Four Seasons Brocade – CH 158

Chapter 158 ☆、

No one was allowed to touch the jade lion on the desk. If anyone touched it, both the jade lion and the person who touched it were thrown away. Li Yanguang then had to painstakingly search for a better jade lion.

This was no easy task. Good jade did not necessarily mean good carving, and good carving did not necessarily mean good jade. Famous jade craftsmen were either in the palace or needed to be found in the Suzhou and Yangzhou areas. One place was laborious and time-consuming; the other was exhausting—neither was easy to find. Therefore, Li Yanguang hated whoever touched the jade lion.

Fortunately, this had only happened once in all these years.

Now, on the table lay the posthumous work of the deceased Seventh Master Cui: a jade lion, exquisitely carved yet retaining the majestic presence of a lion king, with an embroidered ball rolling at its feet, lifelike and with superb craftsmanship—a rare masterpiece. Where could Li Yanguang possibly find another like it?

Li Yanguang felt that Ah Wu was deliberately going against him. To be honest, when this Princess came to Bingxue Forest last time, he did have some ulterior motives. Firstly, he had developed a certain relationship with Mei-Ying and Mei-Meng over the years, and for them to be so easily driven away by the Princess left him with a sense of shared misfortune.

So, that night, when Ah Wu wanted to see Chu Mao, Li Yanguang let her go in, hoping she would run into a rude person and would not have to bother them at Bingxue Forest again. After all, one was a prince and the other a princess; their subordinates were in a difficult position.

But who knew that she would not run into a rude person, and today she was making things difficult for them again?

Ah Wu, of course, was unaware of the chaotic thoughts swirling in Li Yanguang’s mind. She touched the jade lion and said, “Your Highness broke my jade Pixiu; did you not say you’d replace it?”

Chu Mao did not answer. He took the jade lion from Ah Wu’s hand, put it in the box, and placed it on the table.

Li Yanguang, who had heard the words “jade Pixiu,” glanced inside a few more times.

Ah Wu was just making conversation, and seeing Chu Mao take the jade lion away, clearly showing some disdain, she felt somewhat embarrassed. “Your Highness entrusted me with something before the New Year. I’ve had some free time these past few days, so I’ve drafted a list. Please take a look.” Ah Wu placed the list on Chu Mao’s desk, where the paperweight weighed it down.

Chu Mao glanced at the list of names on the paper, frowned, and said, “Their families are all quite good, so why are they all from outside the capital?”

“Everyone under the Emperor’s nose is blind; they cannot see a person, only their background. But these families, when I visited before, I heard the ladies were all kind and gentle, and they only cared about a respectable family background when choosing a daughter-in-law, valuing the woman’s character and appearance. For example, Madam Bai of the first family, her eldest daughter-in-law is just the daughter of a local scholar,” Ah Wu explained in detail.

“Xiangsi cannot marry far away. My aunt has relied on her all these years. Even if she marries, she will probably hope she can come back to visit often. Besides, if she marries far away and suffers some misfortune, we will not be able to help her, and it might hurt my aunt’s feelings.” Chu Mao handed the list back to Ah Wu, indicating he was not considering it.

Ah Wu’s efforts were in vain, and she was annoyed. To be honest, these were all people she had carefully considered, people who genuinely considered Xiangsi’s feelings and placed her in the position of her future brother-in-law, without any intention of deceiving her. Yet, Chu Mao was ungrateful, rejecting her so decisively.

“Your Highness seems to care for Xiangsi,” Ah Wu said sourly. This sourness was not romantic; it was simply Ah Wu’s inherently domineering nature. For example, with the Imperial Princess, Ah Wu only allowed her to dote on her; even her two brothers could not share much. As for her two sisters-in-law, they always had to defer to her.

With Lady Cui, Ah Wu also wanted to monopolize all her attention, sometimes even getting jealous of Master Rong.

Now, at the Prince Qi’s mansion, due to her different status and the difficulties of her journey, Ah Wu had toned down these flaws. But now, unknowingly, Chu Mao had nurtured them in more than a fraction of their former ways.

