Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 305 - 304: Generation

Chapter 305: Chapter 304: Generation

Chu Lingxuan said that when Princess Rong Zhao proposed this request, claiming that a daughter-in-law was supposed to serve her in-laws, it was only natural. Marquis Chu then went to the Emperor to complain, and Mrs. Chu also went to the Cining Palace to complain to the Empress Dowager.

When Marquis Chu entered the Golden Hall, the morning court session had not yet ended.

The affairs of the royal family indeed were a matter of national concern. When Marquis Chu finished his complaints, the court officials started discussing the issue.

The incident several years ago involving Chu Hanyan had caused an uproar. Many court officials saw the girl, silly and nigh skeletal in appearance. It was wrong enough for the royal family to force a man’s wife away and take him as their own, but now they were mistreating someone’s child - that was even worse. As for the deceased daughter-in-law, it was impossible to investigate after so long, but seeing the child be abused like this brought her death into question. Therefore, the petitions against Princess Rong Zhao flooded in like snowflakes. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager had no defense and had to punish Princess Rong Zhao.

This time, however, Princess Rong Zhao wanted to torment a newlywed bride, which many people couldn’t stand. They argued, even though a stepmother-in-law is still a mother-in-law, the examples of death and foolishness should serve as a warning. The bride shouldn’t endure the same treatment, and so on.

But there were also those who defended Princess Rong Zhao, arguing that the incident involving the young girl was purely accidental, a scheme orchestrated by the lowly servants. Princess Rong Zhao was distraught upon learning the situation and had already punished the guilty servants. A stepmother-in-law is still a mother-in-law, and since Prince Consort Chu is her biological father, it is only right for the daughter-in-law to serve him. It’s a matter of filial piety, and so on.

The Emperor’s sons, specifically the Second Prince and the Third Prince, were allowed to attend the morning court.

Usually, whatever the Second Prince supported, the Third Prince would oppose, and vice versa.

The Third Prince was the first to express his opinion, arguing that they shouldn’t indulge their eldest sister’s unworthiness and risk offending the officials...

However, the Second Prince argued that nobody’s perfect, that Rong Zhao was already heartbroken over her past negligence and knew she was wrong. The virtue of filial piety is paramount. If a daughter-in-law disrespects her parents-in-law, she is unfit to be a wife, unfit to be a daughter-in-law...

What the Second Prince said was rousing. Some who had previously opposed Princess Rong Zhao were now less eager to criticise.

A court official who supports Princess Rong Zhao asked Marquis Chu, "Marquis Chu, when Crown Prince Chu brought his wife back to the Chu family and ignored his parents-in-law, does he intend to treat her like a Bodhisattva? Heh heh, no wonder people always say your family has no rules."

Marquis Chu, fuming, rowed back, "Bullshit! Are you telling me I’m not an elder in my own family? Just because my family has a princess as a daughter-in-law and a prince as a son, it doesn’t change my status. We have no choice but to treat the princess as a daughter-in-law. Are you insinuating that I cannot demand filial piety from my granddaughter-in-law?" The old man’s words were somewhat disrespectful, but he didn’t care much today. He continued, "My old age doesn’t do well with my health, and in a few days I plan to retire to the countryside for some rest. My granddaughter-in-law must accompany me. If she refuses, I will have to bring my third daughter-in-law instead. My second child is unwell and cannot do without his wife."

All officials knew that his third daughter-in-law was Princess Huachang, the most beloved granddaughter of the Empress dowager, who was regularly summoned to the palace to keep the Empress dowager company. For the sake of filial piety, the Emperor would not allow Princess Huachang, who had just returned from the frontier, leave Capital City again.

As expected, once both sides argued their fill, the Emperor proclaimed, "Let Marquis Chu’s daughter-in-law replace Rong Zhao in serving Marquis Chu as a gesture of filial piety. Filial piety is virtue. My children should set a good example."

