Chapter 127 [VIP]

Xie Danling said she wouldn't go and that was it. She picked up a round fan from the chaise lounge and fanned her younger cousin, muttering, "Cousin Zhuo, how have you endured this all these years? I can't take it anymore."

Gu Zhizhuo took off Xiao Aman's shoes, carried her onto the chaise lounge, and asked Qiongfang to bring over some chilled fruit syrup.

Xie Danling counted on her white fingers in a sweet voice, "On her first day in the palace, the Empress took off her hairpin and knelt in the Phoenix Palace. Father Emperor was only a little angry at first, but then Ji Shi cried so hard that she fell ill. Father Emperor lost his temper and punished the Empress."

Oh, is that so?

Gu Zhizhuo also sat on the chaise lounge, listening to her with great interest.

Seeing that she was listening intently, Xie Danling spoke with equal enthusiasm: "On the third day after entering the palace, she went to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, but the Empress Dowager refused to see her and sent Consort Rong, who was serving her, to send her away. As a result, she fell ill again as soon as she returned, and later Consort Rong was banished to the Cold Palace."

Xie Danling spread her hands and smiled at her: "You got sick just in time, didn't you?"

"timely!"

Gu Zhizhuo put a grape in her mouth, and then fed Aman another one.

"Sweet!" Xie Danling smiled, her eyes crinkling. "The day before I left, she fell ill again. This time she was quite sick. She hugged Father Emperor, crying and acting coquettishly, saying that she was going to die and didn't want to die with the name of Gu Jishi. She begged Father Emperor to let her go back to the Gu family. She said she would be content to be by Father Emperor's side before she died."

Xie Danling tried to imitate the affected tone, but it gave her goosebumps.

Where did you hear that from?

"Hehe." Xie Danling leaned closer and said slyly, "My mother's trusted confidant came to report, and I overheard it."

Her mother said that she, an unmarried princess, was not allowed to listen to such nonsense and kicked her out.

"I secretly climbed in through the window and hid behind the screen to listen."

"In short, later Father Emperor sent Li Deshun to the Duke of Zhenguo’s mansion to deliver the imperial decree. Even when you asked for an exorbitant price, Father Emperor did not bargain."

Gu Zhizhu laughed so hard his shoulders shook, tears welled up in his eyes, and he even choked on his saliva and coughed wildly.

Xie Danling patted her back skillfully: "Look at you, what are you going to do without me here!"

The parrot mimicked, "What should we do?"

Gu Zhizhuo looked up, his eyes moist, and asked with great interest, "Is it a real illness, or a fake one?"

"It seems to be a real illness. My mother called Chen Baishu over to ask him about it. Chen Baishu said something about 'where evil gathers, the qi must be deficient,' and 'dampness accumulates internally.' He called it, what was it again..."

Gu Zhizhuo: "Urticaria."

“Yes, yes.” Xie Danling clenched her right fist and slapped her palm. “Chen Baishu said she ate something she shouldn’t have, and she has a high fever and a rash.”

She finished the fruit syrup in one gulp and moistened her throat: "Every now and then, someone in the palace pretends to be sick to win favor. I've seen it all since I was a child. In my opinion, Lady Ji did it on purpose."

Gu Zhizhuo wholeheartedly agreed.

"She's sick again this time, it must be to force Father to make her an Imperial Noble Consort." Xie Danling said impatiently, "Ignore her, let me go back and pray for her, do you think I have that much free time?"

Xie Danling said to Adele, "You too, don't panic over such a small thing."

Is this a trivial matter? Adele was terrified when she heard the imperial edict. The princess was not in the palace, and she was afraid that a eunuch would come to urge her soon, so she quickly came looking for her.

"If it is truly necessary for me to return, my mother will give additional instructions." Xie Danling raised a finger and shook it. "The inner palace is in chaos, whether I go or not, no one will notice."

Xie Danling's head palace maid had turned twenty. Her cousin had been waiting for her. Consort Shu made the decision to release her from the palace early and then selected someone from the Wang family's servants to enter the palace.

Adele had only been in the palace for a short time and hadn't yet developed her courage.

Xie Danling stroked her chin and pondered, "However, you're right, just in case... Cousin Zhuo, let's go stay at the Wang family's residence for a few days!"

"I don't want to go back to pray for the Ji family." She pulled her little cousin's arm, shaking it and sweetly pleading, "Please?"

Qiongfang covered her mouth and laughed, wondering why the Fifth Princess looked like she was fleeing a disaster.

My daughter is most susceptible to being pampered.

Gu Zhizhuo immediately gave in: "Fine!"

