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  Chapter 16: The Cost

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  As for the severity of the situation outside the mansion, Chu Ke had already known about it by the second day.

  As soon as it got light, the county king's carriage had already stopped at the gate of the mansion. In the carriage sat one of the county king's attendants and a nurse from the county king's wife's side.

  The attendants and wet nurses are not slaves, and their status in the county king's mansion is not ordinary, equivalent to representing the county king and the county king's concubine.

  As soon as the two of them arrived, they were invited to the upper house, not the upper house on Chu Nancai's side, but the courtyard of Old Man Chu Hanlin. The seriousness of this matter was enough to affect the relationship between the two families.

  It was said that the county king's consort had sent not a personal maid, but a wet nurse. Chu Ke had an eerie thought in her mind - would the County King's Mansion use this as an excuse to get out of marrying Chu Yunqing?

  At this time, Duchess Liu of Dezhou and Zhu Yujian arrived.

  After Chu Ke'er and Zhu Yi Chen arrived, they were stunned for half a day. The lady in front, Chu Gao Shi, received them, but it was said that the concubine still insisted on coming to see the third young lady, which could be understood. Moreover, Chu Gao Shi was busy dealing with the officials and servants of the De Xing County Prince's mansion at this time and had no mind to entertain them, so she asked the servant to send them away. Only then did Chu Ke'er remember to ask Jing Er to invite Liu Niang Niang over after hearing the maid mention the concubine and the second master.

  Madam Liu finally made up her mind, hesitating at the door for a while, and as a result, she hesitated until Concubine Xiao and Zhu Yuxuan arrived at the door. Chu Keqi came out to greet them, and Madam Liu was pulled by Concubine Xiao into the house.

  The imperial concubine, Madame Liu, wore a large red silk jacket with a round collar and a Buddhist blue silver mouse fur trim, a smoke-blue satin skirt with embroidered flowers, and on her head she wore a five-phoenix morning sun eight-treasures hairpin, with pearl drops hanging from her ears. Although her attire was not overly extravagant, compared to Madame Liu who was being led by the hand, it really made Madame Liu look inferior by several levels.

  Chu Xue's heart secretly sighed, clearly a pair, but their status was worlds apart.

  Zhu Yichen wore a moon-white long shirt, now changed into a single garment, with a green sash tied around his waist. The sleeves fluttered as he walked, and his handsome face showed some urgency, his eyebrows were filled with anxiety, and his thin lips were pursed together. Only after seeing Chu Kei did his cold expression ease, and his ink-like eyes hastily scanned her up and down.

  After entering the house, Chu Kei made a courtesy call. The imperial concubine Liu sat upright at the top, with an air of natural dignity, and glanced at the maidservants at the door, saying sternly: "Let's have a chat among ourselves, you all go out."

  Jing'er and Qingguo didn't dare to make a sound, they didn't even dare to pour water, they hastily retreated and went out, the maid of Ce Fei Liu followed them out.

  Chu Ke was slightly embarrassed, this elder aunt really had a quick temper, the maid hadn't even poured tea yet and she was already being rushed out, she quickly stepped forward to hold the teacup, but was already pulled by the concubine to sit beside her. The concubine immediately said "Last night I heard that something happened in the mansion, we were so scared...". She took a glance at Zhu Yi Chen and hastily asked "Is Ke okay? Not even a single injury?"

  Chu Kei hastily shook her head, seeing Liu Niang biting her lip and not daring to speak, could only say "I'm fine, I haven't gone out in the past few days, nothing will happen."

  The imperial concubine Liu and Concubine Liu looked seven parts alike, both with willow-leaf eyebrows and melon-seed faces, beautiful women whose tense expressions were no less than those of Zhu Yuxuan. At this moment, she relaxed her breath, but the ends of her eyebrows were still furrowed. Yun Ting that maid was too cruel to Ke Gui, "You must be punished."

  It was so straightforward, it was so close, that Chu Ke's words were a bit stunned, and he hurriedly nodded again, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Is it true what's being said outside?"

  "In short, it's extremely unpleasant and even dragged down He Yun Ting's reputation"

  "Did Aunt Liu finally make some noise? This... is this for real?"

  Zhu Yichan looked at Chu Keqian and said in a soft voice, "At first, I heard that it was the young lady of the Chu family who got lost, but I didn't understand which young lady it was. Later, they said it was the fourth young lady, then they said she was kidnapped, and then they said she eloped with someone... The unpleasant rumors just kept going on."

  Chu Xue nodded clearly, this matter was done by Chu Yun Ting, of course, the news had to be spread out, she was willing to die with her master, but unfortunately, she was implicated by this madman for no reason.

  "Nothing's wrong, is it? Not a single word less." Zhu Yichen asked another seemingly unnecessary question.

  Chu Xue'er suddenly understood, looking at him, Zhu Yi Chen's eyes were still tense. Yesterday, he had been through a great shock, not just any girl getting lost, how anxious and terrified should he be? Even if it was Chu Yunqing later on, could he feel at ease?

  Chu Ke suddenly understood Zhu Ye Chen's feelings, so he solemnly nodded and replied to this nonsense: "I'm fine, nothing at all."

  The concubine and Madame Liu exchanged a glance, Madame Liu's expression was somewhat puzzled, quietly paying attention to Chu Kei, the concubine pulled her out saying "I have something to say" and directly took Madame Liu away.

  Chu Xue was taken aback, and quickly stood up to follow, just in time to see Ce Fei and Liu Niang enter the adjacent room. She hadn't reacted yet when Zhu Yi Zhen said, "Mother wants to have a word with Little Aunt about some outside matters. From now on, there are some things that can't be said in front of everyone."

  Chu Ke sat down, nodded slightly, and the manner of Ce Fei Liu Shi, although others might think it was somewhat impolite, actually she, Ce Fei, treated the people in the house as if they were her own family, without so much empty courtesy or unnecessary words.

  In such a wing room, one main house, four people were separated, the door was quiet, and Cai Fei Liu's maid was outside. It is expected that Jing Er and others would not be able to get close even if they wanted to eavesdrop.

  "What's being spread outside is really unpleasant? What should I do?" She asked Zhu Yuxian in a daze.

  Zhu Yichan sat a little closer, the Chu family would naturally think of ways to salvage their reputation. Our family's old lady isn't someone to be trifled with either. If it really came down to it, I estimate they could sacrifice Chu Yunqing.

  Chu Kei thought for a moment and suddenly exclaimed, "Is it? My family's old lady is in charge?"

  Zhu Yichan finally lost his smile. The old lady made the decision, and I couldn't do anything about it. What I mean is, the old lady is a ruthless person... just like Chu Yunting.

  He didn't originally, Chu Ke sighed...

  "It's actually not worth worrying about, after all it's already happened, and the impact won't be too great." Zhu Yichen looked at Chu Keqi with some suspicion, seemingly puzzled by her words, although he was still trying to comfort her, his thoughtful expression was evident.

  Chu Xue sighed again and didn't speak.

  Zhu Yichan finally couldn't help but ask, "Does the old lady have a plan?... Is she suspicious?"

  Chu Ke shook her head, "I don't either. The last time at the Duke's mansion, I overheard Old Lady saying that as long as it wasn't me or Chu Yun Ting who married into the Duke's mansion, she wouldn't ruin things for her." She didn't hide anything and immediately told him, "More people means more brains, maybe they can think of something she hasn't thought of."

  "Can the old lady have something to do with it? It must be related to her marriage," Zhu Yichen said immediately, his voice somewhat stern and his face extremely serious.

  "I thought of that too..."

  Zhu Yichan stood up, furrowed his brow and walked back and forth for two rounds, suddenly asking a seemingly irrelevant question: "Ke'er, are there any other unusual flower papers?"

  "?" Chu Ke had some inexplicable confusion.

  "A special, unique flower letter. If there's something difficult to do and no one can help solve it, if you want to find me, just write a letter to the Consort... or even better, as long as you insert that kind of flower letter inside and bring it to me, don't need to write a single word, I'll know it's from you, and think of an excuse to come see me"

  Chu Xue smiled and clapped her hands, saying "What a great idea!" She laughed and asked, "How did you think of this so quickly? Did you often send flying letters like this in the past?"

  Zhu Yichen's face suddenly turned red, and he glared at her with a scolding look. Chu Keqi was startled, then realized that the words were somewhat frivolous, and immediately also blushed bright red. Before Zhu Yichen could say anything to her, she had already turned bright red and hastily lowered her head to find the flower note.

  Zhu Yichan's mouth moved, seeing her shy appearance, after all, she still couldn't bear to say anything to her, only feeling very uncomfortable in her heart, being misunderstood by her made him feel very uncomfortable, thinking about it, he would still have to clarify things later.

  Chu Kei spent half a day grinding and polishing, finally calming down. She then flipped out several flower papers, looking at them seriously, they were all sold on the streets, very common.

  "Does Zhu Yichen have any other clever ideas?"

  Chu Xue thought for a moment and said, "I used to make a kind of...". She held up the flower-patterned paper and compared it with Zhu Yi Chen's, saying, "There isn't any now, but when the time comes, I'll send some over. One look and you'll know it was made by me."

  "Why?"

  "In short, it's very special, guaranteed to have never been seen before." It used to be done in the past, a thing of the previous life, the pattern of exotic flowers, Zhu Yuchen may have seen.

  Although he hadn't seen it, but looking at her speaking so affirmatively, Zhu Yuchen could only nod, but still felt a bit anxious and uneasy, furrowing his brow and lowering his head in silence. It wasn't until half a day later that he raised his head again, speaking softly to Chu Keji: "Keji, I didn't explain things clearly last time... I told my mother, I won't marry that Lan girl... Don't misunderstand, Lan girl isn't fixated on me, it's because she doesn't want to enter the palace... Her father also doesn't agree, and just as my uncle went to their door, she seized the opportunity with us... There's nothing else."

  Chu Ke didn't expect him to suddenly say this, and only then did she understand. It turned out that Lan Zixiang was doing it for this reason... Her face, which had just recovered, slowly became crimson again, and she lowered her head.

  "My uncle and my mother didn't think I would, or else they wouldn't have made this mistake... No matter what the old lady decides, no matter what rumors spread outside, I... My mother had already agreed last time, and was very happy, I..."

  Chu Xue's heart was racing with anxiety, her mind went blank again, she wanted to interrupt him but couldn't say anything good, she didn't want to listen but couldn't help but listen...

  "...I want to marry Chu Kejie, my mother has already agreed, and my uncle will not object either. The only problem is that the main wife of our mansion is a bit troublesome, she doesn't want me to marry someone..." Zhu Yichen's voice was slightly low and tense, his hands clasped together tightly, his narrow and beautiful eyes staring at her intently, the emotions in his eyes, if Chu Kejie looked up now, even without saying anything, she would understand...

  "In short, I won't drag it out for too long. I'll definitely ask my two uncles to come and propose on my behalf... You must agree to marry me, you must... Wait for me to come and propose, don't do anything rash..."

  Chu Ke's whole body couldn't help but tremble slightly, so ashamed that she just wanted to cover her face, wanting to say "don't say anymore" but not a sound could come out...

  Zhu Yichan saw that she was so shy that she couldn't lift her head, and from this side, he could only see her red forehead and her slightly trembling body. His heart skipped a beat, his chest felt like it was being scratched by a kitten, and he wished he could go forward and hug her into his arms right now...

  He didn't dare, afraid of scaring Chu Ke'er, and he also didn't want to desecrate her like that...

  The two of them fell into a strange silence, and slowly, an ambiguous atmosphere rose in the room, the quieter it was, the more ambiguous it became...

  Chu Xue really couldn't bear it anymore, her heartbeat was like a drumbeat, and listening to it made her feel the sound getting louder and louder. She was afraid that he would hear the sound of her heartbeat...

  Just as he was about to get up and go to the side room, Zhu Yuxuan stood up first and slowly paced back and forth in the house.

  Chu Kei let out a faint sigh of relief, this was better than just sitting there. She quietly used her hands to touch her cheeks, which were hot as if on fire. She thought about opening the window, otherwise when Ce Fei and Liu Niang came out, they would see her like this...

  Zhu Yichen was just like her thoughts, and he happened to open the window and stood by it for a while, as if he was also hot. He stood in the wind for a long time, gathering his courage before turning around to look at her. Feeling the strong wind, he originally wanted to ask if she should close the window? But once he saw Chu Ke's flushed face, Zhu Yichen's heart beat even faster, and his face felt even hotter. He hastily turned back around to continue blowing...

  After a while, Zhu Yichen sat down again and called out softly, "Kai Qi?"

  Chu Ke didn't make a sound, but his head wasn't lowered as much as before, because he felt a pain in the back of his neck...

  "What about Chu Yun Ting's handling of the case?"

  Chu Ke hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice, "Lock it up... Before Yun Qing gets married, she can't leave the hospital."

  "Can Chu Yunqing still marry Zhu Yuxu? It shouldn't be possible anymore, right?"

  "This is indeed a heroic view, Chu Ke's eyes slightly raised and glanced at him, can't the marriage be successful?"

  Zhu Yichan was looked at by her with a gaze that seemed to be both reproachful and smiling, but not quite either, causing his heart to 'thump thump thump' wildly. However, in order to get her to lift her head up again, he forcibly endured the burning sensation on his face, putting on a serious expression as he said: "The wet nurse that Princess De Xing of the county king had called over is actually the county king's milk nurse."

  It is by.

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