Backyard of the Duke Weiuguo Mansion.
In the courtyard of Lady Gao, aside from the servants she brought from her maternal family, hardly anyone from the residence cos by now.
Everyone knows that Lady Gao, as the Madam, has fallen out of favor with the Duke and been confined. She has no children under her care and likely will have no chance to rise again.
Therefore, whether to curry favor with Song Hong or to avoid trouble, everyone uniformly ignores Lady Gao.
However, Maternal Aunt Hou once intended to step on Lady Gao, but after being warned by Song Hong, the mansion knew his stance: Lady Gao can be ignored but not humiliated.
Fortunately, there’s a small kitchen in Lady Gao’s courtyard, and occasionally, Song Wu from the front yard sends the necessities to her courtyard without involving the accounts of the backyard, simplifying many matters.
But today was unusual. It wasn’t a day for sending necessities, yet Song Wu still sent soone with many items to Lady Gao’s yard, along with a letter, saying it was a letter of regards sent back by the Wife of the Heir-Apparent.
The letter soon reached Lady Gao, wherein Wang Yongzhu rely exchanged routine pleasantries, explaining that Song Chongjin was dealing with affairs outside, and the yearly gift was sent with their regards. However, since Song Chongjin was away and could not write the letter himself, she took the liberty to write greetings to the elders in the residence.
The letter didn’t ntion much else, only said they found so wild boar at which tasted quite good. Though it wasn’t abundant, they managed to procure so and sent it back for everyone to try.
She also ntioned that it’s good for health, specifically leaving ten pounds for Lady Gao, urging her to eat with peace of mind.
Finally, she inquired about Lady Gao’s health and courteously asked if everyone in the residence was doing well.
Yet this letter, which was mostly filled with courtesy, was read back and forth by Lady Gao for a long ti, reluctant to put it down.
Since being confined, the people in this courtyard seem to have been isolated from the world, with no news from outside getting through.
They tried to probe a few tis, but upon discovering Song Hong’s unwavering stance, they simply gave up.
This wasn’t so bad; staying in the courtyard, unable to go out and having no one co in, brought so peace.
Lady Gao previously had so books that she could use to pass the ti during her leisure.
The servants, while bored, thought about the ti when Old Granny Zhang planted vegetables in the residence, so they requested so vegetable seeds and cultivated the corners of the yard to plant them.
They used this to pass the ti daily, and even Lady Gao found herself drawn to spend half a day on the edge of the vegetable garden.
Thus, this letter was the first contact Lady Gao and the people in her courtyard had with news from the outside.
Several servants craned their necks to look at the letter in Lady Gao’s hand, and it was the close-serving Sister who asked, "Madam, what does the Wife of the Heir-Apparent say in the letter?"
Lady Gao smiled, "The Wife of the Heir-Apparent sent back so well-known local wild boar at from Chicheng County, specially giving our courtyard ten pounds. This is her token of goodwill, and we’ll cook this for dinner tonight."
The Sister, rare to see Lady Gao smile, was moved to tears and eagerly nodded, "Rest assured Madam, this old servant will personally cook it, so the others won’t spoil the Wife of the Heir-Apparent’s goodwill. Later, I’ll see what else was sent today and pick a couple more items to cook. Madam, you should eat well today."
Saying this, she happily went off to prepare.
Lady Gao looked at the letter in her hand, with a smile at her lips, yet tears fell from the corners of her eyes.
In the mansion, not to ntion those concubines, but even Song Hong’s children, when she was the legitimate mother, she had grievances but still fulfilled her duties towards those illegitimate children.
In her downfall, no one in the entire mansion dared to speak a word for her, afraid to get themselves involved.
In the end, the only ones who honored her and rembered her were the couple of Song Chongjin whom she had wronged.
Such fickleness of life indeed is both laughable and sad!
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