A girl crying so prettily like a pear blossom bathed in rain was naturally pitiable.
Lin Zhen reached out and helped her up.
The young girl had cried so hard that her body had gone limp, and she collapsed directly into Lin Zhen's arms.
Though Lin Zhen was slender and delicate herself, the girl still felt a sense of security in her embrace.
It was strange, really.
This new consort of Prince Fu was around the same age as herself, yet she felt she could rely on her completely. Being here now felt like having a pillar of support.
"His Highness has mentioned your situation to me before. Just settle into the residence without worry—there's no need to be afraid." Lin Zhen wasn't deceiving the young woman before her.
Indeed, when Prince Fu had been wasting away on his sickbed, entrusting her with his business affairs and the household, he had spoken at length about the various people in the residence and had asked her to look after them as best she could after his passing.
Although this girl was a younger sister from the late consort's family and her being sent to the prince's residence was not without ulterior motives, Lin Zhen didn't mind. What she cared about was that this was clearly a girl of decent temperament and good character.
She simply had no choice in the matter.
If that was the case, what harm was there in lending a helping hand where she was able?
Besides, the late consort's maternal family—the Earl Dongyang household, which held some prestige in the capital—had failed in their scheming. They would likely take out their anger on this Eighth Young Miss, who had been sent here as a sacrifice in the first place.
"A'Yu," the delicate-looking girl said in a choked whisper.
She was still clinging to Lin Zhen.
…The new consort truly felt like breaking into a sweat.
It was summertime, after all.
Though blocks of ice were piled up to cool the room, it was still terribly hot.
But if she pushed her away, given how the girl looked, she might simply fall apart. Lin Zhen hesitated for a moment, then resolutely endured and stayed still.
Beside her, Jiaoyue secretly cast a sympathetic glance at her mistress.
"What?"
"You may call me A'Yu."
The Eighth Young Miss of the Earl Dongyang household, named A'Yu, said in a small voice.
After her outburst, she shifted uneasily, feeling rather embarrassed about having thrown herself into someone else's arms like that.
She had always been timid and submissive at home. Even when her legitimate mother oppressed her and her father acted as though she didn't exist, she had never dared to complain or raise her voice. This was the first time she had ever cried out so loudly.
But after this cry—as if she had wept out all the anxiety and fear that had been weighing on her heart these past days—she felt much lighter inside.
She wasn't the type to take advantage of kindness. Seeing how generously Lin Zhen treated her, she quickly released her grip that had been clinging like a drowning woman grasping at a lifeline, though she still knelt by Lin Zhen's side, looking up with red-rimmed eyes. "His Highness and Your Highness are both good people."
Yes.
They said home was a place that sheltered you from wind and rain.
But A'Yu felt that after escaping the torrential downpour of her own home, she had encountered nothing but clear skies.
The late Prince Fu and the current consort before her were both good people.
Extremely, extremely good people.
One had, when she was sent to the Prince Fu residence by her family and was so frightened she didn't know which way to turn, smiled warmly and told her to treat the place like her own home and not worry.
Even though Prince Fu had always had a terrible reputation.
There were many tales of his lechery circulating in the capital.
One day he'd forcibly seize a virgin courtesan who leapt from a building to preserve her honor; the next he'd snatch up an official's daughter who had been sentenced to the music bureau and keep her in his residence, never to be returned…
He had done many outrageous things.
Whoever caught his eye would be snatched up and locked in the residence, never released.
Back in the Earl Dongyang household, everyone who mentioned their son-in-law Prince Fu looked down on him with disdain, feeling that the legitimate eldest daughter marrying him was like a pearl cast before swine.
The eldest sister had thought so too. Every time she returned to visit her natal family, she would speak of Prince Fu with nothing but disgust and contempt.
Of course, the Earl Dongyang household looked down on Prince Fu—they found him stupid and fat, and his reputation was terrible. But they still enjoyed the money from the Prince Fu residence while sneering at him.
Every time the eldest sister came home, didn't she bring several cartloads of fine goods? Didn't she leave the beautiful jade and gems bestowed upon Prince Fu by the palace in their beaming legitimate mother's hands?
A'Yu had seen those treasures before. That was why, when Prince Fu had seemed perfectly proper toward her, she had summoned the greatest courage of her life to make one plea.
After all… a man who tacitly allowed his wife to support her father's family with so much money… was at least a generous and open-hearted person, wasn't he?
Besides, she wasn't a beauty. Her looks were plain. Prince Fu probably wouldn't develop any lecherous intentions toward her.
Despite all his terrible reputations, he had always been kind and gentle with her. Even when she had fallen into his hands with no way to resist, he had never laid a finger on her.
She was timid by nature. That time had been the first time she'd ever worked up the courage to beg Prince Fu to spare her… Though she was the least favored concubine-born daughter in her family, not as clever or beautiful as her other sisters, she still treasured herself—and there was someone she loved.
If that man hadn't gone off to join the army to earn the right to marry her and never returned, she wouldn't have been so "carefully selected" by her legitimate mother… and what a careful selection it was.
With the legitimate eldest sister who had married into the Prince Fu residence now dead, the connection between the Earl Dongyang household and the Prince Fu residence was in danger of weakening.
Though the eldest sister had left behind a son, who had long since been recommended by Prince Fu as the heir apparent to the princedom, the Earl Dongyang household still worried that if Prince Fu remarried, he would grow distant from them and stop spending money on them.
So they kept insisting that "the young heir is still a child and truly needs his aunt's care," and thus sent her into Prince Fu's household without any proper title or status.
