The next day, Su Rong found some spare time and wrote a letter in response to Duanhua. Naturally, this letter wasn’t written in front of Zhou Gu. She replied during her midday break after handling her day-to-day affairs.
Duanhua wrote a lot to her, and she didn’t want to be rude by only responding briefly, as it would be unfair to her little sister.
After all, she was a dear friend who also shared the affection of the Crown Prince and his bride-to-be.
She was determined to maintain a good relationship with such an open-hearted sister. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Thus, in her letter, she informed Duanhua about her recent circumstances. She hadn’t deliberately complained, but her days had genuinely been occupied non-stop. Sometimes she was so busy that she didn’t even get a chance to take a sip of water or relax until midnight. She had been involved in many important matters, all of which she mentioned in brief. She also mentioned a few challenging tasks that she couldn’t resolve at once. She shared all this with her sister.
Afterward, she sighed heavily, saying that being a princess was truly exhausting. Taking over Nanchu felt like cleaning up a big mess, requiring a lot of effort. That’s why she hadn’t been able to find the time to write, and for this, she was truly sorry. However, whenever she had spare time, she would think of her; reminiscing about the carefree days they spent in her palace in Daliang. It all felt like a dream to her now.
She then spoke about how busy Zhou Gu, her future husband, was and the massive responsibilities he carried, which were beyond her imagination. Others only had to be good court officials, but he was also a royal prince; he had to play dual roles and was exhausted every day. Sometimes, he was so tired that he didn’t want to speak. It had been a long time since he had whispered sweet words to her. Compared to him, she was lucky that she only had to play the role of the Crown Prince’s consort. After learning etiquette for half a month, she even had the Crown Prince making time to present her with gifts thrice. That made her secretively delighted - it was like fortune raining from the sky. She should cherish such luck and be kind to the Crown Prince; otherwise, she might lose this opportunity.
She also mentioned that her marriage had been postponed to the end of the year. Originally, she had planned to invite Duanhua to the ceremony, but considering her age and the likelihood of delaying the settlement of marriage, she gave up the idea. Now that Duanhua was the Crown Prince’s fiancée, it was even more impossible to invite her. She advised Duanhua to be prudent as the Crown Prince’s fiancée, to block any potential loopholes and not let anyone snatch him away.
She also talked about Qin Luan, stating that she knew Qin Luan was fond of Zhou Gu. That’s why she didn’t allow Qin Luan to accompany her, switching to Qin Ruo instead. She didn’t like someone who had her eyes on Zhou Gu around her, to avoid unnecessary trouble. Therefore, Qian Luan was not taken to Nanchu. However, Qin Ruo had requested her to bring his sister to Nanchu, considering her loneliness in Daliang. So, she agreed as it was not a big deal. There was a huge difference between staying close to her and just living in Nanchu.
Being somewhere around Zhou Gu where she could see him all the time was different from being in Nanchu, where they might not even run into each other for months. What was the harm in that!
Besides, everyone had different preferences and choices. It was fine if Qin Luan didn’t like Xie Lin. She thanked Duanhua for the information and would decide what to do with Qin Luan accordingly after she came to Nanchu.
At the end of the letter, she congratulated the future Crown Princess and declared that she would send a gift with the letter to wish her sister well. She urged her to continue shining and gradually replace herself in the Crown Prince’s heart. After all, Zhou Gu liked Duanhua wholeheartedly. Shouldn’t she do better than Zhou Gu, right?
After Su Rong finished her letter, she folded it neatly. She then made time to run to her father’s private storage, picked out many nice things, loaded them onto a cart, and sent them out of Nanchu Capital City to Daliang along with her letter.
When the King of Nanchu saw this, he felt a twinge of regret, arguing, "Oh dear, you’re such a spendthrift, giving away all the treasured items I’ve collected for you over the years."
"Oh, father, don’t be reluctant. Princess Qingping and her Prince Consort gave plenty of wonderful gifts to their daughter, and they weren’t stingy at all. Look at you, you’re a king, but you’re too penny-pinching!" Su Rong retorted, pointing out that the Nanchu King lacked the generosity of Penness Qingping and her Prince Consort.
The Nanchu King choked on his words. "Are you sure, we can compare? Some of the things you’ve chosen are priceless. Were Princess Qingping and her Prince Consort really that generous to you?"
"If we’re talking about the value of the gifts, of course, we can’t compare. But, friendship is priceless. When I first arrived in Capital City, the first step I took was not because of the Eastern Palace, the Duke Residence, or the friendly relationship with Uncle Xie’s Shen Residence, it was because of Princess Qingping Residence, where I had a rivalry. It was because of Duanhua Princess, I was accepted by the Princess Residence, and with their help, I quickly integrated into the Capital City of Daliang. I helped the Crown Prince break deadlocks and turn things around, resulting in him generously lending us three hundred thousand soldiers to protect Nanchu. Compared with these, you tell me, is this too much to give?
"Nanchu King choked on his words," That doesn’t seem like too much after all, maybe even more could be given? What do you think of that pair of Mandarin ducks made of jade? Could we give one to her and the Crown Prince?"
"That works too." Su Rong generously added a pair of jade pendants to the gift and took out a piece of paper to specially add a note emphasizing that the jade pendants were a congratulatory gift to the Crown Prince.
After finishing, she remembered something and asked the Nanchu King, "Father, do you have a private weapon storage? When I saved the Crown Prince, he thanked me with a dagger. That dagger was the gift I gave him for saving his life. I’m used to it and don’t want to give it back. Do you have any good daggers in your private stash? The ones that can cut iron like mud? I promised the Crown Prince that I would pick one for him in Nanchu and I must fulfil my promise. If you have one, I will select a dagger for Duanhua and ask her to deliver it to the Crown Prince to fulfil this promise."
Nanchu King was familiar with the dagger that Su Rong often carried with her and happily nodded. He threw the key to the weapons repository to her, "You can pick your own. After you finish, give this key to Zhou Gu and tell him that I’m gifting the private weapons repository to him."
"Father, why aren’t you gifting it to me?" Su Rong’s eyes widened, "This is favoritism! I too, like weapons as much as the vermilion hairpin."
The Nanchu King explicitly said, "It’s for my son-in-law. Don’t bother thinking about it. I’m afraid that if I give it to you, all of it will be gifted away."
Su Rong responded with silence, "Father, you misunderstand, I wouldn’t."
The Nanchu King snorted and turned to leave, ignoring her protests. Su Rong could only take the key to the weapons repository and head there herself.
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