The emperor looked at the civil and military officials and sighed deeply, “Only an incapable ruler would become overly suspicious of a god-like general and push him away, forcing a once loyal subject to rebel! Do we look like a muddle-headed and an immoral ruler to you?”
The old official was terrified by the emperor’s speech. He hurriedly knelt on the ground and begged for forgiveness.
Yu Xiaocao almost started clapping and cheering for the emperor, ‘The emperor is mighty. The emperor is wise. The emperor is a fair and just ruler.”
People believed that becoming the emperor was amazing and wonderful, so everyone would scramble for the throne. The truth was that it was a demanding position that required a lot of work. If they wanted the throne, then they could just fight for it, but her Jun Yangyang wouldn’t fight for such a strenuous and unrewarding job! Some people put great importance on power and influence, while others viewed power as a pair of discarded shoes. Different people had different views! The unrivaled hero of her heart was not the kind of person who would covet the army for himself and plot a rebellion! She could guarantee that as long as the emperor retained his trust in him, then he would definitely return his trust 100% with loyalty!
After that, the generals of the war were bestowed their rewards. Of the father and son duo from the Zhao Family, one was bestowed the title of a first-rank General Jianwei, while the other one was bestowed the title of second-rank General Longhu. With the addition of the Duke of Zhenyuan, all three generations of the Zhao Family continued to prosper.
The emperor even graciously allowed the father and son from the Zhao Family to rest in the capital for an extended period of time. They couldn’t leave the Zhao Estate unattended without a man in charge, so General Longhu stayed in the capital with an official position. General Jianwei, old General Zhao, returned to the northwest after resting for half a year to protect the Great Ming Dynasty’s borders. In addition to that, his loyal and hardworking apprentice, Fang Zizhen, General Fang, went with him.
Fang Zizhen had been idle in the capital for many years and now, he finally had the opportunity to achieve his ambition. Even if there wasn’t any war on the northwest border, it was better than idling at home and taking care of some trivial matters. Moreover, this was an opportunity for him to gallop through the battlefield with his master. He was undoubtedly overjoyed by this opportunity!
The only regret he had was that he was going to be separated from his wife and son in the future. He wondered if his son, Fang Haolin, would still recognize that he was his father the next time he returned to the capital. His wife doted on their child too much. It seemed like he needed to ask his daughter to visit her family frequently to make sure that his wife didn’t raise his son into someone useless.
After Zhu Junyang was conferred the title of Imperial Prince Xu, rumors of the two princes from the Jing Estate spread far and wide. Imperial Prince Jing returned to the estate and happily held his princess consort in his arms and proudly said, “This prince’s title was only bestowed on me because this prince was the previous emperor’s son. When our child was young, I didn’t think that he would achieve much. But now that he's older, not only does he have a prosperous future, but he also depended on his own abilities and contributed military merits to the country and earned the title of nobility! No wonder he’s my son!”
“What are you talking about? Stop acting so shameless!! Prince, you don’t need to be so humble. You are also a pillar of the country and one of the emperor’s most trusted aides! You deserve your title.” Princess Consort Jing was also elated by the news, but nevertheless, she still took her husband’s feelings into consideration and comforted him by saying a few pleasant words.
“Hahahaha!” Prince Jing laughed happily for a long time. “Not only did the emperor redivide Yang’er’s fief, but he also rewarded him with a large estate. The estate in question is said to belong to one of the corrupt officials in the previous dynasty. I have seen the estate and the estate is grander and more majestic than our Jing Estate. The estate was originally reserved by the emperor for his elder brother as a retirement house, but the emperor’s elder brother said that he was used to living in his current house. He didn’t want to move, so the estate was left empty. Although the house was built during the previous dynasty, it was still being repaired over the years. There are even people who have been assigned to take care of the house. They can move in anytime they want…”
A lonely expression appeared on Princess Consort Jing’s face. She sighed softly and said, “Is it necessary for Yang’er to move out of the Jing Estate? If he moves out, then there will be fewer opportunities for him to visit us. I was even thinking about helping him raise his kids after he has a child. When I visited Dongshan Village, I saw that it was always the grandmother of the family who helped raise the children…”
“We have so many maidservants and senior servants working in our family, why would you need to raise the children yourself? When the time comes, we can just send the couple a few hardworking and capable senior servants. It’s time for him to separate from the flock. Yang’er has been bestowed with the title of an imperial prince, so it’s no longer suitable for him to live with us. Let’s take his elder brother for example, will Yang’er need to greet his elder brother first, now that he received a title?”
