"Who dares!"
Suddenly, a cold shout came from the yard, causing all the tense people to turn their heads.
Yi Yuan, with a cold and stern look on his face, came against the wind.
"Prince Yu'an," Ye Pengcheng said with a cold look in his eyes. "What brings Your Highness here? Let this official remind you that Ye Xi is my daughter."
"Oh."
Yi Yuan looked calm and composed, slightly raising his long eyebrows.
"I'm here to bully others with my power."
As he said this, he slightly waved his hand, signaling Ling Yan to take Jiang Ning away first.
"Yi Yuan!"
Ye Pengcheng was momentarily speechless, and then the veins on his forehead bulged. He completely forgot about using a respectful title.
"Ye Xi is a daughter of the Ye family, not someone from your prince's mansion!"
"Really?"
Yi Yuan still looked calm and unperturbed. He just quietly glanced at Ye Xi standing beside him and said loudly:
"Sai Xing, bring your young lady's horoscope."
"Yes."
Sai Xing was quick and efficient. She simply and neatly stuffed Ye Xi's horoscope into Yi Yuan's hand.
Touching the bright red horoscope, Yi Yuan let out a soft laugh. Then, with a cold look in his eyes, he scanned everyone present without any trace of emotion and said:
"I heard that the second young lady of the Ye family, oh no," Yi Yuan paused and gently waved the horoscope. "It's Miss Xi. She broke off the engagement with the Cao family and is currently unattached."
"Some people are blind and can't recognize a treasure. Today, I'll accept this horoscope and take this great opportunity..."
Slightly raising his voice, Yi Yuan's heart began to beat faster. When he first said these words, it was out of impulse, but the more he said, the more certain he was that this was what he truly wanted.
Looking straight at Ye Xi through the crowd, Yi Yuan's voice was firm:
"From this moment on, Miss Xi will be the mistress of my Yu'an Prince's Mansion and my fiancée."
"What!"
Ye Jueyao was the first to scream in disbelief. Her beautiful face was distorted with jealousy.
"Your Highness! Ye Xi is ugly. She's not a good match!"
Ye Xi only felt a "buzz" in her head and didn't notice what Ye Jueyao said at all. In front of her were Yi Yuan's blazing eyes, and in her ears was Yi Yuan's clear voice, like the sound of beautiful jade colliding. Over and over again, all she could hear was that sentence:
"...my fiancée..."
A burning heat rose from the bottom of her heart and gradually spread to her face and ears as it wound its way around.
This wasn't something they had discussed beforehand.
Yi Yuan had improvised this. Was it a last - minute plan to deal with Ye Pengcheng's words? Or... was it sincere?
Ye Xi was in a complete mess.
Yi Yuan gave Ye Jueyao a cold sideways glance. His voice was cold, with a hint of barely perceptible disgust:
"She's not you. How can you say she's ugly?"
Such a straightforward sarcastic remark made Ye Jueyao feel as if she had been slapped in the face. Her face burned hot. She was both jealous and angry, but she couldn't say a single word.
Not wanting to pay any more attention to Ye Jueyao, Yi Yuan turned to Ye Pengcheng and said:
"So, does Lord Ye have anything else to say?"
What else could he say? Ye Pengcheng was so angry that he was speechless.
He wanted to say that he disagreed, but Ye Xi had clearly stated before that she was breaking away from the Ye family and was even willing to harm herself. So many people had witnessed her determined actions. Even if he disagreed, what could he do? Ye Xi was no longer considered a member of the Ye family.
On the other side, Cao Sheng hadn't noticed Ye Jueyao's strange behavior. He only felt extremely angry and frustrated in his chest. He had just said that Ye Xi was disfigured and couldn't get married, and now the Prince Yu'an was happily rushing to recognize this engagement. Wasn't this clearly slapping him in the face?
No wonder Ye Xi had been so fearless before. It turned out that she had already attached herself to the big tree of Prince Yu'an!
Bah! A fickle woman!
Cao Sheng felt a rush of anger. A feeling of being betrayed by Ye Xi rose from the bottom of his heart, and he didn't even notice the deep sense of unwillingness in his heart.
"Prince Yu'an," Cao Sheng said with a very ugly expression. "Ye Xi is now disfigured. She just broke off the engagement with me and then threw herself into your arms. Your Highness should be careful with such a woman, or you'll regret it in the future."
Yi Yuan really thought it was dirty just to look at Cao Sheng one more time. He gave Lin An a look, and Yi Yuan quietly took two steps towards Ye Xi.
Receiving the signal, Lin An unsheathed his long sword. He flashed beside Cao Sheng like a ghost, made a few swift sword moves, and then quickly returned to Yi Yuan's side like the wind.
Cao Sheng was confused. Just as he was about to check himself, his robe began to split into pieces. In an instant, his whole body was in tatters, with only large pieces of cloth covering his private parts.
Cao Sheng's face instantly turned red.
Ye Jueyao let out a startled cry and continuously called for someone to bring clothes.
Mian Xiao, who was standing beside them, was laughing so hard that one could only see her teeth. She kindly explained:
"Your Highness means that Miss Xi is extremely good and will never allow others to criticize her, especially those who are two - faced and have affairs with others."
"For the sake of Minister Cao, this time it's just a warning. If there's a next time, your tongue will be cut off directly!"
Mian Xiao was laughing happily, but Cao Sheng shivered with fear.
Minister Cao looked unhappy. But he also knew that Yi Yuan had shown mercy. He just hated that his eldest grandson was really too stupid and couldn't be presentable at all. He was just like his mother.
Alas, if his son's first wife hadn't died early and Cao Sheng hadn't been the eldest son of the Cao family, he would never have agreed to promote Zhao E to the position of the main wife.
Thinking of what the Immortal Maiden Manping had said before about Zhao E slandering Cao Ceming, Minister Cao felt that he couldn't let things go on like this any longer. Sighing to himself, he was about to take the two of them and leave.
By this time, Jiang Ning had probably already been sent to the prince's carriage. Since Yi Yuan was nominally here for Ye Xi, and now the fake Ye Xi played by Jiang Ning had been sent away, it wasn't appropriate for him to wait for the real Ye Xi. After giving a warning, he turned around and left with Mian Xiao and Lin An.
Everyone left one after another, leaving only the Ye family, who were both angry and helpless.
There was one last thing to do, and then everything would be done.
Ye Xi collected her thoughts, caught up with Minister Cao and the others, recited a Taoist incantation, and said:
"Judging from Lord Cao's words and deeds today, it can be seen that Lord Cao is a decent person. This poor Taoist admires Lord Cao's character, so I'll say one more thing. Just now, this poor Taoist was reading Miss Ye's fortune. Miss Xi has a question, which is 'Does Miss Ye really have feelings for Young Master Cao?'."
"I didn't clarify this matter at that time. Now I'll make an exception and tell Lord Cao..."
Looking at Cao Sheng, who was stretching his neck to listen, Ye Xi smiled happily under her veil.
"Miss Ye doesn't really have feelings for Young Master Cao."
Cao Sheng's face changed. Ye Xi continued:
"She only cares about the status and family background of the Cao family. If there's a better choice, such as Prince Yu'an, she'll run into someone else's arms without hesitation."
No wonder Ye Jueyao had reacted so strongly just now. It turned out that it was her jealous outburst because she couldn't get what she wanted. Thinking of all the previous things, and after the Immortal Maiden had said something about Ye Jueyao having the aura of the royal family in the mansion of the state uncle, Ye Jueyao had become much colder towards him. At that time, he had been confused and thought that Ye Jueyao was jealous because he had gotten closer to Ye Xi.
Now that he thought about it, it turned out that she thought she could marry into the Yu'an Prince's Mansion and become a princess. Oh - how ridiculous he had been, secretly happy and showing her all kinds of kindness!
Not missing Cao Sheng's wonderful expression at all, Ye Xi continued gloatingly:
"Young Master Cao should be careful with such a woman, or you'll regret it in the future."
After saying this, she bowed and quickly walked a few steps, bypassing the angry members of the Cao family and leaving first.
Ling Yan was waiting at the door. When she saw Ye Xi coming out, she quickly stepped forward to greet her.
"Has His Highness left?"
Looking at the empty door, Ye Xi asked.
"Yes."
Ling Yan replied in a low voice.
"To make it seem that Miss Jiang was extremely seriously injured and on the verge of death, His Highness deliberately took Miss Jiang away in a very panicked and hasty manner. He also sent Mian Xiao back to the mansion on horseback first to arrange for a doctor."
A smile involuntarily appeared on Ling Yan's lips. Her usually emotionless voice had a hint of a smile:
"Mian Xiao shouted all the way on his horse, saying that the Ye family had forced you to death and asking people to make way quickly because he was going to find a doctor. By now, everyone in this area probably knows about it."
Ye Xi couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Leading Ling Yan into the carriage and heading in the opposite direction of Yi Yuan, Ye Xi said with a smile:
"This matter really has to be done by Mian Xiao. If it were Lin An, he probably wouldn't be able to say a single word."
"Indeed." Ling Yan nodded with a faint smile. After a pause, she then said:
"His Highness left a message for you when he went back."
"What?"
Ye Xi asked casually. She was looking out of the window at the people who were still looking around in confusion, trying to find out what was going on.
"His Highness said..."
Ling Yan looked at Ye Xi, who was concentrating on looking out of the carriage, and said:
"Sincerity can be verified."
These four words seemed to come out of nowhere, but Ye Xi's face instantly turned red.
She knew what Yi Yuan meant. It was what he had said in the Ye family today in front of everyone, that he would accept her horoscope and marry her as the mistress of the prince's mansion.
Yi Yuan wanted to tell her that this wasn't an impromptu decision but his sincere intention. If she didn't believe it, she could "read his fortune" to verify it.
Ye Xi's heart was pounding wildly.
When exactly did Yi Yuan start to have feelings for her?
It was him who had told her not to have any greedy thoughts before, and it was also him who had always protected and taken care of her carefully; it was him who had said that it was just a cooperation and he only valued her fortune - telling ability, and now it was still him who said that he really wanted to marry her.
Why was Yi Yuan so self - contradictory?
Ye Xi was thinking hard when suddenly someone outside the carriage stopped the carriage and shouted loudly:
"Immortal Maiden Manping, please get off the carriage and have a chat."