Having Someone at Home Is Nice
Zhu Kongshan’s words caused Noble Lady Yuan’s heart to tremble, as they had touched her heart. Returning to the position of imperial concubine was something that had been lingering on her mind this entire time. What her niece had said was correct. She should make some plans with the Empress. She could not allow that woman to sit in that position so freely.
Once she made up her mind, she nodded and said: “Kongshan, don’t worry. Aunty fully understands. Right now, your cousin’s situation is a little worrying. You don’t know it, but nearly the entirety of the capital has become the ninth prince and Imperial Daughter Ji An’s territory. The people in the capital overwhelmingly support the two. In addition to this, the ninth prince was victorious in a battle. He is popular with the masses and creates even more of a stir in court!”
“Aunty, calm down.” Zhu Kongshan advised her: “We women can’t do anything about what happens in court, nor is it convenient for us to speak on it; however, Kongshan has faith that I can help with the matter of the people. In the end, Kongshan is a girl and is unable to do anything against the ninth prince, but I can think about things from Imperial Daughter Ji An’s side. But hearing about the things that she has done in the capital, she sounds like a powerful person. Kongshan was thinking that we cannot face her directly. That would be disadvantageous, and it would not capture the hearts of the people. What cousin Mo is currently missing the most is the hearts of the people! Aunty, please allow Kongshan to go back and think about it. Finding an opening is the most important thing. At the moment, we need to do everything that she can do. Isn’t it just capturing the hearts of the people? Not to mention anything else, but Kongshan is quite proficient at winning people over. She also has Hundred Herb Hall, but Kongshan can find other opportunities and will not let cousin Mo’s reputation continue to be like this.”
Noble Lady Yuan nodded and sighed, saying: “That Imperial Daughter Ji An is very smart, and she protects her people very well. Her younger brother was sent to Xiao Zhou’s Yun Lu Academy, and her younger sister was sent to Ji An Prefecture. She does still have a younger sister in the capital, but that younger sister has never gotten along with her. Even if she died, she would not blink. It is quite pointless.”
“That is not necessarily the case.” Zhu Kongshan smiled, “It’s as they say about gossip being a frightening thing. The sisters having a bad relationship is something between them, but to outsiders, she is still her younger sister. Going too far would still cause people to feel a chill.”
Zhu Kongshan did not continue, but Noble Lady Yuan understood what was meant. She was now in the palace, and there were many things that she could think of but could not do. As for her Mo’er, he really was missing a girl with a brain like Kongshan at his side. Noble Lady Yuan was thinking like this and became even more resolute in wanting to have Zhu Kongshan stay at Xuan Tianmo’s side. Just like how the ninth prince had Feng Yu Heng at his side, a smart woman would help their man. Her Mo’er needed this sort of person.
Zhu Kongshan left Cun Shan Palace and went straight toward Jing Si Palace. With Noble Lady Yuan’s arrangement, she was able to go in and sit for a while. It was just that the familiarity in Noble Lady Li’s eyes was completely different from Noble Lady Yuan’s. She even rudely said to Zhu Kongshan: “You called me aunty? But I can’t even figure out who you are. Did my family have you as a relative?”
Zhu Kongshan did not feel awkward about it. They had never met before, and not recognizing her was normal, thus she explained: “My mother is a young miss of a concubine from the Liu family. She is the third sister of you two noble ladies.”
“Third sister?” Noble Lady Li thought for a long while and finally recalled some things, as an emotional look appeared on her face, “It’s something from so long ago. At that time, I was still a young girl. Your mother…” She did her best to search through her memories, but her image was still blurry. In the end, she could only give up, “I can’t remember. It’s been too long.” She then looked at Zhu Kongshan and said with a very apologetic tone: “You said that you were called to the capital by Noble Lady Yuan? Thinking about it, it must be for her son! Since you came for her, it doesn’t really matter if I recognize you or not. Now, I am just a noble lady and cannot give you any blessings. Go on! This place is an inauspicious one. You should not have come.”
After Noble Lady Li finished speaking, she turned around and returned to the inner room, no longer coming back out. Zhu Kongshan stood in place for a while, also feeling quite awkward, but she also felt that leaving like this would be a bit impolite, thus she raised her voice and called toward the inner room: “This trip into the capital, I will be staying for a longer period of time and hope to be able to see cousin Feng. Second aunty also must take care of your health.” After saying this, she was escorted out of Jing Si Palace by a palace maid.
As for the two servants at her side, they now had something to say. One of them smirked and rolled her eyes at Jing Si Palace: “She herself knows that she is nothing more than a noble lady, yet she still puts on such airs. Tsk, acting as if anyone wants to come.”
“But of course, this Jing Si Palace is roughly the same as the cold palace. Saying that she was placed under house arrest, it means that they’re just waiting for her to die!”
Zhu Kongshan frowned and glared at the two servants with a bit of anger, saying sternly: “Right before coming, I already told you that since you have come with me, you must listen to me at all times. Not to mention whether or not she is my aunt, regardless of the situation, she is still the Emperor’s woman. This is the palace, and the walls have ears. Who knows where your words will end up being heard. Could it be that you’ve lived long enough and want to have a taste of the punishment handed down by the palace?”
Zhu Kongshan’s tone was threatening, but what she had said was completely true. These two servants had grown accustomed to their daily lives in Peng Zhou, and they had been chosen by the Zhu family’s head wife to accompany the eldest young miss when she got married. They would serve the new husband in his bedchamber. That was naturally why they felt as if their status was different from others. Coming into the capital, although they had to be reminded by Zhu Kongshan, there would also be times when they would just forget due to their habits. When they were reminded of this by Zhu Kongshan, they were quite scared. Both of them lowered their heads and fell silent.
