Chapter 693: Xiaoqin's Story
tarted walking forward with their brothers from Xuntang Valley."Mo Yunze was taken aback. He hadn't expected An Xuetang to actually just watch him stay here and die."Master, I shall remain. You must f...On this day, the Jiang family had already set off to Anle Houfu to propose marriage. Because they had informed Anle Houfu in advance, the people of Anle Houfu were also happily prepared to welcome them.
But who could have expected that the first to greet them would not be the Jiang family, but an imperial edict.
The emperor purposely issued an imperial edict before the Jiang family arrived at Anle Houfu to propose marriage, a decree of betrothal.
The emperor unilaterally matched Xiao Qin with another man.
Accompanying the imperial decree was also Ye Xiaoming, the eldest son of that family.
The Ye family is a renowned medical family, and the head of the Ye family is currently the deputy director of the Imperial Medical Bureau.
And Ye Xiaoming, who inherited his father's mantle from the Ye family, had just entered Taiping Hospital at that time. In the eyes of others, Ye Xiaoming marrying Xiaoqin County Princess from the Anle Hou family was a perfect match.
The Emperor used this pretext to try and arrange a marriage between the two, but in reality, he simply wanted to keep an eye on the Anle Marquis's mansion because he knew that the Anle Marquis's wife had favored Mo Yunjing when she was young.
He was afraid that the Anle Hou Mansion might have a conspiracy with Mo Yunjing, so he couldn't wait to place informants around Anle Hou and his people.
And the emperor wasn't just motivated by that; the most important reason was the private relationships between his ministers. He feared they might join forces and plot against him.
So the better the relationship between the Jiang family and Anle Houfu, the more the emperor, although he had never mentioned it openly, was already devising ways to design their relationship.
Therefore, disrupting the marriage alliance between the Jiang family and the Anle Houfu was a long-conceived plan by the emperor.
On the day the emperor issued the imperial decree, Anle Hou and his wife also tried to persuade the emperor. Anle Hou, who doted on his daughter, knew what the emperor was truly afraid of. He even personally went to plead with the emperor, willing to go to any lengths, even renouncing his title as a marquis, just so his daughter could find happiness.
... there was no other way. Not only was the emperor unwilling, but he also threatened him. If Xiao Qin wasn't married to Ye Xiaoming, then the two young masters of Anle Houfu wouldn't be able to remain safely in their posts as county magistrates. ...
Let Lord Anle and his wife, for their daughter's happiness, ruin the prospects of their two sons. They are incapable of doing so.
In the end, they had no choice but to compromise.
Ke Xiaoqin was unwilling, absolutely unwilling.
And when the Jiang family arrived at the gate of Duke Anle's mansion, they learned about this matter. They knew that the emperor had issued an imperial decree, and there was no way they could change it. In order not to affect Xiaoqin's reputation, they had to return home.
Jiang Qingyang was also full of youthful vigor back then and wanted to rebel, but unfortunately, whenever he did anything wrong, it would mean the demise of dozens of lives in the entire Jiang family.
He knew he couldn't be so selfish, and eventually forced himself to go back home, deciding that he wouldn't see Xiaoqin again in the future.
But who could have thought, Xiao Qin knew that after following her parents back home, she felt utterly despondent and even contemplated suicide.
On that day, while her parents were discussing the marriage with the Ye family, Xiaoqin appeared in the living room with a dagger. She held the dagger to her own neck and said she would not marry Ye Xiaoming, or she would die.
Her action startled everyone, especially Ye Xiaoming. This Ye Xiaoming had actually been smitten with Xiaoqin for a long time. Although he knew that Xiaoqin favored the son of Jiang Shangshu's family, he still held out hope of marrying her.
He had known the day before yesterday that the Jiang family was preparing to propose marriage to the Anle Houfu, so yesterday he mentioned it to the emperor, which is why the emperor was able to issue the decree today.
Although this might be a bit unorthodox, everyone has the right to pursue happiness. He wanted to marry Xiaofen, so he used some tricks in her case. He didn't think there was anything wrong with it!
But he didn't expect Xiao Qin to resist so much, even having thoughts of suicide.
He looked at Xiaoqin's lifeless appearance, slowly approaching her, wanting to snatch the dagger from her hand.
But Xiaoqin herself was resistant to him, and when he rushed over, her emotions surged, and subconsciously she stabbed the dagger into his chest.
Ye Xiaoming, because he rushed over too urgently and didn't control his strength well, caused the dagger to pierce deep into his chest. He immediately lost a lot of blood and died shortly after.
That is to say, Xiaoqin accidentally killed Ye Xiaoming!
Although the Ye family were renowned for their medical expertise, they couldn't save Ye Xiaoming. The Ye family wanted to make Xiaoqin pay for what happened, but she was still a princess after all.
Moreover, the emperor, for reasons unknown, insisted on sparing Xiao Qin. The Ye family had no way to oppose this.
But what no one knew was that the emperor's willingness to spare Xiao Qin was solely due to Anle Hou revealing his trump card. In fact, the current emperor was unaware of the incident involving the former emperor's cavalry; it was Anle Hou who informed him of the matter.
Prince Anle saved Xiao Qin's life with this important news, but the Ye family was unwilling to let it go so easily.
The last emperor intervened, giving Xiao Qin to the mute Ye Er Gongzi of the Ye family.
This second young master, Ye Er Gongzi, is Ye Xiaoming's younger brother, but he was born a mute and an imbecile, a fool that everyone shuns.
The emperor promised the Ye family that once young master Ye Er held his coming-of-age ceremony, he would make Xiaoqin his concubine and have her bear him children to carry on the lineage.
The Ye family was also very unwilling to accept this result, but the head of the Ye family knew that the emperor was determined to protect Xiao Qin. If he did not compromise, he was afraid he would not get any good results.
Thus, the Ye family and the Duke Anle's mansion finalized this agreement under the emperor's witnessing:
Besides Ye Jia's second son, Xiaoqin can't marry anyone else in her life. She cannot betray the second son of Ye family and must never have any other thoughts. Otherwise, she will lose her life, and not only that, but her two older brothers will also have to pay for her mistakes and will be unable to enter the officialdom for the rest of their lives.
Xiao Qin committed her first murder, so she was at a loss what to do. She had the courage to commit suicide, but after going through what happened with Ye Xiaoming, she no longer talked about suicide.
The agreement remained in place, and Jiang Qingyang later found out about it, but he was powerless to help Xiao Qin. After all, Ye Xiaoming had been killed by Xiao Qin.
After hearing the story, An Xue Tang remained silent for a moment with her eyes downcast before sighing:
It seems that it's very difficult for these two people to be together, no wonder Mrs. Xiao reacted so intensely to the fact that Xiao Qin had met Jiang Qingyang.
“If the Ye family knew that Xiao Qin was secretly meeting with Jiang Qingyang, they would definitely not let this go. At that time, it wouldn't just be the Anle Houfu that would suffer, I'm afraid even the Jiang Shangshu's mansion would have to pay the price. After all, the Ye family lost their only healthy son.”
As soon as An Xue Tang finished speaking, she suddenly raised her head and looked at Ning'er, "By the way, when is that second young master of the Ye family going to have his coming-of-age ceremony" was solemn. He didn't answer, but first arranged An Xuetang to sit on a chair, poured her a cup of warm water, and pushed it in front of her, motioning for her to drink first.An Xuetang's heart warme...