“Chu’er, if you hadn’t happened to appear, I would never have married in this lifetime.”
Chu Yi’s voice was full of tender affection that couldn’t be diluted.
“Having married you, my life is already complete. I will never take secondary consorts, lesser consorts, or concubines. Of three thousand weak waters, you alone are sufficient.”
Yun Chu sighed softly: “But this isn’t fair to you. I’m someone who has been married once before, while you…”
“That you could marry me is already heaven’s favor to me.” Chu Yi held her tighter. “Chu’er, don’t think this way. When you belittle yourself like this, it pains me greatly.”
Yun Chu was held tightly in his embrace. His heartbeat transmitted so clearly to her.
She truly felt his pain.
She released Chu Yi: “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tested you.”
She admitted she was a despicable person.
Having experienced Xie Jingyu, deep in her heart she believed that any man would not refuse a woman who threw herself at him.
She thought that after dealing with one Ding Dong, there would be countless more Ding Dongs, so she had given Ding Dong a chance.
She had underestimated the man before her.
She saw Chu Yi furrow his brow.
Feeling she might have gone too far, she slowly spoke: “Chu Yi…”
“I’m thinking that perhaps I’ve done too little, which is why you lack a sense of security and would have such absurd thoughts because of a mere servant. This is my fault.” Chu Yi looked at her earnestly. “Your Yi Lang will forever be only your Yi Lang.”
Yun Chu’s face instantly flushed completely red.
She knew that in his previous life he hadn’t married. Every word he spoke was true.
Her entire heart was filled to overflowing.
After the evening meal, Yun Chu played with the two children while Chu Yi went to the study.
He had just reached the study entrance when Nanny Er came over, her face full of anxiety: “My Prince, Ding Dong managed shops outside for two years and has indeed been somewhat negligent with the rules, but she sincerely wants to serve the Princess Consort. Please, Prince, give her another chance.”
She truly wished she could slap her daughter across the face.
Pushing herself in front of the Prince on her very first day back at the manor—was she afraid people couldn’t see her intentions?
The Prince’s words “come back after learning the rules properly” meant don’t come back at all. Being driven away on the first day back had turned her into a complete laughingstock.
“My Prince, Ding Dong served in the manor for over ten years since childhood. She’s only been away these past two years. Her loyalty to the Prince is unwavering…” Nanny Er pleaded bitterly. “This old servant failed to discipline her properly. It’s all this old servant’s fault. Please, Prince, for the sake of this old servant having nursed you, give her another chance.”
Chu Yi spoke mildly: “Nanny nursed me—this merit, how many times does Nanny think it can be used?”
Nanny Er’s entire body trembled. She realized she seemed to have said the wrong thing.
Using her merit to coerce the Prince was completely the wrong move.
The Prince would give her this face, but only this once.
“Since Nanny has spoken, then let her stay for now.” Chu Yi rubbed his fingers together. “Demoted to third-rank maid.”
Nanny Er didn’t dare say anything more and lowered her head: “Yes!”
Once Chu Yi entered the study, she immediately turned back to her own courtyard. Seeing her daughter sitting in a rattan chair having a junior maid pound her back, anger surged through her: “Your life is more comfortable than an ordinary family’s daughter. You really think you’re a mistress now.”
Ding Dong dismissed the junior maid and pulled Nanny Er to ask: “Did the Prince let me stay?”
“The Prince agreed to let you stay, but only as a third-rank maid.” Nanny Er said coldly. “You were unwilling to work in the tea room, so from now on you’ll be a rough servant. This is what they call trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice.”
“Impossible…” Ding Dong frowned. “The Prince couldn’t possibly treat me this way. It must be the Princess Consort deliberately tormenting me.”
From the time she became aware of things, she had wanted to become a woman in the Prince’s rear courtyard, but the Prince wouldn’t even glance at her.
She thought the Prince had no interest in women.
Until the Prince acquired two children of unknown origin—that’s when the fire in her heart ignited.
But during those years, the Prince took the two young masters everywhere seeking medical treatment. She had no opportunity to get close to the Prince at all. Watching herself grow older day by day, her mother forced her to marry, so she left the Prince’s Manor.
However, before she could marry over, that man died, and she became a widow waiting at the gate.
Because of this, she left the Prince’s Manor for two years.
It wasn’t until the Prince married that her heart, dead as ash, rekindled.
Since even a remarried widow was acceptable, why not her? She was still an untouched maiden—far superior to the Princess Consort.
“Right now the Prince and Princess Consort have just finished their wedding. It’s their honeymoon period, as sweet as honey. If you push yourself forward now, you’ll only invite disgust.” Nanny Er said coldly. “Wait until the Prince’s novelty of being newly married wears off, then slowly make your move. Only then will there be the slightest possibility. Otherwise, there’s only one outcome—being driven out of the Prince’s Manor.”
Ding Dong nodded: “Mother, rest assured. I know my limits.”
Tingxue arranged for Ding Dong to work in the main courtyard’s small kitchen, helping the cook chop and wash vegetables—ordinary work for third-rank maids.
“Princess Consort, that Ding Dong is not an honest one.” Tingxue came to report to Yun Chu. “She spent some silver to have another kitchen maid do her work while she herself stays idle. Fortunately, she seems to have learned some propriety and doesn’t dare come to the main courtyard anymore.”
Yun Chu smiled: “Tingxue, oh Tingxue, you’re about to be married—how can you still be so impatient? If Ding Dong is honest, then I have one more loyal maid. If she’s dishonest, she’ll make mistakes sooner or later, and there will be plenty of opportunities to drive her out. What are you worried about?”
Tingxue lowered her head bashfully.
This morning the Princess Consort had agreed to the matchmaker’s proposal. Her marriage to Chengxu was settled. It felt very unreal.
Whenever she thought about it, she felt uncomfortable all over.
“Alright, go pack your things. We’ll be departing in a couple of days.”
Departing for the imperial mausoleum.
Although the Empress Dowager died by her own hand due to the crime of plotting rebellion, in status she was still the current Emperor’s legitimate mother.
Though the Emperor and Empress Dowager had always been at odds, the Empress Dowager was already dead. If she were treated poorly at the funeral, it would certainly become the subject of public gossip. Therefore, not only did the Emperor not pursue the Empress Dowager’s wrongdoings during her lifetime, he even posthumously granted her an honorary title. Following the protocols for a Holy Mother Empress Dowager, her body lay in state for forty-nine days. In early March, on a day when spring was in full bloom, she would be interred in the imperial mausoleum.
Yun Chu left Tingxue to guard the courtyard and brought Tingfeng and Qiutong along to the imperial mausoleum.
From the capital to the imperial mausoleum was quite a distance—over two hours on the road. The vast funeral procession moved from the capital toward the imperial mausoleum.
Yun Chu and Chu Yi, along with the two children, rode in a carriage.
Lifting the carriage curtain, she could see at the very front the coffin being carried by dozens of strong men. Beside the coffin was Chu Rui, supported by junior eunuchs.
Chu Rui would walk a few steps, then kneel down and kowtow to the coffin, then stand up and continue walking, then kowtow again…
Yun Chu thought that Chu Rui was already sickly to begin with. Kowtowing all the way to the imperial mausoleum like this—he would probably lose his life.
However, she also knew that Chu Rui didn’t want to live anyway…