Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 419 - 414: Feigning Illness

Chapter 419: Chapter 414: Feigning Illness

The next day, the temperature suddenly dropped, the cold wind was biting, and the snow was falling thick and fast. Overnight, the roofs, trees, and ground were all covered in a thick layer of snow. The little maids in the courtyard swept the snow to the side, laughing as they built two snowmen.

Chen Afu, sitting by the window, felt a heavy burden on her heart. If this snow continued to fall, regardless if it stopped at the end of the first or second lunar month, or even if it only lasted for eight or ten days, it would still be a disaster. The Chu family members who knew the inside story did not wish for Master Wu Zhi’s prophecy to come true. Because if it did, not only would the Chu family face an unknown catastrophe, but who knew how many of the common folk would freeze or starve to death in the snowstorm.

On the afternoon of the 25th, the heavy snow was still falling. Chen Afu sat on the bed doing needlework. The howling wind outside the window made her feel restless, so she used her needlework to calm her nerves. Sometimes she looked at the small clothes in her hand, and at other times, she would look at her two sleeping little brothers. The boys had grown quite a bit and now they looked more like the members of the Chu family, or to be more precise, they looked very much like Marquis Chu. Chu Lingxuan looked a lot like Abbot Liao Chen, and Ms. Chu Hanyan also resembled Liao Chen because she took after Chu Lingxuan.

Marquis Chu still hadn’t seen the little twins yet. If he saw how much they looked like him, he would definitely love them to his heart’s content. From what Chu Lingxuan had said, Marquis Chu had complicated feelings for Ms. Chu. While he pitied her, he did not want to get too close to her due to the blood of Mrs. Ma that she carried. Therefore, he looked forward to children born by Chen Afu even more.

Thinking of that pitiable girl, Chen Afu felt distressed when she thought of her and Dabao. She rubbed her chest and stared blankly as she thought of the two of them. Suddenly, a servant reported that a chamberlain from Princess Rong Zhao’s Mansion was coming to visit her. The gatekeeper had received early notice that if anyone from the princess’ mansion wanted to see Chen Afu, they must report it with the utmost haste.

Upon hearing it, Chen Afu hurriedly put down her needle and thread and asked a little maid to report to Mrs. Chu in Anrong Hall. She herself then lay down on the bed.

Before long, the chamberlain arrived. He peeked into the room from the door and said, "On the instruction of Princess Rong Zhao, I am here to invite the young Madame Chu and her two sons to come and pay their respects to the princess and the prince consort."

The word "pay" was stressed particularly strongly.

Mrs. Li hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, as you can see, our lady has been sick since she returned tired and weary from the journey. How about we send the lady to the princess’ mansion on a stretcher?"

The eunuch suspected that Madame Chu was feigning illness. He thought for a moment and said, "Princess Rong Zhao is kind-hearted and she certainly would not make a sick daughter-in-law pay her respects. However," he pointed at the two little boys on the bed and said, "these two gongzi (young masters) must go and greet their grandparents. This is filial piety."

Of course, Chen Afu dared not let the two children go to the princess’ mansion alone. She weakly said, "These two children cannot be separated from me. I will get up now and take the children to see Princess Rong Zhao."

The chamberlain sneered, "So Madame Chu can get out of bed, then why are you pretending to be sick? Hurry up, the princess is eager to see her grandchildren. She has been waiting for many days now."

Mrs. Li, Hong Fei, and Xia Yue all went in to help Chen Afu dress with teary eyes upon hearing this. Chen Afu could hardly stand up and needed two people to support her and one to help her get dressed. Mrs. Xu and two other maids found clothes for the little brothers and dressed them. The two of them were sleeping soundly but were disturbed by this and woke up crying.

Just as Chen Afu was dragged to the threshold of the east room, Mrs. Chu and the old Marquis Chu arrived one after the other.

Mrs. Chu saw the situation and got angry. She pointed at the eunuch and shouted, "Give him a slap! This eunuch dares to put Princess Rong Zhao in the wrong, taking the daughter-in-law here like this to the princess’ mansion. Who knows how others will criticize the princess for being unkind and abusive towards her daughter-in-law."

