Chapter 895 On the Road to Exile 23
Because of her unwavering decision to go to exile with the Chu family, Marquis Chengyang secretly sought refuge with Duke Dingguo and is currently leading troops to resist the Xiling army, having not yet returned to the capital.
Even though he was not present, in this reward ceremony, Marquis Chengyang, who already had a title, was directly granted the title of Duke of Cheng.
It wasn't that the emperor wanted to bestow titles, but the national treasury was empty. He couldn't reward people with gold and silver, so he could only issue titles in bulk. But this suited the wishes of those meritorious officials perfectly. With titles, how could they worry about not having money?
Lady Cheng dismissed the servants and began to speak intimately with her youngest daughter.
"The Emperor has been kind to our family. When the late Emperor was imprisoned, he only allowed your eldