Chapter 50: What’s Your Relationship?
“I should go.”
Yue Tang watched the Du Family members peeking from the direction of the passageway, then stood up.
In order to see A Li, she had already stayed here long enough.
Yan Bei’s words rolled on the tip of his tongue again and again, then he spat them out in a different form: “A Li misses you so much, are you willing to abandon him and leave?”
She had already fed him the poison, so it should be fine for her to go back to the Prince’s Mansion with him to live, right?
“On what identity would I go to accompany him?”
Yan Bei was speechless.
Yue Tang turned her head to look at A Li playing outside the door: “His still being in this world is already the greatest gift heaven has given me.
“I’m already very satisfied right now.
“To have him when I still can’t protect him would inevitably bring him more harm.
“I can’t be greedy.”
She turned back: “You take some trouble and take good care of him.”
Yan Bei said: “When you say that, he is also my son.”
After speaking, he saw Yue Tang lift her foot and walk to the doorway, and in the end, unable to let go, he stepped forward and asked: “Then where will you go after this? The Top Scholar’s Mansion?”
“Of course.” Yue Tang stopped under the door. “I came as the Top Scholar’s Wife; am I supposed to change identities halfway and go out again?”
Yan Bei’s face showed a gloomy color.
Those four words “Top Scholar’s Wife” sounded awkward no matter how he heard them.
“That Xu fellow’s character isn’t very good. Even if you want a cover, why not find a better one?”
“The person behind the Du Family is drawing in Xu He right now. I have my reasons for approaching him.”
Yan Bei saw that she had already crossed the threshold, so he followed up: “Then how long will you stay at the Xu Family?”
“How would I know that?”
Yan Bei became even more unhappy.
Yue Tang walked to A Li’s side, raised her eyes and saw that the Du Family members on the passageway had already been stopped by the guards of the Prince’s Mansion, so she squatted down and took A Li’s little hand:
“Mother is going out to take care of some things. In a couple of days, Grandpa Hua will come to keep you company. A Li, you have to listen to Grandpa Hua, eat well, okay?”
A Li reached out and hugged her neck, softly saying in her ear: “Ru Yi’s mother is with Ru Yi every day, why can’t A Li’s mother be with A Li?”
Yue Tang hugged him tightly: “Of course we will. But someone bullied A Li before, and Mother needs to go drive him away now.
“That way, Mother can be with A Li forever.”
After saying that, she took out the gold lock from her sachet, then removed a gold chain from her neck, threaded it through, and hung it on his neck.
“If A Li misses Mother, you talk to this gold lock, and Mother will be able to hear.”
A Li picked up the gold lock and looked at it, then nodded heavily.
Yue Tang held back her tears and stood up, pulling Lan Qin along as she walked toward the door.
A Li shouted from behind: “Mother, come back soon. Father and I are waiting for you to eat the braised goose made by Grandpa Gao together…”
Yue Tang kept walking until she exited the passageway before stopping.
By now, the guests had probably all gone to the banquet hall, and the garden was already quiet and empty.
Lan Qin handed her a handkerchief to wipe her tears: “We absolutely cannot leave the Young Heir Apparent outside for too long. What should we do next? Please instruct us, Princess.”
Yue Tang gazed at the empty courtyard, and after a long while, she took a deep breath: “There’s no need to worry about Yan Bei’s side anymore. Let’s go back to the Xu Family.
“With the ready-made identity of Top Scholar’s Wife as cover, we can do many things.”
Lan Qin thought for a moment: “Did you really give Prince Jingyang the poison?”
“It was Yang Rong Pills.” Yue Tang glanced at her.
Lan Qin smiled.
Then she said: “When the Princess left the table earlier, it didn’t alarm anyone. But Prince Jingyang’s unusual behavior must have already aroused suspicion from many people.
“Plus, just now Du Family members saw the Princess heading to Chang Xuan. If we don’t prepare an explanation for the outside, it will be hard to deal with even just Xu He.”
“Don’t worry, I have my own sense of proportion.”
Yue Tang took the mirror she handed over, fixed her makeup in it, then straightened her collar, and the two headed toward the banquet hall.
Xu He naturally did not know where Yue Tang had gone, but with that scene from the tea banquet earlier, and now seeing that in the entire banquet hall only Yan Bei and she had not arrived, he couldn’t help but have some guesses in his heart.
Sitting in the crowd, he appeared exceptionally silent.
Originally, because his wife of humble origins had come knocking today, he had been the topic of everyone’s discussion, but now no one dared to disturb him.
Moreover, Du Minghuan had originally said he would introduce him to everyone as his adopted son, but because of Prince Jingyang’s outburst, it seemed he sensed the undercurrents and overlooked the matter, so this table was unusually quiet.
At the birthday banquet, men and women were separated. When Yue Tang arrived, Xu He only glanced at her from afar through the curtain before withdrawing his gaze.
……
After seeing Yue Tang off, Yan Bei returned to the room, sat on the chair where she had sat for a while, picked up the teacup she had poisoned and looked at it, then finally picked up the incense burner she had splashed and handed it to Gao An.
“Take it back for someone to examine.
“Then,” he paused, “A Li can’t always be without a mother.
“From now on, you all think of a way for me, think of a way to let her enter the Prince’s Mansion openly and legitimately.
“Even if it’s inconvenient for her to live here openly now, she should at least be able to come and go freely legitimately.”
After Gao An left, he slowly made his way to the banquet hall.
After the banquet.
When Yue Tang returned to the Xu Family by horse carriage, Xu He had already come back first. The Xu Family servants were unloading the horse carriage in the front courtyard.
Hua Lin was waiting for her behind the shadow wall: “You went straight to Qingyun Pavilion as soon as you got back. What happened? Can you handle it? Do you want me to whip up a couple doses of medicine for him?”
Yue Tang smiled: “No need to waste it on him. Pack up your medical kit properly; I’ll have a task for you when I come out later.”
Hua Lin tucked his hands into his sleeves and went to the back room.
Yue Tang entered the room and sure enough saw Xu He with his back to the doorway, standing in the main room of her Qingyun Pavilion.
Yue Tang knocked on the door panel, and he turned around, his gloomy gaze scanning her up and down.
“You disappeared for so long just now. Where did you go?”
“Didn’t I go to gather information for the Top Scholar?” Yue Tang said calmly. “Is the Top Scholar looking for me?”
Xu He gritted his teeth: “What is your relationship with Prince Jingyang? Why did he change his usual behavior the moment he saw you earlier?”
Yue Tang looked at him and suddenly laughed.
He glared: “What are you laughing at?”
“If you want to know my relationship with Prince Jingyang, why don’t you go ask him yourself?”
Xu He was choked.
“You don’t ask him because you don’t dare. Since you don’t dare, why bother inquiring so much?
“You’re coming to press me now; aren’t you afraid I’ll report it and you’ll be in deep trouble?”
Xu He was stunned, then darkened his face: “Don’t get cocky with me.
“Tell me, what is your background? What is your aim in approaching me?”
“No matter what my aim is, you can’t drive me away now anyway.” Yue Tang stood up indifferently. “Because you can’t afford to offend the Du Family, and you especially can’t afford to offend Prince Jingyang.
“Since you know I’m acquainted with Prince Jingyang, why not get along well with me?
“Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly stopped wanting wealth, honor, and power?”
