Chapter 146 Stomach Troubles
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Seeing that it was Yuwen You, the palace attendant swallowed the scolding she had prepared and forced a smile instead. “This servant greets Your Highness.”
Yuwen You completely ignored the attendant, completed his greeting to Mingzhu, and then stood up straight, looking at her with a slightly abnormal flush on his face. There was a hint of a cold smile at the corner of his lips. “Sister-in-law, are you still holding a grudge against me?”
He had lost weight, and his regular attire hung loosely on him, making him appear somewhat frail and arrogant. His gaze towards Mingzhu was direct, unabashed, and unreserved.
The attendant was taken aback, about to remind Linan Wang that his behavior was improper, but Mingzhu contemptuously scanned Yuwen You from head to toe, then casually remarked with a smile, “Why would I? I heard Ninth Brother is about to marry the Princess of Wusun, which is cause for great joy. Your brother has been busy these days; we’ll send our congratulations another time.”
“I wouldn’t dare trouble my sixth brother and sister-in-law.” Yuwen You raised an eyebrow, gritted his teeth, then leaned down and whispered in Mingzhu’s ear, “Fu Mingzhu, I thought you were going to pick someone remarkable, but I didn’t expect it would be such a hypocritical and deceitful person. I look forward to seeing you manipulated into nothing but bone dust by him.”
Mingzhu stood her ground, smiling brightly, revealing a row of pearly white teeth. “Is Ninth Prince having stomach troubles?”
Utterly perplexed, he wondered why she brought up his stomach issues when they were talking. Yuwen You couldn’t quite grasp the situation and asked with confusion, “What does it have to do with you?”
Mingzhu replied with great concern, “When you have stomach problems, you need to take care of yourself. Otherwise, if you have bad breath and offend the Princess of Wusun, it would be bad if she thought your health was poor. While it seems like a matter between you two, it actually concerns the state affairs. You mustn’t be careless.”
Bah! Can’t believe her audacity! She’s the one with bad breath, she’s the one with health issues! No, wait, it’s not her, it’s Yuwen Chu who’s not well! He cursed Yuwen Chu’s health, wishing he couldn’t even have children! Yuwen You was furious, almost losing his temper on the spot, but fortunately, having learned from several previous mistakes, he managed to hold back, gritting his teeth as he said, “You don’t need to worry about it.”
Mingzhu had already walked past him. Her crimson skirt brushed past his boots like a ripple in water, without pause. Adorning her jet-black bun were precious jewels, emitting a dazzling light as her head tilted slightly upwards, her chin raised proudly, exuding an air of arrogance and composure.
For the first time, Yuwen You seemed to notice how beautiful and radiant she was. He felt pained but smiled even more happily. “Fu Mingzhu, if you see the Great Empress Dowager, remember to thank her on my behalf. This marriage is really great, better than a thousand times what you have.”
Ignoring him, Mingzhu proudly tilted her head up and continued walking inside until she couldn’t hear Yuwen You’s voice anymore. Then she asked the attendant, “Why is he here?” If the Great Empress Dowager knew she was coming, she certainly wouldn’t have let Yuwen You stay here and bother her, so his presence must have some other reason.
The attendant whispered, “I heard he has recovered from his injuries and has come to express gratitude for the marriage granted by His Majesty and the Great Empress Dowager. The Great Empress Dowager just finished resting and hasn’t seen him.”
Whether it’s gratitude for sparing one’s life or gratitude for bestowing marriage, there’s no need to choose this particular day. His ability to enter the palace signifies the tacit approval of Empress Dowager Min and her son. It’s all just a petty scheme to annoy her. How insignificant these people’s actions are. Mingzhu smiled lightly and swiftly entered the hall.
The Great Empress Dowager was whispering with Mu Gugu. When she saw Mingzhu enter, she stopped talking and smiled, “Come over here, let Auntie take a good look at you.”
Mingzhu felt a bit shy and walked over with her eyes lowered, whispering, “We’ve met before, what’s there to look at?”
The Great Empress Dowager and Mu Gugu exchanged a glance and both smiled. Mu Gugu took Mingzhu’s hand and led her to sit in front of Empress Fu, saying with a smile, “Let me bring some soup for the Wangfei.”
