Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 346 - 345: Plotting

Chapter 346: Chapter 345: Plotting

Looking at the haggard Mrs. Jiang, Chen Afu also felt some sympathy.

Chen Shiying is, in and of himself, very bright. With his good looks, superior intelligence, gentle manners, youthfulness, and affable demeanor towards everyone, he is quite the catch. However, with a difficult mother and a troublesome daughter, and his lack of interest in the affairs of the inner court, any woman married to him could expect a hard life.

Chen Afu did not want to pry any further into the problems plaguing the Chens’ Mansion, so she didn’t ask any more questions.

Chen Yuqing’s voice was barely a whisper as she pressed her lips to her ear and warned, "Older sister, you and your husband must be cautious when you visit the family home in the future... remember this!"

Then, she straightened her back as if she had never said those words.

Mystified by Chen Yuqing’s cryptic words and feeling a chill in her stomach, Chen Afu was just about to ask for clarification when Mrs. Jiang stood up to leave.

With no other choice, Chen Afu rose from her seat to escort Mrs. Jiang and her entourage out of the Tang Garden. Not only had the Tang Garden prepared gifts for the Chens’ Mansion, but the Lu Garden had also done the same.

She wanted to talk further with Chen Yuqing, but Mrs. Jiang was engrossed in a conversation with her for the entire journey. Once they reached the doors, Mrs. Jiang said a couple more things to her daughter before they finally got into their carriage.

After returning to her quarters, Chen Afu spent a long while pondering Chen Yuqing’s words until it dawned on her that this must have something to do with Chu Lingxuan. That indicated that the two women were once again setting their sights on him.

Chen Yuhui and Mrs. Chen had always considered Chu Lingxuan as Chen Yuhui’s future husband. It was Chen Shiying and Mrs. Jiang who had pushed him into Chen Afu’s life. Now that she herself was married to Chu Lingxuan, they had no alternative but to take a step back and figure out a way for Chen Yuhui to become Chu Lingxuan’s concubine. With Chen Afu now pregnant, many influential families like theirs would try to present their husbands with secondary wives or mistresses. Chen Yuhui’s intention was to be Chu Lingxuan’s concubine?

Irritating? She was more than that; she was absolutely shameless.

Whatever is wrong with being the lead wife? Why fall over oneself to be another’s mistress?

And Chen Shiying was not responsible at all. Whenever he saw her, he always sweet-talked and behaved like the epitome of a providential father, head over heels in love with his daughter. But to his mother and Chen Yuhui, he was permissive, displaying a good son and father act, allowing their vicious acts while showing no judgement. Once he sensed the slightest hint of turmoil at home, he seemed to abandon everything to Mrs. Jiang. She was his very own daughter, Mrs. Chen his mother, what involvement did Mrs. Jiang have here?

Mrs. Jiang’s deep love for him, willingly cleaning up his mess, and her desire to befriend Chen Afu were perhaps the only reasons she had not made a scene. Otherwise, who knows what could have happened. By reconnecting with the Chens, instead of adding strength to the family, she had only birthed more troubles.

Thank heavens Mrs. Wang ended up marrying Chen Ming. If she had married Chen Shiying, if not driven away, she would have suffocated from the stifling cloud of negativity in the inner quarters.

Chen Afu was quite peeved, so she closed the door and stepped into her personal space.

Jin Yanzi was also there, lying on the floor, its big wings compactly enveloping Jin Bei like it was incubating a little chicken.

It had returned late yesterday afternoon, surreptitiously slipped into the space, and they hadn’t spoken to each other yet.

The sweet fragrance in the space refreshed Chen Afu instantly. Seeing Jin Yanzi in this state improved her mood considerably.

She smiled and said, "Baby, are you incubating Jin Bei again?" Sitting next to them, she continued, "Jin Bei has changed a bit, its color has deepened, and it has some temperature now. Once, I thought I saw its small black iris moving. Can it really come back to life?"

