Chapter 79
Out of the palace gate, Rong Xiangmian heard Rong Xiangwang call Fourth Sister, lifted the sedan chair curtain, only to see him deliberately riding a horse and slowly falling behind the Duke of England: “Sister don’t worry, I’ll persuade the eldest uncle.”
“Don’t, save yourself from being scolded.” Rong Xiangmian know this child is not good to intervene, “your marriage is finalized, go back and talk to your mother, let her be happy.”
After the two families parted, Rong Xiangmian advised Yulong, “Don’t get involved in my family’s business anymore.”
“What do you mean my family?” Zhou Xian Yang is not happy, it’s been a month since the wedding, and the princess is still so outgoing.
“I’m serious. If a concubine asks for a grant, won’t that make people gossip about you? Count on me to beg you, don’t go and do something stupid.” Rong Xiangyang held Yu Wang’s hand, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t exert himself in the carriage, he would have wanted to kneel down for him.
Zhou Xian Yang raised his hand and touched the princess’ face, his tears still fresh. She has always acted courteously outside, but just now she lost her temper and burst into tears in front of the Duke of England, and it was only because she was in pain that she would do so, which also caused him to lose control of his heart for a moment.
“Don’t worry, there are still a few concubines in the country. I heard that when he was alive, his grandfather had posthumously granted a concubine to his Empress, the birth mother of the later Empress Dowager Chong Qing.”
“How can I be compared to the late Empress Dowager?” Rong Xiangmei sighed, she dared not think of these in her last life, nor in this one.
“Then there’s Cai Yunxiao, the governor of Lingzhou, whose own mother was sold to his family as a slave, and is still alive today. Mr. Cai couldn’t bear to see his mother at home and wait for her like a slave every day, so he asked the emperor for grace. The emperor remembered his achievements, and granted her mother a first-class ennobled wife, no longer need to suffer.”
“There is still this?” Rong Xiang see first heard, greatly wondered, “But Lord Cai is the important minister of the country, I …… am just married to His Highness, how can there be any merit in the country?”
“May as well, your mother has already died for so many years. Even if you ask for a title, it’s just a mourning honor.”
“No way!” Rong Xiangshi shook his head, “I don’t want to cause you to be punished again. The Empress is eyeing you, it’s better for you to bide your time.”
Zhou Xian Yang was somewhat discouraged by the successive denials and leaned against the carriage wall, “You’re still so raw.”
How can you not be raw when you meet Rong? She wanted to ask him, “Third sister is having a hard time in the Princess’s residence, and Your Highness can’t let go of her heart, right?
But to say it out loud is just to create suspicion in vain, she only said: “If you want your highness to take risks because of me, then I would rather your highness and I are not angry with each other.”
For a long time, King Yu did not respond. He leans there, hesitant to speak, looking thoughtful.
Later, Rong Xiangmian couldn’t help but ask: “What is Your Highness thinking about?”
Actually, she wanted to ask: Are you thinking about my third sister?
King Yu’s eyes fell out of focus in the corner of the carriage and said expressionlessly, “I’m thinking about what your fifth brother said. There may not be any fulfillment in this world, and if there is, you can only watch the fulfillment shatter. It would be better not to be perfect from the start.”
Rong Xiangmian chewed on these words and said, “Your Highness is feeling it? Your Highness did not consummate by marrying me, yet found that getting along was still possible.”
King Yu glanced at her with a somewhat weary expression, “Your Highness is good at everything, except one thing, she is too penetrating, so much so that the words she speaks can poke at the heart.”
Rong Xiangmei hummed softly, “Your Highness doesn’t like to hear it, you won’t even say it in the future.”
“No. I like to hear you tell the truth. We’ve become husband and wife, so let’s not come to that set of false pretenses.”
“Then Your Highness won’t allow you to be angry with me in the future because of what I said.”
“Definitely not.”
The two returned home. Rong Xiangmian was concerned about Yu Wang’s injury and asked, “It’s not convenient for His Highness to freshen up, do you want to find a maid to serve you? So as not to wet the wound.”
Zhou Xian Yang had never let anyone serve him before, but this time he said, “Just let Lin Lang do it.”
Lin Lang was embarrassed to hear that she had been asked to go. In her heart, she knew that it was her duty, so she had to go.
She went into the purification room only to find that King Yu had already laid down in the bath and told her to stand outside the screen and wait.
The sound of water dripping and the occasional sighs that people make while bathing called Linlang a moment of embarrassment, not knowing what she should do.
