Li Yuexi raised her face, looking quite embarrassed, and said, "I asked the nanny, and she said that some people are like this, some even experience morning sickness from the moment they get pregnant until they give birth. I've only been pregnant for three months, so I'll see. Maybe I'll stop vomiting after a while."
Li Yuexi is not one to trouble others. Because of her morning sickness, she avoids attending any occasions she can avoid. Her family knows about her current situation and is very considerate and doesn't mind.
The day before Xu Gui's wedding at the end of August, Li Yuexi asked Granny Lu to take a dowry box to Xu Gui to add to his dowry. Inside the dowry box were two silver hairpins and two silver bracelets, all made of solid silver, which was considered a complete gift.
Xu Guicheng was to marry into the Ningguo Duke's mansion. Lu Mingzhang had already returned to prepare for the wedding. When the wedding procession arrived, Xu Di, along with a group of his younger brothers, made a lively scene at the main gate.
Although he was an illegitimate son of the Duke's family, Lu Mingzhang was now a general with a rank. Even if the Duke's family ignored him, they couldn't be too obvious about it. This time, when Lu Mingzhang returned from Yanmen Pass to get married, the Ningguo Duke's family prepared a new courtyard for him as his bridal chamber. As for the things in the courtyard, Lu Mingzhang actually didn't like them.
Since they would only stay here for a few days, Lu Mingzhang would take Xu Gui to Hexi after the holiday. Lu Mingzhang had already bought a courtyard in Hexi, and all of this had been discussed with Xu Gui before the wedding.
Lu Mingzhang wasn't exactly a rule-abiding person, and the Xu family wasn't exactly a rigid family either. When Lu Mingzhang came to discuss something with his fiancée Xu Gui, the Xu family naturally had to make things convenient for him.
Lu Mingzhang married Xu Gui in a grand ceremony. The next day, when they formally recognized each other, it was just a formality. Xu Gui had known everyone in the mansion since childhood, so she naturally understood the reason. Lu Mingzhang's aunt had passed away from illness a few years ago, and there was no one in the mansion he cared about. He thought that after recognizing the family, he would take Xu Gui back to rest, accompany her to her parents' home the next day, stay in the capital for a few more days, and then the young couple would return to Hexi together.
Who knew that Lu Mingzhang's stepmother would start causing trouble again? In front of the elders in the family, she said to Xu Gui in a very kind tone, "I never expected that Gui girl would become our daughter-in-law. Sister-in-law, I always knew that our Gui girl was a woman of great wisdom."
This stepmother was Xu Gui's aunt's sister-in-law. What could Xu Gui's aunt say? She could only nod in agreement. Lu Mingzhang's stepmother held Xu Gui's hand and said softly, "Gui'er, the border is bitterly cold. We grew up in the capital. How could we endure the hardships of the border? Listen to your mother, let Mingzhang go back alone. We'll stay here. Wouldn't it be better if we, mother and daughter, could laugh and chat together in the future?"
Xu Gui never expected that her stepmother would go back on her word in front of the whole family at the last minute. Thinking of what her elder brother Xu Di had told her the night before, Xu Gui didn't panic. Even the hand her stepmother was holding didn't tremble. She raised her head, smiled at her stepmother, and said, "Thank you for your care, Mother." As for anything else, she didn't reveal a word. She just did what a new bride should do, occasionally lowering her head and smiling, appropriately showing her shyness as a new bride.
Lu Mingzhang never expected his stepmother to be so shameless. They had already discussed it, but she pulled this stunt at this time. However, this was all within Xu Di's calculations. Lu Mingzhang now realized very deeply that Xu Di, his brother-in-law, was no ordinary person. That's right, if he were an ordinary person, how did he train the special forces team in the Yanmen Pass garrison?
Lu Mingzhang went to Yanmen Pass later. After arriving, he learned about the existence of such a team. Initially, he was not qualified enough. After all, it takes a lot of effort to transform from a weak scholar into a soldier who fights on the battlefield. Later, Lu Mingzhang gritted his teeth and trained. In battles against the nomadic tribes, he earned his current status with his honor. As a subordinate general, he was not allowed to participate in the selection of special forces members.
When Xu Gui's aunt saw her sister-in-law saying such things at this time, she wished she could go up and curse her to vent her anger. This lady of the Ningguo Duke's Mansion was a sweet-faced but bitter-hearted person. Xu Gui's aunt had been her sister-in-law for so many years and had suffered a lot at her hands. But she was in charge of this backyard, and sometimes she could only swallow those losses and tears.
Seeing Xu Gui still smiling with her lips pursed, Xu Gui's aunt didn't know how to respond for a moment. However, Lu Mingzhang's stepmother, holding Xu Gui's hand, turned to Xu Gui's aunt and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, you are Gui's own aunt. In the past, Gui and her brother often visited our house with your sister. Now that they are in-laws, their relationship is even closer. You should still invite your sister to come and play at our house more often."
Xu Gui smiled slightly at her aunt. Seeing Xu Gui's calm expression, her aunt knew there was more to come and that she didn't need to take the lead. She smiled and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you to organize a few more flower parties, tea parties, and wine parties so I can send invitations to my sister and we can have a good chat."
The side hall was peaceful until noon, when it was almost lunchtime, before Lu Mingzhang's stepmother finally let him go back.
As Lu Mingzhang and Xu Gui walked back to their courtyard, Lu Mingzhang whispered, "My brother-in-law is truly a genius; he even foresaw this."
Xu Gui glanced at Lu Mingzhang and said, "My elder brother is naturally very worried about us younger siblings, afraid that we might suffer some hidden losses. Look, here we are! Brother Lu, your stepmother is indeed no ordinary person. It's only because you secretly went to Yanmen Pass early on that you don't know what might have happened to you later."
Lu Mingzhang nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy, and said, "It's good that you can understand all this. Since your brother-in-law says he has his own plans, let's do what we need to do these next two days. I still have a sum of allowance to collect from the household. I'll go to the accounting office to collect it after lunch and then take you out to eat at a restaurant."
Upon hearing this, Xu Gui scoffed and said, "The allowance? You're not even in the mansion, do you think they'd bring out the money and wait for you to come and collect it?"
Lu Mingzhang smiled and said very seriously, "Now that I've become a child of the Lu family, I'll do my part for this family without hesitation. But what's rightfully mine must be given to me. There's no reason to expect me to run without feeding me, is there?"
Xu Gui and Lu Mingzhang chatted and laughed as they returned to their small courtyard. Lunch had already been brought back from the main kitchen. The food wasn't very hot, but Xu Gui didn't mind. She had a maid pour her some hot tea, and ate lunch while drinking the hot tea. Then she began to take stock of her dowry. Her family had bought her a small two-courtyard house in the capital. Some things couldn't be taken with her, so she could move them to that small house that was part of her dowry. Keeping them in the Duke's mansion? Xu Gui didn't want that.
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