Chapter 23 – Concubine Yue"s layer upon layer scheme
"Yue"er, you don"t need to ever worry about Xu"er and Chu family"s marriage." Western Xuan"s Emperor hugged his beloved imperial concubine"s shoulders. He said this with his eyes closed to comfort her.
"This marriage of Prince Ying"s has finally been set, your servant is very happy on behalf of Sister Empress. Otherwise. among the people that are as old as Xu"er, all of them already have a few kids happily under their parents" knee. After so many years, there is no one at Prince Ying"s side, your servant is also very concerned ah!" A displeased tone that carried a trace of a smile sounded by Western Xuan"s Emperor"s ears.
One could only see a beautiful person half-reclining, her appearance was provocative, skin white as rouge. Her double eyelids bent in a moon shape, every blink of an eye was flirtatious, making it impossible for a person to shift his gaze away. Worthy of being renowned as the number one beauty in Western Xuan twenty years ago. Even though twenty years had pa.s.sed, however, time didn"t seem to have left any traces on her body. She was still as beautiful as before, this was sufficient to give birth to jealousy in many people"s hearts.
This person was precisely the birth mother of the fourth prince, Fu family"s second Miss, the emperor"s most beloved concubine, Fu You-Yue.
At this moment, Fu You-Yue moved her finger, twisting up her own hair, the complacent expression in her eyes flitting by. Finally, she had disposed of Xiao Xu, this huge danger in her heart. Worthy of celebration.
"If Xu"er knew how concerned you are about him, he would not treat you so coldly." Western Xuan"s Emperor patted both of her hands and said in a somewhat "it"s a pity" manner.
Fu You-Yue replied with a tone that was both having been wronged and generous, "Prince Ying"s natural disposition is indifference, even Older Sister the empress can"t obtain his care. Let alone to say me, your servant who isn"t even blood-related to him. Your Majesty doesn"t need to feel sorry for me, your servant."
Having heard what was said, Western Xuan"s Emperor"s evaluation of this eldest son became increasingly dissatisfied, "Xu"er isn"t sensible, Yue"er doesn"t need to bother with him."
Fu You-Yue softy agreed, a radiant light flashing through her eyes, "Your Majesty. I heard this Chu Qing-Yan"s age is still young. I"m afraid she won"t know a lot of the customs and rules. Wouldn"t it be better for her to first move into Prince Ying Manor? And let Prince Ying teach her properly. Otherwise, according to Prince Ying"s temperament, waiting until Chu Qing-Yan grows up and marries over, I"m afraid it won"t be easy for them to get along. Why not let the two of them interact first, when Chu Qing-Yan reaches the marriageable age of fifteen, then hold the wedding."
The hand Western Xuan"s Emperor used to lightly pat his beloved concubine paused. In a hesitant tone, he said, "This——I"m afraid it isn"t in keeping with the customs ah!"
Fu You-Yue"s face was full of annoyance, "Customs are set by people, moreover, this matter, Prince Ying is also special. He and the Chu family Miss differs in age by eight years. Besides, these years, providing Prince Ying a girl to marry, each and every one of the girl"s family all ——" Fu You-Yue paused, being considerate, and said, "I, your servant, thought that if the person could be placed by Prince Ying"s side, based on Prince Ying"s abilities, he would definitely be able to protect her os she"ll be safe and sound without any worries."
The words beloved concubine didn"t speak, Western Xuan"s Emperor had already guessed it. Recalling the several marriage matters before, they were all terminated because the other side"s daughter died suddenly. Therefore, Western Xuan"s Emperor was also somewhat hesitant.
Seeing Western Xuan"s Emperor"s heart was somewhat tempted, a smiling expression flashed through Fu You-Yue"s eyes.
Western Xuan"s Emperor, seeing her serious face waiting for his reply, Western Xuan"s Emperor"s voice was hoa.r.s.e as he said, "Everything will be done in accordance with beloved concubine"s words——"
Then, the voice ended.
The muslin screen hanging down over the bed lightly swayed, and the palace maids in the inner palace once again quietly withdrew.
Western Xuan"s Emperor didn"t see the expression of having gotten one"s way flash through her eyes.
In the bedroom lit up brightly by the candle flame, I"m afraid it will still need to shine for a period of time.
The night gradually became deeper, all living things were entirely quiet.
Xiao Xu had just sat on the horse carriage when the sound of someone making a report appeared.
"Your Highness, just now, the Empress had sent people to come inquire about how you and His Majesty"s talk went?"
"Don"t need to respond." Xiao Xu closed his eyes to rest, answering without needing to think about it.
