Chapter 189

Chapter 189 Dantao exclaimed in surprise, "At a time like this, Noble Consort Rou still wants to torment the Princess Consort?!" "With this illness, I'm afraid the Princess Consort's days are about to get harder." Everyone knew that Noble Consort Rou looked upon Princess Consort Jing with displeasure. In the past, she would find excuses to torment the Princess Consort even when there were none. Now that she had a ready-made excuse, how could she possibly give it up? Xie Run shook her head. "Silly Dantao, times have changed." In the past, Noble Consort Rou had pinned her hopes on her eldest son to bring her wealth and glory, looking down on her younger son and daughter-in-law. That was why she insisted on throwing her weight around as a mother-in-law before the Princess Consort. Now that Prince Su had fallen, the only people Noble Consort Rou could rely on were Prince Jing and Princess Consort Jing. At a time like this, how would she dare to offend Princess Consort Jing? Xie Run said, "Now Noble Consort Rou won't torment the Princess Consort at all. This illness of hers... is most likely brought on for the Princess Consort's sake." "Brought on for the Princess Consort's sake?" Both Xiaoshu and Dantao looked utterly confused. Xie Run said, "Seeing the Princess Consort growing thinner by the day, if she were to continue attending on the Empress and get tormented a few more times, I fear her body wouldn't hold up." No matter how lacking in tact Noble Consort Rou was, she knew this was a critical moment in the struggle for succession, one that concerned her very life, death, honor, and disgrace in the days to come. She wouldn't be so foolish as to torment the Princess Consort at a time like this. "My guess is that this was the Prince's idea." If it were left to Noble Consort Rou herself, simply not tormenting the Princess Consort would already be the best one could hope for. How could she possibly protect her? After all, tormenting the Princess Consort had become a habit for Noble Consort Rou. Even if she changed her attitude now, it would be hard for her to genuinely care for the Princess Consort from the bottom of her heart in such a short time. Dantao sighed. "If only that were really the case." There were storms both inside and outside the manor now. If they didn't unite to face them, who knew whether their heads would still be on their necks come tomorrow? After finishing the discussion about matters in the palace, Xie Run asked, "I was busy dealing with Concubine An's affairs yesterday. Was there any movement in Side Consort Fang's courtyard?" Xie Run knew that Fang Yuan'er had invited Prince Jing over the night before last. She had already been placed under House Arrest at the time, yet she still risked inviting the Prince over. She must have finally realized something was wrong with her son. Xiaoshu had been holding in a bellyful of news, just waiting for Xie Run to ask. Xiaoshu said, "That very night, Side Consort Fang dealt with the two wet nurses by her side." Xie Run was slightly startled. "Did she find out how he fell ill?" Xiaoshu shook her head. "Precisely because she couldn't find out, she could only punish the wet nurses." "She called in the imperial physician, who only said it was a chill, and combined with the fact that the premature baby was naturally frail, that was why he couldn't withstand it and had diarrhea for several days." "The two wet nurses were negligent in their care and concealed the Third Young Master's condition. They were sentenced to thirty strokes of the rod and sent to the estate to do hard labor." For a premature baby to fall ill was all too easy. For example, pulling the child's blanket off at night, then quietly covering him back up a few hours later. If the child didn't cry or fuss at the time, how could anyone possibly find out afterward? Xie Run said, "Isn't the punishment a bit heavy?" The "heavy" here was in comparison to Prince Jing's punishment of the people in Concubine An's courtyard. Xiaoshu lowered her voice and said, "The Prince originally only sentenced them to ten strokes and assigned them to the laundry. It was Side Consort Fang who refused to accept it and specifically asked the Prince to increase the punishment." "Side Consort Fang originally wanted to extend her anger to the wet nurses' families, but the Prince refused and told Side Consort Fang to stop focusing her eyes on others and instead concentrate on caring for the child." "The Prince said that if the child fell ill, the one most deserving of punishment was Side Consort Fang herself. If the Third Young Master fell ill again, then Side Consort Fang could forget about remaining a Side Consort..." Xiaoshu was still delighted when she said this. Who told Side Consort Fang to scheme against their mistress? Seeing Side Consort Fang meet misfortune naturally made her happy. Xie Run said nothing upon hearing this. The Prince's words, spoken aloud like that, were merely meant to intimidate Fang Yuan'er. He had no real intention of Demotion of Rank. If he truly wanted to demote Fang Yuan'er's rank, he wouldn't have said such things at all. She sighed. "I only hope she can stay quiet for a while, at least until the matters in the palace settle down..." Once matters in the palace settled, the Princess Consort would be free to deal with the affairs of the manor. In the end, this Prince