Chapter 161 - Cuipiao is on Hunger Strike

Because most of them travelled by carriage, their speed of travelling couldn’t be as fast as riding a horse.

However, Zhuo Ping’an made a fuss on the way. He suddenly rushed out of the carriage and fell on the roadside. Due to the thick snow, he didn’t get injured, but it still freaked out Commandery Princess Qingjiang. She hastened to coax him into getting back into the carriage and meanwhile asked the carter to slow down in case that the same accident happened again.

As a result, they went into town when the gate was about to be closed.

After going into town, Commandery Princess Qingjiang hurriedly brought her son back home in case of any more trouble and meanwhile asked Song Yixiao to send Nie Wuying back to the Grand Princess’s mansion.

Since Song Yixiao was in her mother-in-law’s mansion, she must greet the latter. As a result, it was dark when she arrived back at Duke of Yan’s mansion.

Since a guard had returned to send a message, Ms. Zhao and Jinxun were waiting at the second gate. Upon seeing Song Yixiao, they both came forward to pay respects to her in delight, “Your Highness, you are finally back!”

“What’s wrong?” Song Yixiao asked sensitively, “Is there anything wrong in the mansion?”

“It’s nothing big. That is, Cuipiao has been on hunger strike, claiming to meet Your Highness or His Highness.” Ms. Zhao looked around and found no strangers. Then she said in a low voice, “Yet, His Highness has been too busy recently. No one dared to report it to His Highness and you were not in the mansion.”

Song Yixiao understood her unspoken meaning. Ms. Zhao didn’t report it to Jian Xubai deliberately just in case that Cuipiao might take the chance to make any trouble while Song Yixiao was not in the mansion.

She was satisfied about the foster nurse’s prudence and then said with a smile, “Did you tell her about it then? It is cold now. If she doesn’t eat for too long, she won’t be as alright as in summer.”

“Of course I did.” Ms. Zhao frowned. “But she is even more determined not to eat. From where I stand, she must think that since you were not in the mansion, if anything untoward happened to her, we couldn’t bring this up to His Highness!”

Song Yixiao ruminated for a while and said, “Investigate whether someone has told her that I was not in the mansion. You know, she has been placed under house arrest for some time. Why did she choose to go on hunger strike while I was away?”

Ms. Zhao said in confusion, “I doubt it. Cuipiao has been detained in the back yard, where we have allocated our people. They are not familiar with her and have known something about what she did. It will be good enough if they don’t bully her. Who would disclose information to her?”

In fact, Song Yixiao thought so too but she was still a bit suspicious, saying, “Those who are older may not, but some of younger maids may be so soft-hearted that they feel sorry for her. It is possible that they think she is detained in the yard only because I want to torture her deliberately!”

“I will work on it later!” Ms. Zhao said sternly, “If there is such an ungrateful person in the mansion, she can never stay in the mansion anymore!”

Song Yixiao nodded her head and asked, “Is Xubai at home now? Where is he?”

“If His Highness is in the mansion and knows that you are back, regardless of his business, he must come to welcome you on his own!” Jinxun snickered and said, “His Highness didn’t know that you would come back today so he has gone to the He Family’s mansion for dinner!”

Then she added, “The other day, Mr. He sent some wild animals hunted in his manor here and the delivery boy told me jokingly that His Highness often had dinner in the He Family’s mansion these days, for which the chefs have been treading on eggs. As a result, the chefs just don’t dare to loaf on their work in case that His Highness may loathe their cooking. If what they cook fail to satisfy His Highness’s expectation, Mr. He will be disgraced and they will be punished then!”

Song Yixiao taunted, “Mr. He is the supervisor of Xubai. Xubai goes to his mansion for business but not for a meal only. Moreover, Xubai knows how to act properly. Even if the dishes are not to his taste, he will not speak ill of the meal provided by his supervisor. Don’t talk nonsense anymore!”

Jinxun didn’t feel unhappy. Instead, she said grinningly, “It is good enough that you know His Highness just doesn’t feel like coming back when you are not in the mansion! Even though you scold me, I am still very happy!”

“If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will deduct your allowance of the next month!” Song Yixiao pointed at her forehead and said. “Ms. Zhao, you have spoiled her too much!”

Ms. Zhao didn’t spoil Jinxun much. Actually, she always felt that Jinxun was not as prudent as Zhiqin, so she said in grievance, “If it were not for your indulgence, she wouldn’t dare to make fun of you.”

Amidst talking and laughing, they arrived at the back hall. Qiaoqin served the tea to her. Song Yixiao took a sip of the tea and then inquired about what happened within and outside the mansion. Ms. Zhao and other maids became serious and then reported in detail.

In the recent time, it was rather peaceful in the back yard. Nothing serious happened but Cuipiao’s hunger strike.

Jinxun said specially, “We pay a visit to Zhiqin every day. The new maids assigned to look after her are rather sensible. I went there without prior notice for several times and I saw them serving Zhiqin sincerely, who are not as lazy as the previous two ones.”

Song Yixiao nodded her head and said, “Remember to grant the two new maids some rewards and tell them that I will award them well if they keep serving Zhiqin attentively. Otherwise, I will teach them a lesson!”

The others all responded to her order. Then Ms. Zhao said, “Nothing special has happened, except that Miss Xie dropped by and failed to meet you as you were in Zhanchun Venue. Besides, she also said that Director Qiu of the Ministry of Rites had recently targeted at His Highness and that it was why His Highness was extremely busy these days.

“Why is that old man so annoying?” Song Yixiao was disgruntled. Although she didn’t really dare to trust Jian Xubai, they were still wife and husband. How could she not feel annoyed by that man’s badgering her husband?

She frowned and rolled the bracelet on her wrist, asking, “Do you know on what ground he created difficulty for Xubai?”

“It is said that he is impeaching His Highness for being unfilial to Old Master!” Ms. Zhao looked embarrassed. The reputation of a husband and that of his wife were bounded. If Jian Xubai was really impeached and his reputation was stained, Song Yixiao would be disgraced too!

“Unfilial?” Song Yixiao asked in surprise. “Xubai and I got married only to bring good luck for Grandpa. Although Grandpa is far away in the hometown, the New Year’s gift has been sent to him long before, which is doubled compared with before. The greeting letter was also finalized after repeated revision. It is fair enough to say that we have tried our best. On what ground can he say that Xubai is unfilial?”

Ms. Zhao answered resignedly, “Director Qiu says that Old Master has three sons and four grandsons, but his dukedom is passed to His Highness. Obviously, His Highness should be the legitimate heir, for which His Highness should be the most filial one! Old Master didn’t feel well before and His Highness got married ahead of his elder brother, which was too perfunctory! He believes that His Highness should resign from court and bring you back to the hometown to serve Old Master until Old Master passes away. Then, according to him, His Highness should also observe mourning for Old Master before being an official in court!”

Song Yixiao snorted out of extreme anger. “How can he impeach my husband like that? If he were a filial man, why didn’t he commit suicide when his parents passed away so as to serve them in the netherworld? Since he himself is mortally afraid of death, how can he accuse others of being unfilial?”

If Director Qiu was only an ordinary official, Song Yixiao would definitely question him face to face!

However, he was not only Jian Xubai’s uncle but also the Empress Dowager’s legitimate niece. No matter how much Song Yixiao resented him, she could only utter angry words!

Having said angry words, she became gloomy. “What a vicious old man!”

What Qiu Shuxia said was critical but technically, it could make sense to some degree. As in the story of sucking the pus on others’ hemorrhoid, the Emperor asked his favorite official, “Who loves me most in the world?”

The official answered, “Of course the Crown Prince.”

The answer was flattery but it was impeccable anyway. Since the Emperor would pass down the whole empire to the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince would be the one who received the most benefit from him. In this case, the Crown Prince must love him most.

Likewise, Jian Pingyu had three sons and four grandsons but he passed down the dukedom to Jian Xubai. How could Jian Xubai not pay filial piety most to his grandpa?

If Jian Xubai was in high position with several concurrent important posts, it was excusable that he couldn’t be loyal to the emperor and pay filial piety to his seniors at the same time. Nonetheless, this 17-year-old man was only a fifth-rank official, he was far from being an indispensable official!

Although Ms. Zhao didn’t say it, Song Yixiao could still think of that Qiu Shuxia would condemn Jian Xubai for taking up an insignificant post in court and yet being unwilling to go back to his hometown to fulfill his filial piety due to lust for power.”

“No wonder Xubai said that he must attend the court meeting the next day. He must be afraid to be got the goods on him by that old man!” Song Yixiao felt even sorrier for him. “In face of such a tough situation, he still rushed to Zhanchun Venue with a group of guards and stayed for one night. Even if he is young and strong, how can he not feel tired from running about?”

After staying silent for a while, Song Yixiao narrowed her eyes. “When will Xubai come back?”

Ms. Zhao was about to answer her when footsteps came from outside. Jian Xubai talked in the corridor, “Yixiao is back? When did she come back? How come no one went to the He Family’s mansion to inform me?”

“I’ve just come back!” Song Yixiao hastily rose and welcomed his arrival. Seeing that he took off his coat and handed it to the servant amidst entering the room, she noticed that his coat was stained with a lot of snow and said, “Your coat is full of snow! I suppose you didn’t wear the rain cape before. Am I right?”

“It is rather troublesome. After all, with my coat, my inner garments are not wet.” Jian Xubai walked forward to hold her hands smilingly and glanced aside. The servants all got the hint and left the room. He immediately flipped away his coat, sat on the chair and put his wife on his knees. Then he just gave her a deep kiss and smiled with great desire. “Do you miss me?”

Song Yixiao punched his chest lightly, “Not at all!”

“You really don’t?” Jian Xubai grinned jokingly. Then his hands just moved from her cheeks downwards. Song Yixiao tried to let go of him. Yet, due to the strength gap between them, she was about to lose. Then she hurriedly admitted defeat. “Of course I do! Why are you so rash? Be cool! Just hear me out first!”

Jian Xubai finally felt satisfied and pointed at his own cheek, saying with a faint smile, “I am rash? If I am not cool, how can you talk to me now?” While talking, he took a glance at the inner chamber deliberately.

“You are so not serious!” Song Yixiao blushed and kissed on his cheek. Then she adjusted her clothes and put on a serious face, saying, “I heard that Qiu Shuxia made trouble for you again?”

Jian Xubai answered casually, “Since when he stopped making trouble for me?”

“This time he even impeaches you for being unfilial?” Song Yixiao asked worriedly. “How is it going on now?”

“It happened a few days ago.” Jian Xubai said smilingly. “Good for him to come up with that ridiculous reason. I asked him on the spot what I should do when my grandma and parents missed me if I was in the hometown serving my grandpa. After all, Grandma has brought me up and my parents gave me my life. Is their love to me less than that given by my grandpa? Or I should split myself into four parts and give them each a portion?”

Song Yixiao didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh. “Then how did he respond?”

“At that time, Uncle stepped forward to mediate so the conversation didn’t continue,” Jian Xubai pinched her cheek and said smilingly, “Rest assured. I know how to deal with this kind of thing. I won’t suffer loss!”

They spent some quality time together before they got up to adjust their clothes and called on the servants.

After the servants went inside, Ji Su walked forward and reported, “Your Highness, a message has just arrived that Elder Lady Duanmu has been diagnosed with wandering arthritis, who will come to the imperial capital for treatment!”

Jian Xubai suddenly stopped smiling and then stayed silent for a while, saying, “I’m noted.”