Chapter 109 Things Have Changed
The bright sunshine lasted only a few days before the temperature dropped, and the sky became overcast and unpredictable again. Between the warm and cold spells, many people fell ill and were bedridden, including the second young lady. She was always domineering and unreasonable; after falling ill, her body became even more agitated and restless. If even a maidservant walked or spoke a little too loudly, she would berate her mercilessly, even kicking her out to stand in the courtyard.
In the depths of winter, when even a drop of water freezes instantly, even a strong man would find it unbearable to stand in the cold wind for an hour, let alone a delicate young maid. Therefore, in Shaohua Courtyard, all the maids and matrons remained silent, terrified of accidentally offending her.
After lunch, Chunliu attended to the second young lady in the inner room while she went to sleep. All the maids and nannies gathered in the warm pavilion, some doing needlework, others making knots. A brazier burned in the warm pavilion, and with so many people, it quickly became cozy and warm. Chunyun, her forehead beaded with sweat, took off her cotton-padded coat, looked into the inner room, and whispered, "Is the young lady still not asleep?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Chunliu lifted the curtain and came out, sighing with relief, "Finally, I slept soundly."
They exchanged glances and simultaneously let out a long sigh of relief.
One of the maids, Liangyue, whispered, "Doctor Xu said it's just a cold, and a few doses of medicine will do the trick. But it's been four days, and the Second Miss is still not better."
Another maid named Liangyu tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Liangyue, you don't know, the young lady has a heartache."
Liangyue shook her head, saying in disbelief, "How could our young lady have a heart ailment?"
"The fourth and fifth young ladies are already taken, but she, as the older sister, is still unmarried..."
Before she could finish speaking, Chunyun's expression changed, and she pretended to prick her with a needle. "Liangyu, how dare you say such things? If the Second Miss hears this, it won't just be a matter of you starving; she'll definitely skin you alive."
Liangyu, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), quickly jumped down, stuck out her tongue, and said, "Sister Chunyun, even if we don't say anything, aren't the other courtyards talking about it? When I went to the kitchen to get medicine for the Second Miss just now, I saw a group of people gathered there, and the topics they were talking about were much more interesting than ours."
Liangyue asked curiously, "What did they talk about?"
Chunliu was also curious, so she nudged Chunyun and said, "Don't scare her. Let her tell us. Anyway, the second young lady is asleep and won't wake up for at least half an hour."
Chunyun snorted and said no more, then lowered her head again to continue embroidering.
Liangyue scooted back onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and sat down, whispering, "I heard that the master is going to bring Aunt Lin back from the Red Leaf Nunnery. He's already sent a sedan chair..."
"Ah?" Liangyu said in surprise, "Then is the First Madam willing?"
Chunliu patted her on the head and said, "Silly girl, the First Madam is definitely not happy. Otherwise, why would she only go to receive the imperial decree today when she received it on the first day of the month? But what can she do even if she is not happy? Now that the Fourth Miss has been granted the title of Xiuhua by the Emperor, Aunt Lin is her own mother."
“Exactly.” Liangyue paused and said, “It’s really strange. Fourth Miss rarely leaves the house, so how did she catch the Emperor’s eye?”
“Who knows!” Chunliu said. “In short, those two girls in Liaoyuan are both quite strange.”
Liangyu said mysteriously, "That's right, I think these two girls are incompatible. If one gets better, the other will definitely go badly, and if one goes badly, the other will definitely get better."
Liangyue thought for a moment, then asked, puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"
"Look, how much the old lady doted on Fifth Miss a while ago! Fifth Miss was almost engaged to Young Master Gu. Tsk tsk tsk, the Duke of Dingguo only has one grandson, who is destined to inherit the title, so she would have been the future Duchess of Dingguo. But look what happened! Now she's going to become Prince Jin's concubine, and the Princess of Jin is her half-sister. No wonder the old lady gets so angry she almost vomits blood whenever she mentions it. And then there's Fourth Miss. Her mother was kicked out of the mansion a while ago, and she almost got married off to Zhejiang. But now she's become the Emperor's concubine, starting as a Xiuhua. What rank was she again?" She counted on her fingers, but she didn't really understand the ranks in the harem, and after a long time, she still couldn't figure it out.
Liangyu nodded repeatedly and said, "That's right, that's right. One is in the world, the other is in the underworld. I really can't understand why someone as smart as Fifth Miss would not want Young Master Gu, but instead want to become Prince Jin's concubine?"
"Do you think she wanted to?" Chunyun rolled her eyes at her, continuing to thread the needle. "I heard that Prince Jin took a liking to her and begged the Empress Dowager for her. Sigh, it's quite pitiful. Even the girls in our household, if they were chosen by Prince Jin, could only submit."
"In my opinion, she deserves it. Who told her to be so arrogant? She became a disciple of Master Ziying and went to the palace repeatedly. It's no wonder she ran into a ghost after walking the dark road so many times," Chunliu said gloatingly.
Liangyue blinked and said, "Actually, Prince Jin treats her quite well. Look, he sends imperial physicians to visit Miss Lan every day and also sends so many precious medicinal herbs."
Chunliu said dismissively, "Even if she's not bad, she's still a concubine. It's embarrassing to talk about. Our Ruan family has only had one daughter as a concubine in over a hundred years. Don't you know how many people outside are laughing at our family? I heard that because of this, the old lady and the wife of the Marquis of Dongping have fallen out, and Princess Huiwen is also very angry."
The old nanny who had been silent all along said, "Actually, it's all the same. Don't think that being an official's concubine makes you so special. Even the old lady sighs and laments all the time."
