Chapter 470 Sharp Contrast

How could Mrs. Wei not know? During the New Year, she went to the palace to pay respects to the Empress together with the ladies from other courts, and was also questioned by the Empress alone. She knew how amiable the Empress was.

But, that is the palace after all, Xingxing will go there alone...

She was really worried.

Xing Xing took the initiative to comfort Grandma Wei: "Grandma, don't worry, His Majesty and His Majesty have always been very kind to our family, I'm sure I'll be fine."

She felt a little embarrassed, "I didn't expect that just donating some silver would actually alarm the Empress..."

The ladies who came to visit the Yu family saw that the Yu family members didn't seem to care about the ten thousand taels of silver when they were talking to Xingxing. They got a glimpse of the Yu family's financial strength and couldn't help but gasp.

After they left the Yu family, the daughter of the Yu family donated 10,000 taels to the charity privately. The matter was not made public, but the emperor accidentally learned about it and spread it out.

Suddenly, those in the capital who had praised Yu Mingzhu for giving away porridge changed their tune and began to praise Xingxing.

In particular, some people were jealous of Yu Mingzhu being praised by the emperor, and even said some sour words that Yu Mingzhu was seeking fame and reputation, and that distributing porridge was just to gain a good reputation. In the eyes of these people, Xingxing's secret donation of 10,000 taels to the charity hall but never making it public formed a very sharp contrast with Yu Mingzhu.

These naturally reached Yu Mingzhu's ears, and she immediately cried in Jiao's arms: "Mom, I didn't. I didn't want to gain fame, I just saw that those disaster victims were too pitiful, and wanted to do something for them..."

Jiao was so distressed that her eyes were red. She comforted Yu Mingzhu again and again: "Zhuzhu, mother knows you. Those people outside don't know who you are at all. They are just jealous of you being praised by the emperor, so they deliberately slander you."

Yu Mingzhu cried uncontrollably in Jiao's arms. Jiao was so distressed that she opened the storeroom to make her daughter smile and took out many of her dowry jewelry: "Others may not know, but mother knows who Zhuzhu is. These jewelry are from mother to reward our Zhuzhu for doing good deeds."

Yu Mingzhu said with tears in her eyes: "Mom, you still love me the most."

Jiao caressed Yu Mingzhu's cheek with pity: "You are my daughter. If I don't love you, who will I love?"

When Yu Chongjie and his brothers found out, they bought some clothes and jewelry for Yu Mingzhu to comfort her.

Before Xingxing entered the palace, Yu Mingzhu had already collected a lot of jewelry.

When the news reached the bedridden eldest young lady, Madam Mao, her pale face turned pale with sorrow and she remained silent.

On the contrary, the maidservant who came with Mao was so angry that she stood in front of Mao's sickbed and wiped her tears, "This is too much! Young lady, you have been married for three years and have always had difficulty in having children. You finally got pregnant with this baby, but... the Duke's Mansion said that they were giving out porridge to pray for your child, but in the end, all the fame fell on the eldest young lady."

Mao's face turned pale, and she said in a low voice: "Don't talk about it, it was my fault. I didn't know you were pregnant, otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to the Lantern Festival, and I wouldn't have..."

The maidservant felt even more aggrieved: "But as your husband, it is only natural for me to accompany you to see the lanterns. If I had protected you well at that time..."

"That's enough." Mao's face became more and more gloomy, and she whispered to stop him, "Mingzhu is your husband's sister, and he should love her. When I was still a maid, didn't your elder brother love me just as much?"

The more Mao said this, the more the maidservant felt sorry for her. She burst into tears and said, "Miss!"

Mao shook her head and closed her eyes.

This was the only way she could comfort herself.

But as soon as she closed her eyes, she remembered the Lantern Festival that day, when the lanterns were bright and beautiful. But her husband only cared about his biological sister, and she was struggling alone in the crowd, looking at their backs, wanting to shout, but unable to make a sound.

Later, they didn't even notice how uncomfortable she was, and it was the strange little girl who discovered her abnormality.

But by then, it was too late...

Mao didn't want to think further, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Just at this moment the maid outside came to report that the eldest lady had arrived.

Mao quickly took a handkerchief to wipe her face and asked someone to invite Yu Mingzhu in.

Yu Mingzhu came in with her maid, who was holding an exquisite box in her arms.

"Sister-in-law, I came to see you." Yu Mingzhu sat down next to Mao's bed with red eyes, "Are you feeling better? A few days ago, my elder brother said that sister-in-law had been resting in bed, so I didn't come to disturb her. Now I think sister-in-law should be feeling better, so I dare to come to visit her."

Mao leaned back on the pillow, forced a smile, and nodded: "I am much better now, thank you for your concern."

Yu Mingzhu said with red eyes: "Sister-in-law, what are you talking about? If I had been more careful that night, it wouldn't have happened..."

She motioned to the maid following behind her to present the brocade box in her hand.

"Sister-in-law, these are some of the jewelry I picked out that I really like. I came here to apologize to you sincerely. Please forgive me and don't be estranged from me."

Mao forced a smile on her pale face: "Mingzhu, you are too polite. Since these are the jewellery you really like, how can I, as your sister-in-law, take them away from you? You can take them back."

Yu Mingzhu held Mao's hand and said sincerely, "Sister-in-law, why are you so polite to me? Are you worried that these are old jewelry? No, don't worry, they are all new. Some are just given to me by my mother, and some are just given to me by my eldest brother, second brother, and third brother. I picked out all the good-looking ones, and I guessed that you would like them, so I gave them to you."

Mao had just spoken for a long time and now felt tired. She was drowsy and exchanged pleasantries with Yu Mingzhu, but in the end she still failed to convince Yu Mingzhu and could only let Yu Mingzhu put the exquisite box on the small table in front of Mao's bed.

Yu Mingzhu said obediently: "I see that sister-in-law doesn't look very well. Maybe she is tired. Sister-in-law, please take a rest quickly. I won't disturb you anymore."

As Yu Mingzhu and her maid left, Mao's maid muttered, "I want to see what kind of jewelry the young lady is holding."

Mao's maidservant opened the jewelry box, but after just one glance, Mao's already pale face turned even more pale.

The jewelry in the box was very beautiful, but she had seen one of the pearl hairpins on the desk in Yu Chongjie's study.

She had always liked pearls, and those pearls were plump and beautiful. When she saw the pearl hairpin by chance, she was secretly delighted, thinking that it was a gift from Yu Chongjie.

However, before she received the hairpin, the Lantern Festival incident occurred.

But Mao didn't expect to see it in Yu Mingzhu's jewelry box.

Mao's whole body trembled slightly.

Just at this moment, Yu Chongjie came back from his duty.

When he came to visit Mao, he saw the jewelry box placed in front of her bed and the glittering pearl hairpin at a glance.