Chapter 101: For Bingzhi's sake, I will definitely pamper you more...
Princess Chun'an was of noble status and always acted and spoke according to her own temperament. She did not deliberately lower her voice and even deliberately raised it a few notches. The female relatives sitting below heard her words full of sarcasm and disdain. Everyone who was chatting stopped and subconsciously looked at Madam Zhai.
It was really inappropriate for Old Lady Zhai to bring Cui Linghui to Duke Cheng'en's Mansion today. They felt that it was inappropriate, but it was someone else's family's business after all, so they could only make up stories in private or keep it in their hearts. They had to pay attention to their superficial decency and not offend anyone.
But what Princess Chun'an said really expressed their real thoughts: Which noble family in the capital would be willing to let Cui Linghui into their family?
Even though Cui Linghui was still the eldest daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's family, she did everything she could to cancel the marriage when she saw Lu Bing was poisoned. It was obvious that she could only share the good times but not the bad times. With such a character, who would be interested in her and ask her to be their daughter-in-law or granddaughter-in-law?
Even if Cui Linghui came to this banquet and wanted to take this opportunity to find a rich husband, she would probably only bring shame upon herself and become a laughing stock.
Mrs. Zhai's face immediately turned red with shame, and the mocking or mocking looks from all around her made her feel even more embarrassed.
Fortunately, Princess Chun'an only said this one sentence, then picked up the teacup in her hand and started drinking, without continuing to embarrass Madam Zhai in public.
But Madam Zhai was still upset, and she took out all her anger on Cui Linghui for the humiliation. Thinking of the Second Prince Xiao Ze, she couldn't help but feel a little cautious. She couldn't wait until she returned home to vent her anger on Cui Linghui as she had done in the past. Because of this, she felt even more uncomfortable.
She glanced at Cui Lingyan who was sitting next to Princess Chun'an, and saw that she did not say a word to defend her stepsister Cui Linghui, and did not care about the reputation of the Ningshou Marquisate. She did not even show any anxiety or concern when her grandmother was being ridiculed and watched the show. She felt even more upset at the moment, and felt that Cui Lingyan was indeed not raised in the Marquisate. Even if she married Lu Bingzhi, the son of the Duke of Wei, as a girl of the Marquisate, she would not think about her natal family, the Ningshou Marquisate, at all.
It is unreliable now, and I am afraid it will be even less reliable in the future.
Thinking of this, Madam Zhai's face became even uglier. She felt that none of the three girls in the Marquis' Mansion could be trusted.
Jingming Hall
Madam Lu, the wife of the Duke of Cheng'en, was wearing a red jacket with a longevity pattern and her hair was neatly combed. Her face was serious as she asked her trusted confidant, Nanny Ji, "Didn't you say that Ze'er was coming to celebrate my great-grandmother's birthday? Why hasn't he come to pay his respects to me?"
Mrs. Lu didn't dare to ask Xiao Ze to come over and kowtow to her, her great-grandmother, but the old lady felt embarrassed about Xiao Ze's neglect.
If it weren't for her arrangement back then, there would be no Shufei today, and no Prince Xiao Ze.
Concubine Shu has distanced herself from the Cheng'en Mansion because the mansion has not sent any money or valuables to the palace in recent years. She is truly an ungrateful person.
She didn't even think about it. Although the emperor didn't say it, he was thinking about the late queen in his heart. If the Cheng'en Mansion was close to Concubine Shu, there was no guarantee that the emperor would not feel unhappy. If he disliked the Cheng'en Mansion because of the late queen, how could he have maintained his dignity over the years?
The emperor regretted it, but he refused to say it for the sake of his face. Naturally, all the faults were borne by Cheng'en Mansion and Concubine Shu. Even if the mansion wanted to get close to Prince Xiao Ze, they were afraid of angering the emperor and treating Xiao Ze badly. Concubine Shu didn't show any sympathy at all, and even taught Xiao Ze to not give face to Cheng'en Mansion, his in-laws. He didn't even come to pay his respects to her when he came to the Duke's Mansion to celebrate her birthday. He really didn't know the rules and had no filial piety at all!
