Chapter 206: Chapter 95: Autumn Moon_1
The chill of autumn was setting in, and fallen leaves covered the steps of the small courtyard.
From the window cracks of the Princess Consort’s quarters in Prince Wen’s Mansion, a faint yellow light seeped out.
Fangzi took the silver scissors to trim the wick of the lamp on the table a bit shorter, then again covered the door and left. The room was left only with the dim shadows under the candlelight.
Pei Yunshu sat beside the couch, gently rocking the cradle beside her. Inside, the female infant slept sweetly. In less than half a month, the wrinkly appearance had unfolded into a rosy and plump complexion. Apart from being unusually small, one could hardly tell she was born before full term.
Pei Yunshu said with a smile, "Look at her, sleeping like a little kitty. Doesn’t her nose and mouth resemble mine more?"
The young man, who was filling a flask with water at the small table, heard this and snorted, "Isn’t that a bit unfortunate?" He then leaned over, chin lowered, to take a closer look at the baby in the cradle, and commented, "Indeed, she bears not the slightest resemblance to her father."
Pei Yunshu glanced at him reproachfully, then turned to look at the sleeping baby. The more she looked, the happier she became, "On the day of the induced labor, I was worried about the child being premature and what would happen if she were weak. Now it seems I can be a bit relieved."
In recent days, several medical officers from the Medical Officer Institute had visited and declared the child to be very healthy. Moreover, the child could eat and sleep well. As for the poison of "infant woe," although it hadn’t been completely driven out, according to Lu Tong, there was no longer any threat to the child’s life.
Thinking of Lu Tong, Pei Yunshu suddenly spoke up, "Ah Ying, we owe a great debt to Doctor Lu this time. Doctor Lu is Treasure Bead’s lifesaver, and I was thinking, on the day when Treasure Bead turns one month old, to invite Doctor Lu to come to the mansion. Last time she left in a hurry and I didn’t get the chance to thank her."
Pei Yunmeng laughed, "Sure," and handed the flask he had filled to Pei Yunshu.
Pei Yunshu accepted it and held it in her hands; the weather was getting colder, and the nights had begun to feel chilly. Lu Tong didn’t allow the new mother to be bundled up with layers upon layers of blankets, but the nurses in the mansion insisted that a woman must not catch a cold after giving birth. After a prolonged standoff, they reached a compromise. Even without a warm stove in the room, it was not necessary to cover with three layers of cotton blankets.
"Sister."
Pei Yunmeng suddenly spoke up.
"What is it?"
He didn’t speak immediately, just sitting at the table, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment of silence, he said, "Do you want to leave the Prince’s Mansion?"
Pei Yunshu was startled.
It was as if a tacitly forbidden topic had been brought up, and the room fell silent.
These days, Commandery Prince Mu Sheng hadn’t made an appearance.
At first, Pei Yunmeng’s Imperial Guards blocked the entrance to Pei Yunshu’s courtyard, and Mu Sheng raged at the gates for days, threatening to go to the Emperor and have him punish Pei Yunmeng for such arrogant and disrespectful behavior. However, nobody knew what Pei Yunmeng had said to the Emperor, as Mu Sheng did not receive the punishment from His Majesty that he had hoped for.
After returning to the mansion, Mu Sheng simply stopped visiting Pei Yunshu’s quarters.
Firstly, Pei Yunshu had given birth to a daughter, which in Mu Sheng’s eyes was not so important. Secondly, he wanted to vent his anger at Pei Yunshu.
He couldn’t deal with Pei Yunmeng, but he could neglect Pei Yunshu. His unkind treatment of Pei Yunshu was known throughout the Prince’s Mansion; the Commandery Prince had not set foot in the Princess Consort’s courtyard since the birth of the daughter. Pei Yunshu, accustomed to enduring, could only swallow the pain inside.
Mu Sheng’s frustration from his encounter with Pei Yunmeng was tripled in his humiliation of Pei Yunshu. He had always been this way.
The wind sounded cold outside the window, and the light of the lamp flickered inside. Pei Yunshu’s smile faded, and her gaze grew solemn.
Pei Yunmeng sat in front of the small table, casually fiddling with the wick before him.
He said, "Even if not for yourself, have you not thought about doing it for Treasure Bead?" His gaze fell on the cradle, resting on the little bundle that resembled a kitten, "Do you want her to live under constant dark threats?"
Pei Yunshu’s body jolted.
Ever since she married into Prince Wen’s Mansion, she couldn’t have cared less about Mu Sheng’s coldness and humiliation. After all, Mu Sheng wouldn’t dare to completely fall out with the Pei Family. Lord Zhao Ning would not care about her happiness or grief as long as she remained in her position as Princess Wenjun. Pei Yunshu had thought this way, too, living the years as if they were a single day.
But things were different with Treasure Bead.
Treasure Bead had experienced the malice of the world even before she was born, and in the long years to come, was she to be continuously exposed to such malice?
How cruel that would be.
Pei Yunshu lowered her head, looking at the infant in the cradle, and ripples slowly spread in her eyes as she spoke softly, "He won’t give me a divorce letter."
Mu Sheng was a man who valued face above all else. Now that he had lost face in front of the Prince’s Mansion’s servants due to Pei Yunmeng, he was surely holding back a flame of rage inside and would not let her off easily. Mu Sheng wouldn’t physically hurt her, instead, he would neglect her, letting her spend her days in the Prince’s Mansion aimlessly, slowly withering into a stagnant pond.