Chapter 5: Volume 1, Chapter 5: Clambered Up a High Branch, Have You

Rong Luoge had said everything that needed saying. This was not the original host's home, and naturally not hers either, so of course she would not stay.

"Wait." The Protector Duke spoke, took two steps forward and looked at Rong Luoge, his expression shifting in a way too ugly to describe. "Luoge, are you truly this heartless? You must understand that even though you've married Prince Qi, if you are ever wronged in the Wang Fu in the future, there will be no family from your maiden home to back you up."

Is this a threat?

Rong Luoge fixed her gaze on the Protector Duke. "On my wedding night, Rong Dai climbed into Prince Qi's bed and stole my wedding night. I don't think there could be anything more wronged than that in this lifetime. All of this is thanks to you. I remember it clearly in my heart, perfectly plain. If you're smart, from now on you and I will keep up politeness in public, and in private we should have no contact. I'm afraid that if we continue to associate, I won't be able to stop myself from taking up a knife to kill someone."

"How can you say such a thing? You must understand that a woman who has lost her maiden family's protection—"

"When have I ever been protected by my maiden family? Not in the past, not now, and I don't think I will be in the future either." Rong Luoge gave a light laugh. "I do think the Duke is truly devoted. You yourself are devoted enough to keep a mistress, and you found a mistress for your son-in-law too. The mistress you kept became a mistress herself, and then she taught your mistress's daughter to also be a mistress. Truly, dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and a mouse's son knows how to burrow. Not a single thing wrong with that."

The Protector Duke heard these words and trembled all over with rage. "Get out of here! From this day forward, the Guo Gong Fu has no daughter like you."

"Fine, but remember to return my mother's dowry to me. Otherwise… you know I keep my word." Rong Luoge tossed out these words and turned to leave.

After she took her first steps, she suddenly felt the pent-up frustration that had been pressing on her chest dissipate, and her whole person instantly relaxed a great deal.

She was slightly startled. She had a feeling inside her—perhaps it was the last wisp of aura the original host had left on this body. Seeing herself vent her grievance for her, with no regrets left, she had truly gone.

You see, a person simply cannot live as a doormat, otherwise even in death they'll be a sulking ghost.

After leaving the gates of Guo Gong Fu, Rong Luoge for a moment did not know where she should go.

There was still a wounded stranger in her little residence. The dangerous feeling from last night made her think it was better not to go back there for the time being.

She had not yet divorced Prince Qi. After thinking it over, she still had to return to Qi Wang Fu. At the very least, she had to make Prince Qi hurry up and find a way to divorce her. If a proper divorce was impossible, a letter of repudiation would do too—she wasn't picky.

Once she had absolutely nothing to do with Han Yifeng, that would be when the sea was wide for the fish to leap, and the sky was high for the birds to fly.

Qi Wang Fu was not far from Zhen Guo Gong Fu. Separated by a single street, walking slowly it took no more than half a shichen to get there.

Rong Luoge looked at this living scene so utterly unlike the modernized world of her later era, so vivid and alive. Every passing pedestrian's expression on their face was so lively and real, it truly gave her the feeling that she was not dreaming, that she had indeed transmigrated, and it was real.

Thinking about it was laughable. The moment she transmigrated, she severed ties with her maiden family. Her husband's family was currently in a wait-and-see relationship, and it wasn't much better. How to walk the road ahead truly needed careful thought.

After all, this was not the era of her later world. Here, going out required a travel pass, and survival required silver. Without these things, you could go nowhere.

Thinking as she walked, she arrived at the Wang Fu. Only she did not expect that when she reached the gate, she would be stopped, because the gatekeepers did not recognize her as the Princess Consort Qi.

Rong Luoge's mood was already poor. At this moment her face darkened, and she shoved the person aside with one push.

Did these people truly not recognize her? Not necessarily.

Most likely someone had given orders to deliberately make things difficult for her. There was no need to think about who.

Looking at this group at the gatehouse, Rong Luoge said coolly: "If you don't want your eyes, I can help you gouge them out and wash them clean. You don't even recognize the Wang Fu's mistress—what use are you!"

Perhaps Rong Luoge's aura was too overwhelming. The group at the gatehouse was startled and instinctively stepped aside to clear the way.

