Chu Jingan never liked to take Changshou out. Changshou was his wet nurse's child and his foster brother. In the past, he hated his wet nurse's meddling and therefore disliked his foster brother Changshou as well.
The people he was most proud of seemed to be Changfeng and Changlu. They were both smart and hardworking, and were the proud people around him.
For this reason, Concubine Yu was a little worried at first, because although Changfeng Changlu was a good boy, he was not the child of an old servant in the mansion, and his background was poor after all.
You have to know that the people following Chu Jingwu were all sons of the prince's close retainers.
Even the ones around Shen Chen, such as Xuesong and Hanbo, were not from the Pingxi Marquis' Mansion, but were trained by the prince himself.
But as time went by, she saw that her son was used to it, so she stopped paying attention to it.
Thinking about it now, she couldn't help but frown.
Nanny Peng approached cautiously, and seeing that she seemed to be in a bad mood, she gently advised her: "Concubine, we have to do everything step by step. Didn't you say that we should be patient and not hasty... The prince is a man who values friendship after all, and he has suffered from being born out of wedlock in the past, so he always wants to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children and rectify their status, so as to avoid unrest in the mansion and the backyard..."
These principles were told by Concubine Yu and Nanny Peng.
Concubine Yu sighed, "I know all this, and I'm not upset because of it. You have to take one step at a time and eat one bite at a time. The princess made a big mistake in a serious matter, and she was cautious in other matters. This is why the officials have repeatedly advised the prince to bring the princess back. The prince can't tell the officials about such private matters and let them know what the princess did."
"It's not that easy to bring her down. I just advised An'er to behave himself, but why did he get himself into a dead end and couldn't get out?" Her eyes were sore and she felt a little tired. She shook her head to feel better. She frowned and suddenly ordered her, "Mammy, go to the front and find Changfeng Changlu."
Aunt Peng was surprised: "Looking for them?"
It is not so easy to enter the inner courtyard, especially the inner courtyard of the royal palace. After all, the princess is in charge now. If she catches any handle and takes advantage of it, it will not be a good thing.
Concubine Yu did not hesitate, and hummed, her eyes determined: "An'er is not quite right, go to the front and find them, I have something to ask them."
When Nanny Peng heard that something was not quite right with Chu Jingan, she didn't dare to say anything. She quickly responded and went to the front to call Changfeng Changlu in while Chu Jingan was out. She met them in the side hall next to the conference room.
After all, they were already grown boys, so it was not convenient to take them to Concubine Yu's courtyard, so they were simply taken to the meeting room. This way, it could be said that Concubine Yu wanted to give them instructions, and since they were Chu Jing'an's long-term attendants, it was natural for them to do so.
The side hall was burning with the scent of mint, which was Concubine Yu's favorite. It was refreshing and made people feel refreshed as soon as they came in.
Changlu and Changfeng were both very frightened, and they fell to their knees as soon as they came in.
I don’t know what happened recently, but they gradually lost Chu Jingan’s trust. Now Chu Jingan doesn’t take them with him when he goes out, and always thinks they are meddling too much.
Now that Concubine Yu wanted to see them again, they instinctively thought that something had happened and it was time to settle the score.
Concubine Yu took a sip of tea and glanced at the two of them. Seeing that they were kneeling straight with a look of fear on their faces, she whispered, "How long has it been since you went out with the young master?"
As a long-term attendant, it is necessary to go out with your parents.
Changlu's tongue felt bitter, and he supported himself on the ground with his hands, not daring to answer: "To answer the concubine... it has been... more than two months..."
Two months.
This is very abnormal.
When the young masters of the mansion go out, they must be accompanied by people. When there are many people, there will be a lot of people following them. When there are few people, there should be at least four or five people following them.
It’s not that Chu Jingan is without useful people around him. Changfeng and Changlu were both people who had trained in martial arts later on and have always been very useful, but suddenly he no longer needs them to follow him.
And it has been such a long time, so Chu Jingan should have some new people around him, otherwise it would be very inconvenient for him to go out and do things.
But there was no news that Chu Jingan had added new servants and attendants to his side. In order to facilitate the work of both sides, Concubine Yu would know about the addition and subtraction of staff around Chu Jingan as per the convention.
Her brows unconsciously furrowed even tighter, and she asked again: "What did you do wrong to anger the young master?"
Changlu was so frightened that he immediately lay down. Seeing Concubine Yu asking this, he hurriedly shook his head: "To answer your Majesty, we dare not. We don't know what's going on. Since the young master came back from Fuzhou two months ago, he no longer likes to take us out. Usually, he only lets Changshou follow him..."
When Nanny Peng saw that Concubine Yu looked unhappy, she also became anxious.
Her grandson also followed Chu Jingan. If Chu Jingan only wanted Changshou to follow, wouldn't her grandson also be rejected? She coughed and said, "What's going on? Nothing happened, nothing happened, why doesn't the young master want others to follow him?"
“This…” Changlu rolled his eyes, seeming to be a little embarrassed. He glanced at Nanny Peng and said nothing.
Changfeng didn't dare to speak.
This further confirmed Concubine Yu's guess, and her eyes turned gloomy in an instant.
As early as just now, when Chu Jingan refused to discuss marriage with her, she realized that something was wrong - Chu Jingan was not that kind of person. He was always very rational and knew how to judge the situation. He knew what to do and what not to do, and he never made a mistake.
But today, when the topic of marriage was brought up, he acted extremely disgusted, and his attitude was so perfunctory that people had to become suspicious.
She looked gloomy as she looked at Changlu and Changfeng who were kneeling in front of her. After a while, she asked them, "You haven't been used for so long, don't you think it's strange? Why didn't you go and ask?"
The competition for favor among these servants was no less peaceful than in the backyard, and each of them tried their best to win the master's favor. You have to know that once they were used, they might become the manager of the master's shop or the head of a village in the future, and they would not stay by his side and work as servants all their lives.
Changfeng and Changlu were so useful in the past, she didn't believe that they didn't react at all and didn't fight for it.
Changfeng and Changlu swallowed their saliva, looked at each other, and trembled for a long time before Changlu spoke: "My Lady Concubine, it's not that I don't want to say it, it's just..."
They were just afraid that if Chu Jingan found out about it, they would have a hard time. (To be continued)