Chapter 108 Chapter 108 If You Hadn’t Married Me…
Ji Yanlang stayed at Fang's house for half a day, and it was almost dark when he returned home.
"My father-in-law invited me to dinner and had a few drinks."
Fang Ying nodded. After he changed his clothes and came back to sit down, she asked, "What did my father say?"
"My father-in-law said that he was my uncle after all, and he had already persuaded him as much as he could. My second uncle refused to listen, so he didn't want to talk too much into it. After all, there were my late mother-in-law and... two other relatives."
Fang Ying was immediately annoyed when she heard this: "You're thinking of my mother now." Why didn't she mention it when things were good? Why did she have to bring it up when it came to her second uncle?
"When my mother was around, she didn't call my second uncle over to take charge." Fang Ying became increasingly angry as she spoke. "It wasn't my mother who asked him to form a secondary marriage with the Pan family!"
Ji Yanlang quickly embraced her and coaxed her, "Don't be angry, don't be angry. Father-in-law didn't mean that. He just said that your second uncle is older than him after all, so he can only persuade him. It's not good..."
"Did you listen to him? He's been scolding my uncle to his face many times, but now that he sees you..." Fang Ying bit back the words "pretending to be serious" that were about to come out of her mouth, took a deep breath, and said, "Forget it, we don't need to meddle in this matter."
Ji Yanlang was startled by the first half of her sentence. After she finished the second half, he came to his senses and said, "No, no, no, father-in-law is not saying to ignore it, but to find another way."
"What method?"
"My father-in-law is going to write to Fengxiang, asking my grandfather to come and discipline me."
"How can I take care of my grandfather?" He is so far away. Not to mention that my grandfather is old and in poor health, even if he is in good health, I can't reach him.
Ji Yanlang said, "My father-in-law wants my grandfather to call my second uncle back home. He has no serious work in the capital and is of no help to the descendants. It would be better for him to go back and serve the two elders and give my eldest uncle some rest."
"How could he be willing to do that? Even if he goes back for a while, he will come back again."
"My father-in-law said that Fengxiang was interested in recruiting my uncle as an official, but he declined because he was busy taking care of my parents."
"Is there such a thing?" Fang Ying heard it for the first time.
Ji Yanlang nodded. "Father-in-law only recently learned about this from my eldest uncle's letter. He guessed that my eldest uncle hadn't informed my grandfather about this, so he planned to write a letter to clarify the matter. My eldest uncle has served the two elders for so many years, and now that he has the opportunity to enter the government, it's time for my second uncle to return and fulfill his filial duties."
"Yeah, he's got nothing to do."
The pressure of the word "filial piety" should be enough to suppress my second uncle for a few years.
Seeing the irritation on Fang Ying's face disappear, Ji Yanlang breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "I've also asked my father-in-law to send our regards to my grandparents and uncle in the letter."
"Well, when does he plan to send the letter out? And bring some New Year gifts along?"
"I forgot to ask that. I'll send someone over tomorrow."
Fang Ying nodded and asked Ji Yanlang if he had met Li after returning.
Ji Yanlang said he had been there, and the two chatted about family matters for a while. Seeing Fang Ying smile, he tentatively said, "My father-in-law heard that the imperial physician was coming today, and he was very concerned. He also asked me to be more considerate of you."
"Are you missing the beginning or the end of what you said?" Fang Ying raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
Ji Yanlang laughed and said, "The rest are just some self-deprecating words. Do you still want me to learn them again?"
Fang Ying didn't answer. She lowered her head, straightened the wrinkles on her collar, and asked, "Do you think I was too disrespectful to my father just now?"
"I know you were angry because of the mention of your mother-in-law." Ji Yanlang took her hand and coaxed her, "But I'm your son-in-law, and it's only natural for your father-in-law to want to save face for the Pan family in front of me."
Fang Ying's anger had subsided by now. Realizing that something had gone wrong earlier, she nodded in agreement, "You're right. I just couldn't contain my anger when I heard him bring up my mother to speak well of my second uncle."
