Oh Su Jin, if only you knew you were acting in my script not yours.
"Su Jin will take her leave" She bowed
Bai Qian stopped her "Su Jin, I think your eyes would look great on me, I should see if the medicine king can transfer them" she said with a straight face then left the astonished immortal standing in the middle of the street in front of the hall.
She spent the bulk of the afternoon making selections and giving instructions on where things should be placed. A-Li was having the time of his life running up an down the hall, being carried on rolled quilts and fluffy cushions. By late afternoon, he was tired. She picked him up when he tugged her robe.
"Is my little dumpling tired?"
He nodded his little head and wrapped his arms around her neck to make himself more comfortable. She looked around for Nai Nai but couldn't find her loyal maid. She asked one of the servants setting up the hall to go find her.
A few minutes later Bai QIan stormed into Su Jin's halls where she found Nai Nai kneeling in tears. She felt her entire body burn in anger and felt the A-Li stir in his sleep.
"Nai Nai, take A-Li to his bed and wait for me in Qingyun" She said without sparing a glance at Su Jin who looked like a deer caught in headlights. The young maid took her baby from her and left the hall.
"I will talk to Su Jin alone." She said and watched as Xin Nu waited for Su Jin's confirmation before leaving the room
"Nai Nai is my personal maid, under no circumstances are you allowed to interact with her much less punish her without my express permission" Bai Qian said, barely concealing her anger
"Goddess, I was merely..."
"That was neither a question nor a suggestion, Su Jin. I am sure you are aware of how difficult I can make your life as the crown princess of the nine heavens"
"Su Jin understands" the other woman responded meekly
"Why were you punishing her?" Bai Qian asked as she poured herself a cup of tea
"I ... well .... Its..."
"If you can't say it to me then it was not a crime was it?"
"..."
"I have said all I will say on this. I should punish you and your maid for this but I am a compassionate goddess. You should keep in mind that my compassion is very limited and this action has consumed all that I am able to give to you for a few years" Bai Qian left the hall and headed to Qingyun.
She knew Su Jin had been punishing Nai Nai because she'd assumed the maid was her source of information on Su Su. The poor maid had welts all over her body, Bai Qian forced her anger down and focused on healing the maid. She was no Zhe Yan but she knew how to deal with scrapes, cuts and superficial wounds. She would wait for Ye Hua's return but she would make certain Nai Nai was officially made her maid that would ensure the girl was out of Su Jin's reach.
Dinnertime found her lonely and pitiful, it was her first night without Ye Hua since they got married and she moved to heaven. She couldn't sit in Zichen hall so she asked the maids to prepare her a bed in Qingyun hall so she could spend the night with her little dumpling. She planned to skip dinner and was expecting Nai Nai to arrive with a poorly disguised attempt to make her eat when the invitation to join Ye Hua's mother for dinner. She wasn't in the mood for company especially not that of people who only embraced her for her social standing, Still Le Xu was Ye Hua's mother and while she didn't have the best personality, she loved him and in her own way wanted him to be happy, she just wanted that happiness to happen within the confines of her plan and the heavenly lord's approval.
She instructed Nai Nai not to leave the hall, she didn't trust that Su Jin would not come for the girl if she left the hall before she was officially made her personal maid. She also placed another immortal in the hall with instructions to come find her if A-Li needed anything.
She was not surprised to find Su Jin in the hall with her mother-in-law. She greeted consort Le Xu and took her seat without acknowledging Su Jin, she was still furious at the other woman.
"Goddess, I thought you would be lonesome this evening so I decided to host both my daughters in law to dinner"
"Her highness is very kind" Bai Qian responded, noting that Le Xu referred to Su Jin as a daughter in law.
Conversation centered around common interests between Le Xu and Su Jin. The younger woman was clearly trying to show Bai Qian that she was closer to their mother-in-law. Bai Qian smiled, half at a joke, half at Su Jin fighting a battle without realizing the other side was not interested.
"As a child I preferred my fox form to my human form, it was easier to sneak out and more difficult to track. I was also faster as a fox" She said in response to both women's statements about Su Jin liking to dress up as a child
"So goddess doesn't like to try different looks in front of the mirror" Su Jin asked
"I liked to see how high I could jump. The peach tree forest provided lots of opportunities. I suppose if I didn't have my fox form, I'd have had to find other ways to occupy my time" Bai Qian replied. It was a subtle dig at Su Jin's lack of talent, she'd since learnt from Lian Song that Su Jin had only devoted herself to Ye Hua rather than any sort of study or skill in all her years.
Bai Qian let the conversation flow for while before asking "You two have known Ye Hua the longest, I bet you can tell me anything about him I want to know"
"Su Jin followed him everywhere as a child, I was not as close to him " Consort Le Xu responded. Bai Qian through she heard some regret in the woman's voice
"I can tell you anything you want to know" Su Jin beamed
"What really happened with his mortal wife?" Bai Qian asked
"Why is goddess suddenly interested in the past?" their mother in law asked
"I am a person who believes the past should be left in the past. But Su Jin told me earlier today that Ye Hua loves her so much that he is trying to bring her back with the soul gathering lamp this means she is not the past but the present and possibly the future" She noticed the older woman shoot Su Jin an angry look.
"There is no need to worry about that, we all know Ye Hua loves you" Consort Le Xu remarked
"So do I. But I wonder what will happen if the soul gathering lamp does what it is supposed to do"
"Has goddess ever heard of mortals losing their soul and coming back?" Su Jin interjected clearly trying to regain some favor from her mother in law who looked like she wanted to strangle Su Jin.
"No." Bai Qian replied sipping her wine, "But I know the power of the soul gathering lamp..." She smiled, she might not be as good at strategy as Ye Hua but she was great at adapting and working with what she had.
YOU ARE READING
Through it all (a ten miles of peach blossoms fan fiction)
Fanfiction[Complete] Bai Qian has returned from her mortal trials with her memory and her newly elevated powers. She wants her son, she wants her eyes and she wants justice. This time, she has everything she needs to make it happen I recently watched the Chin...
Chapter 15
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