Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Matters of the Heart Inside the carriage, Nanny Liu spoke earnestly, "You did very well today, Madam. Since you've adopted Jie-ge'er, you still need to rely on him to compete for the Duke of Dingguo's estate. If your relationship with him deteriorates, wouldn't that let the Duke of Guo take advantage?" Afraid her mistress might change her mind, Nanny Liu felt compelled to remind her once more. She had originally not supported her mistress telling San-ge'er about the bastard child, fearing that a child's lips were not sealed—if he were to tell someone else, the Duke's mansion's reputation would be utterly ruined. However, there were benefits to her mistress's decision. As long as San-ge'er learned that the bastard was the Duke of Guo's biological son, San-ge'er would not defect to the Duke of Guo and would have no choice but to rely on her mistress. "I know. I was blinded by anger before." Until Lu Zhong appeared yesterday, no matter how Madam Qin treated Lu Weijie, she had no qualms in her heart, because she was certain Lu Weijie could not escape her grasp. But Lu Zhong's arrival gave her a sense of crisis. After a night of deep deliberation, she had no choice but to lower herself and speak a few kind words to Lu Weijie. Madam Qin took a deep breath. When she arrived at the theater, the troupe master saw it was her and immediately warmly invited her upstairs. "You've finally come. These past few days, Xiao Wu has been thinking of you constantly, asking when you would come so he could kowtow and thank you." Xiao Wu was a martial role performer at the theater who had caught Madam Qin's eye. Learning that Xiao Wu's family was in difficulty, Madam Qin had specially rewarded him with fifty taels of silver when she left last time. "Tell him that I rewarded him because he sings well. No need for kowtowing. Let him perform more often and not disappoint my expectations." Madam Qin walked up the stairs. The troupe master said that wouldn't do. "You are our great benefactor. By all rights, Xiao Wu should kowtow to you." As they spoke, a tall, strapping martial performer arrived—the Xiao Wu the troupe master had mentioned. Seeing that everyone had come, Madam Qin no longer refused and led them into the private room. Xiao Wu was particularly perceptive. He first knelt and kowtowed, then personally poured tea and served pastries for Madam Qin. "Thank you for your reward, Duchess. With this money, my younger siblings at home won't have to go hungry, and we can also pay off the debt to the landlord." As he spoke with a smile, Madam Qin couldn't help but take a second look at him. It was at that moment that County Princess Rongjia arrived. Madam Qin dismissed Xiao Wu, saying, "Perform well—that will be your repayment to me. Go now. Today, I wish to hear 'Forced to Go to Liangshan.' Do you have that play?" "We do. Since you've asked, even if we didn't, we'd add it on the spot." Xiao Wu bowed and withdrew. Soon, the gongs and drums sounded on the stage. Xiao Wu leaped onto the stage with two backflips, and the audience below erupted in applause. When County Princess Rongjia withdrew her gaze from the stage, she saw Madam Qin watching intently and said softly, "That martial performer is quite good. But he looks somewhat familiar to me—isn't he like the Duke of Guo in his youth?" "Him?" Madam Qin clicked her tongue. County Princess Rongjia, however, couldn't tell whether that "him" referred to the Duke of Dingguo or Xiao Wu. Madam Qin withdrew her gaze and took a leisurely sip of tea. "I called you here today, so I won't beat around the bush. Yesterday I attended a banquet at the Jiang family's and came away with a belly full of anger. That Lady Cui has such an infuriating mouth—just like her younger brother. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get a handle on Cui Zeyu." County Princess Rongjia asked, "Even if he's the Duke of Guo's chosen one, he's still your son in name. Cui Zeyu can't very well avoid seeing you entirely, can he?" "He truly won't see me." Madam Qin said. County Princess Rongjia found this strange. Why was that? Could it be that the Duke of Dingguo and his wife had reached such an irreconcilable state? Before County Princess Rongjia could figure it out, Madam Qin asked which maid by Cui Lingrong's side had been close with Cui Zeyu. County Princess Rongjia glanced over, and Chen De's Wife stepped forward, saying it was Caiyue. "She's still serving the eldest young mistress now. Our marquis household's eldest young mistress is quite capable—one maid married off to a centurion under General Xie, and another used to entice her younger brother. One might think she's running a brothel, raising a flock of young girls to seduce men." Madam Qin smiled thinly. "She certainly is capable." County Princess Rongjia's lips pressed downward. "What capability does she have? We were simply too careless before. As I said last time, if the Duchess wants to control Cui Zeyu and can't touch Lady Cui, she should start with the people around her." She gave a meaningful look, and Madam Qin immediately understood. While the two were speaking in the private room, Cui Lingrong happened to be nearby discussing cloth shop matters with someone. When Er Shun went out to buy fried pastries, he happened to spot County Princess Rongjia's