Chapter 306 Officially Entering the Palace and Joining the Beauty Contest

The Beauty Contest was scheduled to be held on the eighth day of the lunar month.

In the drawing-room of the Lord Protector’s Manor, Madam Dowager looked at Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan with satisfaction. She could not hide the smile on her face.

Ning Qingshan was wearing a light green garment and a peacock skirt embroidered with gold. She had on an agate belt, which was adorned with blue, small fringed beads around her waist. Her black hair was combed into a fashionable drifting cloud bun, which added a bit more charm to her beauty.

Ning Xueyan’s dress was relatively elegant. She wore a silver-white breast-high Ru skirt, which looked ethereal. She had incredibly slender, delicate facial features, and flawless, white-jade skin. There was only a dangling ornament in her simple bun, and a few strands of black hair fell around her ears. Although her lip color was light, she looked young, innocent, and was as elegant and beautiful as a lotus.

At first glance, it seemed that Ning Qingshan was more outstanding, but after careful observation, one could tell how beautiful Ning Xueyan would be, after she grew up.

Therefore, Madam Dowager was very satisfied with both her granddaughters.

“Fifth Girl, why didn’t you wear the hair accessories that you wore the last time? Don’t you like it?” Seeing only a golden dangling ornament on Ning Xueyan’s head, Madam Dowager showed a little displeasure. She had asked someone to prepare the hair accessories and sent them to the two courtyards. Ning Qingshan had a lot of ornaments on her head, while Ning Xueyan’s hair looked a bit bare.

The Beauty Contest was an important matter. If something happened unexpectedly, the Lord Protector’s Manor would lose face.

“Grandmother, I’m still young and can’t wear that exquisite jewelry, so I did not use them for the time being.” Ning Xueyan smiled and bowed gently.

Although the jewelry given by Madam Dowager was exquisite, Ning Xueyan did not like them, so she only picked one to wear.

“Third Young Lady, you are always sensible. After you enter the palace, you should take care of your Fifth Sister. She has rarely been to the palace. As an elder sister, you have to take some responsibilities. Even if there are problems between the two of you, it should be set aside. When you’re away from home, you represent the Lord Protector’s Manor. You should know that you have the honor only with the support of the Lord Protector’s Manor.”

Hearing what Ning Xueyan said, Madam Dowager did not blame her. Instead, she looked at Ning Qingshan, and issued a warning.

The last sentence meant that only with the support of the Lord Protector’s Manor, they would have the honor. If there was no support from the Lord Protector’s Manor, they would be nothing. No matter if it was the Third Prince or the Fourth Prince, they would not marry a woman without any background.

The reason why Madam Dowager mentioned this to Ning Qingshan was because Ning Qingshan had schemed against Ning Xueyan. According to Madam Dowager, no matter what Ning Qingshan’s background was, she was still the Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor. If something happened to the Lord Protector’s Manor, she would not be able to get any benefits.

The Third Prince was interested in Ning Qingshan, and he was determined to marry her. The list of the Beauty Contest had already been handed in, so Ning Qingshan had no choice, but to take part in the selection. For today, Madam Dowager would not let allow any untoward incidents to take place. There would be no entanglement between Ning Qingshan and Ning Xueyan.

That would harm the interest of the whole Lord Protector’s Manor.

Hearing the meaning behind Madam Dowager’s words, Ning Qingshan felt angry and full of hate, but she did not dare to vent her anger. She forced a smile and said, “Grandmother, I’ll listen to you. Both Fifth Sister and I are daughters of the Lord Protector’s Manor. It is closely related to us. Fifth Sister, please forgive me if I did something wrong to you.”

She said this to Ning Xueyan and even bowed to her. How could Ning Xueyan let her bow to her in front of Madam Dowager? She quickly reached out and said, “Third Sister, how can you say that? I have already forgotten about what happened before. As sisters, we should be united. In that case, we can rely on each other.”

Seeing them speaking to each other softly and bearing no grudges, Madam Dowager nodded with satisfaction, indicating that they could go out.

They bowed to Madam Dowager and went out with their maids.

Since they were going to the imperial palace to join the Beauty Contest, everyone could bring a few maids. Ning Xueyan took Lanning with her. Among the three maids, Lanning was the most careful. Xinmei stayed outside, so it was convenient for her to take care of Qingyu and Mother Han. If she found Madam Ling or Ning Yuling coming back and making trouble when Ning Xueyan was absent, she could go to the Prince Yi’s Manor to deliver a message.

Of course, Ning Qingshan chose her closest maid, Caifen, who had been promoted to a first-class maid.

Both of them entered the carriage outside the door. Ning Qingshan was in the front, while Ning Xueyan was in the back. Ning Huaiyuan rode beside them and escorted them to the imperial city.

Outside the Imperial City gate, a long queue of carriages quietly parked at the entrance of the Wuping Gate. The carriages in front formed a long line. The inspection seemed to be so rigid that the line moved very slowly.