The old lady rubbed her knees as she spoke. As she aged, her joints became increasingly painful, and she could no longer walk. Furthermore, her frequent visits to the bathroom with age made her mobility increasingly difficult. The old lady had always been a person who valued her reputation, and now, on her eightieth birthday, she was already unhappy that she couldn't properly enjoy the flattery of the women in the garden. Now, when the Second Prince arrived and refused to come, her expression grew even uglier.
When Nanny Ji heard the old lady say this, she hurried forward to comfort her, saying, "Please calm down, old lady. The Second Prince just came to the mansion and brought a gift of a red sandalwood and gilded ivory Buddha statue. It looks really valuable, and it's obvious that he came sincerely to celebrate the birthday of you, his great-grandmother."
The old lady knew that Nanny Ji was trying to comfort her. She sighed and said, "It's not his fault that he, as a junior, has no manners. After all, they haven't even married yet. It was that person in the palace who instigated the separation between the Second Prince and our Duke's Mansion. He came to celebrate the birthday today, and he thought I didn't know and just came to show up to avoid being criticized."
"None of them cares about me at all! If my guess is correct, Chun'an is probably chatting with Liao in the garden right now. How could she even have me, her great-grandmother, in her eyes?"
Nanny Ji didn't dare to say a word. A few years ago, the old lady wanted to plot Princess Chun'an's marriage and wanted her to marry into the Cheng'en Mansion. With Princess Chun'an around in the future, the emperor would naturally favor the Cheng'en Mansion out of consideration for his daughter Chun'an.
But the plan failed. Because of this incident, Princess Chun'an, who had always been resentful of the old lady, completely broke off relations with her. She seldom came to Duke Cheng'en's mansion in recent years. If today was not the old lady's 80th birthday, she probably would not have shown up in person.
On the other hand, Liao, the wife of Duke Cheng'en who had long since moved out of the Duke's Mansion, had a close relationship with Princess Chun'an. How could this make the old lady, her mother-in-law, feel at ease?
"Old Madam, you should always think positively. Today is your eightieth birthday, and all the noble families have come to celebrate. This grand and lively occasion will at least let outsiders see that our Cheng'en Mansion is still as glorious as it was in the past. How dare they look down on our Cheng'en Mansion?"
Nanny Ji did not mention the late queen, but the "back then" she mentioned naturally refers to the time when the late queen had just entered the imperial palace and her stepsister, Concubine Shu, had not yet entered the palace.
The old lady's face was rather grave, and the atmosphere was momentarily heavy. After a while, she finally spoke, "When I sent her sister to the palace, I never imagined that the two sisters would end up in such a quarrel. I simply wanted them to support each other, so that she would have someone to lean on in the palace. If she hadn't been jealous, feeling that she had accompanied the Emperor through years of hardship in the palace, and that she had done a great service, that the Emperor should be hers alone, and that no sister in the palace should compete with her for him, how could she have ended up in such a state? One body, two lives. If the child in her belly had been a prince, and she had still lived, how much glory could they have enjoyed? Why would she have ruined her bright future out of jealousy?"
As the old lady spoke, her expression grew uglier, and she looked several years older. She glanced at Nanny Ji and said, "Send someone to tell the Second Prince that I miss his mother and want to hear how she's doing in the palace. Ask him to come and see me."
If Xiao Ze couldn't even come over today, where would she put her old face? If the news got out, all her dignity would be gone.
The old lady then ordered, "Send someone to the front to watch and see if there are any rewards from the palace."
Nanny Ji replied with a "yes," but she felt a little powerless. The late Queen had given some rewards when she first passed away, but the Emperor might have truly regretted his actions over the years. Although he still seemed to value the Cheng'en Mansion, it was all empty talk. The Cheng'en Mansion was like it was on the edge of a cliff, poised to fall at any moment.
I'm afraid it will be harder and harder to grasp this little bit of imperial grace, so it's no wonder that the old lady is worried.
It should have been a glorious thing for a mansion to have a queen and a concubine, but things are so unpredictable. The queen became the former queen and the concubine lost her favor. Wouldn't it be better if they had done nothing and not had that idea in the past?
The old lady didn't say it, but she probably felt regretful in her heart.
