Chapter 524: Returning Home
Editor: Atlas Studios
When Mu Yangling and Li Jinghua returned to the Qi Residence, they heaved a huge sigh of relief. Although they were provided with good food and drinks in the palace and their safety was pretty much guaranteed, it was so tiring to talk to the Empress and the concubines in the harem. They had lost a lot of weight after more than a month.
Seeing that Mu Yangling was also relieved, Li Jinghua said with a smile, “I’ll ask the kitchen to make some delicious food. We sisters-in-law will have a nice gathering tonight.”
Mama Wang walked in quickly and said with a smile, “Eldest Madam, Fourth Madam, the East Manor just sent a message. They said that Madam has asked someone to prepare dinner. They want to have a family reunion dinner tonight.”
Mu Yangling and Li Jinghua looked at each other. Knowing that Qi Feng was most likely going to ask about the situation in their palace, they agreed helplessly.
Just as Mu Yangling was about to bid farewell and leave, Little Treasure stumbled out and hugged her calf. He raised her head and said pitifully, “Aunt, Bear Bear.”
Mu Yangling’s face darkened and she said with a straight face, “Your brother is asleep and can’t play with you.”
When these two children got together, nothing good happened. Every time they would play so much that they forgot to eat, drink, and poop. In the end, they either couldn’t help but poop on the spot or cried from hunger. She didn’t know what was so fun about it at all. One couldn’t even speak a few words, and the other couldn’t even sit steadily yet. However, the duo could talk to each other for a long time without getting bored.
Li Jinghua obviously thought of their ‘great achievements’ and hurriedly pulled Little Treasure back to persuade him. “Your little brother is asleep and you have to take an afternoon nap too. Let’s go play with him after you wake up, okay?”
Little Treasure said with moist eyes, “Sleep with Bear Bear.”
He grabbed Mu Yangling’s calf tightly. No matter how hard Li Jinghua tried, she couldn’t move him away. She didn’t dare to use too much strength, afraid that she would hurt the child. In the end, she could only say helplessly, “Ah Ling, you should carry him over. Let the two brothers sleep together. Tell the wet nurse to be tougher with them. When it’s time to feed them and relieve them, make sure to carry them away to do so. We can’t spoil them anymore.”
Mu Yangling could only agree and carry Little Treasure to Zhaohua Courtyard.
Her son was indeed sleeping. With his arms and legs spread out, he occupied half of the bed. His stomach was covered with a thin blanket, and he was sleeping soundly.
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When Little Treasure entered, he stopped talking when he saw him. After Fourth Aunt placed him on the bed, he lay down gently beside him and obediently closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Mu Yangling found it funny and covered him with a small blanket. She patted him gently and whispered, “Good baby, be good and quickly go to sleep.”
Little Treasure originally wanted to pretend to be asleep and get up after Fourth Aunt left, but under Fourth Aunt’s gentle voice, he could not help but gradually fall asleep.
Seeing that he was sound asleep, Mu Yangling got up and left, leaving the nanny to guard the room.
Spring was packing up the things to bring out of the palace. During that period of time, the Emperor and Empress had rewarded them with a lot of things to appease them. They were all fine items with high ornamental or collector’s value. Although they were not as practical as real money, Mu Yangling clearly preferred this kind of stuff.
She got Spring to register the items and placed them in their small storeroom. Rain muttered softly, “I wonder if the East Manor will come over to ask for them.”
Mu Yangling raised her eyebrows slightly, and Rain said in a low voice, “Fourth Madam, you have no idea. After you and Eldest Madam entered the palace, the nanny from the East Manor often came here to borrow things. Fortunately, as soon as you entered the palace, Mama Wang locked away all the valuable things in the storeroom and said that you took the key away. That was how she managed to brush them off…”
“The Qi Residence doesn’t lack money either,” Mu Yangling muttered. “Why is Madam Wu such a money-grubber?”
