Chapter 51 The Fan Family Suffers In mid-July, Cheng Qianyue had a good, satisfying time...
In mid-July, Cheng Qianyue took a long, refreshing bath and finished her postpartum confinement. A few days later, it was the auspicious day for her investiture as Crown Princess. Lady Li Jia and Lady Lin Jia from the Eastern Palace, dressed in auspicious robes, left the Xiefang Palace together, knelt before the Jingyun Gate to receive the imperial decree, then returned to the Xiefang Palace to pay their respects to the Crown Princess. After a banquet in the main courtyard, the entire process was completed.
Back in the west front courtyard, every servant there came forward to bow to her, addressing her as "Master Cheng." Now that she was the Crown Princess, she could finally address her as "Master" properly. After bestowing gifts upon everyone in the courtyard, she hurriedly brought the Third Prince over in her arms.
When the little prince was first born, he was so wrinkled and ugly that even Cheng Qianyue, his own mother, couldn't bring herself to say he was good-looking. But after a month, the child had grown up and was much cuter than before.
The third prince had just finished nursing and was awake, his big, dark eyes staring at her. Cheng Qianyue's maternal love began to overflow. She gently took his little hand and teased him, muttering softly as she did so, "I wonder where your father is. He probably won't even recognize you when he comes back."
The Third Prince stared intently at her, his eyes darting around. After a while, he made a smacking sound and then gulped something down. Cheng Qianyue just looked at him and then burst into laughter.
Compared to the peaceful and joyful days in the west front courtyard, the days in the main back courtyard were truly terrible for Madam Fan.
That morning, the eunuch brought back the food. Biluo took the food box and went into the room to bring up the porridge and steamed buns inside. But as soon as she touched them, she felt something was wrong.
Everything in here is cold!
Noticing that Biluo's expression was off, Madam Fan frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
Biluo stammered in disbelief, "Princess, please feel it. Why are the porridge and steamed buns in the food box cold?"
That can't be right.
Madam Fan touched the porridge with a skeptical hand, and it was indeed cold. She picked up the porridge pot and stirred it with a spoon, finding ice crystals mixed in. She asked doubtfully, "Could it be that the kitchen does this because it's too hot in the summer?"
Biluo felt uneasy. She wondered if someone was trying to punish their princess, but then she thought, "Princess Fan hasn't offended anyone, has she?" For a moment, she was unsure.
Fan Gege said, "Never mind, there's a tea stove anyway, let's take it over and warm it up. As for the steamed buns, we don't need to, they can still be eaten cold."
Biluo said "yes" softly and hurriedly carried the porridge jar to the teahouse in the north side room.
If it were just breakfast, that would be one thing, but the food brought by the eunuchs for lunch and dinner was also cold. The plates were icy cold, as if they had been taken from an ice cellar, and the oil in the dishes had solidified into white clumps, making them look ugly and greasy. Even the large bowl of soup was covered with what looked like snow, and when you stirred it with a spoon, you still found small pieces of ice mixed in.
When Lady Fan saw this, she understood immediately. Someone was taking advantage of the Crown Prince's absence to torment her! She was immediately thrown into panic because she didn't know who was trying to punish her like this.
Biluo had already picked out a few dishes and taken them to the side room. After heating them up in the tea stove, she brought them back up. With a bitter face, she said, "Princess, please eat first. I'll take the rest to the tea stove to heat up again."
Madam Fan nodded heavily, then spat out a bite of food she had just put in her mouth. The food was so salty it tasted bitter. She tried each dish one by one, even the pastries and dumplings. The result was that, apart from the white rice, everything else was either too salty or too sweet, and she couldn't eat it without rinsing it in water.
After tasting all the food, Fan's face went numb. She stared at the food, completely losing her appetite, her heart sinking into an abyss.
