CHAPTER 492: CHAPTER 492: WEIGHT

Great Buddha Temple.

Inside the room, Old Madam was bedridden with illness.

Her face was pale, and she looked haggard.

Hongxiu was fanning beside her, beads of sweat forming on her forehead from the heat.

The sound of familiar footsteps approached, and Hongxiu happily said, "Mrs. Wang is back."

Before she finished speaking, Mrs. Wang pushed the door open and walked in.

Old Madam looked at her, and seeing that Mrs. Wang had no smile on her face, Old Madam’s heart sank.

Mrs. Wang stepped forward and said, "The Old Prince asks Old Madam to rest well."

"And then?" Old Madam’s eyes were indifferent.

Mrs. Wang shook her head at Old Madam.

Old Madam clenched her eyes shut, but Mrs. Wang had served her long enough to know Old Madam was disappointed.

No one wanted to stay at the Great Buddha Temple in such hot weather, and the food was all vegetarian.

The vegetarian dishes of the Great Buddha Temple were famous, but no matter how delicious, eating them every day was unbearable.

Not to mention Old Madam, even she couldn’t endure without meat.

No one spoke for a while.

Old Madam opened her eyes and said, "Is there anything happening at the mansion?"

Mrs. Wang shook her head, "Everything is fine at the mansion, but when I returned, Lady Yongcheng had gone to the Prince Mansion, and the Prince Mansion sent two boxes of ointment to Lady Yongcheng’s daughter. One of them was accidentally knocked over by the daughter."

"Incompetent!" Old Madam said coldly.

Mrs. Wang did not respond.

She instructed Hongxiu to bring water to wipe the room so it wouldn’t be too stuffy.

But Old Madam had had enough of the Great Buddha Temple.

She couldn’t stay here another day.

Mrs. Wang went back to the mansion to plead, but she suffered heatstroke, and the Old Prince refused to let her return. Old Madam had never thought the Old Prince would be so heartless to her.

"Move to JingAn Temple," Old Madam said through gritted teeth.

"What?" Mrs. Wang was dumbfounded.

"Why move to JingAn Temple?"

"JingAn Temple is hotter than the Great Buddha Temple."

The Great Buddha Temple was a Royal Temple, grand and magnificent, with the best environment.

But no matter how good, Old Madam was not satisfied.

She wanted to move to JingAn Temple, and Mrs. Wang had no solution.

There were many things, packing up was strenuous, and it was too hot to bother with it.

Old Madam closed her eyes to rest, and Mrs. Wang instructed the maids to pack up and went to bid farewell to the abbot of the Great Buddha Temple.

The abbot did not persuade them to stay, only saying that the Great Buddha Temple would pray for Old Madam.

On the way back, Hongxiu looked at Mrs. Wang and asked, "Why does Old Madam want to move to JingAn Temple?"

Mrs. Wang also wanted to know why.

She remembered the question Su Jin had asked her.

Why did Old Madam have nightmares?

She hadn’t paid it much mind before, but now she couldn’t ignore it.

"Did something happen during the day when Old Madam had those nightmares?" Mrs. Wang asked.

Thoughts during the day lead to dreams at night.

If nothing happened during the day, she likely wouldn’t have had nightmares at night.

Hongxiu was a little puzzled, not understanding what Mrs. Wang meant by the question.

But there was indeed something, "On the day Old Madam had the nightmare, I helped her out of the backyard, and we saw Princess Consort Ning after a few steps."

"The Princess Consort Ning was pregnant, and when she called her maid, Old Madam stopped walking, and when Princess Consort Ning turned back, Old Madam was startled."

It was Hongxiu who was puzzled, and when Hongxiu finished speaking, it was Mrs. Wang’s turn to be puzzled.

The Princess Consort Ning and Old Madam had no connection whatsoever, so why was Old Madam frightened?

Afraid that Mrs. Wang wouldn’t believe her, Hongxiu specially took a detour to the place where Old Madam was scared to show Mrs. Wang.

"Right there," Hongxiu said.

"When Princess Consort Ning called Qing Rui, Old Madam’s steps halted."

This time Mrs. Wang’s expression also changed.

Qing Rui.

There was no one more familiar with that name than Mrs. Wang.

It was the name Old Madam gave her.

But over the years, the maids in the mansion respectfully called her Mrs. Wang.

There weren’t many people in the mansion who remembered her young name Qing Rui.

There were many maids in the Capital City, and duplicate names were common.

But Hongxiu’s description reminded Mrs. Wang of something from more than thirty years ago.

