The Princess Residence served more than a dozen dishes for breakfast. Su Rong and Fen Ling sampled each one, eating to their heart’s content.
Fen Ling, stomach full, stated contently, "Sister, the Princess Residence is truly wonderful. I met the Princess’s consort this morning, and he is quite a pleasant man. The Princess told us we can stay as long as we wish, we simply need to live comfortably here. If we need anything, we should ask the housekeeper."
Su Rong, who had not yet met the consort, asked, "Is the consort handsome?"
Duanhua turned to face Su Rong, her face wary, "Why are you asking if my father is handsome?"
Su Rong regarded her with an innocent look, "Why not? I was just curious. You and the Princess are both attractive; I was wondering if the consort is also good looking?"
"My father is certainly handsome," Duanhua confirmed. Otherwise, all those years ago her mother would not have desperately sought an imperial decree to marry him.
Su Rong moved closer to Duanhua and asked, "I heard that the consort and the Princess had a tumultuous relationship. The consort had a fiancée before your mother intervened, she effectively broke off the engagement. Given that, I wonder just how handsome he must be? Compared to Zhou Gu, who is more handsome?"
Duanhua glared at her, "What are you trying to say?"
Would she dare to ask such a question because Duanhua had been too kind to her?
Su Rong took her hand and reassured, "Ah, I was just curious and wanted to ask. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to."
Seeing that Su Rong appeared to have no ulterior motive, and noting the genuine curiosity in her clear, wide eyes, Duanhua hmphed, "How could one compare them?"
Duanhua pulled her hand away from Su Rong, "I’ve never seen my father when he was young. My mother told me that when he went out back in the days, people stared and threw handkerchiefs and flowers his way. So, he stopped going out to avoid attracting attention. But with Zhou Gu, no one dares to throw such things at him. Since he isn’t romantic, he’d have people pick them up and return them to the throwers, with a warning not to do so again, or they would be pinned to the city wall."
Su Rong, "..."
For someone to be so disinterested in romance, Zhou Gu was certainly a rarity!
Even Duanhua seemed to find this absurd, "He really is a hard nut to crack!"
Su Rong nodded in sincere agreement.
Duanhua wasn’t having it, "Why are you nodding? Doesn’t he treat you well enough? He may be difficult to others, but to you, he poses no challenge. For your sake, he obstructed me on the road for over half a month."
Heavens knew how furious she had been then!
Su Rong wanted to say that Zhou Gu was still difficult to deal with. It took numerous tricks and methods from her to slowly coax him into lowering his guard around her. But she couldn’t voice these thoughts, instead choosing to say, "Because I’m his fiancée and he is responsible, he treats me well. Once our engagement is dissolved, he won’t be good to me anymore."
Duanhua snorted, "Well, we’ll see."
While the two were chatting, a servant girl came over with a pile of cards in her hand, "Miss, these are the invitations received from each residence this morning."
Duanhua was startled, "Why are there so many?"
The servant girl glanced at Su Rong then replied, lowering her head, "I don’t know."
Duanhua took the invitations, scanned through each one, then chuckled knowingly, turning to Su Rong she said, "It seems they’ve all come for you. I knew something was up, all of a sudden I’m receiving so many invitations."
She plucked two invitations from the pile, "Look, these are from the Crown Prince Residence and the Second Prince Residence. The Crown Prince’s consort has invited me to bring you over to their residence tomorrow to appreciate the flowers. The Second Prince’s consort has invited us over for tea the day after."
"It’s autumn, many flowers have already wilted, I wonder what sort of flowers they want us to appreciate?" Duanhua grimaced, "And this invitation for tea, as if we don’t have good tea in the Princess Residence, and must go to theirs."
"Autumn is when chrysanthemums bloom. The September chrysanthemums would make a lovely sight. I heard the Crown Prince’s consort loves chrysanthemums, their residence has many exotic varieties," Su Rong elucidated, expressing interest in both the flower viewing and the tea, "It’s possible the Second Prince Residence has a master tea brewer. The same type of tea can taste different depending on who brews it."
Duanhua stared at her, "You aren’t seriously considering going, are you?"
"Am I not allowed to?" Su Rong replied, feigning ignorance.
Duanhua stared at her, incredulous, "The previous Inspector of Jiangzhou was originally supposed to marry into the Marquis Nanping Residence. However, before the deal could be struck, the Crown Prince used the assassination case to deal with Jiang Sheng. The decree to exterminate his nine branches of family came down, do you know who was sent to Jiangzhou to handle the entangled interests of the Jiang Family Clan? It was Zhou Gu. It can be said that he greatly offended the Crown Prince. Now that you are Zhou Gu’s fiancée, do you think you could go to the Crown Prince’s Residence without facing repercussions?"
"Aren’t I about to dissolve my marriage contract?" Su Rong reasoned earnestly. Once the marriage contract was dissolved, she would have no ties to Zhou Gu.
