"It's only been a few days, and the treatment hasn't even started yet, but he says he can't be cured and wants to divorce me. This is too heartless and ungrateful." The Princess Consort of Prince De said indignantly.
Jiang Changning frowned. She just wanted to teach Xu a lesson, not to get her divorced. "Since she suddenly lost her voice for no reason, what if she suddenly gets better for no reason? What should the Qing Palace do then? Should they take the divorced woman back?"
"I don't think this rumor is credible. No matter what, Prince Qing's Mansion won't be so impatient. It will take at least a year or two for the man to heal his wife before they can talk about divorcing her." Wen Bingqing analyzed.
"Bingqing is right. Only if you act as benevolent as possible will you not be criticized for divorcing your wife." Zeng Zhaofu agreed.
"I don't know who spread this rumor, but I'm sure the person has ulterior motives," said Jiang Changning.
"I heard." The Crown Princess of Changshan came again.
The four of them approached her again, and heard the Changshan Prince's Consort say, "The Qing Prince's Consort has a niece who is newly widowed."
Zeng Zhaofu suddenly realized, "She was so anxious to let her son divorce Xu, it must be because she wanted her son to marry her widowed niece."
"This is too despicable." Jiang Changning said with disgust.
"What she wants is nice, but it's impossible to accomplish. The Duke of Wei's Mansion will not agree to let the eldest son divorce his wife so easily." said the Crown Princess of Prince De.
"I know a miracle doctor. Do you think we should introduce him to Prince Qing's Mansion to treat Xu's illness?" Zeng Zhaofu asked.
Jiang Changning said: "I think it would be better to introduce him to the Duke of Wei's Mansion."
"Changning is right. It is better to introduce her to the Duke of Wei's Mansion than to the Prince of Qing's Mansion." The Princess of Changshan echoed.
"Okay then. I'll bring the miracle doctor to Duke Wei's mansion tomorrow." Zeng Zhaofu disliked Xu, but he couldn't bear to see her being divorced.
This rumor, which seemed both true and false, made Jiang Changning pay special attention to the movements in Prince Qing's Mansion and he reflected deeply on it.
Just making Xu mute for half a month could lead to the crisis of her being divorced.
Jiang Changning had not expected this situation. It was true that taking the medicine only gave temporary relief, but the consequences were unbearable.
In the next few days, there was no news about the eldest son of Prince Qing divorcing his wife, but there was news that Prince Qing's Mansion was looking for famous doctors to cure Xu's muteness.
While outsiders praised the affectionate nature of Prince Qing's Mansion, Xu inside the mansion was in tears. In just a few days, she had already felt the heartlessness of her husband's family.
That day, the eldest son never entered her house again, saying that he was afraid that her strange disease would be transmitted to him.
She didn't blame him for hiding from his illness, but he shouldn't have been so intimate with his cousin who had just lost her husband and was a widow less than a hundred days ago.
"Grandma, please stop crying. Your eyes won't be able to bear it if you continue." The maid brought in medicine and saw that she was crying again, so she advised her.
"Wuwuwu" Xu looked at the medicine and cried even more sadly.
"Grandma, your illness can definitely be cured. Please drink the medicine," said the maid.
"Bang" Xu knocked over the bowl. Hasn't she taken enough medicine in the past few days
But it was of no use, she still couldn't speak.
A few days ago, her mother-in-law asked about her health with concern, but since yesterday, she asked her to stay in the yard and not to come out unless necessary.
The mother-in-law thought she was embarrassing. The more Xu thought about her grief, the more she turned around, threw herself on the pillow and burst into tears.
The maidservant tried to persuade him for a long time but to no avail, so she had to go and clean up the broken bowl and medicine residue.
At this time, Prince Jin's Mansion received rewards from the palace.
It's not a festival, and there's nothing festive. Why does the Queen Mother give out rewards
Although Jiang Changning felt it was strange, she still put on her formal makeup with the concubine, set up the incense table, respectfully accepted the imperial edict, and collected the things.