Jin Yanzi briefly exposed Jin Bei before quickly covering it back and chirped, "Yes, it has undergone some changes. Maybe it can be resurrected, but we don’t know how long it’ll take." It dreamily anticipated the future, "If it can be revived sooner, there will be a companion for us so it won’t be so lonely in winter."

It glanced at Chen Afu’s belly before releasing Jin Bei onto the ground and magnanimously said, "For you, Mommy, and for my future siblings, I’ll get you some green bird’s nest."

It then flew into the Golden House and flew back out again, carrying a tiny piece of green bird’s nest in its beak.

Chen Afu was delighted. She took the bird’s nest with her pinched fingers and placed it on her tongue, savoring the fragrant taste for a long while.

She held Jin Yanzi close, planting a kiss on it and laughed, "Thank you, darling. You’re very generous."

Jin Yanzi hooked its beak in a pseudo-smile, licked its little pointed beak, then curled back onto the ground, taking Jin Bei under its wings. Giggling, it started, "Mommy, yesterday, I was flying aimlessly in the Capital City for fun. I saw our Bad Princess at the Peach Blossom Banquet. I was perched on a tree . I quietly dropped a blob of poop on her head. She walked around wearing it, oblivious to her plight while others noticed but dared not say anything."

Envisioning the comical scene, Chen Afu burst into hearty laughter, praising it for a job well done.

Some days ago, Mrs. Chu sent word that when Rong Zhao was bombarded by bird poop, it had created a stir in the capital. The Emperor had ordered the Observatory to check for any abnormalities in the celestial omens and declared that there were none before calming down. However, he was not pleased with Rong Zhao. He asked her to focus on her family and not to parade about unnecessarily, nor enter the palace, if there was no urgent need.

Rong Zhao and her daughter had become unpopular in the elite circle of the capital. Many people avoided them, considering them ill-omened. The mother and daughter also confined themselves inside the Princess Mansion and didn’t dare go out.

However, their isolation didn’t last. They came out seeking attention. As it happened, they were bombarded with bird droppings. This made Rong Zhao’s position even worse.

Seeing her owner’s amusement, Jin Yanzi said, "Rong Zhao might be bad, but her treasures are bountiful. I should steal more jewelry from her in the future. We have enough gold for construction, but we still lack some good gems."

Chen Afu responded, "Feel free to steal her possessions... if only you could also steal some silver notes..." She suddenly remembered that the stolen silver notes could be traced and may not be spendable, so she corrected herself, "if only you could also steal some gold, Night Pearls, and cat’s eyes... oh my, as long as it’s valuable, anything would be great. If you don’t need it, I certainly do."

"Alright then. Let’s aim big this time." Jin Yanzi chirped in laughter, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

The next day, Jin Yanzi shook off Qi Qi and Hui Hui, her constant followers, and flew away alone. She disappeared for several days at a stretch.

Nine nights later, Chen Afu was deep asleep when Jin Yanzi’s chirping woke her. She opened her eyes, and the bright moonlight streaming in through the small window bathed the room in a soft glow, allowing her to make out the large bundle that Jin Yanzi had dragged onto the bed.

Such a big bundle meant Jin Yanzi had a fruitful adventure. Chen Afu was elated. Rising from her bed, she stepped into her dimension still in her nightgown.

Jin Yanzi proudly said, "Mommy, open the bundle and take a look."

As Chen Afu unwrapped the bundle, a dazzling array of treasures was revealed. There was an ice jade ornament, a jade Guanyin ornament, a white jade magnolia flower pin, a dragon and phoenix auspicious jade pendant, among other small ornaments she did not recognize. Besides these, there were about a dozen bejeweled hairpins embedded with cat’s eyes, radiating a kaleidoscope of colors. Furthermore, there were two brocade boxes. One contained five Night Pearls, and the other had five pearls the size of pigeon eggs.