Chapter 293: Attending the Empress Dowager's Funeral
"Chu'er, if you hadn't appeared when you did, I would never have married in this lifetime."
Chu Yi's voice was filled with unresolvable tenderness.
"Having married you, my life is already complete. I won't take any Side Princess Consorts, low-ranking imperial concubines, or concubines. Among three thousand weak waters, you alone are enough for me."
Yun Chu sighed softly: "But this isn't fair to you. I've been married before, while you..."
"Your willingness to marry me is already heaven's favor upon me." Chu Yi held her tighter. "Chu'er, don't think like that. It pains me to see you undervalue yourself like this."
Held tightly in his embrace, Yun Chu could clearly hear the beating of his heart.
She genuinely felt his sorrow.
She released Chu Yi: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tested you."
She admitted she was a despicable person.
Having experienced Xie Jingyu, she deeply believed that no man would refuse women who threw themselves at him.
She thought that even if they dealt with one Ding Dong, countless others would follow, which was why she had given Ding Dong the opportunity.
She had underestimated the man before her.
She noticed Chu Yi frowning.
Feeling she had gone too far, she spoke softly: "Chu Yi..."
"I was thinking whether I haven't done enough, which is why you lack security and would entertain such absurd thoughts because of a servant. This is my fault." Chu Yi looked at her seriously. "Your Yi Lang will always belong only to you."
Yun Chu's face instantly flushed crimson.
She knew he had never married in his previous life, and every word he said was true.
Her entire heart felt filled to overflowing.
After dinner, Yun Chu played with the two children while Chu Yi went to his study.
Just as he reached the study door, Er Momo approached with an anxious expression: "Your Highness, although Ding Dong has been managing shops outside for two years and has neglected some etiquette, she genuinely wants to serve the Princess Consort. Please give her another chance."
She truly wished she could slap her daughter across the face.
Coming before the Prince on her first day back - wasn't this making her intentions too obvious?
When the Prince said "come back after learning proper etiquette," he meant don't come back at all. Being dismissed on the first day back had become a huge joke.
"Your Highness, Ding Dong served in the residence since childhood for over ten years, only these past two years she hasn't been in the palace. Her loyalty to you is genuine..." Er Momo pleaded bitterly. "This old servant failed to discipline her properly. It's all my fault. Please consider that I nursed you since infancy and give her another chance."
Chu Yi spoke calmly: "Momo, you nursed me since childhood. How many times do you think you can use this merit?"
Er Momo trembled all over, realizing she had said the wrong thing.
Using past merits to pressure the Prince was completely the wrong move.
The Prince wouldn't refuse her this face, but this would be the last time.
"Since Momo has spoken, let her stay for now." Chu Yi rubbed his fingers. "Demote her to third-rank maid."
Not daring to say more, Er Momo lowered her head: "Yes!"
After Chu Yi entered the study, she immediately turned back to her courtyard. Seeing her daughter sitting on a rattan chair having a young maid massage her back, her anger surged: "You're living more comfortably than ordinary family's young ladies. Do you really think you're a mistress?"Ding Dong dismissed the young maid and pulled Er Momo aside to ask, "Has His Highness agreed to let me stay?"
"His Highness has consented to your stay, but only as a third-rank maid," Er Momo said coldly. "Since you refused to work in the tea room, you'll now serve as a rough labor maid. This is what they call 'going for wool and coming back shorn'."
"Impossible..." Ding Dong frowned. "His Highness wouldn't treat me this way. It must be the Princess Consort deliberately making things difficult for me."
Since childhood, she had dreamed of becoming one of the women in His Highness's inner court, yet he never even glanced at her.
She had thought His Highness had no interest in women.
Until he brought back two children of unknown origin - that was when the fire in her heart ignited.
But during those years when His Highness was traveling everywhere seeking medical treatment for the two young masters, she had no opportunity to approach him. As she grew older day by day, pressured by her mother to marry, she eventually left the princely residence.
Before she could even marry, however, the man died, leaving her a widow before marriage.
Because of this, she had been away from the princely residence for two years.
When His Highness took a wife, her long-dead heart reignited with hope.
If a remarried widow could become Princess Consort, why couldn't she? She was still an untouched maiden - far superior to the current Princess Consort.
"His Highness and the Princess Consort have just completed their wedding ceremonies and are currently in their honeymoon phase," Er Momo said coldly. "If you approach now, you'll only invite dislike. Wait until His Highness passes this initial infatuation, then you may gradually make your move. Only then might there be a sliver of possibility. Otherwise, there's only one outcome - being expelled from the princely residence."
Ding Dong nodded. "Don't worry, Mother. I know my limits."
Ting Xue assigned Ding Dong to work in the main courtyard's small kitchen, helping the cooks with cutting and washing vegetables - typical work for a third-rank maid.
"Princess Consort, that Ding Dong isn't an honest one," Ting Xue reported to Yun Chu. "She spent some silver to have another kitchen maid do her work while she remains idle. Fortunately, she seems to have learned some rules and doesn't dare approach the main courtyard anymore."
Yun Chu smiled. "Ting Xue, my dear Ting Xue, you're about to be married yourself. Why are you still so impatient? If Ding Dong proves honest, then I gain a loyal maid. If she proves dishonest, she'll inevitably make mistakes, and there will be plenty of opportunities to dismiss her. Why worry?"
Ting Xue lowered her head in shy embarrassment.
This morning, the Princess Consort had agreed to the matchmaker's proposal, finalizing her marriage to Cheng Xu. It felt somewhat unreal.
Whenever she thought about it, she felt uncomfortable all over.
"Alright, go pack your things. We'll be departing in two days."
They were preparing to journey to the imperial mausoleum.
Although the Empress Dowager had taken her own life due to charges of conspiracy and rebellion, she remained the Emperor's legal mother by status.
Despite the longstanding discord between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, now that she was dead, any mistreatment during the funeral would inevitably draw public criticism. Therefore, the Emperor not only refrained from investigating the Empress Dowager's past wrongdoings but also posthumously granted her an honorific title. Her coffin would lie in state for forty-nine days according to the regulations for Holy Mother Empress Dowager, before being interred at the imperial mausoleum in early March, when spring was at its finest.
Yun Chu instructed Ting Xue to remain guarding the residence while taking Ting Feng and Qiutong with her to the imperial mausoleum.
The journey from the capital to the imperial mausoleum was quite considerable, requiring over two hours travel time. The massive funeral procession moved from the capital toward the imperial mausoleum.
Yun Chu and Chu Yi traveled in a carriage with their two children.Lifting the carriage curtain, she could see at the very front the coffin carried by dozens of strong men. Beside the coffin was Chu Rui, supported by young eunuchs.
Chu Rui would walk a few steps, kneel down, kowtow toward the coffin, then stand up and continue walking, only to kowtow again...
Yun Chu thought to herself that Chu Rui was already a sickly person to begin with. If he kept kowtowing all the way to the imperial mausoleum, he would probably lose his life.
Yet she also knew that Chu Rui no longer wished to live anyway...
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