Scent Of Time

Chapter 6

When I arrived at the Hua Mansion, I saw two persons with gray hair and Chinese clothes waiting at the door. The man was elegant, and the woman was graceful and dignified.

They both frowned when they saw me coming down the carriage alone. This should be Minister and Mrs. Hua. They don’t look like villains.

“His Highness has urgent business to attend to. He will come later.” I explained. Hua Xiang’s face immediately became ugly. He flung his sleeve and walked toward the house without waiting for me.

…… You! Evil old man, you better treat me a bit worse so I don’t have to wait for the female lead to make a move. I will personally fulfill my righteousness first.

Mrs. Hua, on the other hand, pulled me with her mouth constantly chattering: “Qian’er, don’t be slack off just because you had married over. The rear house is very complicated. King Jin’s condition is so good. Even if he got married, there are still a lot of foxy women staring at the position of side consort. You must give birth to a first son as early as possible so your position is solid ……”

As expected, the three perspectives do not match, and I can only be silent and listen.

When I arrived at the courtyard where Mrs. Hua lived, I didn’t see Hua Xiang. I asked, “Where is Father?”

Mrs. Hua pulled me in with one hand while saying, “Your Father was looking forward to the two of you coming back early in the morning, but it turned out that you were the only one who came back. He didn’t meet his expectations, so probably he sulked in the study.”

With a step, I broke away from Mrs. Hua’s hand, “I’ll go find him then. I have some things to say to Father.”

Refusing Mrs. Hua’s accompaniment, I went out of the courtyard. At this time, I embarrassedly realized that I didn’t know the way, so I brought the stance of a great noblewoman and calmly said to a little maid at the doorway, “I want to go to my Father’s study. Lead the way.”

Although the little maid had some doubts on her face, she still obediently led the way.

When I arrived at the study, I walked straight in and saw Hua Xiang sitting alone in front of the desk. He raised his eyes after seeing me but kept silent.

I found a chair and sat down before speaking, “The day before yesterday, I went to the palace with the King and met my cousin. I found out something interesting. Does Father want to know what it is?”

Upon hearing Hua Meiren, Hua Xiang’s face temporarily slowed down, presumably because he thought I was here to deliver a message. He asked, “What did she say?”

I smiled and looked straight at Hua Xiang, “She… arranged for someone to push me into the pool.”

Hua Xiang’s brows furrowed as he subconsciously said, “What?”

“Because I am now Princess Consort Jin, she was dissatisfied with my position above her, so she struck out at me.” I made it up seriously.

Hua Xiang was skeptical. “I trained her. How did she turn against you?”

“Father is old and can’t read people well.” I’m smiling, but my language was unforgiving, “That kind of a selfish and narrow-minded woman, Father still cultivated her with such dedication.”

Hua Xiang’s face was gloomy but conflicted by my words. I took the opportunity to add another fire, “And she said that she was looking for me to talk, but her words were digging holes in every sentence. If not for my vigilance, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to realize that — there were people from the royal family eavesdropping.”

“What?” Hua Xiang finally sat down, “You mean Hua …… she turned to the …… Emperor?”

“Father’s eyes are numerous. It is possible to check this matter. But, in the future, you should have less contact with Hua Meiren.” I returned without any weakness.

I naturally do not worry about him probing. The words I said are half true and half false. Hua Meiren designed me to fall into the water and the people of the imperial family eavesdrop on our conversations. That’s true.

There was no problem with the overall approach, so I didn’t care about my other additions. Hua Xiang, as a big villain, would become suspicious. Then, I will use this point to cut off his parties slowly. At least, let him be less notorious when he was convicted.

Hua Xiang was silent for a long time before looking at me again, with some probing in his eyes: “According to you, what should I do next?”

I did not retreat, met his gaze, and said: “The Emperor has already noticed you, so in my opinion, you should cover up your strengths and act in a low profile.”

Hua Xiang’s old fox-like eyes rolled but said nothing.

I continued: “Also, the day before yesterday, I heard the Emperor talk about the current prisoners … Mu’s family. His Majesty seemed to imply that they are still valued. Perhaps these days, he will find an excuse to reduce their punishment. If Father took the initiative to mention this matter to the Emperor first, it would provide a step down for the Emperor.”

