Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 497 - 488: Misunderstood

Chapter 497: Chapter 488: Misunderstood

On hearing the name Shi Yi, not only did Rong Zhao feel infuriated, she also felt guilty. Shi Yi was the half-brother of the crown prince, who was now favored by the emperor as well as the crown prince. And Shi Yi turned out to be this woman’s adopted son!

Time and time again, Rong Zhao had inwardly cursed the second prince for his indecisiveness and inability to assert himself. If he had simply killed the Ninth Prince or Shan Jieyu back then, the second prince wouldn’t have had to flee to the Southern Province and rebel, and she wouldn’t be in the predicament she was in now...

Not wanting Chen Afu to mention Shi Yi any further, Rong Zhao interrupted him and said, "Where are my grandsons? If they are here to cheer me up, my sickness would surely improve faster."

Marquis Chu spoke, "I was the one who did not let the three little ones come. They are too small, I was afraid they would catch the illness. But Yan’er has come." He then turned to Miss Chu and said, "Yan’er, go and greet the princess quickly."

Standing at the doorway, the young Miss Chu bowed and spoke timidly, "Yan’er wishes the princess a speedy recovery."

Only then did Rong Zhao take notice of the young girl at the entrance. The girl was dressed in a red brocade with a sky-blue skirt, her skin was as fair as jade, with big almond eyes and flower petal-like lips, extremely beautiful. This image slowly overlapped with a face from many years ago.

Staring at the entrance, Rong Zhao’s eyes widened in shock, she barked angrily, "You vile woman, how dare you come to my house!"

The young Miss Chu was so scared that she burst into tears, clutching tightly to Mrs. Huang, trembling with fear.

Chen Afu wasn’t expecting this. He quickly went to pick up the young Miss Chu and started to comfort her.

Marquis Chu stood up, faced Rong Zhao, and said, "Princess, what do you think you are doing? When the children don’t come to greet you, you call them unfilial. When they come to greet you, you treat them like this. Princess, it is truly difficult to serve you." His voice wasn’t loud, but it was cold as ice.

Rong Zhao seemed to snap back to reality and said, "Chu Lang, I made a mistake. I thought she was..."

That year, she was merely ten years old. On a sunny spring morning, she led two palace maids to fly a kite. The kite soared high in the sky, but suddenly the line broke. Not wanting to let it go, she chased after the drifted kite. As she turned around the wall of a palace, she almost collided with a guard dressed in military uniform.

The guard quickly saluted her and said, "This lowly officer deserves to die for bumping into the princess."

His voice was as pleasant as a babbling brook.

Rong Zhao was much shorter, hence she could still see the guard’s smooth forehead and straight nose, which led her to believe he must be handsome.

Not only was she not angry, Rong Zhao was intrigued. She said, "Lift your head."

The guard did not dare to lift his head and respectfully said, "This lowly officer dares not."

Rong Zhao said stifling a laugh, "If you lift your head, I will let it go. If you don’t, I will complain to my father and mother saying you bumped into me."

The guard thought for a moment and then raised his head.

Under the spring sun, this man was tall and handsome, with cold eyes gleaming like stars. He was so beautiful that he left an indelible impression on her. She just stood there, stunned.

The guard quickly saluted, "This lowly officer has business to attend to, I shall take my leave." After giving a bow, he walked away briskly.

Latter, Rong Zhao found out through various inquiries that the guard was the heir to Marquis Yong’an and was a second-rank guard for the Imperial Forestry Army. He was twenty years old, already married. His wife was the beautiful and gentle daughter of the Luo family, and they had a two-year-old son.

She completely disregarded the fact that he was married with a child, and would wander to the place of their first encounter or any potential routes he took. Yet, she never had a close encounter with Crown Prince Chu, who had been occupying her thoughts. Once, she even spotted him from afar, but he disappeared around a bend in the blink of an eye.

The second time she saw Crown Prince Chu was on the Empress Dowager’s birthday. Outside the Cining Palace, she not only saw him but also the beautiful woman beside him. Madame Chu was as fair as jade, with big almond eyes and peach blossom-like lips.

Even though Rong Zhao despised this woman, she had to admit, this woman was indeed the most beautiful among the crowd.

Rong Zhao could clearly see that the gaze Crown Prince Chu cast upon Madame Chu was not only warm but also deep and affectionate like a tranquil pool—absorbing and captivating.

Her heart pounded with envy. After she had finished paying respect to the Empress Dowager and the banquet had ended, she ran to Lady Ma and said, "Mother, I love Crown Prince Chu. I want to marry him when I grow up."

Lady Ma was taken aback and replied, "Nonsense, that Crown Prince Chu is much older than you and is already married with a child. How could he become your prince consort?"

Rong Zhao stubbornly retorted, "I don’t care that he is ten years older than me or that he is married with a child. I can simply order him and his child to be killed. I am a princess, the eldest daughter that my father loves the most, as a subject, he should obey me."

Lady Ma frowned and said,"Crown Prince Chu is out of question. He is highly regarded by your father..."

Seeing her daughter’s stubbornness, Lady Ma scolded her severely and even punished the maids and older women who served her closest with five strokes of a paddle.

Rong Zhao believed that the emperor loved her, so she mentioned this to him. The emperor scolded her harshly for the first time and clearly told her not to harbor any ill intentions towards Chu Guangche. The emperor was still angry, so he severely reprimanded Lady Ma for failing to educate her daughter properly and didn’t visit Lady Ma’s palace for half a year.

When Rong Zhao was fifteen, the emperor hastily arranged for her to marry the second son of the Xue family. He described this son as talented, handsome, gentle, and elegant.

Rong Zhao was forced to marry Prince Xue, and she was extremely reluctant. In her eyes, Prince Xue’s talent was nothing more than textualism, his gentleness was weak and inferior to Crown Prince Chu in every way.

After marrying Prince Xue, she began to make life difficult for him and his family. The emperor and empress dowager reprimanded her several times. She would behave for a while, but soon resumed her troublesome behavior. Five years later, she successfully angered Prince Xue to his death.

However, at that time, Chu Guangche was already the heir to Marquis Yong’an and had become one of the most favored high-ranking officials of the Imperial Forestry Army.

The following year, Queen Wang suddenly began to show warmth to Lady Ma and Rong Zhao, stating that she liked Rong Zhao’s cheerful character. She also said that the Second Prince also loved this sister dearly and couldn’t bear to see her widowed at such a young age. No matter how favored Chu Guangche was, he still was a subject. When a subject was ordered to die by his lord, he could not disobey. She would find a way to make Chu Guangche marry her.

Rong Zhao and Lady Ma obviously knew that Queen Wang and the Second Prince wanted to pull Lady Ma and the family to their side. Following a discussion between Lady Ma and Rong Zhao, they were inclined to support the second prince. This not only because the Second Prince was born with the validity of being legitimate, but also because the power of the Wangs was formidable, far more so than the Third Prince, Consort Sun, and the Suns who they deemed to be over-ambitious.

Moreover, the condition put forward by Queen Wang and the Second Prince was too attractive.

Thus, the event that took place many years ago, where she and Chu Guangche were caught in the act in compromising position, was enacted.

As it turned out, she, her mother, Queen Wang, the Second Prince, and everyone else... had been fooled by the Emperor and the Chu family...