Xie Danling raised her arms and cheered, "Let's go, let's go now! Little Aman, are you coming?"

Little Aman imitated Gu Zhizhuo, crossed her arms, pursed her lips in distress, leaned to the left and then to the right, and finally sighed heavily: "Aman won't go, I'll give it to my cousin to raise birds."

The allure of baby birds is far greater than the temptation of going out to play.

Xie Danling handed him the cardboard box containing the baby birds and solemnly instructed him, "Here you go, please help your cousin raise them for a few days."

Aman nodded her head like a chick pecking at rice.

Xie Danling left Ade behind and took Awu and Gu Zhizhuo out of the mansion.

The Wang family residence is also located in the inner city, not far from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion; it only takes a quarter of an hour to get there by carriage.

After the carriage came out, it turned a corner and headed to the east side of the city.

Xie Danling didn't care where she was going. She leaned against the carriage window and looked out. The streets of the capital were rather deserted, with people coming and going in a hurry. Only some teahouses with storytellers were still lively.

For ordinary people, survival was already exhausting enough; they simply couldn't care less about who the emperor wanted to make his imperial concubine. However, ever since they learned that the emperor had committed adultery with a court official's wife and fathered a child, and even during an earthquake, he abandoned them to enjoy his own pleasure with the adulterous woman, it was somewhat disheartening.

Gu Zhizhuo ordered some flower seeds from Zhengmu Pavilion and went to pick them up first.

In addition to flower seeds, she also ordered hundreds of bamboo stalks for transplanting, which have not yet been delivered.

The shopkeeper said warmly, "Miss, you mentioned last time that you wanted to pick out some Taihu stones. Our shop will have a boat arriving in a few days with two Taihu stones on board. They are exquisite and translucent, and definitely top-quality. If you like them, you can come and take a look."

Gu Zhizhuo's eyes lit up, and he readily agreed.

"Is the house lacking Taihu stones?" Xie Danling asked in a low voice.

Although no one lives in the Wang family mansion, it was designed by a renowned garden designer, and it has all the essential elements of a landscape garden.

Gu Zhizhu smiled sweetly and said, "I bought it for the young master's residence."

The palace was empty; there was nothing there.

She asked around the capital and found that Taihu stones were either too ugly and had been rejected by others, or they had to be pre-ordered and would take at least half a year to arrive by boat from Jiangnan.

"Oh, oh, oh."

Xie Danling drew out the sound and winked at her.

Gu Zhizhuo took her arm and said frankly, "Cousin Danling, Grandmother gave me a few of the golden scale fish that she gave you last time. There isn't a single fish in the young master's pond. It's all bare, with only water plants. It's so pitiful."

She didn't even ask the price, but paid a deposit first, agreeing that Zhengmu Pavilion would only sell the Taihu stone to someone else if she didn't like it after she had seen it.

Seeing her quick decision, the shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and asked, "We also have an artificial mountain, designed by the Shang family, Shang Xinyan. It is made of Lingbi stone, and Shang family spent three years designing and building it. It is the treasure of our Zhengmu Pavilion. I wonder if you would be interested, young lady?"

"You're even selling your store's prized possessions? Are you going to close down?" Xie Danling said casually, but the shopkeeper's face stiffened, and he found it difficult to speak.

Xie Danling: "Can't I say?"

This artificial rockery is indeed the store's prized possession, and its price is exorbitant; finding a buyer in the short term won't be easy. Unfortunately, it's too heavy and inconvenient to carry. This young lady is probably the only one who might buy it in the near future.

The shopkeeper gestured to the waiter to close the door and said, "We're closing the shop next month; we're all going back to Jiangnan."

Gu Zhizhuo raised an eyebrow and asked, "If you're going to close the shop, why did you still bring in a whole ship full of goods?"

"Sigh, we weren't planning on closing it down anyway, but the Emperor..." the shopkeeper said in a low voice, "The Emperor is so incompetent, who knows how long the Great Qi Dynasty will last? If war breaks out, the losses will be huge. Our boss has always been looking for stability."

As the saying goes, "the struggle for the Central Plains" means that Yizhou has always been a strategic location fought over by military strategists. If it really comes to the point where warlords are divided, the capital city will certainly not be spared.

The shopkeeper sighed again, "It hasn't even been fifty years."

Gu Zhizhuo: ?

"It's not just our shop that's going to close."

The shopkeeper stopped there, as it would be too taboo to continue: "As you know, it's really inconvenient to transport an artificial rockery back and forth. It needs to be sealed with mud and moved around, and the bumpy ride could easily ruin it."