The maids looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Why is that?"
The old nanny said, "You don't understand. The inner palace is not a place for ordinary people. If the fourth young lady enters the palace and becomes prominent, our family will also enjoy wealth and honor. If she falls from grace, our family will also fall from grace."
The maids were still young and inexperienced; though they understood her words, they didn't truly grasp the situation. Liangyue said, "No matter what, Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss have found their partners, and I heard Third Miss is also getting engaged, but ours..." She pointed to the inner room, "...why is there no news at all?"
Chunyun glanced at her sideways and said, "How do you know there's no news? Did the First Madam report to you specifically? Marriage matters shouldn't be publicized before they're finalized. Recently, quite a few matchmakers have come to our mansion..." Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly heard a soft cough from the inner room. Her expression changed instantly. She threw down her embroidery frame, slipped on her shoes, and went into the inner room.
The second young lady had already entered and was bending over, coughing.
Chunyun quickly took the spittoon from under the bed, placed it on the footstool, and then helped the second young lady out, gently patting her back.
The second girl spat out a mouthful of phlegm and said with displeasure, "What are you whispering about outside?"
Chunyun chuckled awkwardly, picked up the tea from the bedside table, and handed it to her. "We were just chatting for a bit, did we wake you up, young lady?"
The second young lady snorted coldly, took a sip of tea to rinse her mouth, and then spat into the spittoon. She then lay back on the bed, staring at the hibiscus-patterned bed curtains for a long while before asking in a low voice, "Did they really send a sedan chair to fetch Consort Lin?"
“Yes…” Chunyun was so frightened that she could hardly speak, and she nodded with difficulty.
The second daughter didn't notice her mother's expression and stared blankly into thought for a while. No wonder her mother had been in such a hurry these days, never staying in her room for more than fifteen minutes before leaving. She had originally thought her mother was preparing for the fourth daughter's entry into the palace, but it turned out she was troubled.
"What's the date today?"
It's the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
"It's already the fourth day of the lunar new year?" The second daughter was slightly taken aback and said wistfully, "Time really flies, it's only been one day."
Chunyun was taken aback at first, then remembered that the Second Miss was referring to the day the Fourth Miss entered the palace—the sixth day of the twelfth month.
"Besides bringing Aunt Lin back, what else has happened these past two days?"
Chunyun carefully chose her words and said, "There's another matter. Yesterday, Master took the Third Young Master to formally become his apprentice. It's that great scholar that Master introduced a few days ago. Before, Madam always complained that his dowry was too expensive..."
"Very well, very well, now everyone's been promoted." The second young lady gritted her teeth, a hint of ferocity flashing in her eyes. "Just because you're in the palace doesn't mean you're all that great. You still don't know what to do. Half a year ago, Du Menghua was also initially granted the title of Shuyi, and now she's disappeared without a trace."
“What you say is true, young lady.”
The second daughter felt disgusted by her fearful appearance. Then, remembering how they had been gossiping about her marriage behind her back, a surge of anger ignited within her. She raised her hand and slapped her, shouting, "You all have the guts to gossip behind our master's back! All of you, get out here and stand in the courtyard for an hour!"
Chunyun quickly knelt down and said, "Please calm down, Miss. It was my fault for not keeping their mouths shut. It is right for you to punish us. But it is freezing cold. Standing outside for an hour might make us freeze. You are not fully recovered yet. If we also get sick, who will take care of you? Why don't you put it on your tab and let us stand there when you are better?"
If everyone gets sick, there really won't be anyone to take care of them. The second young lady's tone softened slightly: "You're smart enough to understand, so I'll remember this for now and punish you when I have time. If you do it again, the punishment will be doubled. Do you understand?"
"I remember it clearly, I remember it clearly."
Those inside the warm pavilion outside breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, exchanged glances, and all felt as if they had escaped death.
Then the second young lady said, "Find my brocade jacket."
"Does the young lady wish to get up?"
The second young lady snorted impatiently, followed by the rustling sound of clothes being put on inside the room. A moment later, the curtain was lifted, and the second young lady emerged fully dressed, giving everyone a fierce look before leading Xiuyun out of Shaohua Courtyard. When they reached the First Madam's room, she was talking to a group of stewardesses. Seeing her arrive, she quickly dismissed them, took the second young lady's hand, and led her to sit on the couch. Touching her forehead, she said, "Thank goodness, the fever has finally broken." She paused, then added, "Why are you up so soon? Don't let the wind make you sick again just as you're feeling better."
"Mother." The second young lady clung to the first madam's arm, nuzzling her cheek against hers, unusually vulnerable. "Am I particularly useless?"
"Why are you saying this out of the blue!"
"Little Four and Little Five..."
"Pah, pah, pah. How can you compare to them? You'll be wearing a bright red wedding dress, carried out of the main gate in a grand sedan chair with eight men and drums. They'll never have a chance. They won't even get to wear wedding dresses. To put it nicely, one's called a Xiuyi and the other a Cefei, but they're really just concubines." The First Madam patted her head and said, "My dear daughter, don't think like that. After I send these two girls off, I'll find you a good match."
The second daughter paused for a moment, then said, "Is Xiao Wu going out too?"
The First Madam nodded.
"She's not even fourteen yet."
“The Prince of Jin sends imperial physicians to treat your aunt every day, and the rumors outside are rife and awful. Your grandmother thought that since she was going to send her over anyway, she might as well send her over sooner to quell the gossip and also to annoy the Shen family.”
The second daughter suddenly understood, feeling extremely pleased. Even with Ruan Bi's intelligence, she not only ended up like this, but was also ultimately used by her grandmother.
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