There was a heavy snowfall at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month.
The Xingyue Lake in the Princess's Mansion was frozen over. Lu Baohua was getting married in a few days, and the Duke's Mansion was bustling with activity.
These days, Lu Baozhu has been practicing calligraphy quietly in the yard.
When Qi Yuning took Lingling to play with Lu Baozhu, he saw Lu Baozhu practicing calligraphy. Qi Yuning carefully confirmed whether the sun outside had risen from the west.
"It's really more bizarre than the sun rising from the west. You, Lu Baozhu, would actually take the initiative to practice calligraphy?"
Lu Baozhu listened to Qi Yuning's words and snorted softly, "It's freezing outside, what's fun? I might as well practice calligraphy. Now my sisters are either married or engaged, and there's no one to play with me anymore. One by one, they got married in the past few days. They got married in such a short time, and they're not afraid of marrying the wrong person!"
Qi Yuning said: "You are just saying the grapes are sour because you can't eat them."
Lu Baozhu snorted softly, "I, Lu Baozhu, am going to get married, and those who want to marry me can line up from here to the city gate."
Lingling saw Lu Baozhu's handwriting and said, "Aunt's handwriting is so beautiful. Lingling will not learn calligraphy from the second aunt anymore. She will learn from aunt!"
Qi Yuning smiled faintly. Don’t tell me, Lu Baozhu’s previous hard work in practicing the character “永” did have miraculous effects.
This is the foundation of the character "永", so practicing other characters will be much easier.
When Lu Baozhu saw Qi Yuning coming over, she asked, "Aren't you busy today? It's the twelfth lunar month again. Normally, you would be busy with the account books at this time, right?"
Qi Yuning said, "Baohua will be getting married in two days. I came here to ask you to go with me to give Lu Baohua some dowry."
Lu Baozhu asked, "What do you plan to give as a gift?"
"There are many rare ancient books in our Prince Qi's study. It would be a pity to leave them in Prince Qi's house. I was planning to give them to Lu Baohua as a gift."
Lu Baozhu said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier that you were going to give her a rare ancient book? If I gave her gold, silver, and jewelry, wouldn't it make me look vulgar? As a sister, I can't be so careless. So, you can accompany me to the bookstore outside to look for any famous ancient paintings."
Qi Yuning said, "There are quite a few ancient paintings by famous artists in your elder brother's study. You can take them as your dowry."
Lu Baozhu said: "His collection of paintings is a treasure, more important than his life."
"Yeah?"
After Qi Yuning got married, she only went to Lu Ze's study once.
It would be better if I went there more often with Lu Baozhu when I was a child. Lu Ze never told me not to touch his collection of paintings.
Lu Baozhu said, "You don't know how horrible it would be if you touched his collection of paintings. You should go out and buy a painting."
When sisters give dowry gifts to each other, they usually give each other some jewelry as a token of their appreciation. They are all sisters who have no shortage of money. Lu Baozhu was really afraid that her dowry gift as an elder sister would not be as thoughtful as Qi Yuning's.
Qi Yuning had some free time anyway, so he accompanied Lu Baozhu to the bookstore outside.
To the owner of the bookshop, these two princesses were truly rare guests!
Qi Yuning showed Lingling some enlightenment books. Although there were many books at home, Lingling was still young and would lose her composure after reading them a few times. Lu Ze had a strange temper and could not stand wrinkled pages, so it would be better to buy a few more books.
"Sister Nian, do you think this picture of a horse at the border is beautiful? It was painted by the famous Shi Mo three hundred years ago. It's a pity that it's too expensive. I think it must be the treasure of this bookstore."
Qi Yuning heard a cute female voice, and then heard Lingling calling her aunt and brother. She turned around and saw that it was Shen Nian. There was a cute girl about fifteen years old next to her.
When Shen Nian saw Qi Yuning, he smiled faintly and said, "What a coincidence, we meet again."
Before Qi Yuning could speak, Lingling said, "Let's choose some paintings to add to the makeup for Second Aunt."
The pretty girl next to Shen Nian asked Shen Nian: "Sister Nian, who is this?"
"This is Princess Qi from Prince Qi's Mansion, and this is her daughter, Princess Lingling."
Shen Nian introduced to Qi Yuning: "This is my aunt's niece, Yang Rusi, who is just fifteen years old."
Qi Yuning looked at Yang Rusi and saw that she had no intention of paying respect. He then remembered what Mrs. Shen had said last time about her low birth. He just glanced at Yang Rusi and went to Lu Baozhu.
The bookshop owner took Lu Baozhu for a walk. Lu Baozhu pointed to a painting of a horse at the border and said, "This is the one. The man that Sister Baohua is going to marry is a general stationed at the border. This painting is valuable and suitable for the occasion. Let's buy this one!"
Seeing Lu Baozhu wearing a dazzling cloud brocade dress and a golden hairpin and step-shaking ornaments, Yang Rusi couldn't help but look down on her and said, "This painting was painted by Shi Mo, a great painter during the founding of the Great Sheng Dynasty. You can't buy it without five thousand taels of silver. You are so arrogant!"
Lu Baozhu had never thought that a painting would cost five thousand taels of silver, but Princess Lu was very proud: "It's just five thousand taels of silver. What does this dowry mean to my daughter of the Lu family? Just this painting, pack it up!"
Qi Yuning looked at Lu Baozhu in disbelief as she saw how grand she was.
The shopkeeper whispered, "Young Master Shen has already asked for this painting. He offered six thousand taels of silver."
Lu Baozhu asked, "Did he pay the money?"
The bookshop owner shook his head and said, "No! Young Master Shen said he went back to collect money."
Lu Baozhu said, "I'll pay six thousand six hundred taels. I'll pay the money right now. Give me the painting!"
Qi Yuning thought that Lu Baozhu would not have so much silver. She gave her a lot of rewards on a daily basis, and the princess and the duke also gave her one hundred taels of silver almost every month for spending, but Lu Baozhu had always been extravagant.
It was estimated that she had enough money in her pocket to save three thousand taels, and she was afraid that she could not come up with such a huge amount of money.
Sure enough, she saw Lu Baozhu approaching her and said, "Good sister-in-law, pay the money!"
Lu Baozhu leaned close to Qi Yuning's ear and whispered, "Lend me some money first. When I get married, I'll pay you back with my dowry. You can't let others look down on me!"
Qi Yuning smiled faintly and said to the shopkeeper, "Pack it up and ask your boss to come to the princess's mansion to ask me to pay the debt."
The shopkeeper responded repeatedly: "Yes."
Lu Baozhu looked at Yang Rusi and said, "If you can't afford it yourself, don't think that others can't afford it. I'm just being arrogant."
Qi Yuning pulled Lu Baozhu and said, "Let's go."
Lu Baozhu and Qi Yuning walked out of the bookstore and saw Shen Jialin coming.
This was the first time Lu Baozhu met Shen Jialin since they parted in the teahouse that day.
Shen Jialin looked at Lu Baozhu, with many difficult-to-express emotions welling up in his heart. After the teahouse that day, he asked many people in Shengjing, and also asked Prince Xu vaguely. Only then did Prince Xu reveal the true character of Princess Baozhu.
He was fond of pleasure and extravagance, loved fine clothes and jewellery, but disliked literature and was even the one who hated scholars the most.
He has been extremely superficial since childhood. He is a simple person, but because he has no scheming, he is easily taken advantage of by others.
Shen Jialin couldn't even convince himself to make this woman his wife, but after reading through two years' letters in the past few days, he had discovered that Miss Qian was quick to repay and vengeance and had a straightforward personality.
He had been trying to forget about Lu Baozhu these days, but he didn't expect that when he saw her, he still found it so difficult to calm down.
"Brother Lin~"
Qi Yuning shuddered as she heard the voice of her brother, who sounded even more childish than Lingling's. Yang Rusi walked up to Shen Jialin and said, "Brother Lin~"
Shen Jialin ignored his cousin, handed the banknote to the shopkeeper, and said, "Pack up the border horse painting I want."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Shen, this border horse painting has just been bought by Princess Lu."
Shen Jialin looked at the figure who had not yet walked away from the door, chased after him and said, "Princess Lu, wait a minute, I have been looking for that border horse painting for a long time, and I was lucky enough to see it in Shengjing City. Please give it to me!"
Lu Baozhu said: "A gentleman does not take away what others like. This painting is mine! If you want it, unless..."
Shen Jialin asked: "Unless what?"
"Unless you are willing to marry into my Lu family and become my husband, I will naturally give you this painting!"
Lu Baozhu's voice was loud, attracting the attention of the men outside the bookstore.
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