Chapter 50: The Child Princess likes children?
When Zhang Jinwei returned home in the evening, the rain had stopped.
A streak of blood stained the western sky, then gradually spread out after a moment. The setting sun faded into the clouds, revealing only a faint crimson outline. Aunt Cui had the yard renovated several times. The pond, though small, was known for its rippling emerald waters. Green bamboos shaded the banks, and willows swayed in the wind. After the autumn rains washed the leaves, they had already tinged them with a pale yellow, tinged with the crimson of the setting sun.
When Zhou Xian heard the noise outside, she quickly tied up her hair and put on a cloak. As soon as she stepped out of the door, she saw Zhang Jinwei walking slowly towards her with the cloak he had asked someone to send him a few hours ago draped over his arm. The sky was full of red clouds.
"You're back." Zhou Xian stopped in the corridor full of bird cages, put his hands behind his back, and raised his chin slightly.
Zhang Jinwei smiled and hugged him, saying "hmm" softly.
Dinner was being prepared inside. Yu Xi saw the two of them and hurried forward, taking the cloak from Zhang Jinwei's hand. She smiled and said, "Master, you came back a little late today. Were you delayed on the way?"
Zhang Jinwei took Zhou Xian's hand and said to Yuxi, "I was delayed at the government office. The superiors asked me to stay for a talk, and the conversation lasted quite a while."
"Are you okay?" Zhou Xian couldn't help but feel worried when he heard "people from higher up" and asked quickly.
"What could it be? Just some official business."
Zhou Xian felt relieved.
By this time, the dishes had been laid out, and the maids came pouring out of the house. Qianshan, one of them, asked, "Where's Grandpa? It's strange. I just saw him playing with the birds at the door, and how come he's gone in the blink of an eye?"
After hearing this, Yu Xi stuffed the cloak in her hand into Qian Shan's hand, glanced around, and said anxiously: "Oh, where is the person? I'll go look for him."
As people get older, their minds inevitably become muddled. Although Sun Yi is no longer as moody as before, he is old after all. He often forgets things, speaks incoherently, and often acts on his own accord.
Zhou Xian thought about this and couldn't help but feel worried. She quickly said to Yu Xi, "Aunt, go look for him where he keeps his herbs. Maybe he was feeding the birds when he remembered that he hadn't sorted out the new herbs he had collected today, so he went to sort them out."
The servants searched everywhere, and the couple stood at the door in a panic. But less than two minutes later, Sun Yi came sauntering in with a square step, carrying something wrapped in oil paper. Seeing Zhou Xian standing at the door, he waved with a smile, "Look what I bought?"
"Oh, where have you been, old man? You've been so worried about us." Yu Xi had just returned from the pharmacy. As soon as she stepped into the yard, she saw Sun Yi and her heart finally settled down. She glanced at the oil-paper bag in Sun Yi's hand and teased, "Did you go buy food? What delicious food did you buy? Wait a minute, I'll get a plate to put it on."
Sun Yi smiled and shook the oil-paper bag in his hand: "I bought smoked duck." He said to Zhou Xian who was running towards him: "I remember you loved this the most."
"I..." Zhou Xian froze in his tracks. He couldn't help but look up at Zhang Jinwei, his voice gradually becoming quieter. "I don't like smoked duck."
He likes sweet, light food. Smoked duck has a strong flavor, and Lao Jiang and his family tend to cook light dishes. To be honest, his mother also has a typical Jiangnan taste...
Zhang Jinwei shook his head slightly at him, then smiled and said, "Thank you very much, Grandpa. It's really troublesome for you to come all the way here. Go eat quickly, or the food will get cold."
"You guys eat, you guys eat, I'm not hungry at all!" Sun Yi smiled and waved his hands, not caring about other people's eyes, turned around and walked towards his own room.
Zhou Xian and Zhang Jin looked at each other in confusion.
"...I wonder where Doctor Huang is now." Zhou Xian frowned. "Grandpa's condition is getting worse."
"As you get older, it's inevitable that you might lose your memory." Zhang Jinwei led Zhou Xian into the house. "I'll send people to inquire about Doctor Huang's whereabouts, and we'll also arrange for more people to take care of Grandpa. It's okay if he loses his memory, as long as the feelings are true. I'm worried that the old man might get confused and get lost outside and can't get home. That would be troublesome."
Although Sun Yi said he would not eat dinner, Zhou Xian still asked the maid to pick up some dishes and send them to the old man's room. They were all soups and porridge that were easy to digest, and the meat was stewed until it was mushy.
After this incident, the dishes on the table were already half cold. By the time they were reheated, it was completely dark outside. Dinner was still homely, with four dishes and a soup, much like the Suzhou style.
Zhou Xian ate a few bites and thought about what happened that day. She asked, "Huaiyu, have you ever met Chen Yi and his son?"
"Chen Yi? Prime Minister? I've met him a few times before, but we weren't very familiar with him. What's the matter? Why are you suddenly mentioning them?"
Zhou Xian looked at him. "Today, someone from their family came to say that Lord Chen's grandson's full moon is coming up in three days. They've invited the famous Xingyi family troupe to perform an opera, and they've invited me to the banquet... It's strange. I don't know them well, and neither do you. Why would they invite me, a powerless princess married out of wedlock?"
Not unfamiliar.
Zhang Jinwei hesitated for a moment, then finally confessed, "Xianxian, I probably haven't told you this before, but it was Chen Yi who asked His Majesty... to let me marry a daughter of the imperial clan."
That year, the Chen faction and the Qingliu faction fought a bitter battle, forcing court officials to side with one faction even if they didn't want to. Upon entering the court, the newly minted scholars were all young and uninformed, and their unwise choices only strengthened the power of the two factions, posing no real threat. Only Zhang Jinwei, the newly minted top scholar and a student of the Qingliu leader, was hyped up as a son-in-law of the imperial family before he could even make a name for himself, completely ruining his future.
Fortunately, there is always a chance for success. After many twists and turns, I finally found a good marriage.
"I actually... kind of want to go." Zhou Xian blinked, "But if I go, will others misunderstand me? You recently had a conflict with Elder Mei..."
Zhang Jinwei laughed, "What's the big deal? It's just a show. We, Xianxian, are such a noble family, and we're going to his house to honor him. He should be grateful to Xianxian. Speaking of this 'Xingyi', I've heard of it before when I was in Southern Zhili. I never thought we'd make it all the way north and be bought out by the Chen family as a family troupe."
"I heard from Baldy that the Chen family spent 200,000 taels of silver to buy it... How much did they embezzle?" Zhou Shan said in a low voice.
"How should I know?" Zhang Jinwei also lowered his voice. "I only know that if we ransack their house, we'll definitely be able to raise money for disaster relief."
Zhou Xian quickly exclaimed "Ah".
Zhang Jinwei was startled by him and asked hurriedly, "What happened? Did you bump into something?"
"I originally wanted to come here to talk to you about the Yellow River flood yesterday..." Zhou Xian slapped his forehead in frustration, "We should have discussed this at the morning court, so who's going to be this unlucky imperial envoy?"
Zhang Jinwei shook his head. "This matter involves many things. His Majesty asked the Ministry of Revenue to allocate 500,000 taels of silver for disaster relief, but the Ministry said that after three years of continuous war, they have consumed a lot of money and may not even be able to spare 300,000 taels at the moment. As for the selection of the imperial envoy, there has been a lot of debate and they still haven't chosen one."
Zhou Xian clenched her sleeves upon hearing this.
…
"Wow, this Chen Mansion is even more magnificent than our Highness's Prince's Mansion!"
Qianshan supported Zhou Shan, but he looked around and praised her endlessly.
"You've served in the palace before, too. How can a minister's residence compare to the Forbidden City?" Yu Xi glanced at Qian Shan. "But building it with such fanfare is probably an overreach."
"Chen Yi himself was the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. He had three sons, the youngest of whom, Chen Qia, held the highest position. Although he hadn't yet joined the cabinet, he was already the second-in-command of the Ministry of Revenue, holding a high position within the court." Zhou Xian smiled. "The Ministry of Revenue's lucrative business... huh, it's better not to discuss such matters when you're a guest at someone's house."
At this time, they were walking in the garden of Chen Mansion. This garden was really a scene with every step. A large lake was dug and planted with willows and reeds. Taihu stones were used to make rockery, with overlapping rocks, winding corridors on the lake, and flying gauze in the waterside pavilions. It was truly a beautiful scenery built with silver.
They waited until Zhou Xian was catching her breath before they reached the banquet hall. The Chen family was powerful, and the women attending the banquet all had a history, but Zhou Xian looked around and didn't recognize any of them.
He originally wanted to take advantage of the situation, eat, drink and watch a movie for free, and then sneak back home. However, as soon as he stepped into the hall, he was surrounded by a group of ladies in gorgeous clothes, one of whom was holding a small baby.
The ladies bowed to him and said, "Your Highness Princess Jiayi, I respectfully wish you a long greeting."
Zhou Xian was immediately embarrassed. He glanced around secretly. Everyone was looking at him, even cats and dogs were staring at him. He wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into!
"Please stand up quickly..." He stuttered as he stepped forward and helped the leading lady up.
Madam Chen smiled and said, "How dare I ask Your Highness for help?" After that, seeing Zhou Xian's bewildered face, she introduced everyone one by one, "I am Li from the Chen family, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. This person next to me is..."
Principal wives, concubines... the complexity of the Chen family's backyard was astonishing, not to mention the numerous daughters of Chen Yi and his son! Zhou Xian couldn't help but sigh as she recalled how eighty-year-old Chen Yi was still marrying teenage concubines a few years ago.
After Mrs. Chen finished introducing everyone, Zhou Xian, although he didn't remember any of them, still responded with a friendly smile to each one. After he finished looking around, his eyes fell on the wet nurse's arms and saw the baby's tender little face.
The baby, just one month old, had a round, rosy face and flat features, so it was hard to tell what he would look like in the future. However, judging by Madam Chen's appearance, she probably wouldn't be much worse in the future, as long as her father didn't hold her back.
Zhou Xian carefully reached out her hand and touched the child's cheek.
Very soft.
"Your Highness, do you like children?" Madam Chen carefully observed Zhou Shan's expression and asked with a smile. She was very tactful and personally took the child and handed it to Zhou Shan. "Your Highness, please hold our little tiger and let him feel the royal family's nobility. Come."
Zhou Shan couldn't refuse, so she had to pick up the child awkwardly.
It's incredible.
A light little baby will grow taller and bigger little by little after more than ten years, and finally become a complete person.
Madam Chen asked casually, "The princess and her husband have been married for three or four years now. The war was busy in the past few years, and now that they've returned to the capital, the princess likes children..."
"Children are adorable, but raising them is a real hassle." Zhou Xian finally realized he was being tricked and gave Madam Chen a faint smile. "It's okay to look at other people's children on a daily basis, but if I had my own, I'd probably be disgusted every day."
"That's right." Madam Chen took the child back. "But the princess and her husband are a perfect match, so their child will surely be smart and clever. How can we know if we haven't had one yet?"
Zhou Xian just smiled and said nothing more.
Deep in his heart, a sense of loss could not help but seep out.
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