After the group entered the courtyard and took their seats, the wives of the various households tactfully followed the servants to other areas, leaving only a few wives who were also of imperial lineage permitted to remain.
With fewer people present, the young ladies became more conspicuous. Jiang Zhaoyi looked at the several young women whose features bore a striking resemblance to one another and finally recalled who they were. He said gently, “These must be my cousins.”
He vaguely remembered that there had been a few female cousins in the Ye household when he was young, but they had been too small and were raised in the courtyards of his uncles’ concubines. Naturally, he had never had much opportunity to see them—he only knew they existed in the household.
Marquis Jiayuan saw that the Emperor had finally taken notice of the Ye family’s daughters and was secretly delighted. He hurriedly replied, “Yes, this is Wei’er, this is Fu’er, and this is Mo’er from my second brother’s household. Your subject was just thinking of having his wife bring them to the palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager when she has the time.”
Bringing them to the palace to pay respects, letting the Empress Dowager have a look—whichever one she favored would be the one sent into the palace.
Jiang Zhaoyi had no idea that his uncle was considering marrying one of his daughters to him. He assumed it was merely a routine courtesy call, since the concubine-born daughters were also technically nieces of the Empress Dowager.
However, with so many daughters in the Ye household, only Ye Fei and Ye Su had ever been brought to the palace—even Second Cousin Ye Man had never gone. These three were quite fortunate.
“That’s a small matter. As long as Mother wishes to receive them, Aunt can submit a request to enter the palace at any time.” Jiang Zhaoyi said. As he spoke, he seemed somewhat uncomfortable and drew a silver silk handkerchief from his sleeve to cover his mouth, coughing lightly twice. A hint of red crept onto his pale face.
Everyone knew His Majesty was not in good health, and for a moment, no one dared to speak and disturb him.
Amidst his coughing, Jiang Zhaoyi’s wide sleeve fell, revealing a thin, pale wrist.
Seeing him answer with such naive innocence, Ye Su was truly impressed.
She had just put on an exasperated expression when Jiang Zhaoyi, who happened to look up from behind his handkerchief, caught it.
Their eyes met, and she let her gaze drift between him and Ye Wei and the others, then gave a mysterious smile.
Jiang Zhaoyi: “?”
He narrowed his eyes, wondering what she meant by that.
But Ye Su, not wanting to draw attention, had already returned her expression to normal and lowered her head.
He twitched the corner of his mouth, tossed the handkerchief to Eunuch Dehai, and looked away. The trace of disgust in his eyes was clearly visible to everyone else in the room.
Following the direction he had been looking, there was only one figure—a person lowered her head, hiding in the corner.
It was that third daughter of the Ye family, the one over twenty who still couldn’t find a husband.
Indeed, the Emperor had been here for quite some time. He had paid respects to Old Madame Zheng, addressed his uncle, conversed with the young masters of the marquis household, and even spared a few words for the cousins he didn’t know.
Only Ye Su—he acted as if he hadn’t seen her at all, neither asking nor acknowledging her. And now, with just a single glance, he couldn’t help but reveal “disgust.”
Could it be that this third daughter of the Ye family, burdened with her reputation as a husband-killer, was disliked even by His Majesty?
No wonder she had been clinging to Old Madame earlier—the moment the Emperor arrived, she stood far away. She must have been afraid of catching His Majesty’s eye and drawing his wrath upon herself.
As for the Ye family members, aside from Ye Wei and the others who, like everyone else, secretly rejoiced that His Majesty disliked Ye Su, no one else found it surprising.
Old Madame, in particular, cast a reproachful glance at both Ye Su and Jiang Zhaoyi.
Only the elders of the household knew that this pair of cousins actually had a very good relationship in private, having often played together as children.
Now that they had grown up, though not as close as in childhood, they were still different from ordinary strangers.
Thinking of this, Old Madame lowered her eyes and sighed inwardly.
She knew her eldest son wanted to send a daughter into the palace. If only Su’er were suitable—among all the sisters in the household, who was more familiar with His Majesty than she?
But the age gap between the two was too great. It hadn’t been suitable back then, and it was even less suitable now.