After a while, King Yu asks, “After I went to Ci Ning Palace today, why did the Empress want to make a match between me and Little County Lord for good reason?”
Linlang froze before realizing that His Highness had come to find himself again to inquire about the girl, so he said, “Because County Mistress Baozhu and the girl hit it off. In these few days, she will have to save a game and accompany the young princess to have fun in the capital for a few days.”
“How did the two of them cast their lot?”
Lin Lang bit her lip. The girl didn’t mention it, so naturally she couldn’t say anything about the girl’s own sister behind her back.
“Lin Lang, you’re so smart that you should know that your girl and I are not as amiable as it seems from the outside.”
Lin Lang immediately said, “The slave girl is unable to understand. Wangfei’s heart is all on His Highness, His Highness is also good to Wangfei, why …… why so far ……”
“So you guys have to help me. Wangfei has what unhappy annoyance, you say to me know, I can make her happy, we can be good.”
Linlang heard also makes sense, then today Rong Xiangzhi put the girl’s life in front of everyone’s face intentionally said to the small county princess to listen to, so that the small county princess big lazily asked about the girl’s matter in person are truthful.
“Fortunately, that Little Sheriff didn’t make fun of and mock our aunt as other noble families did, but instead complimented her on her excellent horsemanship. In the past, no one has ever praised auntie like this in front of the girl. The girl’s heart was naturally grateful, so she thought of treating her to a few days of fun in the capital. The Empress Mother, that’s why she offered to ……”
“I know.” Zhou Xian Yang tilted his head back and leaned on the edge of the bath, Wangfei is good at everything, there are only two things that can’t be touched, one is her mother, the second is her third sister.
Linlang did not know about the knot between Xiangmian and Yu Wang, and only thought it was because of the first item, complaining, “Thanks to our girl, she even said that she wanted to save up the bureau to send down invitations to invite the Third Sister to come out and play, so that she wouldn’t have to spend the whole day in the mansion being governed by the Eldest Princess.
Slave girl see, your highness still persuade the girl, don’t go to manage her this sister, she is good hearted, where do you expect people to her heart’s most painful place to stab a knife!”
“The most painful part of her heart?” Zhou Xian Yang felt that this was too much to say, “The matter of the concubine’s birth, I see that your girl doesn’t care about it as much as outsiders do.”
“It’s not this. It’s aunt …… who died trying to save my family girl.”
“What?” Zhou Xian Yang was lying in the hot water, but he felt that his body had passed through a course of icy water, “What happened?”
Lin Lang was in the palace at the time, Rong Xiang Xiang was still in the Duke of State’s residence, this was something she also heard from Feiyun Feixue later.
“I heard that one year when the State Duke’s Mansion went under water, Aunt Chu’s small courtyard was burned in its entirety. Aunt Chu was trapped in the fire, pouring tea all over her clothes, covering the girl’s mouth and nose, and protecting the girl in her arms. The people who put out the fire easily put it out and went in, only to find that the aunt’s back was burned beyond recognition. The girl, however, was still alive, without a single injury.”
Although she didn’t see that scene with her own eyes, Linlang said it at this moment, but as if she had seen that scene, she couldn’t help but wet her eyes.
After she finished speaking, she didn’t hear any more words from King Yu for a while.
Zhou Xian Yang recalls that when Rong Xiang Xiang learned that someone was going to take his head, she wasn’t the least bit afraid and was determined to work with him. At that time, she said, “I died a long time ago.
No wonder, she was youthful, but her heart was as silent as death.
He sighed and said, “I am well, go serve your girl.”
Linlang went back to the house, and Xiangmei wondered, “So soon?”
She didn’t dare to hide, “His Highness didn’t ask me to serve, but only asked me about today in the palace. The slave girl was indignant, so she said …… also told the aunt’s business ……”
Rong Xiangmian took a deep breath and fixed his mind, “You are also for me, go down.”
Zhou Xian Yang returned to the bedroom, Rong Xiangmian was sitting by the dressing table, applying something. At a glance, it was applying ointment to the gauze.
Seeing him return, Rong Xiangmian hurriedly greeted, “Your Highness, re-bandage it.”
Zhou Xian Yang didn’t say anything, just sat beside her. Under the lamp, her brows and eyes were as beautiful as when they first met that night at the City Temple.
They had met since a fire. No wonder she was still devoted to him even though she knew about the third girl. He had suffered some flesh wounds, and she hated to kill. She married him with a heart of repayment, and she was dead to him.
Only after re-dressing the wound did Zhou Xian Yang say, “You’ve been wronged.”