Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife Chapter 145

Chapter 145: A Plaything With Swelling Ambitions 

Suppressing the storm of thoughts in her heart, Mu Yunyao looked at Madam Jin and reached out to tuck the quilt more securely around her.

“Even if Madam is angry, you must not trifle with your own health. That incense is absolutely not to be used.”

The smile on Madam Jin’s face disappeared at once.

“Incense? Ever since you told me before not to use anything too cloyingly sweet, I have not used incense again.”

A flicker passed through Mu Yunyao’s eyes.

“But when I entered the room just now, I clearly smelled jasmine, mixed with a medicinal scent.”

Madam Jin’s expression shifted.

“…It was Concubine Wang. She uses jasmine incense all year round. She came to my room this morning to beg forgiveness, but I sent her straight out. The jasmine scent you smelled must have lingered from her person. Yunyao, does the medicinal additive in that incense harm my body?”

“If an ordinary person smells it now and then, there would be no real effect. But you are carrying a child, and your emotions are already more unsettled than usual. If you inhale such a scent too often, it becomes easy to fall into excessive anxiety and brooding. For the moment, however, there is no serious harm. Just have less contact with it.”

Madam Jin let out a cold laugh.

“I treated them with lenience, and they actually took that for me having no temper at all! In the past, when I had no child to rely on, I was unwilling to scheme and fight with them. Who would have thought that in doing so, I only fed their ambitions until they dared lay hands on the mistress of the household and even set their sights on my child? Since that is the case, then they need not blame me for having no room left for such wretches!”

It was the first time Mu Yunyao had ever seen Madam Jin reveal such an expression, and she lowered her eyes slightly.

Madam Jin realized she had lost her composure and quickly restrained her anger.

“Yunyao, I must have made a spectacle of myself.”

Mu Yunyao smiled and shook her head.

“Every mother’s desire to protect her child is much the same, I think. Even my own mother, with such a gentle nature, once fought others desperately just to protect me. Madam’s anger is only natural. You simply must not let these things damage your health.”

Madam Jin could not help patting Mu Yunyao’s hand.

“If only my child could be half as sensible as you, I would be fully content.”

“But even if a child is mischievous, he is still one his mother risked her life to carry for ten months and bring into the world. Madam would still find him clever and lovable, even while watching him cry and fuss.”

Mu Yunyao tilted her head slightly and blinked, looking unexpectedly playful.

Madam Jin laughed out loud.

“It is rare to see you show such an expression before me. Before this, I did not know how much I envied your mother. Rest assured—even after the child in my womb is born, I will still cherish you just the same.”

Seeing Madam Jin’s expression finally ease, Mu Yunyao rose and curtsied, her smile bright and open.

“Then I am truly fortunate.”

“You little thing!”

Madam Jin laughed again, and the anger in her heart gradually dissipated.

Mu Yunyao sat and spoke with her a while longer. Only after confirming that there was nothing truly wrong did she rise to take her leave.

Yin Hong escorted her all the way to the outer gate. Just as Mu Yunyao was about to step into the carriage, she suddenly lifted the curtain and spoke.

“Sister Yin Hong, when there is time, have Madam make a few sachets for Lord Cao to wear.”

Yin Hong stared blankly and nodded. Just as she was about to ask something further, the carriage had already begun to move away.

When she returned to the courtyard, she saw the delicate-looking Concubine Wang being helped away by two maids. Yin Hong gave a cold snort and quickly entered the room.

“Madam, are you truly going to let Concubine Wang off this lightly?”

Madam Jin leaned against the headboard, her face cold.

“She is only a concubine. There are countless ways to discipline her. But if I strike directly, Master may well think that now I carry a child, I can no longer tolerate others in the inner court. Worse still, he may come to resent the child itself by two extra measures. I may not care about my own reputation, but the child in my womb must have the very best!”

In every household’s inner quarters, all might look full of laughter and harmony on the surface, yet every year, countless people were ruined there. Concubine Wang was merely one of the most ordinary examples. To deal with her, Madam Jin did not even need to dirty her own hands.

“By the way, Madam,” Yin Hong added, “when Miss Mu was leaving, she said that if there was leisure, Madam should make a few sachets for Master to wear.”

“For Master?”

Madam Jin thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

“That Yunyao is truly clever… Yin Hong, go prepare some needlework things. I shall make a few sachets for Master myself.”