"I understand. If I were you, I wouldn't be happy either."
Fang Ying smiled: "But I was indeed a little upset just now." She paused, and touched her lower abdomen with her free hand. "It's not just just now, I seem to have been a little restless these past few days."
Ji Yanlang's eyes also fell on her lower abdomen, and he said suddenly: "Yes."
He smiled, pressed Fang Ying's hand, and spoke to the fetus: "It's not enough that you made your mother vomit acid and lose her appetite, you also want to make her upset. Why are you so naughty?"
Fang Ying listened to him talking, but she was thinking in her heart that she didn't know when she would see Zhou Congshan again - only in front of her could she speak ill of her father without any scruples, without fear of criticism or having to make amends.
How about sending someone over there tomorrow?
But there is nothing to worry about. Sending someone to convey a few meaningless words at most. What I really want to say can only be discussed in person.
Fang Ying couldn't make up her mind for a while, but she didn't expect Zhou Congshan to send someone to see her the next day, bringing a lot of fresh fruits.
"Princess, I know your family doesn't need these, but I don't know what else to send. Just consider it a token of your appreciation."
The visitor was a trusted maidservant of Zhou Congshan, who was very familiar with Fang Ying. After hearing this, she smiled and said, "I really do love eating these now. Thank you, Princess, for your consideration."
The maidservant then conveyed Zhou Congshan's words, asking how Fang Ying was doing now, whether the imperial physician had come to see her, and what he said.
Fang Ying answered them one by one, and then asked Zhou Congshan what he had been doing recently.
The maid said that from the sixth day to now, in just five days, the princess had attended three weddings, all of which were attended by royal relatives, and she had to be present. Today she finally didn't have to go out, so they hurriedly sent her to visit.
"There are indeed a lot of weddings recently." The Ji family also sent out a lot of gifts.
Seeing that the maid had nothing else to say, Fang Ying took advantage of Zhou Congshan's absence to ask the maid how the King of Qin treated Zhou Congshan.
"We servants all feel that His Highness treats the Princess very well, and they discuss everything with us," the maid said with a smile. "We know that the Princess is concerned about my wife's pregnancy. His Highness also said that the two are related by marriage, so there is no need for the Princess to be shy and she can just come to the mansion to visit."
Since the King of Qin took office in Kaifeng Prefecture, he has been extremely cautious and rarely interacted privately with court officials. However, he was willing to allow Zhou Congshan to visit Ji Mansion and even found an excuse of in-laws. It can be seen that he knew that the two of them had a close relationship and said so out of sympathy.
Otherwise, let alone the Ji family, who are indirect relatives, the royal family has many direct relatives in the court, but the King of Qin has not had much contact with them.
Fang Ying nodded in agreement: "Your Highness is so considerate to the princess."
The maid smiled and nodded, "Yes, but the princess felt that if she came in person, it would inevitably disturb Madam Ji and cause some disturbance, so she ordered this servant to visit on her behalf first."
That's right. Zhou Congshan is now a princess. If she really comes to Ji's house, everyone from Mrs. Li to Fang Ying and fifth sister-in-law Mrs. Gao will have to pay her a visit according to etiquette. It's not like she's visiting a friend at all.
But in this case, the two of them had no idea when they would be able to meet again. Fang Ying silently calculated that they would not be able to meet until next spring at the earliest.
She asked her maid to tell Zhou Congshan not to worry, saying that everything was fine with her. She didn't care about anything else now and just wanted to focus on taking care of the baby. She would make an appointment to meet the princess when the baby was older and spring came.
The maid agreed and left.
In the afternoon, Ji Yanlang returned from his shift. He exchanged a few words with Fang Ying as he entered the room, then asked, "Why are you so happy today?"
Fang Ying touched her face: "Is it so conspicuous?"
"Yeah." Ji Yanlang stretched out his finger and lightly touched the corner of Fang Ying's eye. "It's filled with happiness."
