"Your Highness, there's a letter from the mansion."
A shadow that had been lurking in the darkness suddenly appeared beside Wei Ying. A flicker of surprise flashed across Wei Ying's eyes as he reached out to take the letter the man handed him.
"Have they acted so quickly?"
"Your Highness gave the order that as long as the princess consort took any action, Wei Er should send you a letter at once. That lad naturally wouldn't dare to be negligent."
Wei Ying gave a grunt and then lowered his head to open the letter to read.
After a while, Wei Ying actually let out a low laugh.
"Wei Yi, guess what she did?" Wei Ying closed the letter and put it away. There was even a hint of pleasure in his tone.
Wei Yi was startled by Wei Ying's expression and immediately replied in a low voice, "This subordinate is dull-witted."
"She had a second-rank maid beaten to death with a rod."
"???"
The gist was that the princess consort had punished a maid to death... Could it be that His Highness was pleased because the princess consort had gotten angry and killed someone?
They really were a match made in heaven...
Wei Ying ignored the somewhat petrified man beside him and continued calmly, "If it were up to me to handle it, a beating to death with a rod would still be a bit too light."
"Your Highness has always been fair in rewards and punishments, and your decisions are strict and just." Wei Yi suddenly thought of the various punishments in the punishment department of the Fire Hall. Even this iron-boned man couldn't help but shiver.
Wei Ying gave a sidelong glance at Wei Yi, who was standing as straight as a pine, and continued to talk about the content of the letter. "According to the severity of the mistakes, different punishments were imposed. She even led Wei Ju to mention the rules I set a long time ago. Finally, she sang my praises, which roused everyone in the mansion to passionately swear their allegiance to me and her."
"What does the princess consort mean by this...?" Swearing allegiance to His Highness was the least that everyone in the Ning Mansion should do, but swearing allegiance to the princess consort... What did this mean? This made Wei Yi feel a bit resentful.
Wei Ying heard the dissatisfaction in Wei Yi's words and surprisingly spoke up for someone else. "Although she wants others to believe in her, she has indeed helped me win people's hearts."
Wei Yi silently swallowed back those unnecessary emotions. If his master said it was good, then it must be good. So he continued to stand with his hands respectfully at his sides and listen to his master's unconscious praise of his princess consort.
"Oh, finally, she also ordered Wei Ju to make sure that everyone who got caught in the rain drank ginger soup to ward off the cold."
Hiss, she was really both kind and strict, and fair in rewards and punishments.
But... After killing someone, she even boiled ginger soup for the onlookers, afraid that they would catch a cold... Wasn't she afraid of causing some kind of rainy-night trauma to them?
The princess consort's actions were really a bit confusing.
"By the way, send a message to Wei Er. Keep a close eye on that maid the princess consort took a fancy to. If there's nothing fishy about her, then let her go and serve the princess consort."
"Yes." Wei Yi replied. Then, for some inexplicable reason, he suddenly became curious and couldn't help asking one more question. "Your Highness, what did those punished people do wrong?"
Wei Ying said in a cold tone, "Humph, those people were saying behind everyone's backs that my princess consort is unromantic and has some chronic illness, which is why I've never stayed overnight in her place."
Hearing this, Wei Yi took a few steps back. The indescribable aura around his master at this moment made him a bit panicked. He shouldn't have asked this extra question! Curiosity really killed the cat!
What happened between the couple had nothing to do with those servants!
Getting beaten to death was their own fault!
Wei Yi cursed those people who didn't know their place in his heart, but his body was already prepared. As soon as his master told him to leave, he would disappear immediately.
Seeing Wei Yi looking as if his fate was sealed, Wei Ying didn't make things difficult for him. He waved his hand and told him to go.
After the man left, Wei Yi thought carefully for a while. After all those gossips, he really had been neglecting his princess consort.
Maybe he should go back and reward her well, lest she really have an affair with someone one day.
Then he would... have nowhere to complain.
Darkness swirled in Wei Ying's eyes, but the smile on his lips had no warmth at all.
...
Chu Qing had a dream.
In the dream, as the Empress Dowager, she was driven out of the capital by her good son.
Outside the city, there was chaos everywhere. She didn't know how long she had been wandering. Her clothes were in tatters, and she didn't even have any food.
Just as she was leaning against a dead tree, it started to snow heavily at some point.
Cold and hungry, she felt an unprecedented sense of loneliness for the first time.
Just as she was about to lose consciousness, a pair of hands reached out in front of her.
The person was actually Wei Ying.
...
When she woke up from the dream, Chu Qing sat up in a panic. She didn't know why she had such a dream. The bitterness in the dream still tugged at her heart even after she woke up.
It took Chu Qing a long time to calm down before she fell asleep again.
...
When she woke up again, it was already noon. Chu Qing was going to take Lv Luo with her to give Wei Ju the key to her storeroom.
Chu Qing came from the wealthiest family in the Yan Kingdom and was the only daughter.
Therefore, her dowry was very rich.
Wei Ying was also very generous and had never touched her dowry.
However! When Chu Qing walked into her own storeroom, a ripple finally appeared in her otherwise calm heart.
She was actually... so rich?!
She didn't even know it?!
Chu Qing silently let out a long howl in her heart! Even when she was the Grand Empress Dowager in her previous life, she had never been this rich!
It was really infuriating!
The Chu family must be richer than the state! No wonder Wei Ying didn't choose the daughters of noble families but insisted on marrying Chu Qing as his principal wife!
If he didn't have any thoughts, he would be a fool!
So, Chu Qing generously took out 2,000 taels of silver and gave it to the steward, telling him that he could ask her for more if it wasn't enough.
In her previous life, this was almost a whole year's salary!
Now that she gave it away, she didn't feel... well, just a little bit of pain in her heart.
But money could buy people's hearts.
Moreover, this feeling of squandering money was a bit subtle. It was different from the feeling of being the queen, the empress dowager, or the grand empress dowager in the past.
This was a kind of, particularly simple, particularly crude happiness!
"Princess consort... this..." Isn't it a bit too much... How much could ginger soup cost? Even if they invited the best doctor in the capital, they wouldn't need a tenth of this amount!
But Wei Ju caught a glimpse of the two large boxes in the corner and several antique paintings. He silently swallowed back the words he wanted to say.
Maybe for their princess consort, this really was just a small amount of money.
When their princess consort married into the Ning Mansion, the list of the betrothal gifts only had a few brief words.
Some silver.
Some gold.
Some antiques.
Some treasures.
At that time, he had complained to the prince in dissatisfaction. He had never seen such a perfunctory list of betrothal gifts. However, the prince hadn't said anything. He just ordered that these betrothal gifts still belonged to the princess consort and should be kept by her.
The prince had even set aside a special room as the princess consort's storeroom. He hadn't been involved at that time, so he didn't know that the princess consort was so rich!
The prince must have known at that time!
Seeing Wei Ju in a daze, Chu Qing couldn't help but let out a soft laugh and then turned around and left with Lv Luo.
It seemed that she wasn't the only one who had never seen the world!
...
"Greetings to the princess consort!"
This was already the umpteenth time that Chu Qing had heard someone greet her very enthusiastically and respectfully on her way back.
Compared to the previous respectful greetings, the current ones made her a bit flattered.
The change in everyone was really great...
However, Chu Qing still enjoyed it very much.
Floating all the way back to her own courtyard, the corners of Chu Qing's mouth were almost twitching from smiling.
Just as Chu Qing was about to talk to Lv Luo, someone came to report to her:
"Princess consort, the queen has invited you to enter the palace."