Jiangping County is in the southwest of the provincial capital. Shortly after the convoy left Shiqiao Town, Chen Xiaozong and his wife Luo Yuyan turned onto another official road.
The carriage stopped and the three brothers said brief goodbyes.
Yu Xiu saw Chen Xiaozong and Luo Yuyan walking towards this side through the gap in the curtain, so she prepared to get off the car to meet them.
Huayang reminded: "You are the eldest sister-in-law, just say a few words in the car."
Although she is his younger brother's sister, Chen Xiaozong and Luo Yuyan are not lucky enough to let her get off the car.
Yu Xiu had no choice but to sit still, her fair little hands slightly clenching her sleeves revealing her uneasiness.
Outside the carriage, Chen Xiaozong and his wife stopped in front of the carriage, bowed, and said to the people inside the carriage in a gentle voice: "Sister-in-law, Princess, we will say goodbye first."
Huayang didn't move. Yu Xiu lifted the curtain and said with concern, "Third brother and sister-in-law, take care. Once you settle down over there, remember to write to me."
Chen Xiaozong said so. Luo Yuyan looked at Yu Xiu's beautiful face in the carriage window. Because she was looking down on him, she looked like an elder sister-in-law. Hua Yang didn't even show his face. She curled her lips secretly. At the same time, she felt a little sour. They were all sisters-in-law. Why did Hua Yang invite Yu Xiu to ride with him but not her? The princess' carriage was spacious and it was more than enough for four people to play cards in it.
"Let's go." Chen Xiaozong called his wife.
Luo Yuyan got into the car with him with little interest.
The carriage turned in another direction and drove onto another road. Chen Xiaozong saw that his wife was still unhappy, so he asked curiously, "You were so happy that you couldn't sleep last night. Why are you so depressed now?"
Luo Yuyan glared at him and muttered, "You said the princess didn't dislike me, then why did she only invite my sister-in-law to ride with her? Not to mention that they are going the same way, we just walked a few miles together. I am about to separate from them again. Shouldn't she invite me to be polite?"
Chen Xiaozong: "Maybe the princess just wants a companion on the road, one is enough, and she doesn't know when we will change our route, so it would be more convenient to ask my sister-in-law."
Luo Yuyan snorted: "The eldest sister-in-law is from a small family. What can the princess talk about with her?"
Chen Xiaozong still smiled warmly: "Our Chen family is also a small family. Thank God that the emperor valued my father and let him join the cabinet. Otherwise, you and I would probably just be strangers in this life."
Luo Yuyan blushed and said angrily, "You are the third place winner chosen by the emperor. With your talent, you would have risen to prominence even without your father. How come you are a stranger to me and are just talking nonsense?"
Chen Xiaozong: "Throughout history, there have been many successful candidates who gradually faded into obscurity after their success in the imperial examinations, let alone a scholar from a poor family like me."
Luo Yuyan bit her lip and said with a straight face, "Alright, I finally understand. You are not happy that I look down on my eldest sister-in-law. So I am the only one among the three sisters-in-law in the family who should be humble and respect both sides, right? It is wrong for me to disrespect my eldest sister-in-law, but it is what I deserve that the princess looks down on me!"
Chen Xiaozong did not coax her, nor did he scold her harshly. He just said calmly: "I have no right to interfere with how the princess gets along with her sister-in-law, but you are my wife. I respect my brother and my sister-in-law, so I hope you will do the same. Unless you can provide a reason why they are not worthy of your respect, I will stand on your side."
Luo Yuyan tilted her head and refused to speak.
Chen Xiaozong silently picked up the book and continued reading.
After a while, he heard a slight sob. He looked up and saw tears on his wife's snow-white and delicate face. Her red lips were tightly pursed, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
Chen Xiaozong lowered his eyes, took the book in one hand, took out the handkerchief with the other and handed it over.
Luo Yuyan slapped his hand away and said, "Go on lecturing me. Why are you pretending to be so kind?"
Chen Xiaozong laughed: "That's called scolding? You've seen how father and elder brother scold people, but when have I ever treated you like that?"
Luo Yuyan's beautiful eyes widened: "If you dare to do that, I will tell people to pack their bags and go back to my parents' home!"
