She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 458 - 456 Superficial and Unpromising

Chapter 458: Chapter 456 Superficial and Unpromising

Maternal Aunt Liu chatted with Ye Hongyang in a disengaged manner, yet her mind was in a tangle.

On one hand, she hoped that Prince Yu would get rid of Ye Xinyan sooner rather than later, sending her to the Prince’s mansion or some other courtyard. Then he should hurry and take back his principal wife. That way, Ye Xinyan’s fate would be sealed. If Prince Yu’s principal wife didn’t discover the situation immediately or decided not to act, she wouldn’t mind lending a hand, passing a message, pushing things forward.

On the other hand, she didn’t want to see Ye Xinyan actually become Prince Yu’s woman. Such a Ye Xinyan would boast with such insufferable pride, and even if it was short-lived, she didn’t want to witness it.

Before these things happened, she had to endure; she had to tolerate Ye Xinyan’s boastful pride, and she also had to endure the period of Duke An and the Duchess growing old. The Duchess was easy to handle, but Duke An was different. As long as Duke An was in this mansion, she had no place to speak.

In the past, she could express her opinions through Ye Hongyang, but now, even Ye Hongyang was firmly in Duke An’s grasp. What evil had taken over that old thing, Duke An? Ye Hongyang was his only son, yet the old man constantly wanted them to leave Duke An’s Mansion.

How could she give up such wealth and honor? Therefore, she could only endure, endure until the day she became the true mistress of Duke An’s Mansion. Once Ye Hongyang inherited the title, Madam Yin would become irrelevant. If she were sensible, she would take her divorce paper back to Marquis Zhongyong’s Mansion. If not, she would wait to follow the old couple into the grave.

She had to endure. Those who could endure to the end would have the last laugh.

Having figured out the situation, Maternal Aunt Liu wasn’t in a hurry anymore. She followed Ye Hongyang’s lead and said, "You must be very busy. I am merely curious about what’s so good about those two Qi family youngsters that both the Duke and the young miss are willing to protect them."

"What good can there be? That brat whom the misfortune likes is naturally as vulgar as she is. After the New Year, they are supposed to go back to the countryside, and it would be better if those two never return, maybe then they can avoid disaster. If they insist on courting death with her, they can’t escape their fate of being beaten to death. Even if they aren’t the Prince’s Imperial Consorts, there will be others. By then, they will have no foundation, and their lives and deaths will be in others’ hands."

Maternal Aunt Liu felt reassured by these words. The Princely Heir always spoke to her heart. These youngsters, standing behind Ye Xinyan’s power, caused trouble for her daughter; they must not have a good end.

But such words could only be thought in her mind and never spoken aloud. Maternal Aunt Liu said with a gentle murmur, "It’s better if they don’t come back. They are young and ignorant. If they lose their lives over some trivial matters, it would be too pitiable."

Ye Hongyang scoffed at this, giving Maternal Aunt Liu a glare and said, "Just because of those brats, the grandson of a first-rank officer was beaten, and you call that a trivial matter? Since they dare to run wild with that misfortune, what does it matter if they are pitiable or not?"

......

After the incident earlier that year, regardless of what people thought or how they viewed Ye Xinyan and the two Qi family youngsters, at least for now, no one dared to take them lightly. Particularly for Qi Sanshun and Qi Jiaer, the New Year they spent in the capital was both agreeable and carefree.

During the New Year, it was natural for the family to be present for meals. On regular days, Madam Yin would never meet with Ye Hongyang’s concubines, but on significant occasions like the New Year, Madam Yin, as well as Maternal Aunt Zhao and Maternal Aunt Liu, naturally had to show their faces.

On the evening of New Year’s Eve, the Ye family gathered together in the dining hall. There weren’t many masters in Duke An’s Mansion, and when the family had meals, they all sat at one table.

A large round table, with Duke An and the Duchess at the head of the table. To the side of Duke An, in descending order, sat Ye Hongyang and Ye Hongyang’s two illegitimate sons. On the side of the Duchess were Madam Yin, Ye Xinyan, and the two young ones from the Qi family.

