Chapter 474 Insult
Snowflakes drifted down, and Li Shiyue, turning her head, felt the coolness on the tip of her nose. She looked up at the sky.
"It's snowing."
Yan Jiuniang first looked up at the sky with a hint of surprise, but then her expression suddenly changed. "With this snowfall, it will be difficult for boats to sail at the dock."
Li Shiyue held Yan Jiuniang's hand and comforted her, "Your mother is being taken care of by Master Li and the others in Dongmou, so don't worry."
Yan Jiuniang nodded and stepped forward to the steps of the Prince's Mansion.
The gatekeeper, who was greeting guests outside the gatehouse, naturally recognized Li Shiyue's face.
After all, in the entire Andong region, Li Shiyue is the only woman who can dress like a military general.
Yan Jiuniang, dressed in red, was the fifth daughter of the Prince's mansion and also Liu Tan's moneybag. She was more familiar to the people in the Prince's mansion than Li Shiyue.
Although we were invited to the banquet, it is still customary to bring a gift when we visit.
The servants behind Li Shiyue and Yan Jiuniang quickly stepped forward and placed the wooden box they were carrying on the long table where the gift list was being registered.
Li Shiyue gave her two reams of high-quality paper and a set of wolf-hair brushes that her family's paper mill had previously saved up.
It's not exactly luxurious, but it's not shabby either.
What Yan Jiuniang gave was quite valuable; it consisted of two bolts of tribute satin from Jiangnan.
The two, who had already stepped inside, were led by a maid into the Prince's mansion. Yan Jiuniang whispered to Li Shiyue, "That tribute satin was sent up by the manager of the merchant house downstairs. If you like it, I'll give you two bolts later!"
Li Shiyue shook her head. She had indeed glanced at the gorgeous red brocade a few more times, but it wasn't because she wanted the brocade. Rather, it was because she heard the servant recording the names say that it was "tribute brocade," which made her turn her head to take a closer look.
"Is there so much tribute silk that your trading company can just take it out and give it away as gifts?"
When Li Shiyue asked her this, Yan Jiuniang was stunned for a moment before turning her head and whispering in Li Shiyue's ear, "The eldest prince and the third prince in the capital are fighting fiercely, so the palace is not checking the tributes from various places as strictly."
"Forget about the tribute silks from Jiangnan; even the ginseng and deer antlers produced in Andong this year were all shoddy goods."
"It's gotten to this point?"
"Alas, yes, who could have imagined it would turn out like this."
It's not appropriate to talk about things in Kyoto right now, so Li Shiyue stopped talking after saying those two sentences to Yan Jiuniang.
At this moment, the two of them had been led to the backyard of the Prince's mansion.
The two of them came to pay their respects to Jiang Huijun first.
Because they were both women, even though Li Shiyue was a general working under Liu Tan, she still had to pay her respects to Jiang Huijun, the Princess Consort of Zhenbei, first.
Furthermore, Li Shiyue had some connection with Jiang Huijun in her early years;
In addition, Jiang Huai is Jiang Huijun's cousin, and Jiang Huai is also Li Shiyue's brother-in-law, so there is such a relationship between them;
Even though Li Shiyue was unwilling to call Jiang Huai "brother-in-law," Li Xiatian and Jiang Huai were still married and not divorced, so Jiang Huai was Li Shiyue's brother-in-law.
Therefore, Li Shiyue and Yan Jiuniang came to pay their respects to Jiang Huijun first.
Otherwise, as a military officer under Liu Tan, Li Shiyue should have gone directly to the study in the front yard to pay his respects to Liu Tan.
As soon as Li Shiyue entered the room, she felt a wave of warmth wash over her. Looking up, she saw two basins of burning silver frost charcoal in the corner by the window.
"Are October and Ninth Sister here?"
Come in and warm up.
Jiang Huijun put down the account book in her hand and waved to Li Shiyue and Yan Jiuniang who were standing at the door, saying this.
After exchanging greetings with Jiang Huijun, the two men sat down on the chairs and stools to the side as she had suggested.
