As Princess Qingping and her husband were in his private vault, Yan Huisheng was escorting Duanhua back to her residence. After they got off the carriage, Duanhua led him straight to her own vault.
Yan Huisheng stopped her, "Go and see your aunt first."
Duanhua could only ask someone: "Where’s my mother?"
"The princess and her husband are in his vault," someone replied.
"My father opened his vault?" Duanhua was shocked. She turned to Yan Huisheng, "Shall I bring you to my father’s vault to find them?"
Yan Huisheng shook his head, "Not a good idea. Let’s go to your vault first, shall we?"
Duanhua nodded, and they walked on together.
When they reached her vault, the housekeeper was locking the door. She called him, "Hold on."
The housekeeper turned around, saw Yan Huisheng, and quickly saluted him, "Your Highness."
Yan Huisheng nodded.
Duanhua said, "I brought my cousin to see the gift Su Rong gave me."
The housekeeper quickly took out the list of gifts from his sleeve and handed it over respectfully, "This is the list of gifts the Princess has sent."
Duanhua took it and handed it to Yan Huisheng, "Cousin, look at it, there are so many of them, hundreds to be exact."
Yan Huisheng took it and read through rapidly. He was breathless; no wonder Duanhua said they were all good things. Indeed, among hundreds of items, not a single one was substandard, and many were the very best.
He handed the list back to Duanhua.
With the list in hand, Duanhua led Yan Huisheng into her private vault, and the housekeeper hurriedly followed to serve them.
After all, as the only daughter of the Princess Residence, Duanhua had been pampered by Qingping since childhood. Her vault was filled with countless treasures, neatly arranged. Several large luminous pearls were inlaid on the wall, casting a bright light in the whole vault.
"Cousin, look, these were all given to me by Su Rong." Duanhua pointed at the neat rows of hundreds of brocade boxes on the shelves.
The housekeeper quickly stepped forward and opened the boxes one by one for Yan Huisheng to review.
Earlier today, he barely spent any time away from the vault, shifting between the Princess and her husband’s reviews. Now, he was being engaged again by the Princess to review the gifts.
Having been a heir since childhood, Yan Huisheng was used to seeing fine things. Nevertheless, he was curious about Su Rong’s generous gift and wanted to take a look. After examining each item, he sighed to Duanhua, "Although Nanchu King is not particularly noble, he is indeed wealthy."
Duanhua looked up at him, "Even if I were sold, I wouldn’t be worth these things."
Yan Huisheng laughed, "Now you are a princess, don’t belittle yourself."
He turned and walked out of Duanhua’s vault.
Duanhua followed him and handed the list back to the housekeeper, "Keep this for me."
After completing her instruction, she caught up with Yan Huisheng, "Cousin, what should I give in return? If I return something too small, won’t Su Rong think I’m being stingy?"
"No," Yan Huisheng shook his head. "When she gave you these, she probably never expected anything in return."
Duanhua nodded, "Anyway, I can’t afford to return. My vault only has a few good things that I have gathered since childhood."
Yan Huisheng gently said, "I said I would give on your behalf." He patted her head, "Take me to the Main Courtyard to wait for your aunt?"
"Oh, okay." Duanhua obediently led the way.
Upon hearing that the Crown Prince had arrived, Princess Qingping and her husband hurried out of their vault. Covered in dust from the vault, they had to clean up first. They were delayed long enough that by the time Yan Huisheng and Duanhua came out of her vault and waited for a while, Qingping and her husband finally arrived.
Yan Huisheng stood up, "Aunt, uncle."
Her husband quickly greeted him, "Your Highness."
Princess Qingping said with a smile, "I have heard that the Crown Prince abandoned the council of ministers today to return to the Eastern Palace. You must not spoil her; this can’t go on."
Before Yan Huisheng could reply, Duanhua immediately said, "Mother, what are you saying? I’m not taking the blame. It’s because the Crown Prince disliked the noisy argument between the ministers, which gave him a headache, and he came back to the Eastern Palace. I didn’t ask the housekeeper of the Eastern Palace to call him."
She was still angry with the housekeeper over this issue.
Yan Huisheng interjected: "My cousin is right. Indeed, I came back to the Eastern Palace to avoid them, it has nothing to do with her."
Upon hearing this, Qingping sighed in relief, "That’s good, I fear the ministers might impeach her for being ignorant."
She didn’t worry about that in the past, as Duanhua’s position as a princess didn’t attract much attention. But now things were different: she was a crown princess.
"Don’t worry, aunt." Yan Huisheng shook his head.
Relieved, Qingping invited everyone to sit down. "You have seen the gifts Su Rong gave Duanhua, right? Your uncle and I have searched our entire vault, and we only found twenty or thirty items of equivalent value. Half of these are things that men like: brushes, inkstones, scrolls, rare books... "
"Mother, what does Su Rong want men’s items for?" Duanhua asked immediately.
"You child, she’s married to Zhou Gu, of course, it’s for him." Qingping gave her a stern look.
Duanhua was unsatisfied, "I don’t want to give anything to Zhou Gu."
Ignoring her, Qingping said to Yan Huisheng, "Tomorrow, I plan to go see my brother. There are a lot of good things in his vault. I wonder if I complain a bit, whether he would part with a few items."
Yan Huisheng smiled, without trying to stop her, "Aunt, you might give it a try."
Anyway, the emperor has many sons and daughters. Who cares who takes away what from him? He’s not going to give everything to Yan Huisheng anyway.
Seeing that he didn’t mind, Qingping continued to speak to Yan Huisheng with a smile, "There’s one more thing that I’ve been thinking about. Derui Crown Prince and his wife left a lot of property to Sister Zhenmin. The dowager queen used to manage it for her, but since Sister Zhenmin went to Dawei, fell ill, and passed away, the dowager queen also fell seriously ill. The properties were taken over by the emperor personally. During the time Su Rong was in the capital, I forgot about this, I am not sure if the emperor also did. So, tomorrow, when I visit the emperor, I plan to remind him about this. What do you think?"
Yan Huisheng was surprised, "There’s actually such a thing, I don’t know."
He asked, "Did Derui Crown Prince and his wife leave many private properties?"
"Quite a lot." Qingping said: "Derui Crown Prince was the eldest among us, and was a crown prince from a young age. He was frail and always knew that his time was limited, so he made arrangements for his only daughter in advance. Unfortunately, plans cannot keep up with changes. Sister Zhenmin lost her parents when she was three and was raised by the dowager queen. She always remembered this kindness and never forgot that her father, despite being sick and coughing blood every day, still put his heart and soul into the affairs of Daliang. How could she bear to see Daliang fall? Not to mention the kindness of bringing her up, it was the tireless work of her father during his time as the Crown Prince that she remembered deeply and will never forget. Therefore, everything is fate, she passed away early."
Yan Huisheng nodded, contemplating for a moment, "In that case, aunt, you go ahead tomorrow. If the emperor doesn’t agree, I will go talk to him."
Qingping nodded, "Okay."
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