The Beloved Imperial Consort

CH 138

Default Dyslexic Roboto Lora

Chapter 137: The angry guest

“Are you satisfied with Bengong’s hummingbird?” Zong Zheng Ying’s face was long and thin, and her expression was slightly sarcastic.

“I thank the Princess for her grace.
It is a treasure to enjoy.” Mu Xi Yao worked hard to maintain her manners.
Her mouth was respectful, but she didn’t show any cowardice.

Zong Zheng Lin’s reward should be firmly grasped in her hands.
If she couldn’t keep the benefits given by the boss, what was the difference between her and wasted wood [1]?

[1] 废柴 fèichái (Cantonese) (coll.) good-for-nothing/ loser/ the losers club/a waste.

Although Zong Zheng Ying noticed her glib, her tongue was skillfully blocked by her high hat [2].
She wanted to continue competing with Mu Xi Yao, but He Lian Min Min at the side made her retreat.

[2] 高帽子 gāomàozi – tall conical paper hat worn as a public humiliation/ (fig.) flattery

“Your Royal Highness [3], Mu-shi’s body is heavy.
On consideration of it, could you favor her, and allow her to sit down and speak slowly?”

[3] She calls her 公主殿下.
公主 gōngzhǔ means princess while 殿下 diànxià means Your Majesty (honorific) / His or Her Highness.
The raws put it like ‘Princess Highness’.

He Lian Min Min’s question made Zong Zheng Ying disgusted with her in all kinds of ways, but it helped her keep the appearances as the Princess Consort.

The fourth Princess displayed her identity and used it to take advantage of the sixth Prince’s Mansion people.
She didn’t have an ounce of sense of propriety.
If Mu Xi Yao had it good or bad, this crime naturally couldn’t be blamed on her as a Princess, but the pressure on He Lian Min Min would leave her breathless.

If the sixth Highness knew of today’s events, don’t speak of He Lian Min Min, even Zong Zheng Ying wouldn’t lead a good life.

Although Zong Zheng Lin respected her, she also knew a little about the man’s methods outside.
Everyone in the court said that his Highness was cold and harsh.
This reputation was not just spread out to scare people.
Her father, Sir He Lian worked hard and was especially careful around Zong Zheng Lin.
It could be seen that his Highness was not a kind person.

At this moment, Zong Zheng Ying did not know who she was fighting.
She dared to challenge Mu-shi now, but wasn’t she afraid that his Highness would come back and put her on the spot?

When Wei Zhen saw the situation outside, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot [4].
He couldn’t help but go to the front and ask Tian Fu Shan to go to Consort Su and find a way out.
Just as he was about to leave, he saw the previous Mistress Yao’s slightly buried head move and uncover a sharp look that crossed over the window, stopping all his movements in an instant.

[4] 热锅上的蚂蚁 règuōshangdemǎyǐ – (like) a cat on a hot tin roof / anxious/agitated

Those eyes made him go cold all over, there was no fear in them, only coolness.
Wei Zhen felt a certain kind of deja vu with this type of calm and chilling gaze.

Was Mistress Yiyao being wise, deliberately taking the opportunity to signal him, telling him not to act rashly? Wei Zhen had waited in front of Zong Zheng Lin for years, and he was very capable of looking at people’s eyes and guessing the Master’s mind.

Since Mistress Yao stopped him, Wei Zhen rushed to escort the little master back to the side hall and repeatedly explained that the Momo was not allowed to take the little master out.
Only then could he rest assured to turn back and stand in the shadow of the main hall, guarding.

“Oh? He Lian is very virtuous.
Why didn’t I hear before that the wife and concubines of sixth brother got along like sisters?” Zong Zheng Ying snorted coldly, unable to see He Lian Min Min’s virtuous and generous appearance.

Even with the position of the principal wife, she still had to speak for her rival in order to win a man’s heart. Zong Zheng Ying despised this kind of woman the most.

“Since the principal consort is being so generous, how can Bengong still let you suffer injustice?” Zong Zheng Ying slapped the whip on the carved table, “Get up.” After tossing her with a little effort, she felt a lot more comfortable.

Mu Xi Yao’s buried head covered all her expression.
After thanking her politely, she held the arm of Zhao Momo, moved her numb legs and feet, and sat down.