"The banquet won't start until evening, so you can stay here and play for a while. You can go to the front when the time comes."
"I'll do whatever my sister-in-law says."
Li Shiyue did not respond, but nodded in acceptance of Jiang Huijun's kind offer.
After all, while Li Shiyue wouldn't feel uncomfortable staying in the front hall with those men, it was certainly not very interesting.
Moreover, she saw herself as a "lone minister" under Liu Tan, so there was really no need for her to put on an act with others.
After Jiang Huijun had been busy for half an hour, she finally had time to call Li Shiyue and Yan Jiuniang to a side hall to talk.
"How is your mother?"
"Thank you for your concern, Sister-in-law!"
Grandmaster and Uncle Mingfeng are both with Mother. My uncle is worried about my aunt and cousin, so they have already gone from Jiangnan to Dongmou.
My mother has many people with her, otherwise, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving Dongmou to return to Andong.
As Li Shiyue listened to Jiang Huijun and Yan Jiuniang chatting, she couldn't help but once again affirm Jiang Huijun in her heart.
Behind every wise ruler, there must be a virtuous and capable wife!
Jiang Huijun was Liu Tan's perfect wife!
Jiang Huijun and Yan Jiuniang were originally sisters-in-law and sisters-in-law. Although Liu Tan and Yan Jiuniang were not born of the same mother, their sibling relationship had always been very good.
Since Liu Tan inherited the title of Prince of Zhenbei, Yan Jiuniang, who was known as Mr. Yan in public, had been managing the business and Xingsheng Restaurant, which had earned Liu Tan a lot of money.
With money, Liu Tan was able to support the troops in Andong, in addition to the meager military pay provided by the imperial court.
So, you see, Jiang Huijun is now showing such concern for Yan Jiuniang's mother as if she were a sister-in-law caring for her younger sister. Regardless of what Yan Jiuniang thinks in her heart, at least on the surface, Yan Jiuniang feels that she is being valued.
Li Shiyue had been thinking that Jiang Huijun, being such a shrewd and worldly princess, would say a few kind words to Yan Jiuniang after showing her concern.
Therefore, she was already prepared and had thought about what to say in the future.
However, when Li Shiyue met Jiang Huijun's eyes, she didn't hear Jiang Huijun asking about her mother or her older sister, nor about Jiang Huai, nor about the peace and safety of her family, but about herself!
Jiang Huijun looked at Li Shiyue with a smile in her eyes and asked, "Shiyue must be twenty-three by now, right?"
The moment Li Shiyue heard Jiang Huijun ask her age, her mind went on high alert.
"Madam, if we count by the traditional Chinese age reckoning, I am already twenty-five."
Hearing Li Shiyue's answer, Jiang Huijun nodded at Li Shiyue with a forced smile, and then said to Li Shiyue, "Men should marry when they are of age and women should marry when they are of age. Shiyue is of age, she should find someone who cares about her and have a child to settle down with."
Li Shiyue was truly shocked at this moment!
She stared at Jiang Huijun with a look of astonishment.
"Sister-in-law!"
Yan Jiuniang reacted quickly, immediately standing up and shouting that to Jiang Huijun.
To everyone's surprise, Jiang Huijun raised her hand and waved at Yan Jiuniang, then looked at Li Shiyue.
"My maternal great-uncle's eldest son and grandson was a captain under a general. He only had a widowed mother and was an only child. His first wife had a bad fate..."
Li Shiyue didn't let Jiang Huijun finish saying that she wanted to set her up on a blind date before she stood up.
"lady!
Although I am a woman, I have no desire for marriage; I only wish to serve diligently under the general's command.
Suppressing her anger, Li Shiyue bowed to Jiang Huijun, who was staring at her in astonishment, with a blank expression. After lowering her hands, she said, "I remembered that I have some important military matters to discuss with the General, so I will head to the front courtyard now."
Before Jiang Huijun could say anything, Li Shiyue nodded to Yan Jiuniang, turned around and went straight out of the side hall towards the door.
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