Chapter 9: Marriage to An Wang

Translator’s Note: For anyone reading Chapter 3 to 8 before June 9, 2024, I just realized that the chapters I published were incomplete. Please take time to reread from Chapter 3. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience.

With a cry of surprise, Lan Ling saw Ling Chen's mother's maid staggering and was about to fall. She was very close to Lan Ling, so Lan Ling reached out to support her and caught the wine jug thrown in the air.

The girl was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she immediately knelt on the ground.

"You reckless girl, you've lost your manners in front of His Majesty, and you still refuse to admit your guilt!" Zhou Guifei's face became even gloomier.

Guifei: Noble Consort. It’s one of the ranks in the Imperial Chinese harem system.

"Guifei niang niang, I almost fell down just now and bumped into this girl. It was really my fault." Lan Ling said.

Niang niang: a term of address for women in the imperial harem

She was not afraid of Zhou Guifei, because she knew that her son did not want her to die yet.

She was not afraid of offending Zhou Guifei, she even hoped that Zhou Guifei would hate her as much as possible. She didn't want to give Ling Feng any chance.

"Forget it. It's such a happy day. Don't spoil the fun." The empress said calmly.

Lin Fei glanced at Lan Ling with a kind face and nodded slightly to express her gratitude.

Fei: Consort. It’s one of the ranks in the Imperial Chinese harem system. It should be one rank lower than Guifei.

Lan Ling smiled at her. For some reason, she felt very close to Lin Fei.

In her previous life, she hadn't had much contact with Lin Fei. At that time, she had been only thinking about how to make Zhou Guifei happy, and she hadn’t cared about other people.

Ling Chen was chatting and laughing, but he didn't miss any of it. He squinted at Lan Ling. Was she helping her mother? She was obviously Lan Jingtian's daughter, and Lan Jingtian belonged to his third brother Ling Feng.

Lan Ling was waiting for a good show.

She saw Shen Jun whispering in her maid's ear, probably asking her to go find Lan Yu.

There was a noisy sound outside, and the little maid hurried in and whispered in Shen Jun's ear.

Lan Jingtian frowned and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

Shen Jun was horrified. She stood up and hurried out, followed by Lan Jingtian.

Lan Ling glanced at Ling Chen, who was drinking with General Zheng next to him.

At this time, a eunuch whispered to the emperor, and the emperor's face changed slightly.

"Beast! Take them to the inner room! You come too!" He pointed at Zhou Guifei.

Lan Ling laughed secretly in her heart, wondering how angry the emperor would be.

After a cup of tea, the eunuch came in and called Lan Ling and Ling Chen into the eunuch room.

A cup of tea (一盏茶的功夫): This phrase is used to indicate time. It’s about 15 minutes.

Looking for me? What's up with Lan Yu? Lan Ling glanced at Ling Chen, and he shook his head.

After entering the inner room, Lan Yu saw Zhou Guifei, her father, Shen-shi, Ning Wang, and Lan Yu were all kneeling there.

The emperor had a dark face. There were broken pieces of a cup on the ground.

Lan Ling and Ling Chen came in and knelt down directly. The emperor looked at them coldly.

"Lan Ling, Lan Yu said that you liked An Wang, and asked her for help to deliberately drug An Wang, but An Wang found out and misunderstood, so he drugged her and Ning Wang. Is this true?" The emperor said in a restrained voice.

"Ah?" Lan Ling was stunned. Lan Yu was really smart.

"Your Majesty, Lan Ling didn't. Lan Ling doesn't know what happened!"

"You're still quibbling! An Wang, Ning Wang said that you kept Lan Ling at Spring Full Building for three days. Is that true?" The emperor turned to Ling Chen and asked slowly.

Ling Chen raised his head and said, "Reporting to Father Emperor, there is such a thing. The Third Miss was abducted to a brothel. Coincidentally, I was there too. I didn't know she was the Marshal's daughter."

"You bastard! Isn't Lan Ling's innocence ruined in your hands? Do you really like Lan Ling?"

"Replying to Father Emperor, I like her."

"Well, how about Zhen gives you Lan Ling as your consort?"

Ling Chen was slightly startled, "Father Emperor, I only want to give the position of consort to my beloved one."

"Are you talking about Guan Yue, the daughter of Xibei Marquis? Well, Zhen will grant Guan Yue as your main consort and Lan Ling as your side consort!"

