Chapter 61: The Conversation

Thinking about it now, if Noble Consort Cheng were to ask, and she were to mention that she had bought quite a number of things for herself, what would happen if Noble Consort Cheng formed a negative opinion of her?

Moreover, the rewards Xiao Yunshu usually received could not be easily converted into cash. Besides, over at the Chengfu Palace, Noble Consort Cheng would presumably have to continue dipping into her own silver to quietly subsidize the Fifth Prince so he could vie for the succession; how could there possibly be so much spare money to support Xiao Yunshu's extravagant spending?

With this thought, Wen Qiao also felt that Xiao Yunshu's method of spending was simply not right, and she intended to persuade Xiao Yunshu to spend a little less.

Fortunately, the time for them to return was fast approaching; otherwise, she guessed Xiao Yunshu might have bought even more things for her.

Wen Qiao turned her head to look at the two maidservants behind her, whose hands were also laden with many large and small packages. This made her feel even more strongly that she simply had to spend some money to buy something for Xiao Yunshu in return; otherwise, it would be far too inappropriate.

"Very well, since Elder Sister Qiao has put it this way, I suppose it wouldn't do for me to refuse. However, Elder Sister Qiao need not carry any burden in her heart; these things are all bought willingly by me to present to you. If Elder Sister Qiao insists on being so polite with me, then I really shall be angry."

Wen Qiao had never been someone who liked to take advantage of others, and furthermore, Xiao Yunshu had truly spent a great deal of money today. Hearing these words, Wen Qiao smiled and nodded.

No matter what Xiao Yunshu said, she was resolved not to let her spend even a single coin more today.

Thinking thus, Wen Qiao decided to go ahead and buy that silver hairpin first. The hairpin was not expensive, and the workmanship was somewhat rough—the craftsmanship simply incomparable to that of the Inner Household Bureau. She figured Xiao Yunshu was probably just taken with its novelty.

However, since Xiao Yunshu liked it, that alone gave the object value and meaning.

After making the purchase, Wen Qiao insisted on seeing Xiao Yunshu safely back to the palace first. Unable to argue her way out of it, Xiao Yunshu had no choice but to agree.

Wen Qiao stood right below the carriage, watching until Xiao Yunshu's figure disappeared completely through the palace gates, before instructing the carriage driver to turn around. The small carriage then made its way toward the Marquis's Estate.

Earlier that morning, Daiqiao had already gone out to have that pair of earrings crafted. Although items requiring exquisite workmanship naturally demanded time and effort, and logically could not be finished within a single day, the funds Daiqiao carried were more than sufficient. To enable Wen Qiao to obtain what she wanted as quickly as possible, Daiqiao had simply poured all the silver Wen Qiao gave her straight into that jade shop.

The shopkeeper's face had lit up with joy at the sight, and he immediately hurried to urge the artisans to work day and night, barely managing to finish them before nightfall.

The reason Wen Qiao wanted to send Xiao Yunshu back to the imperial palace first was naturally because she intended to double back and retrieve this pair of earrings.

It was not that she wished to keep secrets from Xiao Yunshu; rather, she felt it was currently inappropriate for Xiao Yunshu to know about such matters. Moreover, she had not yet decided which imperial prince to support, and bringing out such an item prematurely would only invite trouble.

If Xiao Yunshu were to truly discover that she held tokens capable of commanding iron-clad cavalry forces, who knew if she might mention it to Noble Consort Cheng upon returning? What if the Fifth Prince's faction came over to seize them as well?

Even though her relationship with Xiao Yunshu was quite good at present, Wen Qiao was still unwilling to completely surrender herself into someone else's hands, always feeling a lingering sense of insecurity.

Fortunately, Xiao Yunshu was quite cooperative. Hearing Wen Qiao say she needed to return hastily, she had hurried back first, even offering to leave two guards behind to escort Wen Qiao safely. After much persuasion by Wen Qiao, that little noble tempter finally dropped the idea.

Inside the carriage, Wen Qiao examined the pair of earrings from every angle, nodded with satisfaction, and then tucked them into a pouch tied at her waist. She planned to swap out her original pair once she got back, hide them away in a secure spot, and wear this new pair starting tomorrow.

She wondered when she would next encounter Xiao Minghe. When he saw these earrings, she imagined he would surely feel even more anxious.

