Chapter 083
Chapter 83: Can You Not Leave
“Where are you going,” Duan Yi Chen asked, grabbing her wrist and scowling. “If my men hadn’t run into the Marquis Manor’s buying maid, I wouldn’t have known you plan to leave the capital.”
Xia Meng Yan shook him off and glanced at Chun Yue. Chun Yue hurried to explain: “After I refused the Lu family at the gate, I found Heir Apparent Duan already in the courtyard.”
“Duan Yi Chen, if you’re ill, see a doctor,” Xia Meng Yan said coldly. “Climbing over walls in broad daylight, do you want to ruin me?”
Without her saying a word, Chun Yue led the servants out. Only Nanny Song stayed to attend her.
Duan Yi Chen bit his lip, sadness filling his eyes: “I didn’t mean to.”
Meeting his bloodshot gaze, Xia Meng Yan’s voice stayed even: “You are the Heir Apparent. If something happens, the Eldest Princess will clean up after you. Even if rumors spread, you could bring me in through the side gate in a sedan chair. But my child and I would be pointed at by my husband and never lift our heads again.”
Hearing this, his forceful air melted away: “I… I just heard you’re leaving and got anxious.”
Xia Meng Yan almost laughed. Since their last meeting at Bright Moon Pavilion, Duan Yi Chen had vanished. When her father was framed, he hadn’t helped. But now that she was leaving the capital, he was anxious. [He only thinks about himself.]
“What are you anxious about, Heir Apparent Duan? Whether we leave the capital has nothing to do with you,” she said. She had no plan to tell him why she was leaving. The fewer people who knew about the Huo family, the better.
Duan Yi Chen froze. Was she drawing a hard line because of the secondary consort matter?
He couldn’t hide the loss in his tone: “About the secondary consort last time, I didn’t think it through. Mother misunderstood you. The reason I didn’t come sooner wasn’t my wish. She locked me up…”
“Oh?” Xia Meng Yan cut him off. “The guards at Marquis Xuan Ping Manor must not be very good. Whenever Heir Apparent Duan wants out, he can get out.”
Last time he had escaped. This time he had escaped again. If not for the feelings of her past life, she would have thrown him out already.
“Yan’er,” Duan Yi Chen pleaded, hearing the sarcasm in her voice.
Her heart stumbled once. She knew very well that with his rank and status, even if she never divorced, the two of them couldn’t be together. After rebirth, she had once thought of marrying him. But when bare interests shone in the light, Duan Yi Chen swerved away. In that moment she understood: [Relying on others can’t compare to relying on myself.]
“Heir Apparent Duan,” Xia Meng Yan said, working to sound calm, “you will marry a better young lady one day. As for me, I just want to live quietly with my child. If you keep pestering me and anger the Eldest Princess, both I and the Xia family will be dragged down.”
So, they shouldn’t meet anymore. Maybe after he married, they could meet once.
Her words pierced him. He stared at the familiar face. Did they have to stop here?
Thinking of letting go felt like a thousand needles in his heart. “If I don’t pester you, will you not leave the capital?”
His reason warned him that if he kept pushing, he might lose her. If he could only see her sometimes, even from far away, he would try for that.
Her eyes grew complicated. She turned her head, not meeting his gaze: “Why be so set on this, Heir Apparent Duan? When a new place to eat opens, we can still plan to go together.”
He lowered his head. He knew he had been refused.
Just then, sounds of fighting came from outside.
Xia Meng Yan frowned. Duan Yi Chen seemed to realize something and called toward the door: “Stop.”
The fighting ceased at once. A man’s tense voice followed: “Heir Apparent, the Eldest Princess learned you left the manor. She has already sent people out to look.”
Xia Meng Yan’s heart tightened. He really had escaped again?
Duan Yi Chen gave a bitter smile. She had guessed right. Leaving the capital was the correct choice. Once she left, his mother couldn’t find her.
“When are you leaving,” he asked.
“In a few days.”
“All right. I’ll go back first. Another day…” He paused, thinking of his strong-willed mother. Every promise sounded empty. “I wish you a safe journey.”
Maybe he really should let go.
