Quick Transmigration: The Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character's Revenge

Qi Ning seemed unwilling to say another word to Gao Yan. After saying goodbye, she tried to walk past him with her maid.

"Wait a minute," Gao Yan suddenly said again.

Qi Ning paused in her steps.

"Does Your Highness have anything else?"

"There is indeed something I would like to ask Consort Qi privately. Would Your Highness be so kind as to have your maid leave?"

Qi Ning looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Gao Yan stood in front of her without moving.

Qi Ning then turned around and said to Ji Mei behind her, "Go ahead and wait for me."

Ji Mei hesitated for a moment before glancing at Qi Ning before agreeing.

She walked a short distance ahead and looked in the direction of Qi Ning and Gao Yan.

Gao Yan checked the distance and confirmed that Ji Mei's position meant she shouldn't be able to hear them talking.

Qi Ning urged, "Fifth Prince, please speak quickly. If someone sees us talking alone, it might not be appropriate."

Gao Yan frowned slightly upon hearing Qi Ning's words, which were clearly intended to avoid suspicion.

He didn't keep them in suspense and quickly lowered his voice to say, "I want to ask Consort Qi, were the things you did before really helping Gao Yun, or were you deliberately trying to ruin him by praising him?"

When Gao Yan said this, his eyes were fixed on Qi Ning's expression.

Qi Ning blinked, a strange look flashing across her face.

Gao Yan naturally noticed Qi Ning's unusual behavior.

But Qi Ning said, "I don't understand what the Fifth Prince is saying."

"I'm from the Jiang family and the Fourth Prince's side. Everything I do is for their benefit, of course. How could it be for the Fifth Prince? As for the so-called 'praise to death,' that's something the Fifth Prince did. How did it get involved with me?"

"is it?"

"Of course, it would be better if Your Highness didn't say such strange things to me in the future. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

After saying that, Qi Ning looked around as if afraid of being discovered, and immediately headed towards the direction of Ji Mei.

Gao Yan stared at Qi Ning's retreating figure, lost in thought.

Qi Ning's expression was clearly a little strange just now. Could it be that he really guessed right?

Why would Qi Ning do this, and why won't he admit it?

With this question in mind, Gao Yan returned to his residence in the imperial palace.

That shouldn't be the case. If that were the case, why would Qi Ning deliberately praise Gao Yun to the point of ruin? It wouldn't benefit her at all. She is the adopted daughter of the Jiang family, and their interests are intertwined.

Adopted daughter.

Upon thinking of these two words, Gao Yan naturally thought of Qi Ning's background.

He recalled what Jiang Youcheng had told him before: Jiang Weilan had inexplicably rescued an actress from a theatrical troupe and then inexplicably had Jiang Jingzhou adopt her as his goddaughter.

Previously, Gao Yan thought that the Jiang family did this because they coveted Qi Ning's appearance and wanted to use her as a honey trap to make her work for them.

Looking back now, is that really the case? Could there be some hidden story behind Qi Ning's background?

Thinking of this, Gao Yan immediately called Cao Dong in.

"What are your orders, Your Highness?"

"Go and investigate something for me."

"What does Your Highness wish to investigate?"

Gao Yan slowly uttered five words: "Consort Qi's background."

What is Consort Qi's background?

Cao Dong thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, isn't Consort Qi a former actress? Everyone knows that, so why bother investigating?"

Qi Ning first appeared at Liang Fang's birthday banquet as an actor, and was seen by many dignitaries present. The Jiang family did not try to hide Qi Ning's identity as an actor.

Furthermore, after Qi Ning became one of the emperor's concubines, the other concubines in the harem often mocked her behind her back because of her identity as an actress.

Therefore, it is indeed common knowledge that Qi Ning came from an acting background.

Gao Yan glared at Cao Dong with annoyance: "I don't want this hearsay. I'm telling you to investigate again, and investigate thoroughly."

"Investigate her parents and family, investigate why she joined the opera troupe and became an actress, and also, the real reason why she was adopted by the Jiang family as their goddaughter. Find out everything for me in detail."

Seeing Gao Yan's attitude, Cao Dong felt a chill run down his spine. He understood that there must be more to Consort Qi's background than met the eye.

He immediately replied, "Yes, I understand. I will go and investigate right away."

Three days later, Cao Dongcai came to report back to Gao Yan.

"Your Highness, I have checked it out."

Gao Yan had been waiting for a long time. Judging from the length of time it had been to investigate, it was clear that the investigation had not gone smoothly and must have taken a lot of effort.

"Go ahead."

Cao Dong replied, "As Your Highness instructed, I first investigated Consort Qi's parents and relatives, as well as the reason why she joined the opera troupe. After investigation, I found that Consort Qi was from Jiangnan and was sold into the opera troupe when she was six years old. It is said that she had no father or mother."

