Cui Yanjin muttered, "Can I be blamed for a good gift? If anyone’s to blame, it’s my cousin for being so stingy and jealous. I’m just his step-brother, and he can’t stand me showing any courtesy to my sister-in-law. What if she gets tired of his foul temper and chooses a gentle, beautiful, and understanding king consort to enter the palace? Would he even give that a kill?"
Cui Xingzhi twitched his mouth, "My sister-in-law won’t do that, my cousin won’t either."
Cui Yanjin huffed, "Anyway, it’s because his temper is too bad."
Mister Cui chuckled and coughed lightly, "Enough! The banquet has started!"
The cousins closed their mouths.
Indeed, dancing girls filed into the hall, and in no time, the music and dance had the place buzzing.
It was the princess’ birthday; government officials were rarely on leave. After Cui Yanjin’s little episode, everyone relaxed, and the song and dance signified peace and prosperity.
Such a lively scene was unimaginable last year, when everyone was on edge.
The Nanchu King toasted the court officials, followed by the Princess and her husband. Halfway through the banquet, the guests took turns drinking. At this time, someone reported that the return gift from Princess Qingping’s Residence in Daliang had arrived along with a convoy of a thousand soldiers and dozens of carts escorted by the Crown Prince of Daliang, for the princess to receive.
Upon hearing this, Su Rong excused herself mid-banquet.
Zhou Gu also left with her.
The Nanchu King watched them unhappily, "These two, can’t they talk about it tomorrow? Why not eat first today? Ah, young people, they are so straightforward, never dragging things out."
He waved his hand at everyone else, "Don’t mind them, come, my courtiers, let’s continue drinking."
The Nanchu King was a heavy drinker, and most of the court officials could also hold their liquor.
As the banquet reached its peak, the Nanchu King left his throne, went over to Xie Yuan’s seat and started drinking with him. "Brother Xie, drink."
Xie Yuan was annoyed and did not want to deal with the Nanchu King.
"Oh, it’s Xiaoqi’s birthday, stop pulling a long face, I admit I’ve done you wrong in the past, but I’ve suffered for it." The Nanchu King slung his arm around his shoulder, "Xiaoqi is raised by you, I, as her biological father, am not even as good as you, her uncle, but I’m not jealous of you."
He sighed, "Brother Xie, after all, I did spend a romantic night with Xiaoqi’s mother, while you have not had a woman by your side for many years, it’s a little too self-punishing. I have no other choice, but you’re different. I heard from Xiaoqi, you’ve moved on, so why not get married? You’re still in your prime, you can still..."
Xie Yuan stuffed a chicken leg into the Nanchu King’s mouth.
The Nanchu King was immediately silenced.
Xie Yuan said indifferently, "I’m not longing for anyone anymore, I’ve just gotten used to living alone. Your Majesty should worry about Xiaoqi and leave me out of it."
The Nanchu King sighed and began eating his chicken leg, "Alright, alright, I dare not worry about you. I’ll drop it."
Somebody approached and whispered something in Xie Yuan’s ear, he nodded slightly, "I see."
He then stood up and started moving towards the exit.
The Nanchu King exclaimed, "Brother Xie, where are you going?"
Xie Yuan didn’t turn his head or answer him.
The Nanchu King muttered, "One after the other, they all just leave, as if something serious happened." After saying this, he called a eunuch over, "Go find out, what’s going on? Why did the princess and her husband leave without a word, and now Master Xie has gone too?"
The eunuch agreed and left immediately.
Su Rong and Zhou Gu arrived at the palace gates and met the manager of her merchant group, the captain of the Crown Prince’s guards, and Yun An, the Crown Prince’s personal guard who had accompanied them.
Upon seeing Su Rong and Zhou Gu, Yun An immediately bowed, "Your Highness, Young Master Zhou."
Unlike everyone else, Yun An didn’t refer to Zhou Gu as the princess’s husband but used his old title to show closeness.
Surprised, Su Rong asked with a smile, "Yun An, why did the Crown Prince send you? What’s in all these dozens of carts?"
Yun An whispered, "It’s Princess Zhenmin’s private treasures. His Majesty tasked the Crown Prince with sending it to you."
Su Rong raised an eyebrow, "My mother’s private treasures?"
She asked, "Did she have such a fortune back then?"
"Princess Zhenmin was favored and got many things from the Crown Prince Derui, as well as the dowry of Derui’s Crown Princess. She also received estates granted by the former emperor and the empress dowager. Over the years, His Majesty has not confiscated these assets but has had them managed, and the proceeds along with the treasures in her private collection have all been sent to you," Yun An explained. "Since Princess Zhenmin couldn’t marry into Nanchu at that time, and naturally wouldn’t be accompanying any good things for her diplomatic marriage to Dawei, there are many items."
Su Rong nodded, instructed Fen Ling, who had followed her out, to take the items to her warehouse, and then invited Yun An, the captain of the escort, and the merchant group manager into the palace.
She did not return to the palace banquet, but asked Yun An some more questions, such as why His Majesty suddenly decided to give these things to her when he hadn’t mentioned it when she was in Daliang, and asked how the Crown Prince and Duanhua were doing, etc.
After getting a better understanding, Su Rong ordered her people to see to their accommodations. She then took the Crown Prince’s letter and accounts that Yun An had given her, along with the letter and gift list from Duanhua given by the manager, and went with Zhou Gu towards her residence.
After returning to her residence, the eunuch lit the lamps, and Su Rong and Zhou Gu sat at the table reading the letters. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
The letter from Yan Huisheng was very straightforward, outlining Aunt Zhenmin’s assets, which actually belonged to the Dawei Imperial Court and had been reclaimed. But her mother’s past profits and private collections were all given to her. He then told her not to send so many gifts to Duanhua again, just one or two nice things would do, to avoid Duanhua being both happy and distressed about not being able to return them, and so on.
After reading Yan Huisheng’s letter, Su Rong laughed a bit, put it down, and picked up Duanhua’s letter.
Duanhua’s letter was very long and detailed. She told Su Rong about everything, big and small. Especially about the Crown Prince, her cousin, almost half of the letter was about how good he was and so on, and that she had personally chosen the return gifts, most of which came from the Eastern Palace. There were a lot of things, and she didn’t hold back at all. She said she was so lucky, and her mother was right when she said she had stepped in dog shit, and her letters were filled with joy and satisfaction.
After reading it with a smile, Su Rong first picked up the list of Duanhua’s gifts. This list was well made, very detailed, clearly indicating which items were from Princess Qingping and her husband, which were from the emperor in the palace, and which were from the empress and the Crown Prince. From this list, it was clear that everyone close to Duanhua had made an effort to help her reciprocate the gifts.
Zhou Gu sneered from the side, "This much-loved princess consort should not be spoiled."
He was always upset with Cui Yanjin for saying he was pampered and arrogant. How could he be? Comparatively, he was nothing like Duanhua.
Su Rong happily accepted the gifts, thinking that she wouldn’t recklessly send gifts in large quantities in the future. She hadn’t thought that Princess Qingping’s Residence would have a hard time reciprocating, she had simply sent them because she felt like it. Now it actually turned out that she had made a profit.
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