“Don’t be disheartened. Their new estate isn’t far from our estate. It will only take a quarter of an hour by carriage for them to come here. Xiaocao is a filial child, so she will definitely encourage our son to come and visit us often. Besides, if you miss the kids, you can move to their estate for a couple of days. You can also move into their estate for a few days when I’m busy or if I don’t have time to accompany you because of work. I feel at ease if Xiaocao is there to accompany you.”
Imperial Prince Jing tugged Princess Consort Jing’s hand and comforted her carefully. Under the candlelight, it seemed as if her beautiful pair of phoenix eyes were twinkling with reflections of waves of sunlight; it was extremely charming. In the beginning, it was her beautiful and moving pair of eyes that had captured his heart and his heart still belonged to her after nearly thirty years.
Ever since Xiaocao produced the anti-wrinkle skin rejuvenation cosmetic cream and sent some over, the princess consort looked much younger after using it for less than half a year. Her skin became dewy and delicate and the fine wrinkles around the corners of her eyes had magically disappeared. She was around forty-five to forty-six years old, but she looked like a woman in her early thirties. If the princess consort stood next to her daughter-in-law, they would look like a pair of similarly aged friends.
Imperial Prince Jing stroked his old face. He was already three years older than the princess consort and he was usually very busy with his work. Even if he persisted in eating the medicinal cuisine that was prescribed by Xiaocao, he would only have a strong and youthful body. But his face… if he stood next to the princess consort, would people mistake him for her father?
“Princess Consort, have you asked if the anti-wrinkle skin rejuvenation cosmetic cream can be used by men?” Imperial Prince Jing thought about how his complexion was ashy and his face was covered in wrinkles while his wife still appeared beautiful and youthful like a mature honey peach, would she dislike him because he looked old? With that thought in mind, he instantly blurted out the question.
Princess Consort Jing was originally immersed in the melancholy of having to separate from her son and was immediately stunned when she heard Imperial Prince Jing’s question. When she finally came back to her senses, she almost couldn’t help but burst out into laughter after understanding the reason behind his question. However, she knew that her husband was someone who had great pride, so she tried her best to control her facial expressions. She pretended to be calm and collected and said, “I don’t know if men can use it. Xiaocao told me that this set of skincare products that she gave me was specifically made according to my skin type. Since it was specifically made for me, it’s not sold to the public. Should I… ask her when I meet her again?”
Princess Consort Jing raised her head and looked at her husband. Although there were a few wrinkles around the corner of his eyes, the wrinkles made him look more manly. Her husband was handsome; the more she looked at him, the more handsome he looked!
“You…can’t tell her that I’m the one who asked that question. Just say that your friend’s husband asked. Cough cough…I have some matters that I need to attend to, so I’ll head back to my study. You…if you can’t stay awake, you can head to sleep first, okay?” Imperial Prince Jing walked away quickly. In the princess consort’s opinion, it seemed like there was a wolf chasing after him as he quickly walked away.
“Pfft!” Princess Consort Jing could no longer hold back her mirth and burst out laughing. Imperial Prince Jing was extremely adorable. It had been many years since she had seen him blush like that. He told her to head to bed early, but it wasn’t even dinner time yet, why would she head to bed to sleep?
