BERW - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning, word of the Crown Prince's outburst had spread through the entire Imperial Palace.

Confinement for one month; the palace maid Qiluo expelled from the palace.

The former was no real hardship, but the latter, as Qu Yanyue put it, showed that by not killing Qiluo and merely expelling her from the palace, the Emperor clearly had deep feelings for the Crown Prince and was still very indulgent toward him.

If the Crown Prince had not been clamoring to marry Qiluo as his wife, perhaps the Emperor would have tacitly accepted that the Crown Prince had "planted his love deep" for a palace maid.

Shen Yuyao was speechless when she heard this. Was he in love with the palace maid, or with himself? There was clearly a better, more thorough way to handle it, yet the Crown Prince had chosen the one path that put him most directly against the Emperor.

"This is how the Crown Prince is because when he married Consort Qin before, he did so unwillingly. That anger has stretched on until now, and only now has it burst out," Qu Yanyue said, seeing clearly and thinking plainly. "So they say, children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Why meddle too much in their affairs? When your Third Imperial Brother marries, Mother Consort will let him have his way. Whomever he wants to marry, he can marry."

Shen Yuyao listened to Qu Yanyue and fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Then if Third Imperial Brother also wants to marry a palace maid as his principal consort..."

"He wouldn't dare! If he won't marry a noble lady from a great house and insists on marrying a palace maid instead, I'll break his legs!" Qu Yanyue glared. It was easy to imagine that if Shen Qingjin followed the Crown Prince's example, she would certainly not spare her son.

The face-slap came swiftly; she had changed her tune right after saying it.

Shen Yuyao thought for a moment, then asked again, "Then, Mother Consort, if the Prince Consort I find in the future does not match what you have in mind, will you break my legs too?"

After she asked, Qu Yanyue narrowed her eyes at her, her expression full of words left unsaid.

Although she had spent only a little more than a day with this birth mother, Shen Yuyao had already roughly grasped her nature: forthright, and not fond of hiding things.

If something could make her hesitate to speak, then what she wanted to say must be something that should not be said at all.

Shen Yuyao grew a little nervous. Had Qu Yanyue already settled on a Prince Consort for the Original Owner? Was that why she did not want to speak as soon as the matter came up?

Settling a Prince Consort for a fourteen-year-old daughter was a bit early, but when she thought about how women in Great Zhuang could marry after Coming of Age, securing a husband at fourteen was not considered early at all.

Shen Yuyao had already imagined one possibility, and she privately admitted that this possibility was already very inconsistent with her own way of doing things. She had not expected that when Qu Yanyue opened her mouth, she would directly drop an explosive piece of news on her.

"That man you took a fancy to before, he and his wife are on very good terms, and his wife has just borne him a son. He could not possibly agree to set aside his wife and marry another, and divorcing his wife is even more impossible. So stop thinking about it. You are a princess. Do you really want to lower yourself to become the concubine of a sixth-rank minor official?"

What, what, what? What are you saying?

Shen Yuyao's expression froze for an instant. Had she just merged with everything of the Original Owner, so her brain had stopped working properly?

No, that's not right. The Original Owner's brain worked quite well.

Shen Yuyao wanted to ask Qu Yanyue whether she was serious. Meeting Qu Yanyue's solemn expression, Shen Yuyao was certain: it was true, absolutely true.

The Original Owner's persona was this impressive? At fourteen, she had taken a fancy to a married man, planned to make him divorce his wife and marry her, and even thought of becoming his concubine?

At fourteen, in the rebellious phase, strange ideas were actually quite normal. Fortunately, no great mistake had been made. Otherwise, Shen Yuyao truly would not know how to deal with such romantic entanglements.

She had been single since birth for more than twenty years in the Modern World. She did not want to suddenly gain rivals in love or lovers after transmigrating. Wasn't being single happy enough?

"Mother Consort is right. After this business with the Crown Prince, your daughter suddenly feels that, compared with romance, building a career is far more appealing."

