Leng Yan sat on her knees in front of Mo Shujun all the time but didn’t feel tired. She even looked up and explained carefully, “Princess Royal, look. Now Lady Baojing would marry the second prince. Although his mother has passed away, he was still raised by Concubine Tao.”
“Even so, what does it have to do with us?” Mo Shujun looked down upon Shi Baojing who was a concubine’s daughter and didn’t think highly of a prince who was unknown to public in the imperial palace.
She would just let them get married, which was not worthy of expecting.
But Leng Yan didn’t think so. She reminded cautiously, “Princess Royal, why don’t you think that the second prince is a force?”
“Oh?” Mo Shujun finally got interested and stared at Leng Yan, silently ordering her to continue.
“A lean camel is bigger than a horse. If we help the fourth prince win over the second prince, then wouldn’t the fourth prince have a greater chance to win the fight for the title of the heir to the throne?”
After Leng Yan mentioned that, Mo Shujun was suddenly enlightened at last.
She nodded repeatedly and clapped while laughing. “Right! Why didn’t I think of this?
“Good girl, you are so smart. I am really old and didn’t even think of this.”
Leng Yan shook her head in a hurry and explained with shyness, “I have been brought up by you, and you are a good teacher, Princess Royal.”
“Kid, you are so smooth-tongued!” Mo Shujun laughed again.
She thought for a while and then asked, “I will go to ask His Majesty to grant Baoyou’s marriage and make her the official wife of the fourth prince now. What do you think?”
“I think, perhaps another way is better.” Leng Yan pondered for a moment and then advised.
“Oh? There is another way?” Mo Shujun fully trusted Leng Yan, and there were rare closeness and expectancy in her tone even when she asked.
Leng Yan was complacent in secret but didn’t dare to show her feelings.
Instead, she answered more humbly, “I think, if you can make Lady Baoyou the side concubine of the fourth prince for a period first, it would probably be better!”
“How so?” Mo Shujun was surprised at Leng Yan’s strange idea, but because all the methods this maid had offered satisfied her, she didn’t get angry but waited with interest for the girl to continue.
“Princess Royal, think about it. The fourth prince wants to marry a lady from the Shi family as his wife because he admires your prestige and influence and wants to do Duke Shi a favor, so that he can ask Duke Shi to repay him for his kindness in the future.
“But Duke Shi is out of trouble now and even gets prompted, so the fourth prince doesn’t have a chance to do him a favor. If you want him to marry Lady Baoyou as his wife, I am afraid that he might be unwilling.”
Mo Shujun thought it over and it was true, but she was astonished. “But didn’t you say that as long as the Shi family is related to the fourth prince by marriage, it means that the Shi family would be his follower, so wouldn’t he get profits? Why is he unwilling?”
Leng Yan couldn’t help but pout secretly, and she thought, “If it is Shi Qingxue who would marry him, Mo Junhao must be overjoyed, but it is Shi Baoyou… If I can say something that doesn’t sound good, Shi Baoyou is not qualified.”
Even she, a maid could know such a simple answer clearly.
But Mo Shujun still couldn’t see through it because of her blind feelings. When it came to something related to Shi Juncai’s family, she was like a blind person.
Leng Yan sighed with emotion as Mo Shujun’s illustrious name for a lifetime would be ruined by Shi Juncai, but she didn’t dare to say that to the princess royal. Instead, she had to try every means to comfort the old lady, so she said, “After all, Lady Baoyou is inferior in her identity. What’s more, if we give in and make her the fourth prince’s side concubine, then we can do him a favor and it will help you control the whole situation better.”
In the beginning, Mo Shujun was confused, but soon she understood.
“Right! I almost forget this.” She nodded and thought that it was true.
Although Shi Baoyou looked obedient now, nobody dared to be sure what she would be like after she became the fourth prince’s wife.
“If she becomes like Shi Qingxue, my sincerity will be in vain.” Mo Shujun looked serious and started to ponder. “If I want to control this girl, I can’t give her a too high position in the beginning. The more easily she gets it, the more easily she would be complacent in the future and forget who helps her.
“I need to let her know who she should thank as she can live a good life and make her have no nerve to disobey me even if she gets the position that all women dream about.”
Seeing that Mo Shujun had thought through, Leng Yan didn’t say more but lowered her head obediently, flattering in a low voice, “Princess Royal, you are wise.”
Mo Shujun chuckled and raised Leng Yan’s chin again, looking up and down carefully.
After a long while, she suddenly sighed with emotion. “Yan, you are matchlessly clever. If I have choices, I can’t bear to marry you to Junhe as his concubine. You suffer from injustice. Don’t blame me.”
“I don’t dare to!” Leng Yan didn’t know what was wrong with Mo Shujun, who brought up this matter all of a sudden. She was scared and answered in a hurry.
She was afraid that Mo Shujun wouldn’t believe her, so she added firmly, “I have been raised by you since childhood. No matter what you tell me to do, I don’t feel grieved, Princess Royal.”
Mo Shujun still stared at Leng Yan, which made the latter have sweat on her back and stiffen all over her body. Then she suddenly laughed again and helped the maid up. “Stupid child, I just said that casually. Why are you so scared?
“You are too cautious. Although it’s good to be cautious, if you are too cautious, you will live a difficult life.”
“As long as I can make your wish come true, I don’t think life is difficult.” No matter how pleasant Mo Shujun’s words were, Leng Yan was humble and didn’t indulge herself at all.
It satisfied Mo Shujun especially. Then she said “great” several times before letting Leng Yan go.
