A matchmaker came to Mr. Tang's courtyard, but the matter was like a small ripple that quickly passed, and no one paid any attention to it.
Of course, the Li family, who lived far away in Xindu, were completely unaware of this.
Jiayin thought that her brothers had all gone to their posts and there was nothing important at home, so she packed her things and went to the palace.
The palace is busy preparing the dowry for the Third Princess; she must be overwhelmed and on the verge of tears.
If Jiayin doesn't intervene at this point, the Third Princess will personally come out to arrest them.
Sure enough, the Third Princess was slamming the account books when she heard that Jiayin had finally returned. She lifted her skirt and ran out.
In late spring and early summer, the weather was fine. Jiayin wore a willow-green spring shirt with an ivory-white pleated skirt. Large sunflowers were embroidered on the hem of the shirt and skirt. She looked refreshing and lively no matter how you looked at her.
Most of her dark hair was piled up at the back of her head, with a small portion left out, braided with pearl ribbons, which made her skin look even whiter and her eyes bright with laughter.
The third princess stepped forward, hugged her, and spun her around, playfully scolding, "I knew you were heartless! You don't miss me once you're home. I can't eat or sleep well here, but you've gotten fat!"
Jiayin knew that she was always sharp-tongued but actually very easy to coax, so she took the exquisitely woven little basket from Shuiling's hands. The basket was full of big red strawberries.
"Who says I don't miss you? Look, I picked two baskets of strawberries in my greenhouse and gave them all to you. Baozhu didn't even get a single one."
"That's more like it!" The third princess reached out, grabbed a strawberry, and popped it into her mouth, immediately beaming with joy.
Jiayin gestured for Caiyun to take the other basket and said, "This basket is for Uncle Huang to have something fresh to eat. Please take it to the Imperial Study."
The Third Princess scoffed, "What Imperial Study? Father Emperor is so bewitched by that vixen that he has no time to deal with state affairs! He spends all his time joking around with the Consort!"
Jiayin instinctively tugged at her arm, and seeing that there were no outsiders nearby, they went into the house together.
The two sat down again at the small kang table. Shui Ling and Shui Yun stood guard at the door before Jia Yin said, "What were you saying just now? It's not good if word gets out. The Imperial Concubine is my uncle's concubine, it's normal for him to visit her more often!"
The third princess pouted unhappily, ate four or five strawberries in one bite, and bit down hard as if venting her anger.
"In the past, Father Emperor doted on her, but recently it's been strange. He seems to be inseparable from her almost every day. Yet, despite her clinging to Father Emperor like this, all she's given birth to is a sickly second prince, and nothing else has happened."
"Someone in the court is trying to get Father to choose a concubine. She probably plans to pester Father until the matter is dropped. Otherwise, whoever enters the palace and gives birth to a healthy prince will have no chance for her son!"
After saying that, seeing Jiayin frown, she quickly smiled ingratiatingly.
"Fine, fine, I won't say that again. After I get married, who will care about these palace affairs!"
“That’s right,” Jiayin said, pouring tea and whispering, “You are a princess and will never inherit the throne, so don’t get involved in these matters. Your uncle knows what’s going on. If you take good care of him, you won’t suffer any losses.”
The third princess sighed, tossed aside the strawberry stem in her hand, and replied, "I didn't want this either, but... I went to see my mother yesterday, and she's become terribly thin; she probably doesn't have much time left. I want to beg my father to release her and send me off to my marriage..."
"But Father will definitely not agree, right?"
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.
"If I have children in the future, I will definitely be a good mother and won't make things so difficult for them."
Jiayin didn't know how to persuade her anymore, so she could only pat her back and offer silent comfort...
In the distant city of Quanzhou, the fleet of envoys from eight nations finally returned at noon on this day, and the Li family also welcomed back Jiaxi, his family of three, and Jia'an.
A long line of horse-drawn carriages carried the goods brought back from Xindu into the Li family's residence.
Li Zhensheng, who was away on business, along with Jiayi and Liu Yang from the military, also rushed back.
As for the pregnant Shanhu and Linlang, they were picked up by people sent by Old Lady Li long ago.
It's really fate. Jiayi and Liu Yang have been inseparable since they met. They joined the army together, went south together, got married together, separated their families and lived separately, and now they've even become fathers together.
Although she was only a little over a month pregnant, Coral and Linlang had already become the focus of the whole family's protection.
Now that the fleet has returned, the house is in such a flurry of activity, but no one is allowed to help them, and they are even afraid of being touched. They are only allowed to sit in the house and eat fruit and snacks.
There were a few little kids, Xingxing, running around the yard, chattering and laughing non-stop.
Coral and Linlang were itching to join in, but could only stand under the eaves with smiles, barely managing to get a piece of the action.
Grandma Li had a few more gray hairs, but her granddaughters-in-law were very filial and embroidered many headbands and hats for her. She wore a different one every day, so it wasn't too noticeable.
Today, she had originally planned to go for a stroll with her daughter-in-law, so she specially changed into a dark blue embroidered floral top with a diagonal placket, paired with a dark blue horse-face skirt, and dressed neatly and cleanly.
Little did I expect that my grandchildren would return at this crucial moment.
Jiaxi, with her sweet tongue, immediately went up to her grandmother as soon as she entered the door, hugged her arm, and jokingly praised, "Oh my, whose grandmother is this? She's dressed so beautifully. Is she the Queen Mother of the West descended from heaven?"
Grandma Li's eyes crinkled with laughter as she coaxed her grandson. She playfully slapped him and scolded him with a laugh, "You little rascal, you're a father now, and you still can't be serious!"
“Why would I need to be serious in front of my grandma? I can put on an act in front of others, but my grandma knows perfectly well that I wet the bed when I was five years old!” Jiaxi snuggled into her grandma’s arms, and she lost all sense of propriety when she started joking.
As it turned out, Xingxing and Wenwen were following behind, and when they heard this, they exclaimed, "Fourth Uncle, you were still wetting the bed when you were five years old!"
Wenwen chimed in, "I don't wet the bed anymore!"
The courtyard was silent for a moment, then everyone burst into laughter.
Jiaxi quickly looked around and saw that all her sisters-in-law were there. She blushed so much that she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.
Grandma Li, however, stood up for her grandson and urged him to leave, "You're all sweaty, go change your clothes. We're waiting for you to distribute the food!"
Jiaxi quickly handed over the box containing the letters, then grabbed his wife and children and ran away.
Jia'an smiled, bowed, and followed him down.
The group quickly opened the box and took out a thick stack of letters.
Mr. Wen and the Liu family wrote to Mrs. Wen, Li Yong and the village elders wrote to Hui Niang, Liu the镖头 wrote to his wife and children, and even Mr. Peng wrote a letter to his daughter Wen Juan.
Of course, the Li family received the most.
Jia Yin wrote letters to her grandmother, mother, uncle, and Jia Yi and his wife.
Li Lao Er also wrote to his mother...
This was for Li Laosan's mother and wife...
Jia Huan gave these to his grandma, his mother, his wife, and his second brother...
In short, after sorting through the letters, almost everyone received at least two or three letters.
There are only so many things to do at home. No matter how many people write about them, they won't produce anything particularly unique.
But all the care and concern are genuine.
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