Chapter 149: Delivered to the Door
Author: White Pear Flower
Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/
Translated by Pill Bug
Jin Yanqiu nodded. Waiting until after Fu Qiuning had walked down the steps, she suddenly asked, “Last night, you were in Fengju’s study, right? Otherwise, you would not have only returned to Night Breeze Pavilion so early this early morning. What… what did he say?”
“Young Marquis said that this time, the matter has not been handled well, it has been a terrible defeat. Because His Majesty values moral values the most, Prince Lie left no stone unturned in his investigation, and now the emperor is very disappointed in Prince Rong’s moral character and self-control. Once the emperor is disappointed, I think Princess Consort is also clear on what this means in your heart. Young Marquis stayed up all night yesterday, thinking of a plan to handle it.” Fu Qiuning turned back, slightly hanging her head while she replied softly.
Jin Yanqiu’s body shook for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and asked solemnly, “Brother, he… has he come up with any countermeasures?”
”Fu Qiuning sighed and said, “There is no good strategy to deal with it yet, there are only stopgap measures. This time, I’m afraid it’s impossible to get through this peacefully. Lord Husband said he can only try to minimise the damage.”
Jin Yanqiu’s body went slack, messily leaning on the pillar and whispered to herself, “Indeed, has this all been due to my capriciousness?” Before she finished her words, she suddenly saw Fu Qiuning still standing there, so she picked up her spirits and waved her hand, “You may leave.”
“Yes, this humble woman will excuse herself.” Fu Qiuning saluted, turned around and left. After walking a dozen steps, when she looked back, she saw that Jin Yanqiu was still sitting there like a wooden sculpture. She thought to herself: If Princess Consort is still not enlightened, there is really nothing more I can do.
When she returned to Night Breeze Pavilion, roughly knowing the danger that Jing Dukedom was facing, the servants also didn’t dare to laugh and talk loudly. Fu Qiuning found a boy servant and ordered him to wait in the study in the front courtyard, so that if Jin Fengju came back, he could come and tell her at any time. Then, she picked up the silk handkerchief she had not finished embroidering and continued to embroider peony flowers on it, while thinking about the whole matter and whether there were any other gaps to exploit.
As she was thinking, she suddenly saw Yu Jie come over and say, “Madam, the Zhenjiang palace has sent someone to meet Madam. They are waiting outside the door at this moment.”
Fu Qiuning’s eyes lit up, but her face quickly became impassive as she sneered and said, “Really? It is not the new year nor a festival, so why have they suddenly thought of sending someone to meet me? Just tell them I’m sick and won’t see them.” After saying that, she lowered her head and continued to embroider, but after a moment, she heard an ingratiating voice say, “Young Miss, don’t be angry, the Heir has been thinking about you since last year. Originally, he tried several times to send someone to visit, but King Zhenjiang has not been well and Zhenjiang Heir went looking for doctors and medicine. Serve by his bedside, he was so busy, he forgot. Now that the old king’s health has shown a little improvement, this would not do, the Heir and his wife immediately sent this servant girl over.”
Only then did Fu Qiuning put down her embroidery and pretended to be surprised, “What? Grandfather is sick? What kind of illness? How is he now? Why didn’t anyone tell me about such a big event?” As she spoke, her face finally eased and she said to Yu Jie, “Go and serve some tea for sister Zhou.”
At that, Lady Zhou was relieved. Hearing Fu Qiuning telling her to sit, she sat only half her buttocks down while still wearing an ingratiating smile and saying, “It is nothing to worry about. He only caught a wind chill. The doctor prescribed two doses of medicine to eat, and he received some relief. The Heir wanted to ask Young Miss to return, but firstly, the King’s illness is not serious, so it is not urgent. Secondly, Young Miss ever since Young Miss returned to the palace before the New Year, it has been one thing after another. The Heir’s intention is not to let them disturb Young Miss. Today, the King is safe, so firstly, I am here to report to Young Miss that he is safe, and secondly, many important events have also happened in the palace in recent days, so the Heir sent this servant over to see if there is anything Young Miss can use her for. If necessary, it is also proper to stay and serve Young Miss.”
Fu Qiuning was shocked, thinking: Stop right there, I disliked not having enough trouble, was that it? Deliberately leaving you here to be a spy?
She sneered and said, “Stop mentioning this troublesome matter. Now, because Young Marquis is suspicious of Prince Lie’s spies in the estate, kicking up such a fuss even the chickens and dogs cannot sleep peacefully, if I keep you here at this time, am I not afraid of arousing suspicion? Originally, during the matter last time when Prince Lie was smacked around by Prince Hong, the Young Marquis was trembling with fury. If Prince Hong hadn’t been the first to take the lead, the heavens-wide great credit would have fallen on the Young Marquis or Prince Rong. I swore in front of him that I never mentioned it in the estate, and even then he was able to discover it, so how would other people be unable to discover it either? Stop it. Do not speak murky words in front of honest people. Where Father got the news, you and I both understand very well. Hmph, if my mouth wasn’t so slick, leaving some words on the wind by the fake mountain, I’m afraid Father and Prince Hong wouldn’t have understood it so clearly, right?”
