Chapter 5: The Death of Yu Fangyi

  On this day, Pan Zhi, the younger sister of Shi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, came to the mansion to play chess with Qing Sang.

  At seventeen years old, she was betrothed to Qian Cheng, the eldest son of a jeweler in the capital city, Qian Dashan.

  The two met at the selection of imperial consorts two years ago, but Zǐ only got eliminated during the third round of talent assessment.

  Later, it was said that Qing Sang also fell out of favor, and Zi Yu took the initiative to make friends with him. The two gradually became familiar and often recited poetry together, played chess, and played the zither. Later, Zi Yu introduced Qian Cheng's sister Qian Xiaoxi and Hong Lü Temple's daughter Ge Yun'er to him. The four of them often drank tea, appreciated the scenery, played chess, recited poetry, and occasionally played "Leaf Game". Their relationship was quite good.

  "Sister is busy with her wedding, how can she have time to come here and look for me today?" Qing Sang said with a playful smile.

  "It's been a while since the lingering winter weather made it unsuitable to go out, and with all the flowers temporarily dormant, there was nothing interesting to do, which almost drove me mad. Today the weather is great, so I went to visit Yuner and Xiaoxi, but unfortunately didn't meet either of them, so I had no choice but to come bother my sister instead." Zi said as she sat down on a stone bench in the garden.

  Qing Sang saw it and hurriedly ordered Xue Pen to take two embroidered cushions, invited Zi Mei to get up, and put them on the stone bench.

  "The weather is still a bit chilly, the stone bench is cool to sit on, but it's better with a cushion." Qing Sang also sat down and ordered Xue Pen to bring over the chessboard and some pastries.

  "It's still sisterly meticulous." Zi Yan praised. Then continued to say: "Today we'd better play a game of black and white chess, bet on the outcome, the loser will be punished to drink three cups of tea, how about that?"

  Qing Sang smiled and said: "If we talk about playing chess, facing you, I don't need to use my mind to win."

  "So it seems, sister, you're not really playing Go with me, but actually trying to trick me into drinking tea."

  Zi? Knows she's good at chess, but still doesn't admit defeat: "How can you be sure I'll lose. You don't know that I've learned some clever moves from Qian Lang, and Qian Lang's chess skills are quite famous in the capital, so learning from him, I may not necessarily lose."

  Qing Sang playfully said with a smile: "Sister has not yet entered the door, but keeps calling 'Money, Money', San Er's face is all red from listening."

  Purple? Seeing her teasing her, she couldn't help but pounce on her and want to pinch her cheeks, laughing in her mouth: "Let me see when Sang's skin became so thin."

  Qingsang smiled and dodged away.

  After fooling around for a while, they saw that the chessboard had been set up and the two of them sat down again to start playing.

  Is it just a rumor? Suddenly, she spoke up again: "I heard that Yu Fangyi is already pregnant with the dragon's child?"

  "Yes, it's been over three months." Qing Sang replied while playing Go. Qing Yu had two pieces of good news in the past two years. First, she was promoted to Mei Ren after entering the palace for half a year, and soon after that, she was promoted to Jie Yu. Last year, there was also news that she was pregnant with the emperor's child and was promoted to Fang Yi.

  "It seems that the Pu family will become rich and noble, and in the future, my sister will also be able to find a better husband. Has your second sister been engaged?" Zi dropped a piece on the chessboard.

  "Sister, focus on playing chess instead, this move is not good." Qing Sang reminded with a smile.

  Purple? Not thinking so, said: "Just fell a few sons, how can you tell good or bad?"

  Qing Sang smiled and shook his head slightly, it seemed that Zi's chess skills had not improved. However, the two of them were just passing the time, no need to take it seriously.

  "Father and Eldest Sister have been searching for a few families, but I don't know what Second Sister means. In the past few days, our ancestors have been urging us tightly, in my opinion, there will be news within two days." Qing Sang said.

  "Your second sister is also eighteen now, Old Lady must be anxious." Zi held the chess piece, thinking about where to drop it.

  Qing Sang just smiled and didn't say anything else.

  "Right, according to the imperial rules, consorts of the third rank and above whose mothers have become pregnant with a dragon child can enter the palace three times to attend to them, although each time is only for a short three days, it's still a great favor."

  "I don't know if your family's lady has an audience with the inner court and enters the palace for a visit?" Zi Yu asked.

  "After the Shangyuan Festival, the Empress Dowager took Qingbi into the palace. When she returned, she said that Qingbi had lost a bit of weight but her appetite was still good." Qing Sang also asked the Empress Dowager to take her into the palace with her. For these two years, except for the news of promotion, nothing was known about Qingyu's situation in the palace, and Qing Sang was very worried.

  The Liu family knew that Qingyu and Qingsang were close, but entering the palace was originally for close relatives, and only one person could be brought along. According to common sense, it would naturally be her younger sister who should be brought. Qingsang also gave up after knowing this.