She answered yes, hesitated for a moment and asked again, "Old Madam, would you like to ask Madam and Princess Chun'an to come over as well?"
Today is the old lady's birthday. Speaking in front of everyone, I think neither Liao nor Princess Chun'an would be so disregarding filial piety as to ruin their own reputation.
However, this approach really embarrassed the old lady.
Nanny Ji had served the old lady for many years and was genuinely trying to save her face, so she had the courage to speak up.
Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, the old lady's face showed some embarrassment.
After a few breaths, she nodded, waved her hand and said, "Go and pass on the message as you wish."
Aunt Ji replied "yes", bowed and stepped back.
Here, Cui Linghui followed the maid through the garden and came to a pavilion. However, as soon as she stopped, her body froze for a moment. It was not for any other reason, but because Xiao Ze and Lu Bingzhi were sitting face to face in the pavilion.
The two were playing chess and drinking tea, as if there had not been any grudge between the cousins since the previous poisoning incident.
Cui Linghui felt a chill on her back. Thinking of Xiao Ze's temper in her previous life and the shameful things they had done in Guangfu Temple, she had a bad guess in her mind and her face turned even paler.
Seeing her coming, Xiao Ze waved and asked her to come forward with a smile: "Hui'er, Prince Ben's shoulders are a little sore after playing chess for a while. Come over and give me a shoulder massage."
The air suddenly became quiet. Cui Linghui looked embarrassed, with a hint of grievance and disbelief in his eyes.
Although she knew that Xiao Ze always acted according to his own temperament, and he resented Lu Bingzhi for stealing the emperor's favor and disliked Lu Bingzhi, she should never step on her face to embarrass Lu Bingzhi!
Without waiting for Cui Linghui's reaction, Xiao Ze's voice deepened. Although he still had a smile on his face, it was filled with a hint of threat. "My dear, why are you so disobedient? Do you want me to say it again?"
Cui Linghui heard the threat in his tone, but he didn't dare to disobey him. He answered yes, slowly walked up the stairs, walked behind Xiao Ze step by step, and massaged his shoulders.
Her face was pale, her eyes were full of humiliation, and she subconsciously looked at Lu Bingzhi who was sitting opposite her.
She wanted to see an embarrassed expression on Lu Bingzhi's face, or even anger and shame.
After all, she was originally his fiancée. Xiao Ze treated her like this, and Xiao Ze would soon marry Zheng Suining, the eldest daughter of the Kangshou Marquis's Mansion. He treated her like this more like a toy, thinking of using this to humiliate Lu Bingzhi. No matter how cold Lu Bingzhi's personality was, he would not care at all, right?
Just like she and Xiao Ze had an affair in her previous life, although she was afraid that this scandal would be discovered by Lu Bingzhi, sometimes she also thought that if this matter was exposed in front of Lu Bingzhi, if she could see Lu Bingzhi's embarrassed and angry face, she would feel better.
Now, although she felt that Xiao Ze was humiliating her and taking advantage of her, she also wanted to see such an expression on Lu Bingzhi's face.
That would mean that she still had some status in his heart.
However, Lu Bingzhi's face remained calm, and he even glanced at Xiao Ze and Cui Linghui with some interest. He asked nonchalantly, "The Second Prince asked me to come over to play chess, not because of anything else. It's more because the mansion is going to have another concubine. Congratulations, Your Highness."
He said this so casually that Xiao Ze and Cui Linghui both looked a little unhappy.
Cui Linghui's hands froze there for a moment, her heart and eyes filled with grievance and shame. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't dare to shed them in front of Xiao Ze, for fear that Xiao Ze would misunderstand her and think that she was still thinking about her ex-fiancé Lu Bingzhi.
Xiao Ze's expression changed for a moment, but he finally smiled and said, "It's my cousin who feels a little sorry for Bingzhi. Hui'er loves me and said she's willing to enter the prince's mansion as my concubine. As a man, how can I ignore her love?"
"Although she was originally Bingzhi's fiancée, the one who is now marrying him is the third daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's mansion, which shows that you two are not destined to be together. But Bingzhi, you can rest assured. Now that she has entered the mansion, I will definitely pamper her more for your sake."
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