Trip to the Capital (Part 3)
When Wang Pan'er was led into the dining hall by Mu Chuan, the eldest princess was sitting in the main seat.
Compared to when she left Jinzhou, the princess had become much plumper, and she even had a hint of a bodhisattva-like appearance, dignified and peaceful.
Besides the seated princess, there was a young girl of similar age to Wang Xiaoyao, who looked seven or eight parts like Mu Chuan, sitting to the right of the princess. Behind her stood a nanny who was about fifty years old.
The girl's chubby cheeks resembled those of a little pufferfish, and she looked unhappy.
Wang Pan'er couldn't help but glance at her a few more times, then respectfully greeted the Princess: "Greetings, Your Highness the Princess."
The eldest princess was very hospitable and stood up to greet him: "Once you're here, you're one of us. There's no need for formalities."
Saying there's no need to observe etiquette is one thing, but not observing it is another. Wang Pan'er obediently sat down on the left side of the princess, as she had instructed.
The eldest princess smiled and introduced her to Wang Pan'er: "This is my youngest daughter, Lin Lan, who is a little younger than you."
After saying that, she glanced at the displeased girl and said, "Call someone."
Lin Lan reluctantly called out "Sister," then continued with a bitter and resentful expression.
The princess ignored her and opened a jar of Fenjiu they had brought from Jinzhou, pouring a small cup for Wang Pan'er and Mu Chuan: "I have been waiting for you in the capital for a long time, and I have finally welcomed you here."
Wang Pan'er raised her wine cup and said, "It's been many days since I last saw you, Your Highness. You look radiant. I imagine you have put all your past sorrows behind you."
The princess was overjoyed, and seeing Wang Pan'er and Mu Chuan standing close together, looking perfectly in sync, she was even more satisfied: "Thanks to you, let's eat."
Lin Lan didn't interact with them. She stared at the table and started picking up food. The nanny behind her reminded her, "Miss, it's not proper for a junior to start eating before the elders."
After the nanny spoke, Wang Pan'er's gaze involuntarily shifted to her.
She was dressed in a dark brown palace gown, her hair neatly styled. When Wang Pan'er looked her over, she merely glanced at her, seemingly looking down on this distinguished guest from the Princess's residence.
Lin Lan put down her bowl and waited expressionlessly for the princess to start eating.
The eldest princess stroked Lin Lan's hair and said to the nanny, "Eat if you want. We're not outside. Pan'er is family. We don't need to be so formal."
Having received the princess's decree, Lin Lan poured herself a bowl of wine in one go, gulped it down, and then added rice. She picked up several large mouthfuls of food and silently ate them.
Wang Pan'er was dumbfounded by the smooth and swift passage of the scene. She turned her head and looked at Mu Chuan with questioning eyes: What's going on?
Mu Chuan also blinked, indicating that he didn't understand.
Lin Lan's actions were tantamount to challenging the authority of the nanny.
The old nanny's eyes widened, and she stepped forward, leaning against the princess's back, and began to sow discord: "Your Highness, you mustn't indulge the young lady like this. Noble ladies shouldn't drink alcohol, let alone drink it like this."
Why shouldn't noble ladies drink alcohol? The Princess and Wang Pan'er had just clinked glasses, and these words were quite unpleasant.
Wang Pan'er looked at the nanny and unconsciously frowned.
The old nanny would certainly not look directly at Wang Pan'er, but being in the inner palace, she had developed a keen sense of perception and could naturally detect that Wang Pan'er's gaze was unfriendly.
She continued, "This old servant was entrusted by His Majesty to come to the Princess's residence to teach etiquette. His Highness is of noble status, and Miss's status is comparable to His Highness's. Such vulgar behavior makes it impossible for her to gain a foothold in her husband's family. Moreover, Young Master Lin is not yet married, yet he is already having an ambiguous relationship with another woman, which is really inappropriate. If this continues, I'm afraid it will damage the dignity of the Princess's residence."
Wang Pan'er: "?"
This is targeting the Princess! That clueless old hag, does she think she's got her head on the top of her head?
Wang Pan'er looked at the eldest princess, and as expected, the eldest princess also frowned.
Even Lin Lan sensed that something was wrong, so she stopped eating and looked up.
Mu Chuan put down his cup and reprimanded her coldly: "How does the old woman know that I am not yet married? How can you speak so recklessly in front of my mother's distinguished guests? Do you think your behavior is appropriate?"
The old woman spoke with certainty: "This old servant has heard the prince consort mention that he and the old lady are very fond of the daughter of the Minister of Rites, and are just waiting for the young master to return to the capital to propose marriage."
"A marriage proposal?" The eldest princess's voice also turned stern, and her tone changed completely. "How could I not know that Chuan'er wanted to discuss marriage with the Minister's daughter?"