Minister Hua was expressionless this time and spoke calmly, “Hasn’t Qian’er always hated their family? It was hard for me to remove them as you wished. Why are you coming to intercede for them now?”

Dealing with this old fox, I dare not slacken. My hand in the sleeve clenched tightly, making a helpless indignation look on my face, and said: “The Emperor has suspected that Father has a private interest in this matter, so my suggestion is also for Father. If Father proposes to reduce their sins, it may dispel some of the Emperor’s concerns and make him think that you didn’t strike out against the Mu family because of personal grudges in the first place.”

Minister Hua did not look at me, his fingers unintentionally tapping on the desktop as if he was calculating, “Does Qian’er know that if one wants to cut the grass, one should remove the root?”

I continued earnestly. “Father knows that I loathe Mu Yao’s family. Why do I ask Father to plead for them if I had other choice? One glory brings prosperity, but one loss brings destruction. There is no place for the Mu family to turn around, so sparing their lives won’t be a big deal.”

Hua Xiang fell silent, and I stopped speaking, waiting for him to weigh himself.

Thanks to Hua Qian’s deep hatred of Mu Yao’s family, I could make Hua Xiang think I had no choice but to do this for the Hua family. If Hua Xiang’s framing hadn’t led to the Mu Family’s decapitation, Mu Yao and I wouldn’t be conflicting.

“Qian’er has grown up.” Eventually, Hua Xiang smiled and spoke, his eyes filled with praise as he looked at me.

My heart was relieved. That’s him agreeing to it. I forcibly held back the ecstasy in my heart. With Hua Xiang’s influence, keeping the Mu Family alive is easy.

I loosened the clenched fists under my sleeves and found my palms were full of sweat. This fight made me want to escape, but the desire to survive let me face Hua Xiang.

Leaving the study, I went to my boudoir under the lead of a maid, only to feel that every step I took was like a step on cotton.

“Younger sister, younger sister ……”

I suddenly heard a panting male voice.

I looked toward where the sound came from. I see a white, fat person wearing dark green robes running over to me.

From afar, it looked like a dumpling that had become a spirit running at me.

When I heard him address me, I realized that this was Hua Qian’s blood brother – Hua Shen.

Look at these names and you would know the author didn’t appreciate the second female lead and her brother.

In the novel, Hua Shen is a bad character. He was a bully, lustful, forcibly robbing people’s daughters, doing harm, and taking all the bad habits.

Actually, I was fond of chubby friends because they were cute. But this Hua Shen, I really can’t like him.

He panted and ran to my side, handed me a bundle of cloth, and opened it: “This is the cloud brocade satin I found a few days ago. It is my sister’s favorite white color. There is only one in the world, and I spent a lot of money before I snatched it. If you use it to make your clothes, you’ll mesmerize King Jin.”

In the novel, Hua Shen doesn’t seem to have much of an IQ. That’s why he keeps pleasing his scheming sister. It looked correct. His one sentence has already offended me twice.

One is that I don’t like white, and the other is that I’m not fond of King Jin Zhong Yelan.

I didn’t pick it up and followed the maid to continue walking, dropping a sentence, “I don’t like white anymore. You’d better give it to those concubines in your backyard.”

This second-generation Hua Shen has dozens of concubines of all sizes in his backyard, so no noblewoman is willing to marry him. Hua Xiang and Mrs. Hua indulged him because of his lack of intelligence.

Sure enough, Hua Shen chased after me and said, “Why do those women deserve to use this kind of thing? It’s only my sister’s natural beauty worthy of this cloth that is hard to find.”

In the past, these two siblings liked to put on a show, but I didn’t like this ‘stepping on one and holding up the other.’ I immediately turned cold, “Didn’t I say I don’t like white? Don’t follow me.”

Hua Shen saw me lose my temper and immediately stood in place, not daring to follow me again. In this Hua Mansion, only he could let me throw a tantrum, or else I would be driven crazy by my daily scheming.

The third step of the vicious second female lead’s life-preservation strategy; save the virtuous minister.