Grand Prince Liang was still unhappy when he returned to the Liang Residence. The Emperor had summoned him and smelt the alcohol on him. The Emperor lectured him and punished him to reflect at home.
“You lost the Empress but she is not my wife. Why should I be mourning like you? I merely drank a bit. It is as if I committed a grave crime. Reflect at home?” Grand Prince Liang grumbled to himself as he turned towards the sky. “Imperial Father, now that you are no longer around, I am worthless. I have turned into a punching bag! If you are up there in heaven, open your eyes and take a look!”
The lady that he was currently pampering, sashayed in. “Your Highness, who did you ask to open their eyes? Isn’t my eyes big enough? Which vixen have you caught your eye on now?”
Grand Prince Liang slapped the woman. “Bastard. Who are you to insult my Imperial Father?” He turned around to grab a whip.
The lady was frightened as she ran away. She suddenly saw Lu Yingying and pushed her towards Grand Prince Liang. Lu Yingying was caught off guard and knocked into Grand Prince Liang. The lady took the chance to escape.
“Bitch, you are nothing good either!” Grand Prince Liang pushed Lu Yingying to the ground as he raised his whip and started to hit Lu Yingying.
Lu Yingying subconsciously lifted her hand to cover her face. She exposed a bracelet on her wrist.
Grand Prince Liang froze. That bracelet had just been given to Lu Yingying by Imperial Concubine Sun that morning. She even spoke numerous good things about Lu Yingying to Grand Prince Liang. It was only then that he realised Lu Yingying had been accompanying his mother whenever he was not in the residence. No wonder, his mother had been energetic recently and her complexion seemed to lighten. Grand Prince Liang was slightly moved.
In the end, Grand Prince Liang threw the whip to the side and returned to his room.
Lu Yingying was shocked as she crawled up. Sounds of things being thrown around the room filled her ears. She could not help but walk to the entrance of the room. She saw Grand Prince Liang punched the wall. The wall was fine but he was injured. His hand had split open and was bleeding.
“Your Highness, why would you do that?” Hurting others and hurting yourself.
He turned back and laughed bitterly, “Everyone's the same. They all call me Your Highness, but they all look down on me. You are no different from them...no. You are more cruel than them. They only look down on me whereas you are always humiliating me. You are my consort yet you only think of your adulterous partner.”
“Your Highness’s hand is injured. Let me help you wrap it.” There were few things she could do.
“I don’t need you to pretend to be nice!” He rolled his eyes.
She looked at the shattered porcelain on the ground and started to pick them up.
“You don’t have to pick them! I get angry as soon as I see your face. You are ruining my eyes!” Actually, his anger seemed to have lessened. He was more frustrated.
Although she does not complain when she gets hit, it does not mean that she liked to be beaten. “I don’t dare to ruin your eyes. I will take my leave.”
“Wait!” He shouted. She turned back to look at him calmly.
He suddenly lowered his voice. “You see that your husband’s hand is injured. How can you take your leave as if nothing happened? Are you that heartless? Hurry and help me wrap my wound before I die from loss of blood!”
On his mother’s behalf, he could bicker less with her.
Chapter 74.1: Test
Fu Rou was delivering food to a palace maid that had fallen sick. Her name was Xiao Lu. She was the daughter of an official that had been punished and was only thirteen years old. Her status in the Lateral Courts was even lower than normal maids. Naturally, she got bullied even more.
Xiao Lu was grateful. “Thank you for bringing me food, Sister Fu. I thought that no one would remember me and had intended to starve.”
“I thought that since the Lateral Court houses lower ranked palace maids and families of punished officials, everyone would take care of each other since they all came from unfortunate backgrounds. I never thought that it would be so cold.” Everywhere, the high would be praised while the low would get stepped on.
“Are they gossiping again?” Xiao Lu guessed.
“Just eat. Ignore them.” Fu Rou was able to ignore them.
Xiao Lu was not surprised. “I can’t be bothered with them. A group of pitiful worms that only know how to bully those more pitiful than themselves. I just need Sister Fu to take care of me. Sister Fu, just you alone is better than a thousand of them.”
“You are so young yet you know how to talk.” She made Fu Rou laugh.
“Sister Fu, I heard that you are great at studying and have studied all the books in the world. Is that true?” Xiao Lu’s eyes lit up.
“No it is not. The number of books and records in the world is as boundless as the ocean. I won’t be able to read them all even if I have ten lives. I can only read and learn whenever I have time.”
Xiao Lu pleaded, “Then can you teach me to read as well? In the past, my father hired a tutor for me and I learned a bit but I feel like I know too little.”
“When you don’t know enough then you will desire to learn. Okay, in the future, I will bring you along.”
Xiao Lu was delighted. “Thank you, Sister!”
“Bring me along too. Teacher, I finally found you.” Prince Qin entered.
Prince Qin’s sudden appearance threw the Lateral Courts into chaos. Even the head of department was alerted and quickly came down. With everyone watching him, not only was he not willing to leave, he even sat down to eat with Fu Rou at the same table. It made those that had secretly taken away Fu Rou’s food sweat nervously. In the end, Prince Qin only left because Fu Rou persuaded him to.
Before Prince Qin left, he expressed that he would return. Fu Rou was the teacher that his Imperial Mother had assigned him with. Although his Imperial Mother was no longer around, she had never taken back her order so he was still Fu Rou’s student. He was going to come whenever he wanted. This unintentionally gave everyone else an order. Whoever dares to bully Fu Rou would be going against him!
In just a few days, both Grand Prince Liang and Prince Qin had stepped out for Fu Rou. Hearing that Prince Zhou also liked her, this made the head of Lateral Courts, who had wanted to make Fu Rou’s life difficult, develop a headache.
Wei Song reminded Prince Qin that Qingzui Palace was peaceful. It would avoid the jealous attention from the palace maids and also avoid the path of the noble ladies.
The next morning, Fu Rou arrived early at Qingzui Palace. She was being led by a palace maid when she heard sounds of weeping. She looked in the direction of the cries and saw a room with a window. Through that window, she saw two wet nurses surrounding a child wearing a Qilin robe.
She asked in surprise, “Isn’t that the Imperial Grandson from the Eastern Palace?”
“Yes, that is him. He does not know how to do anything other than cry. I heard that he used to be in Lizheng Palace and the late Empress personally took care of him. However, after the late Empress fell critically ill, she was afraid of spreading the illness to him. She said that this place was peaceful and shifted him over here. Now, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess are mourning for the late Empress. After their period of mourning, they will probably bring him back to the Eastern Palace.” The palace maid seemed to recall something. “I won’t talk to you any longer, I have something to do. Since you are new here, you can walk around by yourself and familiarise with the place. If you want to find me, go to the room in the northwest corner.”
The palace maid left. However, Fu Rou could not move because of the child’s cries. She looked through the window.