Zuo Yun wasn't truly tired; she just didn't want to sit there listening to Madam Huang's hypocrisy. Hearing too much of it made her feel stifled, which wasn't good for the baby.
Wang Qingyao helped her back to her room, where a maid brought fresh fruits and drinks.
As they ate and chatted, Zuo Yun told Wang Qingyao that Fang Yuan and Zeng Huai had finalized their engagement and would likely marry next year.
"Do you know about something else?" Zuo Yun asked mysteriously. "Huang Xuanming has taken his entire family back to their hometown."
"Oh!" Wang Qingyao raised an eyebrow. "Why would they go back home all of a sudden? Wouldn't they have more opportunities in Duanjing? And they have Madam Huang, the wife of Duke Zhongyong, looking out for them!"
Seeing Wang Qingyao's mischievous look, Zuo Yun chided her, "You kept it from me. If Fang Zheng hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known."
The incident she was referring to was when Huang Xuanming met Fang Yuan, and Madam Huang set up Zeng Huai to catch them in a compromising situation.
Wang Qingyao giggled, "You can't blame me for that. I wasn't involved. Would you expect me to go all the way to Duke Zhongyong's mansion to tell you this? Fang Yuan would think I'm an idiot!"
Zuo Yun playfully chided her again, then mused, "This Huang Xuanming is strange. He seems deeply devoted to Fang Yuan, willing to stay far away rather than be used by Madam Huang. But why would he have a child with another woman? It made Fang Yuan so sad."
Fang Zheng, being professional, hadn't revealed Huang Xuanming's private affairs to Zuo Yun.
So Zuo Yun couldn't understand it; it seemed too contradictory.
Wang Qingyao explained with a serious face, "Some men are like that. Their brains and their lower halves are separate. Love is one thing, lust is another."
"Really?" Zuo Yun was skeptical.
After a while longer, Madam Zuo arrived with the young ladies of the Zuo family to see Zuo Yun. Wang Qingyao exchanged pleasantries with them for a bit and then left, allowing them to have some private conversation.
She hadn't walked more than a few steps out of the courtyard when someone called out to her.
"Princess Ding'an."
Wang Qingyao turned and saw a richly dressed, beautiful woman around thirty, with an oval face and phoenix eyes. She had a dignified and formidable appearance.
She searched her memory but couldn't recall anyone.
The beautiful woman stepped forward, bowed, and introduced herself, "I am Madam Wei, the eldest wife of the Wei family."
Madam Wei, the eldest wife?
Wang Qingyao wracked her brain for a moment and figured it out. Ah, she was Wei Qing's mother.
Wang Qingyao and Wei Qing didn't get along, so she was immediately wary of her mother.
"What does Madam Wei want with me?" she asked with a fake smile.
Madam Wei said, "I have a few words I wish to speak with the Princess privately."
She glanced at Zhenzhu, hinting for Wang Qingyao to dismiss her maid.
Her own maid was also standing far away, not by her side.
It looked as if she had some big secret to share with Wang Qingyao.
Wang Qingyao replied indifferently, "No matter, please speak your mind."
Madam Wei was clearly not satisfied with her reaction and said, "I am here to relay a message from the Grand Tutor."
Oh, Grand Tutor Wei. That old fox was still lurking around.
"Say it or don't. If you don't, I'm leaving."
Wang Qingyao wasn't going to humor her. Seeing that she wouldn't speak, she turned to leave.
Madam Wei panicked. She had never met a girl like Wang Qingyao, who didn't play by the rules at all.
The Grand Tutor had said that this message contained a handle on Wang Qingyao, and she would understand it immediately.
But looking at her now, she seemed completely at ease, unafraid of anything.
Madam Wei lowered her voice and relayed the Grand Tutor's words to Wang Qingyao: "You are devoted to love, how can you abandon your beloved? If the King knew, what would you do?"
Wang Qingyao: "..."
After a three-second silence, she looked up at Madam Wei with a serious expression.
Madam Wei's heart skipped a beat. The Princess Ding'an indeed had a weakness that her father-in-law, the Grand Tutor, held!
Wang Qingyao tilted her head. "My classical Chinese isn't very good. I don't understand. Can you translate it for me?"
Madam Wei was dumbfounded. She didn't understand? She actually didn't understand?!
Madam Wei was so shocked she couldn't speak.
"Translate it," Wang Qingyao said.
"You don't know what these two sentences mean?"
"No."
But the Grand Tutor had said that Wang Qingyao would understand immediately.
She would become anxious, fearful, and beg the Grand Tutor not to reveal it.
At that point, Madam Wei could then reveal the Grand Tutor's invitation for her to meet him, and she would obediently go.
But what should she do now?
Madam Wei stammered, "I... I don't know what it means either."
Since it was a sensitive matter, there was no point in spreading it around. The Grand Tutor had only instructed her to deliver the message, not to explain anything else.
Wang Qingyao was speechless. Madam Wei didn't know either?
If she didn't know, then she didn't know. In any case, she wasn't interested.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now." Wang Qingyao turned to leave again.
Madam Wei quickly stopped her and said with difficulty, "Your Highness, the Grand Tutor said that if you do not wish for others to know about this matter, meet him in the small bamboo grove behind Duke Zhongyong's mansion in half an hour."
Wang Qingyao looked at her as if she were an idiot and yawned.
"Whatever."
After relaying all the messages, Madam Wei breathed a sigh of relief. Whether Wang Qingyao went or not was her own business, unrelated to her.
Madam Wei regained her usual dignified and stern demeanor, bowed expressionlessly, and left.
Zhenzhu: "Your Highness?"
Wang Qingyao rubbed her chin. "Send someone to fetch the Prince."