The Royal’s Little Lady

“I can see that whether it is the eldest Miss or the second Miss, both are good to our Young Mistress. They must have noticed that our third Young Master loves our Young Mistress dearly. Just look at the eldest Miss, for the purpose of going to GuiYuan… She was afraid that the third Young Master would regret his decision, so she pulled the Young Mistress into her plan!”

“GuiYuan… When all is said and done, where and what is that place?”

“GuiYuan ah, I also don’t know clearly. It seems to be a place where only people with special identities can visit to enjoy watching sweet-scented osmanthus flowers for passing their time. I’ve heard that many noble ladies go there too.”

Nanny An slowly explained what she knew about the GuiYuan to Gu Sui’er, so she gradually understood that it was a place in the YanJing City where many nobles, madams and young Misses liked to visit for refreshing themselves and having fun by admiring the wide expanse of the osmanthus trees.

As for why Xiao Jin wanted to go to the GuiYuan so much, Nanny An secretly estimated that maybe Xiao Jin had a sweetheart who was going there and that she wanted to meet him.

Sweetheart?

Recalling Xiao Jin’s high and unconstrained attitude, Gu Sui’er couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a man could make such a pampered and noble Young Miss similar to the bright moon hanging in the sky focus her attention on? He must be someone exceptional.

Moreover, wasn’t Xiao Jin already betrothed? How could someone who was already betrothed still find a sweetheart?

But these things naturally didn’t matter to Gu Sui’er.

She lowered her head and touched her belly softly. In her heart, she knew that her life depended on this child. In this unfamiliar YanJing City, it was her sole support.

The reason why a noble Young Miss like Xiao Jin would value her just after a glance and scold Xiao Xu in order to rescue her, was in fact, because of this little tadpole in her belly.

Xiao Heng would coldly warn his sister for his Concubine, it was also because of the little tadpole in her belly.

Gradually, she understood what it was meant by “the mother’s honour increases as her son’s position rises”. Without the little tadpole in her belly, she would be nothing in this residence. She would have been inferior to even Bao Ya and Jin Fu, not to mention a Young Miss like Xiao Xu.

Thinking like this, Gu Sui’er picked up the large basket next to her and selected a silk yarn from inside, preparing to embroider the handkerchief. She had already figured out what to give to each of the family members, and had even drawn the pattern. However, she didn’t think of gifting this to Xiao Jin earlier. Now, she had to carefully embroider a nice pattern and gift her a good-looking handkerchief. It couldn’t be too colourful or else it would appear gaudy nor could it be too common. She had to design carefully so that everyone in the family like their gifts.

In addition to Xiao Jin, she also planned to embroider one for Xiao Xu.

Xiao Xu had been acting very close to her and readily calling her ‘little Sister-in-law’ so she had to give her some face.

No matter how she was, she was also the Young Miss of the Marquis’ Mansion. In the future, after she gave birth to her little tadpole, the child would have to call her Aunt after all. Her little tadpole would live in the Marquis’ Mansion for a long time, so she couldn’t make enemies out of thin air for him.

Although she was from the country, she knew the principle of being kind to others.

When others smiled at her, she was also willing to respond to them with sincerity.

Knowing this, she intended to begin embroidering the handkerchief with a sincere heart. However, taking another look at the pattern she drew, she still felt it was not sufficiently beautiful.

Nanny An happened to see it from the side, so she reminded her: “There are quite a few calligraphy paintings in third Master’s study. Young Mistress, why don’t you go over and borrow one for embroidering? I guarantee the eldest Miss would like that.”

When Gu Sui’er heard this, her eyes lit up. She felt that Nanny An’s idea was quite good. The calligraphy paintings in a scholar’s study would definitely be more refined and elegant than something she could come up with. It might also possibly enter Xiao Jin’s eyes.

But thinking about this once again, she was discouraged.

“Third Master may not necessarily agree with this.”

When she thought of Xiao Heng, she recalled his cold face which refused to pay any attention to others.

