Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Listen

“Yu Zhu, do you have some trouble?” Chun Zhi asked softly, saying: “If you do, tell me. I will help you.”

Back when they worked at the tofu shop, Chun Zhi still didn’t know who Huo Zheng was, yet she tried every way to help Yu Zhu. Now she was about to become the Princess Consort of Chang’an and had some power to hold over Gu Yuan Jia. Things were much better than before.

In a low voice, Yu Zhu said: “After I left Linshui Town, I drifted to the Capital. I wanted to end the pregnancy, but the physician told me the baby had already formed. Ending it would risk my life, so I…”

“How so?” Chun Zhi asked gently.

“I married a distant cousin and gave birth to the child,” Yu Zhu said.

Chun Zhi paused, then asked: “And the baby?”

“The baby is at home,” Yu Zhu said. “My mother-in-law watches her most days.”

Chun Zhi looked at Yu Zhu with deep pity, saying: “How do your cousin and your mother-in-law treat you?”

“My cousin is a very good man. He treats me well. My mother-in-law…” Yu Zhu hesitated. “She saw I entered the family with a big belly and then gave birth to a daughter, so she was unhappy. But lately she’s much better. I work at Princess Royal Manor now, my monthly wage went up, and with some silver in hand, my mother-in-law is easier to deal with.”

Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law had long been a difficult match. Yu Zhu had gone to work at Princess Royal Manor not long after childbirth. That showed how tricky her mother-in-law was.

Chun Zhi asked a few more questions about Yu Zhu’s life. Yu Zhu said her cousin was a palace guard and seldom came home. Hearing this, Chun Zhi understood even more how hard Yu Zhu’s situation was. She wanted to give Yu Zhu some silver, but any silver in Yu Zhu’s hands would only pass through and end up with her mother-in-law.

Thinking for a moment, Chun Zhi took off a valuable pearl hairpin and set it in Yu Zhu’s hair, saying: “This hairpin suits you very well. Go home and tell your mother-in-law it was a reward from the Eldest Princess.”

Yu Zhu understood at once. The Princess Royal of Anyang had a famous name in the Capital. Wearing this hairpin home would let her mother-in-law know Yu Zhu’s position at Princess Royal Manor was much higher than before, and would also keep her from being squeezed.

Tears shimmered in Yu Zhu’s eyes. She said: “Thank you, Sister, but I can’t accept this hairpin…”

“We’re sisters. A hairpin is nothing,” Chun Zhi said. “Wan’er never refuses me.”

Yu Zhu started to speak again, but Chun Zhi said: “Or is it that you don’t truly see me as your sister?”

“I do,” Yu Zhu said quickly. “I truly do.”

“Then take it,” Chun Zhi said. “You’ve helped at the Mu residence for days and haven’t gone home. You must miss your daughter. Do this: go home today and rest. Come back in two days and keep helping.”

Yu Zhu looked troubled, saying: “But…”

“No buts,” Chun Zhi said. “I’m telling you to go home, so go home. Listen.”

Yu Zhu knew the Mu residence was large and had many people. It would not stop turning just because she left for a day or two. Chun Zhi also asked the servants to pack some pastries for Yu Zhu to take back. Since they wanted to build the image that Yu Zhu was trusted at Princess Royal Manor, they had to make it look right from every angle.

It was midafternoon when Yu Zhu left for Qingyi Lane, carrying the pastries and wearing the pearl hairpin. This neighborhood was all common folk, and the houses were low. The Mu residence’s carriage rolled into the lane and stopped before the Ji family’s small yard.

“Thank you for the ride, Uncle Zhang. I’m home now. You can go back,” Yu Zhu said as she stepped down with the food box.

When people on both sides saw a carriage turn into the lane, they opened their windows to look. Seeing the Ji family’s daughter-in-law return, they pulled their heads back and shut the windows.

Yu Zhu pushed open the gate and walked in with the food box, only to hear a baby wailing. Mother Ji was scolding without stop, saying: “Why are you crying? You’re a money-loser just like your mother!”

The baby did not understand the words, only that the voice was harsh, and cried even louder. “Still crying?” Mother Ji snapped, and she slapped the baby’s bottom twice, hard. The little girl cried and cried, and Yu Zhu’s heart broke.

“Mother!” Yu Zhu pushed open the door at once.

Mother Ji had just struck the child and felt guilty. She quickly pulled back her hand and turned, asking: “Why are you back?”

Yu Zhu stepped forward, picked up the baby, and soothed her, saying: “Be good, Nian’er. Don’t cry.”

The baby girl called Nian’er quieted in her mother’s arms. She looked at her mother with a wronged little face, two tear streaks still on her cheeks. Holding Nian’er, Yu Zhu raised her eyes to Mother Ji, her gaze a little cold.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Mother Ji said, uneasy: “You’re not home, so I’m the one watching the child. She’s so small she can’t be left alone even for a step. I only patted her to stop her crying… I wouldn’t really hurt her, would I?”

“If you don’t want to help with the baby,” Yu Zhu said, “return the monthly wage to me and I’ll hire someone else to watch Nian’er.”

“What can your little wage do? Everything we eat and drink is bought with my son’s money. And now you want money from me? No money!”

Mother Ji was painfully stingy. Once money went into her hands, it never came out.

Yu Zhu ignored her and did the math in her heart: [When my next month’s wage comes, can I hire someone to care for Nian’er?] Nian’er was so small. If Mother Ji mistreated her, the child could not even speak up. It was truly pitiful.

Yu Zhu asked gently if Nian’er was hungry and went to make something for her to eat. Just then Mother Ji spotted the valuable hairpin in Yu Zhu’s hair. Her eyes lit up at once: “Where did that hairpin come from? Did my son buy it for you?”

As she spoke, she reached to pull the hairpin from Yu Zhu’s hair. Yu Zhu turned her head to avoid her and said: “This hairpin is a reward from the Eldest Princess. Try touching it.”

“Eldest Princess?” Mother Ji knew Yu Zhu’s wage had doubled lately, so it seemed she had won the Princess Royal of Anyang’s favor. The hairpin looked costly. Her son did treasure Yu Zhu, but one month’s pay was only so much. He could not afford such a thing.

Mother Ji didn’t dare touch what the Princess Royal of Anyang had rewarded. Instead, she opened the food box and began eating the fine pastries. Yu Zhu let it go. Finding the pastries delicious, Mother Ji took the whole box away, saying: “Since you’re back, you mind Nian’er yourself. Sister Liu at the end of the lane has been asking me to play cards every day. I’ve missed several days already…”

With that, she left. Yu Zhu closed the door, went to the kitchen, and started cooking rice porridge for Nian’er. The baby loved her mother most and sat nearby, watching her with bright eyes.

Yu Zhu was busy when someone came to the front gate and knocked. She thought Mother Ji had forgotten something and come back. She opened the door and looked up to see Gu Yuan Jia…