Although Nanny Hao managed the inner quarters, she still had to be mindful of Ah Wu’s feelings in every way and dared not neglect Yulan Hall’s orders in the slightest. Even if there were disagreements, they were mostly for Chu Mao’s benefit. Therefore, Ah Wu did not suffer much hardship.

As for Chu Mao, from the moment she entered the mansion, he treated her with great respect and later became increasingly doting. Even Ah Wu herself had to admit that she would not have dared to suppress He Peizhen so arbitrarily without Chu Mao’s support. Later, when she dismissed Chu Mao’s capable maids like Mei-Ying and Mei-Meng, he remained silent. Even when she dealt harshly with the Fifth Prince, he only verbally reprimanded her a few times before quickly covering it up.

Ah Wu, being the clever woman she was, had long been aware of Chu Mao’s feelings. However, unwilling to reciprocate, she feigned ignorance, cleverly employing a rejection tactic that avoided Chu Mao’s excessive intimacy while preserving their “affection.”

But the arrogance that Chu Mao had gradually nurtured within Ah Wu was irreversible. She felt that no matter what, Chu Mao would always indulge her to some extent. This was blatant conceit, but Ah Wu herself refused to delve into it.

Chu Mao looked up at Ah Wu, a sudden smile playing on his lips. “I never imagined someone like Master Rong would raise a daughter like you.”

Ah Wu did not immediately understand Chu Mao’s meaning, but she was certain it was a dig at Fei Bao.

“What does Your Highness mean?” Ah Wu asked, puzzled, her smile instantly crumbling.

Although Chu Mao was smiling, the light in his eyes was more piercing than shards of ice.

Ah Wu saw Chu Mao slowly stand up and walk to her, the distance between them no more than two fists. Ah Wu steeled herself, not backing away. Chu Mao’s thumb and forefinger lightly pinched Ah Wu’s chin, forcing her to look up at him.

Ah Wu was startled by the coldness in Chu Mao’s eyes; her heart sank lower and lower, yet she could not quite reach the bottom.

“You’ve gained a beautiful face, but your heart remains just as filthy.” Chu Mao released Ah Wu after speaking, seemingly uninterested in looking at her again. “Go out, and do not come to Bingxue Forest again.”

Ah Wu’s hands trembled with anger under her sleeves. Her face, like countless other noblewomen in the capital, remained stiff and indifferent. Her mind was a mess; she did not know what she had done to offend Chu Mao. The anger she felt when she left that day paled in comparison to today’s coldness.

Ah Wu had never felt so embarrassed and humiliated in her life. When the old lady pressured her, it was merely due to her own foolish prejudice. But Chu Mao’s indifference today seemed to stem from Ah Wu’s own shortcomings. She had never been described as filthy before.

“Your Highness, is there some misunderstanding?” Ah Wu could not understand it at all and could only conclude that someone was sowing discord between them, something she had not even noticed.

“Li Yanguang, invite the Princess Consort to Hongyao Villa.” Chu Mao did not even bother to glance at Ah Wu.

Ah Wu took a breath and followed Li Yanguang out the door, but as she turned around, she heard Chu Mao say, “Take the jade lion with you. As for the jade Pixiu, go to the market and choose whatever you like; just put it on the Prince’s account.”

Ah Wu straightened her back, turned around, and picked up the box containing the jade lion from Chu Mao’s table.

“For Master Rong’s sake, I will not hold it against you. If you behave yourself as Princess Consort Qi, you will naturally have the wealth and honor you desire. Otherwise, finding another Princess Consort is not difficult,” Chu Mao said in a deep voice.

Ah Wu turned around and walked out the door.

In the courtyard beside Hongyao Villa, a long bench had been set up, and a young man was slumped over it, his mouth gagged with a cloth, trembling. Sitting at the head of the table was Nanny Hao, who did not rise upon seeing Ah Wu, only nodding slightly. Beside her stood Xiangsi, who curtsied to Ah Wu.

“Go ahead and beat him,” Nanny Hao said coldly.

Ah Wu had not expected Chu Mao to summon her to Hongyao Villa just to watch someone be beaten.

Hearing the cracking sounds and seeing only red marks on the person’s pale buttocks, Ah Wu immediately knew this person was going to die; this was a beating meant to kill. If the skin was torn and blood flowed, that would be a sign of mercy from the master, a mere punishment.

Ah Wu had never seen anything like this before. She could not even bear to watch a chicken being slaughtered, let alone a murder. She turned to leave, but Nanny Hao said, “Your Highness, please wait. Go and invite Your Highness to sit down.”

“You dare!” Ah Wu glared at Nanny Hao.

Nanny Hao remained expressionless, but Zi-Shan and Zi-Yi, who were beside Ah Wu, had already been restrained by the servants of Hongyao Villa. Zi-Yi’s face was particularly grim.

“Yuan-Chun, go and invite the Princess to sit down,” Nanny Hao said again.

Only then did Ah Wu realize that the person standing next to Nanny Hao was Yuan-Chun.

At this point, Ah Wu knew perfectly well that if she insisted on leaving, she would only embarrass herself. She sat down stiffly, facing the person who had been beaten. Her hands and feet were icy cold, but her back remained ramrod straight.

After only forty strokes, the person breathed their last. All Ah Wu could hear and see were the person’s screams and their unseeing, grieved expression.

When Ah Wu returned to Yulan Hall, the cold sweat on her back had already turned icy. She knew something was wrong, but she could not worry about that now. She kept Zi-Yi behind and asked, “Do you know that person?”

Zi-Yi suddenly knelt on the ground. “That person is Kang Hai, a minor eunuch from Bingxue Forest. It’s all my fault for not being careful enough. Ever since Master gave the order, I’ve been keeping an eye on the people from Bingxue Forest. Kang Hai is from the same hometown as me, so we got close. The Princess Consort always gets bits and pieces of information from him when she inquires about the Prince’s whereabouts.”

In truth, Kang Hai also felt wronged. With his status, he had no way of getting close to Prince Qi, and what he knew was only trivial details. Even so, he had not said much to Zi-Yi, only occasionally revealing whether Prince Qi was in Bingxue Forest. And so, after being discovered and interrogated by Li Yanguang, he understood that he was doomed. Even the slightest bit of information about his master must not be leaked. He had committed a grave taboo.

Therefore, even when Ah Wu went to watch him be punished, he did not plead for anything, having already resigned himself to his fate.

Upon hearing Zi-Yi’s words, Ah Wu knew she had gotten herself into serious trouble. Unfortunately, everyone had a tendency to take chances. Before things happened, she always thought she could secretly gather information about Chu Mao, but once things were exposed, the consequences were unbearable.

What was more, this matter just so happened to be exposed at such a critical moment. Ah Wu did not even dare to think whether Chu Mao had known about it all along but kept it a secret, only to unleash it now, or whether it was truly a coincidence that it was exposed in the last few days.

However, through this incident, Ah Wu also understood Chu Mao’s meaning. Today, he did not hesitate to slap her hard in front of Nanny Hao and Xiangsi, causing her to lose face, to make her understand who the real master was in this household. If she did not comply with his wishes, she would only suffer the consequences.

The tenderness Chu Mao had shown her a few days ago, even condescending to accompany her to the Lantern Festival and massage her feet, felt like a dream. Reality, however, was cruel and cold.

The so-called tenderness was nothing more than a master’s fleeting whims. Ah Wu herself was a master; how could she not know the fickle nature of her master’s likes and dislikes?

Ah Wu was now like a person sinking into a lake, barely able to save herself, surrounded by darkness, with no light left.

“Your Highness, Your Highness…” With Zi-Shan and Zi-Yi’s cries of alarm, Ah Wu groggily realized that she had fallen into Zi-Shan’s arms.