The one who came was Nanny Sang, the most capable managing nanny beside the Princess Consort of Zhennan. She said that on the Princess Consort’s orders, since they’d just picked fresh strawberries at home, she’d specially sent over a basket for Old Madam Song to try something fresh.
Old Madam Song smiled and had someone bring her a brocade stool. Seeing that she only sat with her body slightly inclined, she then smiled and said, “Please thank the Princess Consort for thinking of us. I’d just heard that the Princess Consort’s estate had cultivated strawberries using greenhouses, but I never expected they’d be sent over so soon.”
Old Madam Song’s thoughts were actually quite similar to Madam Cui’s. Ye Jingchuan was excellent in every respect—talent, character, and appearance. Most importantly, he was rarely so attentive toward Song Chuyi. In living life together, what one sought was nothing more than marital harmony, peace, and joy. The Zhennan Prince’s manor had great wealth and status, so Ye Jingchuan didn’t need to struggle for anything more. If Song Chuyi married over, she wouldn’t need to be the principal daughter-in-law either—she could simply be a beloved younger daughter-in-law. If it hadn’t been delayed for a while because of Song Yan’s matter, she would have long since written to ask Grand Old Madam Cui’s opinion. Who knew that once delayed, an incident would occur? Now Song Chuyi bore such a reputation, with people saying that only someone of the most supreme nobility could suppress Song Chuyi’s fate. Wouldn’t that mean ordinary people who couldn’t suppress it would have to suffer all kinds of calamities on Song Chuyi’s behalf? No family could agree to this. Since Princess Rongcheng had already received the news yesterday, she must have revealed it to the Princess Consort of Zhennan. For the Princess Consort of Zhennan to so coincidentally send someone right on the heels of the imperial envoy—it surely couldn’t really be just to deliver strawberries. Thinking of this, the smile on Old Madam Song’s face couldn’t help but fade somewhat.
She’d long worried that Song Chuyi’s marriage would be used as a bargaining chip by others, but despite all precautions, she hadn’t expected someone to use such a vicious tactic. This was clearly meant to make Song Chuyi unmarriageable.
Nanny Sang laughed once. “Using greenhouses for planting, with charcoal braziers and such placed inside—it does indeed sound troublesome when you hear about it. But at least we managed to grow them. Our Princess Consort’s intention is to send them for everyone to taste, and also to show off that she wasn’t making empty boasts.”
After pausing, Nanny Sang smiled again. “We just didn’t expect that the Princess would happen to be at the Earl’s manor as well. I’m afraid Nanny Pan will have made a wasted trip.”
Madam Cui had no patience for further verbal fencing and meaningfully added a remark, “Oh? There’s some for me too?”
“What are you saying, Your Highness the Princess? We might dare to leave out anyone else, but never your portion.” Nanny Sang smiled even more broadly. “This trip isn’t just to deliver strawberries. Our Princess Consort also had me bring invitations, specifically for Sixth Miss and Miss Mingzi. On the seventeenth, our manor is hosting a theatrical performance and we’re inviting the young ladies to come listen to opera and enjoy themselves.”
Still sending Song Chuyi an invitation at this time? After hearing Princess Rongcheng’s words, the Princess Consort of Zhennan had still decided to invite Song Chuyi to the Zhennan Prince’s manor to watch opera?
Ye Yunxiu also felt her mother had lost her mind. She clutched at the Princess Consort of Zhennan’s arm somewhat anxiously, rattling off in a panic all those pronouncements Master Yuanhui had made about Song Chuyi’s fate, so anxious she was nearly in tears. “Mother, isn’t this making Second Brother jump into a fire pit?! What did Master Yuanhui say? That only someone of supreme nobility could suppress Miss Song’s Heavenly Fiend Solitary Star fate. If they can’t suppress it, isn’t this seeking death?”
The Princess Consort of Zhennan glared at her and signaled with her eyes for the maid to take away the balsam flower juice from the table. Extending her hand to look at her evenly dyed crimson nails, only then did she turn back unhurriedly to scold her, “What do you understand? Is whatever Yuanhui says automatically correct?”
