Chapter 60: Both Unlucky

While the days in Bi Dan Courtyard were peaceful, the atmosphere in Ming Hui Hall was so silent it was terrifying.

Gu Xuan knelt on the cold blue bricks, a bone-chilling frost spreading from her knees through her entire body.

When Nanny Meng had come for her, she knew her actions had been discovered by her Imperial Concubine Mother. She had pleaded with her maternal grandmother for a long time, but in the end, she was still carried off the carriage.

Thinking of Princess Xuan's severity, Gu Xuan could not help but burst into tears.

Princess Xuan sat in the seat of honor. "Do you still have the face to cry?"

Gu Xuan kowtowed while weeping. "Your daughter was momentarily confused and nearly committed a great error. Your daughter knows she was wrong; I beg Mother to forgive me this once!"

"Know you were wrong?" Princess Xuan raised her tone slightly. "Then tell me, what did you do wrong?"

Indeed, what had she done wrong? She had merely helped Sister Rouyin meet Fifth Brother so the two could speak clearly; this was something Fifth Brother owed Sister Rouyin.

If Fifth Brother had been willing to take Sister Rouyin as a noble concubine, none of the subsequent troubles would have happened.

The more Gu Xuan thought about it, the more she felt she was not in the wrong; it was Gu Ci who was at fault.

However, under Princess Xuan's gaze, she did not dare speak her true thoughts. She could only rack her brains. "Your daughter should not have been soft-hearted and helped Sister Rouyin meet Fifth Brother, nor should she have led people there."

Lady Ming, sitting to the side, widened her eyes in astonishment. She had been busy handling the banquet affairs at Nuandong Hall and only heard about the incident at the Lake Heart Island from a nanny after she had seen the guests off from the Prince's Mansion.

She never imagined that Gu Xuan had been involved in this.

Was Seventh Sister mad? Since when was it reasonable to conspire with outsiders against one's own family?

No wonder Nanny Ming said that even when Consort Han and Miss Shen were being so aggressive, Mother did not say a word; it was because she was afraid of implicating Seventh Sister.

Princess Xuan closed her eyes. "Wanrou, you tell her!"

"Yes," Lady Ming sighed inwardly. "Seventh Sister, you have committed four wrongs today. First, you should not have conspired with outsiders to plot against your own biological brother. Have you ever considered that if the secret meeting were truly confirmed, while the daughter of the Marquis of Zhongyong would indeed be disgraced, much of the military prestige and the loyalty Fifth Brother fought so hard for with his life would also dissipate."

Gu Xuan argued, "Sister Rouyin is not an outsider."

Lady Ming continued, "Second, you should not have chosen today. Most of the great families in the Northwest are involved in today's affairs; even the slightest ripple will cause a massive uproar. The Prince's Mansion is at the very center of this vortex. Being cautious is not enough; if it is discovered that the Prince's Mansion is not impregnable, dangerous schemes will follow one after another."

"Third, how important is the Nuandong Banquet? Today was for raising funds for the hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers in the Northwest to survive the winter. If the secret meeting is confirmed, the reputation of the Prince's Mansion will plummet, and the Nuandong Banquet can never be held again. How could the Prince's Mansion face the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians then?"

"Fourth, the Marquis of Zhongyong has served in the military for many years and holds great military prestige. If this matter causes a rift with the Prince's Mansion and leads to unrest in the Northwest army, it will be a catastrophe for the Prince's Mansion and the entire Northwest!"

Gu Xuan collapsed to the ground, her eyes vacant as she shook her head incessantly. "I didn't know, I really didn't know it would be this serious." She crawled on her knees to Princess Xuan's feet, pleading, "Mother, please believe me, your daughter truly did not know!"

"I know you didn't know," Princess Xuan looked down at the daughter she had sent to the Meng family for upbringing since childhood. "With your intellect, of course, you wouldn't have thought of these things."

Gu Xuan's mouth hung open.

"My greatest regret is believing your grandmother's words and sending you to the Meng family to be raised, which allowed you to grow up so foolish," a flash of anger crossed Princess Xuan's face, her expression turning as deep as still water. "From this day forward, you will move back to the Prince's Mansion, and I will teach you personally."

