Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 44

Volume 2: The Captivating Splendor of Jingdu

Flower Viewing Party​¹

Ji Qingchi was asked to stay.

But Su Yi’s room wasn’t large, and their shop didn’t have many rooms either. Several maidservants were already squeezed in together, and there were no spare rooms to be found now.

            

Su Yi didn’t dare slight an Imperial Daughter, so she had no choice but to offer half of her own bed to Ji Qingchi.

Before Su Yi transmigrated, she had been single​² for a long time. She finally got a girlfriend, but after only a month of dating, the other person dumped her​³ because she was too busy with work and found a new girlfriend.

Aside from her mother, this was actually the first time she had shared a bed with another woman. Sigh, if only the person wasn’t the female protagonist, who kills without batting an eye.

            

Su Yi’s mind wandered far away​⁴. Suddenly, a teasing voice sounded by her ear, “Miss Su, isn’t it cold pressed against the wall?”

“Not cold, I just like sticking to the wall.” Su Yi pressed herself even harder against the wall, trying earnestly to avoid Ji Qingchi on the outer side. “I’m already asleep.”

After saying that, she didn’t utter another word and even deliberately let out soft snores, as if she had truly fallen fast asleep in an instant.

            

Ji Qingchi smiled, gazing at her profile. After a good while, she closed her eyes too.

The next morning, when Su Yi got up, she found Ji Qingchi already gone.

She instantly breathed a sigh of relief. She really hadn’t known what she would say to the female protagonist upon waking up so early.

            

After tidying up, she summoned Yan Can. “Send someone to inquire if there are any residences for sale. We need to find a place to live first.”

They were currently living in the large courtyard behind the shop, which only had four rooms – places for the shop assistants and embroiderers to stay, plus two warehouses for storing cloth. When their large group arrived yesterday, they really couldn’t find space. Her mother had no choice but to have someone clean up a warehouse, and then several people squeezed into it, making do for the night.

“Yesterday, while Miss was asleep, the Family Head already sent people out to look,” Yan Can quickly reported. “Our people asked over a dozen places, and every single one is asking a very high price.”

            

Su Yi frowned. “How high?”

“The cheapest one wants seven thousand taels​⁵.”

That was truly outrageous. Back then, buying this shop with its courtyard had only cost her just over three thousand taels.

            

“What, places for people to live are more expensive than shops?”

“It’s said that someone from the Marquis Pingyang’s residence put out the word, saying they’re not allowed to sell to us.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh bitterly out of anger. Su Tianci was really trying to wipe them out completely​⁶. Did he think he could blot out the sky with one hand​⁷?

            

“Alright, you don’t need to ask anymore. I’ll think of another way.”

Marquis Pingyang held considerable power in the capital. The only ones who could possibly suppress the Marquis’s residence were those few Imperial Daughters and the Emperor.

She couldn’t reach the Emperor, but she could perhaps work through those Imperial Daughters. Didn’t Su Tianci want to marry an Imperial Daughter? Heh, she’d make it so he couldn’t reach a single one, make him give up that notion entirely.

            

After thinking for a moment, she sought out Shaoyao, who had previously helped her manage the accounts. This young maidservant looked clever, was mature and steady, and knew how to read people – she was the only suitable choice for gathering information. Su Yi gave her two hundred taels of silver. “Go to the First Imperial Prince’s Mansion every day and see if you can build connections with the kitchen maids, purchasing agents​⁸, or guards there. Once you’re close, have them tell you the dates when the First Imperial Prince’s Mansion holds its Flower Viewing Parties.”

“Yes.” Shaoyao was very discreet and didn’t ask why Su Yi wanted this done. She only knew that since it was her Mistress’s command, there must be a reason for it. She took the money and went off to handle the task.

Although the First Imperial Prince was royalty, he was, after all, a man, so the security at his mansion wasn’t excessively strict. Shaoyao quickly used the silver in her hand to establish good relations with two kitchen maids and one purchasing agent from the mansion.

