Chu Mingzhu returned to her room, sat at her dressing table, and let her trusted head maid, Tao Hong, undo her hair, asking as she did so...
"Why haven't the people sent north returned yet?"
The green willow path where she washed her hands
"I heard that it often snows heavily in the north in winter, so the roads must be difficult to travel, which caused the delay."
In my humble opinion, she's just a village girl. Those four are household servants specially trained by the old general. Treating a village girl like that is a waste of their talents!
"Moreover, General Xiao and the princess have a long-standing relationship. I heard that the village girl was only bought by General Xiao during the drought when he went out to find water and also took care of the young marquis. To put it bluntly, she is just a servant. The princess doesn't need to take her to heart!"
Hearing this, Chu Mingzhu felt slightly relieved, but still said...
"That being said, the thought that Brother Xiao Yi lived under the same roof with that woman for half a year still makes me feel uneasy."
The two maids knew exactly what their mistress was thinking, so they could only coax her.
"Those four people have been gone for almost a month now. I reckon that eyesore is already buried by now!"
Chu Mingzhu nodded after listening, looked at her face in the mirror, and said, "Do you think that person is as beautiful as me?"
The person in the mirror had fair skin, willow-leaf eyebrows, and almond-shaped eyes. However, having experienced great ups and downs, she was now eager to regain her former glory, and her temper had become increasingly impatient. Sometimes she would frown, sometimes she would be irritable, and sometimes her willow-leaf eyebrows would stand up, adding a touch of fierceness to her otherwise beautiful face.
The two maids cautiously observed their master's expression and replied.
"How could that be? She's just a village girl. How can she be compared to Your Highness? When we go out on weekdays, the women we see in the streets are all plain and unremarkable, even if some of them are decent-looking. Aren't they all clumsy and poor? Let alone those village girls from the countryside!"
"That's right. The princess was born into wealth and privilege. You may not have seen her, but I knew about her when I was a child on the estate."
The common people live in poverty, and every household raises chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, and pigs, making the whole yard stink. The girls in these families have been working since they were little, cooking, tending the fire, feeding the pigs and chickens—they're worse off than even the maids in our household. With all that toil, how good-looking can they be? They probably can't even compare to our third-class maids!"
Chu Mingzhu recalled the common women and third-class maids she had seen on the street in the past, all of whom had a timid and servile air about them. She felt that Xie Yushu was no better, and that Xie Yushu might be dead by now. Finally, she went to sleep in peace.
It must be said that Chu Mingzhu was originally a pampered young lady. When she was born, her father, Chu Wei, had just been appointed as the General Who Pacifies the West, a first-rank official, enjoying immense prestige. Everyone who saw him had to bow down and kowtow!
As the youngest daughter of the General Who Pacifies the West, Chu Mingzhu was naturally pampered and spoiled.
However, Chu Mingzhu also had an older sister named Chu Minghui, who was also a beautiful woman with both beauty and intelligence. She was selected as a concubine as soon as she turned sixteen and gave birth to a son, who became the emperor's third prince.
As the General Who Pacifies the West achieved numerous military exploits, his prestige in the capital grew, and within three to five years, he had established a faction of his own in the court.
As the man rose in rank, his ambitions grew, and gradually he became less respectful to the emperor. Perhaps this aroused the emperor's suspicion, for suddenly someone impeached him for a series of crimes, including forcibly seizing land from the people on the border, embezzling military pay, condoning his subordinates to abduct women, and forming cliques in the court.
The Chu family was already in a state of high alert at this time.
Coincidentally, a newborn prince died in the palace. A series of evidence pointed to Consort Chu. What was even more deadly was that during the search, a witch doll with nine embroidery needles stuck in it and the Emperor's birth date and time written on it was found under the Consort's bed. Moreover, the head maid of the Consort took the initiative to identify that the needlework on the witch doll was made by the General's wife!
Using witchcraft to harm others has always been a capital offense, let alone the fact that the birth date and time on this doll are those of the Emperor. This is treason, and according to the law, the entire family should be executed!
In a fit of rage, the Emperor imprisoned the entire Chu family in the Imperial Prison, stripped the Consort of her title, and confined her to the Cold Palace!
When Chu Wei suffered misfortune, he secretly asked someone to plead for him, but the officials who pleaded for him were either demoted or reprimanded. After waiting for four or five days, Chu Wei gave up hope.
He admitted to all the other charges, but the witchcraft doll had nothing to do with him. He believed that his eldest daughter would never make such a thing, but it just appeared!
Chu Wei then realized that this was a case of the ruler ordering his subject to die!
Having come to terms with it and resigned themselves to their fate, Chu Wei and his wife committed suicide in the imperial prison to protect their children.
Upon hearing the news, the Emperor sighed deeply.
"Chu Qing is so foolish!"
"Enough! Considering his life of military service, protecting his country, his children shall be spared the death penalty. The men shall be exiled to Youzhou, and the women shall be sent to the Imperial Laundry!"
The once mighty tree has fallen in an instant. In the end, all the men of the Chu family were killed by bandits during their exile, leaving only Chu Jinyu, who was rescued by Xiao Yi, who was secretly protecting her!
Chu Mingzhu, on the other hand, was replaced by her wet nurse with her own daughter and secretly raised in a small town a hundred miles away from the capital.
The Chu family has fallen into decline, and its military power has been taken back by the emperor.
But things took such a dramatic turn.
Three years later, Consort Chu, who had been imprisoned in the cold palace, regained favor with a single zither performance and became Consort Chu. She also gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl!
Just then, the twins were born, and the emperor's long-standing cough was cured without any medicine!
The Imperial Observatory calculated that the twins would bring good fortune to their father, which greatly pleased the Emperor. He wanted to promote Consort Chu to the rank of Imperial Noble Consort. However, Consort Chu said that the matter of the witchcraft dolls was a frame-up, and that someone must have deceived the Emperor. She asked the Emperor to investigate thoroughly.
The final result was that a scapegoat was found and sentenced to exile. Even so, Chu Wei's forming of cliques and engaging in private activities violated the Emperor's taboo. However, since Consort Chu had given birth to twins, in order to compensate her, the Emperor made an exception and bestowed the title of Princess Rong'an upon Chu Mingzhu, who was still alive.
Chu Jinyu was still young and could not hold military power, which suited the Emperor's wishes. So he was granted the title of Marquis of Anle. Moreover, the title of Princess Rong'an and Marquis of Anle were only nominal, without any fiefdom. They could only receive a salary every year. Now that military power had been taken over and the court was stable, it was just right to fulfill the Emperor's good reputation for benevolence.
This time, the Western Barbarians captured two cities in the western border. Xiao Yi, originally a third-rank Mingwei General under Chu Wei, was very popular with the army. Now that the Chu family has been exonerated, in order to win over the army, Xiao Yi was reinstated and rushed to the west to meet the enemy!
It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Chu Mingzhu's title of princess is merely nominal. She even served as a servant in the Imperial Laundry. Although she has a favored concubine sister, it's uncertain whether marrying her will bring any benefits. It's certain that she'll be categorized as part of the Third Prince's faction.
The Emperor is only in his early fifties and in good health. It is too early for him to take sides, so even the sons of officials of the third or fourth rank do not deign to marry her, let alone those from higher-ranking families.
The best husband she could get was Xiao Yi, with whom she had some affection!
So when he heard that Xiao Yi had already married a wife in the countryside, he immediately sent people to abduct and kill Xie Yushu.
Xie Yushu was simply a wronged soul who suffered an undeserved calamity!
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