Jing Manor needed the Princess Consort to keep it under control. Because there were so many matters in the palace, the Fourth Young Master's funeral was conducted quietly without much fanfare. Xie Run suddenly received a great many rewards from Prince Jing. Chest after chest of jewels and precious artifacts, along with stacks upon stacks of fine fabrics, until her original storeroom could no longer hold them all. Outsiders all assumed that Prince Jing had specially bestowed these as compensation upon seeing that the Fifth Young Master had been harmed. But Xie Run knew that this was probably Prince Jing's reward for her being sensible and not stubbornly insisting on getting to the bottom of the matter. Receiving rewards naturally brought joy. But as Xie Run looked at the chests of gold, silver, and jewels, and thought about how what Prince Jing called "understanding and considerate" was really just praise for her ability to swallow her grievances in silence... Xie Run found it all rather meaningless. There was too much stuff, so Xie Run had to have another room cleared out to serve as a storeroom. Yueyao from the last tapioca powder incident was timid, but she was meticulous and pure-hearted, so Xie Run assigned her to manage the new storeroom. The young girl happily wiped away her tears and repeatedly thanked Xie Run. It was then that Xie Run learned Yueyao had a younger sister, and both had been bought by the manor. But the two sisters had the same temperament—both were quiet and reserved. Only Yueyao had grown up to be attractive, so she had been chosen to serve in Spring Mountain Courtyard, while her sister, who was plain-looking, or even ugly, could only work as a menial servant girl. To make matters worse, her sister was in poor health and needed to take herbal medicine year-round to sustain herself. Xie Run had promoted her, and with more silver in her hands, she could afford better medicine for her younger sister. In truth, there were plenty of sisters like Yueyao and Yueya'er who had been bought into the household together to serve. Every family had its own hardships; rarely did fortune favor both ends of the sugarcane. Thinking of this, Xie Run suddenly spoke: "Yuezhi is a foster daughter of the Zhao family—how did the Zhao family come to adopt her? Where are her birth parents? Does she have any family left?" Dantao was ironing clothes and paused at the question. "Why does Mistress think of her all of a sudden?" Several days had passed without mention, and everyone had assumed the matter of the tapioca powder and fleeceflower root was over. Xie Run played with Taotao and said softly, "I just saw how close Yueyao and her sister are, and it made me think of Yuezhi." People in this day and age placed great weight on blood ties; even relatives separated by a single household would surely be lifted up and supported once one of them made good. In the Spring Mountain Courtyard, the moment Yueya'er's days improved, her first thought was to help her younger sister—and Yueyao was the same. Even if Yuezhi wasn't a blood daughter of the Zhao family, the Zhaos had at least raised her for all these years. Judging by her demeanor, aside from her feelings for Zhao Wu, she didn't treat the Zhao family as family at all. That in itself was unusual. It was just that the shock of her infatuation with her foster brother Zhao Wu had overshadowed that detail at the time. Dantao set down her iron and asked quietly, "Then Mistress... shall I send someone to investigate?" "No rush." Xie Run thought of Prince Jing. "I promised His Highness that this matter ends here." "If we were discovered during an investigation, wouldn't that be slapping our own face?" "Besides, His Highness may well be sending his own people to look into it... Wait a few more days, then send someone to make discreet inquiries." "Yes." Just as they were speaking, Yueya'er came in beaming, carrying a basket with Chunjuan. "Mistress, the estate sent over two baskets of fruit today. Knowing you love pomelos, they rushed them right over." Xie Run rose to her feet. "I knew you'd be thinking of me." Zihu brought over a cup of tea. "Mistress, pomelo is cooling in nature—best to eat it in moderation." Xie Run smiled. "There's only this much anyway; I couldn't overindulge even if I wanted to." It wasn't really that Xie Run loved eating pomelo all that much. It was just that fruit at this time of year lacked sweetness, and in the dead of winter, a decent piece of fruit was a rare treat. More than eating the pomelo, she loved the fresh scent that filled the room when the pomelo peel was roasted over the brazier. Yueya'er said eagerly, "This servant will peel one right away for Mistress to taste!" Xie Run glanced at the small tangerines on the table, then looked at Taotao, who was trying to roll over on the couch. With mischief in mind, she picked up a tangerine, peeled it, and handed it to Taotao to play with. Unaware of his mother's treachery, Taotao shoved the peel straight into his mouth. Sure enough, his smooth steamed-bun face instantly crumpled into a pleated little soup dumpling. Xie Run burst out laughing. Looking at his big eyes brimming with tears, she laughed so hard her stomach ached. Dantao stamped her foot in dismay. "Mistress, you're a grown woman, and still you tease the young master like this." She fretted, but she was laughing just as hard.