RATMOFANF: Chapter 86

 Glossary

·Qingluan (青鸾): The Ninth Princess.

·Old Madam Li (李老夫人): The matriarch of the Li family.

·Third Young Lady (三姑娘): The third daughter of the Li family.

·Zhaolu (朝露): Qingluan's personal maid.

·Zhou Mama (周嬷嬷): The matron in charge of Zizhu Ge.

·Li Ling (李陵): The male protagonist (mentioned).

·Shen Jingxiu (沈静姝): The female protagonist (mentioned).

---

Chapter 86: Grandmother, Sister-in-law Bullied Me

A winter morning was exceptionally cold, but not as cold as Qingluan’s heart at this moment.

After being supported back to her quarters in Zizhu Ge by Zhaolu, Qingluan leaned against the headboard, sitting stiffly and motionless.

Zhaolu, who had been waiting outside, had no idea what had actually transpired in the room. Seeing the princess in such a state frightened her terribly.

She was used to a princess who would weep at the slightest displeasure. Seeing Her Highness now, silent and simply bottling up her misery, instead left Zhaolu feeling utterly lost.

Zhaolu racked her brains trying to console her. "Your Highness, what's wrong? Please, say something. Ah, if you're truly unhappy, cry a little so this servant can hear you. Seeing you like this is going to frighten me to death."

But no matter how Zhaolu tried to coax her, Qingluan remained silent, sitting there in a daze.

Zhaolu paced anxiously in circles, her throat nearly raw from pleading, but Qingluan seemed not to see or hear her.

Zhaolu waved her hand in front of Qingluan's face. Seeing the princess still unresponsive, she cried out in desperation, "Your Highness, please don't scare me. If anything serious were to happen to you, even a hundred lives wouldn't be enough for this servant to atone."

She wasn't exaggerating. As the princess's personal maid, if the princess were to become incapacitated during these few days outside the palace, even if Zhaolu weren't the direct cause, she would not escape the death penalty.

"Your Highness, perhaps... perhaps we should return to the palace. This servant will go and inform the Old Madam immediately." With that, Zhaolu, still crying, made to leave.

Unexpectedly, these words snapped Qingluan out of her stupor. She grabbed Zhaolu's arm urgently. "You must not go."

Zhaolu was overjoyed to the point of tears. "Your Highness, you're alright! Your state just now truly scared this servant."

Qingluan focused her gaze, staring straight at Zhaolu. "How could I allow anything to happen? If I were to die, wouldn't that just be letting that Shen woman off the hook?"

"Don't speak of death, Your Highness. Please don't say such things."

Qingluan continued as if to herself, "Not only must I not die, I cannot return to the palace either. This is likely my only chance to leave the palace in this lifetime. If I don't seize this opportunity to win Cousin back now, there will never be another chance."

"I will not return to the palace like this."

Zhaolu patted her back soothingly while quickly agreeing. "If Your Highness doesn't wish to return, then we won't. As long as you are well, that's all that matters."

Qingluan sighed, murmuring thoughtfully to herself, "It's true now. Cousin has been thoroughly bewitched by that vixen Shen. He has truly forgotten me."

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Then, she turned her head to look at Zhaolu and asked, "Zhaolu, tell me, Cousin has really forgotten me. What should I do now?"

What should she do?

Seeing the princess's distraught state, Zhaolu hurriedly tried to soothe her. "Your Highness, please don't think such thoughts. How could the Heir forget you? He has protected you since you were little..."

But the words that usually comforted Qingluan no longer reached her heart. She grabbed Zhaolu's hand fiercely and asked, "Tell me, if that Shen woman were to die, would Cousin remember me then?"

"Your Highness, you—"

Before Zhaolu could finish her sentence, Qingluan's eyes rolled back, and she fainted straight away.

Zhaolu was scared out of her wits. She screamed for help at the top of her lungs while leaning over Qingluan, calling out desperately, "Your Highness! Your Highness! Wake up, please wake up!"

The news that the Ninth Princess had fainted, such an earth-shattering event, reached the Old Madam in the blink of an eye.

The Third Young Lady was also in Anxi Tang. The morning was chilly, and the Old Madam had been telling her granddaughter that she planned to send someone to fetch Qingluan at noon when it was warmer to have lunch together.

