Chapter 1390 - 1397: Marrying Xiang Yun (7)
The speakers were two maidens, and by the sound of it, it was clear they had sneaked out to gossip about affairs concerning Xiang Yun and Wanyan Jingchen. Cai Wei and Queen Namu Khan stopped in their tracks, listening intently to the voices inside.
"Alas, how times change! Remember how Crown Prince Wanyan chased the horse down the street for her, killed enemies in the manor for her on a rainy night, and now they have become strangers. Wu Xiangyun must be heartbroken to death!" The maiden sighed with a tone oozing with sarcasm.
"Serves her right for being heartbroken. Who asked her to be unchaste? Flirting around, how could she ever think someone as noble as Crown Prince Wanyan would want her? Not to mention her wilted willow-like body, even we, we, cough cough, are merely supporting characters!"
The girl’s voice softened, turning from anger to resentment and dejection.
"Indeed, the Empress Dowager has already decided on Princess Zhao Gui. We others are just clothed-signboards, alas!"
Princess Zhao Gui is now the Empress Dowager’s most favored, having been taken out of the palace by the Empress Dowager to meet Crown Prince Wanyan already. They had no hope to compete, but they were certainly not afraid of a fallen Mansion of Marquis Jian’an. All the girl’s resentment was directed at Xiang Yun, saying, "Good thing that seductive fox knew her place and claimed sickness, not showing up at today’s Plum Banquet, otherwise she’d get what’s coming to her!"
"Is she really sick or faking it?"
"Who knows? They say she caught a wind chill. Humph! It would be good if she were truly ill!"
The two maidens murmured that if she was genuinely sick, indeed, her body was exceedingly frail. If not sick and pretentiously claiming to be ill, then she did have some wits about her. Her previous seduction of Crown Prince Wanyan was well known to everyone, and many envied her among the maidens, all wishing to curry favor with Princess Zhao Gui. If she came, she would only be bullied.
Cai Wei’s face turned cold, and Queen Namu Khan’s features frosted over as well. Suddenly, Cai Wei spoke up, "Queen Namu Khan, what kind of woman do you wish to choose as a concubine for Crown Prince Wanyan?"
This question was loud and clear, silencing the Warm Pavilion immediately.
Queen Namu Khan sneered icily, her words sharp as knives, "The woman my son marries need not be a nation-falling beauty or come from a distinguished family. What I seek is purity of heart and virtue. Those who wag their tongues, who are jealous, who talk behind others’ backs, who are two-faced—no matter how clean they are in body, in my eyes, they too are of the lowest sort!"