He Lian Min Min secretly observed her, but Mu Xi Yao kept being humble and decent, and a hint of fatigue could be seen between her eyebrows.
In response to Zong Zheng Ying’s hidden questions, she tried to avoid the sharpness, without a word of contention.

Why? He Lian Min Min couldn’t understand.

According to Mu Xi Yao’s usual style, no matter whether they were the women in the mansion or the concubines in the palace, as long as they were hostile to her, she always fought back with thunder, and her means were even more powerful.

This time, Zong Zheng Ying made a special trip to fight her.
Why did Mu Xi Yao back down, again and again, holding back, letting the other take the upper hand?

Not only did He Lian Min Min fail to think about it, but all the servants at Mu Xi Yao’s service frowned, unable to guess their Mistress’ mind.
To say that Mistress’ was afraid without the support of his Royal Highness, even the low-ranked servants in Danruo Courtyard didn’t believe this statement.
Mistress dared to bicker with his Royal Highness and being cold to him for ten days and a half months was something she treated casually.
She could deal with the aloof sixth Royal Highness this calmly.
Could she still be afraid of the fourth Princess who didn’t have a maiden family to back her up?

If Mu Xi Yao could hear their thoughts, she would ask someone to properly make up their missed lesson.

She was unscrupulous in front of Zong Zheng Lin only because that pleased his temperament.
The boss was thinking of her and couldn’t bear to see her unhappy.
If one day Zong Zheng Lin changed his taste and she dared to even wink at him, what will happen? No need to deal with the boss, she can find a rope to hang herself, that would be better than bearing the brunt of Zong Zheng Lin’s iron fist.

So, being the boss’s pet was the number one priority.
The guidelines to a set by Mu Xi Yao early on always urged her to work hard and not slack off.

As for whether she was afraid or not, that was another matter entirely.

For example, in front of emperor Yuancheng, she had to pretend to be a grandson [5] honestly.
Standing at Zong Zhenglin’s side, it was common and not difficult to be afraid, how could it be that she wasn’t? If he treated her with a sincere heart, how could she ever have a need to curry his favor by every means possible?

[5] Grandson or 孙子.
In the Chinese context, “grandson” is sometimes used to insult others, implying that the scolded person is the ancestor of the person being scolded.
There is also a saying of “pretending to be a grandson”, which refers to flattering others because of asking for something, as if the other person is his own grandparents.
(Chinese Wikipedia).

Someone once said that the grace gained from striving for favor was never pure.
In truth, she didn’t believe him.
No matter how she acted or behaved, those were mostly means, and not her true intentions.
To please him was to fight for favor, being ostentatious and bossy was also fighting for favor.

It was just that the mean she applied with Zong Zheng Lin were difficult to use on Zong Zheng Ying.

Therefore, there was no comparison between the sixth Prince and the fourth Princess.
Mu Xi Yao admitted she was afraid.

Although the Princes and Princesses were equally valuable, they held entirely different meanings to Emperor Yuancheng.

All the big things she had been involved with before, those were battles between the princes.
In the eyes of emperor Yuancheng, she was merely a chess piece that was meant to be used by people, absolutely weak.
Even if there was resistance, it was also struggling for survival and that was to be expected.
The only thing she had going on for herself, was her intelligence, and even this ultimate protection was minimized as she was female; she could only be considered smart among women.

Now it was Zong Zheng Ying, the fourth Princess, who came to ask for trouble.
Not long ago, she had lost her mother’s support.
She was all alone in the Princess mansion.
She lived her small life without worrying about food and clothing.
She had no power or influence.

For emperor Yuancheng, not to say how much he doted on her, he should still cherish her.
If she stood her ground and dared be sharp with her, how would emperor Yuancheng feel if she dared to clean up his people?

As an emperor, he saw too much women’s scuffling.
In his eyes, afraid that even if Zong Zheng Ying was wrong, he would just indulge her arrogant ways.
This common fault of the Princess was not a big deal.
As long as things were simple, Mu Xi Yao will never be, in his eyes, more reasonable than Zong Zheng Ying.

She had already lost regarding bloodline.
Now, if she dared to step on the fourth Princess with her puny identity of cefei, she would stand no chance of winning the battle.
In particular, Shengjing city was now short of the big boss!

Most of the time, Mu Xi Yao didn’t need to borrow Zong Zheng Lin’s power.
He only needed to be a deterrent.