The nanny was surprised by the princess's sudden outburst and realized that something terrible had happened.
The princess agreed when the prince consort invited her, assuming that the princess and the prince consort shared the same idea: to temper the young lady's temperament.
She misunderstood, and feeling a chill of fear, she knelt down on one knee with a thud and begged for forgiveness, saying, "It was this servant who overstepped her bounds."
Seeing that both the Princess and Mu Chuan spoke up for her, Wang Pan'er was grateful and said calmly, "It seems that you haven't seen clearly who is in charge of the Princess's residence. Don't take a chicken feather as an imperial edict."
What's the difference between her behavior and bullying?
Ever since Wang Pan'er entered the dining hall, Lin Lan had been looking dejected. Upon receiving her mother's order, she immediately went out for a stroll. Furthermore, the Princess was always tolerant and gentle, and wouldn't rigidly restrict her daughter's behavior; it was probably some trouble caused by the Prince Consort.
Wang Pan'er glanced at Lin Lan and then said, "I wonder how the Prince Consort instructed this. I imagine that Miss Lin has suffered quite a bit during the time that the old woman has been in the mansion."
After he finished speaking, Lin Lan nodded vigorously.
The eldest princess was filled with regret upon seeing this: "These past few days, I've been so busy dealing with court affairs that I haven't paid attention to matters at home. I was thinking that the consort should consult with Granny Xi to teach Lan'er a lesson. Lan'er has indeed been much more obedient lately, and I thought it was because Granny Xi had taught her so well, but I never expected..."
When the nanny came to the mansion, Lin Lan assumed her mother also agreed, so she stubbornly resisted, her heart filled with indignation. But when she received her mother's understanding and apology, she couldn't help but start to shed tears.
Drop by drop, the drops fell into the bowl, the tube oblivious to the presence of Wang Pan'er, an outsider.
After she had cried enough, she wiped away her tears and said, "I thought my mother also disliked me because I couldn't get married and was bringing shame to the princess's family."
The eldest princess quickly pulled her into her arms to comfort her: "No, no, Lan'er is so good, how could Mother dislike her?"
She comforted her daughter, then looked sharply at the nanny: "What did you say to her? Why does she feel disliked by me and the prince consort?"
The eldest princess rarely caused trouble, but now that she held considerable authority, the old nanny was caught off guard and felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She quickly knelt down and replied in a trembling voice, "The prince consort was ridiculed by his colleagues for making fun of Miss Lin's marriage, and he felt he had lost face, so he came to the palace to ask me to discipline Miss Lin. I don't know how Miss Lin could misunderstand that you and the prince consort dislike her."
Lin Lan lifted her head from the Princess's embrace: "She said that a woman like me is not pleasing to men. She criticizes me for eating too much, and complains about my sleeping posture. Every time she scolds me, it's because if I were to get married, it would bring shame to the Princess's family in my mother-in-law's house. My mother and father invited her here to discipline me. And I did have a reputation damaged by the incident of falling into the water, so I was in the wrong and thought that my mother was also dissatisfied with me and wanted to marry me off to someone else..."
“Ah…” The eldest princess sighed, “My original intention was that since you came from the inner palace and have seen so much intrigue, you could teach me about the complexities of human nature and how to think things through.”
The people sent from the palace were difficult for the princess's residence to handle. The eldest princess was coaxing her youngest daughter when Mu Chuan spoke up and gave the nanny an order to leave: "You go back to the palace to report. The princess's residence is so large, it is not my father's place to act arrogantly."
The old woman felt as if she had been granted a pardon. After kowtowing and thanking him on the ground, she quickly left.
After Lin Lan had finished being affectionate, she got up from the princess's arms and felt shy.
The princess was in a good mood after resolving her daughter's inner conflict. She said to Wang Pan'er, "Pan'er, please forgive the messy things that have happened in the mansion."
Wang Pan'er replied, "I find Miss Lin to be straightforward and lovely, and her personality is somewhat similar to my Xiaoyao's. I wonder why she has ended up in this situation."
The eldest princess said, "This matter begins with the Prime Minister's wife sending someone to our residence to discuss marriage."
The Princess's residence and the Prime Minister's residence were to arrange a marriage between them. The couple were a perfect match, a golden boy and a jade girl, and their social standing was well-suited. It was a perfect marriage.
But fate had other plans. Lin Lan, who had never been controlled since childhood, bumped into the young master of the main branch of the family who was discussing marriage with her at a restaurant before the Prime Minister came to propose.
At that time, the young master was making wild pronouncements to his friends, saying that he would definitely tame Lin Lan, this wild horse, after marriage.
Lin Lan clenched her fists and endured it.
After humiliating her, the young master grabbed the waitress's sleeve and continued to make suggestive remarks.
This was intolerable! Lin Lan picked up a jar of wine and smashed it onto the Prime Minister's young master's table.
The wine jar exploded, splashing wine and food juices everywhere, and no one at the table was spared. The young master, humiliated, harbored a grudge against Lin Lan from that moment on.
Marriage is absolutely out of the question; to marry a shrew would be a disgrace.
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister and his wife refused to break off the engagement. The young master went out to drown his sorrows in alcohol and came up with a wicked plan with his group of cronies: since Lin Lan liked to go out and wander around, and to do chivalrous deeds everywhere, they would arrange for a beggar to trick Lin Lan into going to the riverbank and causing her to fall into the water and lose her dignity.
Lin Lan was carefree and of noble birth, and no one dared to mess with her. She hadn't anticipated the treacherous nature of people's hearts, and she walked straight into the trap of that group of playboys, falling into the moat and becoming a laughingstock.
The beggar was beaten to death afterward, and no evidence was left. Even though the Dali Temple personally intervened to handle the case, it could only be dropped.
After this incident, Lin Lan's reputation was ruined. Not only did the marriage proposal from the Prime Minister's family fall through, but even minor officials of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth ranks were unwilling to consider Lin Lan as a daughter-in-law.
The prince consort was teased by his fellow disciples, who said that his daughter's marriage had become a major problem. He was so angry that when he returned to his residence, he asked the princess to discipline his daughter properly.
The eldest princess did not think the daughter was at fault. After a heated argument, the prince consort went directly to the palace to meet the emperor and asked for a nanny to discipline her.
The princess agreed to have the nanny discipline him. Lin Lan is often impulsive; if he could restrain his temper, it would prevent a lot of trouble.
These days, Lin Lan has been confined to her room to learn etiquette. It was only today, with Mu Chuan returning home and Wang Pan'er coming to visit, that she was allowed to come out for this family dinner.
"That old hag is wicked," Wang Pan'er said after listening to the princess's account. "Perhaps she's trapped in the inner palace, lacking insight, and her mind has been corrupted by the rules. She's been worn down in the palace and turned into a granary herself, unable to bear seeing others happy. She can only find some balance in her lowly life by instructing young women. People like her are usually arrogant, but when they encounter a tough opponent, they break their backs faster than anyone else. As for the prime minister's son, the fact that he could take advantage of Miss Lin's kindness to cause trouble shows that Miss Lin is kind-hearted and also proves that this son is wicked. The marriage falling through may not be a bad thing in the long run."
Seeing that Wang Pan'er was on her side, Lin Lan immediately chimed in: "That's right, they're not good enough for me. If I really married into that family, I don't know what kind of life I'd have!"
Princess Chang breathed a sigh of relief as her daughter regained her usual liveliness. She placed a piece of meat on Lin Lan's plate and said, "With your sister Pan'er backing you up, you've become so arrogant. How come you didn't tell me when you suffered such a great injustice at the old woman's place?"
At this point, Lin Lan became somewhat dejected: "The marriage fell through, my reputation was ruined, my father was furious and confined me to my quarters, and my mother didn't give a clear answer, but I thought she also thought I was wrong."
The princess patted Lin Lan's head: "Your biggest mistake is trusting others too easily. As for marriage, just be happy. What's wrong with never getting married and just being a young lady in the princess's mansion?"
Wang Pan'er was envious of what the eldest princess said.
What a wonderful mother, it's a pity she never had one in either of her lives.
Mu Chuan waited for his mother and sister to finish their private conversation before speaking up to remind them: "The crux of the matter lies with Father. Others dare to make fun of him about Lan'er's marriage because they look down on him. Instead, they blame their own daughter and mingle with the rabble. They are truly useless."
The eldest princess now looked down on the prince consort, and snorted, "He'd better not cause any more trouble." Then she changed the subject and ordered the servants to serve Wang Pan'er soup and vegetables.
Inside the dining room, the atmosphere gradually eased, and Green Ripple and Red Silk seized the opportunity to bring the shaved ice prepared in the kitchen to the table.
Each person gets their own shaved ice, and on a hot summer day, the translucent ice crystals exude an incredibly refreshing coolness.
The eldest princess took a bite, her eyes lit up, and she said to Wang Pan'er, "This is your work, isn't it?"
Wang Pan'er nodded: "This is called shaved ice. I heard that there is an ice storage in the manor and I was tempted to eat it. Please don't blame me for taking it without asking, Your Highness."
"How could that be?" The princess chuckled and instructed Green Ripple and Red Smile, "This shaved ice is so refreshing, have the kitchen make more so everyone can try it."
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