Standing to the side and serving the princess consort was Meixiang, whose hairstyle was combed into a married woman’s updo. She resisted her desire to laugh and brewed a cup of scented tea for her master. Even though Meixiang married a young steward that worked in the outer courtyard of the Jing Estate, she remained by Princess Consort Jing’s side to serve her.
Princess Consort Jing’s maidservants Lanxiang and Juxiang also married the stewards working for the Jing Estate. However, they left the estate with their husbands after the marriage. Zhuxiang and Meixiang remained in Prince Jing’s Estate; one of them was in charge of the princess consort’s courtyard while the other one was in charge of teaching the young maid servants working in the courtyard.
The four main maidservants serving by the Princess Consort’s side were replaced with fifteen-year-old Chuxiang, Xiaxiang, Qiuxiang, and Dongxiang. Yu Xiaocao almost burst out laughing when she heard the names of these four maids. She couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful young girl named Qiuxiang for a long time. Qiuxiang was anxious and uneasy when she saw that Xiaocao was staring at her. She racked her mind, wondering if she had made any mistakes in front of Royal Prince Yang’s future wife. Was she not hospitable enough? Did she somehow annoy her by accident? How could she have known that the future Princess Consort Yang was thinking about the movie, ‘Flirting Scholar’ , and the scene in the movie where Qiuxiang’s head was kicked beyond recognition?
Yu Xiaocao had a stronger connection with Meixiang, so she was specially prepared by Princess Consort Jing for her future daughter-in-law. Once Xiaocao married into the family and had her own courtyard, Princess Consort Jing’s plan was to reward Meixiang to Xiaocao as the head maid of her courtyard. Now that her youngest son was bestowed a large estate for his military merits, it was even more crucial for them to have head maidservants and head senior servants!
“Meixiang, in the past six months, you have to observe the servants in the estate and note down which servants can be used, their temperament, and their capabilities. Xiaocao is busy with the court matters and she also has to take care of her own business. I’m considering sending her a few capable managers that can take care of and arrange all the minor matters. This way, she won’t have to worry about the matters regarding the estate as much as she needed to, and she won’t exhaust herself.” Princess Consort Jing browsed through the book that listed all the staff that worked in the estate and would ask her a few questions from time to time.
Meixiang stopped talking and chuckled softly, “Miss Yu is really fortunate to have a mother-in-law like you, who would worry about her wellbeing! But this servant heard that not all wives want their mother-in-law to push servants into their courtyard…”
Princess Consort Jing stopped browsing through the staff book. She lowered her head and pondered over what Meixiang said for a moment, before she slowly said, “Xiaocao is not someone who can’t tell what’s good from what’s bad! Besides, I’m only sending her servants because I’m afraid that she doesn’t have many servants working under her since she’s still young. When she moves into the new estate, she will have to take care of a large courtyard and it will be a lot of work. Xiaocao wouldn’t overthink my intentions of sending her servants as something intrusive, right? Even so, I think your worries are not too excessive. The next time Xiaocao comes to visit me, I’ll ask her what she thinks about my plan…”
“Princess Consort, if you directly ask her for her opinion, I’m afraid that Miss Yu would be too embarrassed to reject your offer even if she doesn’t want it. Why…don’t you let the third young master ask her for her opinion?” Meixiang was afraid that she would be sent to serve Xiaocao but would be pushed to the side and not granted an important position. If that happened, then she would be caught in an awkward position.
Princess Consort Jing nodded and said, “You are right, I’m glad to have someone who is thoughtful and cautious like you. It seems like I didn’t choose the wrong person. I’ll feel so much more relieved with you by Xiaocao’s side!”
[1] Flirting Scholar – A comedy/martial arts movie that parodies famous works of literature which feature the same characters and settings. It's about a famous scholar who has 8 wives who are gambling addicts. His wives don't care for his artistic talents. He wants to find a woman who can truly appreciate him for his talent and thinks that Qiuxiang, a maidservant, is his true love.
