1 Divorce and Arranged Marriage Orders

l my maiden name"Seeing the obvious anger, disgust, and jealousy in the eyes and face of the Princess of Ronghua as she glared at Ye Ying, Ye Li had a better understanding of their relationship. If th...The Capital's Rhapsody 1. Breaking Engagement Royal Arranged Marriage

1. Breaking Engagement Royal Arranged Marriage

"Miss! Something terrible has happened!"

In the rather desolate courtyard, a figure in pale green dashed into the inner room like a gust of wind, causing the wind chimes by the door to ring.

In the elegant and simple room, a graceful figure sat by the half-open window. Despite being interrupted, her needlework did not pause for even a moment. She only stopped once the little servant girl had caught her breath and turned around with a smile as she asked, "What's got you so flustered" Her appearance was clear and elegant, but there was an unusual sharpness and keenness in her eyes that didn't match her delicate demeanor. Wearing simple clothes and having her long hair loosely tied up with a jade hairpin, anyone seeing her would hardly believe she was the eldest legitimate daughter of the esteemed Grand Secretary's family.

"Miss! How can you still be embroidering Don't you know... don't you know that Prince Li has broken off our engagement!" The little servant girl grabbed the embroidery from her hands and began to pace, having been in a panic since Prince Li had ended their engagement three days ago. Yet her miss seemed unconcerned about it.

"Qingshuang, Prince Li ended the engagement three days ago. Aren't you reacting a bit late" Without minding her rudeness, Ye Li found herself amused at her own little servant girl.

"Miss!" Qingshuang glared at her mistress in frustration. "I'm not worried about Prince Li." If her mistress didn't care about the prince, why should she bother But... "Oh! Miss, the Emperor has arranged another marriage for you! Master wants you to go out and receive the imperial edict."

"Another arranged marriage" Ye Li was taken aback and couldn't help but frown. She had thought that after the Crown Prince rejected her, she would be left alone for a few years at least; after all, there weren't many people willing to marry an abandoned woman in this era. "Our family is just a Marquis Household—why would the emperor care so much" Just three days after being rejected by the Crown Prince, she was given another arranged marriage. Was it because the emperor valued the Marquis Household highly or did he dislike the man he wanted to give her to

Qingshuang's eyes reddened and she ground her teeth in anger: "It’s the Settling King! It must be Miss First who incited the emperor. She has always bullied you since childhood, and now she actually…actually wants you to marry the Settling King. Waaah…"

Ye Li helplessly looked at her own maid; it was a waste of a name like Qingshuang for someone so prone to crying. "Alright, don’t talk nonsense outside. Let's go out and receive the imperial decree."

The Ye Family Hall

"By imperial command: Lady Ye’s eldest daughter, Ye Li, is intelligent and virtuous, with both talent and virtue making her a suitable match for His Royal Highness Prince of Settling. She shall be wed to him as his principal wife on an auspicious day. This edict is hereby proclaimed."

The Ye Family members all thanked the emperor together. The eunuch who delivered the imperial decree handed it over to Ye Li and smiled, saying, "Congratulations, Lady Ye and Miss Ye!" Ye Li took the imperial decree with a slight smile despite the somewhat grating laughter from the eunuch. "Thank you for your labor, Senior Eunuch." The eunuch looked at Ye Li in surprise; he had heard that the eldest daughter of the Ye Family was famous as an unremarkable noblewoman with no talent, beauty, or virtue. Yet this woman before him, while not as alluring as Lady Ye Zhaoyi from the palace, and certainly not as incomparably beautiful as Miss Fourth of the Ye Household who was renowned as the most beautiful woman in the capital, was still a rare beauty. Furthermore, her composure and propriety did not resemble that of someone who could not act properly on the grand stage, as described by Lady Ye Zhaoyi. With a glance at the Ye Family members openly taking pleasure in her misfortune, the eunuch understood what had happened. Although he felt sorry for this Miss Ye, it was not something within his authority to manage. He merely said that he did not deserve such honor before leaving.

The head matriarch of the Ye Household sent someone out personally to see off the delivering eunuch and then glanced sideways at Ye Li with a pretended affectionate smile: "Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and has found another good match for Miss Third. Otherwise…" Otherwise, how could a woman who had been rejected ever marry again

Ye Li remained calm on the outside but laughed coldly in her heart. A good match Did they think she was clueless just because she rarely left home Prince of Settling Mo Xiuyao sustained severe injuries when he was eighteen, leaving him crippled and disfigured; he had been bedridden ever since. He had married two principal wives before: one died in an accident a few days after marriage, the other died from shock on her wedding night—rumor had it that she was frightened to death upon seeing Prince of Settling's face. If this were not true, considering Prince of Settling’s status and age (he is already twenty-five), how could he still be without a principal wife "You are right," Ye Li said calmly. "No matter what, the Prince of Settling is a hereditary prince with the rank of one thousand stones—this really is an honor for Li.

Mrs. Ye's face twitched slightly as she looked at Ye Li and said, "Since you know about it, prepare well for your wedding so that you do not disgrace our status as the Shangshu family. Your fourth sister will be getting married in a few months too; there’s going to be quite a lot of work around the manor."

"I understand, and thank you for your concern."

"As the head of this Ye household, I naturally have to worry about these matters," said Mrs. Ye. She gave Ye Li a haughty look before flouncing off.

