The Royal’s Little Lady

Since the pearl incident, Zuo Xiuyan had not been to the Tingzhu Courtyard for several days. She felt disheartened at Xiao Heng’s lack of regard for her; even feeling that the marriage between her and him might not happen at all

 

But after a few days, she finally decided that feeling upset wasn’t of any help.

 

The Emperor supported their marriage. She was the future mistress of Tingzhu Courtyard, so why couldn’t she go there? Even if Xiao Heng wanted to pamper his concubine, he could treat her, his legitimate wife, so coldly!

 

She wanted to go over to get along with the baby so that after she was wed to him, she could take him to her yard and thereby get hold of Xiao Heng’s heart. As for that favored concubine… Men were fickle. After spending a long time with her, could he still remain so fascinated by her?

 

When that moment comes, she would come up with a way to make her leave the residence!

 

Having made up her mind, she visited Tingzhu Courtyard practically every day.

 

Not seeing her come for the first few days, Gu Sui’er actually felt quite relieved. However, after she started showing up again, the latter had no choice but to prepare herself and continue accompanying her.

 

On this day, after Zuo Xiuyan accompanied her to coax little Ah Chen to sleep and the two were talking outside the screen, Jing Yue entered the room: “Young Mistress, Jin Fu is crying outside, claiming that a maid named Hong’er had bullied her. I originally thought of seeking help from Nanny An or Guizhi for this kind of thing, but Nanny An went to deliver the freshly made jujube cake to the Old Madam while Guizhi went to fetch the shoe pattern from the eldest Young Madam. So both of them are not here now.”

 

Hearing her words, Gu Sui’er couldn’t help frowning: “She has always been the one to bully the other maids. Who would dare to do that to her?”

 

These words were not false. Although Bao Ya and Jin Fu were not favored by Xiao Heng, they were, in any case, bestowed upon him by the Emperor himself. None had the courage to bother them.

 

Even though she said this, Gu Sui’er didn’t turn a blind eye to it. She wanted to go take a look immediately, but she couldn’t possibly leave Zuo Xiuyan in there all by herself.

 

Noticing Gu Sui’er’s dilemma, Zuo Xiuyan hurriedly smiled and said, “You should go. Anyway, I haven’t finished this bowl of bird’s nest soup so I won’t go elsewhere. I’ve been coming here almost every day, why are you still being so formal!”

 

Gu Sui’er thought about it, and just as she was about to respond, Jin Fu’s wail was heard from the outside. Consequently, she had no other choice but to rush out.

 

Ever since the night Bao Ya failed to seduce Xiao Heng and was in turn, muffled and dragged out by Hu Tie for interrogation under the suspicion of being a spy, she had become introverted.

 

Although she was proven innocent, her temperament has changed greatly. Instead of going out like before, she kept herself shut indoors most of the time. What was even more baffling was that in contrast to her gorgeous self of the past, now she was more like a delicate and pretty little beauty.

 

She had now stopped provoking people and minded her own business.

 

Unexpectedly, Jin Fu began stirring up trouble.

 

When Gu Sui’er arrived, Jin Fu was crying in grievance, accusing Hong’er of this and that, all of which boiled down to nothing more than saying that she acted like a snob and looked down on others. Turning a blind eye to her, Bao Ya sat on the side to do– embroidery?

 

Despite her growing astonishment, Gu Sui’er still stepped forward to inquire what exactly was the situation.

 

Although she initially couldn’t handle these kinds of matters all on her own, she gradually learned the ways from witnessing how Nanny An did them.

 

On the other side, after Zuo Xiuyan had finished eating the bird’s nest soup, she looked at the furnishings and discovered that they were all of a very good quality. Even the white jade porcelain vase placed in front of the window was a treasure from the reign of the previous Emperor.

 

She sighed, feeling that the saying ‘a fallen phoenix is not as good as the pheasant’ probably described her current situation aptly.

 

It would take her family some time to restore the wealth and honor of the past after their reinstation.

 

Just as she thinking about this, she heard the sound of a whimper from inside a room.

 

At first, she didn’t pay much attention, but after some thought, she knew that little Ah Chen must have woken up and started crying because he couldn’t see his mother.

