The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort (Chapters 1- 203)

Chapter 134 : Misunderstanding

Translated by : Shl

Edited by : Anks & Ely

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The days passed serenely, as if nothing had happened. In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of summer, and the weather was slightly cooler than the blistering heat of days past. The previous jumble of events had slowly settled down, and Old Jiang Madame's death had seemingly been slowly forgotten by everyone.

In Jinying Wangfu, a snow pigeon fluttered in through the window and landed on the boxwood table in the middle of the room. Its wings accidentally came in contact with the ink in the well of the ink stone, and the snow-white feathers immediately became tinged with black.

Xiao Shao lifted the snow pigeon from the edge of the ink stone and placed it in his palm. The snow pigeon tilted its snow-white head to look at him; its eyes like black beans were bright and intelligent. Xiao Shao rubbed the snow pigeon's head and removed the copper tube tied to its leg.

The message inside was brief, with a line of tiny handwriting near the top. Once Xiao Shao had read the message, he slowly furrowed his brow.

After a brief pause, he burned the message in the oil lamp, and ordered the person by his side, "Prepare my horse, I am leaving the capital."

"Master . . ." Jin Yi was slightly hesitant.

"Tell Ye Feng to come out. He doesn't need to be at Yi Bao Pavilion any longer. He is to go to Bai Zhang Lou and look for Qi Si."

Jin Yi's expression turned severe for a heartbeat before he replied, "Understood."

* * *

In Ruan Ju, Tian Zhu lifted the curtains and said, "Miss, the carriage is ready."

Lu Zhu grabbed a small basket of little pastries from the table and said, smilingly, "It will be nice to eat these on the way."

A few days ago, they had received an invitation from Dong Furen. Although it had been Dong Yinger's name on the invitation, it had been issued by Dong Furen, which could only mean that she wanted to invite Jiang Ruan to the fu for a little tete-a-tete. After Old Jiang Madame's death, in order to observe the proper mourning etiquette, Jiang Ruan had simply stayed in the fu, and had never gone out. Where Dong Yinger was concerned, they had not seen each other for such a long time that Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi were somewhat surprised to receive this invitation from the Dong family out of nowhere.

Thus, today, Tian Zhu had readied the horse carriage in preparation for a trip to Dong fu.

As they were leaving, they coincidentally encountered Jiang Dan and Hong Ying in the middle of a conversation. Hong Ying's belly had swelled considerably, and she looked like she was due to deliver in a few days. At present, Jiang Quan had handed over the management of the Jiang fu's affairs to Hong Ying. Xia Yan had not yet been released from her confinement, and Second Yiniang had already passed away[1]; Hong Ying was now the dominant figure, and had the bearing of the mistress of Jiang fu.

[1] 香消玉殒 (xiang xiao yu yun) – lit. the fragrance fades and jade crumbles/ vanishes, fig. a beautiful woman dies.

Lu Zhu's gaze flickered momentarily as she contemplated whether Hong Ying intended to have her cake and eat it, too[2]. Apart from Jiang Su Su, Hong Ying was always amiable towards Jiang Dan and the two of them had an excellent relationship. On the surface, it appeared that Jiang Dan was not doing anything, but Lu Zhu had been with Jiang Ruan so long that she naturally had some sense of what might be going on. That Jiang Dan was not as innocent as she seemed to be, so wasn't Hong Ying slapping Jiang Ruan in the face by doing this? Or, possibly, Hong Ying was thinking that fawning on Jiang Dan might enable her to cling to an imperial consort in future?