Ye Su returned to her courtyard to rest for a while—she simply didn’t want to stay there socializing with people. She knew it would be dreadfully boring.
She had known a few young ladies from her maiden days, but in recent years, every time they saw Ye Su, they would look at her with pity and urge her not to be too grieved.
Ye Su: “?”
Her betrothed had died before their wedding. Perhaps another person might indeed feel some sorrow, but Ye Su felt nothing at all.
After all, she had only met those two people once or twice, and always in the presence of others. Aside from exchanging formal greetings, there had been no further interaction between them.
As for feelings—there were none whatsoever, so naturally there was no grief to speak of.
But others didn’t see it that way. They thought Ye Su was terribly ill-fated, and even spoke to her with great care, afraid that some careless word might upset her.
Over time, Ye Su grew tired of their company and preferred to return to her own courtyard to play with her Chinese rings puzzle.
“Miss, Eunuch Dehai sent someone in person to deliver something.” Biqing entered from the outer room to inform Ye Su.
“What is it?” Ye Su paused her movements and looked up, her gaze landing on Biqing’s hands, where she saw a plain red embroidered pouch.
“I don’t know. They said you should open it and see for yourself.” Biqing handed the pouch to her.
Ye Su took it but didn’t open it right away. Instead, she pinched it with her fingers, and immediately knew what was inside.
She opened it and tipped the contents out—sure enough, there were a dozen or so seeds the size of rice grains.
“Oh? What kind of seeds are these?” Hongyu also followed into the inner room to take a look.
Ye Su examined them carefully for a few moments before saying, “They should be Cui Yipin.”
Cui Yipin was a top-grade spring orchid, notoriously difficult to cultivate among orchids, and most importantly, its seeds were extremely rare.
“Why would Eunuch Dehai think to send you orchid seeds?” Biqing asked.
Her young lady loved orchids, and there was even a dedicated area in the residence for growing them. Eunuch Dehai’s gift was quite thoughtful.
Ye Su carefully placed the seeds back into the pouch: “It wasn’t from Eunuch Dehai—it was from Jiang Zhaoyi.”
When he was young, he had ruined quite a few pots of her orchids. Now at least he had a conscience—after becoming Emperor, whenever the palace had good orchid seeds, he never forgot to send her a share.
Several of the orchids she had successfully cultivated were from cuttings or seeds he had sent.
“Put it away for now. I’ll look at them when I have time.” Ye Su said.
“Yes, miss.” Biqing quickly tucked it away.
Seeing that the time was about right, Ye Su rose and headed to the Eastern Manor. On her way there, as she passed through the garden, she happened to see her mother chatting with an unfamiliar lady. When the woman turned away and no one was looking, her mother’s face immediately turned flat and expressionless.
Only upon seeing her daughter did her expression soften: “Why have you come over?”
Ye Su didn’t answer her mother, but instead curiously watched the retreating figure of the lady who had just left. Seeing this, Marchioness Anle said, “Stop looking. That was Lady Wang, mother of General Jingyuan.”
Ye Su immediately withdrew her gaze: “Mother, what did she say to you?”
“I didn’t notice it before, but after you mentioned it, I paid closer attention and found that Lady Wang’s attitude is indeed a bit off—too eager.” Marchioness Anle said.
She too wanted to find a good match for her daughter as soon as possible, but even in haste, there were considerations to be made. This Lady Wang seemed even more anxious about her son’s remarriage than she herself was.
General Jingyuan was handsome and held real power—not one of those noble sons who relied on their ancestors’ titles. He ought to have been a good match.
But after her daughter’s reminder, Marchioness Anle had begun to hesitate.
Today she had planned to let the other party cool their heels and not bring up the marriage matter, yet Lady Wang had taken the initiative to approach her, urging that the two families quickly pick an auspicious date to finalize the betrothal.
Really now? Wasn’t she worried about her daughter’s reputation as a husband-killer? Even if she just wanted to meet the girl first?
The more eager the other party was, the less Marchioness Anle dared to agree to anything rashly. She made an excuse about being busy today and brushed the matter aside.
“I suspect the General Jingyuan household has sensed some crisis and is eager to bind themselves to our family.” Marchioness Anle said.
Normally, marriage negotiations took several years. The daughters of the Ye family were still young, so even if a betrothal was settled, there was no rush to hold the wedding.
Only Ye Su—she was the sole unmarried legitimate daughter of both branches of the Ye family, and she was of age, with her dowry prepared long ago, ready to be married at any moment.
“What a cunning scheme! They want to drag us down with them, using the entire Ye family to save his life!” Marchioness Anle said with indignation.
If he truly married Ye Su, with Marquis Anle and the Empress Dowager pleading on his behalf, and the Emperor mindful of past ties, perhaps General Jingyuan really could escape disaster.
But what did any of this have to do with them in the first place?
“As long as Father and Mother understand, that’s what matters. We must not get involved in this.” Ye Su said.
“Don’t worry, your father and I won’t agree. We’ll find you a better match. If all else fails, we’ll go to the palace and ask the Empress Dowager to issue an imperial betrothal.” A marriage bestowed by the Empress Dowager—no family could refuse. Marchioness Anle thought this with a touch of imperiousness.
Ye Su didn’t think there was anything wrong with that either.
She had long since come to terms with it. Either way, she would have to marry.
Since it would be a stranger with no emotional foundation regardless, why marry down to a minor official’s family when she could marry into a marquis or duke’s household? She couldn’t endure that kind of hardship.
She didn’t covet romantic love, nor would she stop her future husband from taking concubines.
As long as the other party treated her well, with the Empress Dowager and the Emperor looking after her from behind, and with her substantial dowry in hand, what harm was there in living a comfortable, prosperous life for the rest of her days?
As mother and daughter chatted, they returned to the banquet. The male guests were in the front courtyard, but the Emperor had deliberately remained behind to dine with Old Madame.
Within no more than half an hour after the meal, the Emperor set off back to the palace, but the Marquis’s household festivities had yet to cease, with guests only gradually dispersing after the hour of Yin.
Upon returning to Fanxiang Court, Ye Su could hardly wait to have Biqing and Hongyu prepare water for her bath.
Only after washing away the weariness from her body did she lie down on the recliner in the room, letting someone wring out her hair while she closed her eyes, drowsy and on the verge of sleep.
The night passed without further incident.
A few days after Old Madame Zheng’s birthday banquet, Biqing suddenly walked into the room one day, barely able to contain her indignation.
Ye Su looked up from the storybook in her hands and teased: “What’s wrong? Who dares to give our esteemed Biqing, head maid of Fanxiang Court, a hard time?”
Hongyu, who was tidying up nearby, also raised her head: “Biqing, isn’t today your day off? Why have you come over?”
Ye Su’s courtyard had four head maids—besides Biqing and Hongyu, there were two others named Bai Cha and Lü Zhu.
But those two did not enjoy the same level of trust from Ye Su as Biqing and Hongyu did, and they mostly remained in the outer rooms. In fact, a couple of days ago they had gone back to the servants’ quarters to rest at home and had not come over.
The moment Biqing saw Ye Su, she poured out everything she had heard: “Miss, since you haven’t left the courtyard these past few days, you know nothing about what’s been happening. These past few days, Fourth Miss, Fifth Miss, and Sixth Miss have all been invited out to two banquets.”
They received invitations and went out, but as for our miss, you haven’t even seen a shadow of an invitation—what is that if not looking down on our miss?
If it weren’t for Biqing taking advantage of her day off today to visit the other young maids in the household and hear the news, their Fanxiang Court would still be completely in the dark.