The courtyard quieted. Seeing her young lady’s pale face, Nanny Song sighed. The Heir Apparent and Big Miss had grown up together. If not for Lin Ye Lan, the two would have been a perfect match. [Heaven is unfair.]
At the same time, Duan Yi Chen returned to Marquis Xuan Ping Manor. He had barely stepped inside when Marquis Xuan Ping kicked him to the floor.
“Ungrateful boy. With so many noble girls you won’t choose, and you want a divorced woman instead? Where do you put the face of the Marquis Manor,” Marquis Xuan Ping barked.
The Eldest Princess hurried in. Seeing her son on the ground, her face changed: “What are you doing, Marquis? That shameless woman seduced my son.”
“Do you think I’m blind,” Marquis Xuan Ping said coldly, pointing at Duan Yi Chen. “How did Xia Meng Yan ‘seduce’ him? Your son climbed over the Xia family’s wall. He didn’t even dare use the front gate.”
The men he had sent reported that Duan Yi Chen had climbed the Xia family’s wall. Marquis Xuan Ping had almost strangled him in fury.
Hearing about the wall, the Eldest Princess hammered her son in frustration: “What’s so good about Xia Meng Yan that you threw away the manor’s face?”
“She is good in every way, far better than those fake noble girls in the capital,” Duan Yi Chen said, not allowing anyone to slander Xia Meng Yan, not even his parents. “When I was little, my teacher despised me, and you despised me too. Whenever guests came, you told me not to show my face. I often snuck out of the manor. Xia Meng Yan was the one who ate her way across the capital with me. She told me I don’t have to do my father’s job. It’s enough if I have the skill to stand on my own.”
He lifted his head, eyes cold and distant: “You don’t want a son. You want a piece on a chessboard, someone to bring you glory and be used.”
“Impudent,” Marquis Xuan Ping shouted. “Your mother and I carefully chose a consort for you as Heir Apparent, and you think we have some hidden scheme?”
“Chen’er, you really misunderstand us. If you don’t want to marry now, we can wait. Don’t be so suspicious of us,” the Eldest Princess said, a hurt look on her face.
Duan Yi Chen laughed coldly and stepped back a few paces, opening space between them: “Fine. Then go into the palace now and tell His Majesty, my imperial uncle, that I will decide my own marriage.”
The Eldest Princess fell silent.
“What, you can’t,” Duan Yi Chen said. He had expected this result. “So, the reason you keep refusing matches is that you’re waiting for Xia Meng Yan.”
She sighed, walked to him, and tried to soften her tone: “With your status, not even we can decide your marriage.”
“You knew Xia Meng Yan is too proud to be anyone’s concubine, so you tricked me with the title of secondary consort,” he said. That day, his mother had promised Xia Meng Yan could be a secondary consort. Locked up too long, he had believed it. Thinking back later, Lord Xia was a second-rank official close to the emperor. Even if Xia Meng Yan remarried, she would never become a man’s concubine.
The Eldest Princess and Marquis Xuan Ping looked at each other and stayed quiet. Now that Xia Ping Yuan was Chief Academician of the Hanlin Academy, Xia Meng Yan would never accept being a secondary consort.
“We’re doing this for your own good. His Majesty intends a marriage alliance with the Huo family. You—” the Eldest Princess began.
“Huo Ying Zi?” Duan Yi Chen cut her off, eyes full of mockery. “Weren’t you the ones who said the Huo family and His Majesty share unspeakable secrets and told me to beware of them? How is it that in just a few days you’ve been bought by the Huo family?”
“Mind your mouth,” Marquis Xuan Ping snapped. “We didn’t lie. Those two hundred thousand taels were the Huo army’s pay. Yet now the silver is piled in the State Treasury. Isn’t that strange?”
“The emperor wants to bestow a marriage, and I’ve been holding it back,” the Eldest Princess added. “Even if it isn’t Huo Ying Zi, it will be another noble girl.”
Marquis Xuan Ping could only shake his head and leave.
Duan Yi Chen sank to the floor.
The Eldest Princess let out a long sigh: “Chen’er, think it over. Do not drag the Xia family into this. Don’t make yourself regret it.”