The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 744 - 706: The Feast at Hongmen (Part 2)
Today, those who came to celebrate Yang Xueru’s birthday were all women Wen Wan didn’t know.
Thus, when the feast began, she was forced to sit with three concubines.
Yang Xueru held up her glass and stood up, delivering a remarkably high-caliber opening speech, and then she turned her gaze to Wen Wan, thanking her especially for taking the time to attend the banquet.
Once she spoke, all the women’s attention focused on Wen Wan.
There are many Commandery Princesses in the Capital, but only Princess Yong’an is unique. She was the daughter the Former Princess Changping had fostered in the countryside. Only last year was her background revealed, and not only did she quickly receive her title, but she was also deeply cherished by the current Emperor. It’s heard that each time provinces send tributes, the Emperor always sends a portion to the Song Mansion.
Last time, when lychees came from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, at the lychee banquet, even the palace ladies only received a few fruits. The Song Mansion directly got two lychee trees, each with at least a hundred lychees.
Her position in the Emperor’s heart is such that even Princes and Princesses cannot replace it.
Even the nearly perfect Crown Prince in the eyes of the public, receives only a fraction of the favor compared to his cousin.
This shows that a banquet attended by Princess Yong’an signifies supreme honor.
At that moment, many noblewomen looked at Yang Xueru with envy.
They envied her for being the Crown Prince Consort and envied her for being able to have Princess Yong’an’s favor.
It seems everyone tacitly reached a consensus: no matter who it is, as long as they can gain the favor of Princess Yong’an, even if they can’t rise to high status, their life would definitely be comfortable.
Wen Wan found it quite unbelievable.
Are these people exaggerating a bit? She’s just burdened by the vague title of a commander princess as the Madam Song, how does she become so influential? Even if the Emperor is her uncle, and the Crown Prince is her cousin, the thoughts of the Emperor and Crown Prince aren’t something she, a mere woman, can influence. Whether she can live well in the Eastern Palace all depends on the Crown Prince’s likes, doesn’t it have half a copper coin’s relation to her?
Qi Xuan was displeased with Yang Xueru’s attitude, and using her fan to cover half her face, she whispered to Dong Han beside her, "She’s already flaunting before even entering the Eastern Palace, there’s still over a year; who can say what will happen by then? What do you think, Little Sister Dong?"
Dong Han took a sip of her wine and replied calmly, "Since it’s uncertain, why should Sister comment?"
Qi Xuan was momentarily speechless, then turned her head away.
Though Dong Han’s voice was not loud, it reached Wen Wan’s ears. She specially looked over and saw the young girl already had her head down, quietly eating, with no expression visible on her face.
Wen Wan looked away, deep in thought.
Her attraction to Dong Han was not only because of Dong Han’s unique temperament, but also because her words aligned with Song Wei’s long-held views: not to casually criticize others behind their backs, especially when one doesn’t know the truth of the matter, opinions should never be recklessly expressed.
Meanwhile, Yang Xueru had finished speaking.
The more this girl tried to connect with Wen Wan, the more Wen Wan wouldn’t let her succeed.
Smiling, Wen Wan looked towards Mrs. Zheng, the Prime Minister’s wife, and relayed what she had said to Yang Xueru earlier, "My husband has been in court for a short time, he often tells me he was once cared for by the Grand Secretary. On this occasion of the third young lady’s birthday, he insisted I must come as a token of thanks for the Grand Secretary’s kindness."
As soon as she finished speaking, Mrs. Zheng’s face suddenly changed.
The women gathered were not familiar with court affairs and thought what Wen Wan said were facts.
But in reality, Song Wei had little to do with Chief Minister Yang; one was in the Cabinet, another in the Taichang Temple, basically unrelated departments—how could Chief Minister Yang care for Song Wei in governmental business?
If there was any "care," it must only be due to some small actions last year for avenging the Liang Family.
Mrs. Zheng did not expect the Song Mansion to know so early, let alone Wen Wan to openly speak about it in front of so many people.
If it wasn’t deliberate, who would believe it?
Thinking of this, Mrs. Zheng frowned and looked at Wen Wan, only to see her composed and dignified, her movements were slow and graceful as she occasionally picked dishes, giving no indication of any strangeness.
Despite this, Mrs. Zheng was still very uneasy.
