Chapter 131: Old Resentments Are Hard to Dispel (Part 2)

  The lady's heart suddenly tightened upon hearing these words.

  For the people of the Hou Mansion, it was Master Guo who fell ill, and Shu Hua stayed in the mansion to take care of him. But how did the servants find out that someone had been injured?

  The lady said: "What's going on? Haven't seen Big Nai's person?"

  Miao Ding's family way: "Not seeing, the Hou Fu had an accident, the slave where dare to stay for a long time, just found the daily contact with the mother-in-law asked, and quickly returned to report to the lady."

  What's going on, could it be Shu Hua?

  Miao Ding's family servant came out and advised: "Madam, don't worry, it doesn't seem to be the young lady. If something happened to the young lady, how could the Zhao family dare to hide it?"

  The old lady glanced at Miao Ding's house and said, "You go down first, come back and investigate when you have time."

  Miao Ding's Fang went out of the house.

  Something's wrong, lately everything is not going well. Not only can't move easily, but also can't take care of herself. It seems that even the servants are afraid to come near her. The mistress's heart is like being roasted by fire, what she fears most is Shu Hua's temper...

  Shu Hua was fine when she left home, but suddenly disappeared without a trace. Yesterday, she only sent a message back saying, "Mother, don't worry, I have my own way."

  The lady on this side is thinking in her room.

  Yao Hua entered the old lady's house.

  Ronghua raised her head and took a look, Yao Hua was surrounded by maidservants and came over, with every move still showing the weak and delicate demeanor of a young lady, the color of her clothes was especially simple and elegant, and she didn't wear any flowers in her hair, only using silk ribbons to tie it up.

  Yao Hua went forward and paid her respects to the old lady.

  The old lady smiled and said, "Since your eighth sister has returned, I had you called over. You sisters haven't seen each other for a long time. Originally, we were thinking of having everyone gather at home on your father's birthday, but now it seems that might not be possible."

  Yao Hua paid her respects to Rong Hua.

  Rong Hua smiled slightly, "Second sister's illness seems to have improved a lot." The previous illness came on suddenly and was over as soon as it was said to be better, so one can imagine how much of the later illness was true or false.

  Yao Hua lowered her head and smiled slightly, "The weather is warming up, my illness will get much better, as long as I wear a bit more, there won't be any hindrance."

  Ronghua smiled and continued talking to the old lady, "Will there be people coming from Father's ancestral home on his birthday?"

  The old lady said, "Your father is the head of the clan after all. Even if it's a small affair, we must be thorough with the etiquette. After all, there are still some close relatives coming over." She paused and continued, "What I mean is to call back all the family members, no need to invite outsiders."

  Rong Hua nodded slightly.

  After chatting for a while, the old lady was somewhat tired and had Rui Qing support her to lie down on the imperial concubine's couch.

  Ronghua, Yanhua and Yaohua went out to the pavilion to talk.

  The little maids brought tea and fruit for the young ladies and madams to eat, then gathered together to watch the big fish in the pool.

  Ronghua and a few others chatted while watching the maid on the other side feed the fish.

  The maid said, "The fish in this pool are very strange and need to be fed several kinds of food." As she spoke, the maid threw a piece of fish food into the pool. After a while, a gold-and-white striped carp swam up from the bottom of the pool, opened its mouth and swallowed the food.

  Yao Hua said: "The other day, I heard my elder sister mention that there is a 'Qinghua Temple' with the most prosperous incense, and many people go there to pray for peace in their families."

  Yan Hua suddenly had some spirit, "I've also heard of 'Qinghua Temple' before, it's said that many people go there to pray for blessings." Each Bodhisattva is in charge of one aspect, if you want to seek peace at home, you should go to Qinghua Temple. Yan Hua had long wanted to go to the temple to burn incense.

  Yao Hua nodded, "I was just thinking that if I had time, I should go burn incense to pray for peace and safety."

  "How about we go burn incense tomorrow then?"

  Yao Hua said: "That's not good, sister don't say it, it's always more convenient, but now I'm having a hard time getting out."

  A married woman is generally more convenient in action than a maiden waiting for marriage.

  Yan Hua said, "It's just going to burn incense, which young lady hasn't gone to burn incense before? At most, they'll find some people to follow along, enter through the side door, and come back after burning incense. They won't meet any outsiders," she said, looking at Rong Hua, "What do you think, Eighth Sister?"

  Yan Hua's enthusiasm was suddenly doused as he looked at Rong Hua, only to see that Rong Hua's gaze was unusual.

  Ronghua said: "It's always a bit unsafe for two people to go to the temple." The temple is just a mud Bodhisattva, and it's feared that if the wish is not fulfilled, something will happen.

  Especially for Renhua, a heart full of worries, can't be entrusted to those inanimate objects?

  Yan Hua let out a soft "oh" and fell silent for a moment before speaking up again, "Let's ask Grandma instead."

  Yao Hua ate two candied dates, and on the other side, the little maids had finished feeding the fish.

  Because Ronghua had to leave early, dinner was served earlier. After a while, the maid came over and said: "Dinner is ready." A few people were about to go back to Grandma's room to invite Grandma out.

  Then two deaf old women passed on the message to Jinxiu.

  Jinxiu whispered in Ronghua's ear: "The Marquis has arrived."

  Ronghua couldn't help but feel a little surprised. Xue Mingrui rarely came back this early, and yet he had come directly here without even telling her last night that he would be coming.

  Xue Mingrui's words last night came to mind again, and it should be what he said that made the attitude of Madame Jiang, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, towards her like that.

  Rong Hua was about to take Jinxiu to welcome them when Chen Mama came over and said, "The first wife also said that nothing has been prepared."

  Rong Hua smiled and said, "I didn't know before either."

