Ning Tai got off the carriage, waved his hand and said, "No need!", then turned around and helped Wan Qingling out of the carriage.
Apparently, the two had come to Shili Pavilion in the same carriage. Although this was against the rules, it also showed Ning Tai's favoritism towards Wan Qingling.
"You go and say goodbye to everyone in the Dingyang Marquis' Mansion. I'll wait here for the team that will escort the third prince." Ning Tai came to Shili Pavilion today under the pretext of seeing off the third prince Ning Ze.
The emperor appeared displeased, but he allowed him to come. Ning Tai became even more certain that his father was still very partial to his third brother, and this made him even more determined to get rid of Ning Ze as soon as possible.
Wan Qingling bowed slightly towards him, "Thank you, Your Highness! Then I'll go to my parents first."
"Go ahead, and don't forget to send over the cakes made in the imperial kitchen." Ning Tai reminded him, "It's a small token of my appreciation."
"I thank Your Highness on behalf of my father, mother and brothers!" Wan Qingling bowed again to express her gratitude.
"Why are you being so polite to me?" Ning Tai frowned slightly, "Don't you know how much I love you?"
"Your Highness," Wan Qingling smiled shyly, "Of course I know how good you are to me. We are outside, aren't we? Etiquette cannot be abandoned!"
"Okay, I got it. Go quickly and come back quickly, don't keep me waiting!"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I'll just say a few words to my parents and be back." Wan Qingling then walked towards the people in the Bo's Mansion who were anxiously waiting for her.
Behind her were two palace maids, each holding a tray with several exquisite pastries. Four guards also followed behind, protecting Wan Qingling from being bumped by the exiles.
Wan Xueying curled her lips after seeing this. Even if she was just a concubine of the lowest rank in the Eastern Palace, she was quite arrogant. But since those people from the Bo Mansion were going into exile, couldn't they have wrapped the cakes in oil paper beforehand? Was she afraid others wouldn't know that the Eastern Palace had gifted cakes to the Bo Mansion?
Pastries? Wait, why not gold or silver? Wouldn't that be more practical? Wan Xueying focused her mental energy and examined the pastries one by one. If she didn't know someone's preferences as well as Wan Qingling did, she would most likely not notice the problem. But so what? Didn't that person bring this upon himself?
She was more worried about Shen Yu at the moment. She could see that Shen Yu was very anxious and was looking towards the city gate again and again.
Thinking of that possibility, Wan Xueying asked Aunt Chen to wait for her by the carriage, and she walked towards Shen Yu.
As for Wan Qingling, she came to Wan Chengji and his wife and bowed slightly, "Qingling greets father! Greetings mother!" She was still as polite as before. She then looked at Wan Hesu and Wan Huqing, "Greetings, brothers!"
Xu quickly grabbed her hand and repeatedly said, "No! No!" She added, "You are already the wife of the Crown Prince, the Lord. From now on, only we can pay you an audience. Furthermore, we are criminals now, and we cannot afford your courtesy."
"Look at what mother said. No matter what time it is, you are all my family. This is the proper etiquette." Then he looked at Wan Jiangyuan lying on the ground with concern. "How is big brother? Is there any sign of waking up yet?"
Xu then glanced at Wan Jiangyuan lying on the ground and sighed heavily, "Ah! Your eldest brother...luckily he made it out of prison. As for when he'll wake up? That depends on his fate!"
"We've passed the most difficult times. Brother, you're a lucky person and everything will be fine!" Wan Qingling comforted him.
"Great!" Wan Chengji stroked his gray beard with satisfaction. "As expected of a child raised by my wife and I, you value loyalty and righteousness!" He said this so loudly to build momentum for Wan Qingling. This comparison made him devalue Wan Xueying in his heart.
Wan Qingling said with a worried look on her face, "It's a long journey, you two elders must take care of your health!"
Xu choked up and said, "It's not easy for you in the Eastern Palace, so don't worry about us."
"The Empress and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are both very kind to their daughter. They've been showering me with gifts lately, so rest assured. By the way," she turned back to look at the pastries on the tray, "the Crown Prince specially ordered the imperial chef to prepare these after asking you and your brothers about their preferences. You can enjoy them on the way."
"How can this be possible?" While saying polite words, Wan Chengji quickly called his family to kneel down in the direction of Ning Tai, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your concern! Thank you, Your Highness, for your reward!" With the prince's favor, their family will have an easier time during their future exile, which he thought was more useful than real money.
But when he really embarks on the road of exile, he will find that real money is the most useful.
"Please stand up quickly, both of you elders." Wan Qingling stretched out her hands to help Wan Chengji and Xu up. "His Highness just didn't want you two elders to kneel down all the time, so he specially asked Qingling to come alone." After saying this, she turned her head and said to the two palace maids, "Please find some oil paper to wrap these up!" Although these two people were serving her, she had to be polite to them before she had established a firm foothold in the Eastern Palace.
"Yes! My lady!" After answering, one of the two palace maids turned around and went towards the carriage to look for the oil-paper bag, while the other continued to follow Wan Qingling closely, and the four guards did the same.
Wan Qingling had a lot of things she wanted to say to Wan Chengji and his wife alone, but with these people around, she could only take off a gold bracelet on her hand and hand it to Xu while holding her hand.
"This..." Xu hesitated while holding the gold bracelet in her hand.
"This was the gift you gave to our daughter last year during Chinese New Year. We don't know when we'll meet again, so keep it as a reminder." She couldn't come up with anything more. This bracelet was the one she had worn on the day her property was raided, and she had a few other pieces of jewelry left to keep for use in the Eastern Palace.
She wasn't lying. The Queen and the Crown Prince had given her many fine gifts recently, but each one had to be registered and couldn't be given away casually. After much deliberation, she decided that this gold bracelet would be more useful during her exile.
"Good boy, mother will keep it." Mrs. Xu was indescribably moved.
In fact, it was the same before. She liked any gift Wan Qingling gave her and would praise it for a long time, completely unlike how she treated Wan Xueying.
I remember that Wan Xueying happily gave her her first large-scale embroidery work, a landscape screen, which she had spent a month embroidering, as a birthday gift. However, she threw it aside with disgust, saying that the embroidery lacked spirit and suspected that Aunt Chen had embroidered it for her.
After pouring this basin of cold water, Wan Xueying never showed them any of her embroidered items again.
"I can't keep the prince waiting for too long. I will go back to His Highness now. You, father, and brothers must take care of yourselves!" After saying that, Wan Qingling bowed to Wan Chengji and Xu again.
"Go back quickly, don't delay any longer." Even though she was reluctant, Xu still choked up and said goodbye to her, "If you have time, remember to write to us."
"If I have time, I will definitely write to you. If possible, you should also write to me often."
"Okay. Come back soon."
The farewell scene at the Dingyang Marquis's residence was heartwarming and touching. But it had nothing to do with Wan Xueying. Some people, even without blood ties, were destined to become family. She, a blood relative, was destined to drift further and further from these people, until they parted ways.
Even though he had just seen her walking in this direction, Wan Chengji deliberately turned his head away. This was exactly what Wan Xueying wanted. She walked past the crowd indifferently and stood beside Shen Yu silently.
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