Chapter 71: Jade Pendant This servant feels that the Second Prince sent someone to give this jade pendant to the young lady...
Cui Lingyan smiled, her beautiful eyes filled with smiles and a bit of shyness.
The two sat down and chatted for a while, and had osmanthus milk cake and sour plum soup.
Just as Cui Lingyan was about to say goodbye, not wanting to disturb him from his official duties, she heard Lu Bingzhi say, "Let's have lunch at Songxue Hall. After lunch, I'll take you around the hall so you can get familiar with it later."
Cui Lingyan was slightly startled, then met Lu Bingzhi's gaze and nodded, "Okay."
Although Guan Yan outside was surprised when he received the order, he had already witnessed the different way the prince treated the young lady, so even though he was surprised, he quickly came to his senses and hurriedly asked someone to go to the kitchen to pass on the message.
After the servant left, Guan Yan looked at Bi Tao standing there and said with a smile, "Go to the tea room and rest. The young lady is staying here for dinner, so she won't need us for the time being."
Bi Tao had seen Guan Yan at the Ningshou Marquis's residence, bringing a gift to Cui Lingyan, so she didn't feel strange at this moment. She smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay."
At noon, Cui Lingyan and Lu Bingzhi had lunch together. Afterward, they wandered around Songxue Hall. When it was almost 3 p.m., Cui Lingyan said to Lu Bingzhi, "Prince, please go and get busy. I'll take Bi Tao back with me."
Lu Bingzhi nodded, and after seeing Cui Lingyan and Bitao leave, he returned to the study.
He sat down and flipped through a few pages of a book, then thought for a moment and said, "Let's clean up a side room so the young lady can rest when she comes."
Guan Yan didn't say anything for a long time. Seeing Lu Bingzhi looking up at him, he couldn't help but say, "Since the prince is so concerned, why not let the young lady stay in the prince's room so that he doesn't have to redecorate it again."
"Young Madam will definitely come to Songxue Hall more often in the future. As time goes by, Songxue Hall will become no different from Wutong Courtyard."
Seeing that Lu Bingzhi remained silent, Guan Yan continued, "If I had known that the Crown Prince would treat the Young Madam so well, the new house should have been arranged in Songxue Hall to avoid having to create two places."
Lu Bingzhi raised his eyes slightly, and Guan Yan dared not say anything more. He only thought to himself, "How could the Crown Prince be so devoted to the Young Madam, and yet no one dared to tell anyone about it?" Cui Linghui's incident had caused the Crown Prince such disgrace. If it had been Miss Cui San, now the Young Madam, who had married, the Crown Prince would have tacitly approved the marriage, but he must have felt that their future relationship would be nothing more than a relationship of mutual respect. He never imagined that he would be so devoted to the Young Madam.
Otherwise, as he said, the bridal chamber would have been set up in Songxue Hall, so there would be no Wutong Courtyard.
The old lady never said it privately at the beginning. If the prince likes quietness, it would be fine for him to stay in Songxue Hall on weekdays. It would not be good to make him uncomfortable.
Lu Bingzhi said, "Alright, then there's no need to make any other arrangements."
Guan Yan heard the prince agree and thought to himself, "As expected." He thought, since the prince cared so much about the young lady, why did he ask him to decorate another room just now? The prince seemed to be just talking casually, waiting for his next words.
When did the prince become so scheming?
Guan Yan shook his head and quickly shook the idea out of his mind, not daring to make up stories about the prince anymore.
At this moment, a servant came in and reported, "Sir, Imperial Physician Pei is here to check Ping An's pulse."
Lu Bingzhi raised his eyebrows slightly, then nodded. The servant retreated and soon brought Doctor Pei in from outside.
When Doctor Pei came in, he first bowed, then stepped forward to take Lu Bingzhi's pulse, and then took out a small medicine bottle and handed it to Guanyan who was standing aside.
Lu Bingzhi withdrew his hand, his voice cold and calm: "How is it?"
