The caravan was halfway along its journey when Su Xingze’s letter from home arrived, and was handed to the Lady of the house.
Looking at the two letters, one written to their mother and one written to the seventh sister, she weighed them in her hand. Clearly, the thickness of the letter written to her was inferior to the one Su Rong received, which annoyed her. "Isn’t this his biological mother! Was he born just to vex me?"
Wang’s mother smiled, "Lady, don’t be angry. The majority of the letter to the seventh miss is didactic in nature. Every time she wishes that the eldest son would stop mentioning her, finding him too verbose."
The Lady snorted, "Anyway, in his eyes, since childhood, he only has this sister; he pays no mind to his birth mother."
"That’s not entirely true," Wang’s mother conscientiously said: "Compared to our master, at least you get a letter from him. The master only receives a letter from his son if it’s absolutely necessary. Because of this, the master is extremely jealous of you and the seventh miss. "
The lady, somewhat consoled, said, "Indeed, as his mother, I, at least, carried him for nine months; the master, who merely provided a seed, needs to step aside."
Wang’s mother listened in silence.
What a thing to say!
Truly, without comparison, there’s no hurt!
The lady handed Su Rong’s letter to Wang’s mother, "Go and have it delivered to her. Tell her she must reply; she must not be lazy and fail to respond, wasting her older brother’s concern for her while he’s preparing for his exams."
Wang’s mother nodded, called someone over, and sent the letter to Su Rong.
Meanwhile, Su Rong was in the middle of a rather tedious conversation with Zhao, her wet nurse, about the palace politics that had taken place when she served as the Empress Dowager’s attendant. It was an eye-opening series of events, one after the other, proving that women in the palace would keep fighting till the end as long as they were not dead.
These were Zhao’s personal experiences, far more thrilling and suspenseful than any storyteller’s tales. With plots and counterplots revealing, generals who are skilled at war would probably not survive a single night in the imperial harem.
Deeply impressed, Su Rong thought that they should send the women from the harem to fight on the battlefield. Their endless strategies were truly astonishing. The Emperor, who was amused by the previous political squabbles and palace intrigues, truly deserved to be the highest of all beings.
As she was discussing this with her wet nurse, Su Xingze’s letter arrived. Sweeping aside the conversation, she lazily accepted the letter, weighed it in her hand and couldn’t help but complain without even opening it, "My big brother, he’s a man of few words with others, but with me, why does he always talk so much? Always concerned, always worried. Oh, this letter’s so thick, I wonder what he’s written."
Zhao, her wet nurse, laughed, "The Eldest son is a good brother."
Ignoring her, Su Rong tore open the letter and looked at what he had written.
This letter was written by Su Xingze when he had just arrived at the capital. It described how Zhou Gu waited specifically for him and Xie Lin in Jiangzhou. The three of them then travelled together, and on the way to the capital, they met up with Duanhua Princess, who was intercepted by Zhou Gu’s men. The letter then went into great detail about how Duanhua threatened Zhou Gu and how Zhou Gu did not succumb to her threats, instead, he took her hostage and continued on their journey.
Su Rong read with her mouth agape, before asking Zhao, "Is Duanhua Princess always so wild?"
Seeing the contents of the letter, Zhao also surprised, said, "When I left the capital, Duanhua was not like this. She was a bit petulant back then, but given her status, it was acceptable. After all, she was favoured by Princess Qingping, and the Emperor himself, his only niece, who hasn’t been spoiled by that? However, she had never been this mentally deranged."
Su Rong nodded, then continued to read the letter. It revealed that Su Xingze was staying at Xie residence in Dong Si Hutong, and he had also prepared a room for her. He then enquired about her injuries and reminded her to take good care of herself and to listen to Zhao’s instructions.
She quickly skimmed the remainder of the letter and folded it up, throwing it back into the letter box in the carriage. After yawning, she said to Zhao, "Could you please write a reply to my brother for me? Just tell him that my injuries are healing well, and he doesn’t have to worry about me; he should focus on preparing for his examinations."
Zhao asked: "You’re not going to write a letter to the Eldest Son yourself?"
"I’m recovering from injuries, my big brother will understand." Su Rong replied and closed her eyes, intending to sleep.
Helplessly smiling, Zhao said, "Alright, the nurse shall be your scribe this time, but next time you must write it yourself."
Over the days, she had heard from Wang’s mother that the seventh princess hated writing letters the most.
Su Rong responded with a nod.
She had just gone to sleep when someone came with a letter, "Miss Seven, a letter from Young Master Zhou."
Su Rong was drowsy from sleep, "Just put it aside for now!"
Nurse Zhao took the letter and placed it on a side box as instructed.
