Zhao Baozhu stared in shock as the woman held Ye Jinghua, covering her face with a silk handkerchief as she wept bitterly. She said, “Since I married into this Ye household, there hasn’t been a single day I haven’t worried. Who would have thought that in my old age my eyes would grow dim, and I’d be deceived by these wretched creatures! My poor son, working so hard at his studies every day, and yet these servants can’t even manage such a small courtyard, dragging you down for nothing, ”
The more she spoke, the more sorrowful she became, tears streaming down her face. “I’ve never had any standing in this Ye household! Now that my son has moved out, those black-hearted scoundrels must think their master can’t control them, bullying the two of us!”
Standing to the side, Zhao Baozhu was stunned by her lament.
If an outsider heard this speech, they would surely feel sympathy for this pitiful mother, thinking the servants were insolent and bullying a widow and her son. If Zhao Baozhu hadn’t personally seen how decisively Ye Jinghua dealt with his servants, he would have been fooled too!
Seeing her cry like this, Steward Li hurried forward, supporting her arm as he coaxed, “Oh, my madam, how could this possibly be your fault?” He raised his right hand and pointed upward. “This old servant already has one foot in the grave, so I’m not afraid to speak plainly. In this Ye household, from top to bottom, all the daily affairs, what isn’t accomplished because of you? If we were without you even for a day, the whole household would collapse!”
Hearing his sworn praise, Madam Ye stopped crying and glanced at him. “You’ve said both the good and the bad, I can’t take all that credit.”
Steward Li chuckled and lightly slapped his own mouth. “This old servant spoke out of turn, out of turn.”
On the other side, Ye Jinghua quietly listened to her long complaint, his face unreadable. He supported her arm with one hand, lowered his gaze slightly, and said: “Mother, this time it was my poor judgment of people. How could it be your fault?”
Hearing this, Madam Ye dabbed at the corner of her eyes with her handkerchief, then allowed Steward Li to help her sit down on a nearby chair. She pressed her slender fingers to her temple, sighed deeply, and said softly: “Qing’er, your mother is getting old. I truly don’t have the strength anymore.”
Ye Jinghua lowered his lashes. “To cause Mother worry is my fault. From now on, Steward Li and I will strictly manage and discipline the servants.”
Madam Ye raised her eyes at this, her brows knitting slightly. “You are a man, and you must study, how can you spend your days worrying about matters of the inner household? The spring examinations are approaching. If these trivial affairs disturb you now, wouldn’t I become the eternal sinner of the Ye family?”
Her words were cutting. Ye Jinghua closed his mouth and said no more.
Seeing his unyielding demeanor, Madam Ye sighed again, her head seeming to ache even more. Dabbing her eyes, she said, “For now your eldest sister-in-law helps a little, but what about later when she becomes pregnant and your older brother has a son? Won’t she have to prioritize your nephew?”
At this point, Madam Ye looked at Ye Jinghua. Seeing him still lowering his eyes with an indifferent expression, not the slightest bit moved, she had no choice but to speak plainly: “When will you take a wife? One, she can help me; two, your household needs a mistress to manage the inner affairs.”
Her tone was earnest. Only then did Ye Jinghua’s lashes tremble slightly as he raised his eyes: “No hurry.”
Hearing these two words, Madam Ye nearly fainted. Clutching her handkerchief, she raised her voice: “What do you mean ‘no hurry’? Qing’er, you’re not young anymore, you came of age before the new year! Look around the capital, which young master is like you, still unmarried after reaching adulthood?”
Her expression darkened as she continued slowly, “Do you know where those magpies in the courtyard came from? From the grandson of the Shangshu next door! He’s two years younger than you, and he’s already married.”
Hearing this, Zhao Baozhu, who had been eavesdropping, suddenly understood. He secretly glanced at Madam Ye. He had thought those magpies didn’t seem wild, but rather carefully raised for celebratory purposes. And why else would they fly nowhere else but linger in this courtyard? Most likely, it was all Madam Ye’s doing.
Ye Jinghua said calmly, “Qiyan was already betrothed. It is only natural he married early.”
Madam Ye, seeing him dare to talk back, grew even more emotional, her eyes reddening. “Betrothed? Do you think I never arranged a match for you? I would like to ask, what is lacking in the young lady of the Duke’s household that she is unworthy of you? Do you know how people in the capital mock me? They say I appear glorious on the surface, but in truth I am a fool who can’t even arrange her youngest son’s marriage!”
With that, she buried her face in her handkerchief and sobbed again. Steward Li hurried forward to comfort her, even slapping his own mouth again. Zhao Baozhu watched anxiously, but when he looked at Ye Jinghua, he saw his face unmoved, as still as carved jade.
What he didn’t know was that although there were many gossiping noblewomen in the capital, none dared, or had the standing, to speak ill of the current prime minister’s wife, the birth mother of the imperial consort favored by the emperor.