Ye Yunxiu felt her mother was being rather unreasonable. “If Master Yuanhui’s words aren’t accurate, then whose words would be accurate? Back at the hunting grounds, Master Yuanhui said she had the fate of Heavenly Fiend Solitary Star, and afterwards the hunting grounds truly had an incident. She herself was fine, but she implicated quite a few other people. Such an inauspicious person—others can’t avoid her fast enough, yet Mother, you’re actually thinking of seeking her hand in marriage for Second Brother. Are you… are you…” She stamped her foot, somewhat unable to continue.
The entire Great Zhou Dynasty believed in divine powers, and the Princess Consort of Zhennan was naturally also a believer—she simply believed in both Buddhism and Daoism. However, she didn’t believe Yuanhui’s words.
Ye Jingkuan was right. The matter at the hunting grounds last time—someone had wanted to use Yuanhui’s mouth to describe Song Chuyi’s fate as dangerous, so they could logically send assassins to kill her and pin it all on her inauspicious fate.
And this time, clearly someone feared that the Grand Prince and Song Chuyi were growing closer, and that Emperor Jianzhang was inquiring about Zhou Weizhao’s marriage, pressing more and more urgently. Fearing that the Song family would think of marrying Song Chuyi to the Grand Prince and thereby bind themselves even more closely to the Grand Prince, they simply brought up this matter that had already been said once before and said it again, so that the Grand Prince would also be wary of this reputation, and so Earl Changning’s manor would abandon the idea of marrying a Song family daughter to the Grand Prince for the sake of their reputation.
What inauspiciousness? If she were truly inauspicious, why hadn’t the rest of the Song family met with mishaps? Why instead were both the Song family and the Cui family doing smoothly and well?
Although Her Majesty the Empress in the palace could see through this logic, she didn’t want the Grand Prince to take risks and was concerned about these matters. But their Zhennan Prince’s manor was different.
The Prince of Zhennan had fought his way out of battlefields, covered in blood—how could he fear such things? Moreover… The Princess Consort of Zhennan smiled bitterly as she looked at her daughter and poked her forehead with a finger. “Are you worried I’d harm your brother? Rest assured, he’s happier than anyone!”
She’d originally also been somewhat displeased, feeling that Her Majesty the Empress didn’t want to lose the Song family as support, yet didn’t want the Grand Prince to take risks, so she’d thrown this difficult problem to their Zhennan Prince’s manor, as if treating Ye Jingchuan as a test subject. But she couldn’t withstand Ye Jingkuan’s persuasion, and even more couldn’t withstand her younger son’s persistent pestering.
That rascal said that back at the hunting grounds, it was Song Chuyi who had deliberately gotten His Highness the Grand Prince to mention it to the Empress, and the Empress had personally inquired about it once, which was how the reputation of Song Chuyi’s fate had spread. It wasn’t nearly as sinister as Yuanhui claimed.
Her son was her own son—who in this world could understand her own son better than she did? Hearing her son’s words and recalling how attentive her son usually was toward Song Chuyi, she knew that Ye Jingchuan desperately wanted to marry Song Chuyi. But thinking this way, she suddenly understood—Her Majesty the Empress had long since known that this so-called fate was baseless nonsense. She was simply going with the flow because she didn’t want His Highness the Grand Prince to be bound too tightly with the Song family.
The Princess Consort of Zhennan had never been a harsh person. Moreover, with a husband at home who could command respect and a capable and accomplished son who could shoulder great responsibilities, she rarely worried about such idle matters.
Since her younger son liked her, and this reputation business was all fabricated nonsense by that bald monk intending to use it against the Song family, she naturally didn’t care much about it. What’s more, both her husband and elder son had said that the Grand Prince currently couldn’t have too much contact with the Song family to avoid suspicion, but the Song family was such a fat duck that they absolutely couldn’t let them be pushed toward others. As people of His Highness the Grand Prince, they naturally should share His Highness the Grand Prince’s concerns.