coachman and mentioned it upon returning. "Indeed, the County Mistress went out early this morning." Nanny Qiu said. Er Shun said he hadn't been mistaken. "There was also a carriage from the Duke of Dingguo's mansion. I couldn't tell whose it was." "Most likely Madam Qin's." Cui Lingrong had already finished her cloth shop business and had Er Shun hire a carriage so as not to be recognized by County Princess Rongjia's or Madam Qin's people. She sat in the carriage and waited for the better part of an hour before County Princess Rongjia and Madam Qin came out together, chatting and laughing. Her carriage was parked across from Madam Qin's, and she could hear Madam Qin saying to Nanny Liu, "This County Princess Rongjia—I thought she might be useful, but it turns out she knows she can't handle Lady Cui herself, so she kept nudging me to make a move. This time she brought up the people around Lady Cui, and she's the one who'll reap the benefits in the end. Next time..." Cui Lingrong only caught that much before the Duke of Dingguo's carriage drove away. Her brows knitted tightly, and Nanny Qiu was even more anxious—they had barely managed to suppress County Princess Rongjia, and now here came Madam Qin. Cui Lingrong took a quiet breath and had Nanny Qiu disguise herself as someone from the Qian family. "Go ask around at the opera troupe. Say you're a nanny from the Qian family, that you happened to see Madam Qin, and that your mistress has long wanted to make Madam Qin's acquaintance and asks if she could help arrange an introduction." Nanny Qiu took some silver and stepped down from the carriage. She returned before long. "The troupe master is tight-lipped. He said the duke's wife is an honored guest, and if we want to curry favor with the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, we should find another way. But someone else let it slip that the duke's wife comes to watch the opera often, and both last time and this time she gave a tip to a martial-role performer named Xiao Wu." Cui Lingrong nodded and sent Er Shun back to the marquis mansion first. Knowing that Madam Qin had met with County Princess Rongjia, Cui Lingrong had to worry not only about herself but also about the three children. She summoned a slave broker and specified that she wanted to buy young servants trained in martial arts—both male and female—and assigned new attendants to each of the three children. But outwardly, she didn't even tell Song Shulan the truth, only saying that the children were getting older and needed more attendants. Two months passed in the blink of an eye. There was no provincial examination this year, so Song Mingxuan buried himself in his studies, preparing for next year's exam. As the autumn air turned crisp and clear, things on the surface were relatively peaceful, and no major incidents occurred at the Jiangyuan Marquis Mansion. Though Old Madame Song occasionally made cutting remarks to Cui Lingrong, she never got the better of her. Then one day in early August, Nanny Qiu returned from outside with a face as black as coal. After much deliberation, she still went to find the eldest young mistress. "Those people have gone too far. Caiyue and Young Master Yu haven't done anything at all, yet they're saying Caiyue had already been carrying on with Young Master Yu—otherwise, why would Caixia have married but no one has come to propose for Caiyue? And they even say... oh, this old servant can't even repeat such foul words!" Cui Lingrong's expression turned stern. "Just say it directly. If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to know what's going on?" "They also say that you deliberately keep beautiful maidservants to win people over," Nanny Qiu said, grinding her teeth in anger. "Just listen to that—what kind of talk is that?" The eldest young mistress was such a good person, and to be slandered like this—Nanny Qiu felt a lump in her chest that she simply couldn't swallow. Cui Lingrong's face darkened as well. She had only two senior maidservants in total, and after Caixia married out, no one had filled her position—now there was only Caiyue left. "Do you know where these rumors started?" Cui Lingrong asked. Nanny Qiu shook her head, saying she couldn't trace it. "I thought it might be County Princess Rongjia or Madam Qin, but it's neither. After all the digging, it just comes down to idle chatter in teahouses. You need to think of a way to stop people from talking like this. Otherwise, when Yu-jie comes of age next year, how will we arrange a match for her?" Cui Lingrong took a deep breath, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes. "Matters of the marquis mansion are only known to those within the mansion. The harder it is to trace, the more deliberate someone is being. No matter how we explain ourselves, it won't help—right now they're just grasping at shadows and spreading nonsense. To drown out this talk, we need something even more worthy of gossip." "Is the eldest young mistress planning to use Zhuqing and Zheng Side?" Nanny Qiu asked. Cui Lingrong said no. "Zhuqing is a concubine of the marquis mansion. If her reputation is ruined, it will affect the mansion to some degree. They can spread rumors, and so can we. Let's see what's more interesting to talk about—a maidservant's affair, or the romantic exploits of the Duke of Dingguo's wife."