Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Visiting the Garden with Daiyu and Baoyu;…

Wu Tianyue and Daiyu walked out of Lady Jia's courtyard together. Seeing that there were only maids and old women serving around them, he suddenly took a step forward, turned around and walked backwards towards Daiyu, looking at her with a smile without saying a word.

Daiyu immediately noticed the sachet hanging on his body. Seeing him cherish it so much, she felt sweet in her heart and her face flushed with joy. She also laughed at his smugness, but pretended not to notice and teased, "Have you gone astray in your practice?"

Wu Tianyue demonstrated for a long time, but seeing Daiyu didn't show any reaction, he cleared his throat and was about to remind her. But when he heard this, he stopped in confusion and said, "No?"

Seeing his silly look, Daiyu burst out laughing.

"You really are..." Wu Tianyue reacted, and seeing that she was still trying to laugh, he said angrily, "You don't understand romance!"

"Then why don't you go find someone who understands romance?" Daiyu said deliberately. Seeing that he got even angrier, she quickly asked with a smile, "Where do you live?"

Wu Tianyue was immediately appeased and replied, "I haven't seen the blueprints. I only know that the courtyard is in the southeast corner and is called Yihong Courtyard. I wonder if there are any houses nearby."

Daiyu looked regretful and said, "I'm living in Xiaoxiang Pavilion. I'm afraid we won't be able to meet often in the future."

Wu Tianyue felt inexplicably depressed after hearing this: "I thought we could live closer."

Before he could finish his words, he saw Daiyu covering her mouth and laughing. She jumped up and said, "You lied to me again!"

"What did I lie to you about?" Daiyu denied. "I only said we couldn't see each other often, but I didn't say the two places were far apart."

Seeing Wu Tianyue's ferocious appearance, Daiyu smiled, took out another handkerchief, and said, "Give this to the Empress for me."

Wu Tianyue reached out and took it: "Why don't you give it to her yourself?"

"The palace has been busy tidying up the garden these days, so I can't go out with the carriage." Daiyu only found out yesterday when someone from the palace came to ask about it. She assumed Wu Tianyue didn't know about Lingguan's affairs. But this was a trivial matter, so it was not easy to say anything at this time. She just said, "Just take it back for me. Why are you so concerned?"

After hearing this, Wu Tianyue suddenly remembered what Xia Jin said yesterday about Feng Jieer's apology, and realized that this was a thank-you gift. He instantly perked up, looking at Daiyu with bright eyes, waiting for his share.

Daiyu saw him put away his handkerchief and walked past him to go into the garden. Seeing that he did not move, she frowned slightly and asked in confusion, "What are you standing there for?"

Her expression showed no emotion other than confusion. It was obvious that she really only had one. Wu Tianyue felt aggrieved and was about to ask why only his mother had it when he was interrupted by a voice: "Sister Lin."

The two turned their heads and saw Baoyu coming from the other end of the alley. He walked up to them and greeted them dryly, "Greetings, Prince."

Then he smiled again: "Where are you going, sister?"

"The old man asked me to take the prince to the garden for a look," Daiyu replied. "Why is my second brother here?"

Although Daiyu had been speaking so distantly since returning from Yangzhou, Baoyu still felt uncomfortable. When he heard they were going to the garden, he remembered that the courtyard he had originally chosen had become Wu Tianyue's, and now they had to go there alone. He felt uncomfortable and muttered, "I haven't even looked carefully at the place where I'm going to live."

Daiyu looked at Wu Tianyue and saw that he looked unhappy. Fearing that the two of them might get into an argument, she tugged at his clothes and said to Baoyu with a smile, "Then let's go for a walk together."

Baoyu quickly responded: "Okay."

Wu Tianyue felt even more sad when he saw Baoyu smiling happily, but since Daiyu was there, he couldn't say anything and just tacitly agreed to go together.

