Marrying a treacherous official

Yunji needed You Shi's approval to host a banquet for the wives of officials.

She sat in Minghe Hall for an hour before the arrival of the Lady Hou.

"I was wondering why you suddenly became so filial, coming over to pay your respects to me so early in the morning."

Madam You took the tea handed to her by Granny Tong, rinsed her mouth, and looked utterly weary and annoyed. She then scolded her:

"The funds were originally intended to raise money for disaster-stricken refugees. The festive season hasn't even ended, what kind of disaster relief are you offering?"

"The mother was unaware of the suffering of the refugees."

Yunji placed her hands in front of her, seemingly listening obediently to her reprimand, but every word she uttered was a rebuttal.

"On the day I returned home and passed through the Imperial Street, I encountered a woman begging for food. Her pitiful cries were so moving that even my mother, with the hardest heart, would have been touched."

You Shi was placed on the moral high ground by her, and if she was not "moved" by it, she would truly be "heartless".

"Raising funds for disaster relief is a good deed, and I shouldn't be stopping you, but no matter how anxious you are, you have to wait until after the holidays to make arrangements for this."

"I'm afraid the refugees won't live to see the New Year."

Yunji let out a deep sigh.

Before coming to Minghetang, she had thought that no matter what she proposed, Madam You would resolutely oppose anything she wanted to do.

Therefore, she could only make this matter advantageous to You Shi. As long as You Shi backed down, her goal would be achieved.

"That day, I saw the pitiful refugees who were blocking the road and kowtowing, so I asked Hua Chao to give them three days' worth of dry rations. Later, I sent someone to inquire and learned that they had spent the night at Yanzhen Nunnery, and that it was the kind nun Xuanzhen who took them in."

"Master Xuanzhen?"

Lady You asked with suspicion, "Is it the nun Xuanzhen who was invited to the palace to preach Buddhism to the Empress?"

"It was that nun."

Yunji saw suppressed ecstasy on Madam You's face.

In order to marry Cui Lizhu into the Pei family, Lady You was determined to curry favor with the Empress's family. This was true in her past life and it is true in this life as well.

"Master Xuanzhen has a kind heart and is distributing porridge to refugees at Yanzhen Nunnery. However, she is running out of money and food and if no one helps her, she may not be able to last more than a few days."

"These refugees are pitiful, lamentable, and pathetic."

Lady You had the idea of ​​"borrowing flowers to present to Buddha," intending to please Abbess Xuanzhen so that she would say a few good words for Cui Lizhu in front of the Empress.

"If that's the case, then we can't wait until after the new year to do this. How do you plan to raise funds?"

Yunji gave a wink, and Huachao handed a list to Granny Tong.

"I would like to host a banquet at the mansion to entertain the wives of officials. During the banquet, I will mention the difficulties that Abbess Xuanzhen has faced in providing relief to refugees. I am sure that the wives of officials will be generous in their donations after hearing about this act of kindness."

You're oversimplifying things.

Madam You nitpicked and found fault with her, giving her a severe dressing-down.

"You only invited the wives of officials who have close ties with the Marquis's mansion, and didn't mention any other noble ladies. If word gets out about the fundraising, won't that put these noble ladies in a position of being unrighteous and immoral?"

"To put it nicely, this is raising funds for disaster relief for the refugees, but when officials' wives are handing out money, who isn't considering the reputation of the Marquis's mansion? This concerns the Cui family's honor, so we can't allow you to act recklessly."

Yunji lowered his head and listened to her lecture with a blank expression.

"Never mind, you don't need to handle this."

Madam You shouldered the responsibility and had no choice but to step up and clean up the mess.

"I will personally host a banquet for the officials' wives, and I will personally hand over the money raised to Abbess Xuanzhen."

Yunji looked at her quietly, as if trying to see through that shameless face.

How could this person so righteously steal someone else's credit without feeling the slightest bit ashamed?

Seeing that she hadn't responded for a long time, Madam You was just about to scold her when she heard her say in a low voice:

"I'll follow my mother's arrangements."

Even after Yunji left, Madam You couldn't figure out what she was thinking when she stared at her.

"Is Lady Hou really going to raise funds for the refugees?"

"This time, we not only need to raise funds, but we also need to send Lizhu to Yanzhen Temple."

Madam You instructed Granny Tong, "Prepare the carriage. We'll depart first thing tomorrow morning. Try to get Lizhu to meet Abbess Xuanzhen and discuss the fundraising with her in detail."

She was determined to use the powerful nun Xuanzhen to help her daughter gain favor with the Empress and secure the marriage with the Pei family.

Chunxuan was ordered by her mistress to keep an eye on Huo Xi's every move in the front yard.

If anything unusual is discovered, someone must be sent back to inform the lady.

When she pressed for the reason, the lady would only say cryptically, "You'll find out when the time comes."

But not long ago, she had unknowingly accepted Huo Xi's gold hairpin...

Chunxuan didn't dare tell the madam about this. Instead, she went to the kitchen and pleaded with the cook to get a bag of roasted melon seeds as a reward. Every hour, she sent a maid to the outer courtyard to keep watch and report Huo Xi's movements to her.

She stood on the veranda, holding the bag of roasted melon seeds, and yawned widely, her mouth covered, as if she were sleepy in the middle of the night.

The young maid sneaked in from the outer courtyard, but seeing that it was dark all around, she didn't know where to look for anyone.

"here--"

Chunxuan emerged from behind a pillar, grabbed a handful of melon seeds, stuffed them into her pocket, and said listlessly, feeling drowsy:

"Has Guard Huo gone back to his room to rest? If he's asleep, then I should go to sleep too."

"Sister Chun, Guard Huo went out overnight."

The young maid was doing something so shady for the first time, and her round face was full of excitement at discovering a secret.

"I sensed something was wrong, so I secretly hid behind the flower wall to peek. Sure enough, I saw the guards lighting torches, looking like they were about to go out to do something important. After they all went out, I quickly came back to tell Sister Chun."

Chunxuan's drowsiness vanished instantly. She raised her hand and gave a bag of melon seeds to the little maid, leading her straight outside, "Let's go out and take a look."

The two hid behind the flower wall, peeking through the carved flower windows at the movements in the outer courtyard.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, torches filed into the outer courtyard, and two guards carried in three crimson boxes, each about four feet long. The boxes weighed heavily on the ground, and no one knew what was inside.

Chunxuan was certain that the madam had asked her to keep an eye on these large trunks, but her only concern was, "Is the master at home?"

"Not here."

The maidservant said firmly, "When I went out to keep watch during the day, I overheard Sister Chi saying that Master is in the Tiger Wing Army and won't be coming back for dinner at night."

Chunxuan lectured her, "Call me Sister Chun, and you're not allowed to call me Sister Chiying anymore, understand?"

The maidservant immediately changed her tune, "Yes, Sister Chun, it was all said by Maid Chi Ying."

Chunxuan kept a close eye on the commotion in the outer courtyard and instructed her, "Go and call Madam over quickly. I'll go outside and stop them, lest they realize something is wrong and carry the box into the carriage and run away."

The little maid's eyes lit up with excitement. She nodded emphatically and turned to walk briskly towards the inner courtyard.