"How much you can learn will depend on your own fate."

Gu Xuan slumped to the floor. She had not expected that in her mother's eyes, she was so utterly incompetent.

With a wave of Princess Xuan's hand, Nanny Meng led two elderly maids to lift Gu Xuan up and take her to the side courtyard to copy scriptures as punishment.

"Open the storehouse. I want to personally pick out some things she likes for Zhaoshan."

"Yes," Nanny Meng saw that the Princess's mood improved significantly whenever Princess Zhaoshan was mentioned, and she could not help but become even more cautious regarding the Princess in her heart.

***

Meanwhile, at the Marquis of Zhongyong's Mansion.

Bai Rouyin knelt in the ancestral hall. Listening to the Marchioness of Zhongyong analyze the situation in the Northwest, she finally understood that her actions were equivalent to personally pushing the Marquis's Mansion into an abyss.

Bai Rouyin wept silently and kowtowed. "Your daughter was wrong. Please forgive me, Mother."

"Your daughter has realized it. Since there is no fate between me and Yuanye, or the General of the Cavalry, I cannot force it."

"I ask Mother to take charge and select a husband for me."

The Marchioness of Zhongyong had not expected that a misfortune would turn into a blessing; that Bai Rouyin would actually agree to another marriage. She was overjoyed. After settling her daughter, she first returned to her courtyard to write a family letter to the Marquis of Zhongyong, and then immediately sent people out to inquire which families had eligible, unmarried young men.

She must choose a fine husband for Rouyin who was in no way inferior to Gu Ci!

After all, her daughter had only been momentarily confused. Now that she had come to her senses, she was once again the most dazzling pearl of the Northwest.

Compared to Princess Zhaoshan, she was not inferior at all.

The Marchioness of Zhongyong practiced self-deception, refusing to think about the secret meeting at the Lake Heart Island.

However, she could not stop the other great families of the Northwest from thinking about it.

They pondered carefully and felt that while Princess Zhaoshan's words were likely true, it was also not a lie that Bai Rouyin wanted to rekindle her romance with the General of the Cavalry.

In that case, since the young men of their families were not bad and possessed some literary and martial talent, even if they married someone of lower social standing, it would still be better than having a "green hat" (infidelity) before the marriage was even consummated.

The Marchioness of Zhongyong met with several ladies of prominent families, but her subtle attempts to arrange marriages were all rejected without exception, causing her to fall ill with rage.

Qiu Yu told this story to her own young mistress as a joke. Seeing that the mistress had little interest and was focused on other matters, she also fell silent.

Tang Zhao was currently pondering the newly acquired oil-pressing formula.

In the Great Yu, all oil consumed was animal fat, such as lard rendered from pig fat. It was fragrant, but it had one fatal flaw.

It was expensive!

She thought to herself that her price for one catty of braised pork was twenty-five wen, and that was for lean meat; fatty meat could sell for thirty-five or even forty wen per catty.

If even she felt oil was expensive, how much more so for the common people?

She had heard that in the Northwest, less than ten percent of the people could afford to eat oil regularly. The vast majority of civilians and soldiers could only afford a single drop of oil in their food during festivals.

This truly was a massive consumer market.

Tang Zhao could imagine that once soybean oil appeared, it would surely stir up a storm of blood and wind.

But she had not yet grown into a towering tree; she was still just a small sapling and had to follow the path of "low-profile development."

To do so, she needed to find a powerful "thigh" to cling to.

Since it is easier to kill the familiar than the stranger (metaphorically: it's easier to work with people you know), Tang Zhao ordered people to forge oil-pressing tools according to the blueprints. Then, she took Dongmei and Chunfeng to avoid everyone, huddling in the side room where the salt blocks were made. After several days of trial and error, she finally pressed out a small bowl of soybean oil.

Holding this bowl of soybean oil as if it were an imperial sword, Tang Zhao knocked on the door of the study where Gu Ci was staying in the middle of the night.

Gu Ci: *You'd better have a reason.*

Zhao Zhao knocking at midnight: *Hi, handsome.*

Gu Handsome: *You'd better have a reason.*

(End of Chapter)