Chapter 25 Xue Yuan's Thoughts
Her son's heartfelt words made Cheng feel guilty for a moment. Heng Ge'er was right. After all, as a mother, she had no reason not to trust her son.
For Du Heng, the Spring Imperial Examination was never a matter of passing or failing. Given his talent, success was within his expectations. If he had to worry about anything, it was simply whether he would place third, second, or even first, achieving first place.
When Cheng, with a look of remorse on her face, repeatedly promised not to make any more assumptions in the future, Du Heng stood up and apologized to her: "My words just now offended you, mother. Please forgive me."
"You're right. Mother doesn't blame you at all!"
After a show of loving mother and filial piety, Cheng hurriedly called Xue Yuan, who had retreated to the door, and asked her to go and see if lunch was ready.
Listening to the conversation between Cheng and Du Heng in the house, Xue Yuan, who was waiting at the door, felt a chill in her heart.
As soon as Du Heng entered the room, she sent all the maids away and left herself alone to serve tea. In fact, she had selfish motives in her heart.
More than three years ago, when the master was still alive, the mistress had been convinced that the young master would be on the imperial examination list, and so she had long considered choosing a concubine for him. Logically, Chun Nuan, who had served the young master since childhood, was the first choice. However, Xue Yuan happened to overhear the mistress discussing this matter privately with the master, and a thought had quietly entered her mind.
She was the most trusted personal maidservant to the Madam, and while others might consider her a privileged servant, she knew that even the most favored maid would eventually marry. Could she be like Madam Li, winning the Madam's favor only to marry a steward and live a predictable life? While Madam Li's current life was not bad, she was still a servant to her master.
But if you can enter the young master's room, it will be completely different.
The young master passed the imperial examination at a young age and is also very handsome. If I could become his maid, and if I were lucky enough to have a child in the future, I could be promoted to his concubine. Wouldn't that be more promising?
The more Xue Yuan thought about it, the more she felt that this opportunity should not be missed, so she started to make some plans.
She stayed in the mistress's room all year round and rarely went in and out of the young master's west courtyard. How could she win the young master's favor?
The young master has always been aloof and reserved. If he was really interested, Chunnuan would have been taken in long ago. Why would it have to wait until now and be arranged by the mistress?
In this way, she also had to please her wife. But how could she let her wife know that she was better than Chunnuan?
Xue Yuan has never been a dull person. After thinking it over and weighing the pros and cons, a plan came to his mind.
It was the dead of winter, and every morning the wife woke up with a dry throat and a persistent cough. Even the master occasionally experienced the same symptoms. The wife simply attributed it to the dry weather and asked for more basins of water to be added to the room, but it still had little effect.
Xue Yuan took the opportunity to serve tea and offered the fire-clearing gold and silver dew she had prepared earlier, saying softly, "I too feel something is amiss. Logically, the floor heating is working well, and the basins in the four corners are well placed, so the room should be warm and moist. But the mistress and the master still cough in the mornings, and I'm worried."
"I wondered if the same situation existed elsewhere, so I went to the young master's courtyard to ask Chunnuan. I didn't know that the young master had also been coughing occasionally these past few days."
Upon hearing this, Cheng frowned, "Chun Nuan has always been thorough in her work. How come she hasn't even contacted me since the young master has been coughing for a few days?"
Xue Yuan was secretly delighted, knowing that the Madam would be most concerned about anything involving the Young Master.
She hurriedly comforted him, "Don't worry, Madam. I have already sent a portion of this gold and silver dew to the west courtyard."
Seeing that Cheng's expression had eased slightly, she took the opportunity to continue, "Since even the young master is like this, I guess there's something wrong with the house. I thought carefully, and since we use the same charcoal as the west courtyard, I'm afraid it's just the charcoal from the floor heating. So I asked Madam Li to ask the steward Du Shun to go to the charcoal room and check. Sure enough, they found a leak in a corner of the charcoal room's roof. If you don't look closely, you can't see it at all."
Because of this incident, Cheng not only rewarded Dushun and the others with a portion of silver, but Li Ma even took Xue Yuan aside to thank them privately: "If it's true as you said, my husband now has an extra job of shopping."
Xue Yuan warned her earnestly, "Madam, please remember that the charcoal shed roof is leaking, not someone intentionally mixing wet firewood into the charcoal pile. Otherwise, you and I would both be in trouble!"
Nanny Li nodded: "Of course, young lady, don't worry."
In this way, Xue Yuan used a little trick to make herself superior to Chun Nuan in Cheng's heart.
Just a few days later, Cheng Shi, in a casual conversation, as Xue Yuan had wished, asked her opinion, saying, "Your young master needs someone who understands his feelings and is considerate and thoughtful by his side. He can't be like Chun Nuan, who insists on being stubborn. If I were to send you to the West Courtyard, would you be willing?"
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
Before this could be accomplished, the master suddenly passed away due to illness, and the young master did not participate in the imperial examination that year, observing a three-year mourning period as per custom. Xue Yuan's plan had to be shelved.
However, she had never given up. Three years of mourning was only enough, and the young master would not be able to have a concubine in the future. As long as the lady's heart did not change, after the young master passed the next spring examination, what was hers would still be hers.
However, during these three years, in order to prevent the other maids from having inappropriate thoughts, she took advantage of a casual chat with Li Madam and, seemingly unintentionally, let slip what the mistress had said to test her.
From then on, especially Chun Nuan and others in the West Courtyard, they were a little awed when they saw her, and she walked more freely between the East and West Courtyards.
Over the past three years, Xue Yuan has become increasingly attentive to the young master. Although she doesn't take care of his daily life like Chun Nuan, she has a thorough understanding of his schedule and temperament. She even remembers when he gets up and goes to bed, what books he reads, and what kind of tea he likes.
Perhaps because the wife loved her son so much, she did not pay attention to the hidden meaning in the young man's words, but she found that the young man's words were explicitly and implicitly making excuses for the cousin.
She knew that the young master never liked to argue and was confident in his own knowledge. In the past, if someone didn't believe in the young master's knowledge, he would just laugh it off and not say anything more.
But now, in order to prevent his wife from being wary of his cousin, the young master talked incessantly for a long time and even said, "If there comes a day when my son's name is not on the list, it is because of my own stupidity and has nothing to do with others."
This morning, she went to the West Courtyard to test Chunnuan, but found nothing. However, she had already vaguely guessed that the young master's visit to the East Courtyard yesterday might be related to the young lady copying scriptures in the flower hall. Now, after hearing the young master's words, her suspicions were even more certain.
Fortunately, Nanny Li was the person in charge of the young ladies copying scriptures in the flower hall. She planned to find an excuse to ask Nanny Li what happened yesterday after serving the mistress and the young master their meal.
If it was really that cousin who had caused the self-respecting young master to have some thoughts, then she would have to make plans early. Even if the wife still favored her, if the young master was unwilling, what would be the point of her thinking more?
Thinking of this, a hint of coldness flashed in Xue Yuan's eyes, but it disappeared very quickly, leaving only a meek look. She lowered her head and replied, "I'll go to the kitchen and take a look."
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