Chapter 124 The County Princess Has Been Feeling Itchy on Her Face Lately
Early in the morning, the two masters of the Vice Minister's residence got up as early as usual.
Only after their masters spoke did the maids enter the main room in an orderly fashion to help them wash and change.
Over there, Xu Zecheng had already put on his official robes and dismissed the maids serving him. Princess Xin'an was still sitting in front of her dressing table, with several young maids and an older nanny beside her.
The old woman stood behind Princess Xin'an, carefully combing her hair in a style recently popular in the capital.
The maidservant beside her praised the county princess's attire today, and also made sure to compliment the old woman: "Old woman Xu's hairstyling skills are truly the best in the capital."
Granny Xu smiled and squinted her eyes, but said, "You lot, don't flatter me. It's all the county princess who's praising this old servant."
After saying that, she glanced at the jewelry box on the dressing table, which had four layers. The jewelry on the box was the one that the county princess had been using recently. Xu Mama immediately spotted a peony hairpin made of gold. The petals were layered and trembling, which was very eye-catching.
If we were to take it out, I wonder how much silver it would be worth?
Her gaze lingered on the golden peony for a few moments, but her outstretched hand bypassed the hairpin and chose a jade hairpin instead.
In her earlier years, the county princess preferred gold hairpins, but later, the officials said that jade suited her temperament better, so she grew to like jade hairpins more.
After dressing up, Princess Xin'an looked at herself in the mirror, raised her hand to adjust her hairpin, and revealed a smile.
Looking at Granny Xu standing respectfully behind her in the mirror, she said, "Granny Xu's skills are naturally the best."
After saying that, she seemed to remember something, tilted her head slightly, and asked, "Is Granny Xu going out of the manor today?"
"Yes, this old servant has already informed the steward in advance that I will leave the manor for half a day to visit my good-for-nothing son."
Upon hearing Granny Xu mention her son, Princess Xin'an's expression turned somewhat indifferent.
In terms of their relationship, Granny Xu and her husband Xu Zecheng were from the same clan, and she was his distant aunt. Years ago, she fell on hard times, and her husband took pity on her and kept her in the mansion.
Later, when she came to the capital, out of respect for her husband, she showed Xu Mama the greatest favor ever, and even gave her son a job as a purchasing agent.
Unfortunately, Xu's son was a gambler. After gambling away all the money, he set his sights on purchasing money and embezzled a lot of money from the household. In the end, her husband couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in to get rid of him.
“Your son is incorrigible. Most of the money you’ve earned over the years has been gambled away by him. It’s clear he doesn’t care about you as his mother at all. If this continues, he’ll get into big trouble sooner or later. You should harden your heart and let him fend for himself.”
Xu Mama lowered her head, her thoughts unreadable, but her face was full of conviction: "What the county princess says is true. This old servant has stopped giving him money. It's just that he recently injured his leg, and as his mother, I can't just watch him die."
Despite the pitiful words of Granny Xu, Princess Xin'an felt only impatience. She waved her hand, losing all interest in continuing the conversation.
Granny Xu stood aside, and Princess Xin'an stood up and said to Xu Zecheng, "Husband, it's time for breakfast. Don't miss the morning court session."
“What you say is true, madam.”
A group of maids escorted the two out of the inner room, leaving only Granny Xu at the back.
She looked at the jeweled Princess Xin'an and secretly spat. The princess spoke so easily; that wasn't her son. Of course, she could easily sever ties with her son.
If we really sever ties, when I get old and can no longer work, do you think the county magistrate will take care of me in my old age?
The county princess spoke eloquently, saying she was giving her face out of consideration for their kinship, but in reality, she was still making her a servant.
However, the county magistrate was right about one thing: her son really did get into big trouble.
If someone hadn't brought her a message, she wouldn't have known that her son, while at the mansion, had brazenly switched items in the county magistrate's storeroom and even sold them!
Now that her son has been given a handle against him, if this isn't handled properly, given the county princess's ruthlessness, she might even be expelled from the manor. She went out today to meet the person who delivered the message that day.
After the two masters of the mansion finished their meal, Xu Zecheng went to court. As he walked out of the main room, he saw a maid working in the corner of the courtyard. Just a few days ago, he had thought she was pretty, but now he saw that she was just an ordinary village girl.
