Zhou Zijun understood that Zhao Wu was unwilling. Given Zhou Zimei's behavior just now, he wouldn't be willing to do it either. He didn't mention Zhou Zimei anymore, and the two of them drank happily.
After seeing Zhao Wu off, the rain continued to fall. Zhou Zijun asked someone to light a sheep-horn lantern and went to Duke Zhou's study. The servant said that Duke Zhou was not there and had gone to the old Grand Tutor's. Zhou Zijun then went to the old Grand Tutor's small study.
Not only Duke Zhou is here, but the Crown Prince is also here, and they are discussing important matters.
After listening to Zhou Zijun's report, Duke Zhou's face darkened. He was angry that his niece disobeyed orders and acted out of line, and he also felt that Zhao Wu was ignorant and did not give face to the Zhou family.
He snorted coldly, "This boy always acts on his emotions and is not fit for important tasks."
Old Master Zhou looked at his son and said, "Zhao Wu would rather sacrifice his future than save Xu Qingyan. He might already have feelings for the girl from the Xu family, so how could he have eyes for another woman? A man who values love has both strengths and weaknesses. Don't try to control him by force, but instead try to win him over and impress him. Such a man, if used well, can be of great use... Zhao Wu is young, and if he is won over, he will be the most useful person to the King of Wu, or even the Crown Prince of Wu..."
Duke Zhou and Crown Prince Zhou both said, "Yes. That's what our father (grandfather) taught us."
Old Master Zhou then said to Prince Zhou, "Tomorrow, have your wife send a notice to the girl from the Xu family, inviting her to come to our mansion for a day. She is Xu Qingyan's eldest daughter and has a close relationship with Zhao Wu. Our mansion should treat her with courtesy."
Prince Zhou bowed and agreed.
Old Master Zhou's face darkened again, and he said, "As for Mei Ya'er, let the eldest son's wife discipline her properly. She's been in Shaanxi for a long time, and has been spoiled beyond measure by the third son and his wife. How could the daughter of our Zhou family, who is sensible and virtuous, do such a thing and make herself laughed at?"
Two days later in the morning, Xu Lanyin and Xu Lanyue prepared to go to Zhou's house.
Xu Lanyin dressed modestly, draped in silk and silk, her hair adorned with jewels and emeralds, and lightly made up, looking respectful enough to greet a guest without appearing too outlandish. She, however, had dressed the little girl up nicely, giving her a new bamboo-leaf green half-sleeve, a pale green gauze skirt, and a cinnabar mole dotted between her eyebrows. Yesterday, Xu Lanyin had even drawn a pattern and had Aunt Fang give the little girl bangs, thicker and longer than usual, especially on the left side of her face, leaving a little more hair to cover a small part of the scar.
Xu Lanyue held the mirror tightly and refused to let go. She was so excited that she kept saying, "I have become beautiful. I can be this beautiful too."
It made everyone laugh.
Xu Lanyin brought three chess sets as gifts: a set of wenge-wood chess, a set of water nanmu military chess, and a set of Sanbao checkers. These were her collector's editions, made in Liaozhou Prefecture. She had three sets of Sanbao checkers made, with one for Minjia and one for Xiao Xingxing. She had brought all three sets to the capital specifically in case they were of great use, and today they really came in handy.
Xu Lanyin and Xu Lanyue took their two maids to the Zhou residence by carriage. When they arrived at the corner gate, the servant took Xu Lanyue to the small study to meet Old Master Zhou, while Xu Lanyin took a sedan chair to the inner courtyard.
The sedan chair carried Xu Lanyin directly to the gate of the courtyard of the Crown Prince's wife, Grandma Zhou.
The yard was full of flowers and filled with laughter. Several beautiful girls and young wives were drinking tea and chatting under the veranda, along with a young man.
Xu Lanyin immediately recognized the young man as the Fourth Prince, Liu Zhaohou. Unexpectedly meeting this old acquaintance, Xu Lanyin's smile became even more sincere.
Today, Liu Zhaohou insisted on coming to his maternal family's house to play, and the Empress Dowager let him go. In the Zhou residence, he only played well with his cousin Zhou Ziyou. The Zhou family treated him like a child and let him roam freely in the inner courtyard.
Liu Zhaohou also saw Xu Lanyin, and ran towards her, calling her "Sister Xu".
His behavior surprised the female members of the Zhou family. How could he know Miss Xu and call her so affectionately?
Xu Lanyin knelt and saluted Liu Zhaohou, saying with a smile, "Fourth Prince, what a coincidence."
Liu Zhaohou puffed his cheeks and said, "Sister Xu, I finally get to see you. I missed you so much. I've always wanted Cousin Chai to take me to the teahouse to see you, play chess with you, and listen to you talk, but my father and grandmother wouldn't allow it."
He spoke slowly and stuttered a bit, but he expressed how much he missed Xu Lanyin.
A very pretty girl came over and said with a smile, "Cousin, since we are guests, you should always invite us to sit down, serve us some tea, and talk about old times."
Liu Zhaohou suddenly realized, "Right, right, right. Sister Xu, please go over and sit down. Let's play another round."
The girl took Xu Lanyin's hand and walked towards the group. She introduced herself, "Miss Xu, I'm Zhou Ziyou. So you're the sister Xu that my cousin always talks about, the one who's good at both playing chess and talking. What a coincidence."
She is one of the four beauties in the capital that Zhao Wu mentioned, Zhou Ziyu, also known as Miss Zhou Wu.
It seemed that she had a very good relationship with Liu Zhaohou, and she also showed goodwill towards him.
Arriving in front of the group, Zhou Ziyou pointed at a beautiful woman in her twenties and said, "This is my sister-in-law."
Xu Lanyin knelt down and smiled, "Grandma Zhou."
Grandma Zhou smiled and said, "What a beautiful girl! Come to our house often in the future."
Zhou Ziyou pointed to a young woman in her early twenties and another in her late twenties and said, "These are my third and fourth sisters-in-law."
Xu Lanyin still knelt down to greet him.
Afterwards, a beautiful girl of about eighteen or nineteen said with a smile, "No need to introduce myself, Fifth Sister. I am Zhou Zimei."
This is Miss Zhou Zimei, whom the Zhou family wanted to introduce to Zhao Wu, but the girl looked down on Zhao Wu. Xu Lanyin had already heard Zhao Wu mention her name.
Wednesday girl smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes.
She looked down on the poor boy Zhao Wu, and of course she couldn't possibly look down on her, the daughter of a minor military officer from a secret guard family. Of these women, Grandma Zhou had a signature smile like a noble lady, Zhou Ziyou and Grandma Zhou San smiled sincerely, but Grandma Zhou Si and Zhou Zimei clearly disliked her, a country girl.
Xu Lanyin still smiled brightly and said, "Miss Zhou San."
Seeing that they had finally finished introducing themselves, Liu Zhaohou said impatiently, "Now that you've gotten to know each other, Sister Xu, come and play chess with me."
Zhou Ziyou pouted and said, "My sister-in-law only has Go, military chess, and checkers, but no chess. If you want to play chess, go to my grandfather's place and don't make trouble here."
Among these people, only Zhou Ziyu dared to speak to Liu Zhaohou like this.
Liu Zhaohou refused, "But I just want to play chess."
Zhou Ziyou said, "Then go to my grandfather's place. My grandfather loves playing chess the most."
After hearing this, Liu Zhaohou reluctantly shut up, with his lips still curled up, indicating that he was very unhappy.
Grandma Zhou didn't want to offend the Fourth Prince, so she smiled and said, "My master has a chess set in his study. I'll have someone fetch it right away."
Liu Zhaohou finally became happy.
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