Chapter 355 – Royal Family’S Food Box
“Send the pastries to the other young ladies?” Jin Ling was taken aback for a moment.
“Yes, just say the pastries are a reward from Zhaoyi Tu, and I couldn’t finish them.” Sitting in the chair, Wei Yuewu paused for a moment before continuing, “If they say that they have the pastries too, just inquire about tomorrow’s events.”
Wei Yuewu had wanted Jin Ling to inquire about the schedule the next day, but she didn’t have an excuse. Fortunately, she had the perfect excuse now.
“If they don’t have the pastries, just say that Zhaoyi Tu sent the pastries to me and Fourth Elder Sister.” The corners of Wei Yuewu’s lips curled into a sneer. There was definitely something wrong with that eunuch. He knew about her very well, but he didn’t know that Wei Qiufu lived beside her.
Just now, she deliberately mentioned Miss Zhao, and the eunuch said that he was also going to deliver the pastries to Zhao Ruo’e.
“Miss, that food box is not from the kitchen.” At this time, Jin Ling thought of the food box, and her expression changed.
“It’s not from the kitchen?” Previously, Wei Yuewu had only thought that this food box was a little too exquisite, and the design on it was too exclusive and did not seem to be from the kitchen, so she had specially asked Jin Ling to pay more attention to it. To her surprise, Jin Ling could be able to spot the difference.
“The mansion of Marquis Hua Yang does not have this type of food box, but I’d seen it when I was at Duke of Yan State Mansion. I had seen this type of food box. The pattern on it is called the Mountain River Dragon Rune. The food box was a special case used in the ancestral hall to pay respects to Duke of Yan State’s ancestors. However, the one at the Duke of Yan State Mansion was not a dragon with five claws, but a four-clawed one.”
The difference was that the five claws symbolized dragons while the four claws symbolized pythons.
This was also the difference between the royal family and the dukes.
A small indication could carry a significant meaning. No matter how noble the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang was, it had nothing to do with the royal family, so they would not have such a box in the mansion. Meanwhile, the ancestor of the Duke of Yan State Mansion was a feudal prince who possessed his own fiefdom. Naturally, they were different from ordinary aristocratic families. The Mountain River Dragon Rune was only available in the royal family.
Actually, it was not appropriate for the State of Yan to have such a box, but they were powerful, and the royal family wasn’t much of an influence for them, so the royal family wouldn’t care about such small details.
In fact, this was not a dragon, but a python!
Moreover, Wei Yuewu believed that besides the State of Yan, the other three states, namely, Lu, Qi, and Chu, also had such a food box.
“Miss, this kind of box cannot be used as an ordinary box. They can only be used to store the things from the shrine,” Jin Ling informed with a serious face.
The shrine?
Wei Yuewu stood up and walked to the inner room. Looking at the coat on the bed, she squinted, and a trace of hostility flashed in her eyes. “Jin Ling, go and ask about tomorrow’s sacrificial ceremony.”
She had not thought of this at all previously. Unexpectedly, she spotted a mistake here, but thankfully, she had made up for it just now.
It seemed that Wei Qiufu was not the only person who plotted against her.
“Yes, I will go right away!” Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Jin Ling nodded. She took the small food box on the table and left the room.
Wei Yuewu sat in front of the bed and picked up the dress. She slowly slid over the delicate lines on the dress with her fingers. As she pressed down, small and uneven texture immediately appeared on the fabric.
She picked up the other dress. It was the same. Both the coat and the dress were only pretty in the eyes, but she couldn’t wear them at all. As long as she tapped the fabric slightly with her fingers, the defect would appear.
But how was Wei Qiufu sure that she would wear this set of clothes?
With a frown, Wei Yuewu picked up another set of clothes that had been placed on the bed. Back then, she was quite at ease with the dress because Madam Dowager had prepared it for her. After looking at the dress briefly, she had someone carefully put it away.
After entering the Palace, she had not taken the dress out because she had planned to wear it on the last day.
The dress was as pretty as ever with its fine material, but when Wei Yuewu picked up the dress, she spotted a small black hole at the hem of the skirt. It was as if someone had accidentally burned it with a candle. There were traces of smoke underneath.
Sure enough, she could not wear this dress too!
Wei Yuewu’s clear eyes were filled with a terrifying chill as she tightened her grip on the hem of the dress. It seemed that someone had entered her room and even burned a hole in the dress that Madam Dowager had given her, so there was no way for her to wear this dress.
After realizing this point, Wei Yuewu simply took out all the clothes she had brought. There were a few sets of clothes in total. The clothes were either stained on the cuffs or there were traces on the corners of the skirt. All her dresses were stained with some stubborn stains that could not be washed off.
In other words, except for the one she had on her, Wei Yuewu had no other dresses that she could wear in the next two days!
Coincidentally, the dresses that were made from Concubine Dong’s fabrics were all fine.
Wei Yuewu didn’t take a closer look at the two dresses that Zhao Ruo’e had taken before, but the ones she had now were clean without any stains.
