Chapter 58 Unrest
“Ah! Monster!”
Xia Houyin staggered back in shock and fell on the ground.
Xia Houxi was also shocked to see Su Muge’s face and was unable to speak for a while.
With gruesome eyes, Su Muge looked at Xia Houyin on the ground with a grim smile.
“Her Royal Highness, are you satisfied with what you see?” While speaking, she walked slowly towards them.
Xia Houyin was so scared that she shrank back. “You, you monster. Come on. Hurry up, catch this monster!”
Upon hearing her words, the palace maids waiting outside rushed into the pavilion. They were also shocked to see Su Muge’s face, but they were not as timid as the princess and rushed towards Su Muge.
Su Muge took a step back, dodged all the people coming at her, and directly went down the pavilion.
“Since you have nothing serious, Her Royal Highness, please excuse me.”
“You, you monster. How dare you run away?” Seeing Su Muge leaving, Xia Houyin became more daring.
“What are you doing here? Catch her! Hurry up!”
“Eighth sister, that’s enough! Come back, all of you!” Xia Houxi came to her senses and stopped those maids who were about to catch Su Muge.
It was in Xia Houxi’s palace, so most maids were subordinated to her. On hearing her words, they dared not move anymore.
Seeing this, Xia Houyin put on a grave expression. “Xia Houxi, how dare you disobey my order?”
Xia Houxi looked indifferent and appeared not afraid of Xia Houyin’s threat. “Sister, I haven’t blamed you for ruining my plan, how could you blame me first?”
“Humph! What can this ugly monster do? Just like you, having read medical books for so many years and learned medical skills from the deputy director of the Imperial Institute of Medicine, you still couldn’t even cure a cold of your mother! You even made yourself look half-dead. If I don’t tell you the truth, do you still think you are great at medicine! ?”
Xia Houxi’s face turned pale, and Xia Houyin snorted proudly.
“Let’s go back to my palace.”
“Yes.”
Having come out of Xia Houxi’s palace, Xia Houyin put on the grave face again.
“Even a daughter of a minor official dares to offend me. I’ll teach you a lesson for your reckless act!”
Su Muge was led out of the palace by the palace people and returned directly to Su Mansion. As for the conflicts with the two princesses, she didn’t take it seriously.
In the Imperial Study.
After Su Lun and Su Muge left, Xia Hourui leaned back on the dragon throne weakly.
The Eunuch Yi waiting beside served him a cup of hot tea.
Xia Hourui picked up the cup and took a sip; he felt his breath in the chest finally became soothed.
“Your Majesty, are you feeling better?”
Xia Hourui strenuously sat up and smiled. “Well, the tea served by you is indeed much more comfortable to drink.”
“I’m so flattered, Your Majesty. It’s such a great honor being able to serve you.”
Xia Hourui sighed lightly. “I’m afraid my body cannot hold for long.”
Hearing that, Eunuch Yi changed his expression for several times. “Your Majesty, don’t talk like that. You are the emperor. How will you …”
Xia Hourui interrupted him with a chuckle, “Those ministers wish me with ‘Long May You Reign’, but how can I really live forever?”
“Your Majesty, since Miss Su can cure the plague, why not let her have a try?”
Let a child treat him? Xia Hourui shook his head before he could consider it. “Forget it. Don’t scare the child. If I hadn’t seen Su Lun today, I couldn’t have believed that the child from the countryside should have such skills.”
Eunuch Yi also remembered why Su Lun was sent outside the capital to be a local official.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Lord Su must have made great efforts to cultivate the eldest Miss Su these years.”
Great efforts to cultivate her?
Xia Hourui was unconvinced. A child who had indirectly harmed her father’s prestige and prospects couldn’t have made Su Lun cultivate her with great efforts.
“Really? It seems that Su Lun has made great progress.” Then, Xia Hourui closed his eyes and stopped talking.
Eunuch Yi hummed but said nothing eventually.
…
Xia Hourui did not make Su Lun wait too long after he came to the capital. The imperial edict of his appointment was announced in a few days.
Su Lun was appointed to be the Grade-9 Official of Ministry of Works. After Su Lun accepted the imperial edict and sent the palace people away, Su Muge could clearly feel his dissatisfaction.
He was promoted by only one level, and it was a non-important position. He still had a long way to go before climbing to the position of Minister of Works!
Dissatisfied as he was, Su Lun dared not show his emotion, but could only pretend to be joyful and went to the morning court.
…
“The eldest Miss, My Lord asks you and the eldest Madam to go to Yonghe Hall for dinner.”
Closing the medical book in her hand, Su Muge looked at Yueru and said. “Okay.”
Having been living in the capital for more than a month, she had hardly left Peachblossom Courtyard and had been carefully taking care of Zhao and herself.
These days, she asked Yueru to find her some medical books, so that she could know about the therapeutic development in this era. Unfortunately, for so many days, Yueru had only found one, which just briefly described some common diseases and symptoms. Moreover, the description in the book was very obscure, so it was of little help to her.
“Inform my mother and get her ready.”
“Yes.”
