It had been announced early in the morning that Princess Royal Mingzhu would accept Mo Xuetong as her adopted daughter.
Princess Royal Mingzhu had arranged the affair of entertaining guests without any explanation. Only in the morning, when the whole Princess’s Manor was busy with the matter, did it spread profusely and disorderly. The number of those who knew it immediately increased like a snowball. Some envied, some despised, some mocked, and some people suspect…
In Prime Minister’s Manor.
Wang Xiuxiu had not gone out since returning to her boudoir last night. Given the strength of Feng Yuzhen’s shadow guard, to kill a physically weak woman in a boudoir was a piece of cake. Wang Xiuxiu was delighted to think of what Feng Yuzhen had promised her the night before. The two had indulged themselves in a deep passion for a long time before they had parted sweetly.
Wang Xiuxiu had left cautiously by the side door, not knowing what was happening at the back door, lest she should be seen walking with him.
But early this morning, the news came when she was dressing up.
“Princess Royal is going to accept the third miss of Mo Manor as the adopted daughter.” The ornaments Wang Xiuxiu was holding fell to the ground with clattering sounds. Her face suddenly changed in shock.
The maid who combed her hair had not noticed her abnormality. She said enviably with a smile, “Exactly. Aren’t you going to Princess Royal’s Manor for dinner today, Miss? I heard that the banquet today is a display of splendor, and even some imperial concubines have given Princess Royal a lot of rare treasures. How blessed is Third Young Miss Mo! She suddenly makes herself a member of the royalty. Princess Royal is childless. Therefore, everything Princess Royal possesses will be hers.”
“Is that Third Young Miss Mo at the banquet now?” It took Wang Xiuxiu a long time to retrieve her voice. She managed to ask calmly as she clenched her hands under her sleeves.
“I heard that she got into the carriage that Princess Royal’s Manor had prepared for her early in the morning. That makes sense. Everyone will be quite happy and will go to the banquet early when this happens.” The maid smiled and asked Wang Xiuxiu in the mirror, “What bun would you like today, Miss? How about a low ponytail? You are the prettiest in that way.”
“Alright,” Wang Xiuxiu answered stiffly, utterly confused. “Mo Xuetong is still alive and sound and safe. What about what I did yesterday? Will she reveal it? If anyone finds out that I’m having an affair with King Ning, I will be beheaded.” For a moment, she was alarmed and frightened and did not care what hair she was going to wear.
On the other side, in Mo Xuemin’s yard.
Mo Xuemin had been leading a much worse life these days.
Mo Huawen found some sutras from nowhere and asked her to copy them every day, saying this conduct could cultivate her moral character. She was so angry that she almost tore the books. The two first-class maids around her were gone. Therefore, the two second-class maids in the yard became her first-class maids. They were, of course, not as good as Mo Jin and Mo Xiu.
Auntie Fang lost her power and influence and was expelled from the manor by Mo Huawen. Several maids and elderly female servants in Mo Xuetong’s yard who were close to Auntie Fang were either beaten to death or sold. Thus, no one dared to be close to Mo Xuemin. Her yard was initially desolate. If it were not for the tickling sounds of making the ancestral temple coming from outside, her courtyard would be even more deserted since few people could be seen there at ordinary times.
The two elderly female servants who guarded the door also got the news. On the surface, the first miss was asked to cultivate her moral character, but in fact, she was imprisoned. Thinking that she could not create a disturbance any longer and there were no strangers except for the several maids in the yard, they made a pot of tea and sat on the corridor, chatting.
“Third miss does lead a charmed life. She actually wins the favor of Princess Royal and becomes her daughter. She really becomes the descendant of the royal family,” an elderly female servant said jealously.
“Of course. The third miss was born to Madame. As a legitimate daughter, she is surely different from those who were born to those vicious women. The one inside the yard is uncultivated. She even caused her personal maid to die. That maid was a poor bitch. She couldn’t meet a good master,” another elderly female servant glanced askance at Mo Xuemin’s house not far away and said mockingly.