From the looks of it, she either had to wear the dresses Wei Qiufu gave her or the ones made from Concubine Dong’s fabric…
Jin Ling came back very quickly. After she hurriedly entered the room, she closed the door before turning around and anxiously reporting, “Miss, there will be a sacrificial ceremony tomorrow, which will be held at the end of the Third Princess’ prayer session. The ceremony will be held at the royal family’s small shrine. Actually, there was no official shrine in the Palace but a small one. The Third Princess will carry out an additional sacrificial session, and the whole event will be considered complete.”
The royal family’s ancestral shrine was very large. Of course, it was impossible to set up such a large shrine in the imperial palace, but they would have a smaller shrine in the Palace. Sometimes, the royal family would pay respects to the ancestors at the small shrine without making a huge deal out of it.
“Will there be any other activities during the sacrificial ceremony?”
Wei Yuewu asked indifferently as she put down the writing brush in her hand. Just now, she had already written a few words on the writing desk, and she had gradually calmed down.
“Yes, there are. I heard that some clothes will be burned to pay respects to the heavens for showing great favor to the Third Princess.” Jin Ling nodded. This was the first time she knew the procedure of the coming-of-age ceremony in the Palace for a princess, so she was not aware there would be such a procedure in the end.
“Burn some clothes?” Wei Yuewu raised her eyebrows and pointed at the two sets of clothes. “This should be the dresses that the Third Princess wanted to burn!”
The dresses were beautiful but not practical. Because their sole purpose was to be burned, the dresses did not need to be wearable but to look magnificent. But now, the dresses that were about to be burned were right here in front of them. The meaning of this was enough to make Jin Ling’s face turn pale.
Even though she was not an ordinary maid, she was really anxious now.
“Miss, what should we do now? Should I return the dresses to the Fourth Young Lady?” Jin Ling asked anxiously.
“Even if you return them, Wei Qiufu will not admit it!” Wei Yuewu grinned coldly. Since Wei Qiufu dared to give these two dresses to her, she would definitely not admit that Wei Yuewu got them from her.
“But didn’t she say the Crown Prince rewarded the dresses to her? Did the Crown Prince really give her such lousy clothes?” Jin Ling asked in confusion.
Wei Yuewu sneered, “Of course, not. The Crown Prince would not give something like this to her. I bet that someone else sent the dresses to her. The purpose is to give them to me through Wei Qiufu.”
Originally, Wei Yuewu thought that it was Wei Qiufu’s doing. But from the looks of it now, someone else was the mastermind behind this. Wei Qiufu was sly and cunning, but she was not powerful in the Palace. For some reason, Wei Yuewu thought of the gentle and well-mannered Third Princess. The Third Princess was always kind and friendly to others, but the first time Wei Yuewu met the Third Princess, she felt that the latter was just pretending to be kind.
Other than Zhao Ruo’e, the Third Princess also knew about the problem of Concubine Dong’s fabric. Zhao Ruo’e had pleaded with the Third Princess regarding this matter.
At this time, Jin Ling spotted the spots and stains on the clothes that were spread all over the bed. None of these clothes could be worn. She immediately rushed over and checked the clothes one by one. Finally, she picked up Concubine Dong’s clothes and asked anxiously, “Miss, what should we do? Are you going to wear Concubine Dong’s clothes tomorrow?”
It was impossible to wear today’s clothes tomorrow.
The only clothes that Wei Yuewu could wear tomorrow were Concubine Dong’s dresses and the two dresses she had gotten from Wei Qiufu.
Wei Qiufu’s dresses were out of context. So, Wei Yuewu was left with no choice but to wear Concubine Dong’s clothes.
“Do you want me to go to Fourth Young Lady’s place to steal a set of clothes for you?” Jin Ling was anxious and suddenly thought of an idea.
“The clothes that are sent by the Crown Prince are all registered. The clothes made in the mansion are also recorded. No matter which set of clothes you take from Wei Qiufu, it will arouse the suspicion of others. They will even wonder why I have her clothes.” Wei Yuewu lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering a few times as she coldly smiled. She reached a dead end.
In fact, Wei Yuewu thought of another point. Regardless of whether she was going to wear these two sets of clothes or not, something would definitely happen to these two sets of clothes in the end.
She would enrage the Empress by wearing Concubine Dong’s dresses, and these two sets of clothes would be used to convict her. This was a serious crime. Even if she didn’t die on the spot, she would be in an extremely difficult situation, and even…
“Miss…” Jin Ling was so anxious that she was sweating profusely. Who would have thought that they had unknowingly fallen into someone else’s trap?
“Did you see Miss Zhao when you went over there to inquire about the news?” Wei Yuewu asked.
“Yes, Miss Zhao is back!” Jin Ling thought for a while and said, “Actually, I got some of the information from Miss Zhao’s maid. When I got there, I saw that Miss Zhao was coming back. She looked very happy to see me. She even asked her maid to accompany me to send the pastries to the other young ladies.”
Zhao Ruo’e’s doubts about Wei Yuewu had disappeared entirely after seeing that Wei Yuewu had clothes with similar patterns.
It seemed that the Third Princess had helped Zhao Ruo’e deal with her problem. However, it was unexpected that Zhao Ruo’e came back so quickly.
However, it was good news because it saved her the trouble of thinking of other ways.
“Let’s go and see Miss Zhao!” Wei Yuewu stood up decisively. Fortunately, she had discovered the problem early, and there was still time to fix her situation.
Since that was the case, she would beat her opponent at their own game!
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