The Beloved Imperial Consort Chapter 131

As soon as she opened the letter in her hand, Zhong Zheng Lin’s bold and domineering cursive script¹ caught her eye. 

“Bendian hopes this letter finds Jiao Jiao well. At the riverside of Wei River, bendian abruptly recalled Jiao Jiao saying that the whitebaits of Wei River were the best in the world. Hence, bendian asked the local fisherman to catch some. On the way back, they were being fed well so that once they were sent to Shengjing, Jiao Jiao could taste something delicious.”  

Mu Xi Yao’s eyes lit up. The corner of her lips inadvertently rose higher and higher. Boss was too courteous. He still remembered her joke. But, for the sake of a few whitebaits, specially assigning people to take care of it, wasn’t it a bit too extravagant? Mu Xi Yao started to calculate the expenses of this journey in her mind. Alright, this woman was unreasonable. She has received a benefit, yet she still pitied the money. 

“Bendian finds Jiao Jiao’s letter to be very comforting. If Jiao Jiao’s journal could be written in greater detail, it would be surely excellent. In addition, if Jiao Jiao misses bendian, Jiao Jiao can be straightforward about it. Bendian will be waiting for Jiao Jiao’s love letter.” 

Mu Xi Yao blinked her eyes as she read how he was shamelessly urging her for letters. It was indeed the boss’s style. If the meaning of these words were to be translated, she felt that it more resembled one thing she was once forced to do: when writing a letter to great boss the central idea had to revolve around “I dare not to forget you after our parting”. The language used had to be sincere, the emotion rich and if the number of characters written wasn’t less than a thousand they couldn’t contain punctuation. 

Right? Boss was asking her to write a sentimental essay. What’s more, she had to diligently turn in her homework since he would be unhappy to have to wait for it. 

The sentimental essay seems to be a bit difficult to write….Mu Xi Yao squeezed the letter in her hand while pondering. How about adding one or two lovesick laments at the end of each letter? Does it count? 

Mhm, the boss was to blame for taking advantage of work to serve his personal gains. Otherwise, how could there be two letters in three days? This frequency…..boss, hurry up and go to Shu Zhong. Qie is very busy. Qie has to carry out household duties, look after a child and prepare for childbirth. In addition, qie has to write a diary every day….how come the way she spent her days became weirder and weirder? 

Mu Xi Yao took Hui Lan to the study and committed herself to a reply letter for the boss. The more she wrote the harder it got. She loathed the part about picking a topic for the essay. The brain of hers was inept at this….

In the end, a cunning idea came to her mind and she called Gui Momo to bring Cheng Qing over. 

“Cheng Qing is the most well-behaved child. Do you miss daddy?” Mu Xi Yao coaxed him like wolf-grandmother. 

As soon as Zhao momo heard her mistress’s tone, she immediately raised her guard, “Mistress, his Highness is far away. You aren’t thinking of taking little master and seeking his Highness, are you? You absolutely mustn’t! Aside from your pregnancy, the little master also won’t be able to stand the hot and airtight carriage. If he gets rashes, he will have a hard time….” 

In exchange for one question, Mu Xi Yao got a lengthy persuasion from Zhao momo. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

Was she so immature that it made people around her think she was unable to stay nicely at home and wait for childbirth? 

“Momo, what are you saying? You’re thinking too much. Qie only wanted Cheng Qing to leave some words on the letter that would be sent to his daddy?” This sort of sentiment was, without a question, rich and sincere enough. The little bun had a pure and innocent heart of a child. How could the sixth Highness dislike it? 

Everyone’s faces froze as cefei stood her ground. She insisted on using the brush to smear the little master’s hands and feet with black ink and then leaving imprints on the center of each fine writing paper. The imprint was indeed pitch-black and shiny. Other than that, it only had captions “Cheng Qing’s little hand” and “Cheng Qing’s little foot” written by cefei’s zanhua script².  

Looking at her mistress’s tricks, Mo Lan’s face flushed. Before leaving, his Highness instructed mistress to exchange correspondences with him often. But, the letter mistress handed to her…..well, one was a letter handwritten by her, but it was only half a page. The remaining two were filled with only little master’s hands and feet. 

Mistress, goofing off like this, aren’t you afraid his Highness will reprimand you once he returns? 

Cheng Qing was joyful and had fun as Mu Xi Yao Mu Xi Yao was handling him. He managed to leave imprints on whole sheets of paper. In the meantime, he smeared his face with an ink-stained hand and instantly turned into a black-faced doll. 

