Chapter 5: Xiaozhuang's Thoughts

  Lunch was quick, but since the Lin family had always eaten lightly, the dishes on the table looked green and oily. Lin Ruhai felt a bit embarrassed, as Empress Xiaozhuang liked beef and mutton, but there were none in today's meal.

  "The Empress Dowager will drink this soup." Daiyu personally ladled a bowl of soup and placed it in front of Xiaozhuang.

  "Don't call me that way, I'm just an old lady, you can also call me 'old ancestor' like the others." Xiangzhuang said with a smile as she took over the soup.

  "Yes, old ancestor, Daiyu has overstepped." Daiyu's nerves were stretched taut, this woman was terrifying, and her smile was even more frightening, it could be said that she was hiding a knife in her smile.

  "You don't have to be afraid of me, I won't eat you. Come on, sit down and have some food." Empress Dowager Ci Xi pulled Daiyu's hand, urging her to hurry up and sit down, "You're so thin, it doesn't look like the daughter of a noble family at all. You've been eating too light every day, you're still young, you should eat more beef and mutton, do you know that?"

  "Empress Ma, Jadeite is from the south of the Yangtze River, so it's inevitable that her taste is a bit light." Kangxi unexpectedly spoke up for Daiyu at this time, making Daiyu feel greatly surprised.

  "This won't do, I'll send a royal chef over later, and he'll cook some meat for you every day," said Empress Dowager Ci Xi kindly.

  Daiyu's face fell upon hearing this. In her previous life, she had been unwilling to eat meat due to having killed many people. In this life, it was because Daiyu's body digested poorly and eating meat made her uncomfortable. However, fish and chicken were still edible for her.

  "Look at you, letting you eat meat is not like giving you medicine." Xiaozhuang said with a smile, this time the smile reached her eyes.

  "Ancestors, can we eat fish and chicken?" Daiyu asked with a flattering tone while shaking the hand of Empress Dowager.

  Xiang Zhuang was dazed by Dai Yu's words, "Alright, alright, hurry up and grow plump, so you can be my great-granddaughter-in-law."

  Xiang Zhuang's one sentence made the room quiet all of a sudden, Dai Yu opened her mouth to say something but ultimately swallowed it back, let's talk about it later, if she were to anger Xiang Zhuang at this time, it would be bad.

  "The Empress Dowager is too much for the young princess."

  "It's not small, this time the draft will go with me to take a look." Xiangzhuang's one sentence pulled Daiyu into a conspiracy, and the draft was always full of swords and shadows, blood and rain. Daiyu smiled helplessly, enduring, must endure.

  Lin Ruhai looked at Daiyu with concern, then glared at Kangxi from an angle where no one could see. Daiyu was going to watch the selection of concubines and would inevitably enter the palace, at which time she would necessarily come into contact with those imperial concubines, how many calculations and traps she would face, the people in the palace were not so easy to get along with.

  "Speaking of which, Xuan Ye, won't Fourth Brother refuse the marriage again this time?" Empress Dowager suddenly brought up imperial family matters at the Lin residence.

  "Queen Mother, this old fourth..."

  "You don't even understand your own son, nor do you understand your own woman. Do you know what Consort Tong said to the Fourth Prince before she died?" Xiaozhuang still felt a pang in her heart for Yongzheng, and that time she had inadvertently overheard the conversation between Yongzheng and Yinsi, feeling moved, wanting to help Yongzheng out a bit. "Yutou, guess."

  Daiyu was taken aback. How did such a thing end up being asked of her? What was Xiaozhuang thinking in her heart, anyway? She looked at Xiaozhuang with some difficulty.

  "Go on, I'm listening."

  "Daiyu is not talented, but seeing Ahma and Emu spend their whole lives with each other, very happy, I suppose a lifetime of one generation, one couple is every woman's hope." Daiyu said hesitantly, word by word.

