I Was Supposed to Be the Villainous Consort

"The Princess has a point. It seems today’s events are full of suspicious details and must be thoroughly investigated," Song Yunzhao agreed.

Princess Fuke had said what needed to be said and naturally wouldn’t meddle further.

Song Zhaoyi’s relatives and friends had all been dragged into this disaster, and she was clearly in a foul mood. It was hard to say how this matter would be resolved.

There was no news until the dead of night, when Meng Jiuchang sent a little eunuch back with a message. The people had been found, and he told Song Zhaoyi to rest assured.

Princess Fuke: ...

’I never thought the Emperor would be so considerate as to send a message to Song Zhaoyi first. It seems Song Zhaoyi holds no small place in the Emperor’s heart.’

Song Yunzhao looked at the little eunuch and asked, "Are they injured?"

The little eunuch hurriedly replied, "Lord Ji injured his leg while saving Miss Xie; I’m afraid it will take a few months to heal. The Duke of Qin broke his arm shielding the County Princess from falling rocks, but his life is not in danger. Both Miss Xie and the County Princess have no life-threatening injuries, just some superficial wounds."

Song Yunzhao: ?

’What kind of development is this?’

’One broke his leg, the other broke his arm.’

’One saved Xie Linlang, the other saved He Lan Yun.’

’How strange.’

’Is Xie Linlang still destined to become Ji Yunting’s concubine?’

’That can’t happen!’

’A wonderful girl like Xie Linlang, even from a merchant family, absolutely cannot enter the Ji household as a concubine!’

’As for He Lan Yun and Cao Jitong...’

’I was thinking about matchmaking them before, and now that he’s saved her life, I wonder if it will spark some chemistry.’

Princess Fuke breathed a sigh of relief knowing everyone was safe. She said to Song Yunzhao, "As long as their lives aren’t in danger, everything else is a minor issue. Zhaoyi, you shouldn’t worry too much. You should get some rest, too."

Song Yunzhao personally saw Princess Fuke out. "I’m sorry for making you worry, Princess. I’ll have someone escort you back."

Princess Fuke refused and left in her carriage with her attendants.

After seeing Princess Fuke off, Song Yunzhao returned to her tent. The little eunuch who delivered the message had already gone back to report. She had Xiangxue guard the door, then looked at Song Yexi and said, "What have you all been hiding from me? You have time now, so you’d better start talking."

Song Yexi: ...

The Madam: ?

The Madam looked suspiciously at her daughter. "Did you really hide something?"

Song Yexi felt a little guilty. Faced with the somewhat terrifying gazes of her mother and Yun Zhao, she decided to just come clean. "When I said we ran into Yao Roujia and the others by chance, that wasn’t true. The County Princess is an experienced hunter and is very skilled in the woods. She noticed right away that someone was following us. We wanted to find out who it was, so we decided to follow the trail, and that’s when we encountered Yao Roujia, Wang Yunhua, and their group."

"And then?" the Madam asked in a stern voice.

Song Yexi sighed. "The three of us wanted to know what they were up to, so we followed their path. We had no idea it would lead toward the boundary line, nor did we expect Huang Mingxiu’s horse to startle so suddenly. And I certainly didn’t expect to be the first one to have bad luck."

Song Yunzhao put a hand to her forehead.

The Madam was also speechless.

"To say you were stupid would be a compliment!" The Madam was so angry she wanted to take a feather duster to her daughter. "You knew they had ill intentions, yet you walked right into it. Do you have a death wish?"

Song Yexi obediently took the scolding.

Song Yunzhao didn’t try to intercede for Song Yexi. They had indeed been too bold. If things had gone wrong, someone could have been killed.

’This supporting male character, Ji Yunting, is truly star-crossed. He couldn’t acclimate when he was posted away from the capital, and now he’s broken his leg upon his return. It seems like life just keeps serving him one tragedy after another.’

After the lecture was over, Song Yexi spoke up again. "Aren’t the Wang and Ji families supposed to arrange a marriage? But from what we saw today, Wang Yunhua and Ji Yunting didn’t seem like two people on the verge of getting engaged. It was strange. Besides, what good would a union between their families do for Yun Zhao? The County Princess wanted to test the waters a bit."