Ye Li watched Mrs. Ye leave with a smile on her face and raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Although she was the eldest daughter of the Ye family, she was not born to the current matriarch, Madam Wang. She was the child of Ye Shangshu's first wife, Lady Xu. Lady Xu came from an educated family and had never been healthy after giving birth to Ye Li. As a result, Ye Shangshu favored his later-concubine-turned-wife, Madam Wang, who took over the household when Lady Xu was bedridden. When Ye Li turned seven years old, her mother passed away; it was around this time that she became "Ye Li." After Madam Wang was made the official wife, to avoid being said to mistreat the legitimate daughter of her predecessor, she didn’t dare abuse Ye Li too much but would frequently try to make things difficult for her. Each and every one of these incidents was resolved without ruffling a feather by Ye Li, which only made Madam Wang dislike her more.

"Third Sister, congratulations!" As soon as Mrs. Ye left, the other young ladies in the household who were still unmarried rushed to surround her with varying degrees of pity and glee at her misfortune. The first one to speak was Miss Ye Lin, a concubine-born daughter who had always been close to Madam Wang’s legitimate daughters and would often make life difficult for Ye Li to win their favor. Generally, Ye Li didn’t bother much about it since this sort of behavior was typical among the concubine-born girls; as long as they didn’t go too far, she wasn’t interested in dealing with a child not even ten years old.

"What’s there to congratulate Third Sister for Marrying Prince Ding is terrifying to think about. He is crippled and ugly and has already killed one wife; who knows if he was the one who did it to his first wife as well. We should be congratulating Fourth Sister instead, since she’ll be marrying Crown Prince Li in a month," said Miss Ye Shan, looking at her fourth sister—who was known as the most beautiful lady in the capital—with adoration and envy.

Ye Ying certainly lived up to her reputation; her eyebrows were like willow leaves while her eyes were deep pools of autumn water. Her jade-like face was exquisite and graceful, every movement elegant and delicate enough to make people want to protect her from harm. But to someone who had seen countless beauties in a previous life, such beauty was no longer surprising.

"We are sisters; there's no need for congratulations," said Ye Ying softly. Her voice was melodious while she exuded an air of elegance that made everyone feel envious once again. "It’s just Third Sister... I hope you can forgive me." She looked at Ye Li with apologetic eyes, and Ye Li smiled generously before saying to her sister, "No worries; it seems we are not meant for each other anyway. We shouldn’t let a man come between our sisters’ bond, right"

Ye Ying was taken aback; she didn't get the reaction she expected, which made her feel somewhat disappointed. She had thought that when she received the news of her engagement being canceled three days ago, she would be heartbroken and unable to eat or sleep, but what made Ye Ying very disappointed was that her third sister only fell silent for a moment before saying that she knew and went back to rest. Today, upon seeing her again, there wasn't even a trace of exhaustion on her face. The Prince Li was every noblewoman's dream groom in the capital, so she didn't believe she wouldn’t feel sad about it!

After some time, Ye Ying smiled shyly and said, "I know that Third Senior Sister loves me the most. If there is anything difficult for you in the future, please come to Prince Li's residence to find Ying."

Ye Li coldly accepted it without wanting to see the obvious satisfaction on her face. After saying goodbye to a group of sisters who were eager to upset her, Ye Li walked towards her own courtyard with Qing Shuang. Along the way, Qing Shuang continued to grumble angrily, "What does Fourth Miss mean She took Prince Li from us and is still putting up an act! It's really disgusting!"

Ye Li turned around and looked at her amusingly, “Alright, be careful that your flesh won't hurt when people hear you. I actually don’t care whether it’s Prince Li or Prince Ding."

"How can you not care !" Qing Shuang glared at her. "Prince Li is the most handsome man in the capital and a younger brother of His Majesty; everyone knows that Prince Ding is disabled, disfigured, and has an incurable illness…" She remembered that Prince Ding would soon be her mistress's husband and forced herself to swallow back the words “waste”.

"So what" Ye Li raised her eyebrows with a smile as she looked at Qing Shuang. "Do you want to marry me off to him just because he’s handsome I don’t care if he is or isn't handsome, although my former fiancé was one of the four most handsome men in the capital. However, Prince Li's character would definitely not be better than Prince Ding's. Although I had heard about their affair before, it was worth pondering why Prince Li waited until the wedding date was approaching to break off his engagement." Thinking of this… It was also puzzling as to why the emperor would marry her off to Prince Ding just after she got dumped. Intelligent and virtuous, with remarkable virtue and ability that makes for a good match... Who didn’t know in the capital that Third Miss Ye was known for being ugly, lacking talent, and incompetent at needlework So is it saying that this useless lady and the so-called waste of Prince Ding are well matched

“Miss!” Qing Shuang blushed red as she stomped her feet. "No way! I’d rather marry a slave than be someone’s concubine." Most importantly, she would never become the concubine of the man who was to be her mistress's husband. Qing Shuang's mother used to be a concubine in an important household; after her father died early on, they were expelled from their home and left destitute. After her mother died of illness, Qing Shuang almost got sold into a brothel, but fortunately, she was bought by Miss who gave her the name Qing Shuang and taught her how to read and write. Qing Shuang wasn’t someone who forgot others' kindness; this favor she would never forget.

Seeing that the little maid was so anxious, Ye Li couldn't help laughing out loud. “Alright, is it not okay for me to joke around a bit”

"Miss…"y and pulled on her pigtails, whispering, "My father has already agreed." Originally, he had refused but after some talk with Leng Hao Yu, his mind changed. She felt jealous, thinking that she didn't...