Chapter 331
Luxury (4)
When the ladies discovered it was actually spider silk, they were speechless.
Although it may sound that they only needed to rear many golden spiders to get enough spider silk, that was not the case. Unlike silkworms, golden spiders could not be reared and were vicious in nature. Thus, a lot of effort was needed to collect just a small amount of spider silk, making it impractical to use.
Compared to spider silk, gold and silver strands were undoubtedly inexpensive. At such a price, they dared not even consider wearing such a skirt.
Not that these noble women couldn’t afford it at all, but who would spend so much money on a single dress? Only Mu Mingtang could afford such a sky-high price.
Although they were disappointed, the female guests couldn’t keep their eyes off from Mu Mingtang’s dress. Suddenly a newly promoted concubine, feeling jealous, said sourly: “Princess An’s spendings are really extravagant. This is the first time I have seen such a dress.”
In the past, many noble ladies had privately complained to each other about Prince An’s mansion spending money so lavishly. However, when Concubine Chong said everyone’s thoughts out loud, the hall became silent.
The Empress Dowager, who hadn’t spoken since Mu Mingtang’s arrival, took this as a chance and commented, “Prince An used to be a big spender, but now since there are no elders to control him, he is becoming more and more unrestrained. As his wife, why didn’t the Princess An persuade Prince An to control his habit?”
Everyone in the crowd fell silent once the Empress Dowager finished speaking. They couldn’t understand why the Empress Dowager would suddenly attack Princess An, but no one wanted to say anything, fearing accidentally getting involved in the dispute between the Empress Dowager and Princess An.
Actually, the Empress Dowager was a concubine of the late Emperor Xie Yi, and Mu Mingtang was the official wife of Xie Yi’s only son, Xie Xuanchen. In a sense, Empress Dowager Lu could also be regarded as Mu Mingtang’s mother-in-law.
Naturally, Xie Xuanchen would not recognize her as his mother, no matter what. Not only did Xie Xuanchen disapprove of it, but even the Empress Dowager Lu didn’t dare to play mother in front of Xie Xuanchen.
Back then, Xie Yi and Guo Rong had their conflicts and stayed in Yecheng, unsure if they should return to Beijing. Later, Emperor Gong of the Jin Dynasty sensed that something was amiss, so he killed the entire Guo family in a fit of rage. Guo Rong and Xie Yi left their families to fight in the war, so it was naturally impossible to demand them to move together. Hence, their wives, children and relatives remained in the capital. But afterwards, when the two of them expressed their opposition, their family members who stayed in the capital suffered the brunt of the disaster.
Out of the hundreds of people that were the target of elimination that day, not a single life was spared. Xie Xuanchen was only 15 years old at the time. Although Xie Yi and Guo Rong didn’t want to take him with them as they set off, the child had secretly trailed behind the army. In fact, Xie Xuanchen only managed to escape with his life when the massacre occurred in the capital that day because he wasn’t home. However, Xie Xuanchen’s mother, Madam Yin, Xie Yi’s wife, died in that incident.
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