Chapter 53: Prince Zi Yulan, please don’t laugh at me.

Lu Bingzhi talked with Duke Weiguo for a while and then came out of the study.

Guan Yan glanced at his own prince and asked tentatively, "Prince, are you going back to Wutong Courtyard or Songxue Hall?"

Lu Bingzhi glanced at him, and Guan Yan shrank his neck. He said with a hint of flattery, "I have seen that the prince is very fond of the young lady, and I have even agreed to have lunch with her. Perhaps I will have fewer opportunities to return to Songxue Hall in the future."

Hearing the implication in his words, Lu Bingzhi raised his eyes and said calmly, "The young lady has just entered the house, so as her husband, I naturally have to give her respect. Otherwise, how can she survive in the mansion? Don't you understand this principle?"

"That's right. Madam Xie said she wanted to arrange a marriage for you, but I heard you refused, saying it was too much trouble to have someone to look after you. With your mindset, how can you possibly understand what it means to be one as husband and wife?"

After he said this, he went straight to Wutong Courtyard.

Guan Yan was stunned for a long time before he caught up with him. He was really surprised. Was the prince making fun of him?

He always felt that the prince became a little different after marrying the young lady.

Could it be that this is what a man will do after he gets married, always considering his wife's dignity in everything?

Guanyan shuddered and felt that it would be better to postpone his marriage.

He was Nanny Xie's adopted son, picked up from the roadside by Nanny Xie. If it weren't for Nanny Xie and the prince, he would have starved to death long ago.

In this life, he is just waiting for the prince to achieve his wish before he can discuss other things.

Guan Yan looked at Lu Bingzhi's back, feeling somewhat pleased. The Crown Prince had always been aloof, so marrying a young lady was a great thing. He also didn't want the Crown Prince to suffer because of the late Empress's affairs. No one could get into the Crown Prince's heart.

Perhaps, the young lady can enter the heart of the prince?

......

Qiulanyuan

He listened to the maid's report, a smile flickering across her face. She looked at her daughter, Lu Danyan, who was sitting beside her, and said, "After leaving the ancestral hall, Cui actually went back to Wutong Courtyard to rest. Your eldest aunt must be furious now. It seems like being a second wife is really not easy, especially since the previous one was the noble Princess Shuning. The old lady didn't give her any respect and ordered the prince to take Cui to the ancestral hall to kowtow to the princess in front of a roomful of people. Now, Cui is also using the old lady's influence to hide away in Wutong Courtyard. Your eldest aunt's role as a mother-in-law is truly laughable. She can't control the new bride right after she enters the house. Who knows what will happen in the future?"

Lu Danyan took a sip of her tea. "My sister-in-law is really bold. I don't know if it's because she's naive, or because she was raised in the Qi family and doesn't understand the rules of these high-ranking families. Doesn't she know that courtesy is always good? Even though Grandmother instructed her to do so, wouldn't it be more appropriate for her to go to the Peony Courtyard and pay her respects to my mother-in-law, my aunt? She actually listened to Grandmother's words, thinking that Grandmother was telling her to rest well and be considerate of her, so she actually did it. Didn't she really think that she would offend my aunt?"

He listened to her daughter's words, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Perhaps that's why she didn't think too much about it. She probably thought that since we met at Qingde Courtyard today, there was no need to go to Mudan Courtyard to pay a visit."

"She probably didn't realize that if the incident at the ancestral hall hadn't happened, Cen wouldn't have minded her not going to the Peony Courtyard. But she kowtowed to Princess Shuning's tablet, but didn't properly pay her respects to her mother-in-law, Cen. Cen isn't a tolerant person, so how could she not think too much?"

He recalled some of the news she had heard about Cui Lingyan and continued, "She's not favored by her mother, the Qi family, and she just returned to the Ningshou Marquis's residence. The Qi family's aunt probably blames her for the damage to her son Qi Shaozhang's reputation. Perhaps no one has ever reminded her of these rules. Speaking of which, she's a pitiful person. Now she's the Crown Prince's wife and looks so glorious, but who knows what her future will hold. Will she be able to gain a foothold in this Duke's residence?"

Lu Danyan subconsciously said, "I see that the Crown Prince is quite fond of Cui. He treats her very kindly and even gave her a hand when he entered the palace today. It's clear that he cares about her as his wife. Perhaps the Crown Prince feels that since Cui didn't grow up in the capital, he not only doesn't dislike her, but instead feels that she is somewhat different from the other noble ladies in the capital."

"Otherwise, why would she care so much about it?"

He said indifferently, "They've only just gotten married, and even if they haven't consummated their marriage, it's reasonable for the Crown Prince to be interested in Cui. After all, Cui is so beautiful. But time passes, and the Crown Prince has been poisoned. There are rumors that this may affect his offspring. I wonder how this couple will fare."

"But it seems Cui isn't someone who thinks too deeply, which is a good thing. Otherwise, if Cui Linghui were to marry in, it wouldn't be a good thing for our Second House. After all, the Crown Prince treats her well now and is willing to give her some respect. You should also interact more with your sister-in-law Cui. Even if you don't like her, don't offend her. Don't be like that girl Danruo, who is so spoiled and willful. She thinks that because she is the legitimate daughter of the Duke's Mansion, she wants to compete for favor with her brother, the Crown Prince, and thinks that the Duke loves the Crown Prince more than her, which means he is partial. She doesn't consider that the Crown Prince's biological mother is Princess Shuning, and although Cen is from a marquis's mansion, her status is nothing compared to that of the Princess."