The imperial edict was nothing special, just praising Prince Jin and saying that Prince Jin had worked hard at her Qianqiu Banquet.
The rewards were some miscellaneous items, including snow satin and cicada-wing gauze from the south of the Yangtze River, thick woolen gauze and soft gauze from the north of the border, as well as bright red feather satin and blue feather gauze from tribute, totaling dozens of pieces.
There are also antique ornaments, three boxes of lake pearls and one box of sea pearls.
The eunuch held out a small brocade box and said, "This is a gift from the Queen Mother specially given to Princess Jin."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Jiang Changning took the small brocade box with both hands and placed it beside him.
"The Queen Mother said that when Princess Jin is free, she can come to the palace more often. The Queen Mother will never forget what happened in the past, so Princess Jin should also not forget the old friendship."
He brought up what happened in the past again. He is obviously an ungrateful person, but he insisted on pretending to be grateful. It's really disgusting.
"It was just a coincidence back then. Please forget about it, Your Majesty." Jiang Changning said calmly.
After sending the eunuchs away, Jiang Changning said to the concubine, "This cicada wing gauze is thin and light, and it will be cooler to wear in summer. Make two sets for my mother, two sets for Kang Ren, and one set each for me and the prince."
"There's so much material that one person can make four sets of clothes, which are also convenient for replacement," the concubine said generously.
Jiang Changning had no objection. Although this cicada wing gauze was rare, it could be bought in Jiangnan as long as one had money.
"Kang Ren is a child, it would be too extravagant to use sea pearls. You can use this box of lake pearls to make jewelry." The concubine allocated.
Lake pearls are artificially cultivated, while sea pearls are natural.
A small portion was distributed and most of it was registered and stored.
Jiang Changning took the small brocade box back to Rujingyuan. When he opened the box, he saw a jade monkey inside.
As soon as you touch it, you will feel cool and moist.
Looking at the texture, which is smooth and without any lint, you can tell that this is a piece of jade that is very valuable.
Since ancient times, auspicious objects carved with this precious ice jade are mostly dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, Guanyin, etc. The empress dowager was quite unique and used this jade to carve a crowned monkey.
"This monkey is carved very vividly," Fu Cui praised.
Jiang Changning glanced at her sideways, "People are scolding your master, and you are still happy, you are so silly."
Not only Fu Cui, Xiaochun and Banqin didn't understand either. They all looked at Jiang Changning with confused eyes.
Jiang Changning coughed lightly and said, "I'm thirsty." After kneeling there for a long time and listening to the eunuch reciting, he was really a little thirsty now.
Fu Cui quickly poured tea and said, "Master, please have some tea."
Jiang Changning drank two cups of tea and said, "Look at the jade monkey. Is there a word 'Chu' engraved on it?"
Ban Qin leaned forward to take a look. “It has the word ‘Chu’ carved on it.”
"Have you ever heard of a monkey in human form?"
The third maid nodded, and Xiaochun said, "The monkey is dressed as a human, but it looks like a human but not a human."
"This idiom comes from a sentence in the "Records of the Grand Historian: The Annals of Xiang Yu", which says 'People say that the people of Chu are monkeys wearing hats, and it is true.' This sentence means that the people of Chu are just a show, just like a monkey wearing a hat to pretend to be a human. I didn't believe it before, but after meeting the Queen of Chu, I know that this saying is true."
The three maids still seemed to understand, so Jiang Changning continued, "Hangzhou belonged to the Chu State in ancient times, so I am considered a Chu person."
Fu Cui said angrily: "I will take this thing out and smash it."
"Nonsense! This is a gift from the palace. How can you smash it?" Jiang Changning closed the brocade box and said, "Just take it and worship it."
"Yes, Princess." Although Xiaochun was angry, she still obeyed the order.
(End of this chapter)