            

She cozied up to them daily. Those people ate her food, drank her drinks, and took her silver, so they soon confided sincerely​⁹ in her. Eight days later, Shaoyao came back to report, “Miss, the people at the First Imperial Prince’s Mansion said they will be holding a Flower Viewing Party the day after tomorrow.”

“Can you get them to obtain an invitation card?”

“They are just servants, they can’t get invitation cards. However, your servant guessed that Mistress would likely want to attend, so I asked them to put in a good word with the mansion’s steward​¹⁰ and obtained a wooden plaque​¹¹ that grants attendance.”

            

Saying this, she took out a plaque made of yellow wood from her sleeve and handed it over.

Su Yi reached out and took it. “Attending Merchant​¹²?”

“According to that steward, every time they hold a Flower Viewing Party, they always invite a large batch of merchants who supply rouge​¹³ and powders, wine, vegetables, and meat. The things used in the mansion are all supplied by those merchants.”

            

That explained it. Where did the First Imperial Prince get so much money to hold so many Flower Viewing Parties? Turns out he was taking from the merchants to use for the nobility​¹⁴. Every time, he made those merchants provide goods. Firstly, they wouldn’t dare refuse, and secondly, merchants had low status; how could they be unwilling to have a chance to interact with royalty? They probably scrambled over each other for the opportunity.

“Alright, I understand.”

Using the name of the ready-to-wear clothing shop was too conspicuous; she might be targeted the moment she entered. Su Yi planned to enter the First Imperial Prince’s Mansion under the guise of a rouge merchant.

            

She quite enjoyed researching rouge. The rouge she had snatched from a stranger Young Master in the teahouse previously – after careful study, she found the powder wasn’t ground finely enough, felt granular, and was uncomfortable on the face.

The rouge-making techniques in Yanxue Kingdom were very basic. They actually put various flowers into a jar, crushed them, collected the flower juice and residue together, soaked thick paper fully with it, and once it dried, that was a sheet of rouge.

Because the residue was mixed in, it was understandable​¹⁵ that it felt granular.

            

What shocked Su Yi was that after sending someone to ask about the specific method, she was amazed to find that Yanxue Kingdom didn’t even have the kind of stone mortars​¹⁶ that could grind things finely.

Adhering to the concept of passing down the ancestors’ culture – and, of course, making money – Su Yi quickly had a carpenter make the item. Then, following the method from her memory, she obtained gromwell root (zi cao rong), mulberry bark (sang bai pi), rock honey (shi mi), and poplar resin (hu tong lei)​¹⁷, ground them finely, and put them in a pot to boil. The resulting liquid was poured onto thick cloth, which was then cut into pieces. That product was high-quality rouge.

The boiled product had no granular feel, and these ingredients were all Chinese medicinal herbs, with beautifying and skin-nourishing effects far superior to flower juice.

            

After using it herself several times and finding the effects good, Su Yi felt reassured. She made a lot for her mother too, and distributed some to the maidservants, embroiderers, and assistants at home. Receiving unanimous praise, Su Yi gained confidence. On the day of the Flower Viewing Party, she had someone bring the goods, took the alias Yin Su​¹⁸, and headed towards the First Imperial Prince’s Mansion.

With one Flower Viewing Party after another, everyone was suffering from aesthetic fatigue​¹⁹. To increase the success rate of matchmaking, the First Imperial Prince had racked his brains​²⁰, coming up with quite a few novelties.

Like this time, for instance, he actually required everyone entering the mansion to wear a mask. This was learned from the distant people of Dongli Kingdom. It was said to create a sense of distance and hazy beauty.

            

When Su Yi arrived at the mansion gate, the guard offered her three masks to choose from: a pig, a horse, and a cow.

Su Yi mentally channeled the ‘Grandpa looking at phone’ meme face, pointing at a stranger Young Master who had just walked in, “Why does he get to pick a good-looking one?”

