Chapter 46 Two men meet. Would you mind if I called you "little brother"? ...

Worried about this, Shen Lianzhou couldn't help but tentatively speak out.

"Actually, I greatly envy that Attendant Lu can always stay by Your Highness's side..."

Upon hearing Lu Lingyue's name, Yuan Yan paused slightly in his arms, holding Chen Lianzhou, and a sneer flashed across his face.

"Why are you bringing him up on such a wonderful day?"

Sensing Yuan Yan's change in mood, Shen Lianzhou immediately stopped.

It seems that His Highness and Attendant Lu do not have a good relationship, and one could even say that His Highness dislikes him...

Shen Lianzhou was somewhat relieved, and subconsciously felt happy about it.

He secretly hoped that the concubine Lu would remain out of favor, so that the prince wouldn't be snatched away by him.

"It was Lianzhou who misspoke, Your Highness, please don't take offense." Seeing that Yuan Yan was displeased, Shen Lianzhou immediately changed the subject.

...

That night, the Prince's mansion was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations everywhere, but the side courtyard remained as deserted as ever.

"Hengwu, what time is it now?"

For some reason, Lu Lingyue couldn't sleep all night because the joyful sounds from outside the courtyard kept echoing in her mind. After a long silence, she finally spoke and asked Hengwu.

It is already past noon.

"Young master, it's late, you should rest early," Hengwu advised softly.

Lu Lingyue didn't move, but whispered, "I'm not sleepy."

The young master still hasn't been able to fall asleep, and this unusual behavior made Hengwu vaguely guess the reason.

He hesitated for a moment, then silently tidied up Lu Lingyue's bedding and left.

Moonlight streamed in through the window, flowing like water.

Lu Lingyue gazed at the bright moonlight, and for some reason, she thought of the past.

At that time, during a banquet, he was targeted by a young man who had a male disability and lived in a male household. Yuan Yan stood up for him.

Fights between men are none of a woman's business.

But Yuan Yan completely disregarded all of this and, without any ladylike manners, cursed the young man away.

The young master's methods were not sophisticated, and Lu Lingyue was fully capable of handling the matter himself. However, he did not expect Yuan Yan to stand in front of him, and was slightly taken aback.

"Why does Your Highness treat me so well?"

"You are my future husband, and I should naturally protect and cherish you. This is what a wife should do."

Yuan Yan smiled brightly and answered without hesitation.

The words spoken in the past still echo in my ears, yet the two of us have ended up in this state.

As Lu Lingyue thought of this, she suddenly felt as if she had been pricked by a needle, and the bitterness was hard to ignore.

And so they listened to the water clock, one watch after another, until dawn.

...

The sky was overcast.

Shen Lianzhou had already gotten up early to tidy Yuan Yan's clothes.

His fingers were nimble and his movements were gentle. While tying the jade belt, he carefully smoothed out the wrinkles at the hem of his clothes.

Yuan Yan saw Shen Lianzhou take out a sachet from his bosom, and smiled knowingly, intentionally asking him, "What is this?"

“This is a sachet I embroidered… I wanted to give it to Your Highness.” Shen Lianzhou blushed slightly as she watched Yuan Yan pick up the sachet.

The sachet was filled with calming herbs and emitted a faint fragrance.

It is embroidered with a pair of twin lotus flowers, with fine and lifelike stitches.

Yuan Yan ran his thumb over the lotus pattern and admired it, saying, "Lian Zhou's craftsmanship is quite good."

"My embroidery skills are not outstanding, but Your Highness praises me because you care about me."

A sweet feeling welled up in Shen Lianzhou's heart. She spoke softly, knelt on the couch, and personally tied the sachet for Yuan Yan.

He stayed up for several nights to finish embroidering this sachet before she married into the family.

The hope is that this sachet can accompany Yuan Yan, so that when His Highness sees the sachet, he will think of her more often.

[Tsk tsk, twin lotus blossoms are a symbol of marital bliss. The fact that Shen Lianzhou brought out this so soon after marrying into the family suggests she had been preparing for it for a long time before the wedding!]

The system has inadvertently revealed the truth this time.