"Afterwards, I went to the Ministry of Revenue's residence for a secret investigation and found an old woman who was cleaning the main courtyard where Jiang Jingzhou and his wife lived. On the day that the eldest daughter of the Jiang family saved Consort Qi and took her in as her goddaughter, that old woman was cleaning outside the main room and heard their conversation."

"According to that old woman, the reason why the eldest daughter of the Jiang family wanted to save Consort Qi and have Jiang Jingzhou take her in as his goddaughter was because Consort Qi was her savior."

"My savior?" Gao Yan asked, looking up.

“That’s right,” Cao Dong replied.

"Or rather, the Qi family were all the saviors of the Jiang family's eldest daughter. However, because the Jiang family's eldest daughter was murdered, only Qi survived. She was an orphan and ended up on the streets. Later, she was sold to an opera troupe."

Gao Yan's expression turned grave: "Is this true?"

“Your Highness, it is true. I was afraid that the old woman was making things up, so I specifically investigated. Ten years ago, when Jiang Jingzhou returned to the capital with his family, the eldest daughter of the Jiang family was being hunted down, and a family surnamed Qi did indeed die while saving her…”

Cao Dong carefully recounted to Gao Yan the events from ten years ago that he had uncovered.

"I see."

Gao Yan finally figured out the entanglement in this matter.

However, he still had a question: "If that's the case, why did the Jiang family conceal this news from the outside world and not reveal at all that Consort Qi was Jiang Weilan's savior?"

Cao Dong replied, "That old woman said that this was Jiang Jingzhou's idea, in order to protect the Jiang family's reputation. After all, Consort Qi, their savior, had been wandering outside for so many years, and they had not rescued her in time."

"Ah."

Gao Yan gave a cold laugh.

Jiang Jingzhou, that hypocrite.

Qi Ning's family saved his daughter's life, yet he still looked down on her because of her shameful background, and even concealed her identity as her savior, all for his own face and the Jiang family's reputation.

It turns out that Qi Ning's background hides such a secret.

In this way, it can be said that Qi Ning and the eldest daughter of the Jiang family have a blood feud that led to the extermination of their entire family.

Qi Ning not only lost her parents because of them, but was also forced to join an opera troupe.

Gao Yan didn't know much about the opera troupe, but he knew a little about the intricacies and methods of dealing with people. Being hungry and cold was the norm, and being scolded and beaten was not uncommon.

Under such circumstances, Gao Yan could easily suspect that everything Qi Ning did before approaching him, then approaching his father, and after becoming a concubine in the harem was for revenge.

On the surface, she is the adopted daughter of the Jiang family, and everything she does is for the good of the Jiang family and Gao Yun, but in reality, it is a premeditated act of flattery to kill.

Thinking of his previous misunderstanding of Qi Ning, Gao Yan couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy and guilt.

At the same time, Qi Ning heard about Gao Yan's situation from the system.

“Host, Gao Yan has sent people to investigate your background. He knows he misunderstood you and is feeling guilty now.”

"Oh."

Qi Ning was placing her hand on the table, asking Ji Mei to dye her nails with balsam juice. Upon hearing the system's words, she simply gave a lukewarm response.

All of this was within her expectations, and there was really nothing surprising about it.

The system then said, "Gao Yan seems to want to see you, but you've been staying in Mingyue Pavilion and haven't gone out, so he hasn't had a chance. Host, why don't you go out for a walk?"

Qi Ning remained unmoved: "What's the rush? Let him wait. Why should I have to go out just because he wants to see me? Let him figure it out himself."

Gao Yan really wanted to see Qi Ning.

After learning the mystery of Qi Ning's background and confirming that she wasn't really helping Gao Yun's faction but was scheming against them, Gao Yan began to have different views on many things from before.

For example, in the matter of disaster relief, Qi Ning helped Gao Yun get the opportunity to go to the disaster relief, which not only allowed Gao Yun to avoid the disaster of the disaster victims' riots, but also benefited Gao Yun after he made meritorious contributions and was suspected by his father.

Speaking of suspicion, there was the incident at the hunting grounds last time. Qi Ning asked for a reward for Gao Yun, which diverted some of the limelight from his tiger hunt. But on the other hand, she did this to reduce the possibility of him being suspected by his father, since that bow and arrow had a special meaning.

Gao Yan knew that Qi Ning's main purpose in doing all this was to set a trap for Gao Yun and to scheme against Gao Yun and the Jiang family behind him, and it had little to do with him.

But he was also a real beneficiary; she helped him in some way.

He had accepted a favor from her without his knowledge, and he had not only been unaware of it before, but had also doubted her intentions because of it.

