Chapter 203 Travel
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Xu Junying brought Heng'er back to Cen's house. He had fallen asleep in the carriage. Xia Lian came with Heng'er in her arms. When she saw Meimei, she knelt down and kowtowed, smiling like a flower. Meimei held Heng'er in her arms and asked Cuixi to help her up. She said apologetically, "You are not feeling well, and it is time to use someone. I was anxious to get you out, but I felt it was inappropriate... so I kept delaying, not for anything else."
Xia Lian leaned forward again and said, "Thank you, Madam, for your concern! I am only here in Qiuhua Courtyard, delivering messages and running errands, just thinking of Heng'er and Madam!"
Meimei nodded and looked at Xu Junying: "Cui Si was beaten today and suffered a serious wound on her face. It seems that she needs to recuperate for a few days. Should we leave Xia Lian here to look after Heng Er with the nanny?"
Xu Junying said, "There are many people in the room, so Xia Lian will follow the young lady and take good care of Heng Ge'er!"
Xia Lian bowed and replied, "Yes!"
For the first time ever, Heng'er didn't wake up in the middle of the night. Instead, Meimei woke up twice. She reached out to touch him worriedly. Heng'er slept well, his little chest rose and fell, and his breathing was even and smooth. Meimei looked at him with love and amusement, thinking that Xia Lian was really weird. Ever since the night she carried Heng'er from Qiuhua Court to Qinghua Court, Heng'er had the problem of getting up at night. This time, she carried Heng'er from Qiuhua Court to Cen's house again, and Heng'er was cured. What's the old saying? The person who tied the bell must untie it. She was the one who started and ended it!
Meimei hadn't expected one thing: Heng'er had been in Hou's house all day, having a lot of fun. Also, because he had been away from Qiuhua Courtyard for a long time, it became an unfamiliar environment when he returned there. He refused to take a nap at all, and therefore slept soundly at night.
In short, Heng'er became better. Meimei insisted on letting him turn off the lights and go to bed. For seven or eight days in a row, Heng'er did not get up at night and slept through the morning. Meimei was very happy, but Xu Junying did not express anything. He thought it was normal. Heng'er had made enough trouble and would naturally return to normal.
For many days, Xu Junying was busy during the day and stayed in the study to read papers until late at night. He only went home every day to talk to Meimei and Heng'er occasionally when they had lunch and dinner. Meimei was willful and refused to go back to the Hou Mansion. Although he was dissatisfied, he could not do anything about her. He really could not force her to go back before the day was up. In the current Hou Mansion, except for his sick mother, he often did not go to the second room in the west courtyard and lived in Jinhua Hall as usual. It was really not good to have no capable servant to take care of the family. Thinking of the paper he wrote to Meimei, he had a headache: Not serving the elders? That won't work! At that time, in order to stabilize her, he had to bite the bullet and agreed. In the future, he would have to find a way to make her delete that message!
The day passed quietly and uneventfully. During the day, when Xu Junying was not at home, Meimei would go out in disguise to check on Xiankelai from time to time. She did not show her true face, but only wore a mask. She also wanted to see Li Qiuge's music hall, but was persuaded by Cuixi. She felt indignant: Is the music hall also a place of pleasure? All kinds of men can go there, with status or without status, elegant people, rich businessmen and officials. If they have money, they can have fun like crazy, but as a decent girl, they cannot! Forget it, you can guess what the situation is inside. Many song show sets are planned by her, so it's better not to watch!
After not going to Xiankelai for many days, she was asked by Lu Xiangfeng to do something. It turned out that she had said in front of the King of Qi that she would marry Cuixi to the shopkeeper Lu, and he remembered it in his heart. When she was replying, Cuixi was not around, so he boldly asked Meimei to help. After so many years of consideration, Meimei also felt that Lu Xiangfeng was suitable for Cuixi, and intended to let them become a couple. In the future, Xiankelai would be left to them to manage. After grabbing Cuixi and asking her, the girl refused at first, saying that she was not in a hurry to get married and wanted to serve the young lady for a few years. Meimei said: "You are the oldest among the girls, only a few months younger than me, and in a few years, you will become an old girl. You have been with the shopkeeper Lu for a long time, and you should know him better than me. I haven't said anything to him. He promised that he would respect you and treat you wholeheartedly after marriage, and the couple would share the joys and sorrows, and grow old together, and never take a concubine... I think he is good and sincerely asked for marriage. You make your own decision. Whether to agree or not, reply to him in a few days!"
Cui Xi was not stupid. She dealt with Lu Xiangfeng every day, so how could she not understand him? After hearing what the young lady said, she stopped being pretentious and said shyly, "It's up to the young lady to decide! I can't marry in a hurry... I still want to stay with the young lady."
Meimei smiled: "Of course, so you agreed to it?"
Lu Xiangfeng was called immediately, and they discussed to arrange the engagement first and then marry her a year later. Lu Xiangfeng was so happy that he thanked her profusely and almost bumped into the door frame on his way out. Meimei was also very happy, as it was her first time to act as a matchmaker and it was a success, so she was in a very good mood.
In the Qin Mansion, the number one scholar Qin Boqing was highly appreciated by the emperor for his diligence and talent, and was appointed as a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy. Once an official becomes an official, the residence must be changed. The Qin family moved to a large mansion in the south of the city, which was decorated inside and outside, and many slaves and servants were added. Every day, high-ranking officials and nobles came and went, as if they had returned to the time when Master Qin was an official.
Meimei was deeply comforted when she saw this scene when she returned to her parents' home. She finally got what she asked for. Qin Boqing worked hard and now his family is prosperous and his fortune is on the rise. There is nothing to worry about in the Qin Mansion!
She hadn't seen him since the Prince of Qi's wedding, not even Lin Runan. She didn't dare to go to the Prince of Qi's mansion randomly. She could only wait patiently. If he came to visit her, he would be a friend. If he didn't come, he would have abandoned her.
Lingxu had met Zhang Jingyun on the street. He was wearing a mask and men's clothes, riding Xiaobai, and was followed by guards such as Zhan. She just bowed to the two of them across the street. When Zhang Jingyun was about to come over, she hurriedly urged her horse to leave. She sadly discovered that she could no longer be as free and easy as before. After returning from Guiyun Villa, she felt a little embarrassed when facing Zhang Jingyun.
One night, Xu Junying asked Xia Lian to carry Heng'er out to sleep in the upper room, so that they could take good care of him at night. Meimei looked at him strangely, and Xu Junying said, "The child has grown up and should be able to sleep by himself. Heng'er is a boy, so he should be able to do so even more! You will be going on a long trip in a few days, and Heng'er will stay at home with them. We need to make sure he is used to it."
"I'm going on a long trip? How come I didn't know?"
Xu Junying watched Xia Lian and Cui Xi leave the upper room, walked over and sat next to Mei Mei and said, "Queen Yuezhong is going out to burn incense and fulfill a vow. You are a lady of the outer court, so you will be among her attendants!"
Meimei remained silent. In the eyes of others, this was an honor, and she had no objection. It was a good thing to be able to go out and get some fresh air and open her eyes.
The two of them sat opposite each other. Meimei was flipping through a book, but the vertical lines of traditional Chinese characters really didn't appeal to her, and the content wasn't very attractive, so she gave up and continued knitting. She learned a new pattern from Feng, but it was troublesome to knit, and she didn't want to ask others to do it, so she insisted on doing it herself. She had been knitting for two days and still hadn't finished it.
Xu Junying deliberately brought his work to sit with her, intending to bring up some topics and talk more with Meimei. Because Laolai fainted because of Meimei's anger that day, he had some resentment towards Meimei, and he spoke less in the past few days, but Meimei was better at keeping her mouth shut than him. He said two sentences and she answered one, and sometimes she just nodded like a mute without saying anything, which made him feel uncomfortable. Finally, there was a topic that she should be interested in tonight, but she just listened and passed it, and didn't ask any more questions, just concentrating on doing her own things. Xu Junying glanced at her from time to time, and seeing her concentration and selflessness, he wanted to go over and pry open her mouth and force her to speak.
Late at night, Meimei called Cuixi in and asked her to keep watch. She then said something to Xu Junying and went to the inner room to sleep. Xu Junying looked at Cuixi for a while and guessed that she should be asleep, so he told Cuixi to go back to her room to rest and not to keep watch in the upper room. Cuixi had long been accustomed to the couple's inconsistent instructions. From her initial confusion to her current improvisation, she didn't say much, bowed and went downstairs. Xu Junying closed the door and went back to the study to sleep.
