Chapter 8

The cool breeze blew gently in Heyun Pavilion. It was sunny outside and sunshine shone on the green glazed tiles, arousing a golden light.

It was only in April but the weather in Jin Zhou was a little hot. People were dizzy under the sun.

But all this had nothing to do with Heyun Pavilion.

Heyun Pavilion was built in the back garden of the royal palace. The garden was lush with flowers and trees, and was facing the water. A breeze blew that would be so cool. Birds were chanting on the branches. What a fine day!

Yaoniang only sit on a half-part of chair and lowered her eyelids. No one knew what she was thinking.

And just as she was thinking about her own mind, someone across from her was watching her.

Cuizhu’s mother worked on a village, which was a dowry taken by consort Jin, and she married with the head of the village. Unfortunately, she had a bad life. Her husband died as soon as she was pregnant. There was no one in her husband’s family. There were her brother and sister-in-law so she couldn’t just stay and rely on her mother’s family. Then she asked someone to help her to get a job as a wet nurse in the mansion.

Cuizhu’s aunt was a Mammy in charge of daily chores subordinating to the consort. Similar to her job, there were no less than ten Mammies subordinating to the consort. Everyone performed their duties. But since the person on the top wanted to do something, the person on the bottom was bound to know a little bit, and Cuizhu knew things that others didn’t know.

She was just aiming at this, so she didn’t care about anything in order to work as a wet nurse.

Cuizhu had already wanted to work in the mansion a long time ago. But her mother was the maid of consort Jin. She knew the consort’s personality and did not want her daughter to get in the mansion and put her under the patronage of a higher-up so as not to harm a family member. Therefore, if there were girls with a good look like Cuizhu from Xu family, she wouldn’t send them to the consort.

For this matter, Cuizhu complained more than once to her father and mother, feeling that if they did not stop her, she would not marry such a person and finally became a widow.

This time the news spread and Cuizhu remembered. She was willing to work in the mansion but leaving her daughter who was only three months home.

This was her only way out.

Cuizhu also knew that there would only be two people left chosen by the top this time, and the other person facing her was the enemy.

When the person walked in, Cuizhu knew that this person must have the same purpose with her, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to become a wet nurse.

This kind of person would make troubles for master.

Cuizhu bit her bright lower lip, and couldn’t help but clenched her cuffs and looked over. She was full of jealousy.

For today, she deliberately wore her most beautiful clothes. Her hair was freshly washed, and she was specially put on osmanthus-based head oil. Her bun was combed by her mother and wore her gold hair pin.

Cuizhu loved to be pretty since she was a child, and she also liked to prick up herself. After giving birth to her daughter, she was deliberately on a diet so her figure had already recovered. From Cuizhu’s own perspective, she was definitely better than before when she was unmarried. Because only married women knew that even the younger girls were very beautiful but still couldn’t compare with women who were married.

But she–

Cuizhu once again looked at the person sitting opposite with jealous red eyes, and wished to scratch her face to relieve her anger!

Yaoniang always felt that someone was glaring at herself and raised her head to see the jealous look from the opposite side. Although the other side lowered her eyes quickly, she still looked clearly.

She was a little palpitated.

Because of the other person’s eyes. If this kind of look was not hatred or grudge, who would look at people like that.

Yaoniang smiled bitterly in the heart. She suffered a lot in her last life. When she first entered the mansion, she was not at all concerned. She was only self-blame. She only missed her son because she had no choice but to leave behind. It was only once she was almost killed that she finally cheered up and worked to save her life. Therefore, many things that happened when she first entered the mansion were not clear in Yao Niang’s memory. She couldn’t remember whether Cuizhu had seen herself this way in her last life.

At the same time, she could not help wondering why Cuizhu showed such a look.

After all, now that she had just entered the mansion and the wet nurse who would take care of the little princess wasn’t be chosen. Cuizhu and she were not rivals, so why did she be so jealous to Yaoniang?

Could it be said that Cuizhu also revived once?

Immediately Yaoniang thought she thought too much. Because when she died in the last life, Cuizhu was still good and she was doing her majestic job as a wet nurse beside the little princess.

If Cuizhu did not reborn, why did she look at Yaoniang in this way?

There was only one explanation that maybe Cuizhu knew something. Or because she was already a candidate decided internally, she would be so hostile to her. But none of this made sense. After all, even if Cuizhu was chosen internally, she was not. Why should the other party be so hostile to her?

Yaoniang was not a very intelligent person. If she couldn’t figure it out for a while, she wouldn’t think about it. But it left a shadow in her heart owing to this thing.

Suddenly someone cleared throat outside the door.

Suddenly, people who were sitting stood up and looked at the girl standing outside the door with a stunned look.

This girl was not very old and about twelve or thirteen years old. She looked at the crowd with a small white face, then turned her head and left.

While everyone was nervous, several older women walked in from outside.

They were decently dressed, with a solemn face and extraordinary manners. At first glance, they knew that they were the Mammies in charge of the daily affairs in the royal palace.

The first woman combed with a single bun which was slick. She had a long face and looked extremely serious. Wearing a dark red silk shirt, covered with turquoise bijia, below was a turquoise horse-face skirt. Only an old silver hair pin was inserted on the head, a pair of cat-eye earrings hanging on her ears, and her eyes was like a pair of cat-eye that were shinning and bright. At first glance she was not easy to get along.

Yaoniang knew this person. She was Madam Li around the consort and was in charge of many affairs in the mansion and could be regarded as one of the helpers around the consort.

