Chapter Twenty-Five

  The osmanthus in the sunset became more and more crystal clear, Nalan Mingyue leaned against the window to look outside, the little maids were picking osmanthus again, the newly moved-in pots of chrysanthemum were under Fugui's window, the light green gauze windows matched with the golden chrysanthemums looked particularly good, there was no maid chatting and walking around in the courtyard, a blue figure suddenly appeared in Nalan Mingyue's eyes, her face suddenly lit up, she stood up and walked outside.

  Li and Song had not come out yet, Nalan Mingyue's smile on her face grew a few degrees thicker: "Master is back!"

  Yin Zan's footsteps paused for a moment, and he only faintly murmured an "en" sound, then walked straight towards the main house past Nalan Mingyue.

  Nalan Mingyue stood still, hesitating for half a moment whether to follow or not. The curtains on the upper floor swayed slightly, and Yongzheng had already gone inside. She bit her lip, glanced around at the maids in the courtyard, and quickly walked towards the main house.

  Just then, Xiao Yue came out from inside and saw Nalan Mingyue, smiling and asking: "Does the princess have something to say?"

  Nalan Mingyue tried her best to make her voice sound natural: "Now that I see grandfather is back, shouldn't we go in and attend to him?"

  Xiao Yue's face wore a smile as she glanced at Nalan Mingyue, seeming to see right through her thoughts. From inside the house, Yongzheng's voice rang out: "Who is it outside? There's no need to come in!"

  Xiao Yue smiled apologetically at Nalan Mingyue and headed towards the small tea house.

  Nalan Mingyue's face finally flushed red, and she stood under the eaves for a long time before calming down, her eyes cast downward as she returned to her own room.

  Li looked out of the window with a few threads of sarcastic smile on his face: "She is indeed in a hurry, but unfortunately she didn't use it in the right place."

  Liu Li said softly: "Do you think Madame will get angry?"

  "The imperial concubine wouldn't bother with such trivial matters, I'm afraid it's this new princess who can't calm down and insists on bumping into the imperial concubine."

  Nalan Mingyue felt that her face had been greatly hurt on the first day of entering the new house, but it wasn't because someone was making things difficult for her. She felt even more suffocated and didn't speak to anyone after entering the room, covering her face with a handkerchief and lying down on the kang. Zi'er whispered beside her: "It's not certain whether Master will come over tonight, and it's almost dark now. Why don't you get dressed up?"

  Nalan Mingyue regained some of her spirit and sat up again: "What you said is also right."

  Yuanyuan supported her cheek with her hand and listened to Yongzheng's words with a smile.

  "...the new store just opened, didn't expect so many people to come over, I stood on the second floor and looked, only to feel that inside was crowded and noisy with people, I discussed with Wu Ge, estimating it won't take long, the next store should also open soon!"

  Yongzheng said with a bright face: "Before, we were worried that there was no silver to use, now we have quite a bit of savings, right?"

  All the silver was placed in front of Quan Pei, and even Yongzheng himself did not know how much there was.

  "Yesterday I calculated it once, we had 1,534 taels that can be used before, and don't need to count the ones in the shop."

  With a pleased expression: "In that case, saving up 10,000 or 80,000 yuan won't be a problem."

  "It's not that I only do this one business, if you see something good, you can naturally do it too. Later on, I'm afraid you'll still look down on these small profits."

  "Ah! Isn't this what you said? We can still do something else!"

  He looked forward to the future with infinite enthusiasm and determination, holding the hand of the scepter: "When we have money, what do you want to do?"

  "Build a polo field and invite people to play polo when there's nothing else going on."

  "Will you still play polo?!"

  The sky had unknowingly darkened, and Yongzheng got up to change and lay down on the bed waiting for Quan Pei. Seeing Quan Pei come out of the dressing room, he sat up: "Hurry up and get in, it's quite cool at night."

  Unexpectedly didn't plan to go to the new Gege's place. Quan E lay in front of Yongzheng, propped herself up and measured Yongzheng: "Master doesn't like the new Gege?"

  Yongzheng closed his eyes: "Don't ask about these things, it's so late, go to sleep early."