"If the young lady likes it, I can sell it to her at a discounted price."

Gu Zhizhuo thought about the bare Prince Chen's mansion for a moment, then said with interest, "I'll go take a look."

The shopkeeper readily agreed and led them to the back.

Shang Xinyan was a woman and a renowned garden artist in Jiangnan. This artificial mountain was her masterpiece, built with Lingbi stones. It was about two zhang high, combining mountains and water in a unique and elegant way. Gu Zhizhuo fell in love with it at first sight and even decided where to put it.

The shopkeeper's eyes were filled with reluctance.

If it weren't for the fact that it was so difficult to move and load onto the ship, he really wouldn't have been willing to sell it.

"I want it."

Gu Zhizhuo readily agreed, "Please deliver these to Prince Chen's residence for me. When my bamboo arrives in a few days, I'll send it there as well."

Upon hearing about the Prince Chen's residence, the shopkeeper was filled with respect and repeatedly agreed.

Gu Zhizhuo settled the money and paid the deposit.

Xie Danling liked it too, but unfortunately there was only one. So she discussed with the shopkeeper, "Does the Shang family still design gardens?" She wanted to find someone to design the garden for the princess's residence. She had been craving the gardens of Jiangnan for a long time! After she left the palace and established her own residence, she could invite her little cousin to come and live with her. Hehe, just thinking about it made her happy.

The shopkeeper paused for a moment, then said tactfully, "The Shang family is currently short of funds. If the young lady can afford the price..."

"I have the money."

Xie Danling didn't even think about it; she had plenty of money in her own pocket.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Our boss and the Shang family have some connections. I'll write a letter for you, young lady. The Shang family is currently living in Suzhou. You can have someone deliver the letter to them. Whether they come or not is up to the Shang family themselves."

Xie Danling readily agreed, then asked curiously, "Why is she short of money?"

"Why."

Speaking of this, the shopkeeper wanted to sigh.

In fact, quite a few people in Suzhou knew about these things, so the shopkeeper simply didn't hide it: "The Shang family needs to pay off their debts."

He said with some regret, "The Shang family was so engrossed in gardens that they delayed her marriage. When she was nineteen, the Shang family hastily arranged a marriage for her."

If a woman did not marry by the age of twenty, the government would force her into marriage.

"As a result, less than three years after she married into the family, her husband's family lost three ships at sea and were left with a mountain of debts that they couldn't repay even by selling off their possessions. Not long after, her husband also died of illness. Her husband's family took their anger out on her, believing that she was a jinx, and immediately divided the family property, even giving her all the debts."

"ah?"

Xie Danling exclaimed in surprise, "She agrees to that too?"

The shopkeeper led them outside, smiling helplessly: "The Shang family is clueless about household affairs. Her husband's family is determined to deceive her; it will be too late once the contract is signed."

To achieve such a reputation, a great businessman must have his heart and soul completely devoted to gardens.

Back in the shop, the shopkeeper gestured for the waiter to open the door, took out a pen and ink, and wrote a letter to Xie Danling, deliberately leaving it unsealed.

"Thank you, shopkeeper."

Xie Danling handed the bag to Awu and then happily left with her little cousin.

Gu Zhizhuo counted on his fingers and said, "...I ordered gauze and a cage from the silk shop up ahead. I want to make a heated pavilion, so I can use it in winter. Oh dear, I forgot, your family doesn't even have a pavilion!"

It's a headache.

Xie Danling gave her a bad idea: "Why don't we secretly move one of the pavilions from the Wang family's house there? I counted, there are six. No one will notice if one is missing."

Gu Zhizhuo was moved.

She cleared her throat twice, then said in a serious tone, "And that shop at the end of the street, I ordered some white marble and paving stones..."

Xie Danling negotiated: "You have to come with me to see the acrobatics later."

Make a pinky promise.

The two were hooking their little fingers together when suddenly a raggedly dressed boy came running out from the end of the street, panting and shouting, "The imperial decree has been issued! The imperial decree has been issued!"

"What's wrong? Tell me quickly."

People around quickly gathered around, and the young boy, with his hands on his knees, said in one breath, "His Majesty has conferred the title of Imperial Noble Consort on Lady Ji."

ah?

An uproar ensued.

The two cousins ​​looked at each other. The conferment of imperial concubine titles was always a matter for the imperial harem. How did it end up in the streets and alleys?

"Really?"

"Where did you get this information?"

"Oh no, oh no, I've lost an ounce of silver." — This is what someone placed a bet after the gambling house opened the betting odds.

