The Female Alpha Consort Mistakenly Marks the Empress - TFACMME Chapter 18

In the capital’s post station, there was a room that, despite the late hour, was still brightly lit.

Qi Yingzhu sat in the center of the seat, being questioned by her parents and older sister.

Humiliating memories surged in her mind. That day, when they told her she was going into the palace to marry the old emperor, she had also sat like this.

But in just over ten days, the relationship between them had completely reversed.

Qi Yingzhu leisurely picked at the lamp wick, waiting for one of them to speak first.

Lord Qi took a deep breath and spoke first: “Yingzhu, tell your father honestly, what kind of relationship do you have with that Young Lady Mu?”

Xu Yuan said, “Yes, Yingzhu, we are still your family. If there’s anything, you must tell us.”

Qi Nian nodded vigorously beside her.

Qi Yingzhu looked at them with a blank expression and said, “Father, mother, sister, I have no old ties with that Young Lady Mu. We just happened to meet today inside Yushu Pavilion. Then we sat together. Lord Zhou asked us to go up and see that parrot. I happened to be with Young Lady Mu, and she naturally protected me.”

What she said was indeed the truth.

But on closer inspection, there were still many clues.

“How did she protect you?” Qi Nian asked.

Qi Yingzhu vividly recounted how the parrot caused trouble and ended by seeming startled, saying, “I don’t even know why the bars of that cage suddenly fell down… Anyway, it was quite frightening.”

Everything she said was without issue.

And those present saw that Mu Lanshi’s interaction with her was quite ordinary, with no sign of ambiguous intimacy.

But it was this vague relationship, like a thin veil, that made the Qi family very uncertain.

Lord Qi thought deeply for a long time, exhaled heavily, and asked directly: “Yingzhu, your father only asks you one thing.”

“What is it, father?”

He said, “You said you formed a bond with an alpha, and you still remember her appearance.”

Qi Yingzhu suddenly fell silent. The hall became deathly quiet, with only the sound of the wind outside stirring the willow branches.

The four seated all had their own thoughts surging.

Among them, Qi Nian was the most restless.

She looked at the token hanging from her sister’s waist, and remembered that mother had given her the hairpiece as well, feeling very upset. She said, “If Yingzhu has formed a bond with another alpha, then she can’t enter the palace.”

If Yingzhu could not go into the palace, then wouldn’t the one who could go became her?

Xu Yuan heard her daughter’s crying and felt a heavy heart, but still comforted her daughter to calm her.

How could this be?

When parents discussed this before, they always agreed quickly. How come today they had no solutions and just comforted her?

No matter how naive and anxious Qi Nian was, she began to realize something different.

“No, no, Mother, please don’t comfort me. Father, Yingzhu, give me a clear answer.” She said this, and soon tears welled up.

Qi Yingzhu lowered her head and remained silent.

She knew very well why Qi Zhongxuan still said nothing.

Her foster sister was certainly foolish and deserved revenge, but she wasn’t only taking revenge on one person.

Lord Qi, hearing Qi Nian’s increasingly agitated voice, suddenly slammed the table and scolded her: “Enough, Qi Nian! Stop crying! Your father is here, and your younger sister is here. Do you not have any dignity as the eldest sister?”

When he slammed the table, the force shook the lamp flames.

Mother and daughter were startled and froze. Xu Yuan stopped comforting Qi Nian, and Qi Nian even forgot she should continue crying.

Qi Yingzhu saw this and was not very surprised. Instead, a plan formed in her mind.

No one in this family would get away unscathed.

Lord Qi was obviously satisfied that his violent action silenced the three women, and continued: “Qi Nian, think about it. How old are you now? Normally, an omega your age would be married, do you know?”

Married? Why did it have to be her to marry? Qi Nian was panic-stricken, tears hanging on her cheeks.

She looked at her father, then her mother, and finally at her calm younger sister. Inside, a faint understanding began to form.

She thought, her younger sister really seemed different now.

