Chapter 17: A rather impressive lineage
--- CONCUBINE LU'S COURTYARD ---
The servants had long finished cleaning the small courtyard which, under Yingyue's supervision, was now looking much more liveable.
However, Xiao Zhu was still not back, causing Yingyue a great deal of worry... What if Su Rushi had taken her? What if she got hurt? What if she had gone missing on the streets?
She was continuously pacing back and forth in the front yard when the wooden gate finally creaked open, and Xiao Zhu crept in quietly with a cloth bag in hand. Turning around, she let out a gasp and nearly dropped the bag.
She hadn't expected Yingyue to be there waiting for her and seemed obviously surprised...
"Xiao Zhu, I've been worried. Why did you come back so late? Did someone hurt you?" Yingyue pulled on Xiao Zhu, examining her body for signs of injuries.
Xiao Zhu, however, lowered her eyes and her sweating hands clutched the cloth bag tightly... "Ahh I am not hurt, young miss, I just took a while at the market and pharmacy today. Sorry to make you worry..."
Seeing the guilt that was bared on her face, Yingyue was starting to have suspicions. Xiao Zhu might have grown up with her, but that didn't mean that she was completely loyal... However, for some reason, it also didn't seem like she was disloyal...
Whatever was going on, Yingyue didn't want her mother nor Nanny Mu to hear anything that was about to be said. "Follow me."
Although she was merely a child, the authority in her voice shook Xiao Zhu who was already trembling slightly. She bowed her head and meekly followed Yingyue to the back garden behind the old wisteria tree which was perhaps the only colourful element in their entire courtyard.
Yingyue crossed her arms and leaned back against the tree. "You can speak now. Tell me why you've come home so late... And you can forget the lies. Have you... betrayed me?"
"No miss! I would never betray you!" Xiao Zhu immediately responded waving her hands wildly.
"Then why exactly do you look so guilty?"
"I... I... I went to the General's Manor!" Finally being able to confess, the weight that had been on her shoulders for years, lightened and she felt some relief sink in...
"But why there of all places... We have nothing to do with them..." Facing all the suspicious behaviour, Yingyue had been expecting betrayal, but instead was confronted with this confusing confession.
"That... I'm not allowed to tell you..." Xiao Zhu was still unable to meet her eyes.
In all her years of reading people, Yingyue had become somewhat proficient at picking up cues. This time, she was sure that although Xiao Zhu was hiding something, there was not an ounce of disloyalty.
She softened her voice slightly. "Xiao Zhu, you've been with me for my whole life. Between us, there is no need to hide anything..."
Seeing that Xiao Zhu's hands were clasped together tightly, Yingyue reached for them and enveloped them in her own.
That small gesture warmed Xiao Zhu's heart... Her young miss had now grown up and even learnt how to comfort others.
She sighed in defeat, realising that this day was always eventually going to come. "Young miss, there's something that I have been hiding from you and everyone for many years since my mother passed away... But it's a long story, so please be patient with me..."
Yingyue pulled her downwards so that they were sitting opposite each other. "I'm listening, so tell me..."
This moment brought tears to Xiao Zhu's eyes... It took her back 7 years to when she was just 5 years old, remembering another warm pair of hands that were slowly losing their warmth - her mother...
The story her mother had told on her death bed... the story that she had told Xiao Zhu to prepare for the day that her young miss was ready to know it... It was more important than anything else, and the only reason she hung onto her life that day...
Blinking the tears away, she took in a deep breath. "Young miss, your mother, Concubine Lu... she wasn't always just a small concubine in a dusty corner courtyard... Once many years ago, she was the most beautiful woman in the whole Western Province."
"She was the beloved youngest daughter of the Left Prime Minister Lu - which is now your father, Left Prime Minister Jiang's position. Before his downfall, he was the most trusted man of the Emperor, and your family would have had a promising future for generations to come."
"Concubine Lu was the apple of her parent's eyes. She was not only a beauty but also known as every girls' example of virtue. Due to her famous talents in the four arts, even her mother, Yao Ying was able to establish the Junior and Senior Academy of Arts a few years before she passed away."
Her own grandmother had been the one who built both the Junior and Senior Academy of Arts! It seemed that Yingyue had a rather impressive lineage, that is if you disregarded her father's side of the family...
"As soon as Concubine Lu was of age, men flocked to the doors of her residence to bring gifts, propose or even just catch a glimpse of her beauty if they were lucky..."
Yingyue pictured her now-mother as a young lady... even at her current age, she considered her to be one of the most beautiful people she had ever seen, both inside and out... It was no wonder that men were so captured by her, and women so envious...
"With her status at that time, she would have been able to marry whichever man she wished to as his main wife. But back then she hid a secret from her father - not that she ever needed to hide it - she was in love with the Wu family's son."
This piqued Yingyue's interest - this was someone she couldn't seem to find in her memory... it appeared that she was yet to meet this man.