Doctor Pei said, "Your Highness is no longer seriously injured. I will give you another acupuncture session in a few days. Once you finish using this bottle of Jiuhua Pills, you will be completely cured."
Imperial Physician Pei hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice, saying, "Your Highness, this time, you've taken a risk. As the saying goes, a gentleman doesn't stand under a dangerous wall, let alone risking your own body. Fortunately, nothing serious happened. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to explain to the Empress even in the afterlife."
Lu Bingzhi said calmly, "Alright, I know the seriousness of the matter. No need to say more. What else brought you here today?"
Doctor Pei nodded, packed up his medicine chest, and whispered back, "Today, the palace is holding a flower viewing banquet for the Second Prince to choose a concubine. I have someone watching the Second Prince and Imperial Concubine Shu to see which girl Imperial Concubine Shu prefers as the prince's consort."
Doctor Pei hesitated when he said this.
Lu Bingzhi took a look and motioned for him to continue.
Imperial Physician Pei then spoke again, "The people who were watching reported that they saw the eldest daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's mansion also come to the palace to attend the flower viewing banquet today. While admiring the flowers privately, she happened to run into the Second Prince. I think this was most likely intentional by the Second Prince, otherwise, how could Miss Cui have happened to run into the Second Prince like this?"
"Your Highness, the Emperor has humiliated the Second Prince because of this incident. Later, he punished him with a cane for beating a palace maid to death while drunk. The Second Prince is narrow-minded and disrespectful, and he is vindictive. Perhaps this action is directed at you, Your Highness."
The room fell silent for a moment.
Although Xiao Ze was born to a noble concubine, due to the relationship with the previous empress, Concubine Shu had not only lost all favors in recent years, but had also become a laughing stock throughout the capital. Holding the title of noble concubine in vain was truly embarrassing. Growing up in such an environment, subject to gossip, Xiao Ze's temperament was deeply distorted. Seeing Lu Bingzhi being favored by the emperor, even more than his own son, he had long since disliked him.
So, he can do anything.
Imperial Physician Pei spoke up, "The Second Prince's actions are truly surprising. If he wants Miss Cui to be his consort, then that's fine. But if not, then it's even more worrying."
Cui Linghui had a bad reputation and was naturally unworthy of the identity of the Second Prince's consort, so there was other meaning in Doctor Pei's words.
Lu Bingzhi understood what he meant as soon as he heard it.
He raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Doctor Pei.
"I was wondering why you left the palace today, but it turns out it was for this?"
Imperial Physician Pei was over forty years old. Seeing Lu Bingzhi's nonchalant attitude, he felt quite helpless and said anxiously, "Your Highness, how can you still smile? If Miss Cui really did become the Second Prince's concubine, how would Your Highness save your dignity? If I were not so shocked and knew the seriousness of the matter, I would have hurriedly reported it to Your Highness so that Your Highness would pay attention to it and make arrangements as soon as possible to avoid more rumors and damage Your Highness's reputation. Why would I have left the palace in such a hurry to come to the Duke's Mansion?"
Seeing that Doctor Pei was anxious, Lu Bingzhi's cold eyes showed a smile: "Why is Doctor Pei so anxious? This is such a good show, I am looking forward to watching it."
Doctor Pei felt blocked in his heart and wanted to say something, but when he saw that Lu Bingzhi seemed to be watching a show, he couldn't even utter a word of persuasion.
He subconsciously looked at Guanyan who was standing beside him, thinking that Guanyan had been serving His Highness since he was a child, and His Highness would definitely listen to what he said.
Guan Yan lowered his head and said nothing.
Doctor Pei sighed in his heart and did not stay in Songxuetang for too long. He wrote another health-preserving prescription and got up to say goodbye.
Guanyan personally sent the person out.
