Shen Zhixiu stood at the door, looking at the servants busy in the yard, and said, "The prince is not a broad-minded person. I have also thought about what my mother said."
"But the Emperor is now in his prime, and it's too early for the Crown Prince to ascend the throne. When the day comes that he does, I'll have a plan to deal with it."
"As long as he hasn't ascended the throne, he won't touch me."
How could he not have thought about what his mother said? He had even gone over it in his mind before making a decision.
But so what? The prince can’t rob openly, right?
The old lady looked at Shen Zhixiu with satisfaction and said, "Since you have made up your mind, just go ahead and do it."
He frowned and looked towards the courtyard. "Is this a betrothal proposal? Why does it look like bandits kidnapping the bride?"
The servants in the yard were all jogging along, looking very excited. Wenzhu would cheer them up from time to time to speed up their work.
"Hurry up, whether the third lady can be brought back to the mansion depends on us."
The corner of Shen Zhixiu's mouth twitched. These guys are usually very steady, but why are they so excited today as if they had drunk chicken blood?
The old lady said a few words and then went back to rest. Shen Zhixiu stayed in the study, and many things required his decision.
"Third Master, time is too tight to sort them out. I just packed them row by row from the small warehouse."
"The total amount of betrothal gifts is sixty loads. Here is the list of betrothal gifts. Please review it."
"As for the gift money, it was 50,000 taels of silver last time. But we don't have that much cash in the treasury. We do have 5,000 taels of gold, which I loaded up."
Shen Zhixiu nodded slightly, took the betrothal gift list and began to look at it.
Although it looks a bit messy, fortunately the things in his small warehouse are still valuable.
While he was looking at the betrothal gifts list, Wen Zhu said, "Third Master, this time we've used up 80% of the items in the small warehouse."
There weren't many things in the small storeroom in the west courtyard, but any item was worth a fortune. And when it came to things like betrothal, it was important to make a grand gesture, so each item carried couldn't be too small.
Therefore, the betrothal gift of sixty loads emptied the family savings of even Mr. Shen San, who had a wealthy family.
He said nonchalantly, "These are all trivial matters. At worst, I can let my wife support me in the future."
Wen Zhu lowered her head to hide her smile. Elder Shen, who was so powerful in the court, was waiting to be raised by his wife. Who would believe it if it got out?
By the time the sixty loads of betrothal gifts were packed, the wedding characters were affixed, and the big red silk was tied, it was already five o'clock in the morning.
Shen Zhixiu didn't even go back to the bedroom. He just took a short nap in the study and told Wenzhu to set off at dawn.
Su Qingyu had no idea what was about to happen to her. When she woke up early in the morning, she looked at the red lacquered and gold-painted box on the dressing table and laughed.
Zhenzhu came in to help her get up. Seeing her smiling at the box, she joined in the fun and said, "Miss, I heard that after you left yesterday, Madam Yun had a quarrel with the Marquis, and the Marquis was so angry that he just walked away."
It turned out that after Su Qingyu entered the mansion yesterday, she remembered the jewelry Su Chengye had mentioned making for her. Naturally, she didn't believe it, so she sent someone to investigate.
Only then did I know that yesterday was Gu Ruoyun's birthday, and Su Chengye happened to take a box of jewelry to Shaohuatang in the evening.
Su Qingyu perked up and went to Shaohua Hall. When she entered, Su Chengye and Gu Ruoyun were preparing to eat. On the table, there happened to be a red lacquer and gold-painted jewelry box.
Su Qingyu did not mention Gu Ruoyun's birthday, but just happily asked Su Chengye if this was the jewelry he was going to give her.
Su Chengye wanted to refuse, but Su Qingyu said that it would be a good opportunity to wear it for Mr. Shen San to see one day.
Just like that, the birthday gift originally intended for Gu Ruoyun was taken back by Su Qingyu.
Hearing what Zhenzhu said, Su Qingyu smiled faintly and said, "Take this set of jewelry to Fanjinlou later and change it into something else."
She didn't want to keep the jewelry given to Gu Ruoyun, as it brought bad luck just by looking at it.
She stood up and paid her respects to the old lady, then went to Ziwei Garden to see Lin.
Before the mother and daughter could say a few words, Feicui came in with a happy face and reported, "Madam, Miss, Mr. Shen has brought people to propose marriage. There are gongs and drums, and it's very lively."
"Miss, do you want to go and take a look?"
Su Qingyu was a little surprised. Proposal?
Hadn't they agreed on this before at Ruyi Tower? They'd already made the betrothal offer, so there was no need to go through this again.
Besides, he didn't mention this yesterday.
Su Qingyu asked, "What about the betrothal gifts? Should we take them out of the warehouse and let him take them back to the Shen family?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Pearl walked in happily.
"Miss, there's just news from the front yard. Mr. Shen said that the previous betrothal gifts were all considered as his dowry for you."
Su Qingyu was slightly stunned. A hundred thousand taels of silver for the dowry? There had never been such a precedent in the capital.
Lin, who had just been leaning against a large pillow on the kang by the window, also sat up.
"Mr. Shen is thoughtful, Qingyu, this marriage might be really good."
Lin Shi didn't care about the betrothal gift, as her family didn't lack it. However, Shen Zhixiu's actions gave Su Qingyu enough face. Judging from his attitude, not everyone could do that.
Lin was pregnant and couldn't go out in front. So she said to Su Qingyu, "You go ahead. If anything happens, send someone to let me know."
Su Qingyu stood up and took her maid out of Ziwei Garden, passed through the hanging flower gate and went to the front yard.
Before I got close, I heard the sounds of gongs, drums and suonas. If you didn't know, you would think there was a wedding in their house.
Su Qingyu asked Feicui, "Is there still such a rule for betrothal in the capital?"
Feicui was also curious and said, "I've never heard of anyone's betrothal ceremony being so lively. Is Third Master Shen afraid that others won't know he's here to betrothal?"
When Su Qingyu arrived at the front yard, she looked at the sixty loads of betrothal gifts made of bright red silk hanging in the yard, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but twitch twice.
Is this too high-profile? Is it really the calm and noble Mr. Shen who proposed to her?
She walked closer and saw Shen Zhizheng greeting Su Chengye and the old lady, so she stood aside and looked at the betrothal gifts being counted.
This is totally not in accordance with the rules of aristocratic families' marriage proposals, it's more like... moving a warehouse.
I don’t know why, but Su Qingyu just has this feeling.
Su Chengye and the old lady were all smiling, especially after hearing Shen Zhixiu say that he would give the previous betrothal gifts to Su Qingyu as a dowry, they were extremely excited.
When the old lady saw Su Qingyu coming, she smiled and called her over, took her hand and said, "You are so lucky, little girl."
Su Chengye remembered what Shen Zhixiu had said to him yesterday, and smiled at Su Qingyu with a loving look on his face.
Su Qingyu's lips curled up in a self-deprecating smile. She had borrowed Shen Zhixiu's influence to earn the smiles of her elders. She didn't even know whether this was her blessing or the sorrow of being a woman.
"The imperial edict has arrived." A sharp announcement suddenly came from the gate of the Su family.
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