Chapter 28: I wish you a happy marriage
"Miss Shi, what a coincidence, we meet again." Xie Xuezhi was a little surprised to see her, and her smile was mixed with some other emotions.
She looked at Ming Yuesi again, "The Fourth Miss Ming is here too."
Shi Jianli said "hmm" lightly.
Mingyue Si replied, "It's a day off today, so I'm going out for a walk with my sister at home."
Xie Xuezhi glanced behind them and asked, "Are the Second Miss Ming and the Third Miss Ming here too?"
Mingyue Si nodded vaguely, "Looks like Fourth Miss Xie is going downstairs. Is she leaving?"
"Yes, I came early and have been shopping for a while. I don't want to disturb you any more." Xie Xuezhi walked towards the stairs with her maid.
"Sister Li, what did she mean by 'again'? Did you meet again after the flower viewing banquet?" Mingyue Si withdrew her gaze from Xie Xuezhi.
"Well, I ran into him outside the last time I went out."
Mingyue Si nodded.
After walking around for a while with Mingyuelin and Princess Kangning, Shi Jianli felt a little tired, so he opened a small window on the second floor facing the street and sat on the couch in front of the bed to rest.
A maid brought tea and placed it on the table. She winked at Shi Jianli and said, "Two girls, please have some tea."
Shi Jianli smiled and nodded.
Noticing someone was looking at her, Shi Jianli turned her head and saw that it was Xie Xuezhi.
Xie Xuezhi was sitting by the window on the second floor of Wuweizhai, looking straight at her. When she noticed her, she smiled at her.
Tokimeri nodded at the other person, her brows furrowed slightly as she lowered her eyes.
She had a chilling feeling, as if she were being stared at by a poisonous snake.
The encounter was a coincidence, but Xie Xuezhi's inexplicable attention to him was not a coincidence.
What does Xie Xuezhi want to do?
The only time she and Xie Xuezhi met was at the last flower viewing banquet, and they had never met before.
Xie Xuezhi's eyes were not hostile, but calculating. What could be calculating about her?
Shi Jianli remembered that on the day they first met, she praised her appearance twice.
Keeping her doubts deep in her heart, Shi Jianli pulled the window back a little.
Princess Kangning waved her hand and asked for a lot of new clothes. When Mingyuelin came close to Li's ear, she said, "Sister Li, your income this month must be very high."
"What are you whispering about?" Princess Corning turned her head and asked when she saw them whispering.
"It is said that the princess is financially strong." Mingyuelin stood up and walked over.
"Please go to Wuweizhai for dinner. It's almost noon."
"Thank you, Princess~"
Princess Corning saw that she was lively, unlike other noble ladies, and thought that her smile was quite sweet.
She looked at Shi Jianli, then pointed at Ming Yuelin, "Shi Yaoyao, you'll look beautiful if you smile like her."
Shi Jianli pursed her lips and smiled politely.
It felt like she and Mingyuelin were like the princess's toys, who were teased from time to time.
"Forget it, you are different." Princess Kangning chuckled at this and said, "Let's go and have dinner."
At 3 p.m., Princess Kangning was about to return to the palace. Before leaving, she said, "I can't let you play with me for nothing. I sent you some gifts, which should be in your house by now."
"If you want to come to the palace to play with me, you are welcome. This is a token of trust." She threw a jade pendant engraved with her name to Mingyuelin.
"Thank you, Princess."
After getting on the carriage, Mingyuelin fell on Shijianli and said, "My legs are tired from walking. How come the princess is more energetic than me?"
Mingyue Si said, "The princess doesn't leave the palace often, so it's inevitable that she's curious about the outside world."
After entering the mansion and reaching the fork in the road leading to Mingyuesi's courtyard, Mingyuesi left first.
Mingyuelin pulled Shi Jianli to her own courtyard and said, "The servants should have delivered all the things the princess sent to me. Sister Li, why don't you go and take a look too?"
"You haven't played in my yard for a long time."
"Okay." Since she said so, Shi Jianli had no choice but to agree.
She lay in Mingyuelin's yard for a while and listened to her maid Qi Yan counting the cloth and jewelry sent by Princess Kangning. Shi Jianli drank two cups of tea and listened to Mingyuelin mumbling a lot of things. She kept her there for dinner before taking Xianyue to the West Mansion.
It was just getting dark, the evening breeze was cool, and I had just finished dinner. I saw Shi Li walking slowly, feeling the gentle breeze on my face, and seeing the light of the setting Fusang tree coating the red flowers and green leaves with a layer of golden glow.
She said to Xianyue, "Let's take a longer detour. I remember a crabapple tree in bloom deep in the garden."
"Okay." Xianyue nodded.
Walking through the narrow corridor outside the garden and stepping into the place where the spring flowers were about to fall asleep and the shadows were deep and dense, I heard two voices talking.
"Does my eldest cousin know that my mother and aunt intend to arrange a marriage between me and my second cousin?"
Shi Jianli looked around and realized that they would be noticed no matter how far they went, so it would be difficult for them.
She glanced at Xianyue and raised her chin to signal her to hide carefully.
"I know." Mingzhao was still standing an arm's length away from Yuan Wan. He glanced at the swaying flowers behind Yuan Wan.
"I told my mother that I have no interest in my second cousin. I'm interested in you." Yuan Wan concealed her disappointment and asked with a smile, "My eldest cousin rejected me. Does that mean he has someone he likes?"
Mingzhao didn't smile at this moment, and the gentleness around him disappeared, replaced by a faint alienation. "I didn't know you had other feelings for me. I never told my aunt or my mother that I rejected you. You should ask my aunt."
"But the answer you got is right. In my heart, you are just my cousin."
Yuan Wan looked at the handsome man before her and still wanted to fight for herself again. She took a step forward and asked sincerely, "I think I'm not bad looking and knowledgeable. Maybe we haven't spent much time together and you don't know me well enough, so you don't have any feelings for me."
"Then I will stay in the capital for a while longer. Can you give me a chance?"
Mingzhao was still listening to the slightest movement around him, and he lowered his eyes to look at her. "You are just my sister in my heart now, and I will never have any other feelings for you in the future."
Being rejected again, Yuan Wan bit her lip and resisted the urge to cry.
"Also, Zhou Qing originally felt that he didn't have anyone he liked. If you were interested, he could have agreed to his mother's suggestion and married you. Do you know why he refused?"
"Why?" Her eyes were red.
The moment she lifted the curtain and looked out, she found herself moved. After arriving at the Duke's Mansion, she couldn't help but look at him from time to time, and found that he was still outstanding among his outstanding peers, and was gentle and considerate in his dealings with others.
"Those who marry close relatives often give birth to deformed children. Today, our mother went to a farm owned by my second uncle. You go back and ask your aunt what she saw." Mingzhao personally sent her there and brought her back. When he came back, he saw that the two elders had strange expressions on their faces.
Yuan Wan's eyes widened slightly. "Cousin, you're not lying to me just to reject me, are you?"
"Why would I lie to you? Go and find out for yourself."
Yuan Wan frowned and looked at him reluctantly for several times before finally speaking soberly, "I understand. Cousin, please forget about what happened today."
The mother said that a woman should have a child no matter what, because a man’s love may change at any time, and a child can give her security.
If the child is really unhealthy due to the in-laws relationship, she doesn't know what to do.
Yuan Wan suppressed her reluctance, suppressed the throbbing in her heart, and returned to her normal tone: "I wish my cousin will meet a beautiful woman in the future, be in love with her, and have a bright future."
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