Lin Ruoyou promptly shook her head, "As long as I can be with cousin, I don"t feel wronged."

Fu Yanlin sighed, embracing her in his arms and gently comforting her, "I understand, please stop crying."

Originally he planned to marry his cousin. Her gentle personality was to his liking, his parents were fond of her too. He thought she would be his wife. Who knew an imperial edict would destroy his plans.

One year after the new emperor succeeded the throne, the imperial government became unstable. The court split into two sides: one was led by the prime minister, the Prime Minister Faction. They were mostly senior veterans. The other one was led by Master Mu, the Newcomers Faction. They were mostly young officials.

His paternal grandfather"s side had followed the old emperor when he was conquering the lands, so they were much closer to the prime minister. Though he and his father didn"t indicate which faction they belonged to, his father and Master Mu didn"t agree with each other. Therefore he naturally wouldn’t want to marry the Mu Family"s daughter.

However he didn"t expect that Master Mu would shamelessly ask the emperor for a marriage proposal, forcing him to take Mu Huanqing as his wife.

He was absent the night of consummation and when the newly wed couple was supposed to offer tea to the elders to show that he didn"t care about the Mu Family"s daughter. Just because she was married to him didn"t mean that his residence would lean towards the bride"s political faction. He, Fu Yanlin, was not someone who could be coerced into doing something when he didn"t want to.

He purposely estranged himself from Mu Huanqing, yet discovered that she didn"t want to get close to him either. When the two"s eyes met, she did not have the shyness of a girl, but looked at him evenly and calmly.

However, he did not believe her. Mu Cangying was a crafty man. He would never do something that didn"t help him. Thus, having his daughter marry into the Marquis residence must serve some purpose.

Mu Cangying wanted to draw the Marquis residence onto his side and make the Prime Minister"s faction suspicious of him? He and his father would not grant the Mu Family this wish.

Fu Yanlin"s counterattack was three days later, when he accepted a new concubine. After all, how could the Emperor manage his decision to take a concubine? Of course, when accepting Lin Ruoyou, he didn"t notify Mu Huanqing at all.

However, Mu Huanqing was not at all surprised. In her heart, she knew that had she not taken the position of official wife, Fu Yanlin would"ve taken Lin Ruoyou as the main wife. She was very clear that everyone in the residence was looking at her good play.

For this reason, her mother-in-law had specially called her over, persuading her by saying that men having multiple concubines was normal. On the surface, she was comforting her. However, in reality, she was warning Mu Huanqing to not take this matter to the Emperor or else no one would look good. The first daughter Fu Rong also took this opportunity to beat her down, saying how she should not be jealous or do anything terrible out of jealousy.

Mu Huanqing was not only not angry, but respectfully repeated their words. "Mother-in-law and sister-in-law are right. My father had five concubines! Father-in-law also has four concubines. Not only that, but I"ve heard that our Marquis" taste is similar to the other officials. There"s a minimum of four or five concubines for most officials. Our Marquis residence cannot be any less. With so many talents and boundless prospects, the Marquis should have at least six concubines to suit his position."

When you try to one-up Mu Huanqing but you don’t succeed…

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