As she was new to the prince"s residence, Song Yixiao didn"t dare to ask about whether anyone had died in the Hanxia Villa before.

However, after being led to her room by Ms. Bo, the maid of Wei Mengying, she looked around and felt quite good, "This place seems quite nice?"

The Hanxia Villa was in among malus halliana. Now the florescence almost ended so only a few flowers were on the branch. It was not hard to imagine how beautiful the blooming scene was. To her satisfaction, the Hanxia Villa was delicately decorated and s.p.a.cious, in which the furnishings were not new but all in readiness.

Ms. Bo sighed and said, "Her Highness wanted to let you reside in the Xiluo Villa, which is next to the fourth princess of the third rank so that you two can accompany each other! However, the dowager consort interferes and makes you live in such a lonely place!"

Song Yixiao put on an obedient face, "As long as I can be with my mother, I am even fine with living in a woodshed!"

"You are a birth daughter of Her Highness anyway. You are so filial and considerate!" Ms. Bo said favorably, "Rest a.s.sured. This is just a temporary arrangement. When the prince is in good mood, Her Highness will let you move to the Xiluo Villa!"

"According to my mother and grandmother, they must hope that I can live next to the Commandery Princess so that I can marry into the purple!" Song Yixiao thought to herself ironically, "Yet, I have stood enough of being manipulated in my previous life. Even my mother cannot use me as her stepping stone!"

Thus, she pretended to be considerate, saying in a soft voice, "Thank you, Ms. Bo. Yet, since it is the dowager consort who asks me to live here, I don"t want to add trouble to my mother. Hence, I may make do with this place! My mother has aroused some hatred for bringing me here. If I insist moving to another place, won"t it be harder on my mother?"

Hearing that, Ms. Bo felt a bit sorry, "After all, she has lived with your stepmother for one year. As such, she has become much more sophisticated than before when Her Highness was in the Song Family!"

She was the one who witnessed Song Yixiao be born and grow up until now, who was kind-hearted to this young lady. Now that Song Yixiao"s behavior was rather pleasing, Ms. Bo decided to put in a good word for her before Wei Mengying after leaving.

While she was ruminating, the servants had started to clean the room. Song Yixiao asked her maid Zhiqin to accompany her to walk around the dwelling. Ms. Bo winked at Ms. Zhao and said, "We haven"t seen each other for a long time. Shall we catch up?"

When Ms. Bo left, the Hanxia Villa had been partially cleaned.

Song Yixiao looked around the bedroom upstairs with Zhiqin. When she heard the patter of steps from the stairs, she saw Ms. Zhao coming up after a while. Then Ms. Zhao made a gesture to Zhiqin and asked her to watch out for them in case that anyone eavesdrops outside.

Then Ms. Zhao told her, "According to Ms. Bo, the most powerful person in the prince"s residence is certainly the dowager consort. However, she has stayed away from the common affairs and the prince also pays no attention to the matters within the house. Therefore, the princess consort is the person-in-charge nominally. Yet, she has been married to the prince not for long, who is watched by so many people. Hence, it is not convenient for her to act at will."

What Ms. Bo said was truth, but she said so mainly to hint that Song Yixiao should not make demands with Wei Mengying too often in case that Wei Mengying would be put in an awkward situation.

Now Ms. Bo was not here. Song Yixiao had sensed her intention but she didn"t need to care about it. She only asked, "What about the other masters apart from the dowager consort, prince and my mother?"

This was the most important thing. n.o.ble as the dowager consort and the prince were, how could Song Yixiao meet with them often in light of her ident.i.ty? Who really mattered to her were her peers.

"The prince has four sons and two daughters. His eldest son is a concubine"s child whose mother is dead. He should have two sons but unfortunately, his first legitimate son died at a young age one year ago. It is said that this little master"s death has something to do with Madam Jin. Therefore, Madam Kong always goes against Madam Jin."

Ms. Zhao said with a sigh, "Madam Jin"s father is Director in the Ministry of Personnel. She is quite a sn.o.b. In light of her father"s high official rank and her husband Lu Guanqun being the legitimate son of the former princess consort Madam Cui, she defies not only Madam Kong but also your mother! Even though Her Highness has kept teaching her lessons since she was married to the prince, Madam Jin just doesn"t listen! Master Guanqun pa.s.sed the imperial exam at the provincial level the year before last year. Now he is studying at full stretch in order to gain good result in the government exam, so he has no time to restrict his wife!"

"The third young master Lu Guanlun and the fourth commandery princess Lu Kou"er are also children of Princess Consort Cui. Master Guanlun is even the favorite grandchild of the dowager consort, whose temperament is quite mild. He has pleaded for mercy for you before the dowager consort. Moreover, he treats Her Highness with great respect, who is not as rude as Princess Kou"er!"

Ms. Zhao was still unhappy that Lu Kou"er linked Song Yixiao with brothel so she added that on purpose.

"Besides, the fifth young master Lu Zimiao and the sixth young lady Lu Cha"er are concubine"s children. They and you are about the same age. According to Ms. Bo, you don"t need to worry about them. After all, their birth mothers are controlled by Her Highness, so they won"t be able to do anything!"

Song Yixiao kept sighing, "The eldest son was not born by the official wife; the second daughter-in-law is not virtuous. As to the dowager consort favors the youngest grandson most. In future the three sons must fight over the heir of Prince of Hengshan. Especially as my mother is still young and may give birth to a son, I wonder how the situation will become then."

"My lady, don"t worry!" Ms. Zhao said in a soft voice, "Since Her Highness brings you here, she must be able to protect you. Moreover, we cannot do anything about the heir selection regardless!"

"Despite that, you never know what will happen in future." Song Yixiao said in a serious voice, "For example, my mother arranged a maid for Madam Jin"s husband in front of the dowager consort just now. Although she asked for the trouble herself, she would not introspect on her fault. She will vent her anger on me for sure! We must be cautious in the future!"

Ms. Zhao felt frightened to hear that, "Madam Jin always makes trouble out of nothing indeed! Yet, the dowager consort puts us in such a lonely place. A wife of the legitimate grandson in the prince"s residence cannot travel all the way to make it hard on you. Maybe she will forget about that when days go by?"

"I wish it could be that simple!" Song Yixiao chuckled and said nothing, thinking, "In my previous life, I was alone and helpless. When I had to live at the mercy of my stepmother, I must endure humiliation in order to survive, but Madam Liu still didn"t forget to make trouble for me! In terms of family background and arrogance, Madam Jin goes even further than Madam Liu. How is it possible that she is happy with me being sent to such a lonely place?"

She bet that Madam Jin would not let go of her easily!