On the day Yan Huisheng’s reply arrived in Nanchu, Duanhua sent two large carts full of delicious and fun things for the little darling, which arrived in Nanchu together.
The little darling was so happy and, looking up at Su Rong, said, "Mother, Auntie is really nice."
Su Rong pointed out matter-of-factly, "These two large carts of things, I’m afraid they were gathered by your cousin-once-removed on her behalf."
After all, Duanhua, an Empress who never managed anything and knew only how to indulge in food and fun and dote on her son every day, was so pampered by Yan Huisheng that she probably didn’t even need to personally instruct anyone to collect these things. She just had to mention it to her cousin, and he would arrange for it.
"Cousin is also really nice," Xiaoqi said immediately.
She once asked Su Rong why one was called Emperor and the other Empress, yet she addressed them as cousin and auntie. Before Su Rong could explain, Zhou Gu said beside her that her auntie couldn’t marry anyone else and could only marry their cousin, hence everyone just called them as such. Su Rong laughed angrily and glared at Zhou Gu before explaining to Xiaoqi that the two were mutually fond of each other and she shouldn’t listen to her father’s nonsense.
Xiaoqi also felt that her cousin and auntie were fond of each other; they seemed to have a good relationship, as she could tell from the letters. Every time her parents would hold her and look at the letters together. She also looked at Zhou Gu with disbelief, "Father, you’re too petty and hold grudges. Auntie just had a crush on you when she was young, didn’t she? As a man, you’re not magnanimous at all."
Zhou Gu was chastised by his daughter and, after choking for a moment, laughed and pinched her little nose, "Alright, you’re teaching me a lesson now? You’re also magnanimous, aren’t you? Zhang Yun’s little boy is only a year and a half old, and he stole a candy from you, yet you beat him up. Why aren’t you more magnanimous?"
Xiaoqi immediately said with a straight face, "I’m a girl, why should I be so magnanimous? You’re a man, naturally, you should be magnanimous."
Zhou Gu: "..."
He turned his head to look at Su Rong, who was holding back laughter, and ground his teeth, "Your good daughter!"
Su Rong finally laughed out loud, reached out to pull Zhou Gu, and coaxed him, "She’s your good daughter too. The way she has turned out isn’t just my doing alone, you have half the credit."
The two of them had been secretly teaching the child behind everyone’s back, and it had only been a few days since Xie Yuan discovered it. Uncle Xie was so angry that he scolded them, accusing them of not teaching the child properly and secretly instilling all sorts of things into her.
The cause was Xiaoqi arguing with a Great Scholar, claiming that love can lead a nation astray was a fallacy, which made the Great Scholar pass out on the spot. After all, a three-year-old child speaking of love was naturally enough to shock a seventy-year-old rare sage.
Su Rong and Zhou Gu obediently took the scolding. Over the years, they were affectionate towards each other, and aside from their bedroom pleasures from which they shielded their daughter, they otherwise did not hide their hugging, cuddling, and sweet nothings from Xiaoqi. Even Duanhua’s letters weren’t hidden, so naturally, this little one was too perceptive, picking up both the good and the bad.
The two novice parents thought that their child was too young to understand anything. Since both were busy, the child was left to the care of their elders during the day, and only at night could they enjoy the happiness of a family of three and develop their relationships with their daughter. And so, they would hold her as they read the letters at night. Over time, this little thing was influenced by what she saw and heard.
By the time they realized, it was too late. She understood everything.
She was only three years old.
Xie Yuan was so angry that he ranted for an hour and declared that from the next day on, he would teach her himself.
Su Rong and Zhou Gu nodded repeatedly without any objection, and they packaged Xiaoqi off to Xie Yuan.
Now Xiaoqi had just returned from Xie Yuan’s mansion, on a day off, and Zhou Gu was already thinking of sending her back to Xie Yuan’s mansion.
Su Rong soothed Zhou Gu, "It’s okay, the next one will behave better."
She was now seven months pregnant, and she had already calculated that in half a year’s time, when everything in Daliang was ready and she had given birth and completed the postpartum confinement, she would then initiate an attack on Dawei.
