Chapter 201 - Imperial Examinations And Royal Threats3
Chapter 201 – Imperial Examinations And Royal Threats3
Minutes later in the carriage en route to the Duke's mansion.
Zhu Fengyin and Su Liya had been seated in silence since they got into the carriage. A lot of thought ran through their minds since they left the temple none of which they wished to air for fear of it winding up to be true. Zhu Fengyin did want to admit the possibility of Su Liya's suspicions being true because that would ruin everything she planned for the future.
Su Liya looked away from the window and put down the curtain she had gotten tired of this uncomfortable silence between them. She cleared her throat to get Zhu Fengyin's attention and said in a very serious tone. "Fengyin about the fire … I don't think that was the Crown Prince's doing. However, his visit to that temple had nothing to do with a sudden need for divine guidance and everything to do with his hunt for dirt on the Lu family. He has an axe to grind, fengyin.
"Things are not as they were in your previous life, the Crown Prince and the Lu Family will break off. Even Yaozhu is suspicious of his highness and so is Minister Zhu. The man thinks that the Empress and the Lu family killed his mother, I didn't have a mother growing up but I know that if I suspected that someone hurt someone I care about. I won't sit still, now imagine if you were the Crown Prince.
"What would you do and please do not even suggest investigating what happened! It has been decades since Noble consort Tong died, the only people with evidence would be the Empress and your father. The same two people accused of being involved, I doubt he would accept their word for it. The world is already rigged against us, we need to protect ourselves".
Zhu Fengyin glanced at her silently for some seconds, shut her eyes and gently rubbed her temple while leaning on the wooden wall of the carriage. "Yaya, what do you want me to do, without any proof? Everything is based on suspicion plus the Crown Prince hasn't done anything against the Lu family_"
"Yet! The keyword here is yet" Su Liya interrupted.
"Yaya!" She cried out.
"Hey! Let us be real here. The Crown Prince suddenly visits your temple and attempts to get information on you from the abbot. All for what? To get to know his best friend's wife? I think he was looking for a way to get information through the abbot. Which means that he no longer trusts the Lu family!"
"Yaya, I know where you are coming from. I am equally suspicious but I just can't do anything about this. Yingjei will be mad if he finds out about this. You know that he is a lot closer to the Crown Prince than second brother-in-law since they are much closer in age and spend more time together. I don't know how he would take it when he finds out!"
Su Liya pulsed her lips, "I think you are overthinking this, Eldest brother-in-law is a reasonable person. He won't make things difficult for you. I cannot force you to see things the way I do but I think that you should sleep on it before making any decision".
"Thank you!" Zhu Fengyin replied softly. They exchanged a soft look before looking away. Zhu Fengyin felt her heartbeat hasten, she didn't know what the future held for them but she feared that life would never be as calm as it was right now. It was like they had gotten rid of an enemy only to get a new one.
*********
Su Liya's pavilion at the Duke's mansion.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the duke's mansion Su Liya was helped down the carriage by her maid. The steward, uncle Lu stood at the gates with the guards. He rushed forward as Su Liya walked closer, "You had a few visitors, while you were out, Your Highness."
Su Liya caused and glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, "visitors? Who came?"
"Madam Li came over with an invitation to a banquet at her house" he took out an envelope from inside his tunic and handed it over to her. Su Liya accepted the envelope, she looked down at the envelope, quickly reading through the characters written on the envelope.
"Thanks, uncle Lu," she said passing the envelope to Rong Rong. "Is mother and his highness back?"
"No, they are still at Jiang mansion", uncle Lu replied.
"Okay, if there is nothing else. I will get going" she glanced back at Zhu Fengyin who walked ahead and said, "have Aunt He, prepare a small lunch and calming tea for her grace".
"Yes!"
Su Liya continued to her room with her maids, she needed to wash off the soothe and smell of smile that clung to her staying for some time at the burning temple. She was greeted by the courtyard maid as they went about cleaning the compound. As soon as she got into the room she got out of her clothes and changed into a silk dressing gown.
Su Liya moved onto the bathroom with her maids. She sat on the chair by the window reading through the invitation delivered by the Li family while Rong Rong and Baozhai went about mixing her bathwater in the bathroom. She opened the envelope and pulled out the letter within, while the sound of water getting mixed could be heard from behind the screen.
The room got warmer as Baozhai and Rong Rong poured warm water into the wooden bathtub behind the screen. Su Liya's eyes narrowed as she read the invitation, with the original Su Liya's terrible relationship with the Li family. She had assumed that the family wanted nothing to do with her but based on the content of the invitation. It seemed that get had gotten over their 'feeling'.
Since the invitation was addressed to her and Lu Yaozhu, she folder the invitation and returned it into the envelope. Ever since Lu Yaozhu was made a First rank prince the dynamics of everything had changed. Even in the duke's mansion, the servants treated them more respectfully. Lu Yaozhu was rewarded a large royal mansion a street away from the Duke's mansion with his new title.
They were set to move out of the duke's mansion in a few days. Their new mansion was getting cleaned up and renovated before they move in. The mansion was previously occupied by a second-ranked prince who had served under the previous Emperor. After his death, the mansion was required by the Emperor and left unoccupied. The mansion was left unoccupied for over a decade and a half, a lot of work needed to be done to make it habitable.
Lu Yaozhu was overseeing the renovation, the construction was handled by a private company belonging to one of their distant relatives in the merchant class. Once the mansion was set they would move in but until then they stayed back at the Duke's mansion.
The spread of rose water alerted her to the fact that her bath water was set. Su Liya placed the invitation on the table and gazed towards the screen. She touched the hair clip holding up her hair and smiled. The hair clip was a gift from Lu Yaozhu while they were at Ningzhuo, it was a long clear jade hair clip shaped like a lotus flower designed with small little flowers with the name bright inscribed on the hair clip.
She had fallen in love with it the first time she saw it. It was handcrafted by a master, Lu Yaozhu never told her where he found it but had given it to her one morning. Su Liya was never the type that was moved by jewellery but she felt her heart soften as she opened the slim box he had handed out to her and saw this masterpiece lying inside.
It was breathtaking but it was the next thing that happened that touch her heart. Lu Yaozhu made her hold still while he packed up her hair in a lazy bun. That morning and what she felt as he gently pulled her head up was all she remembered every time her hair was packed in a bun.
"The bath is set, your highness", Baozhai said dragging her away from her thoughts. Su Liya felt her cheek heat as she was dragged away from her daydream. She glanced and Baozhai and nodded, smiling softly. Su Liya stood up from the seat and walked to the screen.
"Baozhai, please put the invitation away before it gets wet", She said as she untied her dressing gown and walked to the bathtub.
"Yes, your Highness", Baozhai said and walked to the table. She picked up the invitation and left the room, leaving Rong Rong to help their mistress into the bathtub.
Su Liya held onto Rong Rong's hands as she climbed up the bath. She laid back, her head resting on the side of the bath while her body was fully immersed in the water.. She shit her eyes and let herself silently immerse in the water.