In addition, there were those humiliating things he said to her before because of a misunderstanding, which now seem somewhat inappropriate.

Gao Yan thought that perhaps he should talk to her.

Qi Ning was one of his father's concubines, so Gao Yan couldn't very well go to the entrance of Mingyue Pavilion to intercept her himself; the last time was just an accident.

Therefore, Gao Yan specifically instructed Cao Dong to arrange for a palace maid to go outside Mingyue Pavilion to find out when Qi Ning usually goes out and where he goes.

Cao Dong returned shortly afterward with news: "Your Highness, according to our investigation, Consort Qi has been staying in Mingyue Pavilion recently and has not gone out."

"You haven't gone out at all?"

Gao Yan asked, "Doesn't she associate with people outside?"

Previously, Gao Yan didn't know much about Qi Ning and was unaware of this matter.

Even his mother, a concubine who preferred tranquility, had several close friends in the harem who would visit each other's palaces from time to time for tea and chats, or take walks in the garden together. He assumed Qi Ning would have the same.

Cao Dong replied, "It is said that Consort Qi does not interact much with the other concubines in the harem. Most of them are jealous of her and ostracize her. Even if someone tries to get close to her, she will refuse to see them. Only His Majesty and Miss Jiang visit her at Mingyue Pavilion."

“When Consort Qi occasionally goes out, she either goes to the Hall of Diligent Governance to see His Majesty or is with the eldest daughter of the Jiang family. The time she fell into the lake, she was going to meet the eldest daughter of the Jiang family.”

This surprised Gao Yan a bit.

But on second thought, this makes sense. Qi Ning approached his father, the emperor, to scheme against the Jiang family and Gao Yun, not to compete for his favor.

If it were truly for the sake of vying for favor, how could one possibly be so low-key in the harem?

He didn't want to see Qi Ning before, and he found it annoying when Qi Ning appeared in front of him. Now, however, it is as difficult as climbing to heaven to see her.

It gives the feeling that fortunes change.

"Your Highness, should we still have people guarding outside Mingyue Pavilion?" Cao Dong asked.

Gao Yan suddenly remembered something.

He asked Cao Dong, "I remember, among the prizes I won last time I went hunting, there was a hairpin belonging to Consort Qi?"

“That’s right, there are indeed such things. Last time, His Highness said he didn’t want to see those things, so I had them put away.”

Gao Yan immediately ordered, "Go and get that hairpin, and have someone send it to Mingyue Pavilion. She should be able to see you. Once you meet her, send a message to let Consort Qi meet with me."

"Yes, I will do it immediately."

Cao Dong quickly found the hairpin and had a palace maid deliver it to Mingyue Pavilion. The palace maid successfully met Qi Ning and told her about Gao Yan's idea.

But the palace maid returned quickly, bringing the hairpin with her.

“Your Highness, Consort Qi glanced at the hairpin but did not accept it. She said that since it was something Your Highness won, it belongs to Your Highness and there is no need to return it to her, so as not to cause misunderstandings if His Majesty finds out and it cannot be explained.”

Gao Yan held the hairpin in her hand and asked, "Are there any more?"

"Furthermore, Consort Qi also said... she said that she and His Highness had already made things very clear last time, there was nothing to talk about, and there was no need to meet again."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yan gave a cryptic laugh.

After a long while, he finally said to the palace maid, "You may leave."

Is it because he exposed her for praising Gao Yun to the point of ruining him last time that she doesn't want to see him?

Gao Yan didn't say anything; he was holding the hairpin, lost in thought.

The palace maid left, but Cao Dong was still in the study when Gao Yan suddenly asked him, "Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, isn't it?"

"Yes, Your Highness, why are you asking this?" Cao Dong asked, somewhat puzzled.

Gao Yan looked up and asked, "Is there any news about the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet?"

For the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Qi Ning couldn't possibly stay home, could she?

Gao Yan didn't quite understand why he insisted on meeting Qi Ning alone.

Is it to express gratitude, apologize, or expose her lie from last time?

After all, when they met last time, she didn't admit that she did those things to flatter Gao Yun to his detriment, but now he has evidence.

It seems so, yet it also seems not to be.

Gao Yan thought for a moment. He wanted to meet with Qi Ning alone. Other reasons were secondary. The main reason was that he wanted to know her future plans.

How Qi Ning will scheme against Gao Yun and the Jiang family next is crucial for Gao Yan.

A few days later, it would be the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the emperor had already ordered a banquet to be prepared at the imperial palace.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Qi Ning still sat in the seat next to the emperor.

She had already held this position when she was Consort Qi, let alone now that she has become a concubine and has the merit of saving the princess, no one would dare to object to her sitting in this position.

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