The next day, Biluo personally led a group to the imperial kitchen to collect the food. Upon arriving at the kitchen, she first sought out Eunuch He. This Eunuch He had previously served in the Prince's kitchen. Knowing that the Emperor intended to renovate the Eastern Palace kitchen for the Crown Prince, he immediately used his connections and bribed officials to become the head eunuch of the Eastern Palace kitchen.
Upon hearing that this was a maidservant from Consort Fan's side, Eunuch He knew her purpose. He did not accept the silver she offered, but frowned and said, "Miss Biluo, this matter is not easy to handle."
Biluo thought he was complaining about the small amount of silver, and although she was furious inside, she kept putting on a friendly face and kept pushing the silver into his arms, saying, "Eunuch He, our princess has a weak stomach and cannot tolerate cold food. Please take care of our princess for the sake of the silver. If our princess eats well after the evening meal is delivered, there will be a reward for you."
Eunuch He sighed and said, "Miss Biluo, Consort Fan is, after all, a mistress of the Xiefang Palace. How could I, as the head of the kitchen, dare to neglect her? But this matter..." He sighed again and continued, "I really dare not do it."
Biluo also lost her temper, frowning and saying, "What do you mean by that, Father-in-law?"
Eunuch He lowered his eyes and pointed upwards with a cryptic expression. “When the master gives an order, the servants have to do it. We have no choice.” After saying that, he ordered the eunuch in charge of serving meals to bring over Consort Fan’s food box and personally handed it to Biluo. He lowered his voice and said, “We servants are just following orders. Miss Biluo, please go ahead.”
Biluo wouldn't leave without accomplishing her task.
Eunuch He had no choice but to leave her there, as he couldn't force her to go. Just then, people from other courtyards came to collect their meals, and Eunuch He hurriedly went to greet them, saying earnestly, "Master Li's food box is here. The kitchen has recently prepared some new pickled vegetables; I wonder if they suit Master Li's taste."
Seeing how attentive he was to the person serving food in the side courtyard, Biluo gritted her teeth in resentment. Then, seeing the eunuch serving food in the west back courtyard giving her a sidelong glance, she angrily turned and left the kitchen.
After seeing off the eunuchs who came to fetch the meal, Eunuch He turned around and saw that the spot where Biluo had been standing was deserted. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
A young eunuch in charge of dishes and utensils walked over and said, "Master, why are you sighing all of a sudden?"
Eunuch He shook his head, then raised one eyebrow and asked, "Have you completed all the tasks I assigned you?"
"It's all settled, all settled." The little eunuch hurriedly replied, "I told Granny Shuang about it first thing this morning."
Eunuch He nodded, thinking to himself, "I wonder if the Crown Princess will intervene if she finds out. If she does, then Consort Fan will still have a good life. If she doesn't, well, then Consort Fan is just unlucky."
Biluo stormed back to Princess Fan's residence, took the food out of the food box, and sure enough, it was still cold and empty. With a worried expression, she laid the food out, repeating He Eunuch's words in detail as she did so, finally asking, "Princess, what are we going to do?"
With each word Biluo spoke, Madam Fan's heart sank further. The kitchen staff wouldn't even accept the money, implying it was all orders from above. What was she to do?
Fan was so frightened that tears streamed down her face.
In the Xiefang Palace, everyone except the maids and eunuchs was of higher status than her. She didn't know who was going to torment her; upon closer thought, it seemed anyone could be the culprit. For example, the Crown Princess—after her failed attempt to curry favor with Consort Cheng, she had even planned to serve the Crown Princess a meal, but the Crown Princess said it wasn't necessary and then wouldn't let her into the main courtyard again. What if the Crown Princess held a grudge against her? Or perhaps it was Consort Cheng, who resented her for her previous underhanded attempts to steal her favor?
Just thinking about it made Madam Fan tremble with fear, as if the other masters were all trying to harm her.
Biluo was still saying, "Why don't you go and tell the Crown Princess, Princess?"