Originally, Wen Qiao thought she was returning to the estate quite late, given the considerable distance between the imperial palace and the Marquis's Estate, and she had guessed there wouldn't be many people waiting up for her. To her surprise, the entire Marquis's Estate was ablaze with lights. Even though the hour was already quite late, many servants were still bustling about, moving in and out of the direction of the main courtyard.

Wen Qiao felt a flicker of confusion and thought about stepping closer to see what the commotion was about, wondering if something had happened. Before she could even approach, however, Wen Zehan blocked her path at the entrance.

Fortunately, after enduring Wen Congqing's stern and repetitive lectures over the past several days, he finally understood that Wen Qiao had the Emperor and the Empress Dowager protecting her from behind the scenes, so he no longer dared to act rashly or use brute force as he had before.

Wen Qiao still had her two maidservants, Hua Ping and Daiqiao, standing behind her, ready to leap forward to protect her at a critical moment—even if the two young women possessed little physical strength. After all, their identities were clear: anyone coming out of the Empress Dowager's palace could not be treated lightly. Having learned his lesson, Wen Zehan did not launch into a physical attack against Wen Qiao as he used to.

Seeing Wen Qiao standing there, he could only resort to verbal attacks.

"You still have the nerve to come back? Just look at what state Mother has been worried into by you! Back when you were in the countryside, Mother's health was always fine. Not long after you returned, Mother has fallen ill one illness after another—you jinx! Knowing this would happen, we should have let you rot in the countryside rather than coming back to cause trouble for the family and bring us all this bad luck!"

Wen Qiao found this completely absurd. Before she could even figure out what was going on, Wen Congqing emerged from the doorway. Seeing that Wen Qiao had returned, he hurriedly turned to stop Wen Zehan with a glance before stepping forward to greet her.

"Your mother is still lying in bed inside, with numerous physicians hovering around her. You girl, if you had any issues, you should have simply come and spoken to your father directly. Why bother to make things difficult for your mother? Your mother has spent all these years diligently managing the Marquis's Estate without an easy moment. She merely pawned a few of your late mother's dowry items, so why must you hold on to it and make such a fuss over her? After all, it wasn't that many things. Whatever was lacking, you could have just told your father directly, and even if I had to smash the pots and sell the irons, I would have made it up to you! Look at how panicked it made your mother—it's driven her straight to a bed of sickness."

Wen Qiao hadn't fully grasped the situation at first, especially since Wen Zehan had immediately launched into a tirade blaming her for Li Yanlan's present state. Listening closely now, however, she finally understood what had happened. A sense of irony welled up inside her, though she kept her expression completely neutral.

Ever since the founding of the Da Jing Dynasty, there had never been a custom where a secondary wife could pawn the dowry of the primary wife. Generally speaking, upon the death of the primary wife, her dowry went directly to the children born of her; if she left no offspring, it should rightfully be returned to her maternal family. There was certainly no rule allowing the husband's family to dispose of it at will.

Yet for some reason, Wen Congqing wore an expression as though pawning Changle's dowry were the most natural thing in the world, even implying that she should go apologize to Li Yanlan.

Clearly, Wen Congqing also knew that Li Yanlan's status was not enough to stand on equal footing with Princess Changle. Even though Changle had married downward into the family back then, making them both theoretically legitimate wives of Wen Congqing, Li Yanlan's true background was lowly. Thus, even in front of Wen Qiao, Wen Congqing directly called Li Yanlan "Madame" rather than referring to her as Wen Qiao's mother. Wen Qiao had never called her mother either, always addressing her simply as "Madame."

Apologizing to a lowly daughter of a disgraced official was an absolute impossibility.

Putting aside the fact that taking a primary wife's dowry was unprecedented, asking a true-born princess's daughter to apologize to the offspring of a convicted criminal was simply out of the question.

Yes, Wen Qiao had long since known Li Yanlan's true identity. She hadn't known in her past life, but in this lifetime, connecting various events together and piecing them together with the fragmented news she had gathered in her previous existence, she had uncovered Li Yanlan's background.

Yet logically speaking, Li Yanlan ought to have been serving as an official courtesan in the Ministry of Music's training bureau; how on earth had she ended up as the mistress of the Marquis of Yongning's Estate?

This point puzzled her.

She had originally intended to use this information to properly undermine Wen Congqing, but then she considered that doing so would strip the secret of its original value. If kept as a threat against Wen Congqing, it would deal a substantial blow to him when needed. Therefore, Wen Qiao temporarily set the matter aside in her heart, rather than blurting it out to Wen Congqing's face as she might have done previously.