Duanhua almost choked on her words, "But right now, you still haven’t dissolved it, have you?"
"That’s true." Su Rong discussed it with her, "How about waiting a few days for me to dissolve the marriage contract, and then we could go. Delay it for a few days?"
Duanhua: "..."
Was this something that could be delayed?
She looked at Su Rong suspiciously, "Why are you so eager to go to the Crown Prince and Second Prince’s residences?"
"I’ve never seen what a prince’s residence looks like and I want to have a look." Su Rong clung to Duanhua’s arm, "Besides, with you there, who dares to bully me? Can’t you protect me?"
Duanhua reminded her, "They are princes and princess consorts, the emperor’s sons and daughters-in-law, while I am just a niece. Although I am related by blood, I am after all a niece."
Su Rong immediately looked at Duanhua in a new light, "Oh my, your highness, I didn’t expect you to have such self-awareness."
Duanhua, irritated, pushed her away, "Get lost!"
Instead of leaving, Su Rong said cheerfully, "Alright, I know you’re the best. Once I dissolve the marriage contract, I will not be Zhou Gu’s woman, but yours. They certainly wouldn’t want to offend the princess residence, right? So, why should we be afraid, isn’t that right?"
Duanhua felt a strange taste in these words, but she couldn’t refute it, "Okay, let’s delay it for a few more days."
Having delayed the invitations from the Crown Princess and the Second Princess, Duanhua decided to stay at home for the next few days, neither accepting other invitations nor going anywhere else.
Su Rong had no objections to her decision. The Princess’s residence was so nice that even if she didn’t go out for ten days, it would be fine.
Thus, in the following days, Su Rong and Duanhua watched Fen Ling train the palace guards in the sword array in the morning, took a nap at noon, and played games with the maids and servants from Cangjiao Pavilion in the afternoon. One day they would play foot shuttlecock, another day they would play qiju. Everyday in the princess residence was bustling with activities.
Even the Princess Qingping told her husband, the prince consort: "Ever since Su Rong and Fen Ling moved into the princess’s residence, it has become livelier than before. Duanhua no longer worries about meeting Zhou Gu all day and just enjoys eating and playing, and she seems quite happy every day."
The prince consort had naturally also noticed the changes in the residence. His wife and daughter were the most significant, one was in a better mood, and the other was no longer a headache. The biggest beneficiary was him, and he felt more comfortable staying in the residence. So, he said to Princess Qingping, "I think Su Rong is a good kid. Even if her withdrawal from the marriage with Zhou Gu is fake, or if something goes wrong, don’t make things difficult for her in the future. Moreover, although it’s only been a few days, Fen Ling’s sword array seems to be very effective. The guards in the residence are much stronger than before."
Princess Qingping liked Su Rong quite a bit. Mostly because Su Rong was a sweet talker. Su Rong joined her and Fen Ling for a meal. During the meal, Su Rong was well-behaved and attentive, and ate very heartily. After the meal, she praised the princess residence and reviewed each chef’s skills. Not only that, the princess suffered from migraines, and Su Rong wrote her an ancient recipe years ago. The imperial doctor from the Imperial Medical Bureau said that it was a wonder. After taking the recipe twice, the princess’s migraine was much relieved, and even the insomnia often experienced at night was also improved.
Princess Qingping didn’t like Zhou Gu, so when the prince consort said this, she readily nodded her head and agreed, "Alright, I won’t make things difficult for her."
The prince consort didn’t expect her to agree so readily, so he looked at her more closely.
Princess Qingping smiled and reprimanded her husband, "What are you looking at me like that for? Don’t you trust me? Su Rong is nice, so even if you want me to create difficulties for her, I can’t do it anymore. I hope that our daughter doesn’t like Zhou Gu."
She hoped her daughter wouldn’t follow her footsteps. She could endure over ten years of painstaking courtship, but she didn’t want her daughter to suffer for more than a decade. If Su Rong could make Duanhua forget about Zhou Gu, then she should be grateful to Su Rong.
Poor parents in the world!
The prince consort sincerely sighed, "Qingping, you are a really good wife now."
Princess Qingping argued: "I was always nice, you just never noticed."
The prince consort nodded sincerely, "Yes, it’s my fault."
With noticeable changes in the affection between Princess Qingping and the prince consort, Duanhua, as their daughter, naturally noticed, and whispered to Su Rong: "Ever since you moved in, my dad and mom have become much closer than before. I almost don’t recognize them as my parents anymore, every day their gaze is soft as silk."
She asked Su Rong, "What did you do? To make such a big change in my mom and dad?"
Su Rong didn’t know how Princess Qingping and the prince consort got along before. Now being asked by Duanhua, she was quite puzzled, "What did I do? Did I eat your family’s rice?"
Duanhua: "..."
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