At that time, she had accompanied Old Madam to the Great Buddha Temple to offer incense, and Old Madam was also pregnant.

Old Madam had given birth to a Prince and wanted a daughter.

She had specifically come to the Great Buddha Temple to ask the Bodhisattva to grant her a daughter.

But how would this scene where Old Madam called her frighten Old Madam?

Mrs. Wang really couldn’t understand it.

She didn’t think too much about it and went back to the backyard with Hongxiu.

Yongcheng Bo Mansion.

After returning to the mansion, Lady Yongcheng went straight to her daughter’s room.

Seeing her enter, Lady Yongcheng’s eldest daughter Chen Jiao anxiously asked, "Mother, did you get the ointment?"

Lady Yongcheng shook her head, "It’s not that easy; the ointment that Princess Consort Zhenbei wants sells for ten thousand taels a box."

The Heir of Uncle Yongcheng walked in and happened to hear this sentence.

He stepped forward and said, "Such a small amount of ointment costs ten thousand taels; why doesn’t Princess Consort Zhenbei just rob people?!"

"She’s practically a bandit!" Lady Yongcheng’s eldest daughter said angrily.

After cursing, she shook Lady Yongcheng’s arm and said, "Mother, I’m running out of ointment, what will happen to my hand?"

Lady Yongcheng patted her hand and said, "Don’t worry, once Old Madam Zhenbei moves back from the Great Buddha Temple, I’ll go plead with her. Mother won’t let your wrist scar."

Agarwood Pavilion, inner room.

Su Jin sat on the Imperial Concubine’s Couch, holding a copper mirror, observing the fading rash on her face.

She looked from time to time, but the rash refused to disappear.

Xingxing was sorting through the lychees in the outer room.

If she ate all these lychees, she would definitely have a nosebleed; if left, they would spoil.

Moreover, since the Emperor had bestowed so many, surely some were meant for others in Prince Zhenbei Mansion.

For the Old Prince, the Prince, Princess Nanzhang, the second branch, the third branch, one plate each.

Lady Chi got two plates.

Xie Jingchen and a guard got two plates each.

The maids and older women in Agarwood Pavilion got three each.

The rest were all for Xingxing.

After sorting, she instructed the maids to deliver them to each courtyard.

Xingxing gleefully sat by the box, peeling lychees to eat.

Avoiding making Su Jin envious, she deliberately turned her back on Su Jin.

Just after eating one, a young maid rushed in and said, "Princess Consort, Young Master Su from Dongxiang Marquis Mansion and the Ninth Prince have arrived."

Su Jin was stunned.

Why did her brother come?

And of all times, why did he come when she was breaking out in a rash on her face?

Xingxing was about to go to the front yard to welcome them, but before she could leave, Young Master Su and the Ninth Prince arrived.

Seeing there were still plenty left in the box, Young Master Su’s eyes lit up.

"So many lychees," he said.

He ran inside, and Su Jin used a round fan to cover her face, saying, "Why are you here?"

The obvious action of not wanting her face seen only strengthened Young Master Su’s desire to see her face.

He looked to the left, and Su Jin blocked the left.

He looked to the right, and Su Jin blocked the right.

Young Master Su snatched the fan away and, seeing the small red rash on Su Jin’s face, he was startled, "Sister, are you poisoned?"

"Poisoned by lychees," Su Jin said.

Young Master Su, "..."

"How could lychees be poisonous?" Young Master Su didn’t believe it.

"I ate a lot of them myself."

Xingxing came over and said, "The young lady is allergic to lychees, that’s why. Young Master, why are you here?"

Young Master Su replied, "We just went to the palace to nab some of the Emperor’s lychees. We finished off a plate but weren’t satisfied, so we came to borrow some from you, Sister."

Did he have to be so honest?

Couldn’t he say they came to visit her?

At least it wouldn’t sound so hurtful.

"Go ahead and eat the lychees," Su Jin told Young Master Su and the others.

"Don’t eat too much in one day; you can take some back to eat tomorrow."

Young Master Su and the others ran off to eat lychees.

Hmm.

The amount of lychees that had just given Xingxing immense satisfaction quickly dwindled as Young Master Su, Young Master Shen, and the others devoured them.

Young Master Su even wanted to take a plate back for Old Madam Shen to try.

Because they had finished off the Emperor’s gift to Marquis Jibei.

Eating half, then taking two plates for tomorrow, there was hardly any left.

Staring at the dozen or so lychees left in the box, Xingxing felt tearful and deeply regretted it.

If she had known Young Master Su was coming, she wouldn’t have given Princess Nanzhang a whole plate; she would have kept some aside.