Chapter 117

Chapter 117: She Looks A Lot Like Someone

Noticing that Madam Chancellor kept staring at her, Chun Zhi said: “Madam Ji?”

Madam Ji came back to herself, turned the beads in her fingers, and pressed down her surprise as she said: “Pardon the sudden visit. We have disturbed Miss Song.”

“It is a bit of a disturbance,” Chun Zhi said with a light smile, “but since you are here, please come in for tea.”

In the flower hall, Song Wan’er and Chun Zhi sat on one side, while Ji Ru Zhen and Madam Ji sat on the other. Maids set down fragrant tea and snacks with light hands.

Turning her prayer beads, Madam Ji said to Chun Zhi: “A few days ago, you were also at Princess Royal Anyang Manor. You know best what happened between Sixth Miss Wang and my son-in-law, Lu Jing Yun, so I brought Ru Zhen to ask you to make it clear.”

Chun Zhi said: “If it was something Lu Jing Yun did, why not ask him? Why come to me?”

Ji Ru Zhen said: “That day, the moment you walked in you asked Sixth Miss Wang how it felt to reap what she had sown. Was it not your scheme?”

“Watch your words,” Song Wan’er said with a frown: “Sixth Miss Wang and Top Scholar Lu did that kind of thing, yet you do not hold them to account and instead slander my sister. That is foolish.”

Ji Ru Zhen said: “That day the Princess Royal of Anyang cut off what you were about to say, so you did not tell the whole truth. I came today to ask for one honest answer: how did my husband, Lu Jing Yun, and Sixth Miss Wang end up lying on the same bed?”

As she spoke, Ji Ru Zhen stared hard at Chun Zhi, trying to find any sign on her face. But Chun Zhi stayed very calm, her features smooth as still water.

Everyone in the capital’s inner circles knew Wang Yi Yue had long wanted to marry Huo Zheng and become the Princess Consort of Chang’an; the Ji mother and daughter knew it as well. She would not suddenly fall for Lu Jing Yun just because that failed, much less risk shame by ending up with him at Princess Royal Anyang Manor while he had a principal wife. Ji Ru Zhen could not make herself believe that.

She did believe that, at the flower-viewing banquet, a drunk Lu Jing Yun had gone to find Chun Zhi. But that he somehow ended up with Wang Yi Yue, she could not accept. Yet when she led people to search for Lu Jing Yun at the Princess Royal Manor, she had found him and Wang Yi Yue on the same bed. Blinded by rage, she clawed Wang Yi Yue’s face. Only after did she think it all felt wrong. That day, Chun Zhi had seemed ready to say something when the Princess Royal of Anyang cut in and dismissed everyone.

Now Grand Preceptor Wang meant to marry Wang Yi Yue to Lu Jing Yun as a co-wife. Ji Ru Zhen refused to agree. But Grand Preceptor Wang was not some small official who bowed to her father; once he decided, there would be no turning back. For days, Ji Ru Zhen had been too upset to eat or sleep, her face grown haggard, as if she had aged ten years. She thought and thought, and decided there was only one way: ask Chun Zhi what truly happened. If she could prove that Lu Jing Yun and Wang Yi Yue were innocent, perhaps Grand Preceptor Wang would let Wang Yi Yue marry elsewhere and not come to fight her for her husband.

Chun Zhi could guess her thoughts and said calmly: “You should ask Lu Jing Yun and Wang Yi Yue.”

Ji Ru Zhen said: “Do you think I did not ask Wang Yi Yue? She said you harmed her.”

“If you believed her,” Chun Zhi said, “you would not have come to me.”

Ji Ru Zhen opened her mouth to argue, but Chun Zhi went on: “You want me to say that Wang Yi Yue and Lu Jing Yun did nothing, and that I placed them in one bed so others would see.”

She did not wait for Ji Ru Zhen to speak and changed tone: “But what is true is this: they were seen lying together, and that is true; you scratched Wang Yi Yue’s face and ruined her name, and that is true; as for Grand Preceptor Wang marrying Wang Yi Yue to Lu Jing Yun, the key is not whether they did anything in private, but that everyone knows they were caught together by you.”

“Be quiet! Do not say another word, you…” Ji Ru Zhen almost flew into a rage.

“Zhen’er,” Madam Ji said, cutting her off.

Chun Zhi took a slow sip of tea and said: “If you have time to come question me, better use it to think about who pushed you to ‘catch them’ that day.”

Ji Ru Zhen pressed her aching head and thought back. It had been Madam Wang. Before she even looked clearly at who was on the bed, Madam Wang had said Lu Jing Yun and Chun Zhi still had feelings. The Wang mother and daughter had wanted to trap Chun Zhi and Lu Jing Yun, only to end up caught themselves. If Wang Yi Yue wanted to fight Chun Zhi for the place of Princess Consort of Chang’an, why was it she who had to swallow the bitter fruit in the end?

Ji Ru Zhen began to cry.

“Do not lose face outside,” Madam Ji said, handing her a handkerchief.

Ji Ru Zhen wiped her tears and tried to hold them back, though her eyes stayed red.

Chun Zhi pretended not to see it and invited Madam Ji to drink tea.

Madam Ji took a sip. She already knew that Grand Preceptor Wang’s plan to marry Wang Yi Yue to Lu Jing Yun could not be changed. Coming to Song Manor today with Ji Ru Zhen was only to see what kind of person had forced her daughter into this state and to ask a few questions. Now she had seen, and the questions were answered.

There was nothing more to say.

Madam Ji rose with Ji Ru Zhen and said: “We have troubled Miss Song today. We will take our leave.”

“Take care,” Chun Zhi said.

She and Song Wan’er walked the Ji mother and daughter to the hall door, then told Qing Ye and the others to see them out.

In the carriage, Ji Ru Zhen could not stop her tears. She cried to her mother: “Wang Yi Yue schemed against Chun Zhi and ruined herself. She asked for it. Why does she have to come steal my husband?”

“What use is crying?” Madam Ji said: “Even if Wang Yi Yue marries in, she is only a concubine. You are the principal wife. As long as you do not make foolish moves, you can hold her down all your life.”

Before, Wang Yi Yue had an aunt in the palace, the Empress, and looked down on everyone, not even putting a Chancellor’s daughter like Ji Ru Zhen in her eyes. Now she had fallen so low she would be a concubine to Lu Jing Yun.

“What you need now,” Madam Ji told Ji Ru Zhen, “is to keep Jing Yun’s heart. When we go back, stop quarreling with him. Otherwise, when Wang Yi Yue regains her footing, you will suffer for it.”

“Mother…” Ji Ru Zhen still could not swallow the anger.

Madam Ji said no more. She thought of Chun Zhi’s face and suddenly remembered someone she had not seen in many years.

After a long while, Ji Ru Zhen calmed and asked: “Mother, why were you so shocked when you saw that Chun Zhi?”

“She looks a lot like someone,” Madam Ji said.

“Who does she look like?” Ji Ru Zhen asked.