Chapter 268: Chapter 270 - A Trip To Jing Wangfu (2)

きつね: Another chapter before the reveal for Yuxi’s uneasiness in the next chapter. Sorry for the late posting. My sister broke my PC. I have to send it to be fixed today. So now I have to use my laptop instead.

This visit to Jing Wangfu was the first one for Yuxi in her two lifetimes. Inside the wangfu, she could see a lot of flowers grafted on the trees. Bridges were built on the diverted water, stones were piled up into small mountains, together with the new shiny pavilions. The scenery was beautiful and extraordinary.

After Yurong had a look at everything inside, she exclaimed, “It’s so beautiful.” It was ten times more beautiful than their State Residence. San Jie was fortunate to live in such a beautiful dwelling.

Yuxi looked at such a beautiful residence without any smile on her face. This place was built two years ago. It was ironic that the state treasury had money to make such a beautiful dwelling but no money to pay for disaster relief and military provisions.

When Yurong saw Yuxi’s expression, she raised her crisp voice, asking, “Is Si Jie stunned by the beautiful scenery of this garden?”

Yuxi came back to her senses, and an extremely faint smile appeared on her face. “This courtyard is indeed stunning.” It was so stunning that she could not even look at it anymore.

Ye Shi frowned. She glanced at Yurong and said, “This is the wangfu. You should follow me closely, later on, so please don’t wander off.” Although these words were addressed to the two of them, everyone present knew that Ye Shi’s words were solely aimed at Yurong. This girl really did not know how to look at the occasion. Ye Shi was so worried that Yurong would soon tear down her own family face before the outsiders.

Yurong’s face paled at these words, but she responded with a smile, “Okay!”

An old woman servant led the three people to the Main Courtyard. When they walked inside, they saw that it was filled with bouquets of flowers and piles of silks. As soon as Yuchen walked out of her room, her face was full of smiles when she finally saw the three of them. “I’ve been waiting for Dasao, Si Mei and Wu Mei!”

Yuxi wished her, “Congratulations, San Jie.” Yuchen’s fetus had not yet reached three months old. Thus, it was not even stable. Since one of the hosts had an unstable fetus, and the other one was still in confinement, Yuxi did not understand why the royal family had to hold the birthday feast at the wangfu instead of doing it in the Imperial Palace. She even heard that the 10th Prince was also deeply loved by the Emperor. Therefore, the royal family’s behaviour this time did make people ponder.

Yuchen touched her stomach and said with a smile, “Thank you, Si Mei.” She beckoned the three people into her room. The setup inside the room was similar to that in Tingyun Pavilion.

After sitting down, Yuxi said, “San Jie, there will definitely be many guests today. Are you physically fit to entertain them all?” Actually, Yuchen wouldn’t have that much difficulty in meeting all the guests. The main problem was, it would genuinely be bad if there were ill-intentioned people among them. Ever since she heard Momo Quan talk about the Imperial Palace, Yuxi had this continuous fear for the people of Imperial Palace.

Yuchen felt comfortable when she heard her concern and replied with a smile, “This time, for His Highness’ birthday banquet, I’ve asked my Jiu Sao to come over and help me greet the guests.” This statement meant that she would not personally come forward since the 9th Prince’s Consort would lend her hand to entertain the guests. Even if they wanted to meet with Yuchen, they couldn’t do so unless they had enough weight.

As they talked about Cao Cao, Cao Cao would indeed arrive. As soon as Yuchen finished speaking, Shiqin came over and announced, “Niangniang, Xuan Wangfei has arrived.”

Yuchen stood up, and Ye Shi followed along with Yuxi and Yurong to welcome Xuan Wangfei.

When Yu Xiyu saw a group of people walking out of the room, she commented, “I thought I was the earliest, but I didn’t expect that the Lady of the State was even earlier than me!” Seeing Yuxi and Yurong greet her, she smiled and said, “We are all family. There’s no need to be so polite.” After saying that, she glanced at Yuxi.

Yuchen beckoned, “Jiu Sao, let’s go in!”

Yuxi’s complexion changed. If she didn’t read it wrong just now, Yu Xiyu was glancing at her with a look of pity. She wouldn’t look at her with such an expression for no reason. It was just that Yuxi didn’t know why Yu Xiyu gave her such a look.

