...
The doctor who had been invited earlier would come to examine Chu Yan every three days as previously agreed. After the examination, Wan'er would go to the main hospital to report to Yao Youqing on the extent of Chu Yan's injuries.
When the doctor came for the second time, Wan'er went to see Yao Youqing, just like before.
Yao Youqing was taking a walk in the garden when she heard that Chu Yan's injury was healing very well, and she nodded.
"Take good care of her. When Lady Chu leaves, you can go with her if you want, or stay if you don't. I'll find you a job elsewhere."
Wan'er had previously heard her mistress say that the Princess Consort was kind-hearted, and now that she heard her say this, her eyes immediately reddened.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
She curtsied and said.
“My lady treats me very well. If she leaves the palace, I would like to go with her.”
Yao Youqing nodded in agreement, but Wan'er did not leave. Instead, she glanced at her timidly a few times, then suddenly knelt down and kowtowed heavily.
"Your Highness, could you please ask the Prince to go and see the Lady? Although the Lady has been taking good care of the injury on her shoulder, she has never paid attention to the injury on her face. Even now that it has healed, she refuses to use the face cream you gave her, saying that she wants to keep the scar to remind herself of her identity."
“But she’s a woman. Even if she doesn’t serve in the Prince’s mansion anymore, she’ll eventually get married somewhere else. If she has a scar on her face, how will she live her life?”
She started crying as she spoke, tears streaming down her face, filled with worry and anxiety.
Yao Youqing frowned: "Let yourself have a scar on your face? How can you do that? That's absurd..."
Wan'er cried, "I've tried to persuade you many times, but you just won't listen. The doctor said that the sooner you use the face cream, the better, otherwise it won't work if you leave scars later."
"But my wife won't listen to me at all. I had no other choice but to beg the Princess to ask the Prince to persuade her. My wife will definitely listen to the Prince!"
Yao Youqing understood, but did not agree immediately.
“It’s not that I don’t want to ask the Prince for you, it’s just that the Prince isn’t in the manor right now. If I send someone to go find him for this kind of thing, not only will the Prince not come back to see her, but he might even be angry with her.”
She could tell from the last time Yao Youqing asked Wei Hong if he agreed to let Chu Yan leave the mansion that Wei Hong didn't care much about this concubine.
He wouldn't necessarily see a woman he didn't care about, even if he had important business to attend to, let alone someone who went to invite him back because she disfigured herself.
Wan'er didn't understand her meaning and said, "This servant knows that the prince is busy. You don't need to go to him now. How about we let him see you when he comes back?"
Yao Youqing sighed: "It has nothing to do with whether he's busy or not, it's just that what Madam Chu does... will make him disgusted."
"As the old saying goes: 'People must love themselves before others will love them; people must respect themselves before others will respect them.' She herself has abandoned her appearance and does not cherish herself, so how can others cherish her?"
Wan'er was young and hadn't read much, so she didn't quite understand what Yao Youqing meant, but she understood what Yao Youqing meant: the Prince of Qin probably wouldn't visit their wife, no matter how busy he was.
She was at a loss and didn't know what to do. Yao Youqing sighed, "I'll go with you to see what's going on. If I can persuade her, that would be great. If I can't... well, that's Chu Niangzi's own choice, and there's nothing I can do about it."
Wan'er quickly nodded, got up and led the way to Chu Yan's courtyard.
Chu Yan's courtyard is not far from here; it's just a few steps away.
When they arrived, she was sitting blankly on the edge of the bed, her eyes vacant and her expression listless. She had lost weight in just a few days.
Hearing the noise at the door, she thought it was Wan'er returning and didn't pay attention until Yao Youqing came closer and she realized it, so she quickly got up and bowed.
“No need,” Yao Youqing said. “You are injured, so let’s skip the formalities. Please sit down.”
Chu Yan then sat back down and asked, "Why has the Princess Consort come?"
“Wan’er said you refused to use face cream and wanted to leave the scar on your face, so I came to take a look.”
"Our bodies and hair are gifts from our parents, and we should cherish them. If your parents knew you had this plan, they would be heartbroken."
"Father and mother?" Chu Yan murmured, "I don't have father and mother anymore, they are all dead... I'm all alone."
She was left all alone, wandering in a foreign land, and almost sold into a brothel.
In his despair, he was rescued by a benefactor, but in the end, he still lost himself, his reputation, and his heart.
Yao Youqing had not inquired about Chu Yan's background. Upon hearing this, her eyes darkened slightly, and she nodded.
“My mother and brother have also passed away, and now only my father is left. However, I cannot be by his side because of the late emperor’s arranged marriage. Even though I know he is injured, I cannot go back to visit him. I am also very sad.”
"But I know that no matter if they are alive or dead, or whether they are by my side, they all want me to be well. They would never want to see me get hurt, let alone see me disfigure myself."
"I never want to do anything again just because I think about what I might do that might hurt or upset them."