Now the situation was unfavorable to her, the best response was to avoid the sharp edges [6], and launch He Lian Min Min out to resist one or two punches.
Just wait for when they’re on equal standing, then it will be different and even making a move to retaliate would be easier.

[6] the tip of the sword, many metaphor sharp points of things: the struggle.

Zong Zheng Ying had already pinned a crime in her head, and she was decided to be ruthless.
Since both sides have become deadly enemies, a later confrontation was absolutely inevitable.

Mu Xi Yao was sitting respectfully but her heart was full of twists and turns [7].
If she had not guessed wrong, Zong Zheng Ying just dropped by to ‘say hello’.
In the future, according to her status as a Princess, the most advantageous battlefield was not the prince’s residence, but the deep palace!

[7] 千回百转 qiān huí bǎi zhuǎn convoluted (of plots, etc.); full of twists and turns (idiom)/ not smooth.

“Did Mu cefei not hear the words of Bengong clearly?” Zong Zheng Ying felt that today’s trip was really a relief.
Mu’s head was bowed properly, and He Lian was so angered that she had long lost her composure.
Zong Zhenglin's women were just so! [8]

[8] 不过如此 bùguòrúcǐ – (idiom) nothing more than this; that's all; no big deal; not very impressive.

“The fourth Princess’ is right.
My servant girl bumped into Your Highness today.
She should be punished.” Mu Xi Yao smiled as she recognized her faults.
Her attitude was very good.

He Lian Min Min was so angry at her soft words that her liver ached.
This Mu-shi was so sleek! Now she can see that, without his Highness’ support, Mu-shi pretended to be soft and meek, and so pushed her to the front stage.
It was a pity that she couldn’t get rid of the restriction of her identity as Princess Consort, and so she had to play according to her book!

“It’s good to recognize good and bad.
Afraid some people can’t tell right from wrong.” She looked at He Lian Min Min from the corner of her eyes, the words sounded heavier with her obvious disdain.

Mu herself had already wielded the white flag, it could be said she had sense, but He Lian-shi was still holding on, wanting to fight her.
In this way, Mu-shi was indeed much more cunning than He Lian-shi.

“It was good to see cefei this time.
Bengong will no stay longer.
After giving birth, go sit in the palace often, everyone hasn’t seen cefei show up for a long time now.”

Zong Zheng Ying’s whip blew up in the air, the glare she used to look at Mu Xi Yao was obviously not good.

When Mu Xi Yao was out of her confinement, she will surely go to the palace many times.
She will have plenty of time to clean up this bitch.
This occasion was only a loan interest.
Next time, let her experience the joy of being humiliated in public.

Zong Zheng Ying in a full riding outfit stepped on her riding boots, strutted, led the people to throw off the curtain, and left with a high-spirited air.

He Lian Min Min stared at Mu Xi Yao with a face full of anger as she sent off Zong Zheng Ying at the gate.

***

“Mistress, why did cefei…”

“You wish to ask why did she change her attitude?”

“Why does this slaves think this is not right? When did cefei suffer this kind of anger in the mansion, and was able to endure it?”

“You think that woman has such a good temper? She was just waiting for the right time.
In the absence of His Highness, she did not need to risk herself.
When His Highness comes back, you will then see the nature of this woman by looking at how she encourages him to act”.

“Mistress means that in order to protect herself, cefei deliberately avoided fighting? Isn’t that hard for you? If she retreats like this, if the Princess comes to the door again, the face of the prince’s mansion wouldn’t then be supported by you alone?”

“How long can she hide? She will give birth in a month.
Afterward, she will have to stand with me, she can’t let me fight that crazy woman alone.” He Lian Min Min finally woke up a little bit.

She was admonished by He Lian Zhang several times and entrusted by Zong Zheng Lin.
After several ups and downs, she hadn’t won his Highness’ heart but she became much calmer.

“Let’s turn around and go to Fang Hua garden to see Su cefei.
This woman has spent half a month enclosed in her courtyard.
As a half master of the prince’s residence, she should share some responsibilities.” He Lian Min Min couldn’t calculate against Mu Xi Yao, but she was full of confidence regarding Su Lin Rou.

As long as you hold her up, and then belittle Mu-shi’s ability in front of her, Su Lin Rou, who has been eager to win over his Royal Highness, will never let go of an opportunity to make great achievements.

***

Relationship Diagram (by Sith Kazar)

▲ Footnotes