Chen Xiaozong said sternly, "Of course I don't dare. My wife has five brothers. I am just a weak scholar. I dare not offend the Yue family."
Upon hearing this, Luo Yuyan burst into laughter and threw herself into her husband's arms, wanting to tear his oily mouth apart.
.
As the princess was in the carriage, Huayang suddenly remembered Yu Xiu's family background and asked, "Is my sister-in-law's family also in Lingzhou Prefecture?"
She remembered that Yu's father and her father-in-law went to the provincial capital for the autumn examination in the same year. They encountered a rush of carriages and horses on the road, so Yu's father saved her father-in-law, and her father-in-law was grateful and promised a marriage for the child.
Yu Xiu: "Well, our home is in Songyuan County, north of the city."
Huayang: "Now that we have finished mourning, my sister-in-law will have a chance to go back and visit our parents."
Yu Xiu touched his sleeves and said, "My father and mother came when the old lady was buried, but the family was in a mess at that time, so it was not convenient to take them to see the princess."
Huayang looked away guiltily. At that time, she was always finding fault with Chen Jingzong and the old house of the Chen family. She was too lazy to entertain even the wives of local officials who wanted to visit her, let alone Yu Xiu's parents. If Yu Xiu really came with the two elders, she would probably turn them away. Including Yu Xiu, it was because her mentality changed after her rebirth, coupled with her sympathy for Chen Bozong's family in her previous life, that she became close to Yu Xiu.
She changed the subject: "Sister-in-law, do you remember whose carriage it was that hit my father-in-law and his family? My father-in-law and his family were already scholars at the time, and they had achieved great success. They should not have let that person go for nothing, right?"
The incident caused Yu's father to become lame in one leg, completely cutting off his chance of a career in politics. After Yu Xiu was born, naturally, he often heard his family and neighbors talk about it and lament about it.
However, the other party's status was too high, and he made up an excuse to deal with the government. My father and father-in-law were unable to pursue the matter, and the case ended up being left unresolved.
Before she married into the Chen family, her parents repeatedly warned her not to bring up those trivial things.
"My father never said that. He just said that the other party didn't do it on purpose, and that the other party gave silver as compensation. Why should we pursue it further?"
Huayang was just chatting casually, and after hearing this explanation, she didn't ask any more questions.
It was almost noon when the convoy finally arrived outside Lingzhou City.
Yu Xiu said embarrassedly, "Princess, I'll get off here. My fourth brother has been riding all the way, and it's time for him to get on and rest. He'll be busy later when he presides over the move."
Huayang asked the driver to stop the car.
The carriages behind also stopped.
Chaoyun and Chaoyue helped Yu Xiu get out of the car outside. Yu Xiu turned around and saw her husband Chen Bozong also getting out of the car and walking towards her.
"Why did the sister-in-law get off the car?"
Yu Xiu had been afraid of this uncle ever since she witnessed him arguing with her father-in-law. She lowered her eyes and explained, "We are going into the city, so you don't need to go to the prefectural government office."
Chen Jingzong: "Alright."
Chen Bozong said hello to his fourth brother and his wife, then walked back with his wife.
After getting on the car, Chen Bozong observed his wife and found that she had a rosy complexion and seemed to be getting along very well with the princess.
"Did the princess say anything to you?" Chen Bozong asked.
Yu Xiu's eyes lit up. As soon as she opened her mouth, she wanted to report everything to her husband, starting from the first sentence Huayang said to her.
Chen Bochong stopped her in time. If it was just a casual chat, it would be fine. But if the princess said something private between women, and his wife told him, it would be disrespectful.
"I mean, how has the princess treated you?"
Yu Xiu said happily, "The princess treats me very well, she doesn't have any airs of a princess at all. She also told me to go to her if anyone dares to bully me! Oh, when the princess first got married, I saw her aura and thought she was difficult to get along with. I couldn't marry her. I never thought she was so kind. No wonder Wanyi dared to play with the princess."
Chen Bozong looked at his wife silently. They had been married for almost ten years, and it seemed like this was the first time he saw her look so relaxed and happy.
Yu Xiu, who was indeed very cheerful, suddenly became reserved after meeting her husband's dark eyes that made it hard to tell what he was thinking. She lowered her head as usual and said, "Did I do something wrong? Shouldn't I take the princess' words seriously?"