"But…" The subordinate hesitated, if His Highness didn"t respond, I"m afraid it would be unlikely for the Empress to leave the matter at that. At that time, the one that suffered would still be his family"s Highness. He found this matter somewhat difficult to deal with.
As if he had sensed the subordinate"s concern, Xiao Xu opened his eyes. His gaze carried a faint touch of compromise for lack of better options, "You"ll first go tell Mother Empress, Father Emperor had already decided in his heart, this king was also unable to change it. She is also clear about Father Emperor"s temperament. Just tell her to leisurely wait to become a mother-in-law!"
"Yes." The subordinate felling sad complied. In this whole world, there wasn"t another person like His Highness that treated his closest kin like a stranger!
"Your Highness, just now, people from the residence came to report. The second prince knows you have returned, and asked people to deliver two people from the western regions. Saying the western regions" dancing was pretty good, specially bestowing to you as a reward to play with. Your subordinates did all they could to block but couldn"t block this. Second Prince also said that if Highness doesn"t accept, then he will be angry with you!" Fire Spirit reported the news he had just received. His heart was simply speechless, this second prince"s favorite thing to do was to collect beautiful women. Whether there was something or not, he always liked to stuff people in His Highness"s Manor. If it weren"t for His Highness refusing every time with a black face, I"m afraid the Prince"s Manor would have already become another kind of courtyard that welcomed the spring. However. he never thought that this time, the second prince would still feel secure enough to stuff people into the Prince"s Manor. Did he really think His Highness couldn"t do anything to him?
"Throw them away." Xiao Xu didn"t have to think about it before replying.
A year without seeing and this younger brother second prince still did as he pleased. No wonder this time, when he returned, his reputation had become well-known for making a lot of noise.
Likes new girls and getting bored with old girlfriends, licentious and excessive.
Xiao Xu impatiently raised an eyebrow, not wanting to discuss this matter again.
Whereas Fire Spirit accepted this order with great delight. He also didn"t like the Prince"s Manor to be disturbed with a foul atmosphere because of these people that used rouges and vulgar powder.
The carriage with the clattering of the horses" hooves went forward. The Capitol at night was especially lively, all kinds of snack stalls were arranged at the side of the road to attract customers. The sound of people hawking their stuff flooded the entire street.
And the carriage moving forward was incompatible with this city center, as if the liveliness here had nothing to do with it.
The carriage entered another street to proceed towards Prince Ying Manor. High officials and n.o.ble people lived on both sides of this street, leaning towards quiet, the liveliness of laughter and shouting were all tossed behind the carriage.
"Your Highness, today, Chu family"s little Miss spent the whole day searching for a doctor for her father. A pity that all the results were not very ideal." Fire Spirit was a person who didn"t like quiet, seeing that inside the carriage had become silent, he couldn"t help but to rack his brain, wanting to find another topic to discuss. Thinking back and forth, only that little girl doll would arouse His Highness"s attention. Ask him why he would feel this way, he couldn"t say, it was merely intuition.
"Uh." This flat sound came from within the carriage and then nothing more. This couldn"t help but make Fire Spirit feel that he had guessed wrongly, and he planned to shut up.
But to his surprise, the person inside the carriage once again started to speak, "If she is looking and there is an opportunity to escape, you guys still need to provide a.s.sistance to her. As long as you guys don"t let her detect it, it will be best."
"Yes." Fire Spirit was stunned but still agreed.
After experiencing numerous mishaps with the matter of Divine Doctors and another several days of fruitless searches, Chu Qing-Yan told her parents to stay properly in Chu family. Whereas she brought Shan Cha and several servants to step on the journey of continuing to search for a medical doctor.
And another fruitless day.
Chu Qing-Yan returned to the Manor somewhat defeated. These days, she had run to every large and small medicine shop throughout the capital. She didn"t even let go of the medicine vendors with their wares on little streets and alleys. However, she couldn"t find a single person that could treat Daddy"s illness.
There was an honest and considerate old doctor that suggested to her, this kind of foolishness that had already dragged on for ten years, perhaps only the doctors in the great imperial hospital could take over.
Chu Qing-Yan felt that this suggestion was somewhat difficult, after all, she didn"t have any connections to step on this thread to the great imperial hospital. And it was even more impossible for Chu family. Even before the marriage was bestowed. Chu family was already a family on the decline, let alone to say having any relationship with influential officials. Even if they had it, they wouldn"t possibly squander the connection on Daddy.
Just when Chu Qing-Yan was mulling over how to take the step to connect with the great imperial hospital, she heard a racket coming from the front courtyard. Originally, she didn"t want to pay it any heed, but then, she heard a familiar crying sound, and her footsteps paused, after which she immediately ran towards the source of the sound.