Chapter 20

In the end, it was Yan Shi's idea to buy a box of unused rouge from a maid. According to the maid, she had saved up her silver for a long time and bought it from a famous rouge shop in the imperial city and had never bothered to use it.

    Yan Shi didn't know anything about rouge either, but it looked pretty good.

    The two of them talked for a while longer and then went to sleep separately.

    The next morning, after freshening up, Yan Shi went to the Da Lisi while Hua Ling took Qing Ji into the palace.

    By the time they reached the Empress, many people had already arrived, but Hua Ling was not too late.

    "This son pays his respects to the Empress Mother." Hua Ling bowed a salute and said.

    The Empress happened to be drinking tea, and I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but she seemed to see him only after a long time, and slowly said, "Well, get up and sit over there."

    "Thank you, Empress Mother." Hua Ling stood up from the floor and followed a maid to his seat.

    Although the palace was crowded, it was quiet. Hua Ling took a break from his tea to peek out and saw the two familiar figures nearest to the Empress, namely Yang and Hua Luyao, who were talking to the Empress in a low voice.

    A wicked smile gradually appeared at the corner of Hua Ling's mouth.

    He looked away again. There was a beautiful woman sitting diagonally opposite him, and beside her was a young girl, who was coincidentally also looking at him surreptitiously. The girl was gorgeous, and when he looked closely, she looked a bit like Yan Shi.

    Hua Ling knew in his heart that this must be Princess Huajia. Hua Ling winked at Princess Huajia and said the words "wait for me" silently.

    In no time at all, all the chairs that had been empty were filled with people. Most of them were wives and young ladies of various families, but there were also a few male wives like Hua Ling.

    "HuaHuo, is everyone here?" The Queen asked the palace maid at her side.

    The palace maid named Wu He replied, "In reply to Your Majesty's words, everyone is here."

    "Well." The Empress nodded and stood up from her seat, "Then let's go."

    When he reached the door, Princess Huajia was already waiting for him there.

    "Your Highness, sister-in-law." Princess Huajia's voice was as thin as a mosquito, and her appearance looked a little shy.

    Hua Ling took out what he wanted to give her: "This bracelet is a gift from my brother, he could not enter the palace, so he asked me to give this to you first. The box of rouge is my gift to you, I was in a bit of a hurry to prepare it, so don't mind if I don't."

    Princess Huojia's eyes were red as she looked at the two items in her hands, "I am grateful, how could I ever dislike it? I don't know, I don't know how my brother is doing outside the palace?" Her mother had passed away, and only the two of them were left to live together. She was a woman and was raised by the concubine, so although she was not as well off as the other princesses, she was much better off than Yan Shi.

    Hua Ling smiled, "All is well outside the palace, sister need not worry about it." The two of them were at the end of the crowd, occasionally whispering a few words, and no one else noticed.

    When they reached the imperial garden, the Empress smiled and said, "Make yourself at home, it would be meaningless to be too formal." Only when they heard the Empress say this did people start to talk.

    Several ladies brought their unmarried daughters to the Empress, who knew that Prince Zhaoge had already reached the age of trial marriage and was born of the Empress, and that the throne would probably be his.

    Hua Ling seized an opening when the Empress and Yang were separated and came to Yang and said cheerfully, "Mother, don't be angry that I didn't greet you right away just now."

    Hua Qiancheng was considered to be a popular person in front of Emperor Chongzhuan, and Yang was a sister to the Empress. Therefore, Yang's status was self-evident before the ladies of the various houses, and her heir was naturally also attracting the attention of the ladies.

    "Madam Guo, this is your son?" There were naturally many ladies gathered around Yang, and one of them asked when she heard Hua Ling's words.

    Yang frowned inscrutably at the sight of Hua Ling, but was quickly hidden by a smile, "Precisely, this is the eldest son, Hua Ling, who just got married to the Prince a few days ago."

Everyone knew that Yang was a step mother and Hua Ling was not her son, but everyone knew that Yang was a better stepmother than her biological mother and treated her son as if he were her own. Yang's virtue was well known.

    The ladies looked closely at Hua Ling, who was already a good-looking man, and today he was dressed up deliberately, so he looked like no ordinary person. It was a pity that such a person had married the least favoured prince.

    "Huh? How come sister is here too?" Hua Ling turned her gaze to Hua Luyao who was standing next to Yang.

    From the moment Hua Ling came over, Hua Luyao glared at him viciously, she already disliked Hua Ling, and she was even more disgusted with him after she was punished on the day of his return. But with so many ladies present, she had to temper herself a little: "If you can come, why can't I?"

