Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, Hongchang had no choice but to comply and apologize to the second young master in public.
Hongchang was hoping that Hongli would bow down to him, but after this whole mess, he ended up losing face. It's truly retribution!
If Hongchang hadn't caused all this trouble, she wouldn't have turned back. Now that things have come to this, there's no point in discussing it further. Regardless, Hongli has still been kind to her. Su Yushan gestured for Changyue to give Li Yu the reward money, and then said to him:
"Please trouble Eunuch Li to convey my thanks to Fourth Master."
Passing on a message wasn't difficult, but Li Yu still wanted to offer a word of advice: "In my humble opinion, it would be more appropriate for Your Highness to express your gratitude personally."
Without Hongli's intervention, Jiafeng would have faced imprisonment. Expressing gratitude is necessary, but the current situation is rather awkward.
"Fourth Master has never come to Huatang Pavilion. I wanted to thank him but didn't have the chance."
Li Yu smiled and said, "Since Fourth Master isn't here, you can go to the study to find him!"
Considering the rules of the household, Su Yushan hesitated, "This... isn't it against the rules? I'm just a maid; if he doesn't come, I can't go looking for him on my own."
"Rules vary from person to person. How do you know the Fourth Prince won't see you if you don't go? He's not in his study right now, but he should be there this afternoon. You should prepare in advance, Su Gege."
He left it at that, assuming that Su Gege should understand what to do.
Before leaving, Li Yu said again, "Forgive me for saying one more thing, but the lives of the women in the inner quarters depend entirely on the Fourth Prince's favor and their children. After this incident, you should understand how important it is to have children to rely on. Soon you will be a mother, so you should start planning for your own and your child's future."
Su Yushan deeply understood Li Yu's words.
From the moment she decided to return to Beijing, she knew clearly that she could never escape this cage in her entire life.
Hongli might be careless once, but he would never give her a second chance to escape. Besides, even if she had a chance to escape, what then? Her family was still here; they were her concerns and her ties. In the end, if something happened to her family, she would still have to seek Hongli's help. In this world, without power, one can hardly move an inch.
As Li Yu said, she could be reckless in the past, but now that she has a child and a family behind her, she can no longer act willfully and must learn to plan.
With favor and children, she could protect those she wanted to protect. But her resentment with Hongli ran too deep, and it was probably impossible to expect him to dote on her as before. At the very least, she couldn't let him hate her. How to maintain a seemingly harmonious relationship with him was what she should consider most.
After lunch, Su Yushan did not take a nap, but went to the private kitchen to prepare chicken soup for Hongli.
Chang Yue said that she was not feeling well and did not need to do it herself. She told the servants to make the soup and she would just send it over. However, Su Yushan felt that if she was going to express her gratitude, she should do it sincerely. Hongli was very picky. If she asked someone else to do it and then lied that she made it, he would be able to tell that something was wrong after taking a spoonful.
“Only when the body is weak should one move around properly. Lying in bed all day will only make the bones more and more limp.” Su Yushan insisted on making the soup herself, and Chang Yue could not stop her. She could only let her go and go with her mistress to the small kitchen to help.
After an hour of preparation, the soup was finally ready. Changyue ladled the fragrant chicken soup into a bowl and placed it in a food box.
Worried that her clothes would get stained with cooking oil, Su Yushan changed into a blue fox fur cloak before the two of them went to the study together.
As Li Yu said, Hongli was indeed inside at the moment, but when he heard that Su Yushan was requesting an audience, he did not give in. "What is she doing here? Can't you see that I'm busy?"
Why wouldn't the master see Princess Su? Li Yu never expected this! Helpless, he could only apologize from outside, "Princess, the master is currently busy with state affairs. Would you please wait a moment?"
Since she had come to express her gratitude, it wouldn't hurt to wait a little longer, so Su Yushan stood outside the door and waited quietly.
Chang Yue carried the heavy food box, which inevitably strained her hands, but since it was food for the Fourth Master, she dared not put it on the ground and could only keep carrying it.
She was just a maid, so she didn't mind being tired, but she was worried that the princess might be upset if she was stopped.
In reality, Su Yushan was not affected at all, because she knew very well that Hongli no longer loved her and therefore did not care about her feelings. Now, she and Hongli were just a prince and a maid. The prince asked her to wait, so she should wait without any complaints.
After thinking it through, she felt no more upset. She could just stand there! Anyway, she was pregnant and didn't need to wear high heels. Wearing flat embroidered shoes wasn't tiring. It was just that occasionally a gust of north wind would blow, making her face and hands feel cold and painful.
Su Yushan wasn't worried, but Li Yu was! He had invited the person, but now Fourth Master wouldn't let him in. What was he going to do?
The master said he was busy, but in reality he wasn't writing any memorials; he was just reading. Judging from this situation, it was clearly a deliberate attempt to give Su Gege a hard time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
