Chapter 690: Relationship
Editor: Atlas Studios

After Qi Haoran announced the decree, it was already July when he returned to Ju Prefecture.

Lord Yunnan, the former Emperor of Dali, had officially submitted credentials to become a vassal state of Great Qi and was willing to offer his only daughter, the eldest princess, to the Emperor. This time, Qi Xiuyuan did not refuse. Instead, he directly conferred her the title of Consort Xian, making her the head of the four concubines.

If Duan Yuqing was to marry the Emperor, she had to return to Dali and get married from Dali. Therefore, Mu Yangling helped her pack her things and Little Madam Xia came to send her off.

It was strange. Though Duan Yuqing lived in the General’s Residence and interacted more with Mu Yangling, she had become closer with Little Madam Xia.

Even though Mu Yangling had always been polite to her, Duan Yuqing still remembered that Mu Yangling had tricked her. Moreover, her fate at that time was in Mu Yangling’s hands. Although she knew that the other party had mostly done it in her country’s interests, the feeling that her status was slightly higher than hers made her a little afraid.

After that, she didn’t feel much sentiment for Mu Yangling. When Qi Haoran went to war, Mu Yangling already knew that she would most likely become Qi Xiuyuan’s concubine. Firstly, it was not good for her to have too much contact with the Emperor’s harem. Secondly, she had a good relationship with Li Jinghua, so it was naturally not good for her to develop close ties with Duan Yuqing. Although they had always been civil to each other, their relationship was average.

On the other hand, Little Madam Xia’s temperament was compatible with Duan Yuqing’s, thus the two of them got along pretty well.

Perhaps it was because Little Madam Xia was pregnant, and her personality was soft to begin with, Duan Yuqing sensed that she was harmless and was naturally more willing to interact with her.

When the soft-hearted Little Madam Xia learned what happened to Duan Yuqing, her tears flowed freely. Hence, after meeting twice, the two of them became as close as sisters.

Now, the two of them were hugging each other and saying goodbye.

Seeing that they were sobbing uncontrollably, Mu Yangling hurriedly said, “Don’t cry. It’s not like we won’t see each other for the rest of our lives. Princess Duan is going to enter the capital, so are we. We’ll meet again in about two months.”

Little Madam Xia wiped her tears and said, “Ah Ling is right. In a few years, my husband will return to the capital. If you want to meet, summon me to the palace to talk.”

Duan Yuqing was feeling unfamiliar with the capital which was very far from her hometown. When she heard Little Madam Xia’s words, the tears that had stopped started flowing again. She grabbed her hand and said, “Thank you for missing me…”

Seeing that the two of them were crying again, Mu Yangling was worried that they would sob uncontrollably again. Little Madam Xia was still pregnant, so she didn’t dare to let her cry too much. Thus she quickly changed the topic and said, “Princess Duan, I’ve prepared some local specialties and small gifts for you to give to Lord Yunnan and his wife.”

Little Madam Xia quickly wiped her tears. “I also prepared some gifts for you. Let’s go take a look together.”

Little Madam Xia gave Duan Yuqing accessories and clothes, especially clothes. There was a huge box of it.

She did not have many accessories, but they were all styles that were currently trending in the capital. She took them out one by one and introduced them to her. There was even a moving story behind some of the accessories.

Duan Yuqing was touched. Knowing that she wanted to introduce her to some matters in the capital, she held Little Madam Xia’s hand with tears in her eyes.

Little Madam Xia held her hand and said in a low voice, “As the princess of a country, you naturally have many pearls and jade stones, but the style is different from the ones in the capital. Take these jewelry back and get someone to duplicate another set. This way, when you reach the capital, people won’t look down upon you.”

Duan Yuqing nodded repeatedly and whispered, “Thank you for teaching me.”