"Huh?" Qu Yanyue did not quite understand the latter part. Her daughter had been somewhat strange since returning yesterday, but she still understood the meaning expressed in her daughter's words.

That meant she had given up on that sixth-rank minor official.

Good! Very good! Her daughter had finally stopped stubbornly running into a wall!

"It seems yesterday's affair affected you greatly. You and your Eldest Imperial Brother were very close before. Why not go visit him, and take the chance to see Consort Qin as well? Before she married out of her maiden home, you two used to play together."

Mother, are you serious?

At this time, going to the Eastern Palace to see the Crown Prince, and also seeking out the Senior Consort whom she had met only a few times before, with the words exchanged between them countable on ten fingers.

What kind of social marauder behavior is this? She could not do it!

Shen Yuyao said in her heart that she could not do it, but in reality, she still went.

Perhaps it was the drama-watching gene carved into her bones. She actually wanted to know the current situation in the Eastern Palace. She wondered whether the Crown Prince regretted it, and whether the Crown Prince's Senior Consort was making divorce noises at him.

By any normal person's reasoning, being publicly rebuked by the Emperor and confined to quarters would make any crown prince deeply worried. After all, throughout history, very few princes who were crown princes ever managed to ascend the throne safely and steadily, especially those who sat in the position for decades.

The Crown Prince had been the Crown Prince from birth, and it had already been twenty years. Perhaps, after twenty years, his position had been too secure, which was why he had done something so brainless.

That was what Shen Yuyao thought.

The Crown Prince was still decent enough not to vent his frustration on others because of his current predicament. Apart from being pale, he did not look particularly out of sorts.

As ever, a pretty boy, and very handsome.

When the Crown Prince saw his beloved younger sister, he first had the palace attendants bring preserved fruit, pastries, and other things meant to cheer up a young girl, and then he had a heart-to-heart talk with Shen Yuyao.

Shen Yuyao earnestly urged the Crown Prince to look on the bright side. The world was full of fragrant grass; why be fixated on a single flower? If you want to rebel, you can go to the Court of State and talk back to the Emperor. Why use a woman as the excuse and make her suffer misfortune along with you?

The later words could not be said, so Shen Yuyao repeated the earlier ones over and over.

She was speaking with great enthusiasm when she looked up and saw the Crown Prince staring blankly at the plum preserves, his eyes reddening at the rims.

"Imperial Elder Brother, are you, are you crying?"

No way, no way! Had she talked him to tears?

"Qiluo, she loved plum preserves most. You have never met Qiluo, have you? She is beautiful, kindhearted, a very good girl." The Crown Prince's face was full of reminiscence. "I told her before that if she wanted, she could make some preserves for me every day. She said she liked watching me smile sweetly after eating them."

After hearing this, Shen Yuyao silently put down the preserved fruit in her hand.

It was just a little hard to bring herself to eat it.

"Imperial Elder Brother, she was only expelled from the palace. She is not gone." So after your confinement ends, you can leave the palace to find her. She could make you a whole cart of preserves, and that would be fine.

The Crown Prince was immersed in his own world and did not hear what Shen Yuyao said at all. "What is love in this world, that it makes lovers pledge life and death? If I cannot give her the best, how am I different from trash? My position as Crown Prince is truly so dull."

Uh, was that something he could say? If you really do not want to be Crown Prince, just tell the Emperor. I do not believe the Emperor can tie you up and force you to inherit the throne.

Shen Yuyao was full of complaints. She had never imagined that one day she would sit and listen to the Crown Prince complain that his life was dull.

Her current mood was exactly the same as Xiao Sa listening to Lao Ma say he was not interested in money.

"Yuyang, can you help me?"

Shen Yuyao was wandering in a daze when she heard the Crown Prince ask her this, and immediately she had an ominous premonition.

What are you doing! Do not come over here!

While shouting this in her mind, Shen Yuyao actually moved a stool, leaned in close to the Crown Prince, and listened as he told her his plan.