Madam Fan unconsciously clenched her fists and immediately said, "No, no way." She needed to know who was torturing her like this. If it really was the Crown Princess, and she tore off this fig leaf, she would have no place to stand in the Xiefang Palace.
She took a deep breath and said, "Pour me a bowl of hot water." After the boiling water was brought over, she washed and rinsed the vegetables and ate them bite by bite.
Madam Fan thought that if she ate this kind of food for a while to vent her anger on her superiors, and then apologized to each family one by one, perhaps things would be fine.
This went on for almost a month, and Madam Fan was so sick of eating boiled vegetables that she was about to vomit. She thought that since she was in such a state, the higher-ups should have calmed down by now. So, she got ready early in the morning and headed towards the main courtyard, but when she arrived at the gate, she was stopped by Granny Shuang.
Madam Fan pleaded, "Granny, I've come to pay my respects to the Crown Princess."
Granny Shuang, however, said with a stern face, "Your Highness has come at an inopportune time. The Crown Princess is picking Buddha beans and is not receiving guests."
Not daring to force her way in, Madam Fan cautiously said, "It was my bad timing. I just feel really bad that I haven't been able to serve the Crown Princess for so many days. If the Crown Princess asks, I'd be grateful if you could say a few good words for me." As she said this, she took off a jade bracelet from her wrist and put it in Granny Shuang's hand.
Granny Shuang didn't respond, and said in a deep voice, "What you're saying, Princess, is completely unreasonable. Could it be that you did something wrong before that's why this old servant is speaking up for you?"
Madam Fan blushed with shame at the pointed reproach and said in a low voice, "Granny, I haven't been in Xiefang Palace for long. If I have done anything wrong and offended the Crown Princess, please forgive me..."
Before she could finish speaking, Granny Shuang retorted, "What you're saying is even more unreasonable. The Crown Princess is kind and never makes things difficult for her subordinates. If you have truly offended anyone, it certainly isn't our mistress."
"Yes," Madam Fan said sheepishly, curtsied, and ran inside in shame.
After returning home, Madam Fan carefully considered every word of Granny Shuang's words and concluded that the one who would punish her might not be the Crown Princess, but rather the Crown Princess who might know but choose not to interfere. She thought for a long time and wondered if she should go to Crown Princess Cheng again to pay her respects and apologize.
After lunch, Madam Fan went to Cheng Qianyue's place again. Although Cheng Qianyue didn't know what she wanted, she couldn't very well turn her away since she was already at the door, so she invited her in. Madam Fan had just been turned away once, so she was immediately grateful to be allowed in. Before she could even sit down, she apologized to Cheng Qianyue.
Cheng Qianyue was completely baffled. She felt that Fan Gege seemed a bit reckless. It was already abrupt for her to come over and show goodwill to her before, and it made even more sense for her to come over and apologize to her now.
With red eyes, Madam Fan said softly, "I misunderstood before, please don't hold it against me."
Seeing how pitiful she looked, Cheng Qianyue said, "I know, I understand, but you didn't need to come all this way to say these things. There's no good reason for you to apologize."
With a grateful look on her face, Madam Fan asked, "Really?"
Cheng Qianyue nodded and said, "Really, don't worry." In ancient times, it was perfectly normal for wives and concubines to compete for the emperor's favor. Although her heart wasn't as vast as the ocean, she wouldn't trip up others for something that hadn't even been established yet. She only cared about one thing: she didn't care if others were jealous or used underhanded tactics, as long as they didn't involve her.
Seeing that Cheng Qianyue didn't seem to be lying, Madam Fan was relieved and left after showering her with kind words. However, when the dinner was served that evening, it was the same as before. Madam Fan's heart sank. What was she supposed to do?
At this moment, Liu, who lived across the hall, watched as Fan's maid carried the food inside, and then let out a sigh of relief. What a fool! She didn't even know who she had offended! To be honest, seeing Fan like this, she actually felt a little sorry for her.
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