Lord Gu exclaimed in surprise, "How fragrant! It smells so refreshing and pleasant. The fragrance is indeed soft and lingering."
Although he didn't understand incense, he knew what was good and what was bad.
After saying that, Lord Gu looked at Qin Yuan, who smiled and said, "That's true."
She wrapped the incense balls in oiled paper and put them back into the jade box.
Lord Gu pressed further, "Could you detect the fragrance formula?"
Qin Yuan said, "I can only smell it, but I don't know the recipe. It's supposed to be a wonderful fragrance, so it can't be that easy to obtain. I'll have to try it out tonight."
She appeared calm on the surface, but her heart was pounding with anxiety.
This was clearly her family's recipe; she had suspected it for a long time, and now she was certain.
Was it a coincidence that the King of Qi came to visit?
Qin Yuan's mind raced, and she pretended to be deep in thought, as if she was worried about not being able to come up with a recipe. Gu Jinghui, as expected, stopped disturbing her and quietly sat down to the side to enjoy his tea.
Mo Zhu came up and collected everything, placing it in the side room.
Even after the kitchen brought up all the food, Qin Yuan still had no clue what to do. After thinking for a while, she decided to ask Doctor Li, so she said, "Have someone send a message to Doctor Li, asking him to come over tomorrow if there's something I need him to do."
Lord Gu asked, "What is it?"
Qin Yuan casually said, "It's because of my sixth sister-in-law that I suddenly thought that if I take care of myself regularly, would it be better? As the saying goes, food is worse than medicine. There is no better way to maintain health than diet. Now that the seasons are changing, I thought I would ask Physician Li to take a look at the menu in the manor."
Lord Gu sighed, "Yuan'er, you are so thoughtful."
Qin Yuan dismissed it: "What's the big deal? It's still Doctor Li who makes the decisions and takes action."
She could do this herself, but it would be too mentally taxing; it would be better to leave it to Renhetang.
Lord Gu said solemnly, "You were able to think so far ahead and in such detail, which shows that you put your heart into it. How come no one thought of these things before?"
He recalled Mr. Songshan's words, and suddenly became absent-minded. After a long while, he said, "Don't worry."
Qin Yuan: "..."
Qin Yuan was used to his sudden change of heart, but he was always like that, his face turning dark and then bright again, his thoughts unpredictable. So she replied casually, "Of course I'm at ease."
Before Lord Gu could say anything more, the maids had already laid out the food. The table was full of dishes, with a wide variety of dishes, but the portions were just enough to eat. In the middle was lotus root soup, with soft and glutinous lotus root pieces tinged with pink. A few green scallions floated on the rich soup, and the rising steam made Qin Yuan, who was sitting opposite him, appear even more gentle and refined.
"My husband, please have a bowl of lotus root soup first to nourish your internal organs."
Qin Yuanyu offered a bowl of lotus root soup with her delicate white hands. Lord Gu quickly accepted it and said, "Please eat it yourself, Madam. Don't just think about me."
Qin Yuan smiled faintly and said, "Okay."
But his hands kept moving, laying out all the vegetables he liked before eating them himself.
Although he didn't eat much, Lord Gu was very pleased.
How wonderful it would be if I could stay by my wife's side every day and never have to go anywhere.
After finishing the soup, Lord Gu said, "This lotus root soup is soft, tender, and delicious. It warms my stomach and makes me feel very comfortable. If you taste it carefully, it even has a hint of sweetness."
Qin Yuan said, "Then I'll have someone send some to Mother as well."
Lord Gu said, "Alright, Mother will love it too."
After the two ate for a while longer, Lord Gu asked, "Has the family reunion banquet for Brother Cheng been arranged?"
Qin Yuan said, "We've already talked to Sister-in-law Cheng. They're having a housewarming party in a couple of days. We discussed it and decided that they'll recognize each other before the party, and the two kids will move in that day. On the day of the housewarming party, Brother Cheng and the others will be part of Brother Cheng's family."
“Very well,” Lord Gu nodded, “that way they can become my brother’s children and come out to meet guests, which can be considered as passing through the formalities in front of everyone.”
“Yes,” Qin Yuan said with a smile, “There’s no need to hold a big family reunion banquet. The case hasn’t been settled yet, so there’s no need to go to the ancestral hall to inform the ancestors. We don’t need to disturb the elders either. It’s enough for our two families to have a meal together.”
Gu Jinghui was taken aback, not expecting it to be so simple, and asked, "Aren't we going to ask someone to be a witness?"
Qin Yuan said, "If we're going to invite anyone, it would be our usual in-laws. The Xu family is at odds now, so there's no need to invite them. My family isn't close to these two children either, and they're going to Cheng Ge's house anyway, so let's just forget about it."
Gu Jinghui thought for a moment and said, "I'll do as you say. Let's wait until the case is solved and we can enter the ancestral hall before making a big fuss. The Zhao family's affairs are not honorable either. If we handle it quietly, there will be less gossip."
“That’s exactly right. Sister Cheng and I think so too.”
Qin Yuan then asked, "Has that old woman confessed anything recently?"
Gu Jinghui said, "No, we can't get much out of them. We haven't alerted that fake old woman either. We'll talk about it when we get to Brother Cheng's house."
The point of this discussion is to lure Zhao out.
Qin Yuan then stopped asking questions.
Gu Jinghui suddenly asked, "I sent someone to deliver a thousand taels of silver to Shen Changle so he could use it to set up the arena. He said he had discussed it with you and that we didn't need that much. Isn't silver too vulgar?"
Qin Yuan smiled and said, "My cousin Siyuan is currently enjoying great success, and my father is the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy. If we can defeat the two of them, we will become famous. In addition, with Mr. Songshan's strength as our companion, even poor but talented scholars will want to compete with us. So I want to exchange some items as prizes, so that no one will say it's vulgar in the future. Scholars love money, but they also hope to have an elegant reputation."
Gu Jinghui pretended to suddenly understand, looking as if he had learned something.
“We warriors are direct, while scholars prefer to beat around the bush.”
Qin Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Wouldn't someone who is both literate and martial be invincible?"
Gu Jinghui suddenly laughed and said, "Does my Yuan'er want a husband like that?"
Qin Yuan glanced at Lord Gu, but remained silent.
Lord Gu said, "With a wife like this, I will also try to learn some basic literacy, otherwise I'm afraid even Mr. Songshan will look down on me."
Qin Yuan said softly, "It's not just Mr. Songshan. Has my husband forgotten my father's earnest urging for your studies? I wonder when you will finish reading the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"
Lord Gu braced himself and said, "...I just heard Mr. Songshan tell the story of Sima Yi feigning illness today. To be honest, Mr. Songshan is quite strange. He said a lot of strange things, which seemed to have a profound meaning. I really don't understand them, so I can only ask you to help me find the answers."
Qin Yuan raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
At this point, Lord Gu became mysterious again, saying, "It's a long story, let's finish eating first."
After finishing her meal, Qin Yuan ordered the food to be removed, rinsed her mouth with tea, and had fresh tea served. She was about to savor the tea and have a long chat.
Gu Jinghui asked, "Shall we go for a walk?"
Qin Yuan thought for a moment and said, "I'm a little tired today and don't really want to move."
Gu Jinghui said, "Let's go to another place to watch the fireflies. Don't we also need to think of some good poems?"
Qin Yuan hesitated and said, "Aren't you going to talk about Mr. Songshan?"
"It's alright, let's talk as we walk. Yesterday, when I saw Baozhu rowing out of the water, I thought, wouldn't it be even more beautiful if the two of us went to Qiuxiang Pavilion and sat on a boat to watch the fireflies?"
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