Concubine Wang carried that incense on her own person, yes—but considering her status, how many times could she really move about before Madam Jin herself? The person who came into contact with her most often was still Cao Yunian. If someone were to tamper with Cao Yunian by indirect means, that would truly be impossible to guard against. But if Madam Jin herself made sachets for him, then he would no longer wear what others sent him. That way, she could finally rest at ease.

“Yes, Madam.”

When Mu Yunyao returned home, Su Qing immediately asked,

“Yunyao, what was the matter with Madam Jin?”

Mu Yunyao signaled for Jin Lan and the others to withdraw, then told Su Qing what had happened at the Cao Residence.

After listening, Su Qing could not help sighing.

“Every family has its own hard scripture to recite. Madam Jin may look splendid and fortunate on the surface, but behind that there are no doubt many troubles.”

Mu Yunyao leaned lightly against Su Qing’s shoulder.

“Mother need not worry. Madam Jin is no ordinary woman. Such little matters in the rear court are things she can handle.”

Su Qing nodded, then looked at Mu Yunyao with a sudden feeling.

“Your birthday is coming soon. Once it passes, you will be fourteen. In another year or two, Mother will have to marry you off.”

At the mention of marriage, Mu Yunyao involuntarily thought of Jin Wang, and a chill rose in her heart. She quickly suppressed it.

“Mother, don’t speak nonsense. I will never marry.”

“Don’t be absurd. Could you truly stay with Mother your whole life?”

“I am determined to let Mother keep me forever. Or does Mother dislike me now?”

“People always say that when a daughter grows up, she cannot be kept at home. Keep her too long, and your heart only fills with worry. Once you come of age and someday meet someone you truly fancy, I expect you will be eager to marry without Mother saying a word.”

Su Qing could not help laughing softly.

“Who says so? Even if I spent all my days at home, I would never become a burden.”

Mu Yunyao rubbed against her shoulder and hugged her arm in a spoiled manner.

“Mother is not allowed to dislike me. Absolutely not allowed!”

Su Qing laughed so hard from all the nudging that she nearly toppled over.

“Very well! Mother does not dislike you. Even if I had to keep you my whole life, I still would not!”

Then Su Qing sighed softly. Perhaps Heaven had simply decided that her daughter was too good and so had taken away her husband early and left her to be tormented by a cruel mother-in-law for more than ten years, all to balance such blessings. Now that bitterness had finally turned to sweetness, she could only hope that from here on, all would go smoothly.

After laughing and chatting with Su Qing for a while longer, Mu Yunyao finally returned to her own room. Thinking of the New Year tribute Madam Jin had mentioned, she picked up her needlework and embroidered a few stitches. But in her distraction, the needle pricked her finger, and the sharp sting made her hand tremble slightly.

A single bead of scarlet blood appeared on her fingertip.

She lowered her eyes and stared at that vivid red, and in her mind, there arose the figure of Jin Wang.

The Third Prince, Ning Junjin, was something of a legendary figure in the capital. His mother, Consort Zhen, had once been a maid by the late Empress’s side. After the Empress died, Consort Zhen kept vigil for her for forty-nine days and at last fainted from kneeling. By chance, His Majesty passed by, and it was he himself who ordered her carried back to the palace.

After that, Consort Zhen rose with astonishing speed. In less than a year, she gave birth to the Third Prince, Ning Junjin, and was elevated to the rank of consort. No one knew how many women turned red-eyed with jealousy.

As for this Third Prince, with his handsome appearance and mild disposition, he was widely praised throughout the court and admired by countless women. Yet the daughters of truly great aristocratic houses often looked down on him because of his mother’s origins.

Who could have imagined that this prince, gentle in appearance, would silently draw the Su family into his hands—and then marry the treasured pearl in the palm of the Su family—thereby vaulting at one stroke into the strongest position in the struggle for succession?

It was only a pity that Mu Yunyao had died too early. She had never learned who finally ascended the throne. Had she known that sooner, she might have made arrangements in advance and prepared one more road for herself.

“Ah, Miss, how did your hand get hurt?”

Jin Lan came in carrying a bowl of bird’s nest porridge. Seeing Mu Yunyao sitting there in a daze, holding up her finger, she looked more closely and realized only then that there was blood at the tip.

↞ Previous│❀ Table of Contents ❀ │ Next ↠