Maybe the princess is just being polite
Chen Bozong pursed his lips and said, "The princess treats you so well, which means you have caught her eye. Just continue with how you got along in the car before. Don't think too much about it."
Yu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.
In front, since Yu Xiu had come down, Chen Jingzong gave up riding his horse without hesitation and got on the carriage.
Huayang glanced at him and then looked away, slightly lifting the curtain to look outside.
In the past, she would maintain a dignified demeanor in front of Chen Jingzong, but now that everything has been done at night, Huayang no longer has to be dignified all the time and can be happy to be free and unrestrained.
Chen Jingzong asked curiously, "When did your relationship with your sister-in-law become so good?"
Hua Yang said calmly: "It's not that good, I just don't want to ride in the same car with you."
On one side is the gentle and shy sister-in-law who blushes at the slightest teasing, and on the other side is the prince consort who wants to tease her anytime and anywhere. Huayang naturally chooses the former.
Chen Jingzong: …
Seeing her disdainful face, Chen Jingzong sneered: "What's wrong with riding in the same car with me? Do you think I will do the same as last time? I was going crazy because I had been holding it in for too long. If you can satisfy me every night, I won't bother doing that indecent thing in the daytime."
After saying that, he moved to the window on the other side and lifted the curtain a little like Huayang did, seeming to be more interested in the scenery outside than in her.
Huayang: …
If she lets him in tonight, she won't be a princess!
Before, Siyi Hall was too small, and she was afraid of snakes and insects, so she let Chen Jingzong sleep next to her every night. Now she is going to move into the big garden given by her father. She wants to make Chen Jingzong understand that under normal circumstances, if a prince consort wants to climb into the princess's bed, he has to behave well and work hard!
At the gate of Lingcheng, the soldiers guarding the city saw that it was the princess' carriage, followed by the carriage of the new prefect, and immediately let it pass.
The prefectural government office was located in the center of the city, and the Ning Garden that Emperor Jingshun bestowed on his daughter was not far from the prefectural government office, only three streets away.
Ning Garden is a famous garden in Lingzhou City. It was originally built by the first King of Xiang for his favorite illegitimate son who could not inherit the title. Later, the illegitimate son committed a crime and completely cut off the incense of this branch. The garden was taken over by the government. Occasionally, the emperor would reward it to local officials who had made great contributions. However, the rise and fall of officials' families is common. In the past two years, Ning Garden has been empty.
Last year, Emperor Jingshun received documents from the three brothers of the Chen family and found that, just as Empress Qi had expected, the three brothers were not in a hurry to return to Beijing. Emperor Jingshun then looked through the idle houses under the name of the government in Lingzhou Prefecture, chose Ningyuan, and asked the local government to renovate Ningyuan in advance, replace old utensils with new ones, and tidy up the flowers, plants and lakes in the garden in advance.
"Princess, Prince Consort, we're here!"
The new manager of Ning Garden was no stranger either. He was Wu Run, the chief eunuch of the Princess's Mansion in the capital, who came with the two hundred guards.
Wu Run is 33 years old this year. He was the eunuch that Empress Qi specially arranged for her daughter Huayang when she was four years old and was about to move out of Empress Qi's side.
As soon as the carriage stopped, Wu Run bent over and walked to the front of the carriage, smiling and waiting for the princess to get off.
The first one to come out was Chen Jingzong. He looked at the eunuch in charge, who was already over thirty but still very handsome with rosy lips and white teeth. He then glanced at the armed guard commander Zhou Ji who was standing guard beside him, and his face darkened.
When Huayang was about to get off the car, Chen Jingzong thought the maid was supporting him too slowly, so he walked over and hugged Huayang down by the waist.
Wu Run, Zhou Ji and others lowered their heads.
Huayang glared at Chen Jingzong and saved any words of instruction for when they were alone.
The maids and servants were responsible for carrying the luggage, while Wu Run led the way and introduced Ningyuan to the masters first.
"Princess, this is your Qifeng Palace, and behind it is your husband's Liuyun Palace."
Huayang was looking at the plaque of Qifeng Palace when he heard Chen Jingzong say in his ear: "What Liuyun Palace? I will live with you."
Wu Run kept smiling.
Huayang: "Let's go in and take a look first."
(End of this chapter)