Chapter 351

Song Yixiao was surprised and said, “I wonder what Your Majesty’s orders are?”

When she asked this question, she just thought that there were kids of the Wei Family or the Wei Family’s relatives who were planning to take the exam next year and that Empress Wei wanted to ask Jian Limiao to go easy on them. Empress Wei mentioned Emperor Duanhua, so most likely this matter had already been reported before Emperor Duanhua.

But Empress Wei said, “Dowager Consort Jiang has been sick in bed recently. I went to visit her, but she just said it was because she was mourning for the former emperor. However, Dowager Consort Jiang’s subordinates revealed that she was very worried about Grand Princess Yushan’s marriage. Now that she has fallen ill, I’m afraid it is more or less related to this matter!”

It was no wonder that Dowager Consort Jiang was worried. Grand Princess Yushan was Emperor Xianjia’s youngest daughter, but she was the same age as Grand Princess Changxing. At the moment, Grand Princess Changxing had been married for two or three years and had had a miscarriage once. But because Grand Princess Yushan was obsessed with Su Shaoge, she still didn’t get married. Moreover, Emperor Xianjia died this year. After three years of mourning, she was almost 20 years old!

Even if the emperor’s daughter wasn’t worried about finding a person to marry, what good could she pick in a hurry?

How could Dowager Consort Jiang not worry about it?

Therefore, as she heard about the Imperial Privileged Examination, she immediately became concerned.

She took advantage of Empress Wei’s visit and instructed those subordinates to convey this concern to Empress Wei, hoping that Empress Wei would keep an eye out to see if any of the newly accepted scholars in next year’s examination were good-looking, talented, not yet married and of good character. If there was one, she could arrange him to be Grand Princess Yushan’s Prince Consort.

Princess Wei had a slight headache with this task. After all, she knew the reason why Grand Princess Yushan couldn’t get married all this time. If it weren’t for the fact that this royal girl was thinking about Su Shaoge, her own uncle, Jiang Yin wouldn’t have refused Dowager Consort Jiang’s request to let her son marry the Princess.

Even if the newly accepted scholar was from a humble family, when he was able to pass the hurdles to be named on the roll of honor, how could he be willing to marry a princess who was into someone else? Even if he would like to, Grand Princess Yushan might be unwilling!

Empress Wei felt that it would be hard to please everyone involved no matter how many efforts she made.

However, Dowager Consort Jiang was Virtuous Consort when Emperor Xianjia was alive. Her status was not low. And she had no grudges with the Eastern Palace. Grand Princess Yushan was her only daughter. When Emperor Xianjia was alive, she could beg him. But since Emperor Xianjia died, who else, apart from the current Empress, could she turn to, as a Dowager Consort?

So, after discussing with Emperor Duanhua, Empress Wei thought they might as well do it for her. It was just a matter of a scholar.

But it was impossible to make Emperor Duanhua mention such a matter of marriage. Since Jian Limiao’s mother died early, his wife was dead and his son also died young. The only woman he could talk to was his niece-in-law, Song Yixiao.

So, Empress Wei called her in, “Now we are all in mourning for the former emperor. So many things are inconvenient. But we don’t want to have Yushan’s youth wasted! If there is someone among next year’s accepted scholars who can be a good match for Yushan, I would like to ask Vice Minister Jian to help observe him!”

Only then did Song Yixiao understand. She said readily, “Emperor Duanhua and Empress Wei love Grand Princess Yushan. So we will surely do our best to help.”

Empress Wei summoned Song Yixiao to the palace today for just one thing. But the two sides had always been close, and it was impossible for Empress Wei to send Song Yixiao away right after finishing talking about the business.

Therefore, the two of them chatted for a while. Empress Wei was very concerned about Jian Qingyue and gave ten pieces of satin tribute to this niece. But Song Yixiao didn’t dare to talk about children, mainly because she was afraid of bringing up thoughts of Empress Wei’s little son who had died.

Empress Wei kept Song Yixiao for lunch, and only returned to the mansion in the late afternoon.

When she returned, she heard the good news. Yuan Xue’e, who was living with her husband in the manor, sent someone to report that Zhiqin had given birth and that the mother and the child were both safe.

Song Yixiao was overjoyed and had the idea of bringing Zhiqin and her husband back to her. But as the New Year was approaching and Zhiqin had just given birth, she only sent some things over and decided to mention this matter next spring.

She had just prepared Zhiqin’s presents well when Jian Xubai also came back. He heard what Empress Wei had asked them to do, nodded and said, “I will talk to Uncle tomorrow.”

There was nothing else to do in December. And it was suddenly New Year’s Eve. The palace banquet in mourning was bland and tasteless. Maybe because Grand Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager were afraid of disturbing everyone’s spirit at this festive time of year, they both excused themselves from attending.

Even so, the banquet which didn’t have any music, wine or meat was still cold and uneventful. Everyone had some casual food. After expressing their wishes for Emperor Duanhua to live long and for Great Rui to prosper forever, they left.

January 5th was the new Shengshou Festival. In order to show their respect to their legitimate mother, Emperor Duanhua and Empress Wei originally planned to host a big event. But even Empress Dowager Su hadn’t finished her mourning for her husband at this moment. So the event wouldn’t be lively. In the end, it could only be replaced by an increase in the amount of the congratulatory gifts and a reward for Grand Princess Changxing and Prince of Su.

But one of them was a Grand Princess, and the other was a Prince. It was impossible to raise their titles any further. So, they each received a batch of treasures and a decree of praise.

January 9th was Grand Princess Yushan’s birthday. In previous years, noble girls and young ladies were invited to the palace to celebrate. This year, as Grand Princess Yushan was in mourning, it was cancelled.

But as the legitimate cousin, Jiang Muting had been invited to gather together. The next day, when she went with Yuan Xuepei to celebrate the New Year together in the mansion of Duke of Yan, she told Song Yixiao in private, “Maybe because of the death of the former emperor, Aunt has been reasoning with Yushan a lot these days. When I met with her this time, she was much more mature than before!”

“Grand Princess Yushan was young before and had a childish temper. But now that she has grown up a little, she has become more understanding, hasn’t she?” Song Yixiao didn’t find this strange. The previous ruler was Emperor Xianjia, who was Yushan’s own father. There were only two princesses in total, so he had always spoiled her. Even though Yushan had made him faint because of anger, he didn’t punish her much.

But Emperor Duanhua, who was on the throne at this moment, was just a sibling from different mother. The two siblings only met each other at some festivals because of their ages and the prudent reserve between the sexes. If Grand Princess Yushan still dared to make a scene like she did when Emperor Xianjia was still alive, Emperor Duanhua wouldn’t necessarily let her go easily!

With such a reality, even if Grand Princess Yushan refused to behave herself, she had to be understanding.

“It’s a good thing. Otherwise, I’m not sure how worried my aunt will be.” Jiang Muting sighed, “After all, you know that the former emperor had relegated Su Shaoge to a foreign city. But recently the Duke of Ji wasn’t too well. Before the New Year, Su Shaoge had written to express his wishes and rushed back to the imperial city to serve the Duke of Ji. He’s now in the mansion of Duke of Ji. Although he hasn’t entered the palace to greet Empress Dowager, to Yushan, he’s much closer than when he was in a foreign city! I’m really afraid that Yushan will be like the old days again and make a fuss to see him!”

The Duke of Ji had done such things before. Emperor Xianjia had been mindful of the old feelings and given him the decency.

But both of them had an unspoken understanding that once Emperor Xianjia died before the Duke of Ji, the Duke of Ji would be buried with him.

But Emperor Xianjia died so suddenly that he didn’t have time to give an order to the Duke of Ji before he died. This didn’t mean that the Duke of Ji could live. It was just because the succeeding Emperor Duanhua didn’t want his father and himself to have the reputation of forcing the minister to die. He told the Duke of Ji, “I know that you and my father were in a good relationship. But since the former emperor has died, I wish you to take good care of yourself while mourning.”

These words didn’t mean that Emperor Duanhua really wished the Duke of Ji to take care of his health and live a long life. With the words, he was implying to the Duke of Ji, “Don’t die as soon as my father dies. Who can’t see the problem in this way?”

You could fall ill first. After you had been sick for a while, you could die reasonably of the illness!

So not long after the state funeral, the Duke of Ji fell ill according to the order in the decree.

His eldest son had been taking care of the family business in their hometown, Qingzhou. His eldest grandson, Su Bofeng came to the imperial city two years ago, but at present, everyone knew that Su Bofeng was a cripple and couldn’t even take care of himself. How could he look after his grandfather? Therefore, the second son, Su Shaoge surely quitted his job and came back to serve his father after he heard the news.

Su Shaoge had come back with a very low profile this time. He hardly ever left his mansion and refused to meet the guests.

If Jiang Muting didn’t mention it, Song Yixiao almost forgot that Su Shaoge, who used to attract countless noble girls, was in the imperial capital at this moment.

Jiang Muting was not like Wei Yinlian or Grand Princess Yushan anyway. She had never loved Su Shaoge before. After a few words about how greatly Grand Princess Yushan had changed, she left the subject behind.

Then she started to talk about her sister-in-law, “After she got married, she didn’t stay at the Prince of Hengshan’s mansion for more than a few days. Then she went to the manor with her husband. After Lu Guanlun recovered, he concentrated on his studies. It is said that he will come back to the imperial city to take part in the Imperial Privileged Examination. I hope he can be accepted so that he doesn’t have to live in the manor again, which makes it inconvenient for my husband to meet Xue’e!”

“Will Lu Guanlun also take part in the exam?” Song Yixiao was a little surprised, “When I was in Prince of Hengshan’s mansion, I had heard that Lu Guanlun was pretty good at his studies. So he will definitely be accepted.”

She thought that since Lu Guanlun would come back to the imperial city, Yuan Xue’e wouldn’t stay in the manor alone. Maybe she would also bring back Zhiqin and her husband.

When Song Yixiao was joyful, she suddenly heard Jiang Muting say, “Speaking of Prince of Hengshan’s mansion, I wonder when Lianxiu, your cousin from your mother’s family, will move back to the mansion.”

“What?” Song Yixiao was surprised and said, “Lianxiu is not in the mansion?”

“I heard that she was very sick and proposed to go to the manor in case she would pass her sickness to the seniors.” Jiang Muting said, “You don’t know it? I heard of it from the subordinates by accident when I accompanied my husband go to the mansion to celebrate the New Year. Perhaps because Aunt felt that you were too busy then, she didn’t tell you in case you would become concerned.”

Song Yixiao was a distant cousin of Cao Lianxiu’s, but in fact, they hadn’t even met each other before. Although her words were now full of concerns, it would be a joke to say how much she cared about Cao Lianxiu.

Therefore, she didn’t take it too seriously when she heard this. She only thought that she would ask someone to send something over later on with the relationship between relatives.

But unexpectedly, Jiang Muting continued to say, “Speaking of this, when we go to Cuihua Mountain again this year, we can’t have fun around the lake anyway!”

“Why?” After hearing this, Song Yixiao couldn’t help but think of Madam Deng’s confident statement on possession of a demon. Her heart skipped a beat, but she said without changing her face, “Is Lianxiu’s illness related to the lake where the boat capsized?”

“It is said that the people who were on the boat have been not well these days.” Jiang Muting frowned and said, “There were even three who had died of illness! Two people drowned in the lake in the mansion at night for no reason after they went back. Fortunately, those were subordinates. They were afraid that it would have a bad influence if it was spread, so they hid it from the public. Otherwise, the city would have been in an uproar!”

Song Yixiao was shocked and said, “My cousin, Wei Chan, was also there. My mother was even saved by her and Lu Chai’er! But Wei Chan seems to be fine. Is this a coincidence?”

“Maybe not. After all, most people are in trouble. She’s the only one who’s fine. Perhaps she’s got luck.” Jiang Muting said with fear, “Moreover, Lu Chai’er seems to be ill. She didn’t return to her maternal family on January 2nd! How serious do you think the illness will be?”

Then she lowered her voice and said, “Now the subordinates in Prince of Hengshan’s mansion are spreading the words in private that Princess Consort Yi died unjustly, so she caught the people who were on the capsized boat to seek justice for herself!”

Speaking of this, Jiang Muting saw Song Yixiao’s face turn pale. She was reminded that Wei Mengying just had fallen into the water from the capsized boat in that lake, but Song Yixiao was the one who had seen Princess Consort Yi’s floating body!

She hurriedly said, “This is just some people’s nonsense. And Wei Mengying has already ordered to strictly punish them. So it can’t be true. After all, who would harm a Princess Consort for no reason? And in these two years, Wei Mengying and the others were not the only people who had fun on that lake. Even if it was really because of Princess Consort Yi, why did she go for no one else but them? So, it’s all nonsense!”

But Song Yixiao had been reborn. She could not be surprised by such a strange situation.

On this day, she reluctantly sent Jiang Muting away. In the evening, she discussed with her husband, “Let’s go to Grandmother’s mansion tomorrow?”