Chapter 135: Visit

"You're all here! Come on, come on. As soon as I heard you were coming, I asked the kitchen to prepare a lot of delicious food for you to taste."

When Shen Yuan saw the princess, he was hugged into her arms before he had time to greet her or speak. He leaned in the princess's sweet and soft arms and forgot what to say.

As soon as he entered the house, he was immediately helped by the maid from the princess's mansion to wash his hands.

"Gardenia, go to the kitchen and have someone bring it up if anything is ready."

"Okay! I'll go right away." Gardenia went happily, and she said that what she said was correct!

"Princess..."

"Tsk! Why are you still calling me Princess Manman? It sounds so strange. You should change your way of speaking!"

Shen Yuan was stunned. Change the words? You can't just call her mother now...

Shen Yuan's expression made the princess laugh. She couldn't help but hold her in her arms and rub her. "Why are you so cute, Xiao Manman? Just call me aunt first, okay?"

Shen Yuan leaned in the princess's arms and called out, "Aunt."

“Hey!”

As they were talking, snacks were served, and Princess Kangle let go of Shen Yuan and let her eat.

"Have some snacks first. We have a lot of delicious food for dinner. I also asked someone to take the food you brought to the kitchen to cook."

"Thank you, Auntie."

"You're welcome. Come on and eat."

Shen Yuan arrived late, and in a blink of an eye it was already the afternoon, when officials were off duty.

At 15:00 in the afternoon, Xie Yuan arrived home. The Hanlin Academy was a famously quiet government office. The bell for dismissal had not yet rung, but the officials were already saying goodbye to each other in the courtyard. When the bell rang, they were already outside the gate.

Shen Yuan delivered the invitation in the morning, so Xie Yuan and Xie Hui, father and son, didn't know she was coming in the afternoon.

Before Xie Yuan entered the house, Shen Yuan heard his voice... "Xi'er, I heard from the servants that Manman is here?"

"Hello, uncle."

"Okay, okay. Manman is fine too." This was the first time that Xie Yuan was called uncle. It sounded very pleasant!

While Xie Hui was not back yet, the three of them sat together and came up with a bad idea.

…

When Xie returned home, he felt something was wrong as soon as he entered the house. The housekeeper saw him coming back, looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, and sighed heavily.

The maids and servants on the road all had solemn expressions. Before entering the inner courtyard, they met Gardenia with red eyes.

"What's going on? Has Dad come home? Where is Mom? Where are they?"

"In Yileju... But..." Gardenia hesitated, "You should go in and take a look yourself!"

Since Xie Hui entered the house, many speculations have flashed through his mind. If something happened to his father or mother, it is impossible that no one would go to the Dali Temple to tell him. Could it be that the couple had a quarrel?

When Xie Hui entered the main room of Yileju, he saw his father and mother sitting on either side. His mother looked very angry. Yileju had always been a place where their family talked on a daily basis, but this was the first time that the atmosphere was so solemn.

"Mom, what happened?" Xie Hui walked back to sit next to his mother, then looked at his father, hoping he would say something.

But at this time, my father lowered his head and looked unwilling to say more.

Xie Hui was about to continue asking when his eyes suddenly caught some snack crumbs on the table and he smelled a familiar scent, and he understood.

When he spoke again, the question became "Mom, did Dad do something to let you down?"

Xie Yuan was shocked! How could this brat really doubt his father?

Princess Kang Le's expression changed immediately, she laughed out loud, and reminded her husband, "Stop pretending, this brat must have guessed it."

"Guessed it?! Impossible, I acted so well." Xie Yuan felt that he hadn't acted enough.

"Manman? Where is it hidden?"

"I won't tell you unless you tell Dad how you guessed it."

"The snack residue on the table hasn't been wiped off yet. Don't tell me that you two sat here to eat snacks at home." The mother always said that her son was getting fat as he got older and hadn't eaten snacks for a long time.

Xie Yuan was just worrying about his carelessness when he heard Xie Hui say, "There are also the housekeeper, servants, and maids. Especially the housekeeper and Zhizi, if anything happened to you two, they would definitely not be hesitant to tell me. You are overacting."

"Also, mother, you still smell like the caraway scent you loved to use. Hug her."

Princess Kang Le couldn't help but lift up her sleeves and sniff, but she couldn't smell anything. "Do you have a dog's nose?"

"My son is the Minister of the Dali Temple. Can you tell me where Manman is now?"

"I'm cooking in Xuexuan."

Xie Hui got the answer and immediately came out of the room. When he walked out the door, he could still hear his mother complaining, "I told you not to ask the maids and the housekeeper to act together. Look, you've overacted, haven't you?"

Xie Hui couldn't help but smile. No one knew that Uncle Shen had actually told him in the afternoon that Manman was coming. He had just made up all those things.

Shen Yuan didn't know that their plan had already been exposed, and was still diligently preparing for the performance.

When he heard someone coming in, he jumped out from behind the screen, waiting to see the surprised expression on Xie Hui's face.

In their plan, they said that a little girl came to Xie Yuan to seek recognition as her father, and then lied to Xie that the little girl was here and asked him to come over for questioning.

Xie Yuan originally disagreed with this practice of defaming his reputation, but was ruthlessly suppressed by the princess. This plot was from a storybook that the princess had just read - "The Amorous Wife of the Scholar-in-Law".

"Brother Youqi!"

"Manman? Why you?"

Xie Hui's performance was perfect, which made Shen Yuan very satisfied. He smiled and said, "You've been fooled, right? My aunt and uncle and I were just playing a joke on you."

"Yeah, I was shocked when I first walked into the house."

"Hey, I brought a lot of delicious food from the farm. Since you haven't come home yet, we wanted to give you a surprise! Are you surprised?"

Xie Hui pretended to be pitiful and said, "I was surprised, but seeing Manman, I was pleasantly surprised."

"Then lower your head."

Xie Hui lowered his head obediently. Shen Yuan reached out and touched Xie Hui's head, "Touch the fur, it won't scare you."

"When I was a kid, I was scared, and my dad patted my head like this, and I wasn't scared anymore. But why do you wear this crown every day, and this ugly purse?"

"It's not ugly, I like it very much. I'll show you around the house, okay?"

"Okay." Shen Yuan followed Xie Hui out the door, thinking about buying a few more nice hair crowns and purses. As for making them herself... Sorry, her needlework would only be uglier than the current ones.

Zhuxuexuan is the place for receiving guests in the inner courtyard. The princess would receive female guests with whom she has a close relationship here.

After Xie Hui brought Shen Yuan out of Zhuxuexuan, they walked through the corridor and came to the back garden of their home. However, in winter, the scenery in the garden was far less beautiful than in spring and summer.

Xie Hui recalled taking Shen Yuan to the greenhouse in the garden. There was a ground heating in the greenhouse, so it was very warm. There were also various exotic flowers and plants planted inside.

"Brother Youqi, have you met Zhou Shaoyin recently?"

"I saw him last holiday." Xie Hui knew that Manman definitely wanted to tell her that Zhou Zhongan liked her elder sister.

"I know that Zhou Shaoyin likes my elder sister. Not only do I know this, but even my grandmother can see it. Yesterday, Master Lu, who is engaged to my elder sister, came to my house. I think he is a good guy, and more importantly, my elder sister is willing to be with him."