Two days later, Meimei got the confirmed news: not only the queen was leaving the city, but the emperor was also going with her, to a large temple called Pufa Temple in Pingjin County, a few miles away, to burn incense and fulfill a vow. Because the queen had just become pregnant, the emperor went on a private visit in disguise and happened to pass by Pufa Temple. Seeing the majestic temple, the prosperous incense in the palace, and the monks chanting scriptures and performing rituals rigorously, he casually asked for a fortune and got the supreme and honorable fortune. The emperor was overjoyed and prayed silently in his heart: if the queen gave birth to a dragon safely, the couple would come to burn incense and fulfill their vows, and make a golden statue of the Buddha, and make Pufa Temple the imperial temple.
So there was this grand journey, with the Imperial Guards in front, the Dragon Riders following closely behind, the Emperor riding the Phoenix Chariot in the center, accompanied by the palace maids, imperial guards, countless military ministers, and imperial ladies. Meimei was one of the twelve imperial ladies accompanying the Empress. Only before leaving did she know that the Prince of Qi and his wife would be accompanying them, which meant that Lin Runan was also coming, as well as Zhang Jingyun and Lingxu. Lingxu was left in the palace hospital, and Zhang Jingyun brought more than a dozen doctors with them.
The weather in May is sunny and the flowers are in full bloom. After leaving the imperial city, the summer scenery in the suburbs is breathtaking. Not to mention anything else, just the lush green and colorful wild flowers all over the mountains and slopes make Meimei very happy and feel extremely refreshed.
Xu Junying would often ride his horse to the side of her carriage, approach the side window, and ask her through a thin veil if she felt unwell. He also told Cuixi and Cuilian to serve the young lady well in the carriage, and to let the attendants beside the carriage report to him if anything happened.
The emperor took the empress's frailty into consideration and ordered the carriage to slow down. The sun was at its zenith and the regiment had not yet reached the designated resting place. It was fine to sit in the carriage, but it felt a little hot. Riding a horse under the blazing sun would not be comfortable. Xu Junying took off his coat and put it on the carriage. He put on a stone-blue tight-fitting suit with embroidered python patterns and round flowers and arrow sleeves. Crystal beads of sweat hung on his wheat-colored face, and sweat soaked the collar of his neck. Meimei glanced at him twice from behind the gauze curtain and could not help saying to Cuilian, "Bring out the spare handkerchief and give him one to wipe his sweat."
Cui Lian searched left and right: "Oh, did you forget to bring it? I can't find it!"
Cui Xi went over to help her look for it: "What's going on? It's messed up!"
Cui Lian was searching while she said, "Madam, please give yours to Lord Hou first. I'll replace it with another one when I find it... It should have been brought here, but I don't know where it is!"
Meimei waved the round fan in her hand silently, and hesitated for a moment: What is this, a lady's handkerchief? A trick to seduce me!
Who cares? There are so many people outside, who wouldn't sweat? If you wipe it dry, it will still drip, so it's better not to wipe it.
Just thinking about this, Xu Junying raised her sleeve to wipe her face. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed. How about this? Heng'er's exclusive action. It was satin fabric and didn't absorb sweat.
Seeing Meimei sitting still, Cuilian had no choice but to take out Meimei's spare handkerchief from her bag and give it to Cuixi. Cuixi paused, stepped on the hem of her skirt when she stood up, and fell down with a cry. She threw the handkerchief onto Meimei's lap:
"Please pass it over, Madam!"
Meimei looked at the two maids, one was busy tying her bundle, the other was struggling on the mat and couldn't get up. She had no choice but to use a round fan to push open the gauze curtain, and picked up a handkerchief from the window and handed it out: "Master, use this to wipe your sweat!"
Xu Junying was calculating how long it would take to reach the resting place. The sun would become more scorching after noon. It would be fine for men like him who came from a military background, but older men like the Duke of Dingguo and the ministers might not be able to bear it. As for the emperor, empress and the imperial edicts in the carriage, they were fine now, but in a while the heat would rise and they would be even more unbearable.
Sweat dripped from his forehead. Suddenly, he saw a blur in front of his eyes. A snow-white silk handkerchief fluttered in front of him. He only had time to see a few delicate plum blossoms embroidered on the four corners. He quickly reached out to grab it. He raised his eyes and saw the curtain of the car move. A pink and delicate hand retracted into the window. The nails were naturally pink and never wore nail polish. It was Meimei's hand!
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