Chapter 219: Serious Master, Hitting the Heart

Du Yufang said dissatisfiedly: "I am a concubine of the royal palace, how can I pay my respects to an ordinary lady from an official family?"

Just as Tao Wanyin was about to say something, Ji Qingwu gently patted her hand.

She didn't like the rule of having to be polite all the time, so she didn't take it to heart.

"Miss Ji, please take a seat."

The young eunuch sent by Prince Yong to lead the way also followed her in.

"I will ask someone to serve you tea."

Du Yufang saw Chang Lu, the eunuch beside the prince, following behind Ji Qingwu, nodding and bowing in a fawning manner.

She knocked on the small tea table beside her and said, "Eunuch Chang, I have been sitting here for so long without any water to drink. Now my throat hurts. Please make me a pot of rose tea first."

After Ji Qingwu sat down to the lower right of Tao Wanyin, he looked up at Du Yufang opposite him. Two maids were standing beside her, fanning themselves.

And in the princess's main room, there was no one to serve.

After she entered the room, the eunuch would be responsible for preparing tea.

Ji Qingwu suddenly had a clear understanding of what it meant to favor a concubine and kill one's wife.

Tao Wanyin's face was calm, as if she was used to it.

The young eunuch Chang Lu said, "My Lady Concubine, the rose tea you drink is only available in your room. Even if I want to make tea for you, I need the ingredients."

Du Yufang didn't really want to drink tea, she just couldn't stand being ignored.

She said proudly, "Eunuch Chang is right. This tea was specially brought back by the prince from Yao'an, and I am the only one in the mansion that has it."

Not long after, the tea came up and the faint tea fragrance filled the air.

Chang Lu was waiting on the side, and Ji Qingwu said, "Don't bother the eunuch here, I'll just sit for a while and leave."

The young eunuch said, "The prince has ordered me to accompany the fifth young lady."

In the past few days, Chang Lu has dealt with Ji Qingwu a lot. Chang Lu also knows how capable the fifth lady of the Ji family is. Prince Yong is very awed by her.

Even if the prince didn't instruct him, he wouldn't dare to be careless.

Du Yufang smelled the familiar tea aroma and asked in surprise, "Did you give her Longjing Cuiya tea?"

She stood up, supported her lower back and walked forward a few steps, then glanced at the green tea in the white porcelain cup on Ji Qingwu's table.

"This is indeed the kind of tea that the prince loves to drink the most. Every year, only a few ounces of it can be obtained from picking the best."

As if she had caught Chang Lu's handle, she said, "Well, Eunuch Chang, you stole the prince's precious tea and gave it to her without informing the prince. What are you thinking?"

Suddenly being accused of stealing, Chang Lu hurriedly explained: "The concubine has wronged me. It was the prince who ordered me to..."

Ji Qingwu suddenly waved his hand and called the young eunuch over and whispered a few words to him.

Tao Wanyin frowned and said, "Concubine Du, it's just a pot of tea, why do you have to make such a fuss?"

Chang Lu retreated quietly.

Du Yufang glanced at Ji Qingwu and said, "Sister said it was just a pot of tea, but I don't think it's that simple. In my opinion, the palace is going to have a new member. Miss Ji has made such a big scene when she first came to the palace. She is trying to show off her power to the princess."

The words became more and more outrageous, and Tao Wanyin's voice was filled with anger.

"Concubine Du, you must be careful with your words."

In the palace, it was common for Du Yufang to contradict the princess, and she never took Tao Wanyin's anger seriously.

Now that the Tao family has collapsed, she will not be afraid of this empty shell that has no backing.

Du Yufang asked innocently, "No one is allowed to speak unless they have reason. Is that the rule here, Princess?"

Ji Qingwu picked up the teacup and gently shook it with his jade-colored fingers.

She lowered her eyes and looked at the tea leaves expanding as they brewed, and spoke softly.

"I blame myself for being short-sighted. So this is how the Yongwang Mansion treats guests. Even drinking a cup of tea requires criticism."

Seeing that she had gotten the upper hand and drank tea that she had never tasted before, Du Yufang said that the palace was not hospitable to guests. She wanted to say something back.

Ji Qingwu brought the tea close to his nose and sniffed it.

"This tea smells ordinary, much worse than the one in front of the emperor. It's better not to drink it."

She frowned slightly: "Drinking it will bring bad luck."

As she spoke, she raised her wrist and poured all the tea at Du Yufang's feet, with a lot of it splashing onto her embroidered shoes.

Du Yufang didn't expect that she dared to throw tea at her. This pair of embroidered shoes was specially made by the embroiderer.

The maid beside her hurriedly squatted down and wiped the brocade on her shoes, but she kicked it away.

Du Yufang narrowed her eyes and said, "Is this how the Ji family's girls learn etiquette? They come as guests but throw tea at the host."

Ji Qingwu held the turquoise gauze sleeve under her wrist with one hand and gently placed the teacup back on the table with the other hand.

Looking up at Du Yufang, she said, "One moment the concubine has a problem with the princess's rules, and the next moment she is dissatisfied with the Ji family's rules. It's really..."

"How is it really?"

Ji Qingwu said with curved eyes: "Have you ever thought about this, Concubine? The Queen Mother is a daughter of the Ji family, and the wife of the Crown Prince of the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion is also from the Ji family. What Concubine said just now, I will go to the palace tomorrow and learn from the Queen Mother in person, and let her judge what is wrong with the rules of our Ji family."

Du Yufang touched her bulging belly and said, "You don't need to scare me. The Queen Mother and I are a family. The eldest son of the palace, Yunxuan, and the child in my belly are all blood relatives of the prince and the queen mother."

Having a son or daughter by her side is her greatest confidence in the palace.

A concubine dared to claim that she and the empress dowager were a family. Ji Qingwu could imagine how this concubine bullied the Princess Yong on a daily basis.

She said slowly, "The concubine keeps talking about rules, but she doesn't understand them. To put it nicely, I can call you Madam, but to put it bluntly, you are no different from a concubine, just a servant with a little status and position."

Ji Qingwu's eyes were clear, and he said in a gentle voice: "The concubine mocked me for being new and not knowing the rules, that's all."

That's fine.

Du Yufang was so angry at what she had just said as a servant that her fingertips, which were painted with water-red nail polish, were shaking.

Everyone in Prince Yong's Mansion was extremely respectful to her. Du Yufang lived a more comfortable life than the main wife, and was met with flattery wherever she went.

As a concubine, she was like the mistress of the palace. The new concubines respected her even more than the princess.

The only unpleasant thing was that she was a concubine, the Prince of Yong's concubine, and could never accompany the prince to palace banquets.

This was the first time in all these years that someone had touched her heart.

The maid beside her was whispering to Du Yufang not to get angry. Just as she calmed down a little, she heard a gentle female voice again.

Ji Qingwu said sadly: "But concubine should never bully my sister Tao who is kind and easy-going."

"As long as Sister Tao is the Princess of Yong, she is the legitimate mistress of the Yong Palace. She is the superior and you are the inferior."

Tao Wanyin felt dizzy after Ji Qingwu called her "Sister Tao" softly several times.

"Sister Tao, don't you think so?"

Touching Ji Qingwu's clear eyes, Tao Wanyin nodded.

"Exactly."

She couldn't help but sit up straighter, feeling that she had to shoulder the responsibility of being a sister.

Tao Wanyin's voice was a little cold.