  Madam Chen said, "Quickly think, what does the young master like to eat? Tell the chef to make some dishes. We have several chefs in the house who are good at both southern and northern cuisine." Just then, Liao Shi also came over with a smile on her face and said, "The young master has arrived? Let's not talk here, Rong Hua should go accompany him instead."

  Madam Chen smiled, "I'm old and got flustered when I heard the young master had arrived," she paused for a moment before continuing, "You go ahead, Miss, I'll follow behind and listen in."

  Liao's family kindly walked with Rong Hua, "I don't know if the dishes made by Master Hou last time were used or not."

  Ronghua smiled and said, "Third Aunt doesn't need to go to so much trouble."

  Liao smiled and said: "How can that be? I've already asked the chef to prepare more dishes, you're asking for a few more of the Duke's favorite dishes, isn't that troublesome?"

  Ronghua smiled and replied.

  Everyone in the mansion suddenly became busy.

  Ronghua recalled the scene when she first entered the mansion, and when Zhao Xuanhuan and Shuhua returned, it was almost identical to what was happening now, except that at the time, she was just a concubine who had been left out in the cold.

  Ronghua was surrounded by people laughing and talking, the crowd walked through the corridor, and the red tassels under the lanterns also floated towards the crowd.

  In an instant, Yao Hua and Yan Hua were left behind.

  Yao Hua looked at Rong Hua walking away and didn't know what she was thinking, after a while Yan Hua unnaturally smiled and said "I'll go take a look too, see if there's anything I can help with."

  Yao Hua nodded, and the two of them each had their own thoughts, neither staying in place for too long.

  Yao Hua returned to the house to change her clothes, and Xiang Zhu said by her side: "Now it's just relying on Master Hou that it's like this. In the future, when Miss marries the Crown Prince, won't it be the same glory?"

  Xiang Zhu's words of comfort had changed, when Rong Hua first married into the family, Xiang Zhu said that although she was marrying into a noble and aristocratic family, who didn't know about Wu Mu Hou's reputation? In the end, whether it was glorious or not depended on one's own heart. The Xue family wouldn't treat a concubine's daughter well anyway.

  But now it has become like this.

  It's clear how much Hou Ye values Rong Hua, otherwise why would he bother to help? Rong Hua was just returning to her maternal home, but Hou Ye personally came to pick her up.

  No one from the Zhao family has shown up.

  Just this slight change, and everyone's heart had a chill. In the future, even if she married in smoothly, she would only be a stepmother, and the people in the mansion wouldn't have any other rumors? Although her grandmother was still good to her, it was already greatly different from before. Yao Hua slowly sat down, and her heart couldn't help but feel a few pangs of hidden pain.

  "Why didn't big sister come back today?"

  "That side sent a message saying that Big Uncle is ill, so Eldest Miss won't be able to return." Xiang Zhu said quietly: "Just now, someone from Miao Ding's family came out of the main wife's room, presumably they went to Zhao's house to ask around."

  Yao Hua didn't say a word, Xiang Zhu hastily fetched some clothes and handed them over to Yao Hua.

  "Which dress will you wear, Miss? The pink one or the new one you wore at the perfume party?"

  Yao Hua thought for a moment, "Wear that new one"

  Xiang Zhu nodded, took out the clothes and gave them to Yao Hua to change into. The pale green camphor-patterned jacket with a high collar, the autumn-colored hundred-pleated skirt, the fluffy hair was styled in a high heavenly bun, secured with a jade-inlaid gold flower hairpin, and at the back, silk ribbons were braided over both sides, ending at the swallowtail, just revealing the tip of the tassel.

  Afraid of the cold, he also wore a half-transparent silk cloak outside.

  Her eyebrows were lightly painted, her lips had a hint of crimson but didn't fully bloom, only vaguely visible inside, compared to the pale color outside, it was as if peeking into the heart of a flower, amidst sickness, yet extremely beautiful, with a fragile vulnerability hidden beneath the allure.

  Having dressed up like this, I already heard someone outside say: "The old lady said that even if it's a family banquet, there's no need to be too particular, let the second young lady go over as well."

  Xiang Zhu said outside: "Miss, change your clothes and come over."

  When the maid left, Yao Hua pinched some incense with her fingers and then took Xiang Zhu to the old lady's house.

  The old lady's house, everyone sits together and talks.

  Xue Mingrui arrived, and everyone couldn't help but feel a little restrained, except for Rong Hua who blushed and smiled naturally by his side.

  The old lady ordered someone to bring out that set of thin porcelain from her house to make tea for Lord Hou.

  The tea water is poured into the cup, and from the outside, a faint green color can be seen, blending with the color of the bottom of the cup, like the sea and sky merging into one.

  Seeing Ronghua liked it, the old lady said: "I still have a brand new set, if Ba Jiao likes it, take it away."

  Ronghua smiled and said: "How can that be good? I know Grandmother likes tea sets the most."

  The old lady smiled kindly and said, "I'm still saving up for you to play with. Now that you're happy, I can be happy too." Then she went to look at the hairpin on Ronghua's head, a butterfly with wings spread wide, on which hung grains of rice-sized gemstones in various colors. From afar, it seemed as if the butterfly was perched among her hair, this hairpin was something that Ronghua had never had before, and should be the one that Master Hou had just bought for her.

  The old lady nodded, she had also sent many things to the Zhao family, all of which were favored by Mrs. Cai.

  The old lady took a look at Xue Mingrui, Xue Mingrui's slender eyes, when looking at Rong Hua, showed some smile... From now on, let's see what Rong Hua likes.

  The old lady was thinking, when Yao Hua entered the house, everyone's gaze was drawn over to her in an instant.

  Hope everyone leaves more messages...

  Only in this way can we make progress...