The arrival of her oldest daughter made Hong Tiaoqing smile happily. Her oldest daughter is her biggest pride right now. Her education to Su Mingmei made this young woman now becomes one of the Royal Concubines. Fortunately, her eldest daughter had ambitions like her, even so much greater than she was made her very proud as Su Mingmei"s biological mother."This concubine heard you were being punished locked in this courtyard, Mother. What happened?"
"What else can happen, Mei-er?! It was all because of the child of that d.a.m.n woman. How dare Su Qingyi take back the Jade Jewel Pavilion store from me?! "
Concerning questions from her daughter made Hong Tiaoqing remember Yu w.a.n.g"s arrival which had her punished by Patriarch Su.
Hearing that the Jade Jewel Pavilion had been taken back by Su Qingyi from the hands of her mother made Su Mingmei upset. She came to Su"s residence because she needed her mother"s help to get high-quality jade from the shop. She wants to give the jade to the Emperor because she heard the Emperor likes high-quality jade. If she can get those jade, maybe the Emperor will favour her again in the Palace. She needs to get a child from the Emperor before the Empress get one.
"How can the timid Su Qingyi take over the store from your hands, Mother?" Su Mingmei couldn"t help but find out.
"Hmph! All because of your inaccurate information, Mei-er." Hong Tiaoqing pouted at her daughter because of the wrong information given to her.
"What do you mean, Mother?"
"You said before marriage that Yu w.a.n.g would not like that girl. You said that Yu w.a.n.g would hate her because he always liked you and wanted to marry you. You also said that Yu w.a.n.g would definitely not support Su Qingyi for taking over all of her inheritance stores because he was ashamed of her being the legal wife of Yu w.a.n.g now as your replacement."
"Yes, that"s all true. This concubine sure of it."
"But, you are wrong, Mei-er. Yu w.a.n.g helping her to take over all her heritage shops from the Su family."
"What?! Is that true?!"
Hong Tiaoqing nod, making Su Mingmei"s face turn ugly. How can this happen?! Yu w.a.n.g supposed to love her enough to hate that timid girl!
"Because of Yu w.a.n.g"s help, the Patriarch punish me for upsetting the girl."
Hong Tiaoqing was not interested in telling about the attack she sent to kill Su Qingyi, which made Yu w.a.n.g angry and forced Patriarch Su to punish her. Fortunately, Patriarch Su did not punish her severely in reality, but only pretended to lock her up.
"Alright then, if Mother is not severely punished by Patriarch Su, this concubine will return to the Palace."
"Mei-er, you must help your mother to ask Patriarch Su to reduce the sentence of this imprisonment. I just feel bored being stuck here."
"This concubine will try it."
Su Mingmei walked out of her mother"s courtyard. The two guards who had blocked her arrival were still lying on the stone floor. Su Mingmei and her entourage did not care about their situation. Glancing at the Su family servants who were waiting for her outside the courtyard, the young woman who wore a special silk cloth for the Royal concubines walked towards the residence of Patriarch Su.
"Patriarch Su, Concubine Ming wants to meet you."
Su Lingdao who was taking care of a pile of doc.u.ments piled on his desk frowned at his manservant"s notice from outside the door. The old man who still looked quite dashing did not intend to meet the young woman he had sent to the Palace because he felt that the young woman had not given satisfactory results for him. But, he was sure that the young woman would definitely not leave if he had not met her now. Taking a deep breath, feeling stifled, Su Lingdao gave the young woman permission to enter her study room.
"Patriarch-"
Su Mingmei saluted Patriarch Su slowly because now she was the Emperor"s concubine, this young woman did not need to bow to the man who was the head of the Su family.
"What is the need for Concubine Ming to look for this old man?"
"Of course this concubine should greet Patriarch Su if this concubine comes to visit, right?" Su Mingmei looked a little arrogant staring at Patriarchh Su who frowned, feeling confused about this young woman"s behaviour.
"This Patriarch doesn"t understand why Concubine Ming is being cynical to this old man?" Patriarch Su was forced to ask, this man had no intention of having a tenuous relationship with the young woman who was now sitting before him.
"This concubine hopes Patriarch Su will ease the sentence against Second Madam." Su Mingmei did not intend to answer the old man"s questions and diverted the conversation towards her mother"s locked down punishment.
"Second madam makes Yu w.a.n.g angry with her careless acts, this old man must give her some punishment to ease Yu w.a.n.g anger." Patriarch Su explained the cause of Second Madam"s punishment to her.
"I believe that Patriarch Su did not intend to punish Second Madam like that, so I think it would be better for Patriarch Su to speed it up."
"This old man can"t do that, this old man has to be fair."
"Fair?! It"s strange to hear that from Patriarch Su." Su Mingmei"s words seemed to mock Patriarch Su, making Su Lingdao feel annoyed to be treated like that by Su Mingmei.
"Why exactly the reasons for Concubine Ming acting rude like this to me?!" Patriarch Su was very annoyed to receive such cynical treatment from the young woman in front of him.
"Why?! Because this concubine knows your hidden secrets!"
"Secret? What secret?"
"The secret you hid for a long time with my mother!"
"You! How do you know?! It is impossible!"
"Why not possible?"
"Hong Tiaoqing can"t possibly betray me!"
"Hmph! Who says only my mother knows your secret, there are still others who know it clearly."