Chapter 2 He kept calling him "cousin," making his heart ache...
Songxiuzhai was shrouded in gloom for three consecutive days.
Even Aunt Qingning came to Cuizhu Garden five or six times to ask Tang Xinuan to come over.
Xiaoqian stopped them all.
Tang Xinuan really wanted to see her cousin.
She hadn't seen her cousin for a full forty-five hours.
But Xiaoqian wouldn't allow it, saying that since she wanted to marry her cousin and become his wife, she had to endure it.
Aside from sitting in her study painting and drawing, Tang Xinuan spent all her time counting on her fingers.
“Miss, it’s not that I’m heartless and want to stop you, but in our Marquis’s mansion, the young master is the one who calls the shots. As long as he nods, you can become his wife.”
"The Lady of the Marquis is your aunt, so she'll definitely be on your side. But the young master is already of marriageable age, yet he hasn't settled down with you. It's obvious he doesn't agree."
Tang Xinuan frowned, looking somewhat unhappy: "Doesn't my cousin like Nuannuan? Why doesn't he agree?"
She lay face down on the bed, with a newly published storybook placed in front of her chest.
A talented man and a beautiful woman, the plot is at its most tense and exciting.
She lost the will to continue watching.
Her small face rested on her two fair, slender arms, and her delicate feet swung around. She huffed angrily, "I don't believe you, I'm going to ask my cousin."
Xiaoqian counted the days; it had been several days since she had seen the young master.
It's good to ask.
However, she was still worried. "Miss, if the young master takes off your clothes again, you can't agree to it. If he tries to force himself on you, you should slap him."
"Time to see my cousin!"
Tang Xinu jumped off the bed and was about to run away when Xiaoqian quickly handed her her shoes and helped her tidy up her clothes.
"cousin--"
Tang Xinuan had just stepped out of the house when she bumped right into the third young lady of the Marquis's mansion.
Third Miss Chu Yanqing hurriedly hugged her, "Cousin, where are you rushing off to?"
She chuckled as she spoke, "Going to see my brother?"
Tang Xinuan smiled, revealing a beautiful dimple at the corner of her mouth. Thinking that she hadn't seen her cousin for several days and would soon see him again, her eyes were filled with an intense, unyielding smile.
"Yes, I'm going to see my cousin."
Chu Yanqing held her tightly, "My brother hasn't come back yet, come with me to see your aunt."
“Okay,” Tang Xinuan also wanted to talk to her aunt. The sketchbook said that parents should decide their children’s marriages, so she thought it would be the same if she talked to her aunt.
Chu Yanqing was worried that she would step into puddles and get her shoes and socks wet, so she pulled her along the way.
"Cousin, the little princess has invited many girls to visit the palace tomorrow. I've also received an invitation. Would you like to go?"
Tang Xinuan certainly wanted to go.
Since entering the manor at the age of five, she has never left the manor except in necessary circumstances.
They're all teenage girls, how could they not yearn for the outside world?
But her cousin wouldn't allow her to leave the mansion.
Before her cousin became an official, he would come over to play with her every day. Now that he has become an official, she doesn't see him for several days at a time.
Especially recently, Xiaoqian has been finding all sorts of reasons to stop it.
She's so bored staying at home every day.
"Can I go?"
Chu Yanqing nodded. "If you want to go, I'll take you."
Tang Xinuan was so happy she almost flew away.
"I want to go, I want to go! Take me there quickly! I've never been to the palace before. They say the palace is huge and beautiful."
Chu Yanqing was worried that something might happen to her, so she made a deal in advance, "Then you have to promise me that you will stay with me every step of the way tomorrow and listen to everything I say, otherwise I won't take you with me."
"I'll listen, I'll listen," Tang Xinuan raised her hand to assure him, "I'll do whatever you tell me to do, I'll definitely listen."
Chu Yanqing felt much more at ease and extended her little finger, "Pinky promise."
Tang Xinuan also extended her little finger and hooked it with hers.
The two sisters soon arrived at the residence where Lady Hou lived.
Lady Hou had just finished reciting the sutra when she saw the two sisters coming over, and ordered someone to prepare food.
Hearing that his daughter was going to bring his niece to the palace, he was worried and couldn't help but give her a lot of advice.
Of course, many of these instructions were given to the daughter, asking her to take good care of her niece.
Xiaoqian stood at the door, frequently giving Tang Xinuan meaningful glances.
Tang Xinuan didn't receive it, but it was noticed by Madam Hou.
"Did Xiaoqian get bitten in the eye by an insect?"
Xiaoqian was caught red-handed by Madam Hou, and walked to Madam Hou with a face full of embarrassment, knelt down and admitted her mistake.
Lady Hou didn't blame her. "Just tell me what's wrong. Nuannuan might not understand."
Xiaoqian bit her lip and decided to go all out.
