Zhu Xinyan carefully straightened stack after stack of silver banknotes before neatly placing them into a box. With a soft click, she fastened the tiny golden lock.
Only after hugging the box tightly to her chest did she finally feel at ease.
“No matter how valuable possessions are, they’re still burdens. It’s better to convert everything into silver. Besides, if Prince Rui’s residence ever gets confiscated, at least we’ll still have travel money.”
Hearing this, Qiao’er was instantly thrown into chaos.
“Miss, you haven’t even married into the residence yet, and already you’re talking about extermination of clans one moment and confiscated estates the next. Is it really okay to speak about the prince like that?”
Zhu Xinyan waved it off carelessly.
“He’s already one of the most powerful people in the realm. Naturally, nothing is taboo to him. Oh right, later check whether there’s anything else in this courtyard worth selling.”
Qiao’er looked around at the nearly bare room—so empty it seemed the walls themselves had been stripped clean.
Raising the hand holding Jiang Li’s, she replied,
“Everything that could be sold has already been sold. The servants have all been dismissed too. The only ones left in this courtyard are you, Young Master, and this servant.”
The unspoken meaning was obvious:
If you still want more money, you might as well sell the two of us too.
Jiang Li was clever for his age, but he failed to understand the joke and took it seriously instead.
The recent string of upheavals had made him feel that Mother was no longer the same as before.
She now dared to resist others and treated money as if her life depended on it.
He couldn’t understand why she had changed, but fearing his money-loving mother might sell him off, he began hiding his naughty and gluttonous nature.
Every day he obediently stayed quietly to the side.
At this moment, clutching a cloth tiger doll, Jiang Li sniffled nervously and stared fixedly at Zhu Xinyan’s expression.
He was terrified Mother had gone mad.
Zhu Xinyan had long noticed the little fellow’s strange behavior, but she had simply been too busy these past few days to deal with it.
She placed the money box inside the bed and spread her arms toward him.
“Come here. Let Mother hug you.”
Jiang Li cautiously stepped backward first. He timidly glanced at Qiao’er, then, afraid Zhu Xinyan might get angry, shuffled forward in tiny hesitant steps.
Tilting up his little head innocently, he said,
“Mother, Li’er will be very obedient. Please don’t sell me.”
Although she hadn’t spent very long with the child, Zhu Xinyan had already become overwhelmed with maternal affection for this little New Year painting doll of a boy and treated him as if he were truly her own.
She crouched down so they were eye level and held his soft little hands.
“No matter whether Li’er is obedient or not, no matter where Mother goes in the future, I will never abandon you.”
The little boy’s dark eyes instantly turned watery.
“Really?”
“Truer than pearls! Mother swears it.”
Zhu Xinyan raised three fingers solemnly, then kissed his chubby cheek.
“Mother!”
Deeply moved, the little fellow threw himself into her arms and knocked her backward.
Zhu Xinyan’s inner thoughts:
Looks like I’ll have to feed this child a little less in the future.
To comfort the child’s wounded little heart—and mainly because they had sold everything until only a single quilt remained—Zhu Xinyan decided the three of them would squeeze together and sleep in the same bed for the final night.
Since birth, Jiang Li had always lived with his wet nurse and rarely slept beside his mother.
Now that he also knew they would move into the prince’s residence tomorrow, excitement filled his heart.
And so, at this moment, he made a decision he would regret for the rest of his life.
“Mother, sing a song for us!”
In her previous life, Zhu Xinyan had always considered herself a walking jukebox and treasure trove of Chinese songs.
Unfortunately, her singing ability had been limited, and society had never truly accepted her talent.
(Reading this line, did someone suddenly come to mind? Yes, that’s exactly who the author based her on.)
Now that someone had actually requested a song, she became inexplicably excited… and a little nervous.
To steady her breathing, Zhu Xinyan sat halfway upright on the bed, folded her hands formally atop one another, and struck an extremely serious posture.
“Well then! What do you want to hear?”
