Chapter 671 - Wife, Concubine
Concubine Xiao had caught Chen Xiang’s expression.
At the last moment, she also asked Chen Xiang in a caring tone, “Has the Side Consort been well lately?”
Chen Xiang quickly put on a smile. “Replying Your Ladys.h.i.+p, Xiang’er is doing very well. Thanks for Your Ladys.h.i.+p’s concern.” Much more politely.
“The two of you are now of the same household and thus are sisters. Sisters should help each other and should not create trouble instead. You should also take good care of Prince Yi and fulfil your duties as wife and concubine.”
The wife she referred to was Ji Muqing, while the concubine was naturally Chen Xiang. The two of them replied in unison, “Yes, we will, Your Ladys.h.i.+p.”
Concubine Xiao nodded in satisfaction. “Right, This seat has some high quality gold hairpins and jewellery prepared for the two of you. If you’d like, you can each select one.”
“Many thanks, Your Ladys.h.i.+p.”
Sang Lan brought out the prepared jewellery. On the red tray lay a jade hairpin in the shape of a luan and a bracelet with emerald green edges. Both of them were of the highest quality.
Concubine Xiao said, “The two of you may choose for yourselves.”
Let them choose! Probably only Chen Xiang understood the underlying meaning of her words.
They got up and walked to the middle of the hall, crowding in close to admire the jewellery in the tray. Chen Xiang smiled and modestly offered, “Why don’t Younger Sister take the first choice? Besides, Younger Sister is the Princess Consort and should go first.”
Hmpf. “Many thanks to the Side Consort then.” Ji Muqing deliberately put a strong emphasis on the two words, ‘side consort’, and didn’t decline either. She started to leisurely admire the jewellery.
Ji Muqing first picked up the bracelet for a look, covertly peeking at Chen Xiang’s expression as she did so. When she saw how that woman appeared secretly delighted, she put it down again and took up that hairpin instead. The minute it was in her hand, Chen Xiang’s brows knitted slightly.
Hehe. She wanted this hairpin. “Your Ladys.h.i.+p, I’m done choosing. I want this hairpin.”
“Mn. The consort has good taste.” Concubine Xiao praised.
Ji Muqing was delighted and pa.s.sed that hairpin to a maid beside her. Initially, she thought that she had gained a great advantage over Chen Xiang, but she didn’t expect that when she turned her head, she would see Chen Xiang pick up that bracelet with great delight, obviously looking very satisfied at getting her own way.
Chen Xiang waved that bracelet in her hand and asked, “Has Your Highness never heard of the ice silk bracelets of Nanjiang?”
What the heck? What are the ice silk bracelets of Nanjiang? Never heard of them. “What do you mean?”
Chen Xiang smiled, “This bracelet is from Nanjiang, made by the best artisa.n.a.l masters of Suzhou. Look at how delicate these edges are!” Flaunting it!
Ji Muqing was tricked yet again. Her previous smugness was totally wiped off her face, leaving her staring dumbly at that bracelet.
However, just as Chen Xiang was about to put the bracelet on her own wrist, someone b.u.mped into her from behind and the bracelet slipped from her hand to fall on the ground with a bright and loud clink.
It broke neatly into two halves.
Chen Xiang was struck dumb by this. Great. While she was busy showing off, a perfectly good bracelet was shown off so much that it fell to the ground. After several seconds of staring, the fury in her heart suddenly erupted as she whirled around to look at the culprit.
However, when she turned around, the person she saw was Jing Xuan! “Princess?”
This time, she was truly stunned. However expensive that bracelet was, she couldn’t demand the princess to repay her for the loss. Her grievances could only be borne with gritted teeth and choked back down into her stomach.
Jing Xuan wrinkled her brows, looking remorseful and guilt-ridden. “I’m so sorry about it. I just wanted to move closer to see what precious item that was. I didn’t expect that my moment of carelessness actually resulted in breaking Imperial Sister-in-Law’s bracelet. I wonder if that bracelet was expensive? Why don’t I compensate Imperial Sister-in-Law for it?”