When Song Wei was at odds with the Liang Family, Wen Wan’s identity hadn’t been revealed, and even when the Liang Family planned to retaliate against Song Wei through Su Yi, Wen Wan’s identity hadn’t been exposed.
Later, it was revealed that she was a significant person, prompting Chief Minister Yang to temporarily stop.
This time letting Yang Xueru send an invitation to the Song Mansion was an attempt to ease the relations between the Yang and Song families through a banquet.
But after listening to Wen Wan’s words, Mrs. Zheng realized that a dry banquet alone won’t be enough to erase the deep impression of that event from the Song family’s memory.
Thinking it over, Mrs. Zheng finally came up with a plan. She called the nanny over and whispered a few words.
The nanny was very surprised after hearing, "Old Madam, do you really want to do this?"
Mrs. Zheng’s eyes flashed coldly, "Princess Yong’an’s status is distinguished. If we confront her now, it would affect Ru’s future in the Eastern Palace. But to make Princess Yong’an overlook last year’s event, only a drastic measure would do."
The nanny listened and sneaked a glance at Wen Wan, then quietly slipped away amidst the crowd.
Typically, such banquets are particularly long, after the feast there is a tea gathering, where the women went to the back garden to enjoy tea and admire flowers.
Wen Wan was accustomed to napping, feeling tired, she finally found a secluded flower pavilion to take a nap, where Linglong and Yun Cai stood guard beside her.
Just as Wen Wan was about to fall asleep, a long-forgotten intuition suddenly emerged.
She abruptly opened her eyes and stood to look towards the lotus pond nearby; there was no one there.
Yun Cai felt curious and asked her, "Madam, what are you looking at?"
Wen Wan curled her lips mockingly, shaking her head, "Nothing."
After saying this, she sat back down to continue sleeping.
She fell asleep quickly; a while later, Linglong’s gentle voice woke her up, "Madam, Madam, please wake up."
Wen Wan opened her eyes, confusedly looking at Linglong, "What is it?"
Linglong said, "The old lady’s nanny has come to invite you, saying there’s a return gift prepared for us alone. She wants to invite Madam over."
Wen Wan raised an eyebrow, "Invite just me over?"
Linglong nodded affirmatively.
Wen Wan agreed, "Then let us go!"
As they walked out of the pavilion, they saw the nanny awaiting not far away with a smile, "Commandery Princess, the old lady is waiting for you in the tea parlor."
While saying this, she led Wen Wan towards the lotus pond.
Suddenly Wen Wan exclaimed, "Oh, my handkerchief is missing." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
The nanny asked, "Could it have been left in the pavilion?"
Wen Wan had Linglong go back to search; Linglong looked around but said she couldn’t find it.
"Then it must be left at the banquet table." Wen Wan showed a worried look, "No, I must personally check."
The nanny frowned but could not stop her.
A handkerchief is a personal item; losing it is not the worry—the concern is if a man picks it up and identifies it, certainly the accusation of "impropriety" won’t be avoided.
Wen Wan is a Commandery Princess and a married woman. If her handkerchief gets picked up, that would be terrible, right?
Thus, the nanny could only accompany Wen Wan to the banquet hall, the direction opposed to the lotus pond.
Wen Wan cannot go near the lotus pond because the old lady is manufacturing a scheme for her, through her intuition, she would "accidentally" fall in the water, and someone would jump to save her.
The person rescuing her would precisely be Yang Xueru’s unmarried brother, Yang Huan.
If Wen Wan is soaked and carried out by a man from the lotus pond, can her reputation still stand?
However, the old lady’s intent is not to taint Wen Wan’s reputation but to make her grateful to the Yang family. Hence, first granting a life-saving grace, then promising the incident would not spread to tarnish her name, thus adding more gratitude, thereby achieving reconciliation between the Yang and Song families.
Wen Wan secretly rejoiced, grateful she could foresee, otherwise, if the old devil had her way today she might indeed be caught by her.
Collecting her thoughts, Wen Wan led the two maids back to the previous banquet location, wandering around perfunctorily, not finding a handkerchief, and was about to suggest searching elsewhere when Qi Xuan’s maid ran crying over, bumping into Wen Wan’s group, she urgently said, "Something has happened, my lady has fallen into the water, Commandery Princess, please help find someone to save her!"
The maid’s words had just fallen when the nanny’s face turned pale.
