Chapter 54: The Old Prince Next Door 7

Duke of Yi was furious. How had today’s matter spiraled into this?

Seeing his wife looking just as troubled, sprawled weakly on the bed, only made his headache worse.

It had been his idea for his wife to return to her maiden home today. His father-in-law might have retired and asked to leave office, but he had once been Grand Chancellor¹ and the Emperor’s tutor. When it came to many matters at court, Duke of Yi still liked to hear what the old man had to say.

That was also why, even though he did not like his wife, he still discussed everything with her.

The Duchess of Yi was even angrier than her husband.

She was the one in charge of the inner household. After Concubine Qiu’s performance today, she was afraid she had already become the laughingstock of the entire capital.

“My father says the matter Your Grace asked me to inquire about at my maiden home cannot be done. As for Concubine Qiu, Your Grace can handle that yourself.” After coldly stating her position, the Duchess of Yi turned over and went to sleep.

For so many years, he had refused to let her manage Concubine Qiu. Since things had come to this, he could deal with it himself.

The Duchess of Yi thought to herself that it was fortunate her husband had stopped her from intervening in those early years. Otherwise, at a time like this, he would probably be cursing her out.

But right now, Duke of Yi had no face to curse his own wife, so he just kept berating Concubine Qiu for not knowing her place despite being favored.

The Duchess of Yi sneered. Concubine Qiu had always been the sort of creature whose bones seemed to float in the clouds. Even without favor, she could stir up trouble. Once she was spoiled too much, wasn’t disaster inevitable?

How dare she?

That woman might be a widow with no children, but she was still a titled noble lady² with an imperial rank. Just wait, at the first grand court assembly after the New Year, the Censorate³ would definitely impeach Duke of Yi for failing to keep order in his inner household.

After cursing Concubine Qiu, Duke of Yi began cursing Su Huandan for not knowing what was good for her. If the ducal household hadn’t raised her, she would have been fed to the wolves in the Northwest long ago.

The Duchess of Yi felt chilled to the core at once. The younger brother’s widow, the cousin he always claimed he would take care of, could be reduced to this under his breath in the blink of an eye.

If Widow Su was obedient, Duke of Yi would look after her a little and polish his own reputation. But the moment Widow Su stopped obeying, she became just another shameless wretch like Concubine Qiu.

Tsk, tsk.

Her fate really was bad, marrying such a cold-hearted, petty creature.

Only after he had cursed to his fill did Duke of Yi leave. The Duchess of Yi’s wet nurse came out of the washroom and sighed. “Miss, in all this, you’re the most innocent one.”

The Duchess of Yi thought to herself that she was not entirely innocent either. Over the years, since the Duke of Yi Household had been willing to indulge Concubine Qiu right under her nose, she had been happy enough to loosen the reins in private and let Concubine Qiu grow so arrogant she no longer knew the sky from the earth. This time, she had only ended up getting burned herself.

It was rather not worth it, but even now she could not understand why Concubine Qiu had insisted on making life difficult for a widow.

Though she had never liked that sister-in-law because her mother-in-law disliked her, the woman herself had truly been someone who kept strictly to her place and never quarreled with anyone. So how exactly had she offended Concubine Qiu?

“Wet Nurse, go find some of the old servants who once waited on the Old Madam and ask around. I want to know exactly what sort of ugly business lies between Concubine Qiu and Madam Su.” After giving her orders, the Duchess of Yi rolled over and fell asleep.

She intended to live a long, long life and outlast her husband.

After leaving the Main Courtyard, Duke of Yi went to the side courtyard where Concubine Qiu lived. He did not argue once he entered. He only said flatly that she would be sent to an estate tomorrow to live out her days in comfort, and that was that.

By now, Duke of Yi truly had the desire to kill Concubine Qiu. But if he killed her now and outsiders learned of her death, who knew what ugly things they would say.

Let it wait. Once this matter had blown over, neither Concubine Qiu nor Madam Su, the two women who had stained his reputation, would get away.

After one night’s sleep, Su Huandan woke up refreshed and full of energy. The servants in the courtyard were already up. Although they had been knocked to the ground yesterday, none of them had been badly injured. At any rate, it did not stop them from working.

After Su Huandan washed up, the cook and the fire-tending maid had already brought breakfast over.

“Madam, this is the tofu-skin bun you mentioned. The filling is pork belly, and I also added a bit of shredded marinated beef tripe. Please try it and see if it’s the flavor you had in mind.” As soon as the cook finished speaking, Su Huandan stuffed a bun into her mouth.

That taste was incredible. Su Huandan liked strongly flavored food, especially braised meats. In her previous life, after she retired and stayed home, she had her Eldest Brother-in-law braise just about anything.

She loved this flavor. There was nothing to be done about it.

“Delicious. This flavor is so good. Does everyone else get some too? Even if there isn’t much, at least everyone should get to try one.” Su Huandan would never say things to the servants like, Don’t act so humble in front of me, don’t kneel to me. That would only make things harder for them.

Servants had their own ways of surviving. Su Huandan had no need to play at false kindness.

But if there was something good to eat in the house, and she could let everyone have a little taste, Su Huandan felt there was no harm in that.

And there were not many servants in her household to begin with. Counting both the front and back courtyards, there were only nine people total, and three of them were children under ten.

With so few people living together like this, sharing good food now and then would not cause any bad blood.

“Everyone got some. I also made two portions for Prince Chen’s residence next door and passed them over the wall. Eunuch Gui Xi personally came to ask for them. He said the prince didn’t have much appetite this morning and wanted to know what Madam was eating for breakfast. If it was convenient, he asked for the recipe too. I figured they helped us so much yesterday, so I sent over two portions.” After saying this, the cook still looked a little uneasy. She should have asked the mistress before deciding on something like this.

But next door was a prince’s residence, and Gui Xi was the chief steward there. He had also said they should not disturb his own madam, that asking for food was embarrassing enough already, and that if she could just provide a recipe, that would do.

Recipes were treasured things that families passed down. How could she possibly hand one over just like that?

To protect her mistress’s recipe, the cook had sent them two portions of breakfast instead.

Only after swallowing the bun in her mouth did Su Huandan look up at the cook. “If they ask for a recipe in the future, don’t keep it from them. Just tell them directly. You said it yourself, they helped us a great deal yesterday. Without Eunuch Gui Xi, none of us would have ended well. It’s only a few recipes, and I wasn’t planning to make money off them anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Besides, the prince’s residence won’t spread them around. The cooks in their residence are all imperial chefs. Do you really think they’d care about our rustic fare? To put it plainly, yesterday’s braised meat just stirred up their cravings, and they wanted to try something fresh for a change.”

The cook finally let out a sigh of relief. After Su Huandan finished eating, she cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and headed back to the kitchen with the fire-tending maid.

Xia Chan was also sent off by Su Huandan to eat in the kitchen. It was warmer over there, and the servants usually ate there anyway.

In the Prince Chen Manor next door, Prince Chen was eating tofu skin buns that had been reheated once already, yet he still ate them with great relish. After finishing, he smacked his lips and said to Gui Xi, “Tell me, what are those imperial chefs in the palace even good for? Their cooking is ten times better than the cook from the widow’s house next door, but when it comes to inventing new dishes, tsk tsk!”

He looked thoroughly disdainful.

Gui Xi thought to himself, You’re the master, so whatever you say goes. But can you please let me go back and eat?

After eating the braised meat Prince Chen had left over yesterday, Gui Xi had been utterly amazed. And now that he’d gotten those tofu skin buns today, he was craving them badly at this very moment.

Translator’s Notes