The stranger Young Master wore a meticulously crafted silver mask that covered only his eye area, revealing his not-so-prominent nose bridge and somewhat protruding chin. Thinking about the ideal qizhu he was about to obtain, he swaggered through the gate.

            

“He had that custom-made in advance. If you have the ability, go custom-make one in advance too.” The guard rolled his eyes. “Take it or leave it. If you don’t want it, don’t go in. Don’t hold up others entering the mansion.”

There were quite a few people behind her, also shouting, “Hurry up in front! Did you eat beans and get diarrhea? So slow, can you not hold people up?”

If I had known about this rule earlier, I would definitely have commissioned an Ultraman​²¹ mask to scare all of you to death, Su Yi thought resentfully. She grabbed the pig mask, put it on, and quickly entered the mansion.

            

For this matchmaking event, apart from the Eleventh Imperial Daughter, all the adult Imperial Daughters had come.

Several Imperial Daughters had reached the age to marry a Principal Consort​²². Except for Ji Qingchi, the other Imperial Daughters only had Attendant Lords. Among the five Imperial Daughters present, astonishingly, none had any children. Royal succession was a major affair, and the Emperor attached great importance to it. Thus, all the Imperial Daughters, whether willingly or forced, attended this matchmaking event.

Five younger sisters had arrived, among whom might be the future Emperor. The First Imperial Prince took this very seriously. As soon as his sisters’ carriages arrived, he had people lead them to the pavilion in the very center of the garden.

            

That was the liveliest spot of the matchmaking event. People sat around in groups of two or three, reciting poetry and composing couplets​²³, playing music and painting – very atmospheric.

After the five Imperial Daughters entered, the person leading them introduced them as Imperial Daughters, and they felt instantly surrounded. The men who had been happily chatting with other women all turned their faces to look at them. The Seventh Imperial Daughter looked at the men eyeing them covetously​²⁴ from all directions and fearfully gripped the hand of the Third Imperial Daughter beside her. “Third… Third Imperial Sister, I’m so scared.”

Actually, she also hated situations like this. She felt that those ministers who constantly submitted memorials about the lack of successors were too detestable; they didn’t see them as Imperial Daughters at all, just as tools​²⁵ for carrying on the family line​²⁶.

            

The Third Imperial Daughter’s mouth twitched. She patted her arm. “It’s alright, don’t worry. They wouldn’t dare do anything.”

The Fifth Imperial Daughter sneered, “Truly pathetic, getting scared like this by men.”

“You—” The Seventh Imperial Daughter instantly lost her fear, turning to fight her.

            

The Third Imperial Daughter quickly placated her, “Alright, alright, we’re all sisters, Little Seven, calm down…”

Ji Qingchi didn’t even spare a glance for the group of masked Young Masters. She listlessly surveyed the pavilion’s furnishings. Casually glancing downstairs, she saw a woman wearing a pig mask walk past below.

That mask really is ugly, Ji Qingchi thought with relief. Luckily, Second Imperial Sister had them custom-made for them in advance; otherwise, she’d also have to wear such an ugly mask.

            

The Second Imperial Daughter was best at maintaining appearances. She smiled, “Gentlemen, don’t just stare at us. Carry on with what you were doing. My sisters and This Palace have just come over for a drink, no need to be so reserved.”

Considering they couldn’t leave an unrestrained impression in front of the Imperial Daughters, the Young Masters all turned their faces away. Only Su Tianci stared adoringly at Ji Qingchi, who was at the back of the crowd, tightly clenching the drug hidden in his sleeve.

This opportunity he had waited so long for – he absolutely had to seize it.

            

This Hidden Spring​²⁷ – he had spent three hundred taels of silver to buy it from a disciple of Changsheng Valley. Its effects were potent; it was said a single dose could make a woman pregnant.

As long as he helped the Ninth Imperial Daughter give birth to a daughter, she would definitely let him into her household. Even if not as Principal Consort, being a Secondary Consort or Attendant Lord would be acceptable. At the very least, even being just a lowly Accompanying Servant​²⁸ would be fine.

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