Maternal Aunt Liu was in charge of the meal service, moving about with a bit more vigor, busying herself with calling for the food and instructing the maids to attend to the cups and dishes, which seemed to give her some sense of experience. However, Maternal Aunt Liu could only stand waiting behind Madam Yin, who would annoyingly remind her to stand further back from time to time.

Every time Maternal Aunt Liu stepped back, her complexion grew even uglier.

Ye Xinyan sat next to Madam Yin, glancing at Maternal Aunt Liu’s increasingly pallid face with a secret sense of satisfaction. She knew, however, that Madam Yin’s aversion to Maternal Aunt Liu was simple dislike, not understanding that this could make her look bad.

When Maternal Aunt Liu had almost retreated behind the maids, Ye Hongyang seemed as if he could no longer bear it, and only then did Ye Xinyan tug at Madam Yin’s sleeve, signaling that Maternal Aunt Liu had already moved quite far away.

Madam Yin turned her head to look, somewhat surprised. Maternal Aunt Liu had moved to such a distant spot, yet she still felt uncomfortable all over as if all her pores were clogged.

Madam Yin glanced at the opposite side, where Ye Hongyang was intensely focused on Maternal Aunt Liu’s movements. She suddenly realized the problem lay with Ye Hongyang—his gaze kept drifting behind her, filled with concern, which made her feel uncomfortable against her will.

If it hadn’t been for the New Year, if it hadn’t been a formal occasion, she would not have wanted to come to see this couple, who in reality, looked like a pair of mandarin ducks beaten by a stick, displaying a look of wronged innocence.

Madam Yin put down her chopsticks and turned her face slightly to speak to Maternal Aunt Liu, "You standing here is making it difficult for everyone to enjoy their meal. Go attend to the Crown Prince. Without you by his side, the Crown Prince can’t even eat properly."

Ye Xinyan raised her eyebrows. Her mother was quite assertive now. What a generous and imposing statement that was.

It should have always been like this, especially on such an important occasion. It would befit Maternal Aunt Liu to devote her efforts to serving the Crown Prince, letting the Crown Prince relish the attentions of his beloved concubine, and allowing Duke An and the Duchess to witness their son’s shallow and worthless nature.

As expected, after Madam Yin’s words, both Duke An and the Duchess looked displeased. The Duchess’s eyes were like knives, cutting towards Maternal Aunt Liu. In the Duchess’s eyes, it was not her son who was worthless and unable to be away from a concubine for a moment, but Maternal Aunt Liu, who with her affected airs seduced her son, causing him to be unable to focus on eating and not take his eyes off the concubine even for a moment.

Maternal Aunt Liu shuddered under the Duchess’s glaring dagger eyes, hesitating whether to approach Ye Hongyang. Her footsteps stalled.

Madam Yin, who did not wish to tolerate this nonsense any longer, urged again, "Why are you dawdling? Don’t you see the Crown Prince is waiting for you?"

Ye Hongyang frowned deeply. Madam Yin was being far too domineering. All he did was glance at Maternal Aunt Liu a few times; he hadn’t said he needed Maternal Aunt Liu to serve him personally. Yet she put on such an aggressive display, utterly lacking the virtues of a wife.

Seeing that Ye Hongyang was about to speak up, Ye Xinyan hurriedly interjected before he could open his mouth, speaking kindly to Maternal Aunt Liu, "Maternal Aunt Liu, there’s no need to overthink it, go attend to the Crown Prince. You saw it just now, you standing behind Mother made the Crown Prince keep looking over here, making Mother quite uncomfortable. How can anyone swallow their food like that?"

Duchess, if you’re going to blame someone, blame your son and Maternal Aunt Liu, not my mother Madam Yin. My mother really isn’t in the wrong, she just has a lower tolerance. Anyone would feel uneasy eating with someone sitting opposite them, continuously casting glances behind them, right?