Zhu Kongshan also let out a sigh, thinking that it was fine if these two could be frozen with fear. What she was worried about was if these two servants were not afraid of anything. That really would be hard on her.
On this side, Noble Lady Yuan’s niece entered the palace. In Winter Moon Palace, there was someone who had brought up this matter with Imperial Concubine Yun. For someone who never left Winter Moon Palace and was not interested in the palace, Imperial Concubine Yun had quite a few eyes keeping watch. Some had been arranged by Xuan Tianming, some had been arranged by Xuan Tianhua, and there were even some that had been put in place by the Emperor. In the beginning, she was annoyed to hear about such things. Later on, she felt that her days were boring and thought that she might as well treat it as listening to gossip. Like this, she had been listening for over 20 years, and she gradually became accustomed to it.
Hearing that Noble Lady Yuan’s niece had entered the palace, a hidden guard told her about the ninth prince’s understanding of that niece’s situation. Imperial Concubine Yun listened for a while then laughed, saying: “The peaceful days had not even begun before they came to an end. This One’s daughter-in-law really has a hard life.”
When Zhu Kongshan left the palace, there was still a gift in the carriage that had not yet been given away. The maidservant A-Ruo looked at it in confusion, asking: “Young Miss, who is this gift going to be given to? Could it be that we forgot to bring it to Noble Lady Yuan’s place?”
Zhu Kongshan shook her head with a pensive look, “No, this is to be given to someone else. We will be going there now.” After saying this, she lifted the curtain and asked the driver, “Uncle, do you know where the former Feng family’s fourth young miss lives?”
The driver was someone from the eighth prince’s palace for the sake of Zhu Kongshan’s convenience in moving around the capital. Hearing her ask, they quickly nodded: “I do, I do. Is Young Miss wanting to go and visit? That place is still the Feng residence, but there is only one master living there.”
Zhu Kongshan said: “Let’s just go in that direction. I will go and see that fourth young miss Feng.”
“Alright!” The driver complied and made a turn after a short distance, heading in the direction of the Feng residence.
When they arrived, the fifth prince, Xuan Tianyan, had just come out of the Feng residence. Today, Feng Fendai did not throw much of a tantrum, thus he was in a pretty good mood. Seeing another carriage stop in front of the Feng residence, he looked over in confusion and saw Zhu Kongshan come out with the help of the two servants. It seemed as though she wanted to come into the Feng residence, thus he asked: “May I ask which family’s young miss you are? Do you have some business with the Feng residence?”
Zhu Kongshan was stunned. She had just heard that the Feng family’s fourth young miss was the only master living here, so why did a man appear? And looking at the clothes, he definitely was not a servant. She thought a little and inspected him carefully. Finally, she noticed a clue on Xuan Tianyan’s hip. She then thought back to the list of people in the capital that Noble Lady Yuan had told her about. This basically allowed her to determine this person’s identity, thus she quickly went forward and bowed, performing a salute: “Would this be His Highness Prince Li? This young girl is Zhu Kongshan, and I am His Highness the eighth prince’s cousin. On this trip to the capital, I came to visit my two aunts, and I was just coming back from the palace. Because I just arrived in a new place, and because I had prepared a number of gifts to be given to the young misses in the capital, I was thinking of sending one to the fourth young miss of the Feng residence.”
Xuan Tianyan froze, old eighth’s cousin? He had very rarely asked about these things, and he did not know about old eighth’s cousin entering the capital, but seeing the girl’s respectful actions, he relaxed a bit, as she did not look like a fussy person. Reaching out, he slightly helped her up, politely saying: “Since you are eighth brother’s cousin, you are not an outsider to this prince. Go ahead and go in. Fourth young miss Feng is currently in. You two getting to know each other is also good. It would also allow you two to relieve each other’s boredom.”
“Your Highness the fifth prince is right.” Zhu Kongshan politely said: “Then Kongshan will not be keeping you company and will be going in. Your Highness, take care.” After saying this, she bowed once more then entered the residence with her servants. Right before leaving, she took one more look at Xuan Tianyan and faintly smiled in a courteous and polite manner.
Xuan Tianyan had a good impression of old eighth’s cousin. Thinking of how Fendai did not have any friends, if she could get along with this sort of elegant and refined young miss, it was possible that she could rein in her temper.
After Zhu Kongshan entered the residence, she did not remain for long. Feng Fendai was a very emotional person. Her mood would flip between good and bad. When she had just been with Xuan Tianyan, it was quite good, but once Xuan Tianyan left, she began to act out once more. No matter what she looked at, she found it displeasing. She always felt as though this residence was so quiet that it was a den of the dead. With Zhu Kongshan’s arrival, she only went through the motions of a chat. She did not even provide her with a cup of tea. She just watched her put down the gift and report a name before chasing her off. This caused Zhu Kongshan’s maidservants to begin another round of complaints after leaving the residence.
In regards to this, Zhu Kongshan did not say much. Through this brief interaction, she gained a bit of an understanding of Feng Fendai. To her, people lacking something were the easiest to capture. To lack something meant there would be desires. As for her, she could do everything possible to fulfill their wishes.
After Zhu Kongshan left, Feng Fendai looked at the specialty items from Peng Zhou for a long time. There were dried vegetables, pickled vegetables and jerkies. Apparently, these were things that had been produced by the farmers in Peng Zhou. Although they were not worth much money, they looked very earnest.
Feng Fendai looked and looked then suddenly lamented: “The eighth’s prince’s cousin, huh? Coming to the capital to visit relatives, she also has the two aunts in the palace. How nice, having someone at home is nice. Even if they are distant relatives, it at least has a human feeling. Unlike this Feng residence, which is even worse than the cold palace!”
TN: Changing how names are written.