Su Rong and Fen Ling were quite pleased with both the courtyard of Duanhua and the rooms she had arranged for them.
After settling the two of them, Duanhua went to see Princess Qingping.
Princess Qingping had not yet fully digested the news that Su Rong had been brought into the Princess Residence by Duanhua as an enthusiastic guest. She said to her personal wet nurse, "Nurse, pinch me."
The wet nurse herself was also flabbergasted and jumped at the princess’s words, "Princess?"
"Pinch me and see if I’m not awake yet?" Princess Qingping immediately said.
The wet nurse did not dare to behave disrespectfully and shook her head incessantly, "Princess, this can’t be done, how could I pinch you? This is true, our Mistress really brought that Su Rong back as a guest..."
Before she had finished speaking, Qingping took the initiative, pinched herself vigorously, suddenly let out a gasp, her face twisted in pain.
Well, it’s confirmed, she’s not dreaming.
She rubbed her pinched thigh in pain, was about to get up and go after Duanhua’s courtyard, and saw that Duanhua had already come. She glared at Duanhua, "What’s going on? Why did you bring Su Rong back?"
No, just bringing her back is one thing, treating her as a guest of honor, this is ridiculously absurd.
Duanhua herself was also confused, but facing the even more confused Qingping and other people in the Princess Residence, she calmed down a bit. Anyway, the person had been brought back, and the deed was done. After settling Su Rong and on the way to her mother’s courtyard, she thought about her half-day interaction with Su Rong and realized she really couldn’t dislike Su Rong.
She sat down next to Qingping, explained the occasion of meeting with Su Rong and the subsequent events. After finishing, she saw Qingping dumbfounded, she sighed, "Mother, anyway, that’s what happened."
In her daze, Qingping caught the main point, "Are you saying that she came to the capital to break off her engagement with Zhou Gu?"
"Yes."
"She really wants to break off her engagement with Zhou Gu?"
"Yes."
"Could she be fooling you?"
"No, if she were fooling me, she would be exposed in a few days."
"Now that Zhou Gu is at the exam site, is she afraid you would torture her if you caught her, so she’s fooling you? As soon as Zhou Gu comes out, will she change her tune?"
Duanhua shook her head, "Mother, you’re overthinking it. With her guard’s skills, she could have beaten all the guards I brought with me today. I couldn’t have caught her at all."
Qingping was surprised, "Didn’t you two not fight today? The man with her, is he that powerful?"
"Very powerful. If you don’t believe me, why not let someone test his skills? He said he wouldn’t stay for free and would become a temporary instructor for our guards. He said that they were too useless."
Immediately, Qingping commanded: "Bring people here, immediately..."
"Whoa, mother, what’s the rush, we’ll test him tomorrow. He’s already in the Princess Residence, he can’t run away." Duanhua thought of just settling those two people down, then sent someone to the kitchen to relay a message, asking the kitchen maid to make hibiscus cakes, "Right now, those two are probably looking forward to the kitchen maid’s hibiscus cakes. They have no interest in training guards."
Qingping doubted, "So, they came specifically for the hibiscus cakes made by the Princess Residence’s cooks?"
Duanhua nodded. Although unwilling to admit it, she had to, "Mhm."
Qingping: "..."
She had never seen anyone who loved to eat to this extent in her entire life. How did Su Xu educate her daughter? Just for a bite to eat, she actually moved into her love rival’s house?
When recalling the past, she fought her love rival life and death, even the hundred thousand taels of silver she offered was rejected. How many hibiscus cakes could you buy with a hundred thousand taels of silver? How could Su Rong be this cheap? Just for a bite of food, she even threw herself at the door?
This is really...
Qingping didn’t know what to say, she just looked at her daughter, at a loss for words, "Huahua, who’s the fool, you or her?"
Duanhua thought for a while, "I’m the fool?"
"Why?"
Duanhua was frustrated, "Because I invited her to the residence, providing her good food, drinks, and lodging. She’s certainly got the better deal."
Qingping was speechless. Although it was the truth, everything about it felt wrong.
She held her head, "Forget it, since she has moved in, see if she really wants to break off her engagement with Zhou Gu, or if she’s simply here for a bite to eat, or if she has ulterior motives. Let’s wait and see!"
Duanhua nodded, "Can I go back now?"
Nanny Zhu immediately said, "Princess, it’s almost time for the evening meal."
The Princess usually has her evening meal with Madam every day.
Duanhua said, "There are guests in my courtyard, so I won’t accompany Madam for the evening meal today. Besides, father will be home from the Yamen soon, Madam can eat with him."