“Madam, our young lady has already had relations with the young master…” She didn’t dare to say that they had a relationship.
But this was no secret in the mansion; all the maids knew about it.
As the matriarch of the Hou family, Lady Hou could not possibly have been unaware of this.
Xiaoqian then said, "Our young lady is almost twenty years old and still hasn't been engaged. She has no parents, so I humbly ask Madam to make arrangements for her."
Xiaoqian's words not only crossed the line, but were also somewhat outrageous.
Tang Xinuan has no parents, only an aunt named Lady Hou.
However, they have been dragging their feet and haven't even discussed marriage yet.
Xiaoqian's words, upon closer listening, actually carried a hint of blaming her aunt, Lady Hou, for failing to fulfill her responsibilities.
Chu Yanqing was worried that her mother would be angry, so she first scolded Xiaoqian with a cold expression.
"What's wrong with you, girl? You're usually quite sensible. What are you saying? Is this something you should be talking about?"
Xiaoqian didn't dare to say a word.
Her master's life was in someone else's hands, and she, a mere servant, could be dismissed with a single word.
But she and her mistress grew up together, how could she not think of her mistress?
Xiaoqian was both frightened and felt wronged for her mistress, and tears streamed down her face.
Tang Xinuan was busy eating snacks when she suddenly became anxious.
"Xiaoqian, why are you crying? Get up, get up quickly!"
Unable to lift Xiaoqian up, she anxiously pleaded with Lady Hou for help, "Aunt, please help her up!"
Lady Hou's complexion was indeed not good.
But she also had her own unspeakable difficulties.
After a moment of silence, she waved her hand and said, "Aunt is a little tired. You should go out and have some fun."
Chu Yanqing hurriedly pulled Tang Xinuan and Xiaoqian up, "Let's go, let's go, the peach blossoms are blooming outside, let's go see the peach blossoms."
Actually, the peach blossoms bloomed a few days ago, but after a heavy rain, many of them fell.
It's still pretty though.
Tang Xinuan remembered that she was going to the palace tomorrow. Seeing that Xiaoqian had stopped crying, she asked Chu Yanqing what fun places there were in the palace and where they could go tomorrow.
"Cousin, I heard the food in the imperial kitchen is delicious, can we eat some?"
Chu Yanqing had no idea what activities the princess had arranged.
"That's hard to say. There will definitely be snacks and fruits, but as for meals... we can only eat if the princess arranges them. If not, I'll come back to eat."
"Oh, oh," Tang Xinuan wanted to go out too, afraid that her cousin wouldn't take her. "I'll remember, I'll go with you tomorrow, and I definitely won't run around or say anything out of line."
"Cousin is so smart," Chu Yanqing said, feeling warm inside as she was infected by Tang Xinuan's smile. "You need to dress very properly to enter the palace tomorrow. Come on, let me go to your place and see if you can get your clothes ready. I'll have Xiaoqian help you change tomorrow morning."
Tang Xinuan is the niece of Lady Hou.
Chu Yannuo doted on her since she was a child, and she received even better treatment than the Marquis's own daughters.
Her clothes were all kinds of styles: elegant, charming, dignified, grand, and gorgeous.
It contains several large wardrobes.
Tang Xinuan didn't know what clothes to wear to the palace, so she took them out one by one and asked Chu Yanqing.
"Cousin, how about this one?"
"Cousin, what about this one?"
What about this one?
Every single one is beautiful.
In the end, Chu Yanqing helped her choose a blue, wide-sleeved, peony-embroidered round-neck jacket, with the inner garment and skirt being a matching set.
The colors are well-balanced, the design is novel and ingenious, and the embroidery is exceptionally exquisite.
Chu Yanqing has a purple one.
“Cousin, you wear this blue one, and I'll wear the purple one. Tomorrow, even strangers will know we're sisters.”
“Okay, okay,” Tang Xinuan also liked the outfit. It was made from the fabric her cousin had given her, and the embroiderers in the manor made it. “We’ll wear this one.”
She clapped her fair little hands, as happy as a child.
Chu Yanqing didn't stay in the Green Bamboo Garden for long. After all, entering the palace was a big deal, and she had many things to prepare.
"Cousin, I'll go back and get ready too. I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning."
After Chu Yanqing left, Tang Xinuan happily started dancing. She was flexible and very talented. After receiving only two years of simple guidance from her dance instructor, she had already become an outstanding dancer.
She herself couldn't put in the hard work, and Chu Yannuo was worried that she would get tired, so she stopped practicing after only two years.
"Xiaoqian, I can leave the manor tomorrow and even enter the palace. I'm so happy."
I have no memories of anything before I was five years old.
After the age of five, except for going out to perform ancestral rites or visit necessary relatives, she seemed to have never stepped out of the Marquis's mansion.
