Chapter 17: Nine Trees of Silver Flowers
Her hand wasn't warm, and it even caused Qiandeng some pain. She pulled her hand away coldly, "Let me think about it. After my aunt came to Beijing, did she visit my cousin Jiazhi? This pregnancy wasn't easy for her, but I'm in deep mourning, so I can't visit her often..."
"You and Huaijiang are the serious matter right now. There's no need to rush her." Madam Dingxiang clearly had no time to care for her daughter. "Dengdeng, your cousin is the only male heir to our Yang family. He's the only one who can support our family and he's your aunt's only hope!"
Qian Deng smiled silently: "Oh, so that's it."
Lady Dingxiang then realized that Qiandeng was the only one in the palace. She felt a little embarrassed, sighed, and said regretfully, "After all, it's because your mother shouldn't have worked so hard when she was pregnant with our first child. Alas, if that boy hadn't died earlier, how could your palace be in this state?"
Seeing her behavior, Qian Deng felt a chill in his heart, and he lost interest in chatting. "At that time, my father was seriously injured and dying, and my mother rushed to the front to take care of him, so she had no choice but to have a miscarriage. Now that so much time has passed, my mother must have forgotten it..."
"The child in my belly was growing day by day, and then suddenly he was gone. How can I get over this? Can I forget about it?" Madam Dingxiang's voice suddenly became sharp. She stared at her and scolded her fiercely, "You haven't even married yet, you've never been pregnant or given birth, what do you know?"
Qian Deng curled the corners of her mouth. Her aunt had never raised a child in her life, but she was quite good at scolding others.
Seeing her expression frosty, Lady Dingxiang softened her tone, speaking from the heart, "Aunt is just sorry. It was a boy, and a family can't be without a man. We women don't even have the right to mourn our elders. Look at me, I'm lucky to have a son like Huaijiang. Without him, my family would have been wiped out, wouldn't it?"
So, are you planning to bring this son to eat up my extinct family?
"Thank you for your advice, auntie. I understand." Since they were not on the same page, Qiandeng winked at Daimao who was standing next to him.
Daimao understood and pretended to look at the sky outside. Just as he was about to find an excuse to help the county lady escape, a figure flashed at the door, and Yang Huaijiang came in with a face covered in bloodstains, smiling.
"Oh, my cousin is here too! That's perfect! I was planning to ask my mother to give you something." He handed a jewelry box to Qian Deng and said, "Last night, I thought about it and realized that I really offended my cousin last time, so I found a small gift to give to you. I hope you will forgive me and accept this kind gesture from me!"
Qiandeng glanced at the lewd smile on his face and knew that something must be wrong, but he blocked her next to Lady Dingxiang, opened the jewelry box, and pushed it in front of her, leaving her no room to dodge.
Forced to do so, she lowered her eyes and took a look at the contents of the box.
The box was lined with crimson silk satin, and on it was placed a set of silver jewelry, made into the shape of nine flower trees, with silver flowers clustered in bunches, inlaid with pearls, and finely carved, very gorgeous.
She felt that the jewelry was familiar at first glance, and then she thought that this kind of flower tree was exactly the style of palace flowers, similar to the nine-tree golden flower that the prince gave her.
It’s just that people didn’t dare to go beyond the regulations, so silver was used. But this level of fineness, coupled with the round pearls inlaid, made it quite valuable.
Lady Dingxiang, who was standing nearby, took a look and said with understanding, "This set of jewelry is truly beautiful! The county lady is in mourning, so silver flowers don't seem extravagant. Huaijiang's gift was very thoughtfully chosen."
Qian Deng raised her eyes, smiled, and said, "Thank you for your concern, cousin. However, it's not appropriate for men and women to touch each other. How can I, an unmarried girl, accept a gift from a man, especially jewelry?"
"Well, we're family, what's the big deal?" Lady Dingxiang lifted her sleeve slightly, revealing a gold bracelet on her wrist. "Look, this is a gift from your mother. She had it specially made for me because of my name."
Lady Dingxiang's name was Mei Xi. The gold bracelet on her wrist was made in the shape of a tangled plum branch, and the plum blossoms dotted on it were also made of pure gold. It was indeed specially made.
"Although my ex-husband was a goldsmith, he ran a small business and was a rough and tumble man. How could he have given me such a satisfying gold bracelet?" Lady Dingxiang raised her hand to help Yang Huaijiang pass the box back to her, smiling broadly. "Look at Huaijiang, he's quite considerate. Since my cousin has come to apologize sincerely, you, as his cousin, can't be rude to him."
"Yes, I hope you'll accept it, otherwise I, your cousin, will feel bad~"
Seeing the mother and son smiling in unison, Qian Deng felt annoyed. He immediately pushed the box that was approaching him away, not bothering to give them face. He squeezed out from their encirclement and said, "I appreciate my cousin's kindness, but I'm afraid accepting gold and silver jewelry will give people a reason to criticize me. It's really inconvenient."
Seeing her abandon them and walk out without looking back, Lady Dingxiang hurriedly caught up and tried to hold her back, but she saw Aunt Xuanji hurriedly coming from outside the courtyard. As soon as she saw Qiandeng, she said, "County Lady, Prince Guang and the Crown Prince have come to pay their respects to the Lady."
Upon hearing that it was the prince of the imperial court who had arrived, Lady Dingxiang dared not stop him and could only watch Qiandeng leave.
"Fine, then don't accept it." Yang Huaijiang curled his lips while holding the jewelry box and sneered, "I don't believe that if she can avoid the first day, she can also avoid the fifteenth day!"
Unlike Qiandeng's grandfather who was crowned king for his military merits, Prince Guang is the youngest son of the late emperor and the thirteenth brother of the current emperor, a genuine royal relative.
He had a good relationship with the Prince of Changhua. Now, due to changes in the Luoyang guards after the war, he was about to go to supervise the army and would not be able to make it to the funeral of Lady Qi, so he came here to pay his respects in advance.
Accompanying him was Li Zi, Prince Guang's fourth son. The young prince, now only seven years old, was beautiful and charming, yet possessed a very calm disposition. His large, clear eyes seemed deeper than those of his peers.
He respectfully followed Prince Guang to burn incense, and prayed devoutly at the funeral hall of Lady Qi, without any of the impetuousness that was typical of his age.
Aunt Xuanji handed him an orange, but he just looked at it in his hand without eating it.
Prince Guang said to Qian Deng, "This child has been particularly afraid of sour things since he was little, so he doesn't like to eat oranges."
"This is from Jiangnan. It should be quite sweet." Qian Deng took it and peeled it for him. He took a piece of flesh to try and said to Li Zi, "I've tasted it. It's not sour. You can eat it without worry."
Li Zicai nodded and took it. He looked at the orange and said, "The county lady looks like the Lady of Qi."
Qian Deng raised her eyebrows in surprise. Since she was a child, everyone said that her eyebrows and eyes were more like her father's, but no one had ever said that she looked particularly like her mother.
Li Zi said seriously, "Three years ago, when my father brought me to pay homage to the King of Changhua, Lady Qi peeled an orange for me to eat. She tasted the flesh first and told me it wasn't sour, so I didn't have to worry... And you peel an orange the same way: first, split it in half, then tear it into three pieces on each side, and finally, peel out a six-petal orange flower."
Qiandeng looked back at her mother's spirit tablet, tears welling up in her eyes.
Prince Guang silently stroked Li Zi's head, his expression somewhat gloomy.
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