“These fabrics are also for you. You also know that my husband owns a clothes shop. These fabrics are not rare. Besides, I’m pregnant now and really don’t need them. Take them back and you can get someone to tailor some clothes with the design drawings I give you.” Little Madam Xia sighed and said, “I originally wanted to get the embroiderer to tailor a few pieces for you. Who knew that the imperial edict would come so suddenly?”

Duan Yuqing lowered her eyes and didn’t say anything, but she remembered Little Madam Xia’s kindness in her heart. She was no longer the ignorant eldest princess of the past. The days of trepidation she had lived for the past few months had already enlightened her. Now that she understood many things that she didn’t understand in the past, she would carefully observe things that she didn’t pay attention to in the past, afraid that she would annoy people.

The fabrics that Little Madam Xia gave her were actually very rare, some of them even the Dali Imperial Palace could not produce. Perhaps, only ten pieces a year would be produced. It would be very difficult to buy these fabrics even if the Duan family was the Dali Imperial Family.

Fan Zijin was in the silk business, but Little Madam Xia couldn’t casually take things from his shop. After staying here for more than three months, she had seen very clearly that although Fan Zijin treated Little Madam Xia well, Little Madam Xia knew nothing about the outside world. The common affairs in the residence were also handed over to the steward to manage.

Therefore, these fabrics were most likely given to Little Madam Xia by Fan Zijin, and Little Madam Xia had transferred them to her. Little Madam Xia had merely claimed these fabrics weren’t rare to not make her feel bad about accepting these gifts.

Fan Zijin had indeed specially taken these fabrics and given them to Little Madam Xia. At that time, when he heard that Little Madam Xia was pregnant, he was so giddy with joy that he secretly kept a few precious silk brocades. Hence, the high-grade silks sent to the nobles in the capital this year were much fewer. Failing to buy them, the noblewomen would inevitably ask around. Although they were mad that Fan Zijin had taken those fabrics for himself, they did not dare to say anything on the surface because of his influence. However, in secret, Fan Zijin’s reputation for being domineering spread.

When Fan Zijin heard these rumors, he only sneered and ignored them. However, when he heard that Little Madam Xia had given away the fabric he had given her, he was instantly furious. He said angrily, “Did I endure those scoldings for a princess of Dali? Since she doesn’t care, you don’t have to send these tributes to her in the future.”

Seeing that he was so angry that he was about to walk towards the backyard, Yanmo hurriedly hugged his leg and knelt down. “Master, you can’t be angry at Madam. She doesn’t know that you’ve been scolded for these silk brocades. If she knew, her heart would definitely ache to death. Because you ordered us not to let the matters outside bother Madam, we never dared to tell her about this. Madam probably doesn’t know the value of those silk brocades. If she knew, no matter how close Princess Dali and Madam are, Madam wouldn’t give them away.”

Noticing that Fan Zijin looked a little less furious, Yanmo added, “Master, although Madam’s pregnancy is stable now, she’s still weaker than others. Why don’t we wait for her to give birth before we tell her how precious these things are? This way, you wouldn’t have suffered in vain.”

Fan Zijin kicked him and said, “Am I the kind of person to curry favor? It’s just a few silk brocades. It’s not a big deal to me. I just don’t understand. Why is it that Haoran gave Mu Yangling a blade of grass and she treated it like a treasure, even cherishingly storing it in a bottle? Yet, I gave my wife such a precious silk brocade and she just casually gave it away like that.”

At this point, Fan Zijin’s tone was indignant. “Could it be that Qi Haoran getting off the horse and bending down to pick grass is precious? And the silk brocade that I intercepted after putting in so much effort to deal with others, and got scolded for, is not precious?”

Yanmo also felt that his master’s efforts had been in vain. However, the most important thing now was to preserve their husband-and-wife relationship. Madam had a weak personality and was prone to overthinking. If Master were to throw a tantrum at her, she would probably be so terrified that she would immediately trigger the fetal qi.

That child was his master’s treasure and could not be taken lightly. Hence, Yanmo hugged his thigh tightly and waited for Fan Zijin’s anger to subside before letting go.