Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife Chapter 150

Chapter 150: Robbed Again?

With a matter that had weighed upon her heart resolved, Mu Yunyao ate an extra half bowl of rice-flour dumplings. Su Qing was delighted, her brows blooming with smiles as she ladled more soup for her daughter, yet she was also afraid Mu Yunyao might overeat. “If you still want more, Mother can make them again in a few days. You must not stuff yourself…”

No sooner had she spoken than she felt the words were not quite right, and quickly added, “But you must eat enough as well. These past two days, you look thinner again.”

Mu Yunyao blinked, lifted a hand to touch her cheek, then turned to Jin Lan. “Have I grown thinner these past two days?” During this time, Su Qing had been changing dishes every day to nourish her. Even half of the ginseng Steward Qin had sent had been stewed into soup. Mu Yunyao felt her cheeks had rounded out quite a bit.

Jin Lan hurriedly nodded. “Miss has been working so hard every day. Of course you have grown thinner.” Miss was slender to begin with, and now she spent every day seated before the embroidery frame. Her wrists and neck often ached so badly that she could scarcely lift them. Her wrists and fingers, especially, had to be warmed with hot compresses every evening; otherwise, they would certainly swell the next day. The sight pained the heart.

“Very well.” Knowing they were only worried about her, Mu Yunyao did not argue further. After drinking half a bowl of soup, she returned to her room and resumed embroidering the New Year tribute.

Day by day, time passed.

Outside Yuxi City, a merchant caravan, after nearly twenty days on the road, finally saw the city gates from afar. Just as they could not help letting out a breath of relief, the thunder of hooves rolled closer. Masked bandits appeared as abruptly as they had the previous time. After seizing all the goods, they sped away without delay.

By the time the merchants managed to flee to the gates of Yuxi City, there was not a single copper coin left on them.

The soldiers guarding the city widened their eyes at the sight of them. “It is you again? What, robbed again?” The last time they had been robbed of tea, the caravan owner had insisted he did not believe in ill fortune and would go back to transport another batch. At the time, the soldiers thought he had spoken in anger. They had not expected him truly to make another trip—only to be robbed again.

The caravan owner sat on the ground and wailed. “We reported this last time! Why have the upright officials still not caught those bandits?”

The gate soldier could not help feeling some sympathy. He stepped forward and helped the man up. “Do not be so stubborn. That gang of bandits is fierce. The authorities simply cannot catch them. In the future, hire more guards to travel with your caravan. At least that might help somewhat. Otherwise, stop coming to Yuxi City to do business. This place is so poor even birds will not lay eggs here. Even if you brought tea leaves, no one could afford to buy them.”

“But my old rival sent tea leaves to Yuxi City before and said he made a great sum of silver.”

“Then you were likely deceived. These days, who still comes here to do business?”

The caravan owner wept for a long while, then pawned the gold ring on his hand and barely managed to let the caravan stay in Yuxi City for one night. The next day, he led his people away. As they departed, the soldiers at the gate shook their heads at their backs, feeling only that these people were unlucky to the extreme.

Unexpectedly, nearly twenty days later, another caravan approached Yuxi City. This time, they were even closer to the gate. Just as they were about to enter the city, bandits seemed to descend from the sky. In less than a quarter of an hour, they swept away every last piece of cargo and vanished.

Only after the bandits had left did the soldiers guarding the city creep out from the gate in fear. Seeing someone in the caravan weeping bitterly, one of them hurried forward. “Eh? You are not the Wang family caravan?” He had thought the unlucky lot who had already been robbed twice had come back again. He had not expected a different group this time.

At the mention of the Wang family caravan, the merchants began crying even harder. “The Wang family caravan went back and said they had earned a great sum of silver in Yuxi City. That was why we followed, thinking we could open a trade route here. Who would have thought we would be robbed before even entering the city? Why is Heaven so unfair, treating that Wang fellow so kindly?”

The gate soldier thought for a moment. “You and the Wang family are rivals, are you not?”

“Yes. Our Zhang family and the Wang family cannot stand under the same sky!”

The soldier sighed. “Ah, then that explains it.” Since they were irreconcilable rivals, who else would they cheat, if not you? Still, the bandits around Yuxi City had never been quite this rampant before. Now they came around every few days. Could it be that they had grown addicted to robbing people?

Mu Yunyao knew nothing of the liveliness taking place outside Yuxi City, thousands of li away. At this moment, she was accompanying Madam Jin as they examined the embroidery in her hand. “Madam, what do you think?”

Madam Jin looked at the embroidery spread across the table, her face flushed with excitement. “Yunyao, I truly do not know how to describe it. Good. It is truly excellent!”

The embroidery before them was nine chi long and five chi wide. Along the borders, auspicious clouds had been embroidered in bright yellow thread. In the center, on a red ground, four golden characters—Fortune, Longevity, Peace, and Health—shone with brilliance. At a single glance, the work appeared majestic and profound. Against the auspicious clouds, it seemed like a mountain standing among the heavens, carrying an imposing dignity.

Mu Yunyao let out a long breath of relief. “Hearing Madam say that it is good sets my heart at ease. I was afraid my skill would prove insufficient and delay the New Year tribute to His Majesty.”

“Do not be so modest. I dare say that throughout the entire Dali Dynasty, there is no second person whose embroidery skill can compare with yours.”

“Madam praises me too highly.”

Madam Jin studied it carefully for the time it took to drink a cup of tea before finally withdrawing her gaze with reluctance. “Yunyao, you have worked hard these days. I heard you did not even celebrate your birthday, and devoted yourself entirely to this tribute…”

“I am still young. What need is there to celebrate a birthday? Besides, Madam even had Sister Yinhong send me a set of jewelry. I have never seen rubies of such pure color before. Simply looking at them made me unwilling to part with them, let alone wear them on my head.”

The fifteenth day of the tenth month was Mu Yunyao’s birthday. She herself had never intended to hold any celebration. That day, she had merely eaten a bowl of hand-pulled noodles made by her mother, and already felt more than satisfied. To her, nothing could have made her happier than that bowl of noodles.

Su Qing nodded as well. “That is right. Madam, in your present condition, you still remembered Yunyao’s birthday. You truly spoil her.” Between Su Qing and Madam Jin, there was already something of a sworn-sister intimacy, so their speech no longer carried so many restraints.

Madam Jin, however, gazed at Mu Yunyao with a face full of smiles. “If I could truly spoil her rotten, I would gather ten or eight sets of ruby jewelry and send them all over. This girl Yunyao is simply too sensible. Looking at her makes one’s heart ache.”

As she spoke, her gaze swept over Mu Yunyao’s hands. She gently pulled them over and examined them closely. Her wrists and fingers were slightly red and swollen, especially the three fingers that held the embroidery needle. The tips were red and bore a thin layer of callus. Compared with the pale, scallion-white fingers of her left hand, they looked all the more distressing. “For the next while, you must rest properly. Do not leave behind any hidden injury.”

Mu Yunyao smiled and nodded. “Madam, do not worry. In two days, it will be fine.” Injuries on her body recovered extremely quickly. Moreover, she applied excellent medicinal ointment every day. In a few days, her hands would be as they had been before. Otherwise, she would never dare push herself so desperately.

Having lived once more, she cherished her own body more than anyone.

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