Fate Trading System – Chapter 388

Plan B

Mandarin Ducks 18

Whether Princess Yuyuan loved Liu Yunyi or not was something Su Xin couldn’t determine very well.

However, what could be confirmed was that Liu Yunyi had first expressed that kind of interest to the princess, and Princess Yuyuan was also attracted to him. Consequently, she went to petition the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager happened to feel that her daughter needed a husband. Additionally, since Liu Yunyi was the Zhuangyuan¹ personally selected by the emperor, snatching him over was one move, two gains².

“Your ideas are certainly novel. I don’t know how that little head of yours is packed with so many interesting things.”

Princess Yuyuan covered her lips in a light laugh, her finger tapping Su Xin’s face. On her little finger, she wore a sharp, filigreed gold finger guard³, inlaid with beautiful jade.

If she exerted just a slight bit of force, Su Xin’s face would be scratched.

“Princess, you overpraise me. It’s merely something Jinyan thought up while idling at home with nothing to do.”

Su Xin smiled, appearing completely composed about the object on her face, as if she didn’t mind it in the slightest.

Princess Yuyuan did not withdraw her hand, but instead placed it before Su Xin’s eyes.

“What do you think of the new dankou⁴ This Palace⁵ had applied today?”

“Beautiful.”

With a smile that was not quite a smile, Princess Yuyuan passed the small hand-warmer she held in her other hand to a waiting yatou⁶ and lifted her chin.

“These plum blossoms⁷ seem to bloom even more vividly than last year. Everyone go take a look; it’s boring just sitting here.”

Since Princess Yuyuan had spoken, the young ladies all rose gracefully, maintaining their etiquette.

Su Xin also stood up and followed behind Princess Yuyuan in a very proper manner. She didn’t know who it was that stuck out a foot and tripped her, causing her to lose her balance and stumble two steps.

She should have taken a very clumsy fall, but Su Xin just barely managed to stabilize her body, thus avoiding a major embarrassment.

Master Fourteen, who is it?

【Host, the second one on your right.】

“Oh dear, what happened to you?”

A bit of surprise appeared on Princess Yuyuan’s face.

“The ground is slippery, I wasn’t paying attention for a moment.”

Su Xin smiled as if embarrassed, but her eyes slid nonchalantly over that young lady.

It was Princess Yuyuan’s intention.

“Be more careful.”

Princess Yuyuan nodded, her face showing no change, but in her heart, she sighed with disappointment.

In Princess Yuyuan’s original plan, Su Xin was supposed to have been tripped and fallen to the ground, which would have certainly been an undignified posture. Then, she would have been very “kind-hearted” and helped her up. Seeing her hairpin disheveled from the fall, she would take one from her own head to fix her hair.

When Su Xin tried to return the hairpin, she would refuse it, thereby humiliating Su Xin.

Tsk, to think this idea would be cut short just like that.

Princess Yuyuan did not turn her head to look at the person who had stuck out their foot, but she felt a certain disgust in her heart. Truly useless, can’t even handle such a simple matter.

The General’s Wife had already stood up when she saw Su Xin’s figure become unsteady, wanting to go over. Seeing Su Xin stabilize herself without falling, she breathed a sigh of relief, secretly glaring at Princess Yuyuan with hateful eyes.

The Empress Dowager had harmed her, harmed an innocent child, harmed her daughter, and now the Empress Dowager’s daughter was trying to harm her daughter-in-law. It was simply unbearable.

But the General’s Wife did not rush forward impulsively. Instead, she continued to watch the situation over there, tightly clenching the brocade handkerchief⁸ in her hand.

“Sulan⁹, so worried?”

The woman sitting beside the General’s Wife leisurely lifted her teacup. She and the General’s Wife were on good terms; her husband was a good friend of Old General Lin, so they always sat together at gatherings like this.

“Of course I have to be worried. One must naturally treasure their own daughter-in-law.”

That woman gave a laugh, wiping her lips with a handkerchief.

“Sulan, I truly envy you.”

General Lin had only this one wife, and his deep affection was moving. The General’s Wife’s conduct didn’t need to be as restrained as in other households.

She, on the other hand, had more than one son, including several sons of concubines¹⁰, and several daughters-in-law, each one causing trouble and needing to be disciplined. The atmosphere of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship was not nearly so harmonious.

“What is there to envy about me.”

The General’s Wife gave a bitter smile. Her situation was actually not good at all. What had allowed her to keep going was her husband’s unwavering companionship. Even after she became infertile after giving birth to a daughter, he never thought of finding another woman to bear a son. And there was also her daughter’s persistence.

Her daughter was so formidable; she could not be a coward.

Her daughter and husband were her very life. If something happened to either of them, no matter which one, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

And she knew that the young woman over there, amidst a group of women, her daughter-in-law, was her daughter’s life.

If Su Xin were to be bullied, injured, or if any mishap were to befall her, how much would Su Huai¹¹ suffer.

Every family has a sutra that is hard to recite¹². Others thought her life was good, but the torment and pain in her heart, only she herself knew.