  The hair was combed to a glossy black with the peach wood comb scented with osmanthus oil, and the moon-white cheongsam outlined the woman's beautiful curves. The pear flower lamp emitted a dim, ambiguous light, and Nalan Mingyue supported her chin and carefully counted the patterns on the pear wood table, gradually feeling dizzy. Zi'er came in from outside, pale-faced, saying: "The lights in the main room have gone out!"

  Nalan Mingyue seemed to not understand: "What?"

  "The lights in the main house have gone out..."

  The lights in the main room have all gone out, but he still hasn't come to her place, which can only mean that he won't be coming tonight. On the first night after their wedding, Fourth Brother has stayed over at Madame Fu's house, how are the people in this courtyard supposed to look at her now?!

  She flung the exquisite pile of palace flowers on her head to the ground, crying and lying on the bed. She thought everything was fine, but didn't expect to be slapped in the face by Fugui on the first day. Fugui is indeed a person with a knife hidden behind a smile!

  Luli whispered to Li Shi: "Master slept in Madame Fu's room."

  Li didn't care much and lay on the bed, saying lightly: "Nalan Mingyue is just a gege, even if Master stays in Fuhuang's house, no one else can say anything."

  Early rising, the sun had just risen, and Song Shi, Li Shi, and Nalan Mingyue were all standing under the corridor. The sky was gradually brightening up, and only then did they see the maid lift the curtain and call a few people in. Nalan Mingyue was surprised to find that Quan Pei was still getting up.

  The maidservants were busy helping Guan Piao get dressed, and Song Shi also went to assist. Everyone held their breath and stared, no one dared to speak loudly. Nalan Mingyue stood behind and only saw the black hair of Guan Piao's inclined head, Li Shi and Song Shi both showed full respect in their expressions and actions, this kind of situation she seemed to have never seen before anyone else.

  In the copper basin held above her head was clear water with rose petals floating on it, and one corner of the Western-style handkerchief even had a few embroidered flower petals. The silver hairpin box inlaid with gems sparkled brightly, and the maid picked up a crimson gold-inlaid jade bee hairpin and pinned it among Quan Pei's coiled buns. The plum blossom-patterned silk robe, the elegant long dress with golden thread embroidery, all exuded nobility and refinement. Quan Pei stood up and walked slowly towards the bed, her entire body seeming to flow with a subtle aura of light and energy. Nalan Mingyue almost involuntarily lowered her head.

  Quan Wan wanted to recite scriptures and worship Buddha, so Li's family all retreated and came out of the house. Several people almost all stood outside and let out a sigh, nodding to each other as a greeting, and returned to their own rooms.

  No one intentionally ridiculed Nalan Mingyue, but Nalan Mingyue still felt a thorn in her heart, and no matter what, she couldn't pretend that nothing had happened.

  Fei Yang Gu was half-dozing, puffing on his dry pipe, while Jue Luo sat at the other end, holding a bowl of tea water. After a long time, she finally spoke up: "......Don't say I'm biased, but after what happened to Ruo Xi, I'm afraid it will affect Ruolan's status. Being an imperial daughter-in-law isn't easy, and I don't want someone who will hold her back. I dislike Wang Shi, but there's no other way around it. I'm willing to teach Ruo Xi well, but she must be registered under my name, and from now on, have nothing to do with Wang Shi."

  Jueluo seemed to have said something convincing, but Fei Yanggu still stopped and looked at Jueluo carefully for a while before asking: "Have you told Quan Pei and Wu Ge about this?"

  "It's all right."

  "So have you thought it through?"

  Zhuāng Luó shì chuí tóu hè chá: "xiǎngle hǎo xiē tiān, zǎo xiǎngle míngle......"

  Translation:

  The Zhuang Luo family bowed their heads and drank tea: "I've thought about it for many days, I understood it a long time ago..."

  Fei Yanggu knew that there must be some story inside, but he didn't want to ask more. The children had all grown up, and some things would pass as long as they didn't get out of hand, so he just turned a blind eye.

  Ruyi held the beautiful and elegant Princess Rongluo's hand, and Princess Rongluo looked up at her with a somewhat pale complexion, but still had ordinary eyebrows and eyes. She thought to herself that she wasn't even half as good-looking as Wei Zifu, and only then did she feel slightly better: "I plan to register you under my name, from now on you'll be a legitimate di daughter."

