Chapter 129: Chapter 129: Fifth Missy of the Ji Family, Come to the Palace at Once
"Miss Ji, we’ve arrived at the Princess Mansion!" The carriage gradually came to a stop, and the driver announced loudly.
Ji Qingwu straightened the hair at her temples, then stepped out of the carriage and walked into the Princess Mansion.
The mansion was even quieter today. When a maid saw her appear, a look of joy flashed in her eyes. The maid hurried forward and lowered her voice, though she couldn’t conceal her excited tone.
"Fifth Miss Ji, you’re finally here!"
Ji Qingwu asked in confusion, "What’s happened? Is something wrong with the Eldest Princess? Has she lost all appetite for food and drink since the Prince Consort left?"
The maid said, "No, the Eldest Princess’s appetite is completely normal. It’s just..."
Seeing her hesitate, Ji Qingwu pressed, "Just what?"
The maid sighed. "You’ll understand once you go inside."
The moment Ji Qingwu stepped through the door of the main house, she was taken aback.
Inside, five maids were bustling about, packing up various items.
She had never seen this room in such disarray. Robes, boots, and clothes were scattered all over the floor. After a closer look, she realized the small mountain of garments was all men’s clothing.
Princess Hua Chang’s gaze was fixed on a long bench across from the daybed. "Take that animal pelt away, too," she said. "I don’t want to see it again."
Ji Qingwu spoke up, "Greetings, Eldest Princess."
Princess Hua Chang was wearing a cloud-satin skirt woven with golden thread in a pattern of a hundred butterflies flitting through flowers. Her makeup was meticulously applied, and she wore a gold-threaded phoenix hairpin clustered with East Pearls. She was exquisitely put-together, down to every last strand of hair, showing no sign of distress whatsoever.
It was a stark contrast to her appearance when Ji Qingwu had seen her a few days ago.
"Come and sit. They’ll be finished cleaning in a moment," Princess Hua Chang said.
Ji Qingwu carefully navigated around the things scattered on the floor and approached the Eldest Princess’s side. "Your Highness, this is..."
Princess Hua Chang said, sounding a bit exasperated, "It’s nothing. I’m just clearing out his things."
She hadn’t expected that in just over a month, Wei Chi Lianping would have made a nest in her room like this, bringing in so many miscellaneous items. Without her even realizing it, he had encroached upon so much of her space.
Ji Qingwu was inwardly stunned.
The Prince Consort had only just left this morning, and Princess Hua Chang was already decisively clearing out his belongings.
’She’s not giving herself any chance to be reminded of him by his possessions. Her methods are truly cold and detached, just as one would expect from royalty.’
Without even looking at her, Princess Hua Chang said, "Why are you here? I am perfectly fine. You needn’t worry about me."
Ji Qingwu had a gut feeling that the Eldest Princess was not in a good mood. Otherwise, she wouldn’t keep referring to herself with such royal formality.
She took a letter from her robes; this was the real reason for her visit.
Ji Qingwu said, "Your Highness, General Wei Chi asked me to give this to you before he departed."
Only then did Princess Hua Chang turn to look at her, her gaze fixed intently on the letter in her hand.
But what she said was, "Since when did he become so familiar with you?"
Her words were almost identical to what the Emperor had asked.
This time, however, Ji Qingwu explained articulately, "General Wei Chi said that the Eldest Princess has too few trustworthy people around her, and that I could be counted as one, so he entrusted this to me."
’So the Prince Consort gave me this letter because he felt Princess Hua Chang trusts me.’
The envelope bore the words "For the Eldest Princess to open personally." One glance at the clumsy, rounded handwriting was enough to know it was written by Wei Chi Lianping, that brute who was unskilled in calligraphy.
Princess Hua Chang said nonchalantly, "Just put it on the table for now." But her eyes kept drifting toward the letter, as if by accident.
She happened to glance up and noticed a small cut on Ji Qingwu’s lip. "Your lip..." she asked.
Ji Qingwu immediately said, "I bit it." She widened her eyes and added, "Really!"