After entering the room, Yuchen pointed at Yuxi and asked with a smile, “Jiu Sao, do you remember? You have once played chess with my Si Mei and me back then.”

Yu Xiyu smiled and said, “How can I not remember? As I recall, you lost to me by six pieces? I still remember clearly the defiant look on your face at that time. That said, time flies so quickly.” However, it didn’t seem that fast to her though. She would be a mother in the near future, and so would Yu Chen.

Soon, the other guests also arrived. Hence, Yu Xiyu and her maid went out to welcome them. Seeing that there was no one else around them, Yu Xiyu’s maid whispered, “Niangniang, it seems that the Fourth Miss Han does not know anything about that matter. Even Jing Wangfei isn’t aware of it?”

Yu Xiyu responded without a change in her expression, “No matter what, this thing has nothing to do with us.” Her task today was to entertain the guests. She would not bother herself about other matters.

More and more guests arrived at the wangfu, and Ye Shi planned to take Yuxi and Yurong out to socialise. Yuxi did not want to go and told Yuchen, “I am not going. I want to stay and talk with San Jie.” She didn’t know why, but the uneasiness in her heart was getting even more robust. Yuxi felt that it was much safer to stay here with Yuchen.

Yuchen returned with a smile, “There will be plenty of opportunities for you to talk with me later. You have been locked up in the house for most of the year, and it is already rare for you to come out. So go out and enjoy yourself. Many flowers have been planted in the garden. You can go there and have a look at them.”

Since words have been said to this point, Yuxi had to go out, even if she didn’t want to. As soon as she walked out of the courtyard, Yuxi said to Zijin, who was following her. “Stay by my side every step of the way.” Yu Xiyu’s glance made her heart frightened, and her gut trembled. And now, the only one she could rely on was Zijin.

Zijin nodded her head.

The weather was sunny, and all the young misses went to play and frolic in the garden. On their walk there, they could faintly hear a burst of laughter. As soon as they walked in, they saw everyone beautifully dressed, adding bright colours to the already beautiful garden.

When Zhou Shiya saw Yuxi, she came over and asked, “Yuxi, what are you doing here?” How could she not find it strange that a person who was going to be married in the middle of the month also attending the birthday banquet?

Yuxi replied with a smile, “My San Jie said that I have been shutting myself in the house all day long. For fear of me getting bored indoor, she had asked me to come and relax.” Naturally, she couldn’t tell her the real reason.

Zhou Shiya smilingly said, “So, it was San Biaojie who asked you to come over. No wonder!” After saying that, she dragged Yuxi to meet the girl she had just talked to and introduced them.

When Yuxi heard that the other party was Zhou Shiya’s jiujiu’s daughter, she greeted her with a smile, “Miss Yun.” It looked like the other girl was only twelve or thirteen years old.

The girl was a bit shy. After blushingly greeting Yuxi, she said, “You guys talk. I’ll go find my dajie.” After saying that, she took her maid and left.

Yuxi couldn’t help laughing. “For those who don’t know, they will think that I’m being too intimidating!” How could people not think so when the girl ran away in fear as soon as she saw her?

Zhou Shiya did not care much about it as she said, “Never mind her. She’s always acting like this. Because of her temper, my Jiumu is so anxious about her until her hair starts to turn white. Okay, let’s not talk about her. Yuxi, I heard my mother say that your dowry is ninety-six carriers, right?”

Yuxi nodded her head and said, “Yes, it is ninety-six. It has been negotiated with the Chen family, and the list will be delivered in a couple of days. What about you? How much dowry is your mother going to give you?” This kind of thing was not a secret. She could probe about it with a little bit of inquiring.

Zhou Shiya answered bitterly, “The He family only sent twenty-four carriers of betrothal gifts. My dowry will undeniably be worth forty-eight carriers by then. Because of this, my mother regretted it so much at the time that she almost broke the engagement.” The He family only gave twenty-four betrothal gifts. Accordingly, the Zhou family could only accompany the bride with another twenty-four dowry, which in total only summed up to forty-eight carriers. According to Second Lady Zhou, this amount of dowry was too shabby. However, if the dowry on the bride’s side exceeded the groom’s, it seemed like the bride’s family intended to pressure the groom’s side. This act could easily make the groom’s family feel pretty uncomfortable.

