Lu Yan's heart softened upon hearing this. He patted his hand and said, "It doesn't matter whether the phoenix crown is with you or not. What matters is the reward from the Empress. Everyone knows that respectability is the key, not this thing, understand?"
No matter how unhappy Bai Wanyi was, she could only watch Lu Yan take away the phoenix crown along with the cloth and other items. However, he left her fifty taels of gold so that she could buy some dowry for herself.
Bai Wanyi's heart was on the prince, and he had been dealing with him for so long, but he hadn't gotten even a word or two of concern from him. Could it be that he was going to use his trump card?
No, that would really push the prince and Lu Yan to opposite sides, and there would be no room for turning back if things were done too extreme. What's more, it was too dangerous, and Bai Wanyi couldn't be sure that he could get away with it.
Fortunately, the wedding date has not been set yet, and Bai Wanyi feels that he should do something.
Lu Yan excitedly took the silver to buy the betrothal gifts, completely unaware that Bai Wanyi took the gold but did not use it to buy the dowry.
He paid back the silver from various places, and the remaining money was not enough to build a glazed greenhouse. This time, she did not ask Bai Wanyi's opinion, but simply cut half of the glazed tiles, and only built one of the three walls. There was only one window left on the glazed roof.
On the day of the betrothal gifts, Lu Yan specially invited a duke's wife to be a matchmaker, and with the betrothal gifts, he traveled across most of the capital to the villa.
Lu Yan ran around for the betrothal gift this time, and the news spread all over the capital. Now the betrothal gift naturally attracted the attention of countless people, who wanted to see what rare thing had caused such a big fuss.
The first thing in the betrothal gift was a phoenix crown bestowed by the Empress, and other imperial gifts, followed by the glazed flower house pattern made by Yangshi Lei.
Unlike the previous palm-sized greenhouse, the greenhouse displayed in the betrothal gift was more than two feet long. The crystal clear glass reflected the brilliance in the sunlight and attracted the envy of passers-by.
"This betrothal gift is truly extravagant."
"I heard that when the Lu family first married the Qin family's daughter, there was no such ceremony."
"Hush, look, isn't that the Qin family's carriage?"
Qin Yan's carriage stopped in front of the teahouse. She glanced at the people who were talking, and when she saw them turning their heads, she snorted coldly and quickly went upstairs.
As soon as he entered the private room, he saw Qin Wan leisurely drinking tea, and he was even more furious: "Aren't you angry?"
Qin Wan shook her head and laughed, "Why should I be angry? What's there to be angry about? I only get angry when I care."
Qin Yan rolled her eyes at her unhappily: "Do you mean I care?" She changed her tone and said happily: "Yes, I just can't stand it."
"Although you were young when you got engaged, both families were marquises, and the marriage was approved by His Majesty, so it should have been a grand ceremony. But Grandfather felt that the Lu family had just lost a family, and considering their orphan and widow's situation was truly difficult, he only asked for one thousand taels of silver."
"It's Lu Yan's mother. Madam Li thought it wasn't pretty, so she added some from her own dowry to give her some respectability. But to me, the widowed mother is Lu Yan's grandmother. It's not like Lu Yan's father is dead, and his biological mother comes from a prominent family with a huge dowry. She could have come up with a decent betrothal gift, but in the end, she was so stingy."
Qin Yan glanced downstairs and threw a handful of melon seed shells through the window: "Lu Yan gave such a lavish betrothal gift today, isn't this a slap in your face?"
Qin Wan glanced outside, unconcerned. "He holds the imperial decree granting the marriage, so it's normal for him to be a bit more prominent."
The chatter from downstairs reached up, still comparing the Bai family to the eldest daughter of the Qin family. Qin Yan spilled a cup of tea, and the whole place was in chaos. She said coldly, "That Lu Yan is such a worthless person! He actually trampled on our family's reputation. How can an orphan like the Bai family be compared to the legitimate daughter of our Qin family? They're having an affair without a matchmaker, and yet they're so brazen about it!"
Qin Wan didn't care about these things, but seeing that her third sister was not in a good mood, she pointed to the ostentatious betrothal gift downstairs and said, "Third sister, look at what that is."
Qin Yan looked over when he heard that. That somewhat translucent yet somewhat whitish thing that reflected the sunlight at beautiful angles, if it wasn't glass, what else could it be?
Her eyes lit up: "Isn't that the Wuxiang Liuli made in your workshop?"
"Exactly." Qin Wan said with a smile, "Guess how much silver I asked for from him?"
Qin Yan didn't guess. She grabbed Qin Wan's sleeve and shook it: "Good sister, tell me quickly, so that I can have some fun too."
Qin Wan laughed out loud, "The Wuxiang Liuli is three feet long and one side costs one thousand taels of silver. He asked for ten."
"Ten thousand taels!" Qin Yan's eyes widened. Even though they were her own sisters, she still had to say, "You are such a bandit!"
After saying that, she smiled again: "But well done! He's in a hurry to use it, so I'm afraid he'd be happy to pay a higher price."
Qin Wan shook her head. "He originally wanted thirty pieces, but he didn't have enough money, so he kept reducing the amount. Moreover, he originally ordered thirty pieces of Wu Xiang Liu Li, but he only wanted ten. I also charged him five hundred taels as liquidated damages."
"Hahaha! That's beautifully done!"
Qin Yan clapped his hands and laughed, his eyes falling on the extremely slow moving betrothal gift convoy below. He curled his lips and said, "If we were to go fast, we'd fall over in the blink of an eye, but it's already taken a quarter of an hour. This isn't the way to display betrothal gifts. Aren't you afraid of attracting impeachment from the censors?"
Qin Wan tapped her with her fan and said with a smile, "Lu Yan and Bai's marriage was granted by His Majesty, and the Empress also gave gifts, so it's okay to show it off. But I do have something I want to ask you."
"What do you want to ask?" Qin Yan looked at Qin Wan with sparkling eyes. "There's nothing in the capital that I don't know. Just ask."
Qin Wan smiled slyly, pointed at the phoenix corona in the betrothal gift, and said, "I heard the reward was a pair of white jade ruyi and a phoenix corona. Do you think the phoenix corona is real or fake?"
Qin Yan peered in for a moment, not quite understanding. "Since you're asking specifically, there must be something wrong with this phoenix crown. But it was given by the Empress, how dare he tamper with it?"
Qin Wan tapped her fingertips lightly on the table. "Although the gift from the Empress is magnificent, what if there is no mark? That phoenix crown was not made by the Empress, but was given as a dowry by the Empress."
The queen was the biological sister of the late queen. She was brought up as a legitimate daughter of a large family, and her dowry was prepared for her since she was a child. After the late queen passed away, her family was afraid that the queen would treat the prince badly and would ruin the child, so they plotted in the palace and sent the queen into the palace.
As a result, the dowry originally prepared for the Queen was not enough, so a lot more was added. This phoenix crown was one of the added ones.
Qin Yan understood after hearing this: "So this is the one the Empress gave me. Then, where did the Phoenix Coronet that Marquis Pingyang secretly gave me go? And where did he get an identical one?"
Qin Wan didn't answer, but raised her hand and someone came in.
Qin Yan recognized this person. It was an apprentice in the Treasure Pavilion of her own dowry. "What are you doing here?"
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