Rain pursed her lips into a smile and said in a low voice, “More accurately speaking, it’s Eldest Master and Fourth Master who don’t lack money. Fourth Madam, you’re not in charge of the family affairs, so you naturally doesn’t know that the residence isn’t that wealthy. Being only a fourth-grade imperial censor, Old Master doesn’t have a high salary and didn’t receive much stipend land. Unlike officials in the six ministries, he doesn’t receive much tributes either. Considering he also has to support the family, there’s usually not much left. Seriously speaking, the plots of land owned by him aren’t even as much as Fourth Madam’s in the suburbs of the capital.”
Mu Yangling was dumbfounded. “How did you know about this?”
How could Rain know something that even she, the master, didn’t know?
Rain lowered her head in embarrassment and said timidly, “After you and Eldest Madam went to the palace, the servant girls in our courtyards were assigned to various places to help. I was assigned to the main kitchen. There are many people coming and going there, and there are many senior servants in the residence. In addition, we often get to interact with many people when purchasing stuff. We hear things, that’s how I came to know.”
‘This is a talent for gathering information,’ Mu Yangling thought as she looked at Rain and sighed.
Mu Yangling decided to tell Mama Wang to focus on nurturing Rain later for she would definitely be of use in the future.
Mu Yangling nodded and said, “Got it. Keep these things well. Since they don’t know what exactly we’re returning with, if they really come over to ask for it, we can just give them one or two items.”
As long as they didn’t cross her bottom line, she didn’t mind giving them some consolation gifts.
However, Qi Feng did not ask about this. At the dining table, he only asked about their situation in the palace, what the Empress said when they left the palace, and indirectly asked about Qi Xiuyuan and Qi Haoran.
Qi Feng was also very helpless. He didn’t want to ask about his daughters-in-law and sons, but the key was that the letters that his eldest and fourth son wrote to him just contained simple greetings and didn’t say anything of value. Their father-son relationship had long deteriorated to this extent. Even if he could put aside his pride and ask, they might not answer. Therefore, Qi Feng simply didn’t bother to do so.
However, he did not get much information from Li Jinghua and Mu Yangling. He knew everything that the two of them knew. In fact, he knew more than them. Furthermore, he saw that the two of them appeared to be at a loss. Li Jinghua also said, “Eldest Master rarely told me about the outside world. In his letters, he merely instructed me to raise Little Treasure well and be filial to my in-laws. Aside from that, he only asked me to live in the capital in peace and listen to the Imperial Court’s arrangements.”
Qi Feng looked at Mu Yangling, who hurriedly said, “Father, you know that I’m not very literate and don’t know much. The letters Fourth Master wrote to me mostly mentioned the scenery and customs he encountered along the way. He rarely discussed military matters. Why don’t I bring the letters over for you to see?”
Qi Feng’s face darkened. There was no way he would read his daughter-in-law’s letter. He felt a little resentful towards his fourth son for failing to meet his expectations and for being too much of a romantic. To think that he was still in the mood to write about the scenic customs along the way at a time like this. Considering he sent a letter back every three days, Qi Feng had thought that serious matters were being mentioned in the letter. Clearly, his son had nothing better to do and was wasting resources.
Qi Feng was furious. The meal was extremely dull. As for his two grandsons, Qi Feng only looked up and praised them for being very smart. Aside from that, he didn’t say anything else.
Li Jinghua frowned slightly, a little dissatisfied. She turned to look at Qi Shaosheng’s eldest son, Qi Ming. When she saw him snuggling up to Madam Wu and running to Qi Feng’s side to look up and wheedle, she was even more displeased.
Mu Yangling sensed that something was wrong with Li Jinghua’s mood. Although she was still smiling appropriately, she still felt that something was wrong, so she was not in the mood to stay. Seeing that Little Bear was yawning, she stood up and took the opportunity to leave.
When they walked out of the main courtyard and were the only ones on the road, Mu Yangling asked curiously, “What’s wrong with you, Sister-in-law?”
“Father doesn’t differentiate between the legitimate wife and the concubine. He values Second Brother’s child too much and totally neglects Little Treasure. If this was in an ordinary family, it would set the foundation for chaos in the family.”