A cacophony of voices erupted, with one pounding his chest and stamping his feet, lamenting, "He stole another man's wife and shows no remorse! Our Great Qi is doomed!" Before he could finish, his wife covered his mouth, saying, "That old geezer, he's drunk and going on a rampage."

"Don't argue," the young boy said. "An old man named Zhang Tinghui wrote an article at the Meridian Gate. Later, a eunuch came out of the palace and announced at the Meridian Gate that the Emperor had conferred the title of Imperial Noble Consort on Lady Ji, and that old man Zhang was overstepping his bounds and would be punished with ten strokes of the cane. Old man Zhang was so angry that he fainted. I heard those people call him Zhang Daru. What does Daru mean?"

"I don't know, I don't know. What happened next?"

"Professor Ji hit his head against the wall, and his head was bleeding profusely. It is unknown whether he is dead or alive."

"It was chaotic at the Meridian Gate; a lot of people had gathered there."

After the boy finished speaking, he reached out his hand, and many people skillfully pulled out one or two copper coins for him. Someone teased, "Xiao Shan, you've earned enough copper coins these past two days. Is that enough for your mother's medicine?"

He scratched his head: "Almost there."

"Then hurry up and go ask around some more."

"Understood."

Xiaoshan suddenly did a somersault and ran away in a flash.

Xie Danling tugged at her little cousin's sleeve: "See? I told you this 'illness' was definitely all for the sake of becoming an Imperial Noble Consort! She even made me go and pray for her, hmph. Can she handle that?"

Gu Zhizhuo applauded enthusiastically, praising her for being so accurate.

"I'll tell you a secret," Xie Danling whispered in her ear. "My mother said that Father Emperor is under a spell. Prince Jin has found a master and will bring him to the palace in the next couple of days to perform a ritual for Father Emperor."

"Master Qingping?"

“No, no,” Xie Danling pondered, “it seems to be a Taoist priest named Changfeng.”

Long wind!?

"Let's go play."

Xie Danling pulled her along, skipping and hopping forward. Awu gave Qiongfang and Qingmei a helpless, bitter smile, lifting her skirt and following closely behind her.

After strolling along the entire street, the boy named Xiaoshan ran back and forth several times. When Gu Zhizhuo and the others came out of the antique shop, he was saying, "...The Imperial Noble Consort is seriously ill. The Emperor has ordered a notice to be posted at the Meridian Gate to seek a divine physician, offering a thousand taels of gold in return."

Xie Danling: Still pretending?

A voice rang out alongside her, "Still pretending?!"

"What's this?!" The two cousins ​​looked in the direction of the voice and saw Xie Jing on the other side of the street, grabbing Ji Nanke and asking fiercely, "How long are you going to make her pretend to be sick?"

"You've got the concubine's release certificate, you've become an Imperial Noble Consort, you have all the titles and status, aren't you satisfied?"

Xie Jing was furious.

He thought his words last time would at least serve as a wake-up call for her, but what happened?

She instigated Lady Ji to ask her father to issue an edict to obtain the letter of release from the Gu family, and forced her father to defy the world, disobey his grandmother and confront the court officials, and establish the Imperial Noble Consort.

"Can you please stop making me worry all day? I've been looking for you for two hours."

Xie Jing yelled at her, without even noticing that Gu Zhizhuo and the others were right across from her.

Ji Nanke bit her lower lip.

Next, of course, was to have her aunt ask the emperor to change the imperial decree bestowing marriage upon her to that of a principal wife.

Xie Jing is treating her with increasing disdain now, which is definitely because she is just his concubine, and he is treating her with the same attitude he would show to a concubine or a servant.

“I asked my aunt to petition the Emperor to appoint you as Crown Prince.”

Xie Jing: ?

"I've done everything for you, and this is how you treat me?"

Xie Jing's hands, which were gripping her shoulders, unconsciously relaxed.

Ji Nanke rubbed her shoulders. Now, all that was left was the imperial marriage and the establishment of an heir. Once she had all the honors, status, and power, the emperor could pass away. She didn't have time to take things slowly.

She and Xie Jing will be the winners.

Instead of Gu Zhizhuo and Xie Yingchen!

"You..." Xie Jing smiled bitterly, wanting to say that he didn't need the Ji family to fight for him as the crown prince. Just as he opened his mouth, a fast horse suddenly rushed through the crowd in the street.

"Your Highness."

Before Wei Jiu could even dismount, he said, "The Imperial Noble Consort has passed away."

What? !

Ji died less than a day after becoming an Imperial Noble Consort.

Ji Nanke was shocked: "Impossible!"

A note from the author: