Chapter Four Embarrassment

A new day had arrived. the ce fei and shiqie of the wangfu obediently came to the zhengyuan to pay their respects. The result was that they had waited for almost an hour but didn't manage to see wang fei's face.

The other three were still alright, only sitting there woodenly. But Feng Zi Jin's face showed a hint of impatience. Even so, even she didn't dare turn and leave.

Taking a drink of tea to suppress the impatience inside, Feng Zi Jin asked in a quiet voice to her yahuan behind her: "Chun Yu, what time is it now?"

Chun Yu looked outside. The sun had already risen. She could only say: "Mistress, it's already past nine."

Jiang Yong Yu coldly observed the motions of Feng Zi Jin and her servant. She lowered her gaze to her lotus-colored dress as though she was an unfeeling piece of wood, waiting for wang fei to arrive.

After another fifteen minutes, they finally saw wang fei's first-ranked yahuan Mu Jin slowly walk out, a face full of remorse. She bowed deeply to the four: "Ce fei and yiniang,[1] please return. Wang fei said that paying respects daily is a torment and that paying respects every three days would be enough."

"Wang fei is considerate," They waited for the better part of the morning, but they only received these few words. The insides of these four present were complicated and varied but their expression was the same. As one of the ce fei and the senior one on top of that, Jiang Yong Yu came up front and smiled, agreeing: "Then we wouldn't disturb wang fei any further."

"Wang fei is very busy everyday. If there had been a notice yesterday, there would be no need for a disturbance today. It was us that was rude." Feng Zi Jin smiled mirthlessly and followed with, "I am a rough kind of person, very undisciplined. I'm never good at the fine details, so wang fei will have to forgive me."

Listening to Feng ce fei's ambiguous words, Mu Jin's smile didn't waver and she bowed again: "Feng ce fei has no need to worry. Wang fei is always lenient and wouldn't be moved to anger over small things."

The two pairs of eyes met. Mu Jin's gaze held laughter, a lowered chin giving the impression of respect. Feng ce fei's smile gradually became colder and in the end, she only took her yahuan Chun Yu and Xia Yun and left.

The other three were much more courteous and left the zhengyuan with smiles on their faces.

Coming out of the zhengyuan, the three released a breath. Luo Yin Xiu couldn't help but say; "Now zhengyuan's atmosphere has become frightening."

Jiang Yong Yu smiled but there was no mirth in her eyes: "That one is wang fei. Whether I am favoured or not, I cannot displease her."

Han Qing He was the eldest among those four and had been the yahuan arranged by the Department of Household Affairs to wangye's side to teach him about adult matters. She didn't like what Jiang Yong Yu said, but she couldn't help but agree on the inside. She had assumed that wang fei would get her to serve at breakfast again, but who knew that she made them leave without even showing up.

"If there is wang ye‘s favor, then it's fine, if there is no favor…" She grimaced and looked back at the zhengyuan, "will there be good days in the future?"

After these words came out, the three became silent. At present, none of them had children and nobody could be certain of the future. If wang fei wanted to torment them, only a few word could accomplish it.

Inside the zhengyuan, Qu Qing Ju finished her ablutions and sat in front of the copper mirror, playing with a jade scepter.[2] Seeing Mu Jin coming in, she then lazily stood, holding Yin Liu's hand to set down at the table in the outer room. She asked: "Were any of them unsatisfied?"

"The others were fine, but Feng ce fei said a few words." Mu Jin came front to serve her a few chopsticks of food. She smiled and said: "Nubi wasn't too courteous to her, so when Feng ce fei left, her face didn't look so good."

Motioning for her to stop, Qu Qing Ju rinsed her mouth before speaking: "That's a good way of dealing with it. People say that the gatekeeper of the Prime Minister is akin to a seventh-rank official, you are my first-rank yahuan, every action you take represents our zhengyuan. You can be courteous but you cannot be weak. Before, when I retreated a step, I didn't see any of them respect me one single bit."

Hearing what wang fei said, Mu Jin understood that wang fei was putting her in the first spot. She became excited but kept her smile: "Nubi will remember."

Qu Qing Ju nodded and started to eat. After she put down the chopsticks, it was rinsing and washing again. After everything was put in its place, it was the beginning of a new day.

"Wang fei, nubi doesn't understand, why let the cefei and shiqie pay respects every third day," Yin Liu asked in bewilderment, "Not saying anything about other compounds, but even in Chang De Gong Fu, the ji[3] mistress had the yiniang come pay respects everyday.

"What benefit do I get if they come everyday? I wouldn't even be able to have a good breakfast," Qu Qing Ju held their hands to cross over the doorway. She looked at the spread of green in the yard and her mood lightened: "I'm too lazy to wake up and prepare everyday to wait for them to come pay their respects."

Yin Liu nodded in understanding, carefully holding wang fei's hand as they walked into the yard. This yard wasn't small, it had the required elements of a false mountain, water, a bridge and blooming flowers. The servants were doing their duties but Yin Liu felt that this yard was too quiet.

"Wang fei, do you want that little taijian that you wanted to put into the interior yard come over and kowtow?" Mu Jin saw wang fei stand on the bridge using fish feed to tease the fish in the water and spoke quietly, "If there is no meeting, what is to be his duties?"

Dropping all of the feed in her grasp into the water and seeing a swarm of golden fish flash by, Qu Qing Ju smiled and said: "Let him come over."

A short while later, she saw that taijian whose name she had