Volume 3, Chapter 372 – Wei Ziqing, Noble Consort Wei

Madam Qian gave a light wave of her hand.

A line of servants filed in and carried off every last person sprawled across the ground. In short order, the small courtyard was cleared.

From start to finish, Madam Qian had not spared a single glance at the people on the ground.

Once the scene was tidied up, Madam Qian glided over to the two girls.

“I apologize for the fright you both received today. The estate has already prepared a welcoming banquet in your honor.”

Cheng Yinyin’s face tightened at once. “Mother!”

“Yinyin.” Madam Qian cut her off. “They are your elder sisters. You should not be so disrespectful toward them.”

Cheng Yinyin stood frozen in place, staring blankly at her mother.

Madam Qian turned to Chi Xiyan and Lu Zhuxin with an apologetic smile.

“Please forgive what you witnessed. Yinyin has been spoiled by me.”

“You are all Cheng family blood. Yinyin is your little sister.”

“We are all one family. Though I am not your birth mother, I will treat you as my own daughters.”

Cheng Lixia and Cheng Lixue were the daughters of Cheng Zhuo’s first wife, a woman who had passed away from illness not long after giving birth to the two girls. Madam Qian was his second wife.

It was hard to imagine that this warm and pleasant-looking woman before them was the same cruel stepmother who had driven two young girls, barely a few years old, out of their own home.

Lu Zhuxin turned over the information she had received from Lingxu Sword Sect.

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The Cheng family was a declining noble house. By Cheng Zhuo’s branch, it had hit rock bottom. His first wife had been no great lady of standing either, bringing him no advantage whatsoever. But Madam Qian was different. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Though she could not compare to a powerhouse like the Chi family, her generous dowry had breathed new life into the crumbling Cheng household.

With that in mind, Lu Zhuxin had a fair idea of how those two pitiful little girls had been driven out.

That said, after she and Chi Xiyan had taken those girls’ places, Lingxu Sword Sect had already arranged a safe haven for them so they could live out their days in peace, well away from any of this trouble.

Chi Xiyan studied Madam Qian. This smiling woman was not nearly as simple as she appeared.

But Chi Xiyan had only ever intended to use the Cheng family as a stepping stone. As long as no one came after her directly, she had no interest in meddling in their family affairs.

What mattered now was the consort selection.

For that purpose, she needed the identity of a Cheng family daughter.

With that thought, Chi Xiyan returned Madam Qian’s smile.

“Madam is right. Yinyin is our little sister, and we are all family. Why would we hold a grudge against our own sister?”

The moment the words landed, Cheng Yinyin shot her a venomous glare.

Even so, she swallowed her temper in the end and did not make a scene.

Chi Xiyan smiled to herself. So this little tyrant actually listened to her mother.

Cheng Zhuo, seeing everything settled, stroked his beard with satisfaction.

“Since we are all family, we ought to get along well.”

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“Once you enter the Human Emperor’s Palace together, you sisters will be able to look out for one another.”

That one remark drew four complicated looks at once.

The little farce fizzled out without much of a conclusion.

Madam Qian had offered a way out, and Chi Xiyan and Lu Zhuxin had no intention of pressing the matter further, so they let it go without fuss.

Each member of the household harbored their own thoughts. Only Cheng Zhuo sat there cheerfully, daydreaming about all the benefits that would come once he sent his daughters into the imperial palace.

If all three daughters could enter and become favored consorts, the glory and gain they would bring to the Cheng family would be immense. He himself could rise effortlessly through the ranks and become a figure of great influence in Shuyuan Commandery, the family’s standing elevated right along with him.

All those people who had looked down on him before would come crawling to his door, flattering and fawning over him.

He could already picture the expressions on their faces: jealousy, envy, eagerness to please…

The images played through his mind and he could not keep the corners of his mouth from curling upward.

Lu Zhuxin found it rather painful to watch.

Everything this man was thinking was practically written across his face.

Throughout the welcoming banquet, Cheng Zhuo kept up a warm stream of conversation with his two new daughters, chatting away about one thing and another.

Madam Qian wove herself into the conversation here and there, subtly probing into how the two of them had spent these years away, and where Chi Xiyan had come by her cultivation.

Chi Xiyan, however, had long since prepared her answers. She wore a calm smile and deflected each of Madam Qian’s questions without difficulty.

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Madam Qian did not manage to extract anything useful from her.

The welcoming banquet passed smoothly, the whole affair threading its way through undercurrents of quiet testing. Even the sharp-tempered Cheng Yinyin reined herself in under Madam Qian’s watchful eye. She wore a dark expression from beginning to end, but at least she caused no further trouble.

When the family dinner was over, Cheng Zhuo’s expression turned more measured.

“Lixia and Lixue have only just arrived and are not yet familiar with the details of this consort selection.”

He cleared his throat, his face carrying a trace of both gravity and anticipation as his gaze swept over his two daughters.

Lu Zhuxin and Chi Xiyan said nothing, waiting quietly for him to continue.

“In the past, only noble houses of the Imperial Capital were eligible to participate when Her Majesty held a consort selection. Small families like ours had no such standing.”

“But this time is different. Her Majesty has opened the selection to all noble houses across the land.”

“An opportunity for every family under heaven. And that means an opportunity for us as well.”

“The consort selection for Shuyuan Commandery is being overseen by Noble Consort Wei. Every noble house in the commandery with daughters of eligible age will be participating, not just our Cheng family.”

“Noble Consort Wei?” Lu Zhuxin caught the familiar name and asked before she could stop herself.

Cheng Zhuo gave her a curious look. “Yes. Wei Ziqing of the Wei family. Personally appointed as Noble Consort by His Majesty.”

“What is it?” Chi Xiyan also looked over.

She rarely saw Lu Zhuxin this visibly caught off guard.

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Was there something significant about the name Wei Ziqing?

Faced with the questioning looks, Lu Zhuxin gave an awkward little laugh. She realized she had overreacted.

“Nothing, I was simply curious. What sort of person is this Noble Consort Wei? To have become a Noble Consort, he must be quite exceptional.”

“Little Xue’er, what are you talking about?” Chi Xiyan said with a light laugh. “I already told you about Noble Consort Wei before, didn’t I.”

“He is not a woman. He is a male consort.”

“…” Lu Zhuxin’s expression stiffened for a moment.

Had Chi Xiyan told her that?

It seemed she had, actually. Back when Lu Zhuxin had first arrived at the Chi estate. That was also the first time she had heard anything about the Human Empress.

Wei Ziqing. Noble Consort Wei.

Well. How could Lu Zhuxin not know that name.

He was the male lead of another novel she had written.

The heaven-mandated male lead meant for Bu Lianshuang.

What a coincidence. The person overseeing the consort selection for Shuyuan Commandery was him.