The Female Alpha Consort Mistakenly Marks the Empress - TFACMME Chapter 17

The one driving Mu Lanshi’s carriage was none other than her trusted aide Ah Chen.

She happened to chat a little with her young lady.

“Young Lady,” Ah Chen hesitated for a moment, “aren’t you being a little too kind to the Qi family? Not to mention anything else, I think those two women and that man all have better attitudes than Young Lady Qi…”

Ah Chen’s words were blunt, but she knew her young lady seemed to favor the Young Lady Qi quite a lot—otherwise, she wouldn’t have let her ride in the same carriage.

Her young lady was a noble lady from a prominent family, famous throughout the capital, and a talented alpha beginning her journey. Reputation was very important. Though Ah Chen herself was an omega, she had never shared a carriage with her young lady before.

“What’s wrong with that?” Mu Lanshi propped her chin with her hand, asking lightly.

Ah Chen stammered, “I just think her attitude is mediocre.”

“Yes, she’s mediocre—mediocre enough to use me,” Mu Lanshi shrugged and even lifted the hairpin from her head, replacing it with a simple pin. “Let her be, it doesn’t matter.”

At that moment, Ah Chen glanced back. The carriage curtain was not fully drawn, and the moonlight poured like a waterfall. Her young lady’s black hair was neatly fixed by a single ink-jade hairpin. Her figure was cold and pale, noble as snow, making it hard to look directly.

What scared Ah Chen the most was that her young lady had changed her hairpin.

The young lady only wore a simple pin when in a very good mood. The last time Ah Chen saw it was at the ceremony banquet; before that, she couldn’t even remember.

And now, her young lady had changed her hairpin because that woman had used her?

Her young lady must be crazy.

“Enough about that. What did you do with that little servant who drugged the banquet?” Mu Lanshi suddenly asked.

Ah Chen said, “Handled him as you ordered. He left hurriedly that day to find his family…”

“Trying to take his family and run away?”

Ah Chen choked but thought her young lady was sharp. “Exactly.”

“Did you capture his family?”

“Yes.”

Mu Lanshi nodded, her long eyelashes trembling in the silver light. “I’ll personally interrogate them when I return.”

She had said so before.

***

It was very late on the way back, yet Mu Lanshi still met her eldest brother, Mu Yan.

Mu Yan’s eyes were filled with worry when he saw her. He asked straightforwardly, “Lanshi, I heard you got injured at Yushu Villa today?! Let me see if you’re hurt anywhere.”

His information was surprisingly quick.

A sharp-faced man flashed before Mu Lanshi’s eyes.

“No, Lanshi isn’t hurt,” Mu Lanshi lightly pulled her hand away so he couldn’t touch her. “That beast went mad and tried to bite people, luckily your sister was quick and stopped it.”

Mu Yan was stunned, not understanding why his sister suddenly withdrew her hand. They had been close since childhood, no mistrust between them at all.

“Good if you’re okay.” Mu Yan smiled, then to lighten the mood, continued, “Speaking of which, when you came back from Teacher Fu’s house that time, I was late picking you up. On the way, someone’s dog got loose and nearly bit you.”

Teacher Fu Shanyu taught Mu Lanshi music and dance. As her brother, he had given her many rare scores and a famous qin.

“I remember you kept crying about your ankle hurting when you got home, but you didn’t say anything after Mother heard.”

Mu Lanshi just smiled silently.

Being bitten by a dog was nothing. Being bitten by someone living under the same roof was the most terrifying thing.

“Let’s go, Brother,” Mu Lanshi raised her hand to invite, joking, “Mother is weak now; if I cry, she won’t hear it.”

Besides, she wouldn’t cry anymore.

Mu Yan quickly followed.

The two siblings chatted in the spacious courtyard.

The Mu family was the most prestigious family of the era. Compared to the Li family that rose alongside the dragon, Mu had both refined scholarly elegance and magnificent splendor—palatial halls with carved beams and painted rafters.