Not to mention that the Ye family’s eldest son had already entered officialdom and, in just five years, had risen to the fourth rank, becoming a rising star in court. With a Consort Chen in the palace and a prime minister in the family, their wealth and status were secure for generations, let alone the Fifth Prince in the palace. Who would dare provoke such a family? It would be courting death.
With such a background, even if Ye Jinghua were a useless dandy, he would not lack marriage prospects, let alone the fact that he was far from one.
When Madam Ye’s sobbing gradually subsided, Ye Jinghua finally picked up a cup of tea from the table and offered it to her with both hands, bowing his head: “It is all my fault. Please calm your anger, Mother.”
Madam Ye, clutching her handkerchief, saw him lower his head and immediately softened somewhat. She accepted the tea and murmured, “If only I could one day receive tea from your wife.”
Ye Jinghua lowered his eyes as if he hadn’t heard. Madam Ye sighed again. If anyone else dared act like this before her, she would have slapped them long ago. But among her children, aside from her eldest daughter who had already entered the palace, this youngest son was the best looking. Gentle and refined since childhood, with a face like a celestial boy descended from heaven, how could she not cherish and love him?
After taking a sip of tea, Madam Ye sighed and looked at Ye Jinghua. “If you won’t marry, then what about your proper career? The spring examinations are only two months away, have you registered your name with the Academic Office?”
Ye Jinghua said nothing, simply lowering his eyes. After a long while without an answer, Madam Ye understood at once and nearly fainted in anger!
“You, you!” She pointed at him, unable to speak, her chest heaving. Her long nails jabbed the air as she turned to Steward Li. “Take the young master’s registration slip and go to the Academic Office!”
Hearing this, Steward Li froze, not moving, instead lifting his gaze toward Ye Jinghua.
Seeing this, Madam Ye flew into a rage. “You old dog! I sent you here to help him, not to abet his wrongdoing! How many days have you been here? Are my words already useless to you?”
Steward Li immediately dropped to his knees with a thud, crying “This old servant deserves death!” while slapping his own face.
Ye Jinghua frowned slightly and said to the furious Madam Ye: “Mother, Steward Li does not know where I keep my registration slip.”
Madam Ye paused, turning back to look at Ye Jinghua’s calm expression. She knew well that anything this son did not want others to touch was never something they could find. Her lips trembled as she said: “You… you unfilial child!”
Pressing a hand to her chest, she cried in anguish, “If you continue wasting yourself like this, how can you face the books you studied so hard since childhood? How can you face your father and elder brother?”
Ye Jinghua lowered his eyes, unmoved.
The ornaments in Madam Ye’s hair clinked loudly as she rose from her chair in fury and stepped closer to him, saying heavily: “When you first began your studies, His Majesty bestowed upon you the name ‘Huiqing,’ saying that when you placed on the honors list, he would personally crown you. Do you know what that means?”
“You insist on not sitting for the imperial examinations. Yet when you came of age last year, His Majesty still permitted you to keep using those two characters in your name. Don’t you understand the expectations behind that? If you still refuse to take the exams this time, how is your older sister supposed to carry herself? And how are your father and elder brother supposed to maintain their footing in court?”
Madam Ye’s voice was earnest with every word. Ye Jinghua did not argue. He merely rose from his chair and said softly, “Mother likely hasn’t had lunch yet.”
After speaking, he ignored Madam Ye’s expression entirely and turned toward the line of maids standing outside the room. “Prepare a fresh meal spread. Remember to add a dish of crab meat in lotus blossom cups.”
Having said that, he turned back, helped Madam Ye into the seat of honor, then carefully used a handkerchief to wipe away the tears on her face. Seeing his attitude soften, Madam Ye thought her words had finally moved him, and she looked up at Ye Jinghua hopefully.
Who would have thought that after putting away the handkerchief, he only said quietly, “Mother, eat first,” before turning and walking outside.
Fang Qin immediately followed after him, and Deng Yun also suddenly lifted his head, grabbed Zhao Baozhu in one motion, and hurried after them.
Madam Ye sat there blankly, watching her son’s snow-white robes disappear beyond the doorway. The moment he left, the maids waiting nearby stepped forward one after another, removed all the dishes from the table, then quietly withdrew. At the side, Steward Li stood cautiously beside Madam Ye, carefully observing her expression.
Madam Ye sat in a daze for a long while before slowly recovering her senses. Muttering to herself, she said, “He just left like that?”
The next instant, she collapsed over the low table and burst into tears behind her handkerchief.
“Why is my life so bitter, how did I end up giving birth to a son like this!”
Steward Li let out a heavy sigh inwardly. He thought to himself that this sort of scene happened every few days. Supporting Madam Ye with both hands, he comforted her aloud: “Madam, please don’t make yourself sick with anger. The young master only left temporarily because he feared upsetting you further. In a while, he will surely come back to apologize.”
Madam Ye cried, “What do I want his apology for! I’m only angry that he’s so stubborn, he doesn’t even place the Emperor in his eyes. He pays no heed to his father’s or elder brother’s words either. I fear there’s no one in this world who can control him anymore! And now he doesn’t even place me in his eyes. I—I must have committed terrible sins in my previous life!”