She had absolutely no idea what the outside world was like.
Xiaoqian was happy for her too, "Miss, we finally get to go out, we must have a great time! The outside world is so interesting and exciting."
Tang Xinuan's eyes sparkled, her heart filled with anticipation.
Chu Yannuo was in a very bad mood again today.
He found his job as a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue very difficult.
He studied the Four Books and Five Classics, moral principles and literature from a young age. The Great Zhou Dynasty had not held imperial examinations for more than ten years, and many subjects had been abandoned. As the heir of the Marquis's family, he naturally studied mainstream knowledge.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Revenue didn't use poetry, songs, or moral essays.
Recently, the imperial court has been planning to resettle 100,000 displaced people. The process involves everything from selecting resettlement sites, providing farming tools, building houses and distributing grain, and maintaining public order. It involves the cities and counties where the people will be settled, the officials dispatched by the imperial court, and the collection of disaster relief funds and grain from various places. This has left his head feeling like it's filled with mush.
The Ministry of Revenue, with its dozens of officials of all ranks, spent half a month calculating, but still couldn't come up with a specific figure.
Including the Minister of Revenue, each person came up with a set of figures, and no one could convince anyone else. They even had a heated argument at the Ministry of Revenue a couple of days ago.
They actually compiled three sets of data and handed them over to the regent.
Enraged, the Regent roared, "Do you want me to roll the dice and randomly select some data?"
The regent scolded the Minister of Revenue.
The Minister of Revenue then gave him, the Vice Minister of Revenue, a severe scolding.
"You're not that old, how come you can't even calculate a few numbers correctly? How did you even study?"
Chu Yannuo also had something to say but couldn't. The Great Zhou Dynasty had been fighting for decades and almost perished. It was only last year that things finally calmed down.
The imperial examinations had not been held for more than a decade, resulting in a shortage of talent in the court, especially in mathematics.
They can't even figure out these numbers.
But this was a long-standing problem that the imperial court had been suppressing, so he dared not speak out and could only endure it.
However, he was still quite clever. "Minister Li, I suggest that the Ministry of Revenue invite a talented person who is good at mathematics."
During the Great Zhou Dynasty, mathematics was the most useless subject.
More than a decade ago, during the last imperial examination, the court even suspended the mathematics exam.
The Minister of Revenue, a cunning old fox, sighed upon hearing this, "When you have time, go and mention it to the Regent."
The regent was unpredictable and had a violent and eccentric personality; no one dared to cross him.
Normally, we'd be too busy avoiding them.
Chu Yannuo had unspeakable suffering in her heart.
The result of returning home with a heavy heart was that I was enveloped in a gloomy atmosphere and found everything unpleasant to look at.
As Qingning helped him change his clothes, she noticed that he was in a bad mood and his scalp was furrowed, so she became even more careful.
Even so, she still accidentally bumped into the young master's arm.
He hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy.
Suppressing his emotions, Chu Yannuo asked, "What have you been busy with these past two days, Nuannuan?"
He hasn't seen anyone for several days.
In the past, when the little girl heard that he was coming back, she would flutter around him like a butterfly, calling him "cousin" over and over, which made his heart break.
I don't know what's going on lately, but I heard he came back and I haven't seen him anywhere.
Qing Ning pondered for a moment and replied, "I went there this afternoon. This morning, Miss and Third Miss went to pay their respects to the Lady of the Marquis. Third Miss is going to the palace tomorrow and invited Miss to go with her. Miss was very happy and asked Third Miss to help her choose clothes for quite a while."
"Enter the palace?" Chu Yannuo frowned.
The little girl rarely goes out, mainly because she doesn't understand any social etiquette, and I really don't feel comfortable letting her go out.
If it's just about entering the palace, with my third sister taking care of me, it's fine.
"Go tell Miss Biao that I'm back and I'll go see her in a bit."
Qing Ning breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the young master saw the young lady, the Marquis's mansion would be peaceful tonight.
"This servant will go right away."
Recently, Xiaoqian tried to stop her cousin from coming to Songxiuzhai, but she couldn't stop the young master from visiting her cousin.
She had to hurry over there to help her cousin dress up nicely. If the young master saw her, he would be pleased and stay overnight. All the servants in their household would be relieved.
After Qingning left, Michong rushed to Chu Yannuo's side to serve him.
"My lord, I heard that the young princess is holding a banquet at the palace to select a consort for the regent, and she has invited daughters of princes and ministers."
The regent's wife must be dignified, virtuous, and exceptionally intelligent.
Chu Yannuo straightened his collar, though he knew his cousin would never catch the Regent's eye.
But he didn't like being looked at with a man's eyes.
"Go tell Third Sister that she is not allowed to bring Cousin into the palace tomorrow. If she wants to go, she can go alone."
A note from the author:
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