GTB Chapter 5
by VolareShí Yan very cooperatively and seriously looked at the portraits, then curled his lip, and said in a completely uninterested manner, “No distinct features, boring.”
The Empress Dowager finally couldn’t suppress the anger in her heart. The nose wasn’t too big, the waist was thin enough, not too fat or too thin, so what was wrong with having no distinct features?
Shí Qingya, who was next to her, saw the Empress Dowager’s frustrated look and immediately stood up to bid farewell, “Grandmother, Father Emperor should be finishing court, I’ll go see him.”
She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn’t be able to control her facial expressions.
This seventh brother of hers really had a poisonous tongue. If these noble daughters knew that they were being spoken of like this, would they be so ashamed that they would jump into the river?
“Go on!”
The Empress Dowager waved her hand as she looked at her grandson and said straightforwardly, “Yan’er, you’re already eighteen this year, not young anymore, it’s time to choose a consort.”
“Grandmother, don’t worry, when fate arrives, it will naturally happen, what’s the rush? It’s not like if I’m a little older, no girls will be willing to marry me, right?”
The Empress Dowager finally didn’t want to listen to his set of arguments anymore, “I think you’re deliberately trying to anger me. This one’s no good, that one’s no good, what kind will do in the end? Do you want your Father Emperor to just blindly bestow a marriage on you, then you’ll be honest?”
“I was just making an analogy, I didn’t say I definitely wanted to wait two more years.”
After Shí Yan finished speaking, he stood up without waiting for the Empress Dowager to speak, “Well, I have things to do this afternoon, I’ll come visit Grandmother another day.”
The Empress Dowager watched her grandson’s departing figure, rubbed her temples, and sighed, “Ah! I don’t know who Yan’er’s temperament takes after. He’s so good at angering people.”
Governess Xiu, who was next to her, laughed and said, “I think the Seventh Prince takes after the late Emperor.”
The Empress Dowager reached out and took back the portrait on the opposite side, “Forget it! The late Emperor wasn’t as clueless about romance as he is.”
“Seventh Prince just hasn’t met a girl he truly likes.”
The Empress Dowager looked at the portrait in her hand, a wrinkled face hiding deep helplessness, “He’s seen most of the noble daughters’ portraits in Kyoto, it’s not that he hasn’t met one, I think he just fundamentally dislikes these noble ladies.”
After she said that, a look of heartache floated in her eyes, “It’s all my fault for not protecting Wanqing well back then, for letting Wanqing die in the palace, leaving Yan’er without a mother at such a young age.”
“Empress Dowager, it’s not your fault, those with malicious intentions… are hard to guard against!”
“No, since I let Wanqing, a widowed female doctor, enter the palace, I should have protected her well. She had a gentle nature and didn’t understand palace scheming, I should have been more mindful.”
The more the Empress Dowager spoke, the more the heartache grew, and she couldn’t help but recall that kind girl who had kindly rescued her when she had traveled incognito and fallen into distress back then.
The old woman’s memories entered that autumn when yellow leaves were falling.
But the spring breeze blowing at the moment was stirring up a vibrant scene.
Jiang Residence
Crabapple Courtyard, inside the elegant and cozy Room, the young lady who had just finished her lunch, put down the bowls and chopsticks in her hand, picked up the tea on the side, and lightly sipped with her pink lips.
The young lady’s black hair was like ink, her skin was as white as snow, her eyes were like autumn waters, and the soft-woven embroidered brocade skirt of pink and yellow colors set off her already stunningly beautiful face even more delicately.
Even the small peach blossom hair accessories that were pinned in her hair buns seemed lively and full of vitality because of the foil of this appearance.
Just as Jiang Jiuchu picked up her second cup of tea, she heard the voice of the maid, Yu Qin, coming from outside the door, “Miss, Ji Miss is here.”
Immediately following was Ji Shutíng, who came in with quick steps. Jiang Jiuchu got up and smiled, “You’re here quite early!”
“It’s not early,” Ji Shutíng said, and glanced at the food on the table, “You haven’t finished your meal yet, have you?”
“I finished it, I just finished it.”
As Jiang Jiuchu spoke, she drank the unfinished cup of tea in her hand in one gulp, and then took Ji Shutíng’s arm and left the room.
Ji Shutíng was the first friend she had made after coming to Kyoto, and also her only bestie in Kyoto.
In the carriage, Jiang Jiuchu asked uncertainly, “Shutíng, does Mo Feng Pavilion really sell Yun You Gong Zi’s calligraphy and paintings?”
Ji Shutíng heard the words and confidently expressed, “Of course, I have reliable sources! It’s just… it might be a little expensive!”
Jiang Jiuchu took out the purse from her waist, took out a silver note from it, and said with a somewhat lacking confidence, “Is this enough?”
“Uh…”
Ji Shutíng looked at the thousand taels of silver that Jiang Jiuchu had taken out, and said somewhat unbearably, “It is said that Yun You Gong Zi’s calligraphy and paintings are worth a thousand gold, you this… probably isn’t enough.”
“A thousand gold?”
Jiang Jiuchu opened her mouth wide in surprise, and looked at the silver note in her hand. Her little vault only had a thousand taels, not a thousand gold.
Even this was still the red packet that her princess sister-in-law had given her during the New Year’s Festival! It was already the largest denomination that she could take out.
Ji Shutíng saw this situation, afraid that she would regret not going, and immediately said, “This is also not certain, Mo Feng Pavilion has a novel style, and the price can’t be thought of in terms of common sense.”
“Oh.”
Jiang Jiuchu was somewhat depressed, stuffed the silver note back into the purse on her waist, thinking, no matter how out of the ordinary it was, it couldn’t turn from a thousand gold into a thousand taels of silver, right!
It seemed that she still had to think about, besides Yun You Gong Zi’s paintings, what else did her father like? She had boasted in front of her father that she would definitely give him his favorite gift on his birthday!
Yu Qin, who was on the side, seemed to have thought of something, took out a white scarf, and handed it to Jiang Jiuchu, “Miss, here, there should be many people at Mo Feng Pavilion today.”
Yu Qin actually wanted to say was… there were many people with power and influence.