“What soup? I can’t drink anymore.” Mingzhu patted her stomach, indicating that she was full. “I just ate a lot with the Imperial Consort.”
“It’s a sweet soup to nourish the blood and invigorate the qi.” The Great Empress Dowager smiled. “Is he treating you well?”
Mingzhu thought about it seriously for a moment and replied, “It’s well, I guess.” But he was overly petty, seemingly quite interested in those matters, which wasn’t good at all.
“Well is well, not good is not good. What do you mean by ‘I guess’?” The Great Empress Dowager furrowed her brow slightly. “Is Funing causing trouble for you again?”
Mingzhu shrugged, “She’s always like that, and you know it.” Then she added, “I didn’t suffer, so you don’t need to worry.”
The Great Empress Dowager sighed, “You’ve been bickering since you were children. I used to ignore it, thinking it was just childish conflicts, but now it seems I should have intervened earlier.”
Mingzhu smiled, “It’s too late for you to intervene now. It’ll only make her hate me more, saying I can’t beat her so I seek help. You’d better not worry about it and let her be.”
The Great Empress Dowager said, “It’s good that you think that way. At that time, I needed allies. Imperial Consort Min is smart and favored, Funing was the youngest daughter of the late emperor, born in difficult circumstances and with inherent deficiencies, so the late emperor doted on her. I favored you, and the late emperor followed suit. Imperial Consort Min was even more polite to you, remembering to give you everything good. So, since the late emperor favored Funing, I naturally had to favor her too, even better than you.”
“It’s a matter of reciprocation.” Mingzhu replied. Surely in her previous life, the Great Empress Dowager and Imperial Consort Min regretted spoiling them so much. They were pampered to the point of refusing to see any danger or face adversity, leading to a life of happiness and safety being thrown away; Funing was spoiled to the point of ingratitude, abandoning the excellent marriage and husband chosen by Yuwen Chu, disregarding her husband’s feelings and reputation. Although she didn’t know Funing’s ultimate fate, even with the protection of Imperial Consort Min and Yuwen Chu, it wouldn’t have ended well.
The Great Empress Dowager smiled contentedly, “That’s right. Fortunately, you’ve finally become sensible.”
Mingzhu smiled faintly. If she hadn’t become sensible, she might as well have bought a piece of tofu and smashed her head with it.
The Great Empress Dowager remained silent for a moment, then carefully said, “There’s something I need to remind you of. There are several concubines in Ying Wang’s mansion, some bestowed by the late emperor, some by Imperial Consort Min, and there were even some rewards from the Zhaoyang Palace. Not to mention those singers and beauties sent back and forth between the major prince’s mansions. I also rewarded some before, thinking it wouldn’t lead to your marriage with him. So I rewarded two beautiful palace maids, who I heard were not being favored. You can let them handle things for you, and they won’t dare to disobey you. You’re newlyweds, and Yuwen Chu is smart and sensible. He won’t cause you any trouble. But if someone tries to stir up trouble, you should know how to handle it. Yuwen Chu’s temperament, you should understand. He dislikes unreasonable threats and coercion. Marquis Changxing made that mistake and fell out of favor with him. Although you might not be able to see through it, you need to know how to choose.”
Mingzhu smiled, “Don’t worry, I won’t act recklessly. In our family, we often receive such gifts, so I just follow my mother and sister-in-law’s example in handling them.” She understood that Mu Gugu’s previous practice of rewarding people in the Yuwen residence was quite normal, after all, as the powerful Great Empress Dowager, it was quite normal to send people to the various prince’s mansions. At the same time, no one dared to refuse, but how they treated them after accepting was another matter altogether.
Mu Gugu brought sweet soup and urged Mingzhu to drink it with a smile, “Alright, go back at ease, and broaden your mind. It’s only natural to have more offspring early.”
Mingzhu got up to take her leave, and the Empress Dowager still instructed the palace maid who had escorted her there earlier to see her back. Mu Gugu had the bowls cleared away and asked softly, “Did Her Majesty mention that matter to the Wangfei?”
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