  Liu returned and handed over a pair of butterfly jade hairpins to Qing Sang, saying that Qing Yu had entrusted him to pass it on. This was an imperial gift from the emperor, given by Qing Yu to Qing Sang, hoping that she would soon find someone to her liking and have a lifelong reliance.

  After hearing what Liu brought back, and seeing the lifelike butterfly hairpins, Qing Sang felt that Qing Yu was definitely unhappy in the palace, so she was willing to find someone for her to grow old together.

  Thinking of this, Qing Sang felt that if it were like Zi Yu, it would be best. Zi Yu and Qian Cheng had been childhood friends. When Zi Yu took the third exam, she chose dance over zither art, but her dancing was stiff and awkward, like a monkey performing tricks, which made the other noblewomen cover their mouths to stifle their giggles, and thus she was eliminated from the competition. Qing Sang knew that she had done it on purpose because of Qian Cheng. Now Zi Yu has gotten what she wanted, and the star-crossed lovers have ended up together; in this era, this is truly something to be envied.

  Two people were playing chess and chatting, unaware that it was already late at night. The sky gradually darkened, and Zi Qi stood up to bid farewell and leave. Suddenly, she saw Guan Jia Xiang Shu hurriedly running over with a sorrowful expression on his face. Without even greeting her, he said to Qing Sang: "Third Miss, the old master asks you to quickly go to the main courtyard."

  Qing Sang saw him speaking and acting improperly, his face turned pale, and he felt that something was wrong, so he hurriedly asked: "What's going on?"

  Xiang Shu opened his mouth, as if he couldn't say it out loud, and finally took a deep breath, saying sadly: "Yu Fangyi... Yu Fangyi has passed away!"

  Qing Sang suddenly felt a blackness in front of her eyes and took a step back. Xue Pan and Zi Yan hurriedly came forward to support her.

  Qing Sang's mind was a complete blur at this moment, and she opened her mouth but didn't utter a word. Zi knew what she wanted to ask, so she turned to Uncle Xiang and asked: "What happened?"

  Xiang Shu choked and said: "The news from the palace says that Yu Fangyi went for a walk in the garden after noon, and somehow she felt abdominal pain, came back and had a miscarriage, bleeding non-stop, and then it was all over!" By the end of his words, Xiang Shu's eyes were filled with tears. Qingyu was also someone he had watched grow up since childhood, and to think that their servant girl was gone, knowing the cold and warmth they had shown her, made his heart extremely painful.

  。

  He knew that Qing Sang and Qing Yu had the best relationship, but now seeing Qing Sang's face was bloodless, her eyes were dull, he feared that she would be too stimulated and lose her mind. So he cried out loudly: "Third Miss, you still have Old Madam and Master!"

  Qingsang burst into tears with a "wow".

  For days, the Pu Mansion has been filled with sorrow. What was supposed to be a joyful occasion - Ben Hua's pregnancy - has turned into a great tragedy.

  Qingyu's funeral was simply handled by the Ministry of Rites and buried on the north side of the imperial mausoleum. The emperor exceptionally granted a posthumous title, Shu.

  Qing Sang often thought that this was also a kind of comfort for Qing Yu. Not yet sealed as the imperial concubine, she could get the emperor's posthumous title, which meant that she had left an impression on the emperor's heart, even if it was just a shallow one.

  Liu was ill and had a high fever for several days. Qingbi attended to him daily by his bedside, growing thinner with each passing day.

  Elder sister has passed away, mother is seriously ill, Qingbi's mood is not good, and she no longer has the heart to compete with others. Seeing Qing Sang come to visit her mother, they just exchange a faint glance, without any more verbal sparring.

  A daughter married out is like water splashed out, although the family feels sad, they can't wear mourning clothes forever. For the memory of Qingyu, these days Qingsang has been dressing more plainly.

  After several more days, Qing Sang was viewing the scenery in the garden and reminiscing about old friends when somehow she contracted a wicked wind into her body and fell ill without getting up.

  The father has gone, the illness is serious, and Zheng's family, who have been suffering from a long illness, now have three patients.

  The old lady was superstitious, worrying that the evil spirit of Qingyu's death had affected the mansion. She said that Jia Bao was the only descendant of the family and couldn't bear to be disturbed by the annual collision, so she ignored Pu Jiyuan's dissuasion and took Jia Bao to the Pujisi Temple outside the city to worship Buddha and eat vegetarian food.

  Lying on the sickbed, Qing Sang heard Xue Pen say this, and suddenly felt a chill in her heart. She said coldly: "Isn't Qing Yu her own granddaughter? Before she was respectful and filial to her, why is she afraid now? It seems that only sons are considered family, while others are not important." After finishing speaking, she became short of breath and coughed until her small face turned bright red.

  Xuepan, who was standing beside her, patted her back anxiously and said, "Miss, why must you be so stubborn? Your body is the most important thing."

  Qing Sang slowly stopped coughing, lay down on the couch and closed his eyes for a short rest.

  Xue Pan saw her looking haggard and knew she was heartbroken. This illness was also largely due to her recent listlessness, and he felt a pang in his heart too. He quietly closed the door and went to the kitchen to fetch medicine.