Before dinner time, Su Muge asked Yueru to help her put on a light moon-white dress.
With her slender body and the moon-white dress, she looked like a graceful beauty.
When she finished dressing up and walked out of the room, Zhao was already waiting outside. At first glance, Zhao had become plump, and there was a light glow in her eyes.
The mother and daughter walked to Yonghe Hall hand in hand.
Before entering the room, they heard merry and ringing waves of laughter.
“Daddy, you are so fond of teasing me …”
“The eldest Madam and the eldest Miss are here.”
As soon as Su Muge passed through the curtain embroidered with flowers, the laughter in the room stopped abruptly.
Su Muge glanced around and found a lot of people standing in the room. In addition to An and her daughter, there were Su Lun’s three concubines and two of the concubines’ daughters, Su Yurou, the third Miss, and Su Yuman, the fourth Miss.
Zhao could only share a dining table with Su Lun during festivals, so she seemed a bit awkward at this time.
“My Lord.”
“Father.”
Su Lun glanced quickly at the two, his sight staying a few more seconds on Su Muge, and nodded.
“Have a seat.”
As soon as Su Muge sat down, Su Jingwen, who was sitting beside An, came forward and took up her hands.
“Sister, why didn’t you come and see me these days? Do you disdain me because I can’t understand medical books?”
Since Su Muge got the credit for curing the epidemic in Zhou County, her reputation for medical skills had been widely spread in the capital.
There were thousands of noble ladies in the capital, but few could be praised by the Emperor in person, so Su Muge was sort of famous.
However, it was strange that since their settlement in the capital for more than a month, no one had come to Su Muge for medical treatments.
Having heard Su Jingwen’s words, Su Lun’s sight set on Su Muge became slightly stern.
It was true that Su Muge could be more useful now, but if she was disobedient and even despised her family as Su Jingwen said … she wouldn’t do any help to him!
“Muge, do you really think so?”
Su Muge calmly pulled her hands out of Su Jingwen’s and lowered her eyes to conceal her freezing and indifferent look.
“Of course not. We are a family. How could I disdain my sister? I was afraid to disturb you when you were on a rest. I haven’t expected to be misunderstood and blamed by my second sister.”
“Muge is right. My Lord, it’s getting late. Let’s have dinner.”
Seeing Su Muge’s obedient and humble look, Su Lun let go of the issue. “Ok.”
Dinner was dull and boring. Although the food was much better than that in Peachblossom Courtyard, Su Muge couldn’t enjoy it in front of a table full of disgusting people.
“By the way, My Lord, I heard that the Eighth Princess planned to enjoy the scenery on Moon Lake and wanted to find some companions to have fun together. Considering that Wen’er and the eldest Miss haven’t been outdoors yet, I asked my sister-in-law for two invitations. What about letting Wen’er and the eldest Miss go and join Eighth Princess?”
His daughter could show up in front of the Eighth Princess, which would be of great benefit to their future marriage. Of course, Su Lun would not oppose it.
“Okay, you must observe the rules in front of the Eighth Princess tomorrow. Don’t shame the Su family. Do you understand?”
Su Yurou and Su Yuman, who had been sitting quietly beside, looked up at Su Lun, and then looked down disappointedly.
In view of Su Lun’s better attitude towards Su Muge, An made Su Jingwen go with Su Muge. At least superficially, she couldn’t be too hostile.
Su Muge had already made her suffocating, so she wouldn’t care about the other two concubine-born daughters.
“Yes.”
Before leaving Yonghe Hall, Su Jingwen went to Su Muge and chuckled in a low voice. “Sister, you must dress up tomorrow. I heard that the Second Prince will also be there.” As soon as she finished speaking, she turned around and walked towards her courtyard.
Second Prince …
Su Muge really didn’t want to go!
…
The capital was the economic and political center of the Chu. The roads extended in all directions. In addition, there was a lake streaming through the city: Moon Lake. On the lake, there were various barges all year round.
Now in summer, the lakeshores were full of flowers in different colors, and the willow branches were dancing with the wind, creating beautiful spring scenery.
“Miss, here we are.”
The carriage stopped at the shore. As soon as Su Muge got off, she saw an exquisite boat on the lake.
On getting off the carriage, Su Jingwen got on the boat, surrounded by maids, and then she immediately joined a group of delicately dressed ladies.
It seemed that Su Jingwen had been busy socializing in the capital noble circle during this time.
In Shunyang prefecture, due to Zhao’s humble birth and her being suppressed by Su Jingwen, Su Muge had even fewer opportunities to participate in such activities than her two concubine-born sisters. Back then, she hardly had any friend at all, and now in the capital, there was even not a single acquaintance to her.
The boat was quite large. On the deck, there were several round tables and small tea tables. Those acquainted ladies were clustering together in two or three, chatting and laughing. Right now, Su Muge seemed a little bit lonely and out of place.
Su Muge didn’t care and found herself a place to sit; then she started drinking tea and eating snacks.
However, some people just wanted her to be uncomfortable.
“Jingwen, is this your eldest sister?”