After a day of travel in the carriage, Su Rong also slept for a day. She didn’t even get up to eat, falling into a deep slumber. By evening, the carriage had entered Jiangzhou City, and she woke up on time.
Nurse Zhao asked with a smile, "Are you hungry? We have already entered the city, and the lady has notified us in advance. I guess the cooks in the residence have prepared dinner. Would you like to eat some dim sum first?"
Su Rong nodded.
Nurse Zhao took out a piece of dim sum from the box, put it on a plate, and handed it to Su Rong, and at the same time reminded her, "Young Master Zhou’s letter, are you going to read it now or later?"
Su Rong tilted her head, noticing the letter on the box. She grabbed it, tore open the envelope, and pulled out a thin piece of paper from inside. With the letter in one hand and the dim sum in the other, she ate while reading. By the time she finished the dim sum, she had also finished reading the letter.
In the letter, Zhou Gu asked about the clothes and fabric she had given him. He didn’t know their real value when he received them, but after returning home, he found out that they were worth twice as much as the gift he had brought her for her coming-of-age ceremony. He asked her what her intentions were? Was it because he was her fiancé that she was so generous? Or did she actually want to return the gift to him through this roundabout method? Or, was she trying to buy him for the rest of his life?
Su Rong’s gaze landed on the phrase "buy him for the rest of his life." and she felt an overwhelming sense of aggression from Zhou Gu’s question.
She picked up another piece of dim sum, thinking that it would be nice if she could indeed buy him for the rest of his life with these things. After all, if a problem could be solved with money, was it even a problem?
When Yuewan came back with the gift list from the Duke Residence, she calculated its value and found it was worth about one hundred thousand taels. She thought that the Duke Residence seemed to value this marriage quite a lot, for they had given so much for just a coming-of-age gift, which made her feel a bit overwhelmed. She then thought of returning the gift quietly before Zhou Gu left. However, she hadn’t figured out how to do so when Zhou Xi came asking about making clothes for Zhou Gu, which gave her an idea.
She didn’t expect to run into Xie Lin, which made Zhou Gu willingly accept the clothes. But even if Xie Lin hadn’t been there, she would have found a way to make Zhou Gu accept them.
Though Zhou Gu and Xie Lin were both discerning, they, as young masters, always had others take care of all their needs. Even if they were discerning, they probably wouldn’t know the specific value. And they would not realize the real worth until they returned to the Duke Residence by which time the gifts had already been given.
Now that Zhou Gu had raised the question, Su Rong didn’t have much to say. She folded the letter, threw it into the letter box, and told Nurse Zhao, "Nurse, please write a reply. Just say that the gift from the Duke Residence was too heavy, and I felt guilty accepting it. Returning it to him would make me feel more at ease. There is no other implied meaning."
Nurse Zhao looked at Su Rong as if she wanted to say something, but nodded instead, "Fine, the letter to Young Master Su hasn’t been sent yet. I’ll send this one along with it."
Actually, she hadn’t had a chance to send the letter she wrote to Su Xingze before Young Master Zhou’s letter arrived. She planned on having Miss Seven read the letter and reply, then send both letters together. However, she ended up sleeping the entire day, delaying it by a day.
Su Rong nodded, "Mm."
The evening streets of Jiangzhou City weren’t as bustling as in Jiangning County. There were just a few scattered pedestrians, making the scene rather peaceful.
As the carriage entered the city, a serving boy came to deliver a message, "Miss Seven, the master has returned home by himself. You haven’t seen Sir Su for many days and your injury has mostly healed. You should go back with the lady to the Inspector’s Residence!" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Su Rong had no objections, "Alright."
Arriving at the Inspector’s Residence, the lady got down from the carriage first, and ordered a sedan chair to be brought out, which was directly placed in front of Su Rong’s carriage.
Nurse Zhao chuckled and whispered to Su Rong, "The lady’s care for you is sincere."
Su Rong smiled and got into the sedan chair.
After the sedan chair had been lifted away, Su Rong heard Miss Six mumbling, "Mother is playing favorites again. Miss Seven has a sedan chair to sit in, but we have to let on foot, sigh."
The lady had sharp ears; she heard clearly and said displeasedly, "What lies are you spreading, Little Six? Your seventh sister fought and got injured, hurting her arm and leg. If you were also unable to walk due to an injury, I would let you sit in a sedan chair too."
Miss Six suddenly realized, "So that’s why Miss Seven was hiding in Mr. Xie’s residence for many days and didn’t show up. She got injured again." She shook her head with feigned modesty, "I can’t handle that kind of luck, I’ll leave it to Miss Seven! I don’t like to fight."
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