As the dowry maid of the Zhenjiang Heir’s wife, Lady Zhou was naturally trusted. How would she not know of that matter? However, she was not brave enough to answer the question and could only smile ingratiatingly and say, “This maid does not even know a bit of it, and simply does not understand what Young Miss is talking about. This maid thinks that the Heir is being blamed somewhat. Young Miss, listen to what this has to say. In this world, no one can be compared to their own parents. Their own parents love their own flesh and blood so dearly, and other people are only giving false reasons and stories. Just look at how obediently Young Marquis fawns upon Young Miss at this moment, but when the days drag on, who dares to say that this favour would not shift onto others? At that time, who will Young Miss rely on? Isn’t the maiden family still the one to be relied on?”
Fu Qiuning thought to herself: If I believed you, I would have died without a grave. When you first pushed me in here, why didn’t you think about the love of your own flesh and blood?
But she pretended to think for a while before completely softening her stance, sighing, “I naturally understand this. Sigh, life in this noble family is not easy. Without an excellent maiden family’s backing, the only fate is to be trampled on. This is especially so since my appearance is not outstanding. The Young Marquis may have become tired of his wives’ and concubines’ appearances. When he saw me raising his two children to become talented people, he might have felt that I was virtuous and also somewhat talented, and only then did I get to enjoy this momentary favour. But after this, won’t he still throw away his hand? How much is virtuousness worth? Especially nowadays, do you still not know? Our Young Miss’ father-in-law and his son were robbed and killed on the road. If she had nowhere to go, returning to her maternal home would be all good and well, but she even brought her three sisters with her. You tell me, where under heaven is this reasonable? Having to support her is nothing much, but we also have to support her three sisters.”
Lady Zhou knew about that, but hearing that Fu Qiuning’s tone was not quite right, she naturally had to take advantage of the opportunity to fan the flames, so she pretended to be surprised and said, “Oh, was there such a thing? The three young sisters that Young Miss mentioned, could they be the previous Minister of Rites, Lord Feng’s two daughters and niece? Ai yah, those three girls were famous in the capital, everyone said that they were city-toppling beauties, so how… how did they end up living in the estate? Even if Lord Feng and his only son are dead, could it be that their own family has no more clan members?”
Fu Qiuning sneered, “It is said that they do not have much contact with their clan. Even if they tried to rely on their clan, they would not even enter their gaze, so they refused to go there and be insulted. Hmph, trying to be so pure at this time, but did they ever think that there could be any innocent pure girls that managed to escape from the hands of the bandits? Still keeping a face and mouth that says they would rather starve to death than lose their modesty, how disgusting.”
Seeing Lady Zhou nodding, it was as if she had finally found someone pouring out their heart, so she immediately opened her chatterbox and said angrily, “Tell me, sister Zhou, do all the people in the Jing Dukedom have a brain problem? After the daughter of their own family and her sisters came out of the hands of those bandits, can there still be any pure bodies? If they were chaste and virtuous women, they would have killed themselves, but they even dared to live in the dukedom instead. If the imperial censors know about this and send a report to the emperor, censuring them for not keeping the family’s honour, who can bear it?
Our foolish husband just didn’t take this to his heart because he was the emperor’s favoured person. Not only that, I gave him a few words of caution, yet he was not happy and said with a dark face that I had a heart of stone. As a sister-in-law, I should sympathize with my sister-in-law’s suffering, so these kinds of arrangements make my teeth chatter. You tell me, I am all for him, but in the end, I earned these few words of judgement. What did I work so hard for? I am so angry that I simply don’t care about it anymore. He can do what he likes, so what? Not even a few days later, Prince Rong’s side had another incident and now the Princess Consort is still in our estate. You tell me, how is it that their families do not seem to grow any brains?”
Lady Zhou kept nodding, listening to Fu Qiuning letting out a long and frustrated sigh as she put down the embroidery in her hands and continued sadly, “Lord Husband has not eaten in the past two days. My heart aches when I see that, and I am angry at him, but he is still my own man in the end, even though he is to blame for his own problems. Sister Zhou, you go back and tell Father, the emperor values friendship the most. Whatever is said, he is also Fengju’s father-in-law. This time, let Grandfather say a few good words on behalf of Prince Rong. Not only will Fengju be grateful to him, but even the emperor will also certainly view our royal family with a new light in his heart .”
Lady Zhou smiled and agreed. But in her heart, she did not think so, thinking: In the end, she is still only a woman, her heart cares so much that she is in a panic now, right? The Jing Dukedom is in trouble, our palace not adding more fuel to the fire is already good, yet is even expected to help put out the fire.
They exchanged a few more words of gossip, and seeing that Fu Qiuning looked sickly, she knew that she had something on her mind and thus bid farewell. When she left, she asked Fu Qiuning, again and again, to go home if she could.
Fu Qiuning agreed, personally seeing her out the door this time. Watching Lady Zhou and the other two ladies that she had brought along disappearing into the distance, she only laughed softly turned around and went back into the house.
Just before she sat down and picked up her embroidery, she heard Jian Feng announce outside the door, “Madam, Yan Xi is here, saying that the Young Marquis has departed from court and is asking you to go to the study.”
Fu Qiuning stood up and said with a smile, “I have sent someone to wait for news about his whereabouts, but the person he sent is faster than the one who keeps watch in the courtyard.” She changed into a light blue mandarin jacket embroidered with hibiscus flowers, paired with a light green pleated skirt embroidered with dark flowers, and brought Jian Feng along to the study.
Jin Fengju was waiting for her in the study, and when he saw her coming, he looked at her hands first, and then couldn’t help but laugh, “Why didn’t you bring me any snacks today? Could it be that you saw how well made they were, so you kept them for yourself and couldn’t bear to bring them to me?”
Pill Bug TL Notes:
Urgh, the walls of texts are high in this chapter!
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