Xu Zecheng shook his head and stopped paying attention to the maid. After he left, Princess Xin'an slowly came out. She glanced at a corner and then led her maids to her daughter's courtyard.
After everyone had left, Granny Xu slowly made her way out of the main courtyard.
She didn't notice that the maid working in the corner suddenly looked up and stared at her until she left.
The maid's name was Cuihong. She was originally a second-class maidservant to the Princess of Xin'an County. Some time ago, she broke one of the princess's cups and was beaten three times with a stick. She was then demoted to a lower-class cleaning maidservant.
But the cup was broken when it came into her hands. Cuihong couldn't help but think of the maids who had been replaced by the county princess. They all seemed to be like her, first making mistakes, then being demoted, and finally being transferred out of the courtyard, or sent to the estate, or sold off.
But everyone in the manor said that the county princess was kind and forgiving, even towards a maid who had made a mistake.
Previously, when Cuihong saw other maids being demoted, she thought they deserved it, but after experiencing it herself, she changed her mind.
She knew she had been framed and probably couldn't escape this fate, but she didn't understand who she had offended.
This question remained unanswered until recently, when someone finally provided the answer.
Two days ago, while she was worrying about herself, someone outside the mansion suddenly brought her a message, saying they wanted her to do a small favor.
The man promised one hundred taels of silver, enough for her to redeem herself. Cuihong hesitated only slightly before secretly leaving the manor to meet him.
The person was neither a swindler nor a kidnapper. What she asked them to do was not difficult: keep an eye on Granny Xu in the mansion and record what she did every day around the county princess.
The man also gave her ten taels of silver as a deposit, and Cuihong agreed almost without hesitation.
Then, the man asked her if she knew why she had ended up like this.
Cuihong was puzzled, and then the other person told her that the one who framed her was none other than the Princess of Xin'an County. Because Lord Xu had taken a liking to her, and the maids who had been driven away before were no different; how could the Princess of Xin'an County tolerate them?
Only then did Cuihong realize what she had done wrong.
She felt increasingly at ease accepting the money.
Let alone just monitoring Granny Xu, she would be willing to monitor the county princess as well.
Xu Mama was unaware that someone in the mansion was specifically watching her. After leaving the mansion, she waited two streets away in front of a restaurant, as instructed by the other party.
Before long, a little beggar ran over and told her an address, which she then went to.
It was a teahouse, and since it was still early, there weren't many customers. She went up to the second floor, found a private room, knocked on the door a few times, and only went in after hearing a woman's voice inside.
A woman was sitting in the private room. She was facing away from her, and just as she picked up her teacup, she turned her head away.
Xu Mama discreetly sized up the woman. The woman's clothes were made of fine material, she wore a gold hairpin in her hair, and a jade bracelet on her wrist.
However, the other woman's hands were somewhat rough, clearly indicating she was a manual laborer, and her overall demeanor was somewhat inferior to that of a daughter of an official. Her gaze was condescending, suggesting either her status or the powerful connections behind her.
Finally, Granny Xu concluded that the woman was probably a favored maid in the household of some important person.
"I wonder what brings you here, young lady?" Having spent so many years in the Vice Minister's residence, Granny Xu had become increasingly particular about her words.
"Sit." The other person didn't answer her at all, only uttering a single word.
Granny Xu sat down in the chair next to the other person.
The man pushed a note over, and Granny Xu immediately recognized her son's handwriting. It was an IOU written by her son for one hundred taels of silver.
Granny Xu cursed fiercely, "This wretched child!"
One hundred taels? Where would she get so much money?
"I can't even stand looking at this one picture. I have four more here."
As soon as the woman spoke, Xu Mama felt a wave of dizziness, but the woman still showed no sign of giving up.
"Don't rush, there's more."
The other party then took out a jade pendant. The jade was pure white and lustrous, and it was clear at a glance that it was very valuable.
Granny Xu thought it looked familiar, like something the prince had given to the county princess when she was a child? But the county princess had never worn it.
When Granny Xu saw the jade pendant, she reached out to snatch it. Once the pendant was in her hand, she heard the woman coldly say, "Put it down."
