Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife (Yang Shi Liu) 801

946

A Mother Relies on Her Son for Honor, and the Mother Must Be Able to Support the Child’s Happiness

After Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu had been demoted to a noble lady, she continued to live in Cun Shan Palace. It was just that she moved from the main hall to a side hall, but since the Emperor was indifferent about the imperial harem, there were no new members of the imperial harem moving in. In this large Cun Shan Palace, it was still her alone with the final say in what happened. Although she did not have much of a foundation, it was far better than Noble Lady Li’s situation.

When Zhu Kong Shan arrived, Noble Lady Yuan was having the palace maid, Yue Xiu, apply nail polish for her. Seeing Zhu Kong Shan arrive and perform an elegant salute, Noble Lady Yuan nodded: “As expected, you are a girl worth a second look. When I came into the palace, your mother had not yet gotten married. You know, after entering the palace, you can no longer go out. Though you are my niece, that is the reason that I never met you. A few days ago, I heard Mo’er speak about how his younger cousin in the distant Peng Zhou was a good child. Having the heart of a Bodhisattva, you improved the Zhu family’s reputation in Peng Zhou by quite a bit. I was thinking that raising such a good niece in Peng Zhou really is a pity, thus I had Mo’er send a letter to bring you over. As your aunt, I want to get closer with you.” It was only after she finished speaking that she gestured to a servant to help Zhu Kong Shan stand up. Seeing that Zhu Kong Shan had a proper bearing, neither deliberately getting intimate nor appearing nervous, she grew to like her even more. “There are no outsiders in this palace. Sit!”

Zhu Kong Shan bowed, “Many thanks, aunty.” She then sat on the edge of a chair, paying very close attention to etiquette. Noble Lady Yuan nodded once more, feeling very satisfied.

The palace maid, Yue Xiu, brought in some tea and brought it to Zhu Kong Shan, saying very politely: “Young miss, please have some tea.”

Zhu Kong Shan quickly gave her thanks but did not stand up. She was not demeaning and attracted people’s hearts. Even Yue Xiu viewed this young miss from the Zhu family well.

Of course, just looking good and being well-mannered was not enough. What Noble Lady Yuan wanted was for her to be smart; however, she did not know enough about this niece’s abilities. She thought about it for a bit, thus she asked her very frankly: “Kong Shan, do you know why aunty called you into the capital this time?”

Zhu Kong Shan did not understand it originally. The eighth prince did not write about it in his letter, only saying that the two aunts were thinking of her and wanted to invite her into the capital to play. In addition to this, when she returned home the previous day, she did not see her cousin. Apparently, he had been out and busy with work, only returning home after midnight. In the morning, he only left behind his identification plate before heading out for court, thus she did not have a chance to ask. But she was a smart girl. She had her own guesses, and she had her own thoughts. Adding in the things that had happened, she recalled the reactions of the people when she had mentioned that she was His Highness the eighth prince’s cousin. With these thoughts, she was roughly able to guess. She probed: “Was it to have Kong Shan help cousin improve his reputation?”

Noble Lady Yuan’s eyes lit up, as joy filled her heart, “Good! It’s no loss that you are a child born from my younger sister. Sure enough, everyone in our Liu family is smart!” While she spoke, she took the initiative to refer to Zhu Kong Shan’s mother as younger sister. For the sake of winning over this niece, she pushed a bit further and said: “Although your mother is my younger sister born from a concubine, we were very close as sisters when growing up. It’s just that I married into the palace early on and could not spend very long with her. In addition to this, there are many rules in the palace. After coming in, I could no longer leave. Naturally, there was not much interaction with the family after that. Speaking of, Kong Shan! Is your mother doing well in the Zhu family?” She did not continue to bring up the eighth prince’s matter. Instead, she began to concern herself with the Zhu family’s circumstances. It could be considered as succeeding in pandering to their relations.