Jiang Rou Li had been left behind a couple of weeks after their marriage plus she got punished with house arrest by the most favored Imperial Consort. However, her life did not become that miserable nor was she gossiped about for being unlucky and unfavored.No matter what happened, she was still a w.a.n.g Fei and in control of the whole Chen w.a.n.g Residence. In her first week of marriage, she couldn"t step out. But do married women or women of boudoirs needed to step out of their houses?
They could pa.s.s the day embroidering or painting. If bored, then they could take a walk in the gardens. The whole estate was quite large so it would take a week of snail speed walking around to truly explore the place. And just to add, slow walking was every n.o.ble girl"s hobby. They had no choice but take it like that since the usual styles of clothing in the dynasty were ones that limited the movements of the legs. The walk became more elegant that way. But the speed was not anything to clap at.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Anyway, back to the real issue. Jiang Rou Li"s house arrest was not a big matter, at least for her.
She was the only consort in the Rui w.a.n.g Residence so no one dared to slight her.
The angry Imperial Consort Shu had ignored her for some time, but through flatteries and wondrous poems that the consort even brought to the Emperor to regain her pet status, Jiang Rou Li went back to being a favored daughter-in-law. Or at least in the public"s eyes.
Jiang Rou Li was smart and knew that the imperial concubine was actually truly h.e.l.l-bent on killing her for the shame and nightmare and was only pretending to like her. She knew that every day, her drinks and food were poisoned, even some items like incense and medicine.
The girl initially hated that her stupid mother brought this all upon her. But then she went over this hate and focused herself on being the beautiful and dignified Rui w.a.n.g Fei while deflecting deathly attacks from the most favored consort.
She realized, actually, she didn"t have problems continuing her days like this. In any case, the Imperial Consort was like her mother, quite stupid and an airhead, so her moves were only so-so, sometimes even boring for her.
Among the womenfolk of this era, Jiang Rou Li was also quite unique since if it was another girl experiencing the same, she would have broken down already, thinking life had been very unfair to her. Not Jiang Rou Li. Not until her husband returned and the reunion she was expecting turned into nightmares one day after another.
First was the diarrhea disease seemingly infecting everyone in the manor. The second was her sister"s return alongside Chen w.a.n.g. The greatest blow was when she heard that her husband lost the Emperor"s love due to presenting an item which, cough, allegedly made the Emperor the laughingstock of the whole dynasty.
An Emperor who openly farted and sh*tted on the dragon throne amidst an official court gathering?
She was afraid the current Emperor would be the only one recorded in history! But the bad thing was... Her husband caused all of it!
"w.a.n.g Fei..." Her head maid immediately helped her up when Jiang Rou Li"s body swayed and nearly fell on the ground.
The woman huffed for air then slowly turned to the servant. "So this is the reason why His Highness had come back a while ago in a very bad mood?"
"Answering to w.a.n.g Fei"s question, yes..."
Jiang Rou Li kept her quiet for a minute before ordering her to escort her to her room. She then dismissed her. Peace and quiet were what she needed. Three years of being idle were not to laugh at. Actually, with Hai w.a.n.g to be declared as crown prince, it basically meant that Rui w.a.n.g had fallen into a deep pit, one which he dug by himself, and caused him to lose the chance to win the throne.
The woman pursed her lips. She fell into deep contemplation. Not long after, a decision came to her mind and she wrote for her father, the Marshal.
After a few exchanges of letter with the Marshal, she confirmed that her father was actually never in Rui w.a.n.g"s side, this conclusion made her bones chill, since her father heartlessly allowed her to marry into this estate even though all along, the side he chose was planning a mutiny which had a higher chance of turning successful than Rui w.a.n.g being selected.
"It seems I had been blinded by love that I failed to see through father"s plot. I"m so ashamed." The woman bit her lips. Frustration encroaching in both her heart and mind. This did not last long though. She made her brain work furiously and then decided that before she was Rui w.a.n.g Fei, she was ultimately somebody from the Jiang Household.
In a sense, Jiang Rou Li was like Hai w.a.n.g, she could be affectionate and wors.h.i.+pful of somebody high up there, but once that person fell, she could cheapen herself for a way out.
This could be reflected in how she treated her own mother. When Lady w.a.n.g was still beautiful and doted on by the Marshal, she didn"t have a fallout with her even though she got disgusted by the woman"s adulterous affairs with a cheap guard.
But now that Lady w.a.n.g"s face turned so hideous she was more like an evil spirit than a person, even if she was her mother, she ignored her and allowed her to be thrown out of the Marshal"s estate, not intervening since the Marshal wisely handled it. She still had a "mother" after all. Who knows where his father got that new woman, but as long as her reputation would not be affected and she would stay a legitimate miss, then everything"s fine.
"Honorable father, this w.a.n.g Fei doesn"t need you to save me here. I can survive and even help through my own ways. Just put some good words for me to the future Emperor and tell him I never consummated with Rui w.a.n.g."
On the next day, after sending those words to the Grand Marshal, she burned everything that would rat out her frequent communications with her father. She then went to Rui w.a.n.g"s main house and spent some time talking and cultivating feelings with him. Rui w.a.n.g, this arrogant prince whose ego had quite fallen on the mud, deeply appreciated his wife"s kindness and promised he would go back anew and as high once the house arrest was lifted, but Jiang Rou Li only sneered in her heart and left once done comforting the man through her sweet talks and gentle gestures.
While walking back to her own courtyard, escorted by many maids fanning and s.h.i.+elding her from the glaring afternoon sun, she mused, she had been so foolishly in love with stealing whatever Jiang Ying Yue had. She realized. She was never in love with this person. But she hated that she had been apart from this man for more than a month and did not immediately see how stupid he was.
"There"s no use to regret now." She softly said to herself.
Those servants originally from Rui w.a.n.g Residence heaved a sigh of relief, thinking their w.a.n.g Fei said this since she made up her mind not to leave His Highness" side. Little did know, she was saying this to herself because she was deeply regretting why she let her obsession obscured her eyesight.
The moment she got back, she suddenly remembered the incident a month and the letter of the Marshal telling her that it was Chen w.a.n.g and Jiang Ying Yue who wreaked havoc on the estate. To make herself appear more useful, she orchestrated to link the Lu Household to Hai w.a.n.g and then framed the Lu clan of stealing something from the Emperor.
A dragon robe perhaps?
She remembered seeing one on Rui w.a.n.g"s study earlier, gifted to him by the Emperor as a plaything. If stealing that from the Imperial family was not taken for a crime worthy of the nine-clan-extermination, she would condemn the heavens for being biased against her.
With a plan hatched in mind, she immediately penned down another message and then had one of her servants stole the imperial robe in the study. A beautiful and charming smile graced her face when she heard from one of her loyal people in the estate that the messenger had already delivered everything to the Grand Marshal Residence.
Knowing once this endeavor became successful, she would be a major contributor and should be able to get into that person"s harem, her facial expression relaxed and the charming curve on her lips did not vanish. She simply began to look forward to the coming good days.