“Something like that happened?” Ye Su genuinely hadn’t known about this.
She wasn’t fond of attending banquets either, but she had received plenty of invitations in the past, and occasionally she would still accept the more significant ones and go.
However, since her grandmother’s birthday banquet, it did seem that no invitations had been delivered to her courtyard in the past few days.
So it wasn’t that the young ladies of the capital hadn’t been hosting any banquets recently—it was that no one was inviting her?
“It’s absolutely true, miss. I’ve asked around and confirmed it. Just before I came back, I happened to run into Fourth Miss heading out with her maidservant to attend a banquet.” Biqing stamped her foot.
“Why?” Ye Su rested her chin on her hand, thinking. There had to be a reason for this.
Biqing hesitated as if she wanted to say something but held back. Hongyu noticed and urged her: “You know the reason? Then hurry up and say it!”
Seeing that her young lady was also looking at her, Biqing finally spoke: “It’s… it’s because of His Majesty.”
Ye Su was astonished: “What does this have to do with him?”
She hadn’t said a single word to Jiang Zhaoyi that day.
But Biqing said it was precisely because Ye Su hadn’t said anything to His Majesty: “That day, His Majesty seemed to have a rather poor attitude toward you, miss. Word is spreading outside now that you’ve fallen out of favor with His Majesty, so…”
Every move of those in power was observed by others. That day, the flicker of disdain Jiang Zhaoyi had cast at Ye Su was noticed by several madams in the room, who then misinterpreted the meaning of that look.
For someone disliked by the Emperor, it was already generous of them not to kick her while she was down. Naturally, everyone wished to stay as far away from her as possible, fearing that if they were seen associating with her, word would reach the palace and they too would be implicated.
Ye Su: “…”
Now that she knew the reason, Ye Su leaned back. Biqing was still very worried and suggested: “Why don’t we explain things to the people outside?”
Ye Su: “Explain what? That Jiang Zhaoyi and I have a wonderful relationship?”
Biqing was at a loss for words.
In truth, she couldn’t quite figure out whether her young lady’s relationship with His Majesty was good or not.
If it was good—well, she had never heard a single kind word about His Majesty from her young lady’s lips, and His Majesty had never spoken intimately to her young lady in public either.
If it was bad—who else could address His Majesty by his given name in private without being punished? Biqing dared say her young lady was the only one.
“If we don’t explain, miss, what do we do?” Hongyu was also anxious on her mistress’s behalf.
“What do we do? We can’t explain it, so we just have to endure it.” Anyway, she had long grown tired of these banquets. Not going meant peace and quiet.
That was how Ye Su saw it, but the Marchioness Anle did not.
In the main courtyard, she handed a tally token to Mama Huang, who had been waiting quietly at the side: “Send this to Fourth Miss’s quarters. Have the carriage take her to the County Mistress’s residence. Tell the maids to attend to her well and make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Mama Huang took the token and replied respectfully, “Yes.” Then she went to make the arrangements.
After Mama Huang left, the Marchioness Anle asked another matron beside her: “The invitation really only went to Mo’er? What about Su’er’s side?”
The matron shook her head and said in a low voice: “Only Fourth Miss received one, along with the two young ladies from the East Manor.”
Hearing this, the Marchioness Anle slammed the table hard: “What kind of nonsense is this? They gave invitations to everyone else, but just didn’t give one to my Su’er?”
Her daughter was the legitimate daughter of the marquis’s household. This had never happened before: “Where exactly did things go wrong?”
The matron had clearly already made inquiries, for she answered as soon as the marchioness asked: “It might be because of the look His Majesty gave the young lady on Old Madame’s birthday. It made people misunderstand that His Majesty has some issue with our young lady.”
Just like Ye Su, the Marchioness Anle found this reason absurd: “They’re clearly cousins who get along well and don’t stand on ceremony. How did it get twisted into something like that?”
Sometimes the Marchioness Anle wanted to grab those madams by the collar and shout that His Majesty and her daughter had grown up together as childhood sweethearts, as close as siblings.