“You’re right. A concubine’s daughter can always be a concubine’s daughter. There’s no way for her to raise her status, no matter how hard she tries. After the New Year, our master will marry a new lady, and he will be less fond of her.” The other elderly female servant pointed in Mo Xuemin’s direction. That unruly girl thought she was the master.
“The bitch Mo Xuetong is protected again.”
Thinking of that, Mo Xuemin gnashed her teeth in the room. She grabbed a half-copied sutra at hand and threw it at the head of a maid near her. She cursed in rage, “How come you can’t grind the ink stick? What else can you do? You’d better die.”
The paper and ink were all smashed to the maid. Regardless of the ink all over her, the maid fell to her knees in fear and cried, saying, “First miss, I haven’t ground the ink stick before. I’ll regrind it for you right away.”
Mo Xuemin was not in the mood to hear her explanation. She mercilessly kicked the maid to the ground, picked up the teacup near her, and poured the tea over her. Fortunately, the tea was made a while ago and was not hot. But the maid’s clothes got wet. Since it was in the winter, the maid immediately shivered.
Mo Xuemin turned and stormed into the inner room. As she gritted her teeth, she picked up the vase with the patterns of four cirrus clouds beside her and smashed it on the ground. It never occurred to her that Mo Xiu would rather commit suicide than shift the blame on Mo Xuetong.
If Mo Xiu had risked her life to testify that Mo Xuetong had framed a concubine of her father on purpose, Mo Xuetong’s reputation would have been ruined, even if she could not remove Mo Xuetong from high status. And now, of course, it would be impossible for Mo Xuetong to be adopted by Princess Royal and become a royal from then on. How could Mo Xuemin not feel resentful when she had almost succeeded?
She had almost, almost succeeded…
She just couldn’t resign herself to this outcome!
The officials in the capital knew the arrival of the ambassadors from the Yan Kingdom from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. They had already prepared a post house for both the First Prince of Yan Kingdom and his companions. A grand welcome banquet was prepared at the imperial palace, and most of the senior officials in the capital were present. The noblewomen came here to attend Princess Royal’s daughter-adopting banquet.
Mo Xuetong knelt before Princess Royal and kowtowed respectfully, saying, “Mother.”
She had dressed herself up today. Her upper outer garment was light blue and was made of a gauzy material and gold brocade. She was wearing a lunar white pleated dress with its hem embroidered with red plum blossoms. Moreover, she wore a soft shawl made of silk gauze with gold embroidery. On her neck was a string of sapphire necklace, exuding ultimate temptation like water.
Because she was still observing mourning for her mother, she did not wear bright red clothes. The brightest color on her was the ring of red plum blossoms at the hem of her dress, which seemed to bloom in the snow. Mo Xuetong was slender. In this outfit, she looked gorgeous yet not coquettish, beautiful yet not flashy. She had an air of natural beauty.
She had a smile in her crystal clear eyes, making her as pure and sweet as an orchid. Her appearance took the breath of everyone present away.
Many noble ladies in the capital had never seen Mo Xuetong. That was why they felt shocked while seeing her. She was young, but she appeared fair and feminine. They could not help wondering how gorgeous she would be in a few years. Furthermore, as she now became the adopted daughter of Princess Royal, her status raised rapidly. Some well-informed people had said that the imperial palace would bestow a title upon her.
Those who heard it were in an uproar.
An average royal adopted daughter could by no means get a title from the royal family and had her name written on its genealogical record, for it represented the importance that the royal family and Princess Royal placed on her. Most of those responsive noble ladies were wondering if there was a legitimate son in their family to marry the soon-to-be princess. They looked at Mo Xuetong with burning eyes.
Emperor Zongwen’s decree was sent after the rituals of the daughter-adopting ceremony had been conducted.
And it was lead eunuch Liu Xi beside Emperor Zongwen who sent the decree. Even the concubines fawned on Eunuch Liu. It could be seen that Emperor Zongwen really attached importance to the adoptive daughter of Princess Royal. This caused the ladies to whisper to each other in their seats.
As expected, Emperor Zongwen bestowed Princess Anping upon Mo Xuetong and wrote her name on the genealogical record on the spot. Everyone present became envious.
After the banquet, Mo Xuetong followed Princess Royal into a garden. The first thing that caught her eye was a vast expanse of red plum blossoms in full bloom. Because spring was round the corner, these were the last red plum blossoms. There were quite many calyces on the ground. Anyone who stepped on them would have a feeling that they were treading on fallen flowers and would feel ineffable sorrowful.
“Tong’er, your mom used to like the forest of red plum trees outside King Jin’s Manor most, especially the plum blossoms on those branches.” Standing in front of a red plum tree, Princess Royal looked up at a thick branch that pointed straight into the sky and said in a sorrowful tone, “I was not then able to plant such a forest of red plum trees for her. Now I’m able to do that, but she’s gone…”
Her figure was somewhat bleak.
“Mother(Princess Royal), you don’t need to be sad. My mom has planted some plum trees where we lived. Every time the plum blossoms bloomed in winter, my mom always moved the couch to the window. Her maid said that she would catch a cold in that way, but she would not leave.”
They were red plum trees too. Although they were a few and could not compare to Princess Royal’s forest, they received proper care. “Both my mom and Princess Royal like plum blossoms so much. Are there some inside stories about it?”
There was a light smile on Princess Royal’s face. But Mo Xuetong thought her smile lonely. Princess Royal looked like a dying woman, and no vitality could be seen in her. She seemed to have one foot in the grave. Mo Xuetong was stunned. How could Princess Royal, who was only in her thirties, have such a look in her eyes? Mo Xuetong felt unexplainably anxious and fearful deep in her heart.
Anyhow, she felt that there was something different about Princess Royal today.
Princess Royal said nothing. She led Mo Xuetong into an octagonal pavilion, treading on the fallen flowers and walking through the forest of plum trees. There were a tea set and a stove in the pavilion, which didn’t look very old. It must be a special place to drink tea and enjoy plum blossoms at ordinary times.
It was great to warm oneself by the stove and enjoy plum blossoms at the same time. If everything outside were shrouded in snow, the scenery would be fantastic.
They entered the room after walking through the octagonal pavilion and corridor. As soon as Mo Xuetong entered, she felt cold. She pushed open the somewhat dusty doors and found that everything inside was in a mess. As a gust of cold wind blew in, the edges of the windows inside trembled, and a few pieces of scattered paper flew out.
Princess Royal reached out her hands and took the pieces of paper that were flying in the air. She motioned Mo Xuetong in and closed the door.
The sunlight fell on the ground through the window sills. In the dusty light, Mo Xuetong could only see that on the ground, there were some pieces of scattered paper, seemingly covered in graffiti from children. Princess Royal stood in the messy room and walked over the paper calmly. It was as if she could not see the scene that did not suit her status.
“Come here.” Princess Royal stood in front of a chair, smiling and waving at her.
Mo Xuetong took the path that Princess Royal had taken and avoided treading on the scattered paper. She approached her carefully.
“Take a seat.”
Mo Xuetong then discovered that the sole table and two chairs in the room were clean, as if they had been scrubbed every day. It seemed that no one had cleaned the abandoned house on the surface. Who would come here every day and wipe the table and the chairs? It was a strange room.
Princess Royal sat poised in the rough chair, as if it were a big chair made of purple nanmu wood with gorgeous brocade on it. She stared at Mo Xuetong for a long time before she said with a smile, “Tong’er, did your mom leave you any jade ornaments?”
“Jade ornaments? Is Princess Royal looking for a jade ornament?”
As Mo Xuetong heard that, she was struck by lightning inwardly. If she had not concealed her feelings well, she would have been frightened out of her wits.
