bookcurios Chapter 157 Red Coral Bracelet
Chapter 157 Red Coral Bracelet
Early the next morning, the news that Lu Yugang was named the prince of Zhenguohou Mansion spread throughout the streets and alleys of Kyoto.
It was not unusual for a marquisate to appoint a heir. There were many marquises and earls in Kyoto, and appointing an heir was common. However, the only marquis with real power was the one in Zhenguo Marquisate, and it was the first time that someone appointed an adopted son who had no blood relationship with him as an heir. Some people could not help but sigh that Zhenguo Marquis was really generous.
Some people also privately discussed that the noble ladies from the Prime Minister's Mansion were different. First, there was Gu Ying'er, the wife of the Prince of Qi, who gave birth to the eldest grandson of the emperor, and then there was Gu Yan'er, the wife of the Crown Prince of the Marquis' Mansion, who was made the Crown Prince's Consort on the second day after her marriage. However, the husbands of these two noble ladies seemed to belong to different camps, and it was unknown how the Prime Minister would balance the relationship between these two in-laws?
Lu Lingxi was completely unaware of these rumors. She had just received the news that Lu Yugang had been appointed as the Crown Prince, and was planning to inform Concubine Shang to change the invitation sent to the Zhenguo Marquis's Mansion to an invitation to the Crown Prince's Concubine, and to personally go to the Zhenguo Marquis's Mansion to congratulate her brother and sister-in-law. Then she heard Liu Lu report: "Your Majesty, the Queen has sent someone. You should go out to greet them quickly. You can't be negligent."
"Why did Queen Gu suddenly send someone here? To ask me why I didn't come to the palace to pay my respects to her?"
Liu Lu: "I don't know either. Madam, you can find out if you go to the front hall."
What Lu Lingxi saw when he arrived at the main hall was: Li Ma Ma led a team of palace maids wearing uniform clothes and holding trays. They stood there with their heads bowed and respectful.
As soon as she saw Lu Lingxi crossing the threshold, Nanny Li said respectfully, "This old servant greets the Crown Princess. May your Majesty be well!"
The palace maids behind him also knelt and saluted, saying, "Hello, Crown Princess!"
Lu Lingxi was a little confused by the scene, but she came to her senses in time and said, "Madame Li, please stand up! You are an elder by my mother's side, and I am a junior. I cannot accept such a great gift from you."
Without waiting for Nanny Li to say anything else, Lu Lingxi continued, "I wonder what instructions the Queen Mother has for you to send me here? In fact, if the Queen Mother has any instructions, she can just ask me to come to the palace to listen to them. Why would you bother me to come here in person?"
Although Lu Lingxi's words seemed humble, she was actually using her status to put pressure on Nanny Li by calling herself "this palace". Nanny Li knew this and was unhappy.
The words he spoke still showed no emotion, but he was not particularly polite either: "The Queen is worried about your weak body. You have had a cold for more than a month and it hasn't gotten better. I'm afraid that you will suffer from it again and again. If your condition relapses, it will make His Royal Highness feel distressed. The Queen doesn't know what to compensate you with. This old servant doesn't have much ability. I'm used to running errands. It's not a big deal to run one trip."
Lu Lingxi sighed in her heart, this old ginger is still shrewd, Li Mama is really good at confronting people, one has to admit it. She said with a fake smile: "Then I thank my mother for her kindness. So what is the will that Mama is conveying on behalf of my mother today?"
Nanny Li said solemnly, "Empress, in gratitude to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and you for your deep love for the eldest grandson of the Emperor, as well as your hard work in arranging the marriage for the Marquis's residence, I have specially ordered this servant to select the finest red coral and make a bracelet to give to the Crown Princess."
As soon as Li Ma Ma finished speaking, a palace maid tactfully stepped forward and handed her a tray. She then lifted the red cloth on the tray, revealing the red coral in the tray.
