punish
"Younger sister greets elder sister Chunhua," Huang Ying said respectfully as she walked to the door.
Chunhua: "Where is your master? I have come to visit your master on his orders."
Huang Ying looked uneasily toward where Jiang Yan was.
Chunhua followed her gaze, her brows furrowing subconsciously before she looked back at her.
"How can you be so insensible? Your master is unwell, how can you sit in the courtyard and let the wind blow on him?" The tone was very stern.
Huang Ying quickly lowered her head: "Sister Chunhua is right to scold me. It was my fault for being ignorant. I will do my job well in the future and this will never happen again."
"Alright, I'll let you off today." Chunhua said, handing her the bamboo basket she was carrying in her left hand. "The princess felt sorry for your master and specially ordered pastries made by a pastry chef from Jiangnan."
"This servant thanks Your Highness the Princess and Sister Chunhua on behalf of my mistress."
"Alright, no need for formalities. The Princess Consort said that since your master is unwell, he should rest more at Pear Blossom Residence and not run around anymore. As for the matter of confinement, the Princess Consort is magnanimous and, considering that this is your master's first offense, has given him a chance to reform. He only needs to copy the manor rules twenty times."
"Yes, this servant obeys on behalf of my master."
Chunhua said nothing more and left.
Huang Ying saw her off and watched her until she was far away before closing the door and running to Jiang Yan's side.
"Have they left?"
"Let's go, Master." Huang Ying helped Jiang Yan sit up slightly.
"Why are you suddenly being so kind as to come see me? Aren't you going to lock me up?"
"This servant doesn't know, but Master, these household rules are not easy to copy."
"What's so hard about copying? It's just writing, right? This is no challenge for me!"
Hmph, she's got excellent penmanship, what's there to be afraid of?
"Master, you can write with a calligraphy brush?"
Jiang Yan couldn't laugh for a moment. He looked at Huang Ying's excited expression awkwardly and said embarrassedly.
"Is it calligraphy? This is a bit difficult for me."
Huang Ying said worriedly, "I knew it! Miss was always so worried when she was punished to copy the family rules. How could you, Master, feel so relaxed?"
"Is your young lady often punished by copying the family rules?"
"Yeah, I basically have to copy it ten or more times every few days."
"Ha, that's really perverted! Was it Liu Ruyan's mother who punished her?"
"Sometimes it is, sometimes it's the master."
That scoundrel Liu Xiangyi, who favors his concubine over his wife—just hearing his name makes her inexplicably irritated! She just wants to give him a good scolding!!
"Alright, don't mention him to me unless it's absolutely necessary. I can't be bothered to hear his name!"
"Yes, Master. However... Master, the Master's birthday is in ten days."
"Let him pass if he wants, I can't stop him from passing." Jiang Yan said nonchalantly, pulling the storybook out from under his buttocks and starting to read it.
Huang Ying's gaze shifted back and forth between her and the storybook. After a while, she hesitated and said again.
“Master, you are the master’s eldest daughter. You must go that day, and you should go back a few days in advance.”
"Eldest daughter? More like a concubine's daughter! Since she's a concubine's daughter, she definitely doesn't want me to go back, so I won't go back."
“Master, this has nothing to do with whether you are the legitimate son or the illegitimate son! If you don’t go back, you will have no grounds for action, and the master will definitely be dissatisfied. If you need the master’s help again, I’m afraid he won’t help you.”
Jiang Yan smiled dismissively.
"He didn't really help me much to begin with, so what can I expect from him? But since you've brought it up, I really can't not go back, so I'll go back and take this opportunity to learn more about the Liu family."
"Then, Master, when will you inform the Prince?"
"Notify him? Why would you notify him?"
"My lady, you've been married for so long and haven't returned to your parents' home yet. This is your first time visiting your parents' home. If the Prince doesn't accompany you, this..."
"I know what you mean, that you're afraid I'll be laughed at, but I'm not afraid."
Huang Ying looked worried and was about to say something more when Jiang Yan spoke again.
"Think about it, the Prince doesn't care about me, let alone like me. He's busy with official duties all day, why would he waste time on something as trivial as me? Even if he wanted to, I don't know how to interact with him. If I accidentally reveal a flaw, I could lose my head. Besides, there's Princess Xiao Yiqing. She's so concerned about the Prince. If she knew I asked the Prince to accompany me back to my parents' home, what do you think she would do? Furthermore, I also want to take this opportunity to properly understand the attitudes of 'my' mother, father, and dear sister! That way, I'll know what I can and cannot do in the future, don't you think?"
After listening to her say this, Huang Ying thought about it carefully for a while and nodded in agreement.
"Alright, go take a look at this set of regulations and see what it is, and how to copy it. I need to finish copying it quickly!"
“Alright, then please read the storybook first, and I will go to Steward Cui to ask him.”
"Keep a low profile along the way and don't say too much!"
"Don't worry, I know what to do." Huang Ying smiled and left.
Jiang Yan was careless, extremely careless!
She thought there wouldn't be many rules for the manor, since the school rules were so strict and only had a few dozen, or at most a few hundred. But who knew that there were a thousand rules for the manor!