"Did you see that? This is what it looks like to truly care about someone. No matter who it is, if they genuinely like someone, they will show it in every way, instead of pretending to be silent like some other people."

Yuan Yan agreed with this statement, and also subtly implied something about Lu Lingyue.

[Okay, host, you're right.]

The system was convinced and had to admit that Yuan Yan was far more accurate in judging people than its own system.

Yuan Yan went to court, but Chen Lianzhou didn't rest either. He summoned servants to inquire about the situation of various silk shops in the capital and suitable vacant shops in preparation for opening.

After these matters were mostly settled, Chen Lianzhou stood up, looking slightly tired, and decided to take a walk around the Prince's residence.

Meanwhile, Lu Lingyue was walking along the corridor with her male attendants when she unexpectedly spotted a handsome man with a calm expression in the distance.

The two happened to be walking on the same road and bumped into each other.

Judging from the other person's appearance and clothing, Lu Lingyue guessed Shen Lianzhou's identity in just one glance.

With his striking good looks and brocade attire, who else could it be but Shen Shuqing, who had just entered the Prince's mansion?

"It's my first time meeting you. This must be Brother Lu."

Shen Lianzhou recognized the person who had come and spoke first.

"I had heard that Lady Lu was a famous beauty in the capital, and seeing her today, I can confirm that her reputation is well-deserved."

Lu Lingyue frowned slightly at the way the other party addressed her as "brother," as if sensing the subtle hostility in the other party's expression, and her face grew even colder.

However, Lu Lingyue did not want to compete with others.

Even though he didn't have a good impression of Shen Lianzhou, he held back and didn't directly confront Shen Lianzhou. He simply said, "I don't deserve such praise. It's all just rumors spread by outsiders."

"The servants in the manor all say that Lady Lu is as beautiful as a fairy and is greatly favored by His Highness," Shen Lianzhou said with a smile.

“From now on, the two of us will serve His Highness together. Since you have spent a long time with His Highness, you must know His Highness’s preferences better than anyone else. If there is anything I am unsure about in the future, I will humbly ask you for advice. I hope you will not hesitate to give me your guidance.”

After finishing his speech, Shen Lianzhou left with his servants.

"..."

Lu Lingyue remained silent, watching his departing figure without moving.

As soon as Shen Lianzhou left, Hengwu couldn't help but complain on behalf of her young master.

“Young Master, look at this newly recruited Shen Shuqing, his tone is far too arrogant, calling you ‘younger brother’ all the time.”

"What is the young master's status? What is his status? If he hadn't entered the Prince's mansion, what right would a mere merchant have to address the young master as a brother!"

In just a few words, Hengwu could tell that Shen Shuqing was no kind person and showed no respect for the young master, which made her a little angry.

"Alright, Hengwu, what he said isn't wrong." Lu Lingyue stopped Hengwu, not letting him continue.

“Once a man is married, he no longer relies on his maternal family’s status, but on his wife’s favor. Now that I am below Shen Shuqing in rank, it is only right that he calls me ‘brother’.”

Lu Lingyue endured it. Since he had chosen not to seek Yuan Yan's favor, he could not avoid the cold words and treatment from the inner quarters.

"Just ignore them. There's no need to argue with such people."

He lowered his eyelashes, concealing his emotions. The words he spoke seemed to be both instructing Hengwu and speaking to himself.

...

Meanwhile, after Yuan Yan went to court, he heard his ministers talking about maritime transport, and the first batch of experimental grain transport ships had already set sail.

Because of this incident, the Empress Dowager thought of Yuan Yan again. After court, she kept her behind and asked Yuan Yan if things were going smoothly during his work overseeing the revision of laws at the Hongwen Pavilion.

She seemed somewhat surprised to learn that Yuan Yan got along well with those officials involved in the legal reforms, but she still praised him.

"Good, my second son has made some progress these days."

Hasn't she made progress? If it were the old Yuan Yan, she could go hunting in the hunting grounds, but if she were made to sit in the house writing books and revising laws, it would probably be more painful than taking her life.

Yuan Hao assigned the task of revising the law to Yuan Yan this time. Firstly, because her fear of the Lin family had not completely dissipated. Compared to important departments like the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel, the revision of the law did not have much real power, and placing Yuan Yan in this position made her feel more at ease.

Secondly, he also wanted to test her temperament and see if Yuan Yan's changes over this period of time were complete.

Faced with his mother's praise, Yuan Yan naturally showed a hint of joy on his face.

"It's all thanks to Mother Empress's excellent teaching. I used to dislike studying, which caused Mother Empress a lot of worry. Now that I've calmed down and started studying, my mind is clear, and I understand Mother Empress's good intentions," she said earnestly.

Hearing her say that, Yuan Hao felt a little gratified and nodded slightly.

"It's so good that you think that way."

"Looking back, I've grown old, and I've finally developed a more mature and composed demeanor."

Yuan Yan responded respectfully, saying "Yes."

Taking advantage of the Empress Dowager's mention of revising the law, she reported her previous idea of ​​providing a stipend for maintaining integrity.

After listening, Yuan Hao pondered for a moment and then asked Yuan Yan a few questions. With her rich political experience, she quickly grasped the advantages and disadvantages of the situation.

The silver collected from fire tax in prosperous areas is enough to cover the allowance for maintaining integrity, but in some impoverished areas it is probably far from enough and requires subsidies from the imperial court.

In addition, there are some loopholes for embezzlement in the allocation of the anti-corruption allowance, and corresponding supervision measures are necessary.

"This law is good, but how to supervise and ensure its implementation is a problem. If the supervision is not done properly, it may breed more corruption... So, Second Prince, you go and revise this law and incorporate it into the legal code, and then give it to me for review."

Yuan Hao assigned the "homework" to Yuan Yan.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will go back and continue to ponder this." Yuan Yan accepted the task.

Perhaps because he was in a particularly good mood today, after asking about state affairs, Yuan Hao then inquired about Yuan Yan's life.

"Second brother, you've reached the age where you should settle down. It just so happens that Feng Qing is currently choosing a husband for your eldest sister. There's a banquet this afternoon, so why don't you go and attend it as well?"

Yuan Yan's backyard was so spacious that even Yuan Hao had heard about it.

"After your eldest sister gets married, it will be your turn. Marry a dignified and virtuous lady from a respectable family as soon as possible to manage the household for you. It will also save you from spending too much time with a man like Lady Lu, who might corrupt you."

Yuan Hao became somewhat displeased whenever Lu Lingyue was mentioned.

Yuan Jing was the eldest princess, and according to custom, she should have married before Yuan Yan.

However, she had been delaying it, wanting to use the marriage to win over a powerful in-law family. Then the incident of competing with Yuan Yan for Lu Lingyue happened, which is why it was delayed a bit.

In Yuan Hao's view, if it weren't for Lu Lingyue, Yuan Yan wouldn't be without a suitable servant to serve him now, and the rift between him and Yuan Jing wouldn't have arisen because of this.

Therefore, Yuan Hao made almost no attempt to hide his dislike for Lady Lu, urging Yuan Yan to attend the banquet that Feng Qing had arranged for the eldest princess to meet eligible men and women.

If he takes a fancy to a man, he will grant him a marriage. If he is suitable, he will be his principal husband; if his status is not high enough, he will be taken as a concubine. If he finds someone he likes, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more... Yuan Hao thought to himself.

"Thank you for your consideration, Mother Empress. I will attend the banquet shortly." Yuan Yan understood his mother's meaning and kowtowed in response.

Today is the eldest princess Yuan Jing's "matchmaking banquet". All the young men present are carefully selected by Feng Qing for her, and Yuan Yan does not intend to choose from them.

But that didn't stop her from going to the banquet to watch the excitement and see who her good elder sister would ultimately choose as her husband.

Yuan Yan pondered for a moment and then came up with an idea.

...

The spring sun is warm, and the stream is babbling.

In the peach blossom grove by the water, a group of men and women sat on either side.

Although this flower-appreciation banquet was ostensibly a refined affair of appreciating flowers and composing poems, every man at the banquet knew that it was actually a matchmaking event prepared by Feng Qing for the eldest princess.

All those who received invitations and attended the banquet today were young ladies from prominent families, carefully selected by Feng Qing.