Yun Shuyue opened her mouth as if to speak, but Su Yao came over from the other end of the corridor carrying the account book. The hem of her Shu brocade skirt brushed against the snow on the stone steps. She walked up to the front and glanced at the visiting card first.
" Lady Wang's arrival is quite timely," she said, shifting the account book closer to her bosom. "I've come to tell my husband that the final payment for the third section of the road repair is due today, and the payments from the Gan Family and the cloth shop have also arrived."
"That's perfect," Gu Moran said. " Lady Wang goes into the main hall, and you sit by the door with the account books."
Su Yao's eyes lit up, and she immediately understood.
"The prince wants to shut her up first, so she won't say later that Yun Shuyue isn't living well in the prince's mansion or causing any more trouble. He wants her to hear the sound of money as soon as she enters the door."
"It wouldn't be right for the wife of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner to think that our Prince Yi's Residence is shabby when she comes to visit."
Murong Xue came over from the stables, still holding a broken riding whip in her hand. Hearing this, she laughed and said, "Then I'll take two of the fifty horses that arrived yesterday to the front yard and tie them up, so her sedan chair bearers can watch over them."
"Don't go too far," Gu Moran said. "Going too far would make us look ostentatious."
Shen Ling'er arrived last, carrying a black glazed medicine bowl. She walked to the rattan chair and shoved the bowl into his hand.
"Your Highness, please drink this bowl first."
Gu Moran at the foam floating on the surface of the bowl, his throat tightening. " Ling'er, you're telling me to take tonics when I'm weak, but I'm already so healthy, why are you making me take medicine?"
"The guest came seeking medical help. Seeing the prince drink his medicine, he realized the rumors were true." Shen Ling'er tapped the spoon against the rim of the bowl, her voice soft but her hands firm. "Drink."
Watching this scene from the side, Yun Shuyue felt her shoulders, which had been tense all night, inexplicably relax a little, and couldn't help but mutter softly, "Your Highness, you drink this every day, how come you're still not used to it?"
Gu Moran pinched his nose and gulped down half a bowl, then pointed at her and said, "You wait, I'll be watching you drink that qi-boosting soup later."
"I'm not sick."
"You sprained your ankle yesterday, do you think I didn't know?"
Yun Shuyue shrank her feet further under her skirt, her face flushed, and she turned to hide behind a pillar in the porch.
The hour of You (5-7 PM).
Uncle Fu was carrying a large, rough porcelain bowl containing a dark brown chicken leg, glistening with oil and still bearing the charred edges of its skin. The steam rose far away on the breeze from the corridor.
"Your Highness, the kitchen prepared the stew for Tiedan as you instructed; the boy just returned from school."
Gu Moran pointed to the outermost step under the porch.
"Let him sit there and eat."
Uncle Fu paused for a moment. "It's windy outside."
"Give him more clothes." Gu Moran pulled the blanket up a little.
This time, Uncle Fu didn't ask any more questions, and turned to call someone.
Confused, Yun Shuyue peeked out and asked, "Your Highness, why are you letting Tiedan gnaw on a chicken leg at the door? So many people are coming and going."
"Let him eat." Gu Moran looked at the vermilion threshold of the courtyard gate.
"He hasn't had a proper meat meal in your village for three years, so now that he's in my mansion, he deserves to eat in the brightest spot."
Yun Shuyue didn't understand the other meaning, but felt a warmth in her heart. She pouted and said, "Then I'll go roll up his sleeves for him, otherwise they'll get dirty again, and Auntie Zhao will scold me."
She had just run down the steps when she heard footsteps coming from the street ahead.
It's not just the footsteps of one or two people.
The vermilion sedan chair came down outside the gate, the sedan bearers panting, and six guards stood in two rows.
The head steward stepped forward and sang loudly into the room.
" Lady Wang, a member of the Imperial Inspector's household, requests an audience with His Highness Prince Yi, and requests that Madam Shen examine his pulse."
Just as the old servant at the gate was about to pass on the message, a person darted out from across the threshold.
Tiedan had a layer of ash on his face and a smear of oil around his mouth. He was holding a chicken leg in both hands and ran like the wind, his eyes fixed on the bare jujube tree in the yard, not even looking where he was going.
The maid had just lifted half of the sedan curtain when Lady Wang stepped onto the footstool, revealing a gold-embroidered floral pattern on her shoe.
Tiedan bumped headfirst into her skirt.
The oily hand first pressed twice on the lotus-colored silk, then rubbed it.
"Ugh! Where did this dirty thing come from!"
Lady Wang screamed and lurched backward, bumping into the sedan chair pole. The maid rushed to help her up, while the guards wanted to step forward but dared not, and could only stare helplessly.
Tiedan was knocked back and fell onto the threshold, his chicken leg still held high in the air.
He looked up.
The small, ashen-covered face stared at Lady Wang for a couple of moments, first looking at the gold floral pattern on her shoes, then at the two oily handprints on her skirt, and finally fixing its gaze on her face.
Lady Wang was also looking at him.
At that moment, her eyes held a complex mix of emotions: first disdain, then annoyance, and then something else flashed through them.
Is this child the kind Zhao Wuxu described?
Judging by his age, he really was about the same age as her lost son.
Unfortunately, she's too ugly.
My son is handsome.
She looked down at her skirt and saw that the two oil stains had spread.
"So dark and ugly, I wonder whose bastard he is."
She lifted her skirt and took half a step to the side. "Doesn't anyone in the manor care? It's so dirty, and you leave it at the entrance."
The girl quickly took out her handkerchief to wipe it.
Tiedan climbed up from the threshold, switched the chicken leg to his left hand, and then stretched out his greasy hand toward her.
"Auntie, are you alright?"
Lady Wang dodged even faster than before, her voice changing. "Don't touch me! Who's old?"
Tiedan withdrew his hand, looked up at her with a wronged expression, then bent down and looked very seriously at the hem of her skirt.
"Auntie, this dress of yours isn't good."
"... What?"
"The cloth is too slippery." Tiedan Dan said seriously, "When I was helping Auntie Zhao carry the oil can in the kitchen, the oil splashed on it and the coarse cloth could easily wipe it off, but this cloth can't."
Or I can help you take it off and let Auntie Zhao wash it; she's really good at washing clothes.
Come on, hurry up and take it off. It's best to wash it right after it gets dirty.
Among the guards outside the door, one couldn't hold back and let out a half-laugh, but was immediately shoved back by the elbow of the person next to him.
Lady Wang's face changed from white to red, then from red to green.
"You silly child—"
"Auntie, don't be angry." Tiedan took two steps back, stepping inside the doorway, and held up the chicken leg, waving it around. "This was stewed in the Prince's Mansion kitchen. Do you want some? I've already eaten half; I haven't touched the other half yet."
Yun Shuyue rushed out from behind the pillar.
She only ran three steps.
A hand gripped her shoulder, the pressure light, yet it held her firmly in place.
Lin Qingdai appeared behind her at some point, dressed in a close-fitting outfit, with her sword sheath still hanging at her waist, her eyes fixed on the six guards outside the door.
Don't go over there.
"She'll bully Tiedan." Yun Shuyue's voice trembled slightly.
" Tiedan can get his revenge himself," Lin Qingdai said. "Didn't you realize that the kid did it on purpose? He's helping you get revenge."