Su Xin maintained a smile as she handled the group of women. No matter what was said, she could find a way to respond, all while maintaining an elegant posture. Her entire bearing seemed in no way inferior to these young ladies who had grown up in the capital since childhood.

The plum blossoms on the branches were exceptionally lovely. Su Xin reached out a hand to touch a flowering branch.

Su Xin sniffed it and lowered her head, a faint smile appearing.

This trace of a smile was captured by Princess Yuyuan, who had been watching her intently from a short distance away.

Princess Yuyuan was certain this person was definitely not a simple character. She could feel a sense of threat from her, a feeling she hadn’t had in a very long time.

She couldn’t see through this person but could be sure she was a formidable figure. The people sent to investigate had not dug up any effective information, as if this person had appeared out of thin air by Lin Suhuai’s side.

Her upbringing was excellent, her temperament was fine, she had her own unique insights on some things, and she could bring up novel ideas that they had never heard of.

Princess Yuyuan felt she must start taking this more seriously. When she went for an audience with her Mother Empress tomorrow, she would have to mention it properly.

A light snow began to fall in the garden again, and the crowd outside successively entered the rooms or pavilions.

“It’s gotten too cold. Have a bowl of sweet soup¹³ to warm yourselves up.”

After Princess Yuyuan raised her hand, the surrounding maids came forward with trays, placing a bowl of soup before each of the young ladies.

“Many thanks for the princess’s gift.”

The crowd thanked her one by one.

Su Xin remembered at all times her mother-in-law’s repeated admonishments before they came out: never eat anything from the princess’s small banquet. Do not eat anything at all. If you are hungry, eat just a tiny bit. Who knows if something might be mixed into it.

And Princess Yuyuan’s actions seemed to confirm that the General’s Wife’s words were not baseless.

【Host, some drugs have been detected in this soup. Long-term consumption could lead to infertility in women.】

Tsk, is this stuff in anyone else’s bowl?

【No.】

Oh-ho, so it’s really special treatment.

Su Xin didn’t drink a single sip of the soup. Although it was impossible for her to get pregnant anyway, she had no desire to drink something so harmful to her body, and even less to grant Princess Yuyuan’s wish.

“Jinyan, why aren’t you drinking? Is it not to your taste?”

“Forgive me, Princess, but I am not fond of sweet soup.”

“That truly is a pity. The chef who makes this sweet soup is exceptionally skilled. To not even taste it is truly a great regret in this world.”

Princess Yuyuan said with pity, but she didn’t insist. After all, this kind of thing required her to consume it regularly to be effective. One bowl of soup couldn’t change much, and drinking one or two sips would have no effect either. She was merely preparing the ground wherever she could strike.

“It is indeed a pity.”

Su Xin still did not move, sitting quietly in the room.

With such casual, domestic chatter, time flowed by quickly. In a flash, it was afternoon, already nearing dusk, with no good scenery left to admire.

Su Xin and the General’s Wife had left home around one in the afternoon, and it was now almost six o’clock.

The carriages of the various manors were already waiting outside the garden, just waiting for their masters to emerge to carry them back to their own homes.

When Su Xin came out, she discovered Lin Suhuai waiting there.

“Husband, why have you come?”

Su Xin stood where she was, watching Lin Suhuai walk closer.

“To come get you. The meal should be ready at home by now. When I came out, I estimated the time was about right and that you all should be dispersing, so I came here specifically to wait for mother and you.”

Lin Suhuai adjusted her cape for her, wrapping her up a bit more warmly.

That feeling of intimacy belonging to a husband and wife was completely unconcealed, and everyone around could feel it.

The gazes of others landed on Su Xin with envy, sighing in their hearts that they themselves didn’t have such good luck. Could it be that the general’s family was more prone to producing devoted lovers?

What most women envied, above material things, was a considerate and good husband.

No one would hope for one life, one world, a pair of people¹⁴, because three wives and four concubines¹⁵ was the norm. Young ladies from good families were taught from a young age how to be a qualified main wife¹⁶, to manage the whole family, young and old, and to be broad-minded.

They wouldn’t even ask why they were born to be told how to accept their husband’s other women in the future, because it was normal, it was in accordance with the rules, because their mothers and fathers were like this, and their family relationships were also like this.

But Old General Lin was like an anomaly, allowing these women to see something different.

Why could that woman monopolize her husband, and why was she so doted upon.

There were no women in the capital who did not envy the General’s Wife, and now, it seemed they would have one more object of envy.

Princess Yuyuan watched as Lin Suhuai carefully helped Su Xin onto the carriage, her expression suddenly turning grim.

Liu Yunyi was sitting at home. He originally thought the returning princess would be in a good mood, but he didn’t expect that she seemed unhappy.

“Qianqian, what’s wrong? Were you not happy at today’s plum-viewing gathering?”

“It’s nothing.”

Princess Yuyuan opened her mouth, wanting to ask why Liu Yunyi didn’t come to pick her up, but after a thought, she closed it again, feeling stifled. It was a meaningless question. If she said it, Liu Yunyi would definitely come get her next time, but so what? It wouldn’t have come from his own heart.

“Qianqian, did you see Lin Suhuai’s wife? How was she?”

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