But the two were afraid that Daiyu would pay more attention to them, so they racked their brains to draw Daiyu's attention to themselves along the way. Wu Tianyue, in particular, would touch the sachet from time to time. Seeing that Daiyu didn't respond, he asked Daiyu: "What's the best thing to put in the sachet this season? Sandalwood or peach blossoms?"

Baoyu had already seen the sachet because of his deliberate display. Although he had been secretly suggesting that Daiyu had not made it, he was still furious and ignored the usual etiquette. Without waiting for Daiyu to reply, he retorted, "I didn't expect the prince to be interested in this. But you dance with sticks all year round, I'm afraid it's been damaged before you can put anything in it."

Wu Tianyue had been wary of Baoyu since he first met him. Besides Daiyu, no one had ever been able to infuriate him since childhood. Now that he was being refuted by his enemy, he naturally didn't want to indulge her. "Of course I can't compare to Master Bao. He stays at home all day, so naturally, the things he uses aren't damaged."

Daiyu was annoyed by the quarrel between the two and scolded, "Are you still going shopping?"

After hearing this, the two of them didn't dare to say anything and followed Daiyu silently.

Soon they arrived at the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. Baoyu praised the elegance of the house, but Wu Tianyue said the room was too small. Wu Tianyue praised the tranquility of the bamboo forest, but Baoyu said it was too deserted.

After a while, the two started arguing again. Whenever one of them praised the other, he would find a flaw in it.

Daiyu watched them at the side, their quarrels starting out sarcastic but then escalating into a fiercer argument, looking like they were about to fight. She angrily said, "Stop talking."

After hearing this, the two of them shut up instantly, but they continued to sneer at each other's opinions. Apart from interjections and expressions, they basically did not communicate. Daiyu was speechless and could not bear to watch it any longer. She hurriedly visited the Xiaoxiang Pavilion and left the garden.

They had just stayed with Daiyu for a short time before they parted. Wu Tianyue regretted not being able to resist arguing with Baoyu, but there was nothing he could do. After coming out and saying a few words, he was driven away by Daiyu.

After returning home, he heard that Princess Zhongshun's concubine sister had come and changed Lingguan's name to Jinling and adopted her as her goddaughter. Then he remembered that he had not told Daiyu about Lingguan yet, and he cursed Baoyu in his heart for being a troublemaker.

Then I thought, since so many people knew about this, they must have told her. And she asked me to send a thank-you gift today, so she must have known about it. So I let it go.

A few days later, the emperor suddenly sent someone to the palace to ask Wu Tianyue when he would move, as he had a demolition gift to give.

After receiving the imperial edict, Wu Tianyue was speechless to the emperor. As the king of a country, why did he like to watch the fun so much and be so blatant, as if he was afraid that others didn't know what he was thinking.

However, he knew the emperor's gossip. Princess Zhongshun thought that the emperor must have heard that she kept her sister's goddaughter by her side to raise her. She thought that Prince Zhongshun's mansion had taken a fancy to Daiyu and wanted to help match Daiyu with her son, so she did this.

Princess Zhongshun was a little troubled. Her son was chosen by the emperor to be the prince's assistant. The Lin family was small in number, and Lin Ruhai had retired in the eyes of everyone. In order to look good on the surface and avoid criticism, the emperor would not let Daiyu be the main wife. But she already regarded Daiyu as her daughter, so how could she be willing to have Daiyu as a concubine?

But he is the emperor. If he really issues an edict to grant the marriage, the palace cannot refuse. Now they can only take it one step at a time. Fortunately, Daiyu and Princess Zhongshun are still young, and their relationship is just brother and sister. Princess Zhongshun secretly cursed the emperor for meddling in other people's affairs, but she happily accepted the edict on the surface.

A few days later, he learned that the small kitchen in the Yihong Courtyard of the Grand View Garden had been completed and the house next to the garden had also been cleaned up, so he chose a day for Wu Tianyue to move in.

When the emperor heard about it, he specially ordered Cai Rang to send the gifts over. Everyone in the Jia family received rewards, and those who had to go back to work because of Wu Tianyue's temporary move no longer complained.