Even if Prince Fu later married her for the sake of the heir, her reputation would already be tarnished for entering Prince Fu's household before marriage, leaving her no choice but to rely on her natal family for support. At that point, she would have to work even harder to extract benefits for the Earl's household to curry favor with them.
Fearing that Prince Fu might genuinely come to love her, her stepmother even deliberately chose her—the least attractive among the sisters in the family.
If she was not beautiful, she could not win Prince Fu's heart, yet she would still occupy the position of Princess Consort. Prince Fu, having no feelings for her, would never stand up for her, and she would never dare to rebel against her natal family or strike out on her own.
Her stepmother had calculated everything carefully before sending her into Prince Fu's household.
So she begged Prince Fu to let her go, yet shamelessly begged him again to allow her to stay in the household.
Her beloved had not yet returned.
If she were sent back to the Earl's household, she was not afraid of continuing to live with her tail between her legs there.
But she was terrified that her stepmother would betroth her to someone else.
Two years prior, her stepmother, the wife of Earl Dongyang, had sent one of her extremely beautiful and delicate half-sisters to the household of Prince Changxin as a secondary consort.
A concubine's daughter from the Earl's household becoming a secondary consort to a prince—that sounded like a perfectly matched union, a very honorable affair beyond reproach. Everyone even praised the stepmother for elevating the concubine-born girls.
But at that time, Prince Changxin was nearly seventy years old, while the concubine's daughter from the Earl's household was only sixteen.
A'Yu was terrified of Lady Dongyang's methods and dared not go back.
She also knew her request was utterly unreasonable.
Yet Prince Fu still agreed and took her in.
Now, the Princess Consort had also agreed.
Her food, clothing, and daily provisions were never stingy.
What good people they were.
A'Yu nearly shed tears again.
When Prince Fu passed away, besides panicking about her own future, she found she could not grieve deeply in her heart.
Such a good man—during the time he lay ill, she had secretly eaten only vegetarian meals, praying only that Prince Fu would recover and live a long life.
Even now, whenever she thought of Prince Fu, she could not help but weep.
Seeing her crying like she was made of water, tears falling one after another, Lin Zhen's heart softened. She helped her into a chair nearby and steered away from these sorrowful topics, asking instead, "I heard the Prince mention that your beloved joined the army. Has he sent you letters, and did he say when he might return?"
Such concern felt like sisters sitting together chatting idly, yet A'Yu found it both novel and embarrassing.
Although the Earl of Dongyang's household had many daughters—she was already the eighth—they were not close to one another.
The concubine-born sisters had different mothers and spent their days competing for favor and pushing each other aside.
Her birth mother had died early, she was plain-looking, of a dull temperament, and not favored by the elders at home, so none of her sisters were willing to associate with her.
But she had always envied those who had many sisters to chat with.
Seeing that the Princess Consort was about her own age and was looking at her with a pair of enchanting eyes, she dared not wail loudly over Prince Fu again lest she make the Princess Consort grieve as well. She rubbed a crudely made jade pendant at her waist and said in a low voice, "He… he is guarding the Western Rong border alongside Prince Ning. Thanks to our Prince's kindness, he sent word that once the fighting calms down, he will return to take me away."
Before she entered Prince Fu's household, she had not dared to exchange letters with her beloved, for the Earl of Dongyang's household was, after all, a noble family, and correspondence could not easily fall into her own hands.
If her stepmother learned that she had secretly formed an attachment, she would likely be beaten to death.
It was only after she entered Prince Fu's household that Prince Fu said he was on good terms with Prince Ning, the commanding general, and told her to write to her beloved, so that at least the hero who had joined the army would know she was safe and need not worry about matters at home while on the battlefield.
Lin Zhen nodded slightly.
She looked at the delicate A'Yu before her.
Today she wore plain clothes, her hair in a simple style with no ornaments—clearly she had genuine feelings for the late Prince Fu.
A girl who knew right from wrong was not truly plain-looking; she had her own gentle beauty.
"In that case, you may continue corresponding with him as before." All authority in the household rested in her hands now; however letters had been exchanged before, they could continue in the same manner.
Just as she was about to say something more to A'Yu, she saw a beautiful maidservant walk in from outside. The maidservant curtsied to Lin Zhen and said, "Princess Consort, the young heir has arrived."
She reported with a solemn expression, and Lin Zhen followed her gaze, only to see that behind the maidservant there was no one.
But in the courtyard, a small, thin figure was slowly approaching, surrounded by several maidservants and elderly matrons. Lin Zhen lowered her voice and gave a few instructions to Jiaoyue.
Jiaoyue nodded, then took the arm of the solemn-faced beautiful maidservant, and the two of them walked off together toward a side kitchen.
"The Princess Consort is busy, so I'll take my leave."
When A'Yu heard that the young heir had arrived, she scrambled to her feet in a fluster, ready to leave.
Of this only son left by her elder half-sister, A'Yu knew in her heart that he was also her own nephew.
But precisely because of that, she was unwilling to remain in the main hall.
Though she was the heir's aunt, it was clear that the heir should be closer to the Princess Consort.
If she stayed here, whose place would feel closer in the young lord's heart? Would it put the princess consort in an awkward position?
She had no desire for her presence to trouble Lin Zhen, but Lin Zhen paid it no mind at all.
Her gaze was fixed solely on the small, thin figure entering.
That small figure moved sluggishly, as if wishing to take one step forward and three steps back, most reluctant—yet seemingly afraid of something, not daring to show it too plainly.
Only when the small figure reached the main room and stood at a distance from Lin Zhen, head bowed and neck drawn in, did it speak in a tiny voice, "To… to Mother…" At the word "Mother," the little one gave a shudder before continuing, "I… I pay my respects."