Chapter 146: A very awkward family dinner (1/2)

The Eastern courtyard, the crown Prince's mansion

Xia Ying accepted the hot bowl of medicine from Daiyu and held it up. She picked up the spoon inside the bowl, scooped up a spoonful of the dark brown coloured medicine and put it into her mouth. She dry heaved as the bitter liquid touched her tongue, she felt like throwing up but since it was high-quality medicine.

She couldn't waste medicine like this, she removed her mind from the medicine and swallowed it down. She placed the spoon on the tray, brought the plate to her lips and swallowed the entire medicine in one go. She covered her mouth with her palm as she let out some gas from her mouth. She placed the empty bowl on the tray and pushed it towards Daiyu.

She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, ”Get some sweets Daiyu”.

”Yes,” Daiyu glanced at the weeping Maid kneeling in front of the Princess consort. Before going into the next room to get the box of sweets out of the cupboard and bring it to her mistress. ”Here you go, mistress,” Daiyu said and stepped back.

Xia Ying opened the box of denied preserved sweets, picked out a few pieces and put them into her mouth. The sweet melted into a homey flavoured sweet delicacy in her mouth, which was a welcome change from the bitter after taste of the liquid extracts of the four herbs mixed to produce the medicine.

There was a noticeable change in her taste buds after licking a few pieces of sweet. Xmtgecries of the maid alerted her of the unwelcome visitor she had kneeling in her room. Anger and pain came up from her heart and she glared down the maid. She wasn't familiar with most of the maids serving under her palace but she did remember seeing the maids familiar face a few times in here.

She held the arm of the chair with a strong grip trope in the anger and asked the maid in a cold tone ”Who send you?”

She had heard a few things about this Princess consort's family, she wasn't a good person to make an enemy of. She didn't bother lying to keep the Crown Princess consort from finding out it was Madam Zhu that send her. The Crown Princess consort outranked Madam Zhu on so many levels. Although Madam here was currently the most favoured, she was still a concubine. Her words hold no ground when compared to the princess consort.

The maid fell forward on her front and said, ”please forgive me for being too forward your highness. This maid was asked by Eunuch Ji that served under Madam Zhu to check on your highness's conditions!”

”It was her! That wench is just pushing her lock” she said in an unnaturally calm tone, locked eyes with her maid and smiled. To an onlooker who was unfamiliar with Xia Ying, she may seem to be calm and relaxed but not Daiyu. She knew never to take her actions at face value, her mistress was far from amused.

Daiyu felt the room get colder, glanced down at the maid and sighed. This madam Zhu was very ballsy, she dared to instruct her servants to spy on her mistress. Even if the maid claimed it was Eunuch Ji, they all knew who the real culprit was. Who was Eunuch Ji a what would he gain spying on her mistress, Eunuch Ji was a servant and wouldn't do things like this without being ordered to. it was the madam behind him that sent him.

This Madam Zhu was asking for trouble, trouble that she was about to get double of. She shook her head and just wished that her mistress wouldn't take a page from the Grand Princess's playbook and permanently handle this consort of the Crown Prince. Things might end up disastrous if she did do that.

Xia Ying shit the lid on the sweets and gestured for Daiyu to take it away. Daiyu rushed forward without delay, took the box of sweets from her mistress and went into the side room to return the box of sweets into the cupboard. When she came back the maid was gone and her mistress laid on the side, with her eyes closed.

It didn't seem like a good idea to disturb her, so she just stepped aside and cleaned up the room. Xia Ying heard her come in put pretended to be sleeping, she didn't want to explain her plan to Daiyu. She didn't trust her maid not to report her actions back to her grandmother. Her loyalties were not fully hers but to her grandmother.

She has treated, Zhu Fenfang cautiously but the foolish girl doesn't seem to value her kindness and dared go against her. That was a mistake that Zhu Fenfang will soon pay for, she was going to put that unruly concubine in her place.

Xia Ying couldn't ignore her sneaky actions anymore, she had initially decided not to exact much of her authority on that concubine since she wasn't interested in the marriage. However, based on recent developments, she couldn't look away and let her get away with foolish actions like this.

There was no point in holding on to the false hope that she could get out of this dreaded marriage and end up with the general. That was only a dream, it was time for her to wake up. She can not be with the man she loved, it was time to accept that and send him off with joy. She didn't want to turn into something she wasn't because she was obsessed with him.

Maybe they would end up together at a different time not now. They would be happy together, keeping each other company till the end.