Upon suddenly hearing that her granddaughter had fainted, the Old Madam was so startled she hurried out without even stopping to put on her outer robe.

The Third Young Lady grabbed her grandmother's cloak, ran after her, and draped it over her shoulders, supporting the Old Madam as she tried to calm her. "Grandmother, don't panic. Cousin has been frail since childhood; she can't be in serious trouble."

The Old Madam hurried toward Zizhu Ge, panting as she replied, "How can I not panic? She was perfectly fine yesterday. How could she have fainted?"

"Ah! If anything happens to her, even in death, I won't be able to face your poor, departed aunt."

The Third Young Lady held her grandmother's arm tightly. "These 'golden branches and jade leaves' are far too delicate. We should send her back to the palace in a couple of days. If something really were to go wrong, you wouldn't just be unable to face our late aunt; we couldn't answer to the palace either."

That was precisely the truth.

The Old Madam was not unaware of the gravity of the situation; she simply found it difficult to voice.

Qingluan had only fainted due to a momentary emotional crisis. By the time the Old Madam and the Third Young Lady arrived at Zizhu Ge in a frantic rush, Qingluan had already regained consciousness. She was leaning weakly against the headboard, sipping ginseng tea that Zhaolu was feeding her.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Seeing that the girl was alright, the Old Madam felt slightly relieved. She hurried forward, took her granddaughter's hand, and couldn't hold back her tears again. "Perfectly fine one moment, and then like this the next. You silly child, you're going to frighten this old woman to death."

Qingluan threw herself into the Old Madam's arms and began sobbing again.

The Old Madam stroked her granddaughter's back while addressing the household servants below with severity. "I entrusted you to take good care of the Princess. Is this how you follow my orders? She was perfectly fine when she returned from my place last night. How could she end up like this in just one night? What exactly happened?"

The servants looked at each other, at a loss. When the princess returned from outside in the morning, she had dismissed them all. Only her palace maid was attending to her inside. They had rushed in the moment they heard Zhaolu's cries from the room, but by then, the princess had already fainted.

What exactly happened? They truly did not know.

Seeing everyone silent, the Old Madam angrily scolded, "Why is no one speaking? Have you all lost your tongues? If anything happens to the Princess, every one of you will face severe consequences."

Seeing the Old Madam's anger, the head matron assigned to Zizhu Ge, Mama Zhou, stepped forward and replied truthfully, "Reporting to the Old Madam, after Her Highness returned from her outing this morning, she dismissed all the maids from the room." She then glanced at Zhaolu. "When Her Highness fainted, we servants were not in the room. We do not know where the trouble began."

Hearing Mama Zhou's words, the Old Madam asked suspiciously, "It was so cold this morning. Where did the Princess go?"

Mama Zhou glanced at Zhaolu again. Zhaolu stepped forward and stammered, "Her Highness... Her Highness went to Qingfeng Yuan."

Hearing that Qingluan had fainted after returning from Qingfeng Yuan, the Old Madam grew suspicious. She looked down at the granddaughter in her arms. "What were you doing over there so early in the morning?"

Mentioning this brought back the memory of Li Ling's harshness toward her that morning. Qingluan couldn't help but feel wronged and burst into loud sobs in the Old Madam's embrace.

Her crying made the Old Madam break out in a sweat. Though Zhaolu was from the palace, the Old Madam could not worry about propriety now and pressed urgently, "What on earth happened? Since you were with the Princess the whole time, you must know the details."

Zhaolu looked troubled. She truly did not know what had transpired between the Heir, his wife, and the princess inside the room at Qingfeng Yuan. However, she had personally witnessed the Heir's anger that morning and guessed it must have been something he said to the princess that caused this state.

Under the Old Madam's pressing inquiry, she could only stammer in reply, "This servant does not know the details either. It seemed... it seemed the Heir said something to Her Highness."

Could it be that her delicate cousin had been scolded by her stern elder brother?

Heh. The Third Young Lady, standing to the side, couldn't help but let out a soft, cold laugh.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

"That second child! How utterly improper!" the Old Madam exclaimed with a cold snort upon hearing it involved her grandson, her face darkening.

Qingluan lifted her head, looked at her grandmother, and said between sobs, "Grandmother, please don't blame Cousin. It wasn't his fault."

"It was Sister-in-law. She bullied me."

(End of Chapter)

← prev next →