"Neither mother nor daughter has a clear mind. They are still dissatisfied with this and that every day, thinking that no one in the mansion takes her as the second wife seriously. If she has the free time, she might as well try to please the Duke and coax him to visit her room more often so that she can give birth to a son."

Hearing this, Lu Danyan couldn't help but cover her mouth with a handkerchief and whispered, "Mother, please don't let my aunt hear this, or she will hate you."

......

Lu Bingzhi accompanied Cui Lingyan for lunch. While drinking tea, he said, "Tomorrow we will go to the palace to pay our respects to my grandmother and uncle. Princess Chun'an, now the wife of Duke Dingguo, has just returned from worshipping at the Huang'en Temple and is staying at the palace. We should go and pay our respects."

Cui Lingyan heard this and looked at Lu Bingzhi.

Lu Bingzhi knew that she had grown up in the Qi family and not in the capital. Perhaps someone from these wealthy families in the capital had told her something before her marriage, but she must have known very little about the situation in the palace.

So she said, "Princess Chun'an is the daughter of the late queen. My mother, the eldest princess, and the late queen were very close in the past. Princess Chun'an is my cousin. Although it is not convenient for us to visit each other much after marriage, now that she lives in the palace, I should go and pay my respects to her according to etiquette."

After hearing what Lu Bingzhi said, Cui Lingyan knew that Princess Chun'an, now the wife of Duke Dingguo, was Lu Bingzhi's biological sister.

She knew what was going on, and nodded with a gentle smile on her face, "I understand."

She thought for a moment, then asked nervously, "I've prepared some embroidery or shoes and socks to give to the elders. I heard that this is the custom in the capital. At Princess Chun'an's place, I have a small, double-sided folding table screen made with Suzhou embroidery. I spent over a year embroidering it while I was idle at the Qi family. It features several purple magnolias in full bloom. I wonder if it would be appropriate to give it to Princess Chun'an as a gift?"

Lu Bingzhi listened to her words, and the hand holding the teacup paused. His eyes were dim, and he asked casually, "Purple Magnolia?"

Cui Lingyan smiled and said, "Yes, when I first went to the Qi family, my grandmother arranged a yard for me. She also asked me what I wanted to plant in the yard. She called the nanny who served the flower garden to come over and gave me a picture album to choose from. I immediately fell in love with purple magnolias, so my grandmother had two of them planted in the yard. Every spring when the flowers bloom, the yard is filled with the fragrance of magnolias. When I smell the fragrance, all my worries disappear."

Cui Lingyan felt something was amiss after she finished her last sentence. She stole a glance at Lu Bingzhi, then changed the subject and asked, "Sir, what do you think of this small Su embroidered table screen with purple magnolia? Would Princess Chun'an like it? The princess is of noble status, and now she's the wife of Duke Dingguo. I wonder if she'd mind my inability to come up with a decent gift?"

Lu Bingzhi's mind was still on her unintentional words that all worries would disappear when he smelled the fragrance of magnolia flowers. He thought about how she was sent to the Qi family since she was a child. Even though her grandmother loved her and arranged a yard for her when she first came, and even asked her to choose what trees and flowers to plant in the yard, Cui Lingyan was just the old lady's granddaughter after all. When she first went to the Qi family, they took into account her status as the legitimate daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's Mansion and took good care of her. But as time went by, the Marquis's Mansion ignored her. Perhaps the old lady's love for her grandmother would also decrease a little. For example, her aunt Zhan would probably be even more displeased with her niece Cui Lingyan. Even if she acted as close to her as a daughter, she must have calculations in her heart.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have so many troubles.

Thinking of Zi Yulan, Lu Bingzhi thought of his mother, whom he had never met.

My mother loved purple magnolia the most when she was alive. My sister told me that before she got married, she planted many purple magnolias in the yard. Later, she entered the palace and became a princess. From being disliked at the beginning to supporting each other in the end, the couple even planted a lot of purple magnolias in Kunning Palace after my mother moved into Kunning Palace. He even opened up a large area in the palace and planted it with purple magnolias.

But later, the person whom he once held dearest in his heart returned to the capital and was taken into the palace. The love between the couple was too fragile. He found a new love and no longer remembered the love between the couple that his mother had shown him during those years.

Now that Kunning Palace has a new owner, although the purple magnolias in the palace have not been removed, the empress dowager probably won't like those two eyesore magnolias, right?

An unknown emotion surged in Lu Bingzhi's heart until a gentle voice called him back.

"Prince?"

At some point, Cui Lingyan had found the gift she wanted to give and brought it to Lu Bingzhi.

When Lu Bingzhi took a look, he saw purple magnolias blooming on the branches, looking lifelike, and it seemed as if bursts of faint fragrance were coming from them.

Cui Lingyan smiled and said, "I made some purple magnolia sachets and placed them next to this Su embroidery table screen, so they are stained with this fragrance. My daughter's little thoughts, please don't laugh at me, my lord."

"Sir, what do you think of this gift from me? Will the princess like it?"

Lu Bingzhi nodded: "It's such an exquisite item, my cousin will definitely like it."