“Young lady, name your price for this jade pendant.” Granny Xu held onto the jade pendant tightly.
The woman scoffed, "I said put it down. If you don't, the pawn ticket in my hand will be delivered to the Princess of Xin'an County today, along with witnesses. Do you think returning the item will make things alright? Stealing a gift from the Emperor—do you know what crime that is?"
"Imperial...Imperial gift?" Granny Xu was dumbfounded. "How could it be an imperial gift?"
"This was bestowed upon Prince Ying'an by His Majesty, and Prince Ying'an then gave it to Princess Xin'an. Would you say it's not an imperial gift?"
"How did you know?" Granny Xu was greatly alarmed.
"What do you think?" the woman asked, glancing at her sideways.
The woman's attitude undoubtedly confirmed Xu Mama's guess about her identity.
Helpless, Granny Xu put the jade pendant back on the table: "Just tell me what you want me to do, Miss."
The woman took out a porcelain bottle from her bosom: "This is face powder. I'll try to find a way to give it to Princess Xin'an these next few days."
Upon hearing the woman's words, Granny Xu's expression changed: "What do you take me for, young lady? I would rather die than harm the county princess."
The woman rolled her eyes and said impatiently, "Why would I need to come to you if I really wanted to kill her?"
"Then what is this...?"
"After using this powder, it will only make your face itchy. After using it three times, you will get a rash that will take seven days to disappear."
"Does the young lady want me to use perfume powder on the county princess three times?"
"The third time, we'll use it on His Majesty's birthday."
Granny Xu gasped, a sudden thought forming in her mind. Could this woman's mistress be some noblewoman who was at odds with the county princess?
Did the other party deliberately set a trap to embarrass the county princess at His Majesty's banquet?
The more Granny Xu thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Her gaze shifted uncertainly: "What would I gain if I helped you, Miss?"
"I'll return these five IOUs to you once you've used the first bottle of face powder."
"Isn't five hundred taels too expensive?" Granny Xu felt a little uneasy.
“A mere five hundred taels, only an old man like you would even look at it. My master…” The woman seemed to realize she had let something slip and quickly tried to cover it up, “My master doesn’t care about these gold and silver things.”
Granny Xu was startled. What else could she not understand? This woman must be a princess behind her.
She vaguely remembered that the county princess did indeed have a very bad relationship with a certain princess, and in recent years, the county princess had never shown up at any banquets where the princess was present.
Having guessed the other person's identity, she actually breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn't a murder.
"What about the remaining two? What will I get?"
"The second time, I'll give you the ticket. The third time, if you do well, the jade pendant is yours too, and you can put it back and let everything return to normal. How about it?"
After hesitating for a while, Xu Mama gritted her teeth and said, "This is not enough. If the county princess discovers that there is a problem with the perfume powder after the palace banquet, she will not let me off the hook either."
"What else do you want?" the woman asked.
"Five hundred taels, give me another five hundred taels." Even if she was discovered later, this amount of silver would be enough for her son to live on.
The woman sneered, "You seem to have misunderstood your place. Besides you, there are plenty of people willing to work for me. And I can send you and your child to your deaths anytime. Want to try?"
Granny Xu sensed the ruthlessness in the other person's words and broke out in a cold sweat: "Miss, I only misspoke, I didn't mean it..."
"Alright," the woman interrupted her impatiently. "Just relax, there's nothing wrong with this powder. If you don't believe me, you can have someone test it."
Granny Xu finally reached out and gripped the porcelain bottle tightly: "I will do as you say, and I hope you will keep your word."
"Of course." The woman paused. "In a few days, when I want to see you, I will have someone pass on a message to you."
Granny Xu carefully put away the porcelain bottle, and as she stood up, she kept staring at the jade pendant on the table.
The woman scoffed, "Stop looking. Do you think I'm stupid enough to take out a real jade pendant?"
Granny Xu's face flushed: "Miss, please don't try to fool me with something fake."
"As long as you do well, what is a mere jade pendant? There will naturally be other rewards later."
Granny Xu left with the face powder, and the private room fell silent. After a while, a woman's mocking laughter rang out.
Yu Dajia sat in the chair and raised his hand to touch his face.
She thought she was acting very convincingly; not only did the other party not notice, but they had also arranged an identity for her by following her lead.
