The First Jasmine - Chapter 9
Chapter 9: A Visit from the Concubine
The Courtyard of Clear Serenity
Ye Li sat leisurely in her room, inspecting the bank notes that had just been delivered from the Prince Li Estate, a trace of a cold sneer flitting across her clear, elegant face. It turned out that Prince Li and Ye Ying had hooked up as early as a year ago. Over the past year or so, the antiques Prince Li had taken from Shende Pavilion on various occasions totaled over seventeen thousand taels in value, yet he had never paid a single copper.
"Miss, this Prince Li is truly utterly shameless!" Qingshuang stood behind Ye Li, puffing her cheeks in indignation. Originally, Prince Li was a renowned handsome man in the capital, and Qingshuang had harbored quite a few expectations for this future brother-in-law. She never expected that blind fool would actually break his engagement with her miss, causing her miss's reputation to be dragged through the mud. If that were all, so be it, but he actually had the audacity to take her miss's things for free. Truly shameless!
Ye Li turned around and handed the bank notes to Qingshuang, amused. "Are these words you should be speaking? Be careful—if someone hears you, even I won't be able to save you." Qingshuang stick out her tongue sheepishly, shrinking her shoulders as she said, "I know Miss wouldn't leave Qingshuang to fend for herself. Besides... who could possibly hear us in this courtyard?" The Courtyard of Clear Serenity was the smallest and most secluded courtyard in the entire Ye Estate; even the servants assigned to it were few and far between. Apart from a few coarse-work maidservants, there was only Qingshuang by her miss's side. Compared to Ye Ying's swarms of servants and maids, her own miss was so miserably destitute that she was inferior even to the daughters of the concubines.
"Miss, why did you let that Madam Wang off so easily today?" Remembering Madam Wang's starkly pale face and her tottering appearance, Qingshuang felt both gratified and discontented.
Ye Li smiled faintly. "Madam Wang is the biological mother of Consort Ye in the palace, and Fourth Sister is the future Princess Consort Li. Do you think Grandmother and Father would do anything drastic to her for my sake?"
Thinking it over carefully, Qingshuang lowered her head dejectedly, muttering, "The Old Matriarch and the Master are far too partial." Was that not the truth? Even though Madam Wang had been forced to cough up several ten thousand taels of silver, her own miss had not seen a single coin of it. Ye Li patted her and smiled. "Rest easy. With those tens of thousands of taels from Madam Wang, I can at least take all of Mother's remaining dowry with me. Compared to Mother's dowry, those tens of thousands of taels amount to nothing."
Qingshuang nodded, harboring even less goodwill toward the Ye Estate in her heart. The Ye family originally had a weak foundation; had it not been for Madam's dowry sustaining them all these years, how could they enjoy today's glory? Yet looking at the life her miss had lived over these years, to call them ungrateful wolves would not be an exaggeration.
Fearing her words might make her miss sad, Qingshuang quickly shifted the topic. "Right, Miss, this morning Madam Ye mentioned that the number of people by Miss's side is far too few. Should we add a few more, lest it look improper when you arrive at the Prince Ding Estate in the future?"
Ye Li knitted her brows slightly. It was not as though she was unaware of the scarcity of people around her. It was simply that in the past, she preferred quiet and was unwilling to have servants trailing after her constantly, so she had never paid it much mind. However, if she was to be married, this really posed a problem. She could disregard Madam Wang because she was certain Madam Wang could do nothing to her, and she could not possibly live in the Ye Estate for the rest of her life. But if she married into the Prince Ding Estate in the future, she could no longer be so casual. Lightly massaging her brow, she thought for a moment. "In a while, go tell the head steward that I wish to select a few maidservants for my courtyard." Qingshuang nodded in agreement. "Then what about the senior nannies serving by your side...?"