Lu Lingxi looked at the red coral, then at her own light-colored outfit, thinking that it didn't match her usual attire. It turned out that Queen Gu and I had different values and tastes. However, adhering to the principle that gifts from elders should not be refused, Lu Lingxi smiled and thanked her, saying, "Then please go back to the palace and thank my mother for me. I really like the bracelet that my mother made for me."
"Then what are these?" Lu Lingxi asked Li Ma, pointing at the trays in the hands of other palace maids whose red cloth had not yet been lifted.
I thought that Queen Gu thought that just a bracelet was too shabby and gave her something else, but I didn't expect to hear Nanny Li say, "If your Majesty likes it, you can wear this bracelet every day, so that the Queen will be happy to see it."
Then he pointed to the tray in the hands of the palace maid behind him and said, "These are bracelets for the concubines and other concubines in the mansion. Don't worry, Crown Princess. Your coral beads are naturally the largest. The beads for their respective rank will be smaller in size."
"Ah, this..." Lu Lingxi was a little stunned for a moment. Didn't they say it was a reward for me? How come everyone has it? It's weird! Something must be wrong when things are abnormal.
But on the surface, Lu Lingxi quickly changed her mind and praised, "Madame Li is so thoughtful!"
Nanny Li looked at Lu Lingxi's expression changing rapidly, and she was secretly pleased. She said with a smile, "How could this be my idea? It was all the Queen's idea. I am stupid and don't know how to think. I can only do things according to the Queen's will. The Queen has always been a person who attaches great importance to rules, so she will never mess up the order of respect and inferiority."
Was this a subtle sarcasm that he was disrespectful to Queen Gu? Lu Lingxi chose not to understand and only praised against his will: "Mother is really thoughtful. So now let everyone in the mansion come over to receive the reward from mother?"
In Li Ma's mind, this was Lu Lingxi knowing that he couldn't win the argument, so he gave in and begged for mercy, so she smiled with some complacency and said, "That's not necessary. It's not good to mobilize a large force to trouble all the nobles. Crown Princess, please help pass it on."
In fact, Lu Lingxi didn't have much patience to talk nonsense with Nanny Li anymore. So she said, "Then please ask Nanny Li to thank the Queen Mother on their behalf! Nanny came in a hurry and didn't prepare your lunch, so I won't keep you for lunch. You should go back to the palace early, otherwise you will be late for lunch."
Seeing that Lu Lingxi had ordered them to leave, Chunhong stepped forward and handed a purse to Madam Li, saying politely, "Madam, you've worked hard on this trip. This is a little gift from our Crown Princess to you and your sisters. I hope you'll accept it."
Nanny Li quickly refused: "Oh, how can we do this? No! No!" and pushed the purse towards Chunhong.
Lu Lingxi suddenly became energetic again and continued, "Chunhong, I think Madam has been serving the Queen Mother and has seen all kinds of good things. She must really despise these loose silver coins. You can't accept this little money and let Madam bear the reputation of being greedy. Don't make things difficult for Madam. Just give these little girls two taels of silver each."
Nanny Li's face suddenly turned ugly. She was just being polite out of habit. She didn't really want to accept it. After all, no one would complain that they had too much money.
But Chunhong really withdrew her hand and began to distribute change to the palace maids without saying a word. Liulu was holding back her laughter behind Lu Lingxi.
Madam Li awkwardly withdrew her hand that had just been frozen in mid-air, and without waiting for Chunhong to give out the reward money, she said, "Then I will not bother the Crown Princess any more. I am leaving now!"
After saying that, he walked towards the door.
When she was almost at the door, she ran into Concubine Wang who was rushing over. She shouted in a loud voice, "Hey! Madam, are you going back to the palace now? Why don't you stay for lunch before going back?"
When it comes to "lunch", Nanny Li's face turned even darker, and she thought: Forget lunch, there's not even a sip of tea to drink, who would be willing to take on errands for your family in the future?
So he frowned and replied indifferently to Concubine Wang: "No." Then he passed by her.
The palace maids carrying trays received their reward money and filed out.