As snowflakes danced, Meng Xiu's wedding day arrived. Meng Qi originally planned to send Meng Xiu off that day, as she was marrying far away, so she needed to leave early and then go through the wedding procedures after arriving in the northwest.
However, Meng Qi received a notice from the palace that Meng Xiu's wedding day was a major event. Since the Empress was frightened, the palace had canceled the official greetings for both major and minor occasions. This notice was a special one, and Meng Qi suspected it was related to some arrangements for the Emperor's birthday.
She thought of Fanghua's suggestion, or rather her suggestion to Fanghua, and wondered if Fanghua had the power to convince the emperor to allow her idea.
Meng Qi's plan was simple: she was looking for an opportunity to embarrass the Jing Palace. Ever since she married into the family, she'd been at odds with Princess Duan and had made a fool of herself at the Cheng Palace. Her past with Hong Zhe made it easier for the Jing Palace to be the one to embarrass her, or even share in the ridicule. But Princess Jing was incredibly calculating, always finding a way to single her out for embarrassment.
Meng Qi was not convinced, and secondly, she wanted to take this opportunity to test Princess Jing's bottom line. She really wanted to arouse the anger on Princess Jing's false face under her gentle face. Only in this way could she make King Jing decide to take action at the palace banquet in the first month of the year, and this would give Song Chengze an opportunity.
Thinking of this, Meng Qi recalled the day she and Song Chengze ate pheasant hotpot in the outer courtyard study. They sat across from each other at the table, while Song Chengze prepared the different ingredients for her, carefully picking out the chicken and placing it on her plate. He also prepared the dipping sauce for her, and even personally added the wontons to the pot at the end.
She had never known Song Chengze to take care of others this well. It was obvious that he often did things on his own, without Zhang Decheng or anyone else waiting on him. From her initial nervousness to her final enjoyment of the delicious food, Meng Qi admitted that she really enjoyed this feeling, a little nervous and a little bit of joy.
"Don't you need me to accompany you back?" Song Chengze stood at the second door and said softly to Meng Qi who was wrapped tightly.
"No need, just go and do your own thing. Master Yue San will be leaving soon, and I'm sure you have a lot of things to do here." Meng Qi said with a smile.
"Is it enough for your third sister's dowry? If there's anything missing, ask Zhang Decheng to open the outer courtyard's storehouse and you can go find it yourself."
Hearing this, Meng Qi bowed to Song Chengze and said, "I also want to thank the prince for finding those medicines. I think these things are more important to my third sister than silver."
Song Chengze nodded and said, "What's the big deal? If it's useful, I'll send it over via the official route when I get the chance."
Meng Qi nodded happily, first sent Song Chengze on horseback to the palace, and then got on the carriage and headed towards the Huainan Marquis Mansion.
When Meng Qi arrived at the Huainan Marquis's residence, Meng Wan had already returned and was about to accompany Wang Shi to Meng Xiu's dowry. Wang Shi was so happy to hear that her little daughter had returned that Meng Wan couldn't stop her from going to meet Meng Qi.
When Meng Qi entered Shanzhi Hall and saw her mother walking towards her, her eyes instantly turned red. In her previous life, she had become like that, and only Wang held her tightly in her arms, using her originally narrow chest to shield her from the wind and rain. However, she was implicated and died because of her own actions.
What’s funny is that in my previous life, I didn’t know what kind of nonsense Hong Zhe had fed me. I watched Wang die because of me but still didn’t wake up, and in the end I pushed myself into a dead end.
"Why didn't you send someone to tell me that you were coming back? I even told your second sister to bring the dowry you gave to Xiujie over later." Wang scolded her while holding her little daughter's hand.
"I had originally planned to come back tomorrow to see my third sister off to get married, but the palace just announced that there would be a grand ceremony tomorrow, so I decided to come back today." Meng Qi took Wang's arm and said, "It's so cold, why did you bother to come out to greet me? I know the way."
As he spoke, he greeted Meng Wan, "When did Second Sister come back?"
"I just arrived a short while ago. I was planning to accompany my mother to help Sister Xiu put on her makeup first, and then come back to talk to her." Meng Wan responded with a smile, looking in very good spirits.
Meng Qi felt relieved. The happier Meng Wan was, the more at ease she would be. After all, no matter whether Meng Wan and Zhou Yu loved each other or not, she was marrying into the Prince Shen's Mansion for her. If Meng Qi was not living a good life, how could she feel at ease?
"In that case, why don't we go together and come back later so that Mama Guo can make some scallion pancakes for us."
Mother Guo is the most capable person around Wang. She is not good at other foods, but she is good at making pancakes, and even the real cook in the Huainan Marquis Mansion cannot compare with her.
Hearing this, Mother Guo smiled and said, "That's great. I'll go and knead the dough and make some cucumber soup for the two young ladies."
Meng Qi clapped her hands. "Oh, there's cucumber soup to drink. That's great. And a plate of radish salad, drizzled with thick sesame oil."
Wang looked at her little daughter's playful appearance. It was as if she had returned to the days when she was waiting to be married when she begged for food. She clapped her hands with satisfaction and said, "You, there are so many delicious foods in the palace, yet you came back to ask for this."
"No matter how much food there is in the palace, it's not as delicious as what's in mother's yard, right, second sister?"
Meng Wan smiled and said, "I'll let you decide whether it's right or wrong."
With just one sentence, the mother and her two daughters started to laugh. Meng Qi reached out to hit Meng Wan, "I told you not to be in the same group as me."
Meng Wan ran away with a smile, and Meng Qi followed behind. The two daughters were in a mess, and Wang Shile's eyes narrowed into slits.
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Watching Wang walk out, Meng Xiu took Meng Wan and Meng Qi's hands and sat together at the round table.
Meng Qi instructed Yuan Dong to bring in the dowry she had given to Meng Xiu. Meng Xiu looked at the box and then at the things inside, and her eyes couldn't help but become wet.
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