    "I don't mean anything else," Hua Ling had admiration written all over his face, "I just want to ask how sister copied the Women's Virtues and Commandments a hundred times so quickly? It's only been a short day. Sister is really amazing, I can't do all this. Do you have any tricks? Can you teach me?"

    Hua Ling used his natural and innocent appearance to make an expression of humbly seeking advice, and no one could say that he was doing it on purpose.

    Yang clutched her handkerchief tightly, but she couldn't say anything at this moment. She had always presented herself as a doting mother, and if she helped her daughter at this point, she was afraid that she would be discredited.

    Hua Luyao was young and did not have the same level of sophistication as Yang, so when she saw that she was angry, she was about to speak when Yang tugged her. Even though she had a lot of reluctance, she held her tongue and planned to leave with Yang.

    The moment he turned around, he changed his tone to one of concern and asked, "Mother, how is my brother's hand? You must give him the best gold sore medicine and tell him to be careful and not to touch the water until his hand is healed, lest he fall ill."

    When Hua Ling spoke just now, he had aroused the curiosity of the ladies of the various houses, and when these words came out, someone finally pressed on, "Madam Guo? Your son is injured?"

    Yang's teeth gritted and gritted again, she had given birth to several children who were all dear to her heart, usually could not even spare a serious word, but that day was beaten by Yan Shi, this heart could not tear him apart immediately.

    "It's nothing serious, it's just a hand injury." Naturally, Yang would not say the real reason for Hua Wei's hand injury.

    She wouldn't say, but Hua Ling would.

    "Mother, ever since I came back from Ning, I have been thinking of you all in my heart. If I hadn't made Mother angry, my younger brother wouldn't have hit me, and there would have been no more incidents. Alas! How could I be so useless and only cause trouble to Mother?" The more he said, the more sorrowful Hua Ling's expression became, and the more his voice choked up, as if he was about to burst into tears the next moment.

    The people in the room began to whisper when they heard the words, "My brother wouldn't hit me either," and the way they looked at Yang had changed.

    Yang could not help but twist her handkerchief, and her voice was already filled with faint anger: "What are you talking about! Stop talking, I have something to do with the Empress."

    "Mother..." The pretty face and the way he was sobbing really made people's hearts ache.

    Yang wanted to leave, but someone wouldn't let her, so she heard a woman say, "Madam, we just heard that your son was beaten by his brother. We are all very curious."

    The woman who spoke was the wife of the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who belonged to the King, so she was at odds with Yang and was eager to find out what was wrong with her.

    As soon as the Minister's wife said this, the whispers of the people present increased. Another lady said, "Yes, Madam, your reputation for beauty has spread throughout the city and many people follow your example. But what did your son say just now was different from what you usually do? Could it be that you are deceiving us by acting like a dignified and virtuous woman?"

    Hua Luyao was so angry that she was about to speak up for her mother, but Hua Ling beat her to it, saying to the two woman, "Ladies, my mother has not offended you, why are you talking about her like this? You are too bullying!"

    Hua Ling's expression was slightly naive, his gaze clear and pure, giving the impression that he was a child at best, but a simpleton at worst.

    The two ladies did not get angry when they heard Hua Ling say this, but instead smiled, "Good boy, we are not bullying your mother, we are just chatting with her and discussing all our experiences in raising children."

    Hua Ling showed an innocent smile towards Yang, "Mother, the two ladies want to discuss their experience with you, they mean no harm, so don't go yet."

    One of the ladies asked, "What was that you said just now about your brother hitting you?"

    Hua Ling replied, "It's not a big deal, my brother often hits me, and my mother said that other families' brothers treat their brothers the same way."

    At these words, the murmurs grew even louder.

    Yang could bear it, but Hua Luyao couldn't bear it any longer. She was used to bullying Hua Ling, so she broke free from Yang's shackles and pointed at his nose and cursed, "Hua Ling, are you pig-headed? Don't you ever think before you speak? Don't you know what to say and what not to say?"

    If others had questioned Hua Ling's previous words, Hua Luyao's words had in fact confirmed Yang's inconsistency.

    The ladies' gazes at Yang were already full of contempt.

    Hua Ling revealed a hint of aggression: "Then, what should I say? Didn't Mother say all those things? What Mother said was right, I just repeated it, can't I do that too?"

    Hua Ling was a good-looking boy, and his expression was even more heart-wrenching. The ladies present were all mothers, and with Hua Ling's tragic experience of being abused by hiz stepmother, they could not help but be overwhelmed with motherly love. What a beautiful child, but he was raised by a heartless stepmother to be mentally incompetent, it was heartbreaking.

    At that moment, a few more ladies had something to say.