At first, Princess Hua Chang had just thought she was suffering from some internal heat or something similar and wanted to show a little concern, but seeing her reaction...
’Under what circumstances would someone bite their own lip?’ she wondered. ’The Emperor was surely present to see the Beili Army off before their departure.’
Princess Hua Chang clearly didn’t believe her. She said perfunctorily, "Fine, you bit it yourself."
Ji Qingwu blushed, but she really had bitten it herself.
She changed the subject. "Your Highness, General Wei Chi instructed me that I could only let you see this after he had left. Would you like to read the letter now?"
Princess Hua Chang pondered for a moment, then asked with feigned indifference, "You really want me to read it?"
Ji Qingwu nodded emphatically.
Only then did Princess Hua Chang pick up the letter. Her fingertips traced the characters on the envelope before she tore it open and took out the pages inside. There were two of them.
The thin sheets of paper were covered in dense script, without a single correction, showing just how carefully and seriously the writer had composed it.
As Princess Hua Chang read, her expression suddenly changed, like a river frozen for a thousand years suddenly developing a crack.
She cursed several times in anger.
"Fool!"
"Utterly idiotic!"
Ji Qingwu and the maids in the room didn’t dare move, even softening their breaths.
When Princess Hua Chang picked up the second sheet of paper and finished reading it, her hands trembled uncontrollably, and her expression twisted into a furious rage.
"How audacious!"
"Wei Chi Lianping! You are insolent!"
Ji Qingwu felt as if icy daggers were shooting out from the Eldest Princess’s very being. Her eyes fell on the contents of the second sheet of paper.
In the rightmost vertical column were written the two words, "Divorce Papers."
She held her breath, not daring to speak. She watched as Princess Hua Chang shot to her feet and called out the door, "Someone, prepare the carriage!"
Standing at the entrance and watching the carriage depart, Ji Qingwu was once again stunned by Princess Hua Chang’s decisiveness.
She stood there until the Eldest Princess’s carriage disappeared at the end of the street.
"Fifth Miss Ji."
A eunuch in palace attire suddenly appeared before Ji Qingwu.
The eunuch looked somewhat familiar; she felt like she had seen him before.
The eunuch said, "This servant is on duty at Cining Palace. The Empress Dowager has issued a verbal decree, summoning the Fifth Miss Ji of the Ji Family to the palace for an immediate audience."
Ji Qingwu said, "Now? Why the urgency?" ’They were looking for me so urgently that they came all the way to the gate of the Princess Mansion.’
Just a few days ago, she had received a reward from the Empress Dowager. ’Perhaps,’ she mused, ’it’s because I never went to the palace to offer my thanks, and the Empress Dowager has grown impatient.’
When Ji Qingwu followed the eunuch to Cining Palace, she discovered the atmosphere in the main hall was incredibly heavy.
’For the Empress Dowager’s palace to be so gloomy...’
’Could it be,’ she secretly guessed, ’that Princess Qingyun’s health has taken a turn for the worse?’
The eunuch announced in a shrill voice, "Your Majesty, this servant has brought Fifth Missy."
"Send her in," came the slightly hoarse voice of a middle-aged woman.
Ji Qingwu stepped into the main hall, and the eyes of everyone present fell upon her.
She glanced at those seated on either side, paused for a moment, then walked to the center of the hall. Looking at the Empress Dowager, who was dressed in a purplish-red phoenix robe and seated upon the phoenix throne, she performed a deep bow.
Ji Qingwu said respectfully, "Greetings to the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager enjoy eternal blessings and health."
The Empress Dowager stared at her bowed head, her eyes narrowing. "Eternal health? To think the Ji Family has produced such a remarkable person, and this grieving one only learned of it today."
The tone was hostile. Ji Qingwu did not dare to raise her head rashly.
Just now, when she had glanced around the hall, she had seen not only the serving palace attendants but also Princess Yong. Tao Wanxin was the Empress Dowager’s daughter-in-law, so it was normal for her to be here to pay her respects or visit Princess Qingyun.
She furrowed her brow.
’The Empress Dowager’s words are so cryptic. What on earth is this about...?’