Song Yunzhao looked at Song Yexi. "Even if you were doing it for my sake, you can’t put yourselves in danger."

Song Yexi said sheepishly, "We really didn’t expect the horse to bolt."

"How exactly did the horse get spooked?" Song Yunzhao asked. It couldn’t have just gone wild for no reason.

Song Yexi frowned. "I don’t know. It just went crazy out of the blue. If there had been any warning, I wouldn’t have been the first one to get unlucky."

"You were right next to Sixth Miss Huang at the time. Did you move there on your own, or did someone push you?"

"On my own."

Song Yunzhao was at a loss for words. ’It must be my bad luck as a female supporting character that dragged them into this.’

"After the horse bolted, what happened to Sixth Miss Huang?"

"She fainted right then and there from the fall. And from what I saw, it looked like her arm was broken."

’Marchioness Yongjia is going to be furious when she finds out,’ Song Yunzhao thought. ’Huang Duo is a perfectly fine Princely Heir, but because of his sister, his wife was sent back to the capital, and now he has to clean up her mess by zealously rescuing people to atone for her actions. The man is truly pitiful.’

’She suffers a setback and learns nothing. Hopefully, she’ll have learned her lesson this time.’

"Did you know that Sixth Miss Huang switched horses?"

Song Yexi shook her head. "She switched horses?"

’It seems the horse was switched before she met up with Yexi’s group.’

"Yao Roujia invited Huang Mingxiu to hunt in the mountains. On the way, Huang Mingxiu’s horse was hit by a stray arrow, so she switched mounts with a guard," Song Yunzhao explained to her.

Song Yexi’s expression was complicated. "Then is Yao Roujia connected to this incident?"

"It’s hard to say. We’ll have to wait for evidence. The guard has been taken into custody; we’ll know more after he’s interrogated." Song Yunzhao thought it was unlikely. ’If they dared to switch horses so openly, they wouldn’t have left behind an easy trail of evidence.’

As she spoke, a commotion was heard outside, and Xiangxue quickly ran in. "My Lady, the County Princess and Miss Xie are here."

Song Yunzhao was taken aback for a moment, then said at once, "Hurry, let them in."

’Feng Yi must have been worried about me and sent them here directly.’

Just as she’d thought, Meng Jiuchang had come with them. He reported, "The Emperor is currently investigating the matter. Fearing Zhaoyi would worry, he had the County Princess and Miss Xie brought here. His Majesty has ordered that they remain here tonight to treat their injuries and not be moved again."

Song Yunzhao quickly expressed her gratitude for the Emperor’s grace and then asked Meng Jiuchang, "Is His Majesty alright?"

Meng Jiuchang immediately took the opportunity to curry favor for the Emperor. "To answer Zhaoyi, His Majesty knew you were worried, so he is personally overseeing every detail. Though the journey up and down the mountain was exhausting, he insists on conducting the interrogations overnight, all to put your mind at ease."

Song Yunzhao’s mouth twitched. ’Manager Meng is certainly worthy of his title as the Emperor’s foremost steward,’ she thought. She immediately put on a grateful expression and said, "Manager Meng, please hurry back. Tell His Majesty that the interrogations are not urgent and that his health is paramount. He should rest well. Questioning them tomorrow will be just as effective."

"This servant will be sure to deliver the message." Meng Jiuchang let out a long sigh of relief. With these words from Zhaoyi, it would be much easier to persuade the Emperor.

’If the Emperor doesn’t sleep, I can’t sleep. After all the running around today, I’m not having an easy time of it either.’

’Manager Meng didn’t want to pull an all-nighter today. He just wanted to fall into bed and snore away.’

After Meng Jiuchang left, Yun Zhao hurried behind the screen to check on Xie Linlang and He Lan Yun. The Medical Woman was examining the two of them. Seeing them grimacing in pain without a shred of their usual ladylike composure, she could only think one thing: ’Serves them right!’

’That’s what you get for being so reckless!’