However, as soon as Leng Yan closed the door, Mo Shujun’s smiling face darkened.
She gazed at the wooden door deeply and looked cold, thinking, “Leng Yan is thoughtful and smart, but she knows too many things. If I keep her with me, I am afraid that…”
“It’s time to deal with her…”
Mo Shujun sighed in a low voice and lay on the small soft bed, closing her eyes slightly.
In the tenth lunar month, it was getting cold.
In the autumn, golden fallen leaves could be seen everywhere, and it was depressing.
But there was good news successively in Duke Shi’s mansion, and the family wasn’t influenced by the desolate late autumn at all.
Especially when Shen Luo affirmed that Dong Hui’s baby was stable, all people in the East House sighed with relief because they didn’t need to worry every day that she might miscarry when they were careless.
Dong Hui touched her belly joyfully with a gentle smile.
These days, in order to protect the baby, she lived alone all the time, and Shi Junhe never entered her room.
Although she was confident as Shi Junhe wouldn’t hook up with any woman outside, it was not good if a couple lived apart for long.
Now the baby was safe, and Shi Junhe’s moving back could be put on the agenda.
But Dong Hui didn’t have the face to ask about something like this in person.
She was a woman and had the right to keep reserved. She would let Shi Junhe ask for her permission to come back.
However, Shen Luo had checked her pulse for several times, and Shi Junhe was present every time and heard the doctor’s conclusion, but he didn’t mention once that he would move back to the bedroom. He still stayed alone in the study at night.
It appeared that he planned to live in the study and wouldn’t mention that he would live with Dong Hui until the baby was born in safety.
He was so well-behaved that he made Dong Hui feel depressed.
Dong Hui had no choice but to find a little helper.
The little helper Shi Qingxue looked confused after hearing Dong Hui’s words. “Doesn’t Father live in the study comfortably? Why would he move back to the bedroom anxiously?
“Even if he moves back, he can’t do that with you, and he still has to sleep on the small hard bed. He can see you but can’t sleep with you. So how sad would he be?”
Shi Qingxue spoke recklessly and didn’t feel shy. She said whatever she wanted to say and talked about sex directly.
Dong Hui was shy and angry, cursing her crossly, “You don’t know the rules. What did you say?”
Shi Qingxue was puzzled and looked at Dong Hui in a daze. She had no idea why she didn’t know the rules.
“You… Alas, you irritate me to death!” Dong Hui was annoyed as she saw that Qingxue wouldn’t go until she understood why.
Then Dong Hui thought that Qingxue was old enough, and, as her mother, it was time to teach her.
Then she continued, “The doctor said that the baby is not stable in the first three months of pregnancy, and it’s forbidden to have sex, but after three months, the couple can do it occasionally. Now my baby has been in the womb for four months, so your father can certainly move back!”
“Oh!” Shi Qingxue looked as if she understood and then nodded repeatedly, responding, “I see. You must be afraid that Father can’t stand it, so you are anxious to tell him to come back.
“Don’t worry. I am going to tell Father now. I will let him understand your ‘effort’.”
As soon as Shi Qingxue finished her words, she quickly ran out of the room like a rabbit before Dong Hui came to her senses.
When Dong Hui reacted and wanted to rebuke her as she spoke recklessly, Shi Qingxue had run away and was nowhere to be seen.
“Naughty girl!”
After leaving Dong Hui’s bedroom, Shi Qingxue ran to the study in a hurry.
She craned her neck and looked at the room. As expected, she saw that Shi Junhe was sitting inside and reading official documents attentively.
When she was wondering if she would enter and disturb him, a voice came from inside. “Since you are here, why don’t you come in?”
Qingxue was scared and raised her head immediately, but Shi Junhe’s eyes still fell on the official documents, as if the voice she had heard was her illusion.
But she wouldn’t think so. She stood straight obediently and then walked into the room slowly. Afterward, she stood in front of Shi Junhe and greeted respectfully, “Father.”
“What can I do for you?”
Shi Qingxue’s eyes rolled and she wondered how much possibility that she would be beaten if she talked in the same way as before with Shi Junhe about the matter that he should move back.
She thought it over and knew that she would surely be beaten.
In an instant, she didn’t dare to act recklessly and asked indirectly, “Father, the small bed in the study is hard, right? You must be uncomfortable when you sleep on it…” If he wasn’t comfortable when he slept, he should hurriedly move back to the bedroom.
Qingxue had a good plan.
But before she finished her words, Shi Junhe looked up at her and asked straightforwardly, “Did your mother send you to tell me to move back?”
Shi Qingxue coughed. “Ahem…”
She was almost choked by her saliva and then managed with effort to recover after coughing for a long time. Then she looked at Shi Junhe in surprise, with doubt written on her face. “Why did you know that?”
Shi Junhe sneered. “I am your father. You are so complacent. Can’t I guess what you are thinking about?”
“Heehee…”
Qingxue hurriedly smiled flatteringly and tried to please him. “It must be that you and Mother mentally communicate with each other and think alike.”
Shi Junhe was stunned for a moment and the smile on his face faded.
After a long time, he asked impassively, “What did your mother say?”
“Mother said she misses you a lot and thinks that the study is shabby, so she told me to advise you to move back soon. Then she wouldn’t worry every day and night if you eat or sleep well.” Shi Qingxue spoke without hesitation and was good at embroidering the truth.
Outsiders couldn’t see anything wrong.
But Shi Junhe just glanced at her and stated indifferently, “You lied to me.”