Jiang Li propped his pudgy cheek against one finger and hummed for a very long time without managing to think of a single song title.
Unwilling to miss this rare opportunity, Zhu Xinyan suddenly remembered a children’s song often played downstairs at the kindergarten and enthusiastically proposed,
“How about I sing ‘Firefly Fly’?”
Having followed her mistress for over ten years, this was Qiao’er’s first time hearing her sing.
Naturally, she applauded enthusiastically to show support.
But the very next second, she wished she could stab herself deaf and permanently bid farewell to this catastrophic singing voice.
Still, out of loyalty between mistress and servant, she forcibly endured it and maintained an expression of complete despair while continuing to listen.
As expected, it still took little Jiang Li to step up in the crucial moment.
The tiny little man struggled with all his might to prop up his weak body and pull Zhu Xinyan out of her intoxicated self-admiration.
With tears glistening in his eyes, he pleaded pitifully,
“Mother… maybe you should just sell me after all.”
After hiding himself away for many days, Gu Zhanzhen finally arrived at the main courtyard on the eve before taking in his concubine.
Shen Wangshu was overjoyed and quickly stepped forward to greet him with a curtsy.
“This wife greets Your Highness.”
Without even lowering his eyes to look at her, Gu Zhanzhen brushed past and entered the warm chamber directly.
Lifting his robes, he sat upon the small rosewood luohan couch inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Shen Wangshu quietly rose on her own, took a tea cup from a maid, placed it on the table beside him, and softly asked,
“Has Your Highness eaten yet?”
Gu Zhanzhen’s nostrils flared slightly as he responded with a low “Mm.”
Shen Wangshu had long grown accustomed to his icy demeanor.
She felt no embarrassment whatsoever.
Within the suffocating atmosphere, she tilted herself slightly and sat beside him, picking up a honey orange from the fruit tray. After peeling it, she offered it to him.
Gu Zhanzhen still did not turn to look at her. He accepted it but merely placed it aside untouched.
His deep, pleasing voice sounded once more.
“A newcomer will enter the residence tomorrow.”
“I know,” Shen Wangshu answered respectfully.
Afraid he might think she had been prying into his affairs, she hurriedly added,
“I noticed Uncle Qin has been busy these past few days…”
“She’s inexperienced. As the principal wife, bear with her a little more.”
The sudden statement caused Shen Wangshu to freeze.
There were not many women in the rear court. Even when Qiao Chuyue first entered the residence, Gu Zhanzhen had never specially come to tell her such a thing.
From this alone, it was obvious—
He was personally paving the road for that twice-married woman.
Then again, he had already granted her residence in Qingfu Pavilion. What else was impossible?
Though jealousy churned violently within Shen Wangshu, not a trace showed on her face.
“Your Highness may rest assured. I will naturally treat her as a younger sister.”
Gu Zhanzhen nodded faintly and then left without another word.
Watching the man’s cold and distant back disappear, Shen Wangshu’s long nails dug deeply into her palms.
Nanny Kong emerged from behind and draped an outer robe over the Princess Consort’s shoulders.
“The prince has always been like this. You know his temperament well already, so why torment yourself? Besides, he specifically came to inform you, which means he still regards you as his rightful wife.”
“Yes…” Shen Wangshu sighed softly.
“Between him and me, all that remains is the title of husband and wife.”
On the twentieth day of the eighth month, a side gate beside the prince’s main entrance quietly opened, and a red bridal sedan chair was carried into the residence.
Though she did not possess the title of principal wife and entered merely as a favored concubine…
Both the main courtyard and Qingfu Pavilion were decorated with red double-happiness characters, lanterns, and festive ornaments.
Everything radiated celebration.
Covered beneath a mandarin-duck bridal veil and dressed in crimson wedding robes, Zhu Xinyan could not see the outside scenery.
Only after the sedan chair was lowered did she notice a slender, pale hand extended toward her.
Without hesitation, she reached out and grasped it.
So cold!