  Kangxi remained silent for a long time. Tong Jia's little butterfly had this idea, but he couldn't give it to her because he was the emperor. Wait, could she be hoping that the fourth elder would do it? If it were in the past, maybe it would have been possible, and having a lovesick prince in the Qing dynasty wasn't impossible either. But now, absolutely not, he already had...

  "Xuan Yan!" Empress Dowager Ci Xi raised her voice and called out, "We'll talk about this later. You father and son should have a good chat." After finishing speaking, she gave Daiyu a meaningful glance, making Daiyu feel a chill down her spine. Why was she looking at herself? Was it related to herself? Empress Dowager Ci Xi had already found the familiar reason, similar to Yongzheng's calmness, but the guard in Daiyu's heart seemed even stronger than that of her own great-grandson. The more she looked, the more she felt that Daiyu and Yongzheng were a good match. If they really could be together, those people wouldn't dare make a move, would they?

  Kangxi nodded, and after a brief interlude, everyone calmly had lunch. Meanwhile, Lady Jia, who was having lunch in the side hall, also heard the news of the Emperor's arrival and began to make some calculations in her mind. The Emperor valued family relationships most; if she could use this to her advantage, perhaps something could be achieved. Lady Jia was always clever for a lifetime but muddled for a moment. How could Kangxi, who attached such importance to the distinction between Manchu and Han, possibly be willing to let Daiyu become connected with a lowly maid servant like Baoyu?

  "Ancestors, this way please." Daiyu accompanied Xiangzhuang for a walk after dinner. Although she still felt Xiangzhuang's calculating mind, the concern Xiangzhuang showed her now was genuine, and she couldn't refuse it either.

  "Alright, Jade. I heard you're good at playing the piano?"

  "Yes, old ancestor, Lin Daiyu plays for you to hear?" Lin Daiyu always felt that Xiaozhuang would not mention something without reason, so she'd better be careful.

  Daiyu's worries were right, "It's good this way, I have a good qin, and when the time comes, I'll reward you with it. When the time comes, you can show it off in front of Xiuniang, and see if those Xiuniangs dare to be arrogant." Xiaozhuang's explanation made Daiyu somewhat fearful, now she had really offended everyone, each Xiuniang having a family behind her, which meant that all the concubines in the harem were also offended. But she couldn't play badly either, that would lose face for the imperial family. Just now she thought Xiaozhuang was concerned about her, what an illusion.

  Actually, Daiyu was also overthinking, how could a Manchu girl be good at playing the piano? Letting Daiyu play the piano was mainly to suppress the arrogance of those Han women from the three banners, who had been favored and were getting too proud. Daiyu didn't notice that Empress Xiaozhuang's meaningful glance earlier was directed at Kangxi, so she naturally didn't truly understand what Empress Xiaozhuang meant.

  Kangxi felt a bit embarrassed and lowered his head, recently he had been doting on those Han women, Empress Ma today was using the opportunity to remind herself to dote more on the Manchu and Mongolian concubines.

  "The slave girl pays respects to Your Majesty, and asks for the well-being of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang." Lady Wang was about to go over with Wang Xifeng, but they were stopped by someone and could only kneel down from a distance and loudly ask for an audience, hoping to catch the attention of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.

  Xiao Zhuang furrowed her brow upon hearing this voice, feeling displeased in her heart. Originally, she was in a very good mood, so why did someone have to come and stir up trouble?

  "It's the old lady of Rongguo House and her granddaughter-in-law." Daiyu whispered, "To think about it, she is actually Daiyu's maternal grandmother. Just now they came to ask for an audience with Daiyu, originally planning to let them finish their meal and leave."

  "Oh? Jade, accompany me to your boudoir and take a look." Xiaozhuang smiled slightly, ignoring the two people kneeling on the ground.

  "Alright, this way, please."

  A group of people left, leaving only Lady Jia and Wang Xifeng kneeling in the bleak autumn wind, a sense of humiliation overwhelming Lady Jia. Her eyes grew darker, and an even greater conspiracy was about to unfold.