Really, when a person gets carried away, there is nothing they will not do.

In essence, Shen Yuyao was the same kind of person as Qu Yanyue: she loved a spectacle and did not mind if things got out of hand. As long as spectating the drama did not affect her, she was quite happy to do it.

The Crown Prince's drama was quite juicy. After all, he was the Emperor's heir. This was not a drama one could enjoy at any time.

It was just that this drama felt a little cloying.

When Shen Yuyao came out of the Crown Prince's sleeping chamber, she wore a blank expression and recalled what she had discussed with him.

No, she could not do this alone. She had to drag someone down with her. How could she be the only one to enjoy this "good thing" cooked up by romance-brained thinking?

Shen Yuyao turned to leave the Eastern Palace and fetch reinforcements, but Meixiang, the palace maid following behind her, stopped her.

"Princess, Her Highness the Noble Consort instructed that you still need to visit the Senior Consort."

Shen Yuyao remembered. She had not finished seeing everyone.

Shen Yuyao withdrew her foot, turned back, and nodded approvingly at Meixiang. "Your memory is quite good. When we return, I will be sure to praise you to Mother Consort."

Meixiang lowered her head and answered respectfully, "Princess, this servant was only doing her duty."

Meixiang knew the Original Owner very well. She and the Original Owner had, one could say, grown up together; she was the Original Owner's most trusted and familiar palace maid.

She knew the Original Owner even better than Qu Yanyue did, so Shen Yuyao was very wary of her. If anyone could notice that her core had been swapped, Meixiang would absolutely be the first.

Shen Yuyao had thought before that, when the chance came, she would send Meixiang to Qu Yanyue's side. After all, Meixiang had always obeyed Qu Yanyue.

Just like now: when she wanted to leave the Eastern Palace, Meixiang would remind her to obey the Noble Consort's instructions.

"You have always been cautious in your work, and you deserve praise for it. But as a first-rank palace maid to a princess like me, your monthly pay is still too little. I remember you said before that your father had his leg broken by a carriage and needed a large sum of money, right? Later, it seems Mother Consort gave you a reward. Have you ever thanked Mother Consort in person for that?"

"This servant has not yet had the chance to speak with Her Highness." Meixiang sensed something was not quite right and her voice grew a little tense.

"Then this is the perfect chance to go and thank her in person. I will ask Mother Consort whether there is a vacancy by her side and recommend you to serve her." Shen Yuyao patted Meixiang's shoulder. "People move upward. Meixiang, you must work hard. Only by improving your abilities can you better serve my Mother Consort."

Meixiang was stunned. She did indeed harbor thoughts of going to serve the Noble Consort, because Princess Yuyang had a childish temperament. Since childhood, she had followed at Princess Yuyang's side. There had been few benefits, and she had been dragged into punishment many times.

When the noble ones punished a princess, they certainly could not beat the princess, so they beat the people around her to make an example of them.

Meixiang did not want to continue suffering punishment at Yuyang's side. Moreover, after the princess married, she would establish a Princess's Establishment outside the palace, and the princess's personal palace maids were usually married off to people in that establishment.

She would not even be able to leave the palace, because she was the princess's confidante.

Meixiang had also grown up in the Imperial Palace, after a fashion. In this nest of wealth and honor, she had seen too many people and too much glory and luxury. She herself was very good-looking, and she was not willing to remain at Shen Yuyao's side forever.

But she had always hidden this ambition well.

Why had Shen Yuyao spoken today of sending her to the Noble Consort's side?

Meixiang could not gauge Shen Yuyao's attitude and, for a moment, did not know how to respond.

As for Shen Yuyao, after saying this, she turned and headed for the Rear Hall of the Eastern Palace to find Consort Qin, as if what she had just said had been merely an offhand remark.

Leaving Meixiang behind her, who only belatedly broke out in a cold sweat.

In this palace, a servant who betrayed her master or became estranged from her master would not come to any good.

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