Chapter 1877: 096, Establishing Rules_2

However, both of them didn’t mention these words to Xiao He, and now she herself is unclear about her feelings towards Lady Chen. If others talk about this, it would only add to her troubles.

March sixth is the wedding day for the Second Prince and Yao Hanai. After so long being entangled, Yao Hanai finally fulfilled her wish to marry into the Second Prince Mansion.

However, she hadn’t enjoyed a few good days before her troubles began.

March sixteenth is the day when the concubine Tang Ruyan entered the mansion.

Though a concubine, she was still a lesser wife, so Zhao Hongsheng didn’t give Tang Ruyan a grand wedding like Yao Hanai’s; he only had her carried into the mansion in a small sedan chair before sunset.

However, the title of Main Consort or Concubine is nothing to someone as cunning as Tang Ruyan. Who says being the Main Consort guarantees stability?

Even Empresses have been dethroned, let alone a little Main Consort of a Prince.

Tang Ruyan can endure, but Yao Hanai is not someone who can tolerate.

Before marriage, she was proud and arrogant, and whenever she went out with Zhao Hongsheng, she couldn’t help but spar with Tang Ruyan.

Now with the constraint of identity, she certainly wouldn’t let slip such a good opportunity.

Though it was only a day, the friction between Yao Hanai and Tang Ruyan spread throughout the circle of the capital city’s noblewomen, even Lin Yuan, who seldom interacted with the officials’ daughters, heard about it.

As a concubine, Tang Ruyan’s first task after entering the door was to kneel and offer tea to Yao Hanai, the Main Consort.

Actually, this was a very ordinary matter, generally, the family head wouldn’t establish rules for a little concubine on the first day she enters the door.

But Yao Hanai did.

When accepting the tea, no one knew who accidentally knocked over the cup; in short, the scorching tea water fell to the ground, and by coincidence, some splashed onto Yao Hanai’s leg.

Yao Hanai got angry on the spot and slapped Tang Ruyan, causing her exquisite hairpins to fall apart, looking utterly pathetic.

In fact, the one who was really scalded by the tea should be Tang Ruyan, as most of the tea spilled on her hand.

But given her status and position, and being a clever lady, she didn’t react immediately even though she felt wronged, especially after being slapped by Yao Hanai, she obediently knelt on the ground without moving.

But her close maid had quietly slipped out long ago.

After all, Tang Ruyan has stayed at the Second Prince Mansion for a while, and her foundation and confidants are naturally much more stable and abundant than those of Yao Hanai, who has been in the mansion for less than half a month.

Seeing Tang Ruyan kneeling weakly on the ground without a word, completely lacking the spirit of confrontation from before marriage, Yao Hanai felt both pleased and arrogant, intending to vent all the grievances suffered before marriage.

With this thought, she casually ordered Tang Ruyan to kneel for two hours, and then go to her own courtyard chamber once the Second Prince returned from the palace.

Two hours may not be long or short, and Tang Ruyan just obediently knelt. However, for some reason, she hadn’t even knelt for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea when the girl suddenly rolled her eyes and shook her body, fainting with a thud.

Luckily, her maid quickly caught her, otherwise, she might have hit her head and bled on the smooth marble floor.

When at the Grand Scholar Yao’s House, Yao Hanai was naturally used to seeing her mother manage the concubines, so regarding Tang Ruyan’s fainting, she just coldly smiled and signaled to Mo Zhu beside her to wake Tang Ruyan with cold water.

Even though it was already spring, it was still quite chilly to splash cold water on someone in the evening.

Mo Zhu hesitated for a moment and was about to dissuade her when Zhao Hongsheng’s angry roar came from outside the door.

Yao Hanai shuddered in fright, feeling a sense of being caught doing something wrong by an adult in public, awkward and embarrassed.

But thinking about her status as the main mother, she suppressed her inner panic, sat upright and didn’t budge.

Zhao Hongsheng had always looked at her unfavorably, regretting that he had taken the wrong step initially.

Besides, the Scholar of Qingliu who followed under Yao Shijiang was not many, which further aggravated his irritation. Thus, within the ten days since Yao Hanai entered the mansion, he only spent the wedding night with her, the rest of the time he slept alone in the study.

And on that only night they shared a room, nothing happened; one slept soundly snoring on the bed, while the other sat at the bedside, tears silently streaming till dawn.