Yuxi felt a little strange. “Why would the He family give such small betrothal gifts?” Twenty-four carriers was indeed a bit low. They should at least deliver thirty-six carriers. [+]

Zhou Shiya shook her head and said, “I don’t know exactly. It seems that something happened to their family in their hometown, and they had to withdraw all their silver money from their accounts. So they couldn’t afford to buy more betrothal gifts.”

As Yuxi listened, she gave her feedback, “If that’s the case, then don’t worry too much about it. In fact, the amount of dowry is not that important. The most important thing is the items in the dowry.” If the dowry were an interest-bearing industry such as an estate and shop, they would still bring advantageous deals to the bride even if the number was small. If one was given so many dowries, but they were all worthless things, then they were merely put up for the bride’s face. It was really a question of reputation versus substance. Of course, Yuxi’s dowry was covering both her face and their worth.

Qiu Shi was not a stingy person. This time, she took out 2,000 mu of fertile land from her dowry for Yuxi. Even Ye Shi and Lu Shi didn’t send her any gold and silver jewellery. Both of them sent a shop to add to Yuxi’s dowry. Then there were the industries that Yuxi originally had in hand. Others could say that Yuxi’s dowry was not inferior to the betrothal gifts Lady of Taining gave to Lady Chen Shizi’s.

Zhou Shiya nodded and said, “My father also said the same thing. It is my mother who feels uneasy with it.”

Yuxi laughed. “This is also understandable. Your mother loves you and does not want you to be wronged.” Second Lady Zhou had only one daughter, Zhou Shiya, and naturally, she wanted to marry her off in style. Now that she couldn’t fulfil this wish for these external reasons, her heart must feel very upset.

As she was saying this, she saw Yurong walking over with Jiang Qi. Yurong smiled and called out, “Si Jie, Shiya Biaojie, what are you talking about? Did I just hear the word dowry?” Yuxi’s dowry of ninety-six carriers was something that Yurong already knew. She just wasn’t sure about the items listed in the dowry.

Yuxi smiled and said, “We were indeed talking about the dowry. Wu Mei, why did you come over here?” She didn’t even look at Jiang Qi when she spoke to Yurong.

Yurong explained, “Qi Jiejie said she had a misunderstanding with you before, so she wants to come over to apologise. Si Jie, Qi Jiejie has already told me what happened. She just made an inappropriate remark, so please be generous and don’t take it personally.”

Yuxi’s face looked a bit odd. If Yurong knew that it was useless to please Jiang Qi, she wondered if Yurong would still take this much trouble to curry favour with Jiang Qi just to get married!

Although Zhou Shiya did not know what was going on, she disliked Yurong’s tone, which seemed to be saying that Yuxi was making a big deal out of it. Zhou Shiya was very clear when it came to Yuxi’s character. The thing that could make Yuxi angry was not a trivial matter. What was more, Zhou Shiya also knew that Jiang Qi liked Chen Ran. So, this matter was not that simple. Zhou Shiya said with a smile, “Yurong Biaomei hasn’t even married into the Jiang family yet, and she’s already sided with the people of the Jiang family.”

Yurong’s face turned red through and through.

Jiang Qi calmly reasoned out, “Yuxi Jiejie, what happened last time, I was just speaking harshly, but it was without any bad intention. So please don’t take it to heart, Yuxi Biaojie.”

Yuxi responded indifferently. “I have long forgotten about it.” These words from her were full of contradictions. If she had forgotten about it, how would she know what they were talking about?

Jiang Qi smiled as she said, “It’s good that Yuxi Jiejie didn’t take it to heart.”

When Zhou Shiya heard this from the side, she continuously clicked her tongue secretly. What a nerve! People did not even say that they did not care about it. But Jiang Qi was able to press this matter onto Yuxi’s head. This was also a skill, to say the least.

Yuxi didn’t acknowledge this statement. She just spoke with an expressionless face, “I just hope that in the future, Miss Jiang won’t say the wrong thing to anyone.”

The smile on Jiang Qi’s face remained unchanged as she assured, “Don’t worry, Yuxi Jiejie. It won’t happen again.” It was enough for her to make this kind of mistake once. How could she allow herself to repeat it for a second time?