"Zhen has lost the crown prince. Zhen doesn't want to spoil the family dinner today. Since Lan Yu and Ning Wang love each other, I will grant Lan Yu the title of Ning Wangfei! Now, get lost!"

Wangfei: The consort of a Wang.

The emperor threw the last teacup to the ground.

No one expected this result.

The emperor did not pursue the matter of drugging.

No one can guess what the emperor is thinking.

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Lan Yu was overjoyed. She didn't expect that the emperor would grant her a marriage to Ning Wang. She had put in so much effort and ended up getting what she wanted by accident.

Ning Wang, Ling Feng, had a gloomy look in his eyes. He glanced at his mother and regretted not explaining his thoughts to her clearly.

He wanted to marry Lan Ling, not because of Lan Ling herself.

When he came out, Ling Chen looked at Lan Ling with an ambiguous expression. He leaned over to Lan Ling's ear and whispered, "If this prince had known that you liked me, this prince would have taken you directly. Why would this prince go through so much trouble to scheme against Ning Wang and Lan Yu and make my father emperor angry?"

"I said it wasn't me!" Lan Ling rolled her eyes at him angrily.

The chief eunuch Fu announced the decree on the same day, granting Lan Yu to Ning Wang as his main consort, and ordering the marriage to take place within ten days; and granting Lan Ling to An Wang as his side consort, and ordering the marriage to take place within one month.

At the same time, Guan Yue, the daughter of Xibei Marquis, was assign to An Wang as his main consort. And she would be married on the same day as the side consort.

The ministers were in an uproar.

An Wang had been neglected for a long time. They did not expect the emperor to suddenly grant him a main consort and a side consort, one of whom was the daughter of Xibei Marquis, and the other was the daughter of the Grand Marshal. Everyone speculated about the emperor's intentions.

Empress Bai Lan understood the emperor's thoughts.

Since the crown prince was assassinated, the emperor has changed a lot. The marriages assigned by the emperor this time was to suppress Ning Wang and elevate An Wang.

Lan Ling never expected that after entering the palace, she would be married to Ling Chen. In her previous life, he had been a romantic man with countless women.

But in her previous life, when she had been sentenced to having her heart gouged out, this man had risked his life to save her. Why?

In the end, she could not change her fate of marrying into the royal family.

On the eighth day of the winter month in the twenty-fourth year of Dachang, Lan Ling married into An Wang's mansion.

Lan Ling only brought her maids Lixia and Qiaochun.

Before getting married, Lan Ling had already told the maids that she was a side consort and should not fight for anything.

The most important thing was that Guan Yue is Ling Chen's sweetheart, and no one could compare to her.

She had experienced life in a mansion before, and she knew the misery better than anyone else.

In this life, she only hoped that she would never fall in love with a man who didn't have her in his heart. If she didn't love, she wouldn't feel pain.

An Wang's mansion was bustling as never before, with colorful lanterns and firecrackers blasting everywhere.

He’s marrying two wives at the same day, one was the daughter of Xibei Marquis, and the other was the daughter of the Grand Marshal.

All the ministers knew that An Wang’s current status was different from before.

The emperor gave 30% of Ning Wang's military power to Prince An.

The situation in the court also gradually changed.

The emperor, the princes and all the ministers came.

Lan Ling could only hear the deafening noise all around her. She didn't sleep well the previous night and her head was still dizzy.

Lan Ling was covered with a veil and led by the matchmaker after the ceremony, and then she was sent to the bridal chamber.

The surroundings became quiet, and Lan Ling knew that day’s excitement was not for her.

It is for the main consort, Guan Yue.

She was a side consort and merely the shu daughter of the Grand Marshal. In the eyes of outsiders, it seemed that she had married An Wang through dirty means.

Lan Ling lifted the veil and took a peek. There were two matchmakers standing there, and on each side there was a little girl in pomegranate red standing in front of a red candle.

"Oh, Madam Ling, you can't lift the veil by yourself. You have to wait for the prince to lift it." The matchmaker said in panic.

"Where are the two girls I brought with me?" Lan Ling asked.

"Housekeeper Yu has made an arrangement for them. I don't know where they are. Does the Third Madam have any instructions?" a little maid said crisply.

Lan Ling wanted to say that she was very hungry.

She was indeed very hungry. She ate a little in the morning but skipped lunch. It was so late now and she hadn’t even had a sip of water.

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