Chapter 551: Washing Three Ritual (Part Two)
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“You’ve worked hard. I shouldn’t have come here to disturb your rest,” Yuwen Chu reached out to Mingzhu.
“Don’t say such things. I’m very happy when you come. I’ll be angry if you don’t come,” Mingzhu said, asking Su Lan to bring Yuwen Chu some clothes, “Since guests are about to arrive, I’ll trouble Your Highness to continue working hard. Don’t be busy with government affairs tonight. Rest. You want me to recover, and you should do the same.”
“I’ll listen to you.” Yuwen Chu whispered in Mingzhu’s ear, “If everything goes well, I’ll give you good news tonight.”
Mingzhu’s eyes lit up, “What good news?”
“It’s a secret. It’s no fun if I tell you now.” Yuwen Chu took the clothes from Su Lan and quickly got ready to go out to greet the guests.
Su Lan and the others also busied themselves dressing up Mingzhu. Although the lying-in woman didn’t need to show up during the ceremony, it would be impolite for her to be seen in a disheveled state by close friends and relatives.
Before long, guests started arriving one after another. Apart from those who had a bad relationship with Yuwen Chu, almost all the women from the royal family came. In addition, there were Lady Qian family and relatives from the Fu family. An Xiaogu also followed a group of noblewomen, joyfully entering. When she saw Mingzhu, she teased her, “I heard you gave birth very quickly, without suffering much. It’s not in vain that you eat so well and move around a lot.”
Mingzhu proudly said, “Of course. Do you want to learn from me?”
It was just a casual remark, but several women actually asked her about the secret to giving birth quickly. Mingzhu didn’t know what to say. This kind of thing wasn’t just about having a good physique; sometimes it was also about luck. However, she couldn’t just brush it off, or people would say she was hiding something.
She racked her brains and said, “Just relax, move around more, eat a bit more appropriately, don’t sit or lie down all day without moving, and try to do some things within your capability…”
They asked her how many steps she took in a day, what she ate, and what she did, but Mingzhu couldn’t come up with an answer, so she had to look to Lady Qian for help.
Lady Qian glanced at her, indicating, “You’re making things up. You’re in trouble this time.”
Mingzhu straightforwardly said, “That’s all I know, I don’t know anything else.”
An Xiaogu and Dai Wangfei quickly intervened, “Let’s go outside. It’s almost time, and despite her being stubborn, she’s still a lying-in woman who needs to rest.”
Everyone was polite, so they followed the maid outside to eat, drink, and chat, waiting for the ceremony to begin. No one mentioned the incident with Madam Cui and Fu Mingzheng’s assassination or the chaos in the palace, which relieved Lady Qian and Su Lan.
News from outside kept coming in, “The midwife is very skillful. Little Zhuang cried as soon as he was put in the golden basin, his voice was so loud, they say he’s a healthy and blessed boy.”
“There are too many guests, there’s not enough seating.”
“The midwife made a fortune today. There are many gifts in the basin, all shiny gold. She’s laughing so much her eyes can’t be seen.”
“The palace has rewarded gifts, the Great Empress Dowager rewarded Ruyi and Longevity Locks. The two Empress Dowagers also gave rewards, as did several other Wangfeis. The Princess of Shanglin Palace also sent gifts, saying she’s unwell and didn’t want to cause trouble by coming in person. She asks Your Highness and Wangfei to understand.”
Yuwen Chu’s popularity remained as good as ever. Mingzhu remembered the scene when his illegitimate son underwent the ceremony. It was a similar grand occasion, even more so, because Yuwen Chu hadn’t married her yet, and hadn’t shown his prowess too early. He was still the quiet, low-key, kind, and wealthy Ying Wang. So everyone was willing to interact with the harmless and generous Ying Wang. Therefore, although he was only an illegitimate son, almost half of the capital’s nobility came here.
Mingzhu also participated. The ceremony was organized by Jiang Shanshan, who was gentle and generous, always wearing a bright smile on her face. It was as if the child was her own. Her enthusiastic, thoughtful, and loving demeanor made everyone praise Jiang Shanshan as an exemplary virtuous woman.
The specific scene Mingzhu couldn’t recall, but she remembered being compared to Jiang Shanshan again. She and Yuwen You were married before Jiang Shanshan and Yuwen Chu, both without offspring. However, Yuwen Chu had a eldest concubine son born, while Yuwen You had nothing. In this way, she appeared extremely immature, extremely jealous, and domineering, only concerned with her own maliciousness, even if it meant cutting off a man’s family line.
Unhappy, she naturally didn’t want to stay long. She only waited for the ceremony to end before hurriedly leaving. There were also male guests who left early. Yuwen Chu stood at the gate to see them off, only nodding slightly when she passed by with her entourage.
She actually wanted to cry at the time. She had always wanted her own child, but she had never had one. Being compared like this made her very sad. So even though she knew he was greeting her, she couldn’t care less. She was afraid she would cry if she stayed a moment longer, which would be even more embarrassing.
It seemed that someone noticed, and someone quietly came to ask Su Lan if a servant had done something wrong and offended her. She cared about her reputation and naturally wouldn’t admit it, so she brushed it off and immediately got into the carriage to leave.
Yuwen You quickly followed suit, asking her what was wrong with her, why she had to leave suddenly, not even giving the host a chance to keep her, making Jiang Shanshan apologize publicly, embarrassing him and making people laugh at him for having an unreasonable wife. Yuwen You even said that if she had Jiang Shanshan’s ten percent generosity and understanding, it would be fine. She felt wronged, but couldn’t say anything, and then the two had a big argument, which took almost half a month to resolve.
Looking back now, many things that were incomprehensible at the time were now understandable. Jiang Shanshan may have known Yuwen Chu’s thoughts, which is why she treated her in such a targeted manner. First, she made her feel embarrassed and uncomfortable without revealing her true intentions, then she drove her away, and finally she publicly apologized to Yuwen You, letting everyone know about it, slapping her in the face with a “papa” sound.
There were many other things that proved that Yuwen Chu and Jiang Shanshan were just a married couple in name only at the time. Someone like her, Yuwen Chu could tolerate, but if Jiang Shanshan didn’t do something to make Yuwen Chu unable to bear it, how could there be an concubine son born?
Mingzhu couldn’t help but sigh, “The world is unpredictable.”
Zheng Momo frowned, “How did we start talking about this?”
Mingzhu smiled and said, “I just suddenly remembered something.”
Two maids stood below the window, complaining in a low voice, “That Princess Wusun, she’s really hard to deal with. We only made a joke with her, and she took it out on the servants in our house. It’s not like our people were rude, but she blamed us.”
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