For their son to marry her daughter was a blessing accumulated over eight lifetimes.
But she couldn’t, because that would be discussing His Majesty improperly.
She could only hope that some madam with discerning eyes would recognize her daughter’s worth.
But those people had no discernment whatsoever, and now they were even avoiding her daughter.
“Forget it. If she’s not going to banquets, then she’s not going. What matters most right now is finding a suitable husband for Su’er.” The Marchioness Anle calmed down after her anger and came to terms with it.
Ye Su was already twenty-two this year. At this age, aside from the palace maids, there was probably no one else who remained unmarried.
“I’ve also heard that in three days, the First Madam of the East Manor will be bringing Fifth Miss and Sixth Miss into the palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager?” The matron carefully changed the subject.
The Marchioness Anle nodded: “My elder sister-in-law came to mention it to me yesterday. She also said she wanted to bring Mo’er along as well.”
The matron was puzzled: “Why bring Fourth Miss?”
“Since it’s the first time they’re bringing the concubine-born young ladies to pay respects, they can’t very well leave Mo’er out. She’ll just be making up the numbers.” The Marchioness Anle said dismissively.
Anyway, to the First Madam of the East Manor, two was the same as three—bringing Ye Mo along would at least prevent anyone from saying the elders were playing favorites.
“Last month’s four new outfits for this season were already sent over. There’s no need to prepare anything else for her—let her be.” She never mistreated the concubine-born children, but she could hardly be called attentive either. As long as she kept up appearances, no one could fault her.
The matron, however, had her reservations: “My lady, we all know what the elder madam intends by bringing the young ladies into the palace this time. If Her Majesty the Empress Dowager takes a liking to the fourth young lady, then…”
What the matron meant was that His Majesty was eighteen this year. He had married and taken concubines at fifteen, yet to this day, no prince or princess had been born in the harem.
If the one who entered the palace happened to be the fourth young lady, and she was fortunate enough to bear a child, she would become the mother of a prince or princess.
At that point, Ye Mo’s birth mother would gain influence in the household—wouldn’t that put the madam in a difficult position?
Marchioness Anle paused mid-motion, slowly furrowing her brow.
But only for a moment before it smoothed again. She replied, “So what if she takes a liking to her? She’s just a concubine-born girl. No matter which one His Majesty fancies, given our family ties, the highest she could reach is the rank of Jieyu. As for climbing further in the palace—that’s no simple matter.”
The Empress Dowager and the two marquises wanted a daughter of the Ye family in the palace, purely for the sake of the clan.
But if you asked Marchioness Anle, she could see with her cold eyes that none of the Ye girls—Ye Wei and the others—were capable of shouldering such a great responsibility.
Ye Fu was beautiful but brainless. Ye Wei seemed a bit cleverer than her sister, but it was all petty cunning—her methods lacked any real finesse.
As for Ye Mo, that concubine-born girl she knew best: usually cowering and timid on the surface, but full of little schemes underneath. Her words seemed careless, yet she was always digging traps for others, then putting on an innocent face once she drew attention.
None of them were up to the task—that was the conclusion Marchioness Anle had reached about Ye Wei and the rest.
Moreover, even the Empress Dowager herself, as the legitimate daughter of the Marquis Jiayuan household, had only started at the rank of Zhaoyi when she first entered the palace. Ye Wei and the others likely couldn’t surpass that threshold either.
Even if they entered the palace, they’d still have a long road ahead.
She was the legitimate wife of Marquis Anle, and the eldest legitimate son and daughter of the western manor both came from her own womb.
Ye Mo’s birth mother had merely been a chambermaid by Marquis Anle’s side back then, only raised to concubine status after becoming pregnant.
Even if Ye Mo truly stumbled into that stroke of luck and caught His Majesty’s eye, entering the palace, she could never shake Marchioness Anle’s position and standing as the wife of Marquis Anle.
“Come take a look for me—which of these men is better?” Setting aside the matter of the concubine-born girls, Marchioness Anle picked up several portraits of men and asked the matron for her opinion.