At least, having lived through a second life, her thoughts had grown more nuanced, and she was no longer as reckless as before.

"Is that so? But your daughter knew nothing of Madame pawning my mother's dowry. It was only because my maternal uncle happened to mention it in the palace a few days ago that I returned to mention it to Madame, hoping she might take me to look at my mother's dowry. Madame merely said she was too busy and could not spare the time to take me, which is why it kept getting delayed, and to this day I have not laid eyes on my mother's belongings. Yet I have been in the imperial palace these past few days, and this is only my second day back at the Marquis's Estate. For Madame to suddenly fall ill—is this disaster supposed to be counted on my head as well? Still, if Father feels this is indeed your daughter's fault, then your daughter will simply admit to it."

Before Wen Qiao said all this, Wen Congqing had half-expected her to stubbornly refuse to acknowledge any wrongdoing on her part, and he was already beginning to feel irritated. Hearing her neatly and directly concede her fault at the end, however, actually made Wen Congqing feel rather unsettled.

Even though Wen Qiao was the daughter of a princess, and even though she was the apple of the Emperor's and the Empress Dowager's eye, she was currently residing within the Marquis's Estate, and he was her biological father; she was supposed to obey him.

Yet because Wen Qiao had admitted her fault so cleanly and directly, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

On second thought, however, they were indeed the ones in the wrong. After all, for Li Yanlan to have pawned Princess Changle's dowry without obtaining the consent of either Wen Qiao or the Emperor was an offense that could amount to a capital crime if made public.

Still, he didn't feel there was anything truly wrong with his previous line of thought. Even if it had been pawned, it was merely an oversight; how could such a thing outweigh family ties?

Besides, since they all lived under the same roof, if one side lacked money and another used a little to subsidize the household expenses, wasn't that a perfectly normal thing? There was no need to be so petty. Yet, looking at Wen Qiao's demeanor, it was impossible for Wen Congqing to feel entirely at ease.

"Since that is the case, then I must trouble you to go into the palace at an appropriate time and mention this matter to His Majesty. After all, it is not such a grave affair. When you return, frame your words carefully—do not say too much, lest you provoke His Majesty into blaming the Marquis of Yongning's Estate."

Wen Congqing rambled on at length, wasn't it simply because he wanted Wen Qiao to put in a good word before the Emperor regarding the dowry?

However, Wen Qiao had never intended to mention this matter to the Emperor; everything was merely the assumption of these people themselves. Since it was the dowry left behind by Changle, it belonged to her biological mother and was something she intended to reclaim with her own hands. If she constantly relied on the Emperor, she would never be able to live independently under his protection for the rest of her life.

Furthermore, she was inherently an independent-minded young woman; asking her to rely on others for everything was something she simply could not bring herself to do.

"I will discuss this matter further with my Uncle when I return. As for how my Uncle decides to handle it then, that is no longer something I can control. However, your daughter has one more matter to discuss with Father, and I hope Father will accompany me to the study so the two of us can sit down and talk it over slowly."

Wen Qiao spoke softly, her eyes flashing with a confident brilliance of sure victory.

For some reason, at the sight of this, Wen Congqing felt a thud in his chest, accompanied by an ominous premonition.

Yet a moment later, he thought better of it: no matter how capable this girl was, wasn't she still his daughter? Surely she couldn't slip out of the palm of his hand?

With this thought, Wen Congqing put on his stern, aloof expression once more. Giving a slight nod tinged with lingering impatience, he followed Wen Qiao toward the study.

At Wen Qiao's insistence, Wen Congqing dismissed all the servants from the study before fixing his gaze upon her.

"What on earth is so mysterious that it requires all this secrecy? Just spit it out directly; we are all family here, and there is nothing shameful to hide."

He still felt somewhat dissatisfied.

This was the Marquis's Estate, his own territory, yet he had to sneak around carefully avoiding others as if he were some kind of street-crossing rat.

Still, observing Wen Qiao's mysterious air, he refrained from saying much more.

No matter what, even though Wen Qiao was his daughter, she currently had powerful backers behind her, and he naturally did not dare to shout and order her about as he had done in the past, fearing retribution from the palace. Besides, Wen Qiao's smile made him feel rather unnerved, causing him to hold back any harsher words.

What if Wen Qiao really dropped a heavy bombshell on him and caught him off guard? That simply wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Furthermore, there was no one else left in the study now, so if Wen Qiao had anything to say, she could state it plainly.