Mu Xi Yao was amused by the sight of him at first, but then she suddenly noticed that the eyes of the people serving her were filled with protest. Their expressions were clearly complaining that she didn’t dote on a little bun and didn’t behave like a mother. 

Mu Xi Yao quickly fixed her conduct. She put on an act and waved her hand, “Hurry up, hurry up. Take this naughty doll out and wash him clean. This child, as soon as he becomes enamored with having fun, he immediately forgets that he is a member of the prince’s residence.” That tone of hers made Zhao momo and others leave as soon as they took the little guy into their arms, leaving behind only two orchids to serve her.  

Mistress was too awful. She even puts the blame on little master! Little master has not yet reached the age of one year and already had to act as a scapegoat for his mommy. If his Highness knew that mistress was bullying his son like this, he would surely give her a scolding. 

“Hui Lan, collect these papers. Every time correspondence is sent to his Highness stuff two inside. Be sure to bear it in mind.” This way, the sixth Highness can always be in contact with his son in an unconventional way and fully experience the joy of raising a child. Moreover, she won’t have to rack her brains to fill all the characters. This idea was indeed wonderful. 

As Mu Xi Yao was smug about solving a difficult problem, unbeknownst to her, the punishment from the sixth Highness will befall her a few days later. 

—-

“Mistress, won’t you rest for a while? Cefei will be coming over in the afternoon to interrogate that rebel as well as the plant in front of you. If you were in low spirit, it would be inevitable that others will gossip and say that your complexion didn’t look well due to the pressure from cefei.” Bi Lan fanned while persuading He Lian Min Min to take a rest in the inner room. 

“It’s alright. I slept well yesterday.” When she returned from He Lian residence that day, she immediately asked to see Zhong Zheng Lin. However, she was told that his Highness wasn’t in the front yard. Instead, he was using a meal in cefei’s place. After she waited until it was finally past meal time and send people to pass a message, she heard that his Highness took cefei to the front yard to sort out chests. 

This matter should have been managed by the principal consort, but Mu Xi Yao took it over. This made her feel uncomfortable for a long time. Besides, she wanted to ask his Highness for a favor. How could she speak in front of Mu’shi? Not only would she become the object of her gossip, but it would also make her seem too petty-minded and humble. How can an outsider take part in a matter discussed between husband and wife? Even if asking for a favor, only his Highness alone could see the appearance of her bowing her head in obedience. 

As a result, the matter was put off again and again, until that morning when she saw his Highness off the capital, she still didn’t find a suitable opportunity to mention a few words to his Highness. If it goes on like this, He Lian House will send someone to ask questions sooner or later. 

“Mistress, are you worried over the matter master spoke of that hasn’t been settled yet?” Feng momo who understood her thoughts asked her.  

“This old servant heard that his Highness sent letters back to the residence today. One was sent to….” She hesitated for a while and revealed, “Sent to Danruo Courtyard. This servant heard that cefei would, from time to time, entrust a correspondence to the chief steward, and together with news from residence, they would be sent to his Highness at top speed. This is not the first time. Last time when his Highness took Su cefei out of the residence, she sent two letters in a row to his Highness.” 

He Lian Min Min’s face was filled with disbelief. Her eyes were wide-opened. “His Highness actually allowed her to mix her private letters with official documents and sent them out? This was simply a great violation of the ancestor’s domestic discipline. How can a woman interfere with her lord husband’s official matters for personal reasons? 

“See, mistress. His Highness actually allowed cefei such a thing. The matter in your hand is of much higher importance than her schemes which are aimed at winning grace and currying favor with his Highness. Why doesn’t mistress follow her example, write this matter into the letter and send it to his Highness lest you be embarrassed and unable to speak about it.” 

He Lian Min Min was reluctant at first. She felt she would lose a principal wife’s propriety. Later, after hearing Feng momo mention He Lian Wei Rui, she had no choice but to swallow her pride and write a letter to Zhong Zheng Lin. 

As a result, the sixth Highness will soon receive separate correspondences from the two women in the family. But the contrast of the two….really made him fume with rage between gritted teeth. 

Translation notes:

[1] Cursive script refers to one of five Chinese calligraphy styles. Learn more about Chinese calligraphy styles here.  

[2] Zanhua script is a type of regular script 

Relationship Diagram  (by Sith Kazar)

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