Zhou Gu looked at her bulging belly and muttered, "Will it be?"
He was very doubtful whether the children produced by two such disobedient people could ever be obedient.
"They will be," Su Rong said, harboring beautiful expectations. "By then, they will have been taught by Uncle Xie from a young age."
"Forget it, you were also taught by Uncle Xie," Zhou Gu didn’t hold much hope.
Su Rong paused, "Before I was seven, I grew up in the Governor’s Mansion, and after seven, I spent more than half the year at Xie Residence. By then it was already too late."
Hearing this, Zhou Gu finally felt a bit of hope, "Then send them over from a young age."
Parents who were no longer novices quickly reached an agreement. Anyway, whether Uncle Xie let out one sheep or two, it was all the same to him.
The Old Duke, Eldest Princess Shengan, and others had originally planned to live in Nanchu for just three to five years before returning, but life in Nanchu was too comfortable. With Xie Yuan, Duke Cui, Zhou Gu and Su Rong, the Eldest Lady of Su Family, the younger generations, and so on, they became more and more reluctant to leave and did not want to go back to Daliang at all. So, they simply continued to live there.
Especially since Su Rong was pregnant again, Eldest Princess Shengan was even less willing to leave.
She said to the Old Duke of Protectorate, "I’m not going back. My dearest grandson is in Nanchu, my great-granddaughter is in Nanchu, and soon there will be a great-grandson. Doctor Zhang said this pregnancy is a boy; who knows, maybe another little Zhou Gu will be born. How adorable Zhou Gu was as a child, I’m so fond of him, now I really can’t bear to leave."
She looked at the Old Duke of Protectorate, "Why don’t you go back alone and have a look?"
The Old Duke had no desire to move either, "If we’re not going back, then we’re not going back, what is there to see? Everything at home is fine, nothing will be stolen; let them live their lives. Being old, it’s all the same wherever we are."
Eldest Princess Shengan was overjoyed, "You old thing, I thought you were really attached to our home. Turns out you’re not."
The Old Duke of Protectorate snorted, "Your grandchildren and great-grandchildren are here, and so are mine. We are the same. Why would I miss that whole bunch back home?"
"The elder grandson and his wife have been sending letters more and more frequently of late; they must be missing Zhou Rui," Eldest Princess Shengan could not help but chuckle at the thought, "Oddly enough, Zhou Rui is even less willing than us to return, adamantly saying he wants his Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt to raise him. If I hadn’t seen him being born with my own eyes, I would have thought he crawled right out of Xiaoqi’s belly, never seen a child so unwilling to think of his parents."
The Old Duke of Protectorate laughed too, "In another two years, we’ll send him back."
"Don’t you start dictating now. You’re too old for that, don’t treat him like you did Zhou Gu when he was little," teased Eldest Princess Shengan with a laugh. "If they miss their son that much, they can come to Nanchu to see him. The elder grandson’s wife just gave birth to another boy. If Zhou Rui doesn’t want to return, let it be! Even we two don’t want to move, let alone him."
"You just spoil him," resignedly remarked the Old Duke of Protectorate.
Eldest Princess Shengan shot him a look, "Daliang may be fine, the Emperor governs well, but many things still follow the ancient system without change. The Emperor knows it, the Court Officials know it, any change would damage the foundation. But Nanchu is different, the way Su Rong reigns, following her heart; very little of the old system remains, breaking the mold for the sake of national prosperity and peace. This is unique to Nanchu; neither Daliang nor Dawei can replicate it. We live comfortably here, and the children are even more at ease. Who spoils who here?"
"I can’t argue with you," the Old Duke of Protectorate actually agreed internally. Even he had not expected that Su Rong and Zhou Gu could manage Nanchu so well, with just laws and stringent systems, and achieving relative gender equality to the greatest extent possible, which was very difficult.
With the whole nation of Nanchu united, in many places, female officials performed even better than male officials. Over the past five years, men dared not slack, and prodigal sons were almost nonexistent, while women pursued education and everyone strove to advance.
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