"There is no need to worry about that. A few days ago, Maternal Aunt mentioned that in a couple of days, she will send over Nanny Lin and Nanny Wei, who originally served by Mother's side." When her mother passed away back then, Ye Li had just recovered her memories and fallen gravely ill. During that time, Madam Wang took advantage of the chaos to stir up trouble, beating her mother's wet nurse, Nanny Su, and expelling her from the estate. By the time Ye Li's health improved slightly and she became aware of the situation, the old servants originally by her mother's side were left with only Nanny Lin and Ye Li's own wet nurse, Nanny Wei. Ye Li naturally understood Madam Wang's intentions, and she also knew that her circumstances at the time were insufficient to protect these people. Therefore, using the pretext that her mother's death made her maternal grandmother grieve, she sent Nanny Lin and Nanny Wei back to the Gu family. Over the years, the estate had been predominantly filled with Madam Wang's people; Ye Li was too indolent to bother with them, so the fewer people by her side, the better.
Qingshuang's eyes lit up, and she smiled. "The Eldest Maternal Aunt is still the most thoughtful." She had arrived somewhat later; though she had never seen Nanny Lin or Nanny Wei, she occasionally heard her miss mention them. They were all confidantes from Madam's lifetime, so they would naturally be fiercely loyal to her miss.
With the problem of the maidservants and nannies resolved, Qingshuang happily began making calculations for Ye Li. "There are only two months left until the grand wedding. The dowry the Madam and the Old Matriarch have ordered to be sent over is probably not even half as generous as Fourth Miss's. Let's have the shops pick out the finest goods to send over later, and purchase some more from various places. Ah... and Miss's bridal gown and the silk fabrics for your dowry garments..."
Ye Li sat to the side, watching with a smile as Qingshuang fussed over the details with dramatic starts and exclamations, her own mind having already drifted to a far-distant place. In her past life, she would never have dreamed that one day she would sit in a boudoir like a sheltered young lady of a grand clan, awaiting marriage. Although she had long known that Prince Ding suffered from various defects, Ye Li did not care too much. Marriage in this era was fundamentally not something a woman could decide for herself, and Ye Li had never harbored any grand expectations for love. To be able to pass a lifetime in peace, tranquility, and mutual respect was a form of happiness in its own right. It was only... the Prince Ding Estate... Thinking of the Prince Ding Estate's transcendent status within the Great Chu, she could not help but knit her delicate brows slightly.
"Third Miss, Concubine Zhao requests an audience," the little maidservant outside the door reported respectfully.
Regarding Concubine Zhao's sudden visit, Ye Li was somewhat surprised. She nodded and said, "Invite her in."
A moment later, Concubine Zhao came walking in, swaying her willow-like waist with graceful steps. She offered a slight curtsy to Ye Li. "This slave pays respects to the Third Miss."
Ye Li placed the bracelet she had been idling with back into its box, smiling with a thoroughly gentle countenance. "Concubine Zhao, please dispense with the formalities. What brings you to my place at this hour?" She casually evaluated the glamorous woman before her. This Concubine Zhao had entered the estate less than a year ago, yet she was deeply favored by Minister Ye. Otherwise, she would never have dared to speak in that manner before the Old Matriarch today. Ye Li saw that she wore a peach-pink gown with a plain silk ribbon tied at her waist, her hair casually styled in a side-swept chignon. The tassels of her vermilion hairpins swayed gently beside her face; every movement was infused with allure. No wonder she had managed to secure Minister Ye's exclusive favor shortly after her arrival. Not to mention Madam Wang, who had already birthed two daughters and a son and was gradually losing her youthful bloom, even Ye Ying, who held the title of the number one beauty, lacked a measure of her charm. It was only a pity she had arrived too late; Madam Wang's status within the estate was already deeply entrenched. What was more unfortunate was that her birth was far too low.
Concubine Zhao was an exceptionally intelligent woman, which was why she had never dared to underestimate this quiet, unrenowned Third Miss. Setting aside the Gu family behind the Third Miss—whom anyone would have to give three fractions of deference—the Third Miss herself had managed to reclaim all of the dowry left by the late Madam within a mere handful of days, and today she had even forced Madam Wang to cough up a massive amount of blood. Recalling Madam Wang's look of blood-spitting hatred and her inability to vent her fury, Concubine Zhao felt a surge of pure gratification in her heart.
"This slave begs the Third Miss to point out a path to survival for this slave." Concubine Zhao knelt on the floor with a thud, begging in a low voice.