  The beauty fell onto the large red carpet, staring at Jueluo in surprise and delight. The maid beside her smiled and reminded her: "Young lady is overjoyed, shouldn't you quickly thank Madame?"

  Kneeling on the ground with gratitude, as if she had just come to her senses, her chest was filled with intense joy, and her heart almost jumped out. From now on, she would also be a legitimate young lady, and there was no difference between her and her sister!

  Zhang Jiayunying entered the rear mansion of the Fifth Prince, and Nalan Mingyue found an opportunity to speak with her in private. Zhang Jiayunying said in a low voice: "...... Our Fu Jin doesn't like me, this morning she asked me to hold the basin to wash my face, intentionally knocking over the basin so that I was drenched from head to toe. I didn't change clothes and stood silently outside. Our master saw it and scolded Fu Jin severely. Now look, who in our courtyard dares to belittle me? I'm not afraid of offending Fu Jin, what's important is that master has a soft spot for me."

  Nalan Mingyue didn't dare to stay for long, she just said a few words and returned to the Fourth Prince's courtyard. Unconsciously, she glanced towards the main house, Zhang Jiayun's words suddenly gave her an idea, perhaps she could also try...

  The crown princess held a sapphire bracelet: "Western goods, such a string of sapphires is rare, see how transparent it is."

  Quan Pei took a look at it in her hand and then returned it to the Crown Princess: "There are still more good things here with you."

  The crown princess smiled faintly and leaned against the headrest: "Do you know that Eighth Brother's marriage has been settled?"

  Wei Ran asked casually: "Which one is it?"

  "The Empress Dowager's favorite, Emperor An of Jin's granddaughter."

  Weiwei paused slightly and lowered her eyes: "I didn't expect such a prominent identity."

  The crown princess spoke in a low voice: "Then you say that Eighth Brother has entered the empress dowager's eyes?"

  "It's said that the Empress Dowager is very fond of that girl. If the Empress Dowager doesn't agree, this marriage will probably not come off either."

  That's to say, she really has won the favor of the Empress Dowager. The Crown Prince's consort rubbed the blue gemstone in her hand and only spoke up after a while: "These past few days have been tiring too, taking care of someone who is pregnant."

  This is referring to the pregnant Ce Fujin.

  "The crown prince has a new brother, the emperor is delighted, and when the emperor is happy, the crown prince is also happy. Isn't this something you're happy about too? There's still a long way to go in the future, but for now, we must consider the present."

  The crown princess suddenly turned a corner, and Li Jiashi's child seemed to be in a ambiguous attitude towards the emperor at this time. She furrowed her brow as if making a difficult decision, and after a while, she only sighed: "You're right."

  For the sake of Bao Ge's long-term safety, Li Jia's child, who is likely to attract everyone's attention, must be born.

  Quan Pei entered the courtyard from outside, while Nalan Mingyue walked out with her head down, as if she had accidentally bumped into Quan Pei and fell to the ground. Her hairpins and ornaments all fell off and got covered in dirt. Nalan Mingyue was so frightened that she knelt on the ground: "Madam, please forgive me! I didn't do it on purpose!"

  Ruan Yu raised her eyes and glanced at Nalan Mingyue, a flash of impatience in her eyes, not even wanting to speak. Yongzheng walked in from outside, seemingly also not expecting to see such a scene, and was taken aback: "What's going on?"

  "It's not the slave's fault, it's all the slave's fault!" She said this as if she had been greatly wronged, and was hastily trying to shift the blame onto herself.

  Quan Pei only nodded towards Yin Zhen, without even glancing at Nalan Mingyue on the ground, and entered the house. Xiaoyue sneered at Nalan Mingyue, saying "Why take a detour when there's a broad road ahead, yet you insist on taking this solitary boat."

  The empress turned and left, as if she didn't take Nalan Mingyue seriously at all. Nalan Mingyue, who was kneeling on the ground, clenched her fists and heard Yongzheng's cold voice: "If there's nothing else, get up, why are you still kneeling?"

  Nalan Mingyue raised her head in surprise, it shouldn't be like this, Master shouldn't think that Fugui was being difficult on her, a newcomer to the household, and yet sympathize with her for having opinions about Fugui?