Chen Xiang quickly replied, “It was merely a bracelet, and also one bestowed by Her Ladys.h.i.+p. If it’s broken, it’s broken. Take it as breaking with bad luck.” [1]
“How would that do?” Jing Xuan picked up the two halves of the bracelet, saying, “why don’t I get someone to repair it, then send it over to Imperial Sister-in-law. I guarantee that it would be just like new.”
“Your Highness, please don’t trouble yourself.”
“I must, I must.” Jing Xuan pa.s.sed the bracelet to Duan’er beside her and instructed, “You must hold this securely and don’t let it break again. Send it to the Office of Imperial Affairs and have them repair it until it’s like new, or even better.”
“Yes, this servant will do so.” Duan’er held the bracelet carefully.
Chen Xiang didn’t have anything else to say either.
However, Jing Xuan then noticed Ji Muqing’s hairpin and exclaimed, muttering to herself, “Ah! This hairpin really does look good, but somehow I seem to remember that this was one that had been spoilt? So it’s been repaired! It just doesn’t look quite as nice as before.”
Immediately, Ji Muqing’s smile also slipped off her face. What? This is a spoilt hairpin? She didn’t mishear, did she?
Jing Xuan seemed to come to a realisation and hurriedly covered her own mouth, turning to Ji Muqing whose complexion had turned ugly. “So this hairpin was bestowed to Imperial Sister-in-Law by Imperial Mother! I misspoke, this hairpin could be different from the one that was spoilt. Please don’t take it to heart, Imperial Sister-in-Law, just treat it as if I were saying nonsense.”
Because Ji Muqing had once plucked a bunch of flowers off a plant that Jing Xuan was growing, the two of them had once been at odds, but now that they were family and Jing Xuan had put their former enmity aside by calling her Imperial Sister-in-Law, Ji Muqing could only reply that with a smile. “The princess really likes to make jokes.”
“That’s right, I was joking. How could Mother be so petty that she would bestow Imperial Sister-in-Law a hairpin that had once been broken?” Her words plunged the entire atmosphere into a few degrees below zero.
However, with how she was addressing them ‘Imperial Sister-in-Law’ sweetly left and right, however uncomfortable Ji Muqing and Chen Xiang felt, they still bore with it for the sake of those calls of ‘Imperial Sister-in-Law’.
After that, Jing Xuan turned her attention to Concubine Xiao, who sat in the main seat on the raised platform above them, bowed in greeting and called out, “Imperial Mother.”
Concubine Xiao was shocked.
Yesterday, she refused to eat a single grain of rice or drink a single sip of water. But now, she was standing here, behaving in such a vigorous and lively manner. Looking at her appearance, her previous words, and her tone, it seemed… as if it were that previously wilful, headstrong, and imprudent wild girl from before.
She seemed a completely different person from the Jing Xuan on the evening of Sui’er’s death.
Jing Xuan walked forward, plopped herself down by Concubine Xiao’s side, and tugged on her hand intimately, “Imperial Mother, don’t be angry at Daughter anymore. Daughter didn’t do it on purpose just now.”
Concubine Xiao examined her closely without speaking.
“What’s wrong? Why is Imperial Mother looking at Daughter like that? Is there something on my face?” She rubbed at her face. “There’s nothing!”
Her behaviour was innocent and unaffected, without a single sign of her past depressive mood.
Concubine Xiao thought to herself, could it be that the child has finally turned sensible? She smiled. “Why would Imperial Mother blame you? Those are mere worldly possessions. If they"re broken, they"re broken. There’s no need to panic.”
“Imperial Mother’s still the best.”
“Good girl.” The mother-daughter pair chatted harmoniously while Ji Muqing and Chen Xiang stewed in despair below them.
After that, Concubine Xiao arranged for a feast within her palace and bade the two of them stay for dinner as they talked about domestic affairs. They were sent away only when they had finished their dinner.
[1] Untranslatable pun here. Break/shatter (碎 sui4) has the same p.r.o.nunciation as (岁 sui4), which is part of a saying that wishes for safety (岁岁平安).