However, Yaoniang had also seen this person smile when she welcomed people. That was, she was just doted by Jin Wang, and the consort respected her, so people around consort also respected her.

Although Yaoniang only spent more than a year in the royal palace, she also saw many changeable and unstable people in the mansion. They smiled in front of people but the next moment were full of contempt secretly. By the same token, if someone had the power, they would respect and regard the person as master. If someone lost his power, he would not be respected and was even worse than a dog.

Yaoniang saw many times in the mansion that maids respectfully called her Madam Yao in front of her, but when they turned to their head to say that she was a seductress.

She was angry and sad, but also with flagging interest.

Fortunately, she would never have to face all this in her life. Yaoniang thought about it before entering the mansion. The reason why she would die in her last life was to obstruct others’ eyes. As long as she was not designed by Cuizhu, she could safely be a wet nurse beside the little princess, and no longer had to mess with affairs in the backyard of Jin Wang.

She didn’t have to do it for a long time. It would be done in a year or two. She would leave the place with enough money to bring up Xiaobao.

Thinking about this, Yaoniang calmed down and accepted the scrutiny of the above women.

“Are you healthy? Do you have enough breast milk? Working in the mansion is different from other places. You are going to take care of the little princess so it doesn’t allow to make any mistakes.”

A few quick-spoken women responded quickly, and Madam Li frowned imperceptibly without showing impatience, but just ignored them and asked a little girl next to her: Does he come?”

The little girl said clearly, “Yes, he’s waiting outside.”

After a while, an old man over half a century old walked in, followed by a small boy carrying a medicine box.

“This is our doctor at the Medical Center in the Jin Wang Mansion and he will feel pulse for all of you.”

Everyone went to the doctor one by one and stretched out wrists to let doctor feel the pulse. In fact, one person seemed to have been diagnosed with a hidden disease, and a servant took her away. When the little woman was taken away, she still screamed injustice, saying that she was healthy all the time and would never dare to deceive.

Because of this, everyone couldn’t help but felt a little bit frightened. But it was so complicated to choose a wet nurse. But Yaoniang knew that the complexity was still behind.

Madam Li glanced at a few people and instructed: “Take them and look at them in the room.”

“Yes.”

The few women bowed their heads to answer, and led Yaoniang and others into the dark room inside.

Yaoniang had this kind of experience in last life. Because it was too unforgettable, Yaoniang remembered it very clearly.

It was the first time that she was naked in front of an outsider, and she was watched by people closely. So it was still fresh in her memory in addition to her humiliation.

The woman who inspected her was very careful. She not only checked for acne, but even sniffed her armpits. She was lying on a cloth-covered long narrow table and inspected the unspeakable place.

The woman was also afraid that Yaoniang would be frightened. She said while checking: “The little princess is the only daughter of Wangye, but also the granddaughter of the emperor. She was born with noble. Jin Zhou is different from the capital, so it has to select a good wet nurse for the little princess outside. But it must be chosen carefully. Once if there are some accidents happened to the little princess, it is just a matter of losing one’s head… “

Yaoniang bit her lip and closed her eyes. She didn’t speak. She felt like the woman was touching her chest and listening to her saying, “You have enough breast milk from looking. Well, Everything is good. Please come down.”

She came down from the long narrow table quickly and lowered her head then put on her clothes.

After she went out, she saw that everyone looked different. Apparently they encountered the same situation.

While everyone was waiting for the follow-up, Madam Li did not speak but went out. Several other women stayed in the flower hall.

This didn’t seem to be surprising, but Yaoniang couldn’t help paying attention.

Madam Li went out and turned to the left.

If she left Heyun Pavilion, she should go straight out. Why did she go there?

Where was that place?

Yaoniang wrestled with her thoughts, and suddenly her heart tightened.

Oh, she remembered where it was.

Heyun Pavilion was an ordinary place to entertain guests. When it hosted a feast in royal palace to the officials of the landlord, the consort also hosted the family members of the officials in the back house.

At that time, Yaoniang belonged to Jin Wang. She couldn’t come such a place because of her identity. That day she enjoyed flowers in the garden but took the wrong way, so she came to the vicinity of Heyun Pavilion.

The Heyun Pavilion covered a large area. One side faced the water, and the other side faced the flower room. She was greedy for the peony flower that bloomed well, and turned aside. When she was watching the flowers, she suddenly heard a voice and she couldn’t help looking for it. It happened that she was standing in the position where she could see the situation in Heyun Pavilion from the outside.

She tried to think where it was, but it was just this flower hall.

Looking at the golden three-legged censer in the corner, because it’s too conspicuous and she saw it at first glance. At that time, there were only a few gorgeous ladies in this flower hall, and Yaoniang was always timid. She was in a hurry because she was afraid that she might be mistaken for what she wanted to peep.

But because she was so impressed, she always remembered it.

Yaoniang subconsciously looked at an inconspicuous flower window on the side. The flower window was scarlet red overall, with various beautiful patterns hollowed out on it, followed by large green leaves. At first glance, nothing seemed abnormal, but if looked closely, the lush foliage seemed to tremble faintly.

Someone was behind.

Who? Who was watching there?

Yaoniang didn’t dare to look at it anymore. She turned her head to pretend nothing happened, but she was still staring at there.

That lush branch suddenly trembled a few times, and there was no other movement until she saw a section of clothing with a complicated pattern swept it.

But as Yaoniang saw this, she felt like being stroke by lightning.