When she bought the information from Datongfang, she never expected that the person she was going to meet would be an acquaintance.
She couldn't help but recall the days before she and Xu Zecheng went to Jiaozhou. That woman, with a weathered face, who had suffered greatly at the hands of her husband back in her hometown, yet appeared exceptionally kind and simple, had come to seek refuge with her distant nephew, accompanied by her son.
She thought it would only mean two more mouths to feed, so she let them stay. The man kept kowtowing before her, saying he would definitely keep to his duty and repay her kindness by serving her like a slave for the rest of his life.
Yu Dajia took out the IOU she had bought and looked at the name on it.
More than a decade has passed, and people really do change.
She could no longer find any trace of her former self in Granny Xu. Granny Xu's taciturn son had also become just like his father.
Time is truly terrifying.
It's quite interesting, actually. If she hadn't become a lowly actress and met all sorts of people, she wouldn't have known that news could be bought and sold in Datongfang, the capital.
I heard that most of these pieces of information were sold by people from various households, with each piece of information ranging from a few coins to a hundred taels of silver. Those bits and pieces of information might be very cheap when they were collected, but they become valuable when someone buys them.
The news about Granny Xu and Cuihong cost her a total of one hundred taels of silver, which was quite expensive.
But I felt comfortable spending this money.
November 23rd, only seven days until His Majesty's birthday.
This was the third time Xu Mama had left the mansion in the past month. When she returned, she was carrying a porcelain bottle in her arms.
She already had two of the same porcelain vases; this was her third.
She had been filled with anxiety and fear for several days when she first used this bottle of perfume powder, but now she was completely at peace. She had even already figured out how to deliver the perfume powder to the county princess so that she could enjoy it.
As the woman said, the perfume powder in the bottle only caused facial itching and contained no toxins. She even had the maids in the mansion test the powder, and they were indeed unaffected.
As a result, she felt even more at ease.
Even if I don't do it, someone else will.
She knew what she was doing and wouldn't harm the county princess. The princess would only have a few rashes at most; it was nothing serious.
That afternoon, Cuihong also secretly left the mansion and told the person who had asked her to deliver the message about everything that Granny Xu had done recently.
She had a good memory and rattled off a long list, from how Granny Xu sneaked out of the mansion on the 17th to how the other party had adopted another maid as her goddaughter.
Then, on the 20th, Granny Xu gave the county princess a massage, during which new incense was burned, which the county princess enjoyed very much.
After Cuihong finished speaking, she received twenty taels of silver. Now, she has seventy taels of silver.
Cuihong happily accepted the silver, when suddenly someone beside her asked, "Has anything unusual happened to Princess Xin'an lately?"
Cuihong thought for a moment and said, "There doesn't seem to be anything unusual. I heard from Liu Lü, who serves the county princess, that the princess has been feeling itchy on her face lately. Perhaps it's because of the cold weather and the dryness in the room. She is looking everywhere for a good face cream for the princess."
The person who asked the question smirked and said, "I understand, you can leave now."
Cuihong left quickly.
After she left, Yu Dajia, with an inconspicuous face, slowly walked out of the deserted alley. The second bottle of face powder had already been used on Han Xiaotong by Xu Mama, and now, only the last bottle was left.
On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, light snow fell.
Today is His Majesty's birthday, and before dawn, Princess Xin'an rose to dress and do her hair. At the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), she was already on her way to the palace in a carriage.
As soon as the county princess boarded the carriage, Granny Xu quickly stuffed the hand warmer she had prepared in advance into the hands of the county princess.
"What is this, Granny?" Princess Xin'an felt a warmth in her hand and couldn't help but look down.
Granny Xu smiled and said, "It's cold today, so please take good care of yourself, Princess. This hand warmer contains the kind of fragrant powder that you mentioned smells good before; it can help calm your mind."
Princess Xin'an smiled upon hearing this: "Thank you for your kindness, Granny Xu."
"I am unworthy of the county magistrate's praise. This old servant will wait at home for the county magistrate and the magistrate to return." Granny Xu stood respectfully to the side.
“Alright.” Princess Xin’an, holding a hand warmer that emitted a faint fragrance, boarded the carriage to the palace with Xu Zecheng.
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