Chapter 109 Undercurrents at the Table
Yuan Qingling was not willing to have the meal. She could have found an excuse that her wounds
pained or she needed to eat special food as a patient. But then she recalled Nurse Xi’s words and
decided to observe Princess Ji closely to see if she was a person of two or even more faces.
Yu Wenhao saw her and found her look paler than the day before. He knitted and asked, “Have you
had your medicine?”
“Yes,” Yuan Qingling replied. But what she had actually taken were her pills while the herbal medicine
prescribed by the court physician had been thrown away by her with some excuse.
“You better be. If you are caught throwing it away, I’m gonna be pissed.” Yu Wenhao threatened her in
a low voice.
Yuan Qingling flinched. “I won’t.”
Yu Wenhao was threatening indeed and Yuan Qingling felt guilty truly, but their interactions seemed to
be flirting in Chu Mingcui’s view.
Everyone seated, Yu Wenhao was on the left side of Yuan Qingling while Chu Mingcui was on the
other side next to Prince Wenqing followed by Princess Ji, Prince Wenjun and Prince Sun in order.
Parlour-maids came to wait at the table but Prince Sun waved his hand and said, “It’s a family meal.
We can help ourselves. Leave us.” He had no patience to wait the parlour-maids to distribute food
slowly. Besides, they didn’t know what he wanted to eat either.
Yuan Qingling used to be educated well in modern times and had learned the table manners. She
thought she would dine elegantly, not like Prince Sun.
However, not until seeing the way Chu Mingcui and Princess Ji ate did Yuan Qingling realize her own
rudeness.
Chu Mingcui opened her mouth slightly, showing two teeth. She took up about...as Yuan Qingling
counted, five grains of rice with chopsticks. Then she put them into her mouth, chewed over gently with
mouth closed and finally swallowed down tardily. Her gesture looked very graceful especially when she
swallowed the rice with her neck straightening a little.
She barely touched the meat and only ate stir-fried lotus roots and mushrooms. When she ate lotus
roots, she merely picked up a slice and took a tiny bite. Her gesture was elegant as well and made no
sounds when biting, chewing and swallowing.
Princess Ji behaved the same way as Chu Mingcui.
Yuan Qingling stared at the piece of the Wanfu meat in her bowl with aplicated feeling.
It was a piece of pork belly, full of fat. She thought that the only right way to enjoy its chewy and
glutinous taste was to put the whole piece into the mouth, feeling the oil burst out with vor. And that
was the height of a gourmet.
However, she hadn’t studied the way women dined carefully. She was in a dilemma.
Finally, she decided to “do as the Romans do”, and had to give the meat to Yu Wenhao.
“It’s too fat. I prefer some vegetables,” she said.
Yu Wenhao ate it without hesitation. He picked a piece of lean meat for her and said, “This one looks
good.”
Although they had some quarrels these days, they began to get used to each other and became in
sync.
It wasmon to them but bad news to Chu Mingcui, bad as a nightmare.
Chu Mingcui and Prince Wenqing were the perfect couple in many people’s views, nevertheless Prince
Wenqing would never eat the food she had taken a bite of.
‘Why? Doesn’t Yu Wenhao hate Yuan Qingling? How can they be so intimate?’
‘No, it can’t be! He said he would help me!’
Chu Mingcui was overwhelmed with grief and fury. Her blood pressure went up sharply. And the next
moment, she fainted away with her hands clenched on the chest.
Prince Wenqing held her and cried, “Chu Mingcui! Chu Mingcui! What’s going on?”
Yuan Qingling put down her chopsticks immediately and instructed by a doctor’s instinct. “Take her to
the wing-room andy her down! Did she take any medicine recently?”
Prince Wenqing became panic. “No, she’s good. She didn’t take any medicine...medicine! Right! There
is a tonic prescribed by the court physician. It is said to work for having babies.”
Princess Ji couldn’t help giggling. “Maybe Princess Qi is too frail while the effects of medicine are too
strong.”
Prince Wenqing called out with confusion, “Can it be?”
Then he looked to Yuan Qingling. “Please help her.”
Yu Wenhao grabbed Yuan Qingling’s arm and said to Prince Wenqing, “Take Chu Mingcui to the wing-
room first. There is a court physician here in the mansion. I will send him to see her.”
“Thank you!” Prince Wenqing held Chu Mingcui in his arms and rushed out following Nurse Qi.
Others sat back down but all of them had no appetite except Prince Sun.
Princess Ji chuckled and said, “Prince Wenqing and Princess Qi have been married for only one year.
They don’t need to hurry and be so anxious about having a baby.”
Prince Sun responded while eating, “How can they not be anxious? None of us has had a son yet.”
Princess Ji smirked with a embarrassed expression. “Well, Yu Wendu, you may have to put some effort
into it.”
“And so may my big brother.” Prince Sun squeezed some time for a nce at Prince Wenjun. “Aren’t
you anxious, my brother?”
Prince Wenjun had just taken up his chopsticks when he heard what Prince Sun said. He put them
back down calmly and said with a serious look, “If you have any discontent with me, just say it. No
need to be so sarcastic. I don’t think I have offended you before.”
“Don’t be so sensitive.” Prince Sun raised his head in surprise. “This is my style and you know that. I
am not satirizing you. Who won’t be worried about having a baby? It just slipped out my mouth
incidentally. Why are you so agitated?”
Prince Wenjun snorted and pulled Princess Ji up. “It’s a waste of time. Let’s go!”
Princess Ji said to Yuan Qingling apologetically, “We have to go. Thank you for the meal.”
Yuan Qingling curtsied. “See you.”
The brothers parted in discord. But Yuan Qingling was rather happy as she could feel morefortable
when eating.
She sat down and said to Prince Sun, “Help yourself. These vegetables and meat are fresh and we’d
better not waste.”
“I am almost full but I shall eat more, as it will be quite a waste to throw away so many dishes cooked
from exclusive ingredients, and it may hurt the royal cooks’ feelings.”
Yu Wenhao sat at the table, lost in thoughts instead of eating.
Yuan Qingling misunderstood that he was worrying Chu Mingcui. Thus she told him, “Chu Mingcui is
fine. She’s pretending fainting.”
Yuan Qingling noticed her eyshes fluttering when she asked about her medication. She also
observed that Chu Mingcui breathed easily, red-faced instead of turning palely white or green and was
obviously irritated.
But Yuan Qingling didn’t figure out why Chu Mingcui was angry suddenly while everyone was having a
meal at that time.
Yu Wenhao cast her a nce. “Don’t be presumptuous.”
He was not thinking about Chu Mingcui and he had seen through her pretence at the first sight as well.
Yu Wenhao had a strange feeling of Yu Wenjun’s reaction to what Yu Wendu had said.
Why did Yu Wenjun get annoyed? Why did Princess Ji seem to show a sh of awkwardness at the
same time?
Yu Wendu always spoke like that and he had ever been excessive. What on earth made Yu Wenjun so
angry?
It couldn’t be because of the conversation about heirs. Yu Wenjun was not the only one among the
princes that hadn’t had a son.
It urred to Yu Wenhao that Yu Wenjun used to have two concubines but only one alive now. After
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one concubine had died of diseases, Yu Wenjun never married a new one and dismissed other
beauties in his mansion.
Yu Wenjun merely had two daughters, both of whom were nearly ten years old.
Princess Ji and the other concubine hadn’t got pregnant and Prince Wenjun never took a new
concubine back home.