The Emperor’s pronouncement was so admirable that the court officials enthusiastically echoed, "Long live the Emperor! May his reign last forever!"

The Empress dowager, having heard Mrs. Chu’s tearful accusations, also sent the palace matrons to rebuke Princess Rong Zhao at the Princess Mansion. She criticizsed her for losing face for the royal family with her past antics and warned her not to cause any more trouble.

Princess Rong Zhao lost a lot of face over the incident and in her vexation, she smashed quite a few porcelain objects in her residence. Embarrassed, she then had the decency not to show her face at the joyous occasion.

However, they would still have to visit the Princess Mansion the day after tomorrow. After all, Marquis Chu was still her biological father and they couldn’t give others reasons to accuse them of lacking filial piety. Chu Lingxuan assured Chen Afu that Mrs. Chu would accompany them on the day of the visit.

Upon hearing it, Chen Afu was overjoyed; all this was much better than what she had initially imagined. She moved closer kissed Chu Lingxuan, smiling, "You’re wonderful, Grandfather is wonderful, Third Aunt is wonderful."

Chu Lingxuan body froze at her closeness, not only did his face receive her fragrant kiss but her softness against his arm made his heart itch. He quipped, "Are you trying to tease me again?"

Chen Afu, frightened, quickly settled back down, wrapped herself up tightly in the quilt and with her eyes closed said, "Alright, I’m going to sleep."

Chu Lingxuan leaned half his body over hers, "Afu, I, I..." his voice was husky, his breath laboured.

Chen Afu opened her eyes and seeing his distressed look felt pain surge in her body. She hesitated, "My lord, I really, really..."

Seeing Chen Afu’s anxious look and the watery glimmer in her eyes, Chu Lingxuan knew that he couldn’t torment his young wife any further, so he laid back down. Still feeling uncomfortable he got up and headed to the bathroom.

When Chen Afu heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom, she felt quite guilty. But there was nothing she could do. She was still too young and weak... Even though in this era, marrying at seventeen was already considered late, she was still a few years away from the legal marriage age according to her previous life.

When Chu Lingxuan laid back down, and despite being at some distance, she could still feel the cold radiating from his body.

This was February weather, chilly in early spring and especially at night. Chen Afu felt terribly sorry for him. Leaning over she asked, "My lord, are you cold? I could ask someone to prepare a bowl of ginger soup for you to dispel the chill, how about that?"

Chu Lingxuan gritted his teeth, "Don’t come closer, don’t talk to me." He grumbled again, "You’re such a silly woman, no, you’re a wicked woman."

Upon hearing that, Chen Afu quickly lay back down, whispering to herself, "I’m not silly."

She grinned, thinking that he was not a bad man after all, he did respect women.

She closed her eyes to sleep. After a while, she turned over and whispered, "My lord, there’s a question I’ve been pondering over."

"What’s the question?" Chu Lingxuan’s voice was now slightly groggy with sleep.

Chen Afu moved a little closer to him and whispered in his ear, "I’ve been thinking about it. That woman is the Emperor’s daughter, and Third Aunt is the Emperor’s niece. Dabao is... his son. So truly, Dabao’s real identity would make him their younger brother. And since we’re Dabao’s foster parents and he calls us ’Dad’ and ’Mom’, won’t that make us a higher rank than our own father, Third Uncle, and Third Aunt? Aren’t we now of the same rank as Grandfather?"

At this, Chu Lingxuan laughed, saying, "And you said you’re not silly, you are absolutely silly." He laughed some more, and when he stopped, continued in low voice, "When a concubine has an elder, Dabao does indeed rank higher. However, Dabao has yet to pay respects to his ancestors as a relative. So, for now, we arrange his generation hierarchy according to our family. Third Aunt is our elder, and thus Dabao’s elder too. There’s no need to speak about my Father and Third Uncle, both are our elders. When Dabao eventually pays his respects to his ancestors, it will be decided by the royal hierarchy."