CH 4

12 Mar Written By LG LR7-8 minutes

Old Madam Xu’s eyes were about to roll up toward the sky. Yet just as she wanted to explode with anger, she turned her head and saw Jiang Mingyue, looking incomparably lovely as she sat on the wooden chair with her two hands placed on her knees. Seeing Old Madam Xu look over, Jiang Mingyue lifted the corners of her mouth in a smile.

“Aiyo.” Old Madam Xu had a headache.

When the old sir saw Jiang Mingyue’s smile, he opened his mouth to give a sentence of praise for his second granddaughter: “Our Mingyue’er looks good!”

“Tonight, you don’t need to eat. Just look at your granddaughter to pass the night,” Old Madam Xu said. She chastised the old man, “Can you get through life just by being good-looking? Even if you can, is your granddaughter the only good-looking one in this world? Are the young ladies of other families all ugly?”

The old sir sighed and said no more.

Seeing that the old madam had turned back to her, Jiang Mingyue said hurriedly, “Grandmother, I won’t marry.”

“I’m your grandmother. How can I not hope to see you live well?” Old Madam Xu said. “Zhao Lingxiao is good, but he’s the Crown Prince of Tushan Wangfu. Whereas, what sort of family are we? Your grandfather is still growing vegetables in the manor even now. So what if your father is Anyuan’s Marquis? 20 years ago, wasn’t he also farming back home? Tell me, just what is Tushan’s Crown Prince scheming by marrying you?”

Jiang Mingyue pursed her lips. Zhao Lingxiao and the members of his manor wouldn’t scheme anything, but His Majesty, the Emperor in the imperial palace, would scheme and give her proper informers. In her previous life, both the old maid and the young manservant Jiang Mingyue brought with her into Tushan Wangfu were Emperor Dongsheng’s people. The current emperor had obtained the throne through bloody acts, so likewise, he had to defend against others who might come and seize it from him. Tushan Wangfu was just another place that the Emperor was defending against. Jiang Mingyue guessed that the Emperor would be guarded against every nobleman that had troops under their control.

From amongst those in the civil and military departments of the imperial court, there were only a few officials that Emperor Dongsheng could truly trust, while amongst the commanding generals, it seemed he could only trust Jiang Mingyue’s father, Jiang Ruqiu. As for Tushan Wangfu, even other people knew what Emperor Dongsheng was thinking. Zhao Lingxiao’s reputation was too great, and it was squashing the (imperial) Crown Prince’s reputation. Was it possible for Tushan Wangfu to be unafraid that Emperor Dongsheng was going to put them in their place? For Tushan Wangfu, Zhao Lingxiao’s marriage to Jiang Mingyue was merely them conceding defeat once and believing it was a stroke of bad luck. It was simply a total joke for the magnificent Crown Prince of Tushan—a benign and open-hearted young man—to marry the daughter of a soldier. Moreover, this soldier was not of a meritorious and noble family; he was a peasant farmer.

“Regardless of everything else, once you marry him, you’ll become the Crown Prince’s Imperial Concubine,” Old Madam Xu said. She continued earnestly with good intentions, “Then how will the little prince beside Tushan Wangfu get married? According to the customs of the great noble families, all the younger brothers cannot marry wives of a greater status than the Crown Prince’s Imperial Concubine. So let me ask you, how is the Tushan Wangfu supposed to carry on like this? Do they not want to keep their dignity?”

That was right. Jiang Mingyue fidgeted with her fingers. Regardless of how it was considered, this was Tushan Wangfu conceding defeat to Emperor Dongsheng. If Emperor Dongsheng thought of it this way and Tushan Wangfu conceded to it, then that was the Tushan father and son swearing their allegiance to Emperor Dongsheng. It had absolutely nothing to do with her, Jiang Mingyue.

“As for what exactly is so bad about Zhao Qingrong, I’m currently still not too clear on that,” Old Madam Xu said, “But we just need to remember that this woman is not a good person.”

“Grandma!” Jiang Yue’e took a glance at the direction of the gate of the reception pavilion and said softly: “In any case, she is still a princess. So don’t scold her anymore.”

“The heavens didn’t tell me to shut up, yet you—wretched little girl—are telling me to shut up?” Old Madam Xu was immediately provoked and offended by Jiang Yue’e’s words.

When Jiang Mingyue saw her elder sister stand up and admit her mistake, her mouth moved but didn’t voice any words. Old Madam Xu, this grandmother of hers, prioritised filial piety, so she naturally pressured her daughter-in-law, Zhao Qingrong, greatly. Moreover, compared to Old Madam Xu who was currently shamelessly scolding Jiang Yue’e, Zhao Qingrong was actually pretty prideful regarding all other matters, aside from when she shamelessly wanted to marry into the Jiang family no matter what. As for the Jiangs’ own Old Madam Xu...?

“What is face? Face is just a fart—worthless!” the old madam said loudly.

Jiang Mingyue pursed her lips and smiled. Look at that. How could Zhao Qingrong possibly win against this old madam?

“Besides, was your face given to you by Zhao Qingrong?” the old madam questioned Jiang Yue’e.

Jiang Yue’e was already regretting it. Why was she unable to control her tongue?!

“I saved the life of His Majesty the Emperor!” the old madam said.

Not again! The old sir covered his face with his hand that was as big as a palm-leaf fan. His family’s old lady was once again going to recount that time!

Jiang Mingyue continued fiddling with her fingers. That year when Emperor Dongsheng fell into dire straits, his bodyguards had all died. With the assassins dispatched by the Beloved Imperial Concubine Gao-shi [1] on his tail, Emperor Dongsheng fled for his life and jumped into a lake. If her old madam hadn’t pulled him out, Emperor Dongsheng would have become a water ghost.

Emperor Dongsheng hid with the Jiangs’ for half a year and acknowledged Old Madam Xu as his adoptive mother. The Jiangs had four children. Aside from the eldest son who stayed behind to farm, the other three left with Emperor Dongsheng. In the end, the only one who managed to stay alive was the Jiangs’ second son—Jiang Ruqiu. That was why Jiang Mingyue inwardly shed a small handful of tears for Zhao Qingrong. As long as Old Madam Xu did not kill Zhao Qingrong, Emperor Dongsheng could indulge his adoptive mother in doing whatever she wanted and pretend he couldn’t see any of it.

Notes:

[1] ‘Beloved’ is an adjective for the title of Imperial Concubine, so the full title is ‘Beloved Imperial Concubine’. The [-shi] indicates that it is the clan/maiden name.