Chapter 77 Part 1: Feast
Not long after Ming Yi Hall’s examination ended, the Jiang residence very soon received an invitation for a night feast in the palace.
Hong Xiao Emperor was fond of simplicity since young and didn’t like extravagance; however, the current Empress Dowager loved excitent. Although Hong Xiao Emperor and the Empress Dowager weren’t related by blood, the two people got along harmoniously. Hong Xiao Emperor’s birth mother, Xia guifei, passed away early. With no children born under the Empress Dowager, the late Emperor let Hong Xiao Emperor grow up under the knees of the Empress Dowager. With so many years of friendship, it could be regarded as filial piety.
This ti, aside from inviting the courtiers to a banquet, everyone knew that Hong Xiao Emperor was going to reward the top scorers of the examinations. No matter towards the student themselves or their family, this was the greatest honor. Thus, even though old madam Jiang wasn’t very fond of Jiang Li, she still instructed the person by her side to put in their effort to prepare clothes and jewelry for Jiang Li to be worn on the palace feast and to be sure not to have the slightest mistake.
Jiang Li’s life had been more comfortable compared to before. At least, after the examination, when the people working in the Jiang residence discussed her, they wouldn’t talk carelessly and publicly; instead they talked behind her back. Although their hearts were sour, Jiang Li’s status had gone up bit by bit from before. This was a fact that couldn’t be disputed.
For the palace feast, many of the Yan dynasty’s officials in Yanjing city would attend. But the Chengxuan envoy, ng You De, would not be going.
In the ng residence, compared to the lively scenery of previous days, the past few days had been desolate. Even the flowers in the garden seed to be unattended and many had withered. The dried yellow leaves fell outside of their pots and the scorching sumrti also felt sowhat harsh.
In the dim light at night, the faint voice of soone speaking was heard from inside a room. They were seemingly in a dispute as a mont later, the sound of a “bang”, sothing seed to fall down and break. Soone slamd the door and ca out.
It was ng You De.
Within a few days, ng You De had undergone great changes and beca haggard, no longer carrying the forr days’ appearance of success. Soone chased after him from behind, it was ng You De’s wife, Madam ng.
“Master, master——” Madam ng pleaded while running in small steps.
“No need to speak anymore, send her to the village manor to recuperate tomorrow. If she continues this way, sooner or later sothing big will happen!” ng You De spoke without turning his head.
“She’s your daughter, how could you be this heartless!” Madam ng shrieked.
“I’m heartless?” ng You De’s stopped, suddenly turned around. Finger pointing at the tightly shut doors of a distant room, “Look at her current appearance; will leaving her in the residence make it better? Now I’ve offended Princess Yongning, the Right Minister also no longer pays attention to . My official career ends here! All of these are disasters provoked by your good daughter! If she had originally known the imnsity of heaven and earth and didn’t make whatever wager with Jiang Li, if while on horseback she didn’t shoot the arrow and injure Princess Yongning, I, ng You De, need to go this far?”
“But.......” What else could Madam ng say?
“She’s already beco crazy now! My own daughter, don’t I feel heartache? But she’s insane! Letting her stay in the ng residence may not necessarily be a good thing. If news cos out and other people know that she’s crazy, who would dare to marry her in the future? If she stays in the village manor for so ti and cos back when she’s sowhat better, no one would know that she’s gone mad. Isn’t this better?”
Hearing him, Madam ng cald down. She looked at ng You De and asked sorrowfully: “What actually happened to Hong Jin while she was at Princess Yongning’s? Do we really have no way to avenge her?”
“Revenge?” ng You De humphed coldly. Unknown whether the anger was directed towards Princess Yongning or himself, he said: “Cheng Wang is backing Princess Yongning. At the mont, even His Majesty has a restraining fear of Cheng Wang’s power. In the future.......” He let out a breath, “the people do not participate in the official’s fight. The officials do not participate in the monarch’s fight!”
The frustration and grief in his tone made Madam ng silent in a flash.
Inside a room, in a corner of a bed, ng Hong Jin was grabbing the quilt tightly into the nook. She was looking vigilantly at the incoming person and said: “Go away..... Go away!”
There were broken pieces of a bowl containing dicine along with the dicine thrown and spilled on the ground. A servant girl bent down as she tidied the aftermath. Another servant girl was directly facing ng Hong Jin and softly comforted: “Miss, it’s all right, slave servant will not harm you.”
“Go away!” ng Hong Jin shrieked and said: “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it!”
Since ng Hong Jin was sent back by Princess Yongning three days ago, she had been like this when she woke up.
ng You De and Madam ng were afraid that Princess Yongning had tortured ng Hong Jin and the first thing they did when she returned was to let soone examine ng Hong Jin’s body to see if there were any bruises or scars. After inspection, there were no bruises whatsoever, yet when ng Hong Jin woke up, she looked like this, hiding whenever she saw a person. It was as if she had received a huge fright and no longer recognized people around her, perhaps she had even forgotten herself.
Nobody knew what happened to ng Hong Jin in Princess Yongning’s place. All of these were only known to the mad ng Hong Jin and Princess Yongning. No one dared to criticize Princess Yongning publicly. Even if it was ng You De, as long as he still cared about his future, ng Hong Jin was bound to suffer a aningless sacrifice.
......
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