As they were about to leave Songxue Hall, Imperial Physician Pei couldn't help but say, "You should also persuade His Highness. We all know what the Second Prince is planning. If Miss Cui is really allowed to enter the Second Prince's mansion and become his concubine, His Highness's reputation will be trampled on the ground. You are His Highness's right-hand man, so you can't let His Highness do everything he wants."
Guan Yan nodded repeatedly and sent Doctor Cui out. "Alright, I know the seriousness of this matter. You can go back to the palace and keep a close eye on the things going on there."
After seeing off Doctor Pei, Guan Yan returned to the room.
He also knew that this matter was of great importance, so he spoke out in a voice of advice: "Your Highness, you must not let the Second Prince succeed in this matter. If he succeeds, who knows what people in the capital will say about you after dinner."
"Otherwise, I could arrange for someone to make Miss Cui sick. The Second Prince would think it unlucky and naturally stop thinking about it. Or I could send someone to pass on some information to the Imperial Concubine. With the Imperial Concubine's personality, how could she be willing to allow Miss Cui to have anything to do with the Second Prince?"
After all, if Concubine Shu was not stupid, she would never agree to let Xiao Ze and Cui Linghui get involved. Otherwise, even if she offended the Empress Dowager of the Cining Palace, the Emperor would be dissatisfied if he saw it.
Cui Linghui had put so much thought into getting the current young lady to marry him, and her reputation had already been ruined. How could such a woman be married to the royal family? The emperor was the first to feel that something was wrong.
Guan Yan felt that the Crown Prince would not just sit back and watch the show and let the Second Prince and Cui Linghui cause any trouble.
Lu Bingzhi said calmly, "Let them be. Cui Linghui can't be the Second Prince's consort. If she wants to be Xiao Ze's concubine, why should we bother with this?"
"As for Xiao Ze, let him be. He has a completely irrational temperament. If he does something stupid, it will be a good thing for us."
Hearing his master say this, Guan Yan felt very complicated.
It seemed that the master had never cared about Cui Linghui at all. In fact, he only treated her as a stranger. Otherwise, why would he not be angry at all after hearing such news, and even have a bit of a show-like attitude?
Guanyan felt a little sympathetic to Cui Linghui. How could this not please his master?
However, this sympathy only lasted for a moment. Thinking of the things Cui Linghui had done that caused the prince to be pointed at and talked about by others, he felt that Cui Linghui was not worthy of sympathy for being targeted by the second prince.
If she had felt uneasy about the Crown Prince's poisoning and no longer wanted this marriage, she should have spoken frankly to the Crown Prince. Given the Crown Prince's personality, he would have definitely called off the marriage and wouldn't even have mentioned that it was Cui Linghui who had first thought of breaking off the engagement.
But Cui Linghui chose to use such means and made the matter known to everyone in the capital. He no longer had any good feelings towards the eldest daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's Mansion.
This time, Xiao Ze had his eyes on her. If she knew the importance of things, she would never give in to his wishes. But if she was someone who wanted to climb the ladder of power, hoping to use the Second Prince Xiao Ze's high position to rise in status, then whatever fate she ended up in was her own fault, and she couldn't blame anyone else at all.
Seeing that Lu Bingzhi was determined to do so and had no intention of interfering in the matter, Guan Yan could not persuade him any further and could only withdraw.
.....
At nightfall, Ningshouhou Mansion, Yingyue Courtyard
When Yulan came back from clearing the things on the table, she saw Cui Linghui sitting on the soft couch, playing with a mutton-fat jade pendant carved with pine and deer patterns. Her face immediately changed, and she stepped forward and lowered her voice to persuade her, "Miss, I think it's inappropriate for the Second Prince to send someone to give you this jade pendant."
"Today's flower viewing banquet, what is it for..."
Yulan didn't dare to continue, but her meaning was clear.
Today's flower viewing banquet is for the purpose of selecting the Second Prince's wife. Cui Linghui's reputation was damaged due to the previous incident of falling into the water and breaking off the engagement. The choice of the Second Prince's wife will never fall on her, the eldest daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's Mansion.
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