She looked Chu Yan up and down and said, "I see that you are well-educated and have good manners. I suppose you are a girl who has been carefully raised at home. Your parents must have treated you very well, right?"
Chu Yan followed her question, recalling her past life at home, her eyes gradually reddening.
“I am the daughter of a merchant. Although I come from an ordinary background, my parents love each other. However, they have few children and have only had me as their daughter over the years. So they raised me as a boy, hoping that I would inherit the family business and find a son-in-law to join the family.”
"But before that day even came... a natural disaster struck, and everything was gone."
Family, relatives, property, everything—all vanished overnight.
But disappearance doesn't mean she never existed. She was once the darling of her family, the apple of her parents' eye, and received just as much love as the young ladies from prestigious families.
But what about now? What is she?
One of the King of Qin's concubines, one who offered herself to him, and another who, knowing the King had no feelings for her, still lingered there for a long time.
Tears welled up in Chu Yan's eyes instantly, and her voice choked with sobs.
"I envy you so much... Your Highness, I envy you so much."
Yao Youqing thought she was crying because she was thinking of her deceased parents, but then she blurted out that she envied her.
"What do you envy about me?"
She asked, puzzled.
Chu Yan looked up: "I envy how carefree and at ease you are."
She was happy when the prince didn't come to the inner courtyard.
Even when the prince came to the inner courtyard, she remained cheerful.
But her happiness stemmed from herself, not from anyone else.
Whether the prince comes or not, she remains herself and has never lost her true self.
Yao Youqing chuckled: "What's there to envy? I have no choice but to find joy in hardship."
"Since there's no way to avoid this arranged marriage, why not try to be more open-minded and not make things difficult for yourself?"
Try to think more positively?
Chu Yan sobbed, "How can I come to this understanding?"
Yao Youqing thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... think more about happy things and let go of the unhappy ones."
"lay down?"
“Yes,” Yao Youqing nodded, “You’ll feel free once you let go.”
Letting go brings freedom.
Chu Yan murmured a sentence to herself, tears welling up in her eyes again. Suddenly, she threw herself into Yao Youqing's arms and burst into tears.
Yao Youqing was startled, her hands frozen in mid-air, unsure of what to do.
She used to always run into other people's arms and cry, but no one has ever run into her arms and cried before. What should we do?
She turned to look at Zhou's mother, who reached out and asked with her eyes whether she should pull Chu Yan away.
Yao Youqing looked down at the girl who was only a few years older than her, who was nestled in her arms, sighed silently, shook her head, and lowered her hand, just as her mother, father, and Zhou Mama used to comfort her, and gently patted her.
"It's okay, it's okay, just cry it out."
...
In the small bamboo building, on the terrace of the three-story private room, Liancheng plopped down.
"That's rare, you actually contacted me first. Are you out of money again?"
He jokingly teased Wei Hong across from him.
Wei Hong lifted his eyelids and asked in a deep voice, "What about that pastoral painting by Master Feng that you asked me for before? The one I copied."
Liancheng's expression stiffened slightly, and his eyes rolled around.
Why did you suddenly think of asking this?
“The old painting wasn’t very good. I recently painted a new one that looks more like the original. I’ll give it to you. Don’t hang that one up and embarrass me.”
Liancheng scoffed, "No need, no need. I'll just hang it in my study to look at. I won't let anyone else see it, so it's not embarrassing."
Wei Hong nodded: "It's hanging in the study?"
"Yes, your imitation is excellent. I cherish it very much! I've kept it as a treasure!"
Wei Hong smirked, took out a long, thin wooden box from behind him, and slammed it onto the table.
"Since you've treasured it all this time, how come someone else presented it to me as an original?"
Liancheng's eye twitched, and he gasped, thinking to himself, "Which blind fool actually sold the painting to someone who knows Wei Hong?"
He awkwardly turned his head away, trying to figure out how to explain, when Wei Hong spoke again: "How much did you sell it for?"
Liancheng sighed and held up a number.
In the end, Wei Hong took double the money he got from selling the paintings, and that was the end of the matter.
He came all this way but got nothing and was ripped off. He left heartbroken.
Wei Hong took the money with satisfaction and left. On the way, he stopped by Chen Ji's shop, intending to pick up some dried meat for Yao Youqing's dog.
He's been coming here often lately, and the shop assistants are quite familiar with him. They greet him very warmly, weighing the meat according to the usual amount without him having to say anything, and then wrapping it up and handing it to him.
Wei Hong took the dried meat, paid, and was about to leave when the shopkeeper said with a grin, "Your Highness, have you seen our new signboard? Since we changed it, our business has been much better!"
A cover-up?
Wei Hong hadn't noticed when he came in, but hearing him say that now, he had a bad feeling and his heart sank.
He strode out and, sure enough, saw a banner fluttering in the wind at the entrance, with the words "Dried Meat That the Prince Loves" written on it.
Chapter 38 Discovery
The waiter followed them out, pointing at the sign with a broad smile.