Steward Li persuaded gently, “Madam, those words are unfair. The young master is the most thoughtful toward you. Just look, last New Year, you only picked up two extra pieces of those crab cups, and the young master remembered it all this time. This year, every crab sent up as tribute from the south, he reserved entirely for you. Didn’t you see? The moment Madam arrived today, he immediately ordered the dish prepared.”
Hearing this, Madam Ye shook her head while clutching her handkerchief.
“That little trick may fool the rest of you, but I’m his mother. I gave birth to him and raised him. How could I not know what he’s thinking?”
She slowly lifted her head as two clear streams of tears slid down her cheeks.
“He was born with an exceptionally perceptive heart. He awakened early, and he’s meticulous. Whether in dealing with people or handling matters big and small, there has never been a single thing he managed improperly. But if you look deeper, he has never truly held anyone in his heart. We merely rely on a few strands of blood relation to receive a little of his patience. Yet in the end, he belongs somewhere unknowable. He cannot be stained by worldly dust at all.”
The moment Steward Li heard this, he knew Madam Ye had once again fallen into that old obsession. The matter went back more than ten years.
Back then, the second young master of the Ye family had just been born. He was lovely as snow and jade, but even by the age of two he had never spoken, only staring at people with a pair of pitch-black eyes. The entire Ye household was anxious beyond measure and had sought countless famous physicians to no avail.
Then one day, a Daoist priest happened to pass by the Ye residence. The moment he saw Ye Jinghua in Madam Ye’s arms, his eyes lit up. He told her: “The young master’s spiritual wisdom has been taken away by immortals. He was mistakenly born into your household. Sooner or later, he will return.”
Madam Ye immediately panicked and repeatedly begged the Daoist for a solution. After being pestered for half the day, the Daoist finally removed a jade pendant from his waist and hung it on Ye Jinghua.
“This is not a permanent solution,” he warned her. “If, in the future, the young master cannot enter the mortal world, he will ultimately leave.”
At first Madam Ye only half believed him. Yet unexpectedly, half a month after wearing the jade pendant, Ye Jinghua truly began to speak.
Afterward, at three years old he could already recite poetry. At five he possessed photographic memory. At ten he had mastered the Four Books and Five Classics. At twelve he entered the palace as a study companion to the crown prince. After meeting him, the Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince wrote a secret letter to the Emperor overnight, declaring that this child possessed extraordinary intelligence and a temperament detached from the mundane world. In the future, he would surely rise to the highest ranks of officialdom and possess the ability to benefit all under heaven.
But no amount of talent could overcome Ye Jinghua’s determination not to enter official service.
Madam Ye lowered her willow brows and closed her eyes. “So many people in the capital envy me for having such an intelligent, handsome, considerate younger son… only I know that it’s all an illusion. His bond with me was shallow from the beginning. After all these years, I still haven’t managed to warm his heart even a little.”
Seeing her words grow increasingly painful, Steward Li half-knelt before her and said warmly: “How can Madam think like this? This old servant may not understand Second Young Master’s thoughts as deeply as Madam does, but from what I’ve seen over the years, whenever Eldest Young Master, Niang Niang, or any of the young masters and young ladies in the rear court asked for something, Second Young Master never once refused. A few years ago when Master encountered that great crisis, it was also thanks to Second Young Master seeking out Young Master Cao to mediate matters. Whoever says Second Young Master isn’t devoted to this household, this old servant will be the first to disagree! If you ask me, there are few children in this world as filial as our young master!”
Steward Li had accompanied Madam Ye into the Ye family as part of her dowry attendants when she married into the household. The trust between them surpassed that of ordinary servants.
Hearing his words, the grief on Madam Ye’s face truly eased considerably. Dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her silk handkerchief, she murmured softly: “When it comes to handling affairs properly, even if all those Ye men were kneaded together, none could compare to my Qing’er alone.”
“Exactly!” Steward Li laughed. “This old servant may not understand much else, but as long as Second Young Master bears the surname Ye, then his heart remains with the household. The rest of those matters are insignificant. So long as he respects filial piety and considers Master and Madam’s feelings, that is enough.”
Madam Ye’s expression gradually softened, clearly recalling all the considerate things Ye Jinghua had done in the past. Seizing the opportunity, Steward Li piled on even more praise. As Madam Ye listened, the deep furrow in her brow slowly relaxed. Steward Li deliberately began recounting amusing everyday incidents, and sure enough, Madam Ye’s mood visibly improved.
But when he began talking about how well Ye Jinghua treated the servants, she widened her beautiful eyes and snapped: “It’s precisely because he treats the people beneath him too well that such an incident happened!”
After saying this, she pressed the corner of her eye with her handkerchief, her expression settling once more as she asked Steward Li: “And also, who was that little greedy cat standing behind Qing’er just now? He looked very unfamiliar.”
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