Wu Tianyue moved into the garden under the watchful eyes of the public, and the Jia sisters and Baoyu also moved in the next day.

The garden suddenly became more crowded with people. In addition, only Li Wan, the wife of Baoyu's deceased elder brother Jia Zhu, lived in the garden to take care of it, and there were no other elders around. The sisters and maids relaxed a lot, and the garden became even more lively.

Wu Tianyue was an outsider after all, so he wanted to take advantage of the fact that there were no elders around to hold a banquet and invite everyone in the garden to get together and get to know each other better.

But Master Mei, who often taught him martial arts, was suddenly appointed by the emperor to suppress bandits outside the city. He was currently reorganizing his troops. Wu Tianyue was very interested, but after thinking about it, he decided that he still had plenty of time in the garden and had already met him before, so he gave up on treating him to a meal and only asked Lan Ye to deliver the gifts. He followed Master Mei all day to see how he selected people and prepared food and fodder.

In addition to attending literature classes and going out to banquets with the prince, she was extremely busy. Except for coming back to rest at night, she was basically not in the garden. For the time being, she was unable to experience the magnificent scenery of the garden with its fancy embroidered ribbons and willows swaying in the fragrant breeze.

That day, after seeing off Master Mei, Wu Tianyue saw that he had nothing to do today and decided to take a day off. Thinking about not having seen Daiyu for a long time, he was ready to go see her. Just as he was about to leave, Lan Ye stopped him and said, "Now that you are done with your work, remember to explain everything to the young lady."

"What do you want to explain?" Wu Tianyue looked confused. "What did I do?"

"Have you forgotten about Miss Jin Ling's matter?" Lan Ye reminded him, "You've been too busy lately, and I haven't been able to tell you. Miss Jin Ling didn't even know about this before."

"How could she not know?"

"The three masters of the Jia Mansion quarreled over Miss Jin Ling. The Second Mistress, the head of the household, forbade anyone to mention her, and Miss Jin Ling, who lives in seclusion, naturally didn't pay attention to these things." Lan Ye said, then blamed herself, "It's also my fault. I was busy settling Miss Jin Ling down, and forgot to inform Lu Chen. I don't know who told the Miss Jin Ling some nonsense. Although I explained to her immediately afterwards, Lu Chen said she's still a little unhappy these past few days."

I thought Wu Tianyue could understand why Daiyu was unhappy, but he was surprised and asked, "I vented my anger on her, and now she's still angry with me?"

Lan Ye didn't know whether her husband understood women or not. If she said he didn't understand, he was respectful and tolerant to every woman. He didn't punish them if they did something wrong, but instead talked to them seriously and reasoned with them. He also took the women's situations into consideration. If she said he understood, he could never understand women's minds.

Wu Tianyue saw Lan Ye looking at him as if he were a fool, frowned and muttered, "Why are you looking at me like that again?"

"I didn't look at you, I was thinking about something." Lan Ye said with a fake smile, "Don't worry about what Miss Lin thinks, just explain it clearly."

Wu Tianyue thought about it, went back to his room to get the things he had been practicing secretly since returning from Yangzhou, and went to Xiaoxiang Pavilion where Daiyu lived.

When Lan Ye saw what he was holding, she covered her mouth and smiled. It seemed that her grandfather was not completely ignorant.

Wu Tianyue had never been to Daiyu's residence from Yihong Courtyard, so he casually called a little maid in the courtyard to lead the way. The two of them walked along the path outside the courtyard, crossed the Cuiyan Bridge shaded by green trees, and soon arrived at Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

As they entered the bamboo forest, they heard Daiyu order Lu Chen to bring the flower hoe. Wu Tianyue quickly stepped forward and asked, "Where are you going, sister?"

The author has something to say:

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Thanks to the little angel "Stay Up Late Addict" for irrigating the nutrient solution~

The previous chapter was modified a little (Princess Zhongshun did not scold anyone, but just ordered someone to ask Daiyu about the situation). It does not affect the plot, but is just to make it more consistent with the character setting, so you don't have to read it again.