Spring in the Hall of Paintings

The thought of something inappropriate crossed Yun Wei’s mind. She moved closer to Fucha and gently tugged at her arm, calling softly, “Mother, Mother.”

Fucha’s face remained stern as she replied indifferently, “Have you finished talking with your fourth sister?”

“Fourth sister was acting very strange today, not like usual at all,” Yun Wei said, furrowing her little brow. She leaned against Fucha’s shoulder and asked, “Mother, did I do something wrong?”

“I’ll ask you this,” Fucha said, her tone serious. “If the eldest aunt were to catch you in a mistake, how would you handle it?”

“Grandmother wouldn’t only listen to Aunt, grandmother is very clever,” Yun Wei replied candidly. Seeing that Fucha didn’t look pleased, she added, “At the time, I just thought that was the right thing to do. But… but I didn’t think it through enough.”

“I’m not saying the old lady is confused, Yaya. Mother has taught you this: don’t rely on others; only what you hold in your own hands can be relied upon.”

Fucha tightly gripped Yun Wei’s hand and spoke with deep sincerity: “You did nothing wrong in the grand scheme of things. The principle of ‘one rises, all rise; one falls, all fall’—you’ve remembered that. But making rash statements and lying is always wrong, and it’s easy for others to find fault with you. Yun Wei, remember, in the inner court, people look at the results, not your reasons. Even if you’re right, if you make a mistake, others will seize upon it to criticize you. There’s a saying among the seven offenses: ‘excessive speech’ is one of them.”

“You’re right, but at that time, I only thought of this method,” Yun Wei said, feeling a little discouraged as she nestled into Fucha’s embrace. Her previous sense of pride vanished, and she murmured, “Am I really that stupid?”

Fucha softened her expression, holding her daughter close. The way she pouted made her mother’s heart ache, and she smiled, “Who says my daughter is stupid? That’s slapping my face.”

“Mother,” Yun Wei said, like a little dog, rubbing her face against Fucha’s shoulder. Acting spoiled and lazy was her specialty. Even though Fucha had seen this many times before, she still couldn’t resist, her face breaking into a full smile. She hugged Yun Wei and didn’t know what to do, so tenderly trying to comfort her. Yun Wei squinted her eyes and sweetly said, “Isn’t it said that ‘a great teacher produces an outstanding student’? Mother is the most amazing.”

“Who did you learn this from? I never taught you this trick… In the future… in the future…” Fucha’s expression grew absent as she gazed at her daughter’s innocent and charming demeanor. She wondered how her future husband would react to this and how long he would tolerate it. Would it be for a day? Or three days? Fucha thought five days would be the limit.

Yun Wei lay in Fucha’s embrace, gently stroking her mother’s temples, and softly asked, “Mother, what should I have done? Should I have called someone? But it was too late, Sister Jingyi had already asked the little maid to watch over things. Should I have just barged in and overturned the table? Actually, that was what I most wanted to do.”

“Ridiculous,” Fucha had scolded lightly, giving Yun Wei’s small, perky bottom a playful slap. “If you had overturned the table, all my teaching would have been for nothing.”

“Hehe, I knew you wouldn’t agree, Mother,” Yun Wei giggled, rolling over onto Fucha’s lap. The red quilt on the bed made a muffled sound as she sighed. “It was hard not to say something rash. I couldn’t overturn the table, but it was so difficult. It’s all Qing’e Prince fault. Why did he come to the Tong residence for no reason?”

Fucha didn’t want to discuss Qing’e in front of Yun Wei. She preferred that her daughter knew nothing about the situation. The selection process was always a difficult hurdle for Yun Wei to overcome.

“I’ll ask you this,” Fucha said, her tone serious. “The person who tied the knot should be the one to untie it. The best thing you can do is to make Qing’e leave on his own. Prince Qing’e is from the Gongqin royal mansion; he is not a frivolous or careless person. If you subtly hint to him, Qing’e will avoid it on his own. There are two benefits to doing this: one, you won’t leave any vulnerabilities for others to exploit, and two, people will think you are polite and well-educated. Also, you won’t earn any resentment from Jing Yi since it will be Prince Qing’e who leaves on his own.”

“If Yun Lan hadn’t stopped you today, my Yaya would’ve been knocked over by Jing Yi,” Fucha continued, gently patting Yun Wei, sighing softly. “The old lady really cares for your aunt, she’s not foolish, but we can’t be sure that others won’t be swayed by partial opinions.”