Nanny Zhu: "..."
Qingping: "..."
This Su Rong just came as a guest, and on the first day, she lured her daughter away from eating the evening meal with her?
After Duanhua left, Qingping and Nanny Zhu stared at each other, unable to speak for a while.
Meanwhile, after Duanhua returned to her courtyard and entered the Drawing Room, she saw Su Rong and Fen Ling sitting opposite each other, already enjoying the pastries sent from the kitchen. Each bite was followed by a piece of praise. She noticed that in such a short time, the kitchen had prepared several kinds of pastries for them, seven or eight varieties, including Hibiscus Cake, Chestnut Cake, Osmanthus Cake, Five-nut Biscuits, Burnt Sugar Crisp, etc.
Both of them ate with satisfaction, repeatedly praising the decision to stay at the Princess Residence.
Especially Su Rong, who said, "Oh my, Yuewan loves these! If she knew about these delicacies after we came to the capital, she would surely be jealous and blame me for not bringing her."
With a giggle, Fen Ling replied, "It seems I’m the lucky one. Who asked her not to follow you to practice crouching tiger from a young age? Those who can’t tolerate hardship should have less fortune."
Looking at her, Su Rong asked, "Is this really the case?"
Fen Ling nodded confidently, "Yes, it is. There is a saying, isn’t there? One can only rise above the rest by enduring the worst hardships. Since she has suffered less, correspondingly, she won’t be entitled to enjoy these good things."
Su Rong was convinced, "Alright, it makes sense."
Indeed, Yuewan couldn’t bear hardships. As a child, when sent to her side, she asked her to practice squatting horse stance with her. Amid tears, Yuewan cried until it bothered her and she stopped. When Xie Yuan found out and tried to remove Yuewan, the latter clung to her leg crying. Seeing her round-faced crying almost to the point of hyperventilation, she could do nothing but keep her. Later, disheartened, Xie Yuan offered to give another person to accompany her in martial arts practice, but she was afraid of another tearful one that would flood her and adamantly refused. As a result, Yuewan was indulged by her and until now, she could do nothing but eat.
Duanhua deliberately coughed to signify her presence, "Ahem."
Both Su Rong and Fen Ling turned their heads at the same time. Seeing Duanhua, they remained seated and continued eating, but their eyes sparkled.
Su Rong asked, "Princess, you’re back?"
Fen Ling asked, "Princess, would you like to eat?"
With a resigned expression, Duanhua looked at the half-eaten dishes in front of the two, "It’s almost time for the evening meal, if you’re eating this much now, aren’t you going to have dinner?"
"No." Both replied in unison.
Duanhua raised an eyebrow, "If you’re eating that much now, where will you put the rest?"
"In my stomach." Su Rong patted her belly, "Don’t worry, Princess, I can still eat a whole cow. It won’t affect the dinner."
Fen Ling also nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, Princess, rest assured!"
Duanhua: "..."
She looked at them suspiciously, Su Rong was lean and frail, Fen Ling was thin and clear, could their stomachs hold a cow? What a joke!
She ignored them and turned back to her room to change clothes.
Suddenly Fen Ling thought of something and whispered in Su Rong’s ear, "Master, didn’t we forget to inform the Crown Prince that we were staying at the Princess Residence?"
Su Rong paused, looked at him, "Didn’t you quietly send a message to the Crown Prince?"
"I forgot." Fen Ling shook his head.
Su Rong stared at him, "How could you forget something like that?"
"But you forgot too, didn’t you? Don’t tell me you didn’t." Fen Ling looked back at her innocently, murmuring quietly, "If it wasn’t for mentioning dinner, I wouldn’t even remember. You’re even worse than me, we’re almost going to have dinner, and you haven’t remembered the Crown Prince."
Su Rong, having been hit by his word, stopped glaring at him, withdrew her gaze, and urged him, "Hurry up, find a way to send someone to the Eastern Palace to inform the Crown Prince that we are staying at the Princess Residence, so that he can rest assured and doesn’t need to look for us."
She was afraid that it would be too late. If the Crown Prince found out she had been invited to the Princess Residence, there could be a misunderstanding, and it would be trouble if he came to the Princess Residence.
Fen Ling also thought this matter was of grave importance, nodded repeatedly, quickly stood up, and returned to the room to pass the message to the secret guards outside the wall of the Princess Residence.
The secret guards had a set of their own communication techniques. Soon, a letter silently left the Princess Residence and was delivered to the Eastern Palace.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