Mother gave her the most precious hairpiece, father gave her the token representing the family, letting her go to Yushu Pavilion for a banquet…

So, was she being abandoned?

Qi Nian pinched the corner of her mother’s clothes and continued to cry softly.

Lord Qi, annoyed, told her to be quiet: “Stop crying!”

Xu Yuan was already full of anger—she had fought with this man last time. Now that his intentions were obvious, and she heard him scold her child, she cursed back: “Why are you so harsh? This is a post station, not the Qi family in Jiangnan!”

Saying that, she tightly held Qi Nian’s hand.

Last time, when the couple argued, they scared everyone in the post station. It seemed they shouldn’t stay long here.

Lord Qi wanted to get angry again, but seeing Xu Yuan’s fierce protective gaze, he skipped the topic and stopped acting hostile.

Qi Yingzhu saw all this clearly. Still, in her heart, a trace of loneliness appeared.

After all, she was an outsider to this family. Had she ever had this kind of wholehearted care in her past life?

Images of some people vaguely flashed in her mind.

Tch.

Even if not in this life, it didn’t matter.

“Father, mother, sister, if there’s nothing else, Yingzhu will take her leave first.” Qi Yingzhu said this, slowly standing and bowing to everyone.

Xu Yuan nodded slightly and agreed, then softly comforted Qi Nian: “Nianian, you should also rest. It’s late.”

“Mother…”

“Go, go sleep when you get back. Don’t think too much.”

After the two daughters left, this couple, who had been only superficially connected, finally had time to confront each other.

Xu Yuan withdrew her motherly expression and looked coldly at Qi Zhongxuan: “Speak honestly, what do you plan to do?”

Qi Zhongxuan’s expression cleared somewhat, and he said, “I’ve already investigated. Who the female alphas still at the Mu residence that night.”

He stopped there.

Xu Yuan sneered softly: “You mean that alpha was Mu Lanshi?”

Qi Zhongxuan said, “Actually, it’s fine if Yingzhu isn’t with the royal family. The Mu family is the most prestigious family right now. If our two families intermarry, it will certainly benefit both clans.”

“But the problem here is our Qi family cannot compare with the Mu family. We can’t just beg them to marry into us.”

The difficulty was how to clarify this matter with the Mu family.

Qi Zhongxuan was troubled but still imagined many scenes of the two families intermarrying.

Xu Yuan just listened quietly, feeling increasingly displeased.

Qi Zhongxuan never mentioned the emperor’s decree or Qi Nian, only talked about the Mu and Qi families.

She felt furious.

It was like his future was so bright.

***

Qi Yingzhu and Qi Nian left together. Qi Nian seemed frightened by her father and for the first time realized her sister’s strength, so she left hurriedly without trying to stop her.

Qi Yingzhu did not look back for long because outside someone named Little Mi was waiting for her.

“Miss, miss!” Little Mi happily came over, putting a coat on Qi Yingzhu and smiling: “What did you say to that person today?”

Who that person was obvious.

Today the miss had ridden with Young Lady Mu, and her ox cart was given to her.

Hehe, even changed the carriage, does that mean the monthly allowance should increase?

That girl even dared to mention it?

Qi Yingzhu frowned and glanced at her, directly settling the account: “I told her I’m going to deduct all your monthly allowance.”

Little Mi froze in place, pointing at herself, and after a long time said, “Me?”

“Miss, why?” Little Mi complained endlessly, following behind Qi Yingzhu and calling softly, but at night she couldn’t be too loud, so she cried quietly.

Miss deliberately didn’t hear and kept walking forward.

Wuwuwu, the capital is so dazzling and distracting, even the miss has become a bad person!

Finally, Little Mi followed Miss crying all the way to the room. Miss stopped, standing on the steps, looking down at her, and said, “There is a way to keep your allowance.”

Little Mi nodded repeatedly and said she would definitely do it.

Ah, Miss still kept her original intention!

“Find someone to help me send a message…” She bent down and said something.

Little Mi didn’t understand what Miss was going to do but carefully wrote it down. In her heart, Miss was the most powerful person.