Rong Luoge didn't even glance at them and walked straight in. Before she had gone far, she heard the voices from the gatehouse drifting over.

"We let her in—how are we going to explain it to Miss Rong?" Zhu Qiang said with a furrowed brow. He was the one who had privately taken Rong Dai's silver to make things difficult for the Princess Consort.

"If we don't let her in, would you dare to stop her? I wouldn't dare, anyway. I think the Princess Consort is far more beautiful than Miss Rong. In the end, which one gains favor is still anyone's guess," muttered another servant on duty, Zhang Sanxi, as he spoke up.

"Miss Rong?" Rong Luoge gave a cold laugh and turned around.

The gatehouse crowd: …

Who could have expected the Princess Consort to chime in? If it were anyone else, having just married into the Wang Fu, even if not exactly walking on eggshells, they would still have to tread carefully at every step, right?

"Princess Consort, do you have any instructions?" Zhang Sanxi, who had been the first to step aside earlier, asked with a smile.

"There is no Miss Rong in this fu. There is only one Princess Consort Rong." Rong Luoge spoke, word by word. "A proper family's daughter, even if she is to be a lowly concubine, still has to be carried in through the side gate in a small sedan, serve tea and kowtow, before she can have the status of a concubine."

The expressions on everyone's faces instantly became subtle at this moment. They looked at each other, thinking the new Princess Consort's aura was truly something. Could it be that this Wang Fu was really going to change from now on?

Rong Luoge could not care less what Han Yifeng thought. Although she planned to divorce him, before the divorce happened, if he dared to trample on her dignity to elevate Rong Dai, she would be careful to make his Qi Wang Fu the laughingstock of the entire Xiao Kingdom.

Zhu Qiang watched the new Princess Consort walk away. His eyes rolled, and he clutched his belly, saying: "Ouch, my stomach's not feeling well. I'm going to relieve myself first. You all keep an eye on things for me."

Once Zhu Qiang ran off, another man who had not spoken all along, Li Wengui, said to Zhang Sanxi: "What's gotten into Zhu Qiang these past two days? Why does his stomach always hurt when he's on duty?"

Zhang Sanxi's mouth curled. "Clambered up a high branch, that's why."

Rong Luoge had no idea the gatehouse had already split into two factions. She relied on her memory to return to the courtyard. Fortunately, on the wedding day there had been people from the palace, so Han Yifeng had not arranged her dwelling in some shabby place. It was the main room of the rear courtyard, the main courtyard where the Princess Consort resided.

The moment she stepped inside, a figure threw itself at her, hugging her leg and crying: "Princess Consort, you're finally back. You scared me to death. Yesterday the Wang Ye just took you away and this servant couldn't stop him no matter what. It's all this servant's fault, for not protecting the Princess Consort well…"

"Cangyun, are you mourning the dead here? Can't you see the Princess Consort is perfectly fine? The Princess Consort has only just married in, and you open your mouth to cry—truly inviting bad luck."

Listening to the two of them speak, Rong Luoge immediately identified their identities. The one hugging her and crying was Cangyun, a little maid the original host had bought at the estate. She had followed her for many years and was utterly loyal.

The other one, who spoke with a sharp and caustic tongue, was Mingcui, a person the Duchess of the State had planted beside the original host to spy on her.

The original host had a soft temperament. After Mingcui arrived, she relied on being sent by the Duchess of the State to keep Cangyun beneath her, and was very unruly.

The original host could tolerate her, but she had no intention of tolerating her. Today she would send her packing back.

"Open your mouth and close your mouth with such unlucky talk of mourning the dead. I think you're cursing me instead." Rong Luoge's eyes turned toward Mingcui.

Mingcui was stunned, and instinctively said: "Princess Consort, how can you say such a thing? This servant only meant well for you. Back then, when Madam sent this servant to attend the Princess Consort, it was because she was afraid that once the Princess Consort entered the Wang Fu and didn't understand the rules, she would disgrace Guo Gong Fu."

Mingcui was not afraid in the slightest. The Princess Consort's temperament was very soft and easy to bully. If she brought out the Duchess of the State's name, she would surely be afraid.