Seeing Her Family

Almost the instant Ling Cui finished speaking, Hua Meng's sleepiness vanished. Her eyes widened, and she asked in disbelief, "Really?"

"Really! Really! Little Eunuch Jiang came to deliver the message himself." Though she had known for a while already, Ling Cui was still so happy she wanted to jump up and down.

Hua Meng truly hadn't expected to see her family again so soon.

The previous two times she had left the palace, she had spent almost the entire time at Emperor Jing'an's side and had no chance to speak much with her family.

But this time was different. According to the palace rules for imperial consorts receiving their families, they could enter at the beginning of the chen hour and leave at the end of the shen hour.

That left several hours in between.

At the thought, Hua Meng was so delighted she didn't know what to do with herself.

She wanted to thank Emperor Jing'an, but felt that mere words of thanks were too pale.

After all, though she had heard Consort Wan say that Emperor Jing'an wasn't the sort of ruler who would prevent his consorts from seeing their families, that had only been hearsay.

She hadn't expected him to let her family into the palace just after her pregnancy was discovered.

Although only her mother and several sisters-in-law were coming, Hua Meng was already content.

The right side hall of Sparrow Plume Palace immediately sprang into activity because of the news.

But this was Hua Meng's first time dealing with such a matter, and she wasn't quite sure what to do.

Fortunately, Qiu Die had been in the palace for many years and knew a little about it. Earlier, while Hua Meng was still away, she had also quietly gone to the left side hall to consult Yi Yue, the senior palace maid attending Consort Wan.

With what Yi Yue had added, Qiu Die now had a thorough understanding of the procedures for an imperial consort's family entering the palace.

With Qiu Die there, Hua Meng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Once she relaxed, she began to feel sleepy.

"I'm tired, so I'll go rest for a while. You carry on with the preparations. If anything comes up, we can talk about it after I wake up."

Once Hua Meng had spoken, naturally no one tried to stop her from resting.

Perhaps because she trusted Qiu Die and the others, when Hua Meng woke up, she asked whether they had run into any difficulties. Once they told her everything was going smoothly, she truly left the matter alone.

With her family's visit on her mind, Hua Meng woke at the beginning of the mao hour the next day. She ate breakfast and paced around the room several times before she finally heard the news Yang Jiu had just gathered.

"The Yiren has arrived at Chaohuang Palace."

Previously, although Hua Teng had held a Subordinate Fifth Rank post, he had never requested a title for Lu Shi. This time, when Emperor Jing'an promoted Hua Teng, he had also granted Lu Shi the Fifth Rank title of Yiren.

With the title of Yiren, Lu Shi indeed had more confidence entering the palace.

The empress dowager had no intention of making things difficult for the Hua Family in the first place, given Hua Meng's pregnancy. And with her younger sister's connection to the Hua Family, she naturally liked them all the more.

Knowing Lu Shi and the others were anxious to see Hua Meng, the empress dowager didn't keep them long. She had Nanny Ming personally escort them out of Chaohuang Palace and present them with gifts specially bestowed on the whole Hua Family, then resumed recuperating in peace.

She wasn't willing to trouble herself too much these days. All she wanted was to recover quickly, or else she might be unable to hold her grandson when he was born.

Lu Shi and the others reached Sparrow Plume Palace just past the middle of the chen hour. As soon as they entered, Lu Shi was about to pay her respects to Consort Wan, as Hua Teng had instructed, when she encountered Yi Yue, Consort Wan's senior palace maid, and Ling Cui, who was waiting for them.

"I am Yi Yue, a maid attending Her Highness Consort Wan. Her Highness knows the Yiren is eager to see her daughter, so she will not disturb you and Her Highness Consort Jing." Only after saying this to Lu Shi did Yi Yue turn to Ling Cui with a smile. "Our mistress said she would bring some pastries to visit Her Highness Consort Jing this afternoon."

Ling Cui first glanced at Lu Shi and the others out of the corner of her eye, then returned Yi Yue's greeting. "Sorry for the trouble, Sister Yi Yue. I'll be sure to tell our mistress of Her Highness Consort Wan's kind intentions."

Hearing this, Yi Yue nodded to them, then turned and returned to the left side hall.

Only after Yi Yue had left did Ling Cui happily greet Lu Shi and the others according to the customs they had followed at home.

"Good child, there's no need for ceremony." Lu Shi pulled Ling Cui up as she was about to bow. "Other things aren't easy to bring into the palace, but your mother made you a few pairs of shoe soles, and I brought them all."

At Lu Shi's words, the happy Ling Cui's eyes immediately stung, and she nearly shed tears.

"Good child, you mustn't cry. This is such a happy occasion; you mustn't cry."

When Lu Shi finished speaking softly, Ling Cui nodded hurriedly.

As soon as Hua Meng heard that Lu Shi had reached the gates of Sparrow Plume Palace, she had come out of her room to wait at the door. But she had estimated how long it would take to walk over from the gates, and when that time passed, there was still no sign of her mother and the others.