 

She didn’t want to be bothered, so she raised her foot in order to leave. However, when she reached the threshold, the whimpers became louder. She frowned, wouldn’t she be blamed if anything happened to that child?

 

With this thought, she reluctantly walked to the warm room, moved away the pillow guarding little Ah Chen by the side, and lifted the canopy to look inside.

 

The baby was sprawled out on his back. His little head was tilted to the side as he stared back at her with his clear and big eyes.

 

Her heart jumped in fright.

 

She had originally assumed that she would see a crying baby with tears and snot dripping down his face, but what she actually saw was a calm, leisurely and contented baby swinging his two little legs in the air.

 

Gazing at the child’s brazen attitude, she became even more unhappy.

 

He was just a concubine’s child, did he really need to be pampered so much? She would also give birth after getting married to him. What would her child receive then?

 

“Little Ah Chen, you’re really well-behaved. Do you miss your mother? Lay there properly and I’ll go call your mother.” She smiled softly at little Ah Chen, intending to turn around and leave.

 

She didn’t like this child.

 

She understood the reason behind the Old Madam’s approval of her coming here, but she really did detest this.

 

This family simply didn’t understand the difference between a wife-born and a concubine-born child.

 

Unexpectedly, just as she turned her head after saying this, she heard him utter a sharp cry. It was as if someone had pinched him with all their strength.

 

Startled, she quickly looked back.

 

But by the time she turned and looked, the baby had already rolled to the absolute edge of the bed like a round, fat ball.

 

“Hey, you– what are you doing!” She couldn’t help crying out.

 

The loud sound of something dropping on the ground was heard: the baby had fallen off the bed! Then, a high-pitched and aggrieved wail of a baby shook the entire Tingzhu Courtyard.

 

A chill ran down Zuo Xiuyan’s back.

 

She suddenly realized the kind of situation she was in. But at this moment, Gu Sui’er and some maids had already rushed in.

 

Usually, once little Ah Chen fell asleep, he would not wake up before a shichen or two. Moreover, there was no fear of him falling off because a pillow was placed beside him to guard him and there was also the bed canopy.

 

Zuo Xiuyan came to pay visits frequently so Gu Sui’er had thought that it wouldn’t be a big issue if she left him here and went outside; it just happened that Nanny An and Guizhi were also not around today.

 

Besides, it would have only been for a few moments. She would have returned as soon as she was done dealing with the matter.

 

Unexpectedly, this happened.

 

When she ran to the bed, tears and snot were streaming down poor little Ah Chen’s flushed little face.

 

She hurriedly picked him up into her arms and coaxed him softly.

 

After this incident, the soft and tender little baby was clearly very frightened. He lay on her shoulders and hugged her neck tightly, his small body still trembling.

 

Gu Sui’er felt more and more distressed. At this moment, she only hated herself for being careless enough to leave little Ah Chen while he was sleeping.

 

Nanny An also came back. She took a look at the crying little Ah Chen and then at the aggrieved Zuo Xiuyan, and couldn’t help but ask, “What happened?”

 

After a long while of coaxing, when little Ah Chen finally stopped sobbing, Gu Sui’er looked at Zuo Xiuyan in confusion.

 

“Zuo girl, what happened here?”

 

Zuo Xiuyan was a bit confused: “I don’t know what happened. “Initially, I saw him lying there nicely. Then he suddenly rolled down by himself.”

 

When Nanny An heard her words, she felt something fishy about this matter: “How is that possible? Although the Little Young Master is lively when he’s awake, he never rolls around after falling asleep.”

 

Otherwise, they would feel apprehensive to let him sleep on the bed all alone.

 

Gu Sui’er frowned and looked at Zuo Xiuyan: “Zuo girl, when you came here, did you see Ah Chen wake up, then roll and fall?”

 

Recalling everything that transpired before the others arrived, Zuo Xiuyan suddenly felt it to be outrageous: the baby crying after seeing her, rolling towards the edge, and falling off the bed.

 

As soon as her heart was stirred, she purposely said: “Nothing of that sort. I was just sitting outside when I suddenly heard a thud, followed by Ah Chen’s loud cry. I hurried over to look and saw him fall on the ground.”

 

Just as she finished speaking, some movement was heard from the outside. When they looked over, they realized that it was the Old Madam and the eldest Young Madam who had come here, followed by Guizhi.

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