Chapter 10: Princess Consort
The next month, the Zhongyuan[mfn]Ghost Festival on 15th day of 7th lunar month when offerings are made to the deceased[/mfn] Festival would be celebrated, and naturally, the manor would be lively. Side Consort Chu lowered her head to look at the list in her hands, preparing to go to the storeroom to check inventory later.
The storeroom was behind the study, and to get there, one had to pass by Xitong Courtyard. Now, every time Side Consort Chu thought of that place, she couldn’t help but frown.
Xu’er supported Side Consort Chu as they walked toward the study. Before they even reached Xitong Courtyard, they saw Tang Wu enjoying some refreshments at the lakeside pavilion.
Tang Wu was wearing an elegant lotus-root colored long pleated dress with a half-palm-wide sash at the waist, which accentuated her figure. She had her hair styled into an elegant married woman’s bun, but a wisp of hair had carelessly fallen behind her ear. When the breeze blew, it tickled her, making her constantly reach up to play with it.
To others, such a pose would have elicited a sigh of admiration, “Like a lotus flower emerging from clear water.” But to Side Consort Chu, it only reminded her of a flirtatious courtesan and a shameless bed-climbing maid.
Side Consort Chu sighed repeatedly. She couldn’t even imagine how His Highness, who was as refined as an orchid and a jade tree, could have touched such a creature.
Side Consort Chu glanced at Tang Wu from head to toe out of the corner of her eye.
The tight silk buttons on her chest, the bruises on her wrists, and the red marks on her neck all reminded her that the hour she had waited for yesterday was not for nothing.
She couldn’t understand why a well-bred young lady like herself would have to live in the same place as someone of such low status.
Seeing her fuming, Xu’er quickly whispered, “Why are you getting angry at her, madam? With her status, she’s not worth your trouble. Besides, His Highness didn’t even stay overnight in Xitong Courtyard. This time, he only went for a new experience.”
“What do you know? Think about the Princess Consort. What is her status, and what are her looks? Have you ever seen His Highness look at her directly?” Side Consort Chu retorted.
She had to know that ever since she had entered the Prince of Ying’s mansion, she had longed for His Highness to come to her Anshen Hall, yet in the end, she had been beaten to it by such a tramp.
“But Madam, the Princess Consort is going to return eventually. In a flash, only a few months will be left. When the Princess Consort returns from her prayers, whether she will tolerate the one in Xitong Courtyard is the key.”
Upon mentioning the Prince of Ying’s consort, Side Consort Chu couldn’t help but let out another sneer. All the noblewomen in the capital knew why the princess consort had gone to pray for blessings.
One could even say that if it weren’t for the Duke of Chengguo’s manor supporting her, the Prince of Ying would likely not have shown her this much courtesy.
Speaking of which, the princess consort’s status had always been a popular topic of conversation among the noblewomen.
The Princess Consort’s real name was An Ru’er.
Her father was the illegitimate son of a branch of the An family, and her mother was the illegitimate daughter of Lin Zichun, the Minister of Rites. With this background, no matter how much she tried to climb the social ladder, she would not have been able to marry into the Prince of Ying’s manor.
But An Ru’er’s mother, Lin Xiu, happened to be very close to her legitimate older sister, Lin Fu.
Lin Fu was the number one talented woman in the capital at the time. It was said that when she was only fourteen, the number of marriage proposals had almost worn down the doorstep. In the end, it was the old Duke of Chengguo himself who came to propose and settle the matter of his daughter-in-law.
When it was time for the noblewomen of the capital to be married off, which one of them didn’t try their hardest to get into the Duke of Chengguo’s family!
The Cheng family had served the Great Yan royal family for generations.
The Duke of Chengguo not only returned his military tally every time he returned to the capital from a battle to show his loyalty but also had personally saved the late emperor’s life once.
The late emperor naturally wanted to win over such a loyal and capable official.
During a birthday banquet, the late emperor personally gave a half-moon-shaped jade pendant to the old Duke of Chengguo in front of everyone. The late emperor said that the pendant was a pair; he had already given one half to the first prince, Song Xi, and the other half was for the future Prince of Ying’s consort.
At that time, the Prince of Ying was the late emperor’s only son. The nobility of a royal’s legitimate eldest son was self-evident. Therefore, this incident also proved that the Cheng family’s favor was truly unique in the Great Yan.
Getting back to Lin Xiu and Lin Fu, the two sisters had been close since they were young, and their relationship was quite deep. Therefore, after An Ru’er’s father passed away from illness, Lin Fu often invited Lin Xiu and her daughter to the Duke of Chengguo’s manor, which was a way of supporting the mother and daughter.
At that time, Lin Fu was pregnant, and Lin Xiu helped her all day long. The two sisters, who were already close, became inseparable.
In July of the same year, Lin Fu gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl.
The Duke of Chengguo was overjoyed and immediately asked for Lin Fu to be officially granted the title of a noblewoman.
But unfortunately, their good fortune did not last. In less than two years, something happened to the children.
It must be said that the fate of these twins was truly full of hardships. The boy was very strong, but the girl was frail and sickly. When Lin Fu was five months pregnant, she almost had a miscarriage.
Folk doctors said that this often happens with twins, the nutrients in the mother’s womb are limited, making it very easy for there to be an imbalance in absorption.
After the girl passed away prematurely, Lin Fu became ill. She would often stare blankly while holding Lin Xiu’s child.
Seeing that Lin Fu was suffering from an illness brought on by her grief for her daughter, Lin Xiu gritted her teeth and let the less-than-three-year-old An Ru’er be raised directly in the Duke of Chengguo’s manor.
The Duke of Chengguo was extremely accommodating to Lin Fu. Seeing her yearning for a daughter, he not only treated An Ru’er with great kindness but also, many years later, tried for another girl, who was named Cheng An.
But Lin Fu’s health was fragile.
When Cheng An was born, her life was also almost not saved.
The Duke of Chengguo was afraid of upsetting Lin Fu, so he immediately found a brilliant physician and had Cheng An taken to the mountains. Only on the first of every month would Lin Fu and the heir go to see her.
Thus, An Ru’er, a person with a different family name, became the only young lady in the Duke of Chengguo’s manor and was very much loved.
An Ru’er grew up by Madam Lin’s side. Even after Cheng An was born, she still treated An Ru’er as her own, keeping her by her side and teaching her to write poetry and paint.
Therefore, although An Ru’er’s background was not noble, just by being able to call the Duchess of Chengguo “Aunt,” no noblewoman in the entire capital dared to openly oppose her.
It wasn’t until An Ru’er grew up and learned about the marriage promise the late emperor had made that she truly began to have wicked thoughts.
The Cheng family’s eldest daughter died young, and Cheng An lived in the deep mountains due to her poor health. So An Ru’er thought that the jade pendant should naturally be inherited by her.
Before the old Duke of Chengguo passed away, An Ru’er was the one who served him closely, and in those few years, she earned the reputation of a filial daughter.
But who would have thought that at the old Duchess of Chengguo’s birthday banquet the following year, An Ru’er would take out that jade pendant from her chest in front of all the guests.
No matter how clever a fifteen-year-old girl was, she would be seen through by her elders.
It seemed that at that moment, Lin Xiu rushed forward and slapped An Ru’er hard. The Cheng family needed to protect its reputation and naturally had to stop her. With a girl they had raised from a young age doing something like this, no one could keep their face.
So, the Duke of Chengguo had no choice but to make a trip to the Prince of Ying’s manor that very night.
No one dared to disobey the late emperor’s golden word, and An Ru’er naturally got her wish to enter the gates of the Prince of Ying’s manor.
But she never expected that Emperor Jiasuan would send her to Jingyin Temple to pray for the country in the very month of their wedding.
And she had been gone for three years.
As Side Consort Chu kept track of the ledger, she thought to herself: When An Ru’er returns next month and sees that the manor has a new, graceful Concubine Tang, who knows what kind of trouble she will cause.
Just you wait and see.