Hearing this, one of the maids stepped forward and slapped the eunuch twice, cursing, "You’re very bold, dare to tarnish the reputation of the princess."

The old Marquis Chu heard this and cursed, "It’s not this eunuch who’s tarnishing Princess Rong Zhao’s reputation, Princess Rong Zhao was unkind in the first place. She has already caused the death of one of Xuan’er’s daughters-in-law, and now she’s coming after this one, and even wants to torment my two great-grandchildren. No, I’m going into the palace now to file a complaint, even if she is of royal blood, she shouldn’t be allowed to bully people like this."

The eunuch was terrified at once, he immediately knelt down to Mrs. Chu and started kowtowing, pleading, "Your Royal Highness, please spare me. It wasn’t the princess’s fault, it was I who was short-sighted, thinking Mrs. Chu didn’t seriously suffer. I will return and report the exact situation to the princess."

Mrs. Chu rebuked him, "Short-sighted? I say you’re blind! If you dare to do this again, I will gouge out your dog eyes."

The eunuch quickly knocked his head on the ground a few more times before scurrying away.

Once the eunuch had left, Mr. Chu happily began to play with his great-grandson, whom he had not seen for several days.

Chen Afu invited Mr. Chu and Mrs. Chu to have dinner in the Bamboo Pavilion, suggesting that Mrs. Hua prepare hot pot. Later, he also invited the Chu Lingzhi and Chu Lingwei brothers over, and the third master joined them directly from the court after his official duties.

There weren’t many people, just six, so they all ate from one pot.

The hotpot had a strong smell, so they placed it in the West Side Room. The blizzard raged outside, but inside it was as warm as spring, filled with laughter and conversation.

After eating joyfully for a while, Mr. Chu let out a long sigh, "If my second daughter-in-law could make clear decisions, our family wouldn’t have been unable to even eat a reunion dinner."

Mrs. Chu laughed and said, "Father-in-law, Mrs. Li is beyond redemption. Although my second brother-in-law can be a bit gloomy, he is a good man and his children are also very good. If we kick out that rotten apple, our home will be peaceful again and we can have meals together every day."

Although the third master felt it was inappropriate for his wife to speak in such a way about his brother and sister-in-law, he did not stop her and even let out a couple of chuckles. Chen Afu shared the same sentiment, but as a junior, it wouldn’t be proper for her to voice such an opinion, so she just grinned along.

Mr. Chu said, "Suffering ’chaos caused by Princess Rong Zhao’ was originally intended to be seen by the public as a part of our adversity strategy, and in order to facilitate this we tolerated many of Mrs. Li’s outrageous actions. Once certain things are settled, if Mrs. Li creates trouble again, we indeed cannot keep her."

The snowstorm continued until the 28th day of the Lunar New Year without a sign of stopping. The outskirts of Capital City, as well as the areas to the north of the city, suffered from this disaster. Many houses collapsed under the weight of the snow, a lot of pigs and sheep were frozen to death, and many people also perished.

The old monk’s words really came true. If, as he predicted, "The snow will stop by the end of the month," then people would have to wait until the end of the first or second lunar month for the weather to clear. Nobody knew how many more lives would be lost by then.

The emperor was so worried that he convened the Inner Court everyday to discuss disaster relief. He also issued an imperial decree, canceling the custom of visiting the palace on the first day of the Lunar New Year to pay New Year’s greetings to him and the Empress Dowager. The areas affected by the disaster were allowed to commence the printing of money on the third day of the New Year.

On this day, an official started to impeach Princess Rong Zhao again, saying her immoral actions had provoked the wrath of heaven; first bringing about the bird attack and now a snow disaster.

The emperor was both furious and afraid. Yet owing to the dignity of the royal family, he withheld the impeachment. However, the Empress Dowager issued an Imperial Decree, instructing Rong Zhao to transcribe scriptures at her mansion and forbidding her to go anywhere else. Essentially, she was indirectly confining Rong Zhao to her mansion.