“Mm,” Yun Wei carefully committed Fucha’s words to memory. She understood that if she could learn to handle things as her mother did, she could remain flawless and as steady as a mountain.

“There’s one more thing. Will Second Sister be selected for the palace? I heard Sister Jing Yi say that Fourth Sister doesn’t want Second Sister to join the selection. Second Sister has already cried about it several times.”

Fucha’s expression turned serious. “Did you see Yun Jing crying?”

“I saw her at Aunt’s place, and also in Fifth Sister’s room at our house.”

“This is Yun Jing selecting a place to cry. Yun Xin, the daughter of the first branch, is about the same age as Yun Jing, just half a year younger. Yun Xin has been preparing for the selection. Yun Jing went to cry about her grievances. She wasn’t speaking to Yun Xin, but to your aunt. As for going to visit Fifth Sister Yun Yi in our courtyard, it was clearly for me to see. Did Yun Yi’s eyes get red too?”

“I didn’t see, but Aunt’s expression was very bad. She comforted Second Sister for a long time. When I brought Fifth Sister some flowers, I stayed for a while, but Fifth Sister didn’t act strange. Instead, she persuaded Second Sister to listen to Third Aunt, saying that a legitimate mother wouldn’t harm them. Aunt looked very pale at that moment, and it seemed like she scolded Fifth Sister after we left. The next day in class, Fifth Sister’s eyes were red. Later, she even told me that she only recognizes you as her mother.”

Is this the difference in treatment between legitimate and illegitimate children? Yun Wei had always known that Fifth Sister Yun Yi was her half-sister. Fucha smiled faintly and sighed, “Yaya, don’t underestimate Yun Yi. She’s much more clever than her mother, and she knows how to talk and win people over. Unfortunately, she is an illegitimate child. When she joins the selection with you, she’ll be doing it all for me to see.”

“We can’t interfere with the third branch’s matters. Let’s just watch how your Third Aunt and that lazy girl handle things. Since Lan has set her sights on Fourth Prince, Second Sister Yun Jing is just an illegitimate daughter. No matter how much she stirs things up, there are limits. On the other hand, Third Sister Yun Xin, though also an illegitimate daughter, is quite favored by your aunt. This is partly because the legitimate daughter of the first branch married early, but more importantly, Yun Xin is insightful and sensible—she’s very rare.”

“Yaya likes Third Sister,” Yun Wei said, sitting up quickly and softly asking, “Mother, can I give that pair of hairpins to Third Sister?”

“Wait until your Third Sister is married, then you can give them to her, along with a bracelet and necklace to complete the set as part of her bridal gift. If you give her the hairpins now, it will make your aunt suspicious. Your aunt is a righteous person and won’t treat illegitimate daughters unfairly.”

Yun Wei blinked her eyes and nodded her little head. “Mother, I remember.”

“Yun Wei, listen carefully to me. Speak less, observe more, but don’t stay silent when you need to speak. When you do speak, make sure your words are to the point and irrefutable. The governess that the old lady personally brought in from the palace, who has also served the Empress Dowager, is very knowledgeable. You should learn well from her. She can teach you things that I cannot, and perhaps in the future, you will be able to use them.”

Whenever Fucha thought about the rare warmth from the side concubine of Gongqin mansion towards Yun Wei’s marriage prospects with the Fucha family, she felt uncertain. Moreover, there was still the matter with Ce Ling. After that day at the racetrack, Cheng Wu had explained everything clearly to Fucha. In the past few months, Ce Ling had frequently sought Cheng Wu out, either to ride horses or hunt, to inquire about Yun Wei’s situation, and had sent many gifts. Ce Ling held a high status, having been personally raised by Emperor Kangxi in the inner court. He was an important figure in Kangxi’s efforts to pacify the Mongolian tribes. In the future, he would either marry a princess or be paired with a county princess. However, Cheng Wu had mentioned that Ce Ling would let Emperor Kangxi arrange his marriage.

Fucha felt a headache coming on. She privately decided to hide her daughter away more carefully, to prevent anyone from getting any ideas. Fucha would rather have Yun Wei marry Qing’e than let her go to Mongolia with Ce Ling.

Two days later, the governess invited by the old lady arrived at the Tong residence, riding in a blue-and-white patterned carriage, signaling the start of the selection process.