Seeing that everyone was afraid to speak, Jiang Zhaoyi knew it was because of him, so he said, “Today is Grandmother’s birthday. I have brought gifts as well, and I’ve prepared something for both uncles, both aunts, and all the brothers and sisters too. Dehai.”
Eunuch Dehai was already prepared. As soon as His Majesty called, he walked to the door and waved. The young eunuchs waiting outside came in carrying the gifts.
The items were distributed to the members of the Ye household. Aside from Old Madame, who received two thousand-year-old ginseng roots that had been tributed not long ago, everyone else received treasures and ornaments.
Among the sisters of the Ye household, the married Ye Fei and Ye Man each received a full headdress set—Ye Fei’s was a ruby set, while Ye Man’s was a pearl set.
In terms of value, the ruby set was superior, with the pearl set ranking second. However, anything that came out of the palace was hardly of poor quality.
Ye Wei and the other sisters each received a single hairpin, with slight differences in the floral decorations.
Unexpectedly, Ye Su’s gift was the same as Ye Fei’s and Ye Man’s—a complete headdress set as well.
Eunuch Dehai smiled and personally presented the gold filigree gem-studded headdress set to Ye Su: “Third Young Lady Ye, His Majesty had this specially prepared for you.”
Though he smiled on the surface, Eunuch Dehai was inwardly muttering: What if Third Young Lady gets angry later? This young lady was someone who dared to grab His Majesty by the collar.
Ye Su looked down at the set. It contained nineteen pieces in total.
A quick glance revealed seven hairpins, a pair of head ornaments, one hat ornament, four pairs of earrings, and one bracelet.
The craftsmanship was exquisite, clearly the work of palace artisans, set with rare pink pearls and red and white tourmaline gemstones—absolutely gorgeous.
But the more she looked, the more something felt off.
This set of head ornaments was precious and splendid, yet unsuitable for Ye Su, an unmarried daughter. A full set like this was typically meant for married women.
What did this mean? Ye Su ground her teeth silently, but quickly figured it out.
What Ye Wei and the others received was just a single hairpin, worth at most a hundred or two hundred taels.
This set of head ornaments, whether one said so or not, was worth at least two thousand taels.
What you got in hand was what truly mattered—in the face of silver, her anger seemed unable to rise.
The ladies around exchanged glances. Was His Majesty subtly implying that the Third Miss Ye should have married long ago?
Well, that was indeed Jiang Zhaoyi’s intention. He had deliberately come to watch Ye Su’s reaction, only to see her respectfully accept the head ornaments with both hands, saying, “Your subject thanks Your Majesty for the reward.”
“Ahem, there’s no need for such formality between Third Cousin and me.” Last time in the Empress Dowager’s palace, this person had shown him no face at all. Now that he had turned the tables, Jiang Zhaoyi was in an unusually good mood.
When Eunuch Dehai handed the items to Ye Su, he smiled at her with a hint of fawning. It was truly wonderful that the Third Miss wasn’t angry.
Unfortunately, his relieved expression went unseen since his back was to everyone else. Ye Su noticed but paid it no mind.
“Will Your Majesty stay for the banquet?” The hour for Old Madame Zheng’s birthday feast was approaching. Since Jiang Zhaoyi had only just arrived, he should honor them by joining the meal.
Sure enough, Jiang Zhaoyi nodded. “Since I rarely get to leave the palace and visit your residence, I naturally should dine with Grandmother and my uncles.”
With the Emperor dining at the residence, the Ye household suddenly became much more tense.
Everyone in the main kitchen was on high alert, and countless extra eyes watched over the serving process.
Before the banquet began, Ye Su returned to the West Compound. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she told Biqing to put away the head ornaments.
Seeing that none of the courtyard maids or servants were around, Biqing finally dared to complain freely: “Miss, His Majesty definitely did that on purpose.”
Ye Su waved her hand dismissively. “What does it matter? Palace head ornaments are good things that can hold their own at any occasion—the more, the better.”
She truly didn’t care. No one understood Jiang Zhaoyi’s petty nature better than she did. He only dared to do something like this in secret, while she had genuinely gained a set of head ornaments worth a thousand taels.
“Put them away properly. Later, they’ll go into my dowry.” Ye Su was in an excellent mood. As long as she had money in hand, she could live comfortably no matter whom she married.