First-rank palace maid Su Jixiang

Chapter 422: Visit from Lady Cheng’en

The eldest princess has lived such a peaceful life in the past few years that she has forgotten what Wei Ling was like in the past!

The eldest princess didn't remember, but the wife of Duke Cheng'en did.

Back then, they had followed the current emperor in the Northern Expedition and had suffered hardships on the way. Lady Cheng'en clearly remembered that once when they were evacuating, they left their female relatives behind. These female relatives were surrounded by the army of the then deposed emperor. Seeing that they were about to fall into the hands of the deposed emperor, Lady Cheng'en was ready to commit suicide with her two young children to avoid being caught and humiliated as prisoners.

But it was Wei Ling who broke into the encirclement and rescued all the female relatives.

Lady Cheng'en clearly remembered that time. She was so desperate. She watched the palace soldiers she brought with her fall one by one under the enemy's swords. The dagger in her hand was trembling as she was about to put it across her neck. But a dark figure rushed out from nowhere, like a god descending from the sky. He dared to charge into the enemy army that was several times larger than his with less than two thousand people. After finding the women, he led them out of the encirclement in an orderly manner.

The path was filled with flashing swords and blood flying everywhere. Wei Ling was like a tireless killing weapon, and countless people died under his long sword...

Why would you offend such a person for no reason?

Speaking of this, Lady Cheng'en suddenly remembered that she had thanked him in person before, but she had never really thanked Marquis Zhenbei since she became Lady Cheng'en.

After much deliberation, Lady Cheng'en decided to ask someone to prepare a generous gift and take herself to the Marquis of Zhenbei's Mansion.

The wife of Duke Cheng'en is the sister-in-law of the current queen. Since she has come to the Marquis of Zhenbei's Mansion, Su Jixiang has absolutely no reason to turn her away.

It just so happened that Wei Ling was summoned to the palace by His Majesty today and was not at home.

Su Jixiang let the wife of Duke Cheng'en into the front hall.

Lady Cheng'en looked around and said with a smile, "This house is really huge!"

"It's been in disrepair for a long time." Su Jixiang said politely.

She saw that the wife of Duke Cheng'en was very humble towards her, and there seemed to be no contempt in her eyes, which showed that she came here sincerely.

Especially the gift list she brought. Su Jixiang had just looked at it. It was real good stuff, different from the things sent from other houses.

When the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion was listed, many gifts were sent by the dignitaries in the capital. However, when Su Jixiang looked at those gifts, he found that many of them were flashy and just for show.

But what the wife of Duke Cheng'en brought was different: real gold and silver. She presented two boxes of the finest sea pearls, a pair of white jade elephants, each half a man's height, adorned with a variety of rare gems. The elephants alone were priceless. There was also an embroidered screen, embroidered with blossoming flowers, its base made of fine golden nanmu wood, and two golden ruyi (Ruyi).

This gift is truly full of sincerity.

"I see that you are much younger than me. Can I be a little more mature and call you sister?" Lady Cheng'en said with a smile.

"Sister." Su Jixiang was very willing to follow suit.

Wei Ling helped her reject the eldest princess' invitation because he didn't want her to bear things that she shouldn't bear in public again, but it didn't prevent her from making friends with other friendly ladies in the capital.

"I still feel a little uneasy about rejecting my sister's invitation last time." Su Jixiang said apologetically.

"Hey, you're talking about this!" Lady Cheng'en smiled and waved her hand, "It's okay, it's okay. I said in the post that it was the eldest princess who asked me to invite you, and I was forced by the eldest princess to send it. You don't have to think too much about it. The eldest princess has been spoiled by the emperor, and she thinks whatever she wants. You lost face in the hairpin banquet last time, and she just wants to get it back. The Marquis of Zhenbei was right to refuse on your behalf." Lady Cheng'en was not someone who could be used as a gun so easily, so she had already stated in the last post that she was making the invitation on behalf of the eldest princess.

It was because it was clearly stated that Wei Ling refused.

She simply spoke out to avoid any obstacles between herself and Su Jixiang.

Su Jixiang was stunned. She obviously didn't expect that there would be a noble lady in the capital who was as frank as the wife of Duke Cheng'en.

To be honest, I feel a little embarrassed to call him Su Jixiang.

"Sister, that sword strike you made at the Hairpin Flower Banquet was truly impressive!" Lady Cheng'en laughed. "I haven't seen anyone so disrespectful to the Princess in a long time! You're truly famous in the capital now! To be honest, if I weren't afraid you'd think I was being presumptuous, I'd really like to have my daughter come meet you. My daughter has been taught to be too timid by her father, and I'm afraid that once she gets married, she'll be controlled by her in-laws!"

Su Jixiang...

What is this all about?

"Sister, don't you mind that I'm vulgar?" Su Jixiang asked curiously.

"What do you mean by vulgar? Let me tell you, my family is from the merchant family. Even though I have the title of Lady of Cheng'en, there are still many people who talk about me behind my back." Lady of Cheng'en smiled and said, "I understand your situation."

When the Empress wanted to raise money for the current Emperor, she thought of using her brother. At that time, her brother had only been married for a year when his former sister-in-law died unexpectedly of illness. Six months later, the marriage certificate and betrothal gifts were delivered to her family. Her family was once the largest rice merchant in Huainan, with countless shops, both open and hidden, and they basically controlled the rice supply of the entire Huainan region.

The wife of Duke Cheng'en couldn't help but be a little distracted by her thoughts.

When she first married Duke Cheng'en, some people said that Duke Cheng'en's family deliberately poisoned his original wife in order to support the current emperor.

Over the years, she had endured a lot of criticism. After the emperor ascended the throne, the voices of this kind of discussion began to decrease, but that didn't mean it disappeared. Therefore, the wife of the Duke of Cheng'en understood the pain of being criticized the most.

Su Jixiang smiled slightly and asked Lushui to bring a freshly baked cake.

"Oh, the wife of Marquis Zhenbei also likes the cake from Jixiangzhai?" The wife of Marquis Cheng'en smiled when she saw it.

This pastry was only available at Jixiangzhai in the capital, and business was so brisk that lines formed early every morning. The ladies of the various mansions, eager to try it, would send their servants to queue up in advance! Several of the cream-decorated cakes were in limited supply, and sometimes even the noble ladies of the capital couldn't buy them all.

What Su Jixiang served were actually the limited edition cream fruit cakes from Jixiangzhai!

The pastry shop opened by Caidiexuan in the capital is called Jixiangzhai, which uses the name of Su Jixiang.

"Yes." Su Jixiang glanced at Lu Shui and smiled, "I just brought it in, it's all hot!"

"Not at all simple," Lady Cheng'en said with a smile, "even those of us who have lived in the capital may not be able to buy as much as my sister's family!"