Chapter 22 Mu Xiu Returns Home
On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, fine snow flakes floated in the sky, covering the solemn Weiyuan Marquis Mansion with a layer of plain silver.
An inconspicuous blue wool carriage rolled over the light snow and stopped in front of the side door of the Marquis's mansion.
The curtain of the car was opened, and Cui Xiao, wearing a brand new indigo brocade robe and a black sable fur cloak, jumped out of the car nimbly, with a relaxed smile of returning home on his handsome face.
Behind him came a young eunuch with a white face and no beard, about thirteen or fourteen years old, dressed in the clothes of a palace eunuch. He stood solemnly with his hands hanging down, his eyebrows lowered, and looked extremely respectful.
"The young master is back!"
The concierge had already received the news and came forward with a smile on his face. When his eyes swept over the young eunuch, he paused slightly, then his smile became even wider, revealing a cautious
"Madam has been waiting for you! Please come in!"
Cui Xiao nodded and said to the young eunuch gently
"Eunuch Xiao Shunzi, you've had a hard time along the way. Come with me."
The young eunuch Xiao Shunzi bowed quickly
"My Lord, I am sorry for the trouble. I am following the orders of Eunuch Fu'an to wait on you back to your residence. I dare not complain about the hard work."
His voice was clear, with the tactfulness typical of someone in the palace, but his eyes shrewdly swept across the door lintel of the Marquis's mansion, secretly noting down what he saw and heard.
Cui Xiao knew it very well.
Eunuch Fu'an was the emperor's confidant, so he sent a young eunuch to follow him. Ostensibly to serve him, but in reality, he was like a pair of eyes, providing both protection and observation.
The emperor was really interested in him, the son of Weiyuan Marquis.
This "favor" is both a talisman and a sword hanging over their heads for him and the Marquis's Mansion.
Just as he walked around the screen wall and entered the second gate, a figure wearing an autumn-colored brocade jacket with lotus pattern and a silver fox fur coat rushed over like a gust of wind!
With a heavy voice of crying and infinite longing, the Marquis's wife, Xiao Zhou, hugged her son tightly in her arms. The force was so great that Cui Xiao staggered.
She didn't care about her manners, she held Cui Xiao's face with both hands, and looked at him carefully from top to bottom, left to right, tears rolling down her face like beads that had broken off the string.
"My son! You're finally back! Let me take a good look at you! You've lost weight! Look at your face, it's so pointed!
Is the food in the palace not good? Can't sleep well? How does the Third Prince treat you? Your Majesty..."
A series of questions came like a machine gun, carrying with them the anxiety and heartache unique to a mother.
Cui Xiao was almost unable to breathe in his mother's embrace. The familiar fragrance of his mother lingered on his nose. Listening to her nagging concern, his heart was instantly filled with a huge warmth.
He patted his mother's back gently with his backhand, his voice full of smile and helplessness.
"Mother! My son is fine! He's not thin at all! The palace kitchen has so many delicious things! The Third Prince treats me like a good friend, and His Majesty also appreciates my son. Please stop crying, there are so many people watching us!"
Only then did Xiao Zhou realize her loss of composure and hurriedly wiped her tears with a handkerchief, but she still held her son's hand tightly and refused to let go.
She looked at the young eunuch in palace attire behind Cui Xiao, her eyes instantly sharp, filled with scrutiny and a hint of subtle vigilance.
Cui Xiao quickly introduced: "Mother, this is the young eunuch Xiao Shunzi who was sent by eunuch Fu'an to serve my son."
Xiao Shunzi was so smart that he immediately stepped forward and bowed politely.
"Your servant, Xiao Shunzi, pays respects to the Marquis' wife!"
The tears on her face had not yet dried, but she had already put on the graceful and dignified demeanor of a Marquis's mistress. She nodded slightly to Xiao Shunzi, her voice gentle but with unquestionable majesty.
"Thank you, Eunuch Fu'an, for your concern, and thank you, Eunuch Xiao Shunzi, for making this trip."
She turned around and told the maid beside her
"Chunlan, take eunuch Xiao Shunzi to the warm room in the west wing to rest. Good tea and snacks will be served to him. Don't neglect him."
"Yes, ma'am."
Chunlan responded and respectfully made a "please" gesture to Xiao Shunzi.
Xiao Shunzi quickly bowed again before following Chunlan. The servants in the Marquis' Mansion looked at Cui Xiao with even more awe—even the chief eunuch in the palace thought so highly of the Crown Prince!
Xiao Zhou held Cui Xiao's hand and walked all the way to the main courtyard, still muttering
"Let me take a closer look! Look at your hands, they're cold! Come inside and have a bowl of hot soup to warm them up! I personally made you some ginseng chicken soup, simmering it all morning..."
She didn't give her son a chance to interrupt, as if she wanted to pour out all the thoughts and worries that had accumulated over the past few months at this moment.
The mother and son entered the warm room in the main courtyard and dismissed their attendants.
The steaming hot ginseng chicken soup was served, filling the air with fragrance.
Xiao Zhou personally served the soup to her son, and only when she saw him drink it in big gulps did the smile on her face truly spread.
She asked in detail about the daily life in the palace, no matter how big or small, and Cui Xiao patiently picked out interesting stories to tell her, which made his mother smile.
The meal was a joyful and warm one.
The person in Yanshou Hall seemed to have been deliberately forgotten in a corner, and no one mentioned him. Xiao Zhou didn't ask, and Cui Xiao didn't say anything.
The mother and son tacitly maintain this rare warmth.
However, this warmth is like the warm sunshine on ice and snow, and is ultimately short-lived.
There was a dead atmosphere in Yanshou Hall.
The strong smell of medicine mixed with sandalwood and stale air lingered.
Old Madam Zhou was lying on a kang covered with a thick brocade mattress, and her body was covered with a heavy brocade quilt. Her withered old face was slightly crooked due to a stroke, and her turbid eyes were filled with resentment and deep hatred.
Her skinny fingers were digging into the quilt tightly, and a strange hoarse sound came from her throat.
"That...that little bastard...is back?"
She asked in an incoherent hiss, saliva flowing uncontrollably from the corners of her crooked mouth.
Cui Baiyu, who was standing by and also had a mean look on his face, quickly wiped his mother's face with a handkerchief, with a fake smile on his face.
"Mother, calm down. You're back! You're so arrogant, and you even brought a little eunuch from the palace with you. You look so majestic!"
"You don't even care about your grandmother. It's already afternoon and I haven't seen a single trace of you! You are truly disobedient and unfilial to the extreme!"
“Huh…huh…”
Mrs. Zhou was so angry that she was shaking all over, and her cloudy old eyes were almost bulging out.
"Unfilial... disobedient... you stole... you stole Jun'er's... position... you're making me... you're making me sick... you little bastard!"
Cui Baiyu's eyes rolled around, and he leaned close to his mother's ear, speaking in a malicious voice that incited
"Mother, please don't get yourself sick from anger. If he doesn't come, can't we still 'invite' him? You are the elder, the old lord of this mansion! How dare he not come to pay his respects?
If this gets out, he'll be drowned in spit! Let that little eunuch in the palace see what kind of person our Weiyuan Marquis's prince is! "
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