“Young Lady, are you going to marry Prince Yi?” Lanning lifted the curtain and looked at the progress outside the carriage. They would not be able to enter the imperial city for a while, so she lowered the curtain, and asked in a low voice.

Ning Xueyan had told her confidants about it.

Ning Xueyan leaned against a cushion and her black-jade eyes were filmy. After a while, she corrected Lanning, “I’m going to Prince Yi’s Manor.”

Ao Chenyi had chosen her as the co-consort. Ning Xueyan thought that only the principal wife could have a say in that.

“Young Lady, Prince Yi may be mighty, or he might be able to become… But with your family background and moral quality, aren’t you qualified to be a principal wife?” Ning Xueyan had mentioned it when she was dressing up this morning. At that time, her trusted subordinates were all stunned. Lanning had not quite recovered from such a piece of shocking news. For a moment, she only felt that the so-called co-consort position was an insult to Ning Xueyan.

Her young lady was talented and beautiful. As the daughter of a legal wife of the Lord Protector’s Manor, she was not inferior to anyone else. How could she not be the principal wife?

“Lanning, the Lord Protector’s Manor has nothing to do with me!” Ning Xueyan drawled, with coldness and contempt in her eyes.

Ning Xueyan always felt that being the daughter of a legal wife of the Lord Protector’s Manor was a joke. Nobody treated her like a legal daughter. She knew how all the people in the manor treated her. Even though Madam Dowager looked kind now, she only treated her as an useful pawn.

Madam Dowager wanted to take advantage of her to get the maximum benefits for the Lord Protector’s Manor. They never cared whether she would live or die.

In this respect, Madam Dowager was not even comparable to Madam Ling. Madam Ling at least cared about her children, but Madam Dowager was vicious enough to plot against her blood relatives.

Therefore, she had never relied on the Lord Protector’s Manor, and she never wanted to rely on it at all. She never cared about the principal wife, Madam Dowager, and the marquis. There would be days to come, and now it was just a beginning.

As the carriage and horses slowly entered the palace, the carriages of the Lord Protector’s Manor followed them into the palace gate. Seeing the carriages entering the palace gate, Ning Huaiyuan, who sat on a big horse, looked at the carriage disappearing from his sight with a gloomy and complicated expression.

“Eldest Young Master, we can go back. Madam said that Second Young Lady might arrive soon, so she asked you to pick her up outside the city.”

Madam Ling had been paying attention to Ning Yuling’s return for a long time. As early as two days ago, she had said that she might arrive today. Thinking about the time, she had asked someone to inform Ning Huaiyuan in advance. However, the young male servant could not help reminding him, when he saw his Eldest Young Master was still looking on.

Ning Huaiyuan nodded, turned around, and rode out of the city with his servants.

In the Ten-li Resting Station outside the city, a simple carriage was parked there. It were an unimpressive carriage and there were a handful of subordinates inside. A beautiful maid standing at the door of the carriage, asked in a low voice, “Young Lady, the Eldest Young Master has not come yet. Should we wait here or go back by ourselves?”

There was silence behind the curtain. After a while, she heard a woman’s gloomy voice, “Wait!”

“Yes!” The maid did not dare to say anything and retreated to the carriage.

The master did not get out of the carriage to rest, so neither did the others. The cart driver was sitting at the head of the carriage, and the servants were standing around the wagon. They stood still outside the station, and in silence.

It was a piece of enclosed land around the Wuping Gate.

All kinds of carriages remained on this empty field. Two rows of eunuchs stood in two wing-rooms. No one dared to take this occasion lightly. Even if the daughters of principal wives of aristocratic families had noble statuses, they had to bow here and consciously lowered their voices.

When she helped Ning Xueyan get off the carriage, Lanning saw many young ladies walking out of the carriage. She even saw Heng Yuqing from a distance. She had not seen her since she fell into the water that day. Although she looked a little haggard, she was in good spirits. She nodded with a smile.

Heng Yuqing also saw her and smiled.

They were in the Emperor’s palace and this was such a solemn moment, when the Beauty Contest was about to begin. Therefore, it was not a good time for them to gossip about the old days.

Finally, a eunuch in red came over to declare the imperial edict. All the people knelt on the ground silently. After he finished the long sentences, all the people shouted, “Long live!”

The eunuch in red repeated the rules of entering the palace to all the ladies. After that, they walked in with their maids. As the last person entered the gate of the inner palace, the two tall vermilion gates were slowly closed.

Everyone followed the eunuch quietly. Only the rustling of their clothes could be heard in the high and narrow corridor.

After walking out of the narrow corridor, they had officially entered the inner palace. The crowd followed the eunuch along this twisting passage way. Suddenly, they were stopped by a group of people.

Ning Xueyan stood behind and looked over, only to see a gorgeous carriage with many eunuchs and palace maids standing on both sides. No one knew which palace the imperial concubine was from.

However, at this time, what was the purpose of stopping the group meant for the Beauty Contest?