Jiayin smiled, her big eyes crinkling, and said proudly, "Of course, my family's car fleet is always on the move."
Lu Zong waved his hand, signaling the head steward and others to carry the boxes back.
Then, he looked at Jiayin and asked, "Thank you for making this trip, Princess. I don't have anything special here, so I'll just give you a pair of newly acquired jade horse ornaments as a token of my gratitude. What do you think?"
Jiayin nodded quickly, delighted, but said, "That's great! I'll take it back to the princess later and tell her you specially found it for her to play with. Otherwise, I've taken so long, and the princess will get angry and complain that it tickles!"
Lu Zong hesitated for a moment, but still had the head steward fetch a brocade box, which he presented to Jiayin with both hands.
Jiayin accepted the gift, beaming with joy as she thanked him, "Thank you so much, Brother Lu, you saved my life!"
Lu Zong smiled and shook his head, replying, "Your brothers are almost never in Xindu. If there's anything you can't tell your family, remember to come and ask me for help."
"Understood, Brother Lu. Don't worry, I won't hesitate to help if I need anything." Jiayin waved with a smile and took her leave of Lu Zong.
Soon, the carriage turned around and headed towards the palace.
Lu Zong stood in front of the door for a long time without leaving.
In the end, Lu Feng couldn't stand it any longer and stepped forward to whisper, "Young Master, why don't you open the chest and see what your family sent over?"
Lu Zong nodded, turned and went through the gate...
The third princess had gone to the door to peek countless times.
It's strange, really. For so many years before, she had been alone and hadn't found it particularly difficult.
But ever since Jiayin came to her, she could no longer bear to be alone.
I don't enjoy eating, and I miss sleeping; everything seems to have become boring.
The Third Princess greeted Jiayin almost as soon as she stepped into the threshold of Zhilan Palace.
Before she could complain, Jiayin quickly shoved the box containing the jade horse into her hands.
"Don't nag me, I've already rushed back as fast as I could. This is something Brother Lu asked me to bring you. Go and smile to yourself, let me catch my breath, I'm exhausted."
The third princess blushed, glared at her, and quickly ordered the palace maids, "Help the princess change her clothes and wash up!"
After saying that, she ran into the house and secretly opened the box.
When Jiayin returned to the main hall after tidying herself up, the Third Princess was resting her chin on her hand, staring at the jade horse in the box and grinning foolishly. Her infatuated look made Jiayin tease her.
"Ahem, such a beautiful princess, how come her smile looks like a fool's? If Brother Lu sees this, he might call off the engagement!"
The third princess stomped her foot in anger and pretended to strangle Jiayin.
Jiayin quickly begged for mercy, and then explained why she had gone to the Lu family.
The Third Princess had also heard the rumors outside. After asking around for a while, she was relieved to hear that Lu Zong hadn't changed much and didn't seem to be in a state of dejection.
She said proudly, "I knew Brother Lu was a broad-minded person and would never suffer because of rumors."
"Yes, yes, your Brother Lu is wonderful in every way." Jiayin took a pastry and ate it slowly, then asked, "Has the palace been quiet these past two days?"
The Third Princess pouted, "What's so quiet about that? That girl in Ronghua Palace is favored; countless people are trying to curry favor with her. I heard the carriages are lined up at the palace gate! And they're going to have some kind of summer banquet in a few days!"
Jiayin laughed and said, "There are indeed carriages at the palace gate, but I was riding in your carriage, so it didn't delay my entry into the palace. It's clear that no matter how powerful Ronghua Palace is, it's not as good as our Third Princess."
"You went home and drank honey, why are you suddenly so good at making me happy!" The Third Princess happily pulled Jiayin to sit next to her, took some pastries and munched on them, then mumbled, "Ronghua Palace sent word that they want us to attend the banquet too."
"No!" Jiayin immediately replied. "There will be too many people and too much trouble. Let's just stay in Zhilan Palace. We could use that time to grill some lamb skewers and have a hot pot."
“Great, great! It’s been so long since I’ve had lamb skewers.” The Third Princess responded immediately. “I don’t want to see those people’s fake smiles. I’m taking tonics anyway. I’ll just have Caiyun go and tell them in a bit.”
"It's a pity that the jade melons at home aren't ripe yet. Otherwise, it would be even more wonderful to have hot pot with a few pieces of jade melon."
Jiayin sighed, still a little worried, "It's been so dry this year, we're all carrying water to irrigate the fields. The golden melons are doing alright, they're sweeter because of the dryness. But the jade melons are no good, they don't get enough water, they're small and crack easily."
"These past few days, Grandpa Village Chief has been leading the old men and women of each family to work hard on weaving baskets. Each jade melon needs to be covered, otherwise the sun is so strong that the jade melons will be ruined."
The third princess had never worked in the fields before and didn't understand these customs, but she listened with great interest and asked, "Are jade melons also afraid of the sun?"
"Of course, everything has a spirit, and being too cold or too hot is uncomfortable." Jiayin was too lazy to explain to her, so she just said, "If you behave well lately, the Jade Melon Garden will be open in a few days, and I'll take you to the field. You can pick whichever one you want to eat!"
"Haha, great! I'm going to eat you out of house and home!" the Third Princess provocatively declared.
Jiayin wasn't afraid at all, her face full of disdain, "At most you can only eat three or five!"
Everyone couldn't help but laugh, which made the Third Princess even more insistent, until Jiayin offered her half a bowl of ice cream, which immediately comforted her wounded heart...
In the afternoon, when the sun wasn't so strong, Caiyun went to Ronghua Palace and politely asked for a sick leave.
Upon hearing this, the Imperial Concubine's head maid went into the inner palace to report.
The Imperial Concubine had been accompanying the Emperor during his afternoon nap and had just woken up.
At this moment, the Emperor was reading a travelogue, while the Imperial Concubine was flipping through the gift lists sent by various families.
Upon hearing that the Third Princess and Jiayin would be absent from the banquet in a few days, the Imperial Concubine frowned and asked the Emperor with some grievance, "Does the Third Princess have some misunderstanding about me? The banquet is still a long way off, and she's already saying she can't come."
The Emperor waved his hand dismissively, his eyes still glued to the book before him, and replied, "My dear consort, don't worry. The Third Princess has always been willful. She's clearly unwell, but she doesn't want to take her medicine, and she's been throwing a tantrum at me about it lately!"
"My dear consort, just make the banquet more lively, and perhaps she will change her mind."
The Imperial Concubine smiled and stopped dwelling on the matter, changing the subject, "Your Majesty, I've received so many visiting cards lately that I'm overwhelmed and don't know what to do."
The Emperor finally looked up and glanced at the visiting cards, then smiled and said, "These people are trying to get on your good side, and they probably all have daughters who are about the same age as the Second Prince."
"Ah, is that so?" The Imperial Concubine was full of surprise, then turned to annoyance and reproach, "How could I not have thought of these things? It is thanks to Your Majesty's reminder."
The Emperor smiled indulgently and comforted her, "My beloved concubine is naturally pure-hearted, so it's normal that she wouldn't think of these things. I estimate that everyone will bring their daughters to the banquet, so you can take a good look at them then."
"If you find someone you like, keep an eye on her. She'll be your daughter-in-law eventually, so you have to like her."
The imperial concubine happily agreed and carefully examined the posts.
Two birds, tired from flying, stopped to perch on a tree in the yard. They watched and listened to everything, and finally gave each other a disdainful look.
Humans are strange; even when they're unhappy inside, they still have to smile on their faces.
How terrifying!
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