Along the way, rock gardens and peculiar stones were arranged neatly. Moonlight spilled, casting mottled shadows like a natural ink painting.

“By the way, Lanshi.” Mu Yan recalled the past not long ago, then lowered his voice seriously.

Mu Lanshi feigned casualness and asked, “What is it, Older Brother?”

Sometimes familial affection reveals itself. His heart was already rotten wood eaten by insects, full of holes and decay inside.

But once decay starts, it does not turn back. The outward appearance could be barely maintained, but the hidden poisonous thoughts always lurk in the dark.

Hidden behind the guise of family love, waiting for an opportunity to expose itself.

“Eldest Brother wants to ask about the banquet incident. Do you have any clue about that omega?”

Mu Yan was sure Mu Lanshi would not tell him who that omega was. That was best.

The more hidden that omega’s identity was, the more shame Mu Lanshi would feel inside.

He knew his sister well. Although he hadn’t contacted Meng Yan recently, all this was part of the plan.

Mu Lanshi lowered her eyes obediently and said, “No clue.”

Mu Yan’s expression hardened. “Lanshi, be honest with your brother. Is it that you have no clue, or you just won’t tell me?”

“Older Brother.” Mu Lanshi pressed her lips, looking very troubled.

“Sigh, I understand.” Mu Yan sighed and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

Mu Lanshi followed his lead. “It’s just Mother…”

“I will talk to Mother again for you.”

Mother might be willing to agree, but only if that omega was the person she expected—an alpha of proper status and rank.

If Mu Lanshi admitted that omega was the princess, Mother would never agree.

This was the difference between the Mu and Li families. The latter rose alongside the dragon and suddenly became a prestigious family, but were still despised by the upper aristocracy.

That’s why the Mu family avoided the royal family in marriage alliances. Mu Mei realized that if her daughter bonded with that princess…

The rift between the family head and heir was imminent!

Mu Lanshi showed sincere gratitude. “Older Brother, when the time comes, I will tell you.”

“No matter what, getting Mother to agree is the most important,” Mu Yan replied earnestly.

After Mu Yan turned away, Mu Lanshi stopped pretending.

Her eyes were as sharp as ice.

Just because Mu Yan said that, Mother would not agree.

She had to confess herself.

If Mother refused, she had another plan.

***

That night, she went to see the servant who had drugged the banquet.

The servant was locked in a dark cell she arranged. He wasn’t whipped or punished but had been locked up over ten days, terrified, with disheveled hair sticking to his sweat and dirt-covered face, some strands covering his wide, scared eyes.

Hearing the latch, he crawled over and stared blankly at the visitor through the bars.

“Miss—” he called out blankly. “Please, please let me go…”

He started crying.

Mu Lanshi looked down at him coldly and finally said his full name clearly.

The servant trembled, stammering, “You—you know me?”

But he quickly understood the black-clothed person who arrested him must be her retainer. How could the young lady not know his name?

Ma San trembled and kept crying. “Miss, please let me go. I don’t want to die! My family is dead, I don’t want to die.”

Regret came rushing…

Suddenly, someone lifted his chin, forcing him to look Mu Lanshi in the eye.

The one holding his chin was the black-clothed person. The young lady, a precious lady, would never do such a thing.

“Your family is not dead,” Mu Lanshi said lightly. “I’m giving you a chance.”

Ma San kept trembling. “W-what chance?”

“A chance to work for me. After all, your parents were once servants in our Mu household. Loyal servants, you could say?” Mu Lanshi smiled teasingly.

Ma San nodded repeatedly, clutching the lifeline upon hearing his family was alive. “Miss, I was truly foolish. If not for the eldest young master threatening my family, I wouldn’t have done it…”

“From now on, work for me,” Mu Lanshi smiled brightly, standing up and signaling Ah Chen to give him a pill.

A crescent moon floated up, casting faint light through the gaps, trailing behind Mu Lanshi’s figure.

Ma San seemed to come to his senses.

He suddenly felt that his life was in someone else’s hands. Indeed, ever since he agreed to the eldest young master, his life was no longer his own.