A thousand of them!!!
What kind of government regulation is this?
Who has a thousand rules to write down?
Isn't this just being a busybody, looking for trouble?
Jiang Yan looked at the family rules that Huang Ying and Fu Qu had brought from Steward Cui, and felt like dying.
Huang Ying had never seen anything like this before. She looked through the tall stack of books on the table and exclaimed in amazement.
"Why are there so many? How long will it take to copy this twenty times?"
Yeah, how long would it take to copy it twenty times?
She might have already gone back before she even finished copying!
"Ugh, this is deliberately torturing me!" Jiang Yan picked up the top notebook and flipped through it helplessly.
"...You are not allowed to approach the Prince without permission."
What kind of rule is this?
If they don't approach Shangguan Zeyu casually, does that mean Shangguan Zeyu should rush to stick to them?
Leaving aside the others, how can the women, especially the concubines and ladies, serve Shangguan Zeyu and seduce him if they don't get close to him freely?
That's utter nonsense!
"...Don't fawn over the prince."
"Don't try to act coquettishly around the prince."
"Don't go to the prince every time something happens."
"One must not dress too revealingly when standing next to the prince."
What? There's a rule against bathing next to the prince? What kind of rule is that? Has anyone bathed in front of Shangguan Zeyu?
That's impossible!
Even if there were, they would only be his women. Is that not allowed?
What a bizarre rule!
These are incomprehensible regulations!!
"Who wrote these rules? They're so strange! It's unbelievable!" Jiang Yan was so shocked that she started flipping through the second and third books. The more she read, the more she felt like she had entered an abnormal place.
Huang Ying: "These notebooks must have been written by Butler Cui. They were taken from Butler Cui."
Jiang Yan laughed speechlessly: "I think these definitely weren't written by Butler Cui! They seem more like they were written by a woman who wanted to possess Shangguan Zeyu! It's utterly absurd and incomprehensible!"
"Master, no matter who wrote it, you have to copy it twenty times. How can you possibly finish copying it all?"
"Can you write? Can you help me?"
“Master, this servant cannot write. The young lady taught this servant, but this servant only learned to write her own name.”
"Oh, I see. Then you'll have to copy these twenty times! But don't rush, take your time."
"What if the princess wants to see it? What if you haven't finished writing?"
"Don't worry, her request is unreasonable anyway. I can't just starve myself to copy it, can I? If she punishes me for not finishing, I can have a complaint. It's fine."
"Will everything really be alright?"
"Oh dear, why are you so scared again? Don't worry, I'm a concubine. It's not like I was given a marriage by imperial decree. How could they easily take my life? Keep a positive attitude and believe that there's always a way out! Haha."
"Master, where are you going? Aren't you going to copy anymore?" Huang Ying called out anxiously as she saw Jiang Yan about to leave.
Jiang Yan didn't stop, and said with a smile, "Since we can't finish copying right away anyway, let's not copy it for now! We'll talk about it when we have time!"
Jiang Yan spent three leisurely days at Pear Blossom Residence. On the fourth day, Wu Lanyu came to see her early in the morning.
She had just gotten up, and Huang Ying was helping her wash up.
Wu Lanyu went directly into Pear Blossom Residence and spoke outside.
"Sister Concubine, I've come to see you."
Jiang Yan was quite surprised, not expecting her to come looking for her, and exchanged a glance with Huang Ying.
"Please wait a moment, sister. I will come out once I am finished with my work."
Wu Lanyu: "Sister, please forgive me. It was I who bothered you."
Did you know you were bothering her and still came?
"It's alright, I'll be done in a minute."
Huang Ying deftly combed her hair into a bun, and then she went out.
"Little sister, you're up early. Is something wrong?"
Jiang Yancai didn't believe that she had come specifically to visit her.
Wu Lanyu: "Sister is indeed clever; she couldn't hide anything from you." She followed Jiang Yan to the white jade table.
"Sister, please sit down," Jiang Yan said after sitting down.
Wu Lanyu slowly sat down in front of her.
Jiang Yan didn't say anything more, just watched her quietly, waiting for her to finish speaking.
Wu Lanyu didn't remain silent for long: "Sister, it's like this, as you know, Sister Shen is pregnant with the Prince's child..."
"Yes, I know."
Wu Lanyu hesitated for a moment before glancing at her: "Originally, we shouldn't have done this, but because of you, sister... Madam Shen is still pregnant, and the Taoist priest the manor hired said that since Sister Shen's matter is related to you, in order for Sister Shen to give birth to a son smoothly, he needs something from you. It should preferably be something precious, to suppress the weak spirit on Sister Shen's body."
Jiang Yan didn't quite understand what she meant. After recalling what she had said, she asked again.
"You mean that if Lady Shen wants to give birth to her child smoothly, she needs something from me, is that what you mean?"
"My sister is indeed intelligent."
Is this even possible?
I've never heard of that. Isn't childbirth a matter between the mother and the father?
What does it have to do with her, an outsider?
Suppressing the arrogance and shrewdness?
What is that?
Is this another trap set for her?
Jiang Yan looked at her warily.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