Fang Ying smiled and glanced at him: "Now? What's it full of?"
Ji Yanlang came closer, stared at Fang Ying pretentiously, and said, "Let me see, ah, isn't this me?"
Fang Ying thought he would say something, but upon hearing that, she couldn't help but glare at him and said, "I knew you didn't have anything serious to say."
Ji Yanlang sat down next to her and said with a smile, "Why aren't you talking seriously anymore? Just now your eyes were full of me."
Fang Ying pointed to the freshly cut fruit on the small table and told him to eat it, then said, "The princess sent it here."
"Oh, it was Princess Zhou who sent someone over," Ji Yanlang said, picking up a piece of pear and eating it. "No wonder you're so happy."
Fang Ying nodded and followed him to learn about how the King of Qin asked Zhou Congshan to visit her.
"It seems that His Highness also knows that you sisters are really close." Ji Yanlang said.
"yes."
In fact, Fang Ying was happy that the King of Qin could truly care about Zhou Congshan. Otherwise, he would have married her. It wasn't her sister who was pregnant. At most, he would have asked the servants to send some gifts. How could he have let Zhou Congshan come to the Ji Mansion to visit?
She told Ji Yanlang this, and he agreed: "It is indeed rare." He then asked her, "Are you relieved now?"
Fang Ying smiled and nodded: "The princess is a very kind person. As long as you treat her well, there is no need to worry about the harmony between husband and wife."
As Ji Yanlang ate his fruit, he sighed, "You two are truly rare. You've only known each other for three years, and haven't met many times, yet you're so compatible. You're even closer than ordinary sisters."
"Otherwise, how can we say that old age is as fresh as new, and love is as deep as ever?"
"Really? Hey, didn't you have any close friends when you were a girl?"
Fang Ying said, "Back in Yangzhou, we had two close friends, but their fathers were both minor officials and didn't come to Beijing. After we came, we didn't know each other well enough to be neighbors, so we didn't interact much."
"Yeah, how could I have forgotten about this."
After officials from Shu moved to Beijing, their residences were arranged by the court. Officials like Fang Chengxun were considered lucky to be allocated a courtyard to live in, and they had no choice about their neighbors.
Ji Yanlang paused for a moment, then continued, "If you hadn't married me, wouldn't you have been able to meet Princess Zhou?"
Fang Ying was stunned for a moment before she remembered that she had concealed the fact that she and Zhou Congshan had known each other for a long time.
"That's true, but why are you..." Fang Ying looked at him puzzledly, "Why are you asking this for no reason?"
Ji Yanlang took her hand, held it in his palm, and said with a smile: "I just feel that we are really a match made in heaven. Master Lu went to the capital, and mother went to consult the divination, and then found someone according to the horoscope. If there was any delay, even a step later, you and I would not be able to be husband and wife."
"Why didn't you say that you didn't go to Jiaozhi at first?" Fang Ying asked with a smile.
"That's going too far. Besides, if this hadn't happened..." Ji Yanlang realized something was wrong and stopped talking.
Fang Ying did not let it go and pressed on, "What if this didn't happen?"
Ji Yanlang refused to speak, so she smiled and continued, "Without this, we can't be husband and wife, right?"
Ji Yanlang smiled but did not answer. Fang Ying then teased, "And you might have already become a royal consort."
A few jokes in the boudoir are harmless, but: "I'm a prince consort, why are you so happy?"
"Isn't it enough to be happy for you?" Fang Ying asked back with her head tilted.
Ji Yanlang leaned over and kissed her cheek, "No, I've already married someone else, and you're still happy. Even if you're generous, you can't do this."
Fang Ying laughed: "It's not true..."
"It has to be true. Whenever I think of you marrying someone else, my heart feels like it's being cut by a knife. But you're so happy." Ji Yanlang sat up straight with a snort, and withdrew his gaze from Fang Ying, only his hand was still tightly held.
“…”
What is he acting out today?
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