In case she really went there and impudently asked for some of his calligraphy paintings, what kind of a situation would that be?

When she would step into the study, maybe he would continue looking at the book in his hand without raising his eyes to even look at her. (T/N: Seriously, I’m having doubts that she thinks of him as autistic. Poor XH)

She would say cautiously, Third Master, please lend me some of your calligraphy paintings.

He would glance at her coldly.

She would quiver in fright.

He would just say lightly, No.

She would lower her head, not daring to speak, and would promptly retreat and run out.

“Young Mistress, you can’t simply ignore this. You have try it ah. How can you know the outcome if you don’t even try? Besides, you are pregnant with third Master’s child now. He will definitely be more considerate to you. Perhaps he may even agree.”

Even after Nanny An persuaded her with so much effort, she saw that Gu Sui’er was still in a doubt. Therefore, she urged her again: “Young Mistress, you have to brush your child’s presence in front of third Master from time to time so that he can have a good impression of his biological child and not grow estranged due to the absence of interaction! Later on, when the third Master marries in a main wife and she gives birth to his children, wouldn’t the situation become worse?”

This was probably the so-called ‘hit where it hurts’. What Gu Sui’er feared the most was that her little tadpole would be abandoned. She was willing to do anything for her little tadpole. That’s why, when Nanny An said this, she immediately changed her mind.

“What Nanny said is correct. I should go and visit third Master to make my request.”

“Yes. Oh, that’s right, the kitchen happened to deliver some jujube tea earlier. However, I didn’t let Bao Ya know of this so as to prevent her and Jin Fu, those two little minxes from taking convenient advantage of this opportunity. Young Mistress, you should take the tea to third Master and you can ask him to lend you his calligraphy paintings when you are at it!”

“Alright!”

That’s it.

As a result, Nanny An accompanied Gu Sui’er, who was holding a wooden tray with jujube tea in it, till they reached Xiao Heng’s study.

For some reason, no one was standing outside the study today. Both Jiang Zheng and Hu Tie were nowhere to be found. Only a yellow-haired dog sat in front of the stairs licking its paw.

She held the wooden tray nervously and knocked on the door.

After a while, the door opened and Xiao Heng appeared.

However when he saw Gu Sui’er, his expression was not very good: “What are you doing here?”

Gu Sui’er was slightly startled. She replied nervously: “Third Master, I came here to serve you some jujube tea.”

Xiao Heng frowned: “Next time, let Bao Ya and the other maids do this kind of work.”

Gu Sui’er felt a little disappointed. She said softly: “I just happened to see it, so I wanted to bring this over to third Master.”

Xiao Heng nimbly took the tray from Gu Sui’er’s hands. Then, he supported her lower back with his big hand, and both entered the room.

Gu Sui’er hurried over to help him pour the tea.

Xiao Heng took the jujube tea from her and drank it. He asked, “Anything else?”

Gu Sui’er secretly looked glanced at him. She saw that he didn’t even raise his eyelids when he spoke.

She lowered her head, thinking that everything was progressing exactly how she had guessed.

However, she braced herself and asked cautiously: “Third Master, can you lend me some of your calligraphy paintings? I wish to use them to embroider some patterns on the handkerchiefs I will send to the eldest Miss and the second Miss.”

When Xiao Heng heard her words, his paused in his action and glanced at her.

Gu Sui’er trembled.

As expected, his actions were exactly the same as she had guessed.

Was he going to refuse her now?

However, Xiao Heng retracted his eyes and his gaze fell on the tea in his hand. He looked at the floating jujubes, and asked lightly: “Why are you sending gifts?”

Gu Sui’er: “They are all good people. I don’t have much, so I thought that if I gifted them a handkerchief made with my own hands, it’d be the best possible way for me to relay my regards.”

Xiao Heng raised his eyebrows: “You can go to the western side room of the house to pick anything you need.”

There were a lot of different things stored in that room. Some of them were from the outside, and some were rewarded by the Emperor. As the rewards were not handed over to the Madam to put them in the residence’s warehouse, but they were piled there haphazardly. Those things would be the most suitable to gift others.

As for embroidery… Xiao Heng naturally thought it was unnecessary for her to spend so much effort.

However, Gu Sui’er completely misunderstood Xiao Heng’s words. She asked: “There are calligraphy paintings there?”

Xiao Heng’s eyes were somewhat displeased: “I don’t know.”

When Gu Sui’er perceived his mood from his cold tone, her shoulders curled up in fear. Nevertheless, she still gathered her courage and asked: “Th-Then should I go and take a look?”

Xiao Heng: “……”

Gu Sui’er felt wronged in her heart. She looked at him carefully and probed again: “Then… Then I won’t go there?”

Just by looking at his fierce attitude, I believe that it’s better for me to not go there.

Xiao Heng: “……”

Looking at his dark face, Gu Sui’er was flustered: “Then I will take my leave first?”

As she said this, she turned around,  wanting to escape.

Although the process was different, the result was the same as she expected!

But unexpectedly, Xiao Heng stepped forward and held her arm.

“Huh?” She was baffled.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you there.” Xiao Heng conceded with a black face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gu Sui’er originally thought this was a small side room with just a few calligraphy paintings in it, but when she walked in, she realized how wrong she was.

Inside there were flower vases, various kinds of items, as well as the kind of a tool called a paperweight which was used to press paper. Of course, there was no shortage of calligraphy paintings either. They were all rolled up and stacked on the side.

It seemed that these things have been stacked here for a while as the scrolls were covered with dust.

Xiao Heng randomly picked out a pair of flower vases, but both of them were of jade white color and had a slender bottleneck. His low voice sounded: “Take these and put them by your window.” 

Gu Sui’er naturally did not dare to refuse, and said in a low voice : “Yes.”

Xiao Heng flipped through the scrolls at random. He picked out two of them and opened the scrolls. One of them was the painting of a proud red plum flower blooming in the snow and the other was the painting of an orchid flower.

“You can take these two and use them.”

“Alright… Thank you, third Master!”

Gu Sui’er pursed her lips in a gentle smile when her wish was fulfilled.

Xiao Heng watched as her limpid eyes flashed with radiance. After a moment of silence, he whispered in a low voice, “This matter is not very urgent, so you can embroider whenever you feel like it. If you feel that is too troublesome, just go ahead directly send them these two paintings.”

Gu Sui’er responded softly, “En. I got it, Third Master.”

But in her heart, she knew that these calligraphy paintings all belonged to Xiao Heng after all, they were not her own.

She still felt that it’d be the most appropriate for her to personally embroider the handkerchiefs with her own hands using the two paintings she had borrowed from Xiao Heng.

While talking, Xiao Heng noticed another roll. It was a painting of bamboo trees. He gave it to Gu Sui’er and said: “This is the painting of bamboo. I’ll give it to you.”

In his heart, he felt that embroidering bamboo would take less effort than embroidering either plums or orchids.

Gu Sui’er was delighted: “Thank you, third Master!” 

Xiao Heng narrowed his eyes. Noticing that her face was full of joy, the expression on his face relaxed. He reminded her again: “This is not urgent. You can wait till you have given birth and then embroider the handkerchiefs. They don’t lack those things.”

Gu Sui’er actually didn’t intend to listen to him at all. However she still nodded her head and replied, “Alright!”

Walking out of the side room, Gu Sui’er hugged the three scrolls and went back to her room.

Standing by the door, Xiao Heng watched her as she walking briskly in the sunlight. The red begonia skirt she was wearing created a lovely contrast to her bright skin.

He couldn’t help but remember the morning in the inn of that remote little town when he saw her walking in the yard with a smile while holding a tray.

At that time, she was like a little sapling covered with dew drops, tender and simple but fully alluring.

Thanks for reading٩(๑ᴗ๑)۶! If you like my translations, please consider supporting me on: