Chapter 9 Little Hades (I)
Li jumped down from the carriage, checked the wheels and returned after a short while.
“My master, the carriage is made of black wood. The horse hooves and wheels of the carriage are covered with nylon-cotton fabric so that they can travel silently.”
The man patted his head gently with his folded fan, squinted his eyes and said, “Such horse carriage actually exists in this small Suzhou city. Li, it seems like that lady is not simple.”
Li wasn’t surprised upon hearing his young master’s words. After all, he did not manage to see the lady’s face clearly in the beginning and that coachman looked well-trained in martial arts.
The man rested comfortably on the brocade cushion and exclaimed, “For someone to use this horse carriage, she must be from a rich family. There are only more than ten noble families in Suzhou. Where did you say that lady is from?”
Without waiting for Li’s reply, the man spoke to himself again, “I must have stayed in the capital city for too long. It’s time for me to meet some Jiangnan ladies. I heard that Jiangnan ladies are very flexible with their bodies and their voices are extremely coquettish…I am certainly looking forward to meet them.”
Li was choked upon hearing by his words. He then silently rolled his eyes.
…
The morning sunlight shone gently into the courtyard. Gu Qingwan dragged her heavy legs to the backyard of Gu residence.
Chen Ping pushed aside some weeds and said politely, “My lady, please hurry and enter!”
“Ping, there’s no need to seek revenge. This man isn’t someone we can provoke.” Gu Qingwan told him that before bending over to enter the passageway.
Yue Niang nudged Chen Ping, who was startled by the lady’s words, and whispered, “Just listen to my lady. Hurry. Don’t let anyone see us.”
Chen Ping nodded and swiftly said, “Tell the lady. My men are at her disposal.”
…
A different townscape was displayed behind the wall.
Just as Gu Qingwan had stablized herself after walking through the passageway, a shadow came dashing towards her.
“My lady, you got me anxious. Why are you back this late?” That person was Gu Qingwan’s personal servant, Chun Ni.
Gu Qingwan replied quietly, “Let’s return to the house first!”
…
Gu Qingwan soaked herself in the wooden bath barrel filled with warm water and sighed contentedly.
Her night clinic had often depleted most of her energy. Thus, the first thing she always wanted to do when she returned home was to take a warm bath to get rid of her body soreness before going to bed; however, it seemed like she was going to take a long nap today.
If she had not mistaken, the man in black cotton outfit was none other than the Emperor’s youngest son, Zhao Jingyan aka King Shou.
Zhao Jingyan, whose courtesy name was Ting Lin, was the youngest son of Emperor Baoqing. His mother was Consort Shu from the Jiang family.
Jiang was born from an educated family. She was very beautiful and was greatly adored by Emperor Baoqing. Yet, she was a beauty with short life and died from illness.
Emperor Baoqing was depressed over her death and held a grand funeral that was appropriate for a Noble Consort for her, despite his ministers had opposed to the idea. In addition, he proclaimed Zhao Jingyan, who was only three years old then, as King Shou. King Shou was personally taken care by the Empress thereafter.
Zhao Jingyan was given the title as a King at the age of three. There was no predecessor nor successor to this. Moreover, being the Emperor’s favorite son, he took advantage of this fact and refused to study both literature and arts. All these years, he had been arrogant and enjoyed bullying the weak. He was also a lecherous man and people often gave him a nickname — Little Hades.
In her previous life, she entered the Palace with his grandfather at the age of five and that was her first time meeting Zhao Jingyan. He was only a three-year-old innocent-looking infant then. At that time, Consort Shu was only at the early stage of her illness and she was most adored by the Emperor.
In a wink of an eye, 14 years had passed. She had changed her identity from Qian Ziqi to Gu Qingwan, and this man had also became a demon who had mesmerized over a thousand of women.
Yet, what struck her was — did this ignorant and incompetent prince come all the way to the southern area under this hot weather just for sight-seeing and entertainment?
Gu Qingwan felt suspicious. It seemed like the information web that she had managed all these years in South Zhili was still not good enough.
Chun Ni came in and interrupted Gu Qingwan’s line of thought.
“What happened?”
“My lady, there’s news from the forecourt. Tonight, the old master has asked to see second master.”
“What have you heard?”
“I heard that they plan to get a concubine for the second master so that she can carry on his ancestral line.”
Gu Qingwan gave a sarcastic smile.
Princess Huayang had entered the Gu residence for five years but she failed to get pregnant, and only had a daughter. Moreover, that daughter belonged to her previous husband. Her daughter was same age as Qingwan and her name was Wu Yanling. Everyone in the Gu residence acknowledged her as Lady Ling.
Her father’s two other concubines had also each gave birth to a daughter.
As the old saying said, “Having no posterity is the worst out of the three unfilial acts.” Her father had been over 30 years old, yet he had no son. Not to mention that his only legal wife’s daughter was a retard. It was no doubt why the old master was anxious.
“So, what did the princess say?”
Chun Ni said softly, “The princess refused to let the second master into her room last night. The second master did not visit the other two concubines as well and stayed in the study room for the entire night.”
Gu Qingwan thought for a moment before she asked casually, “Did the old master have someone in mind?”
Chun Ni nodded and replied, “Just as your lady had guessed, the old master wanted him to pick one of the daughters from those families. He’s just waiting for the princess to agree with this plan.”
Gu Qingwan closed her eyes, and she said gently, “The princess is proud and has a bad temper. The person she chose is definitely an average-looking girl with a weak character so that she can manipulate her…no doubt it will be the eighth lady from the Zhang residence.”
“Are you serious, my lady?”
“We shall see.”
Chun Ni nodded vigorously. She was similar to Chen Ping, who had received the lady’s help. The only difference was that Chen Ping had a mother at home, yet both her parents were dead.
She had followed the lady all these years and knew the lady’s capability. Her lady’s guesses were never wrong.
“My lady, if it was really the eighth lady from the Zhang residence, what should we do?”
Her long and beautiful fingers gently flicked the water, sending a few water droplets into the air.
“A few days ago, a patient told me that the Zhang residence had many daughters, yet the eighth lady was most loved by the legal wife. This proves that she’s an intelligent person and is the best candidate to go against someone with a bad temper. Both the princess and her should compete with each other, while we can sit back and enjoy the show.”
Just as she finished her sentence, Yue Niang hurriedly walked into the room and said, “My lady, there’s a message from the medical hall. There are a total of 32 patients tonight and one of them named Li.”
Li?
“Could it be that person from last night? If it was really him…” Gu Qingwan thought as color drained from her face. She kept quiet for a moment before she said, “Tell the medical hall that we lost our horse carriage last night and I’m feeling awful from that incident. We’re closed for the next three days.”
“My lady?”
Yue Niang was surprised. Ever since her lady started night free clinic two years ago, the clinic had been open daily without any rest days.
“Yue Niang, that man from last night was King Shou!”
Though her voice was gentle, her words struck Yue Niang like a lightning.