Just as she was about to send Qiu Die to look, Lu Shi's figure finally appeared in her sight.

Hua Meng was about to step forward to greet her, but Qiu Die, who was supporting her, spoke up to stop her. "Mistress, your rank is higher than the Yiren's now." Not to mention that, apart from the Yiren, her several sisters-in-law had no rank at all.

Of course, Qiu Die did not say that last part aloud.

But Hua Meng instantly understood what Qiu Die meant.

Lu Shi had been a little worried when she saw Hua Meng about to come forward to meet her. She had only received the message from the palace yesterday, and had made a special trip to the Lin Residence with several of her daughters-in-law to seek advice. Only then had she learned that when she entered the palace today, she had to first pay her daughter the formal respects due to her rank before her daughter could greet her according to family custom.

Only when she saw the palace maid beside Hua Meng stop her did Lu Shi breathe a sigh of relief. She also took the opportunity to look Qiu Die over.

After they had exchanged greetings and paid their respects, Hua Meng finally took Lu Shi's arm and turned to walk into the room with her.

Qiu Die took it upon herself to leave the room with Jiang Chan, while Ling Cui stayed inside to attend to Hua Meng whenever needed.

Once she saw that only family remained in the room, Lu Shi couldn't resist reaching up to loosen the front of her robe.

At first, Hua Meng didn't understand what her mother was doing. When Lu Shi took a thick stack of silver notes from inside her robe, Hua Meng's eyes widened in surprise.

"Mother, when did our family become so wealthy?"

Although her second brother disliked studying and had gone into business with her maternal uncle's family and her second sister-in-law's family, she knew they didn't have that much silver at home.

Lu Shi pressed the stack of silver notes into Hua Meng's hands and pointed to her second daughter-in-law, who was sitting somewhat timidly in a lower seat. "They were sent by your granduncle's family."

Hua Meng's maternal granduncle was naturally Lu Shi's mother's older brother, and also her second sister-in-law Lin Shi's paternal grandfather.

But Hua Meng's maternal grandmother was the daughter of a maidservant born after the Lin Family's Previous Head drunkenly slept with her singing-girl mother. Although she had been registered under his principal wife's name because merchants were not allowed to take concubines, Lin Shi's Paternal Grandmother had resented her back then and married Hua Meng's grandmother off to a butcher.

Had Hua Meng's maternal grandmother not been clever from childhood, and used her silver tongue after her legal mother died of illness to persuade her own father and legitimate older brother to help the Lu family expand their business, the Lu family could never have afforded to support Hua Teng, a scholar whose parents had died early and left him buried in debt from their illnesses.

Later, Hua Teng passed the imperial examination as a third-class jinshi and became an official overnight. Although he was only a Principal Eighth Rank county magistrate, it was enough to throw the Lin family into a panic.

The Lin family wanted to mend relations, and Hua Meng's maternal grandmother was a clever woman who knew how to repay kindness. That was how, later on, she came to arrange the marriage between the Lin family's only daughter of that generation and Hua Meng's second brother.

After all, even when the Hua family had still been the family of an ordinary official, Hua Meng's eldest sister-in-law was the daughter of an academy head from a scholarly family. As for her third and fourth sisters-in-law, they were both daughters of Hua Teng's colleagues.

Hua Meng knew her second sister-in-law felt that, as a merchant's daughter, she couldn't compare with her sisters-in-law. So, hearing her mother's words, she immediately tightened her grip on the silver notes and looked at Lin Shi. "Granduncle really has gone to great expense." Having said that, she remembered that her niece, one of her second brother's pigeon-pair twins, was already four years old. Smiling, she continued, "Yan'er takes after me. When you leave the palace later, Second Sister-in-law, take some palace pastries back with you. I'm sure Yan'er will love them."

Other gifts would be inappropriate, but some palace food would be fine.

After Lin Shi thanked her for the favor, Hua Meng shook her head. "There's no need for ceremony, Second Sister-in-law. I happen to have a favor to ask of Second Brother. If you're so formal, I'll feel embarrassed to bring it up."

Hua Meng was closest to her second brother. Hua Peng disliked studying, and after passing the examination for the xiucai degree, he had gone into business with the Lin and Lu families.

When Hua Meng had previously heard that an imperial consort's family could send her New Year's gifts, she had thought it would be fine for her family to do so for a year or two. But once her nephews began coming of age and marrying, she feared it would become difficult.

"If the dowry the family prepared for me can be sold for silver, then sell it." After saying this, Hua Meng saw that her mother was about to speak and shook her head at her before continuing, "Once it's been exchanged for silver, Second Brother can take it and go do business in the South with Granduncle and Cousin Uncle. Consort Wan in the left side hall and I are on good terms. Her own older brother is a prefect in Jiangnan. When the time comes, I'll ask her to take a share, and everything is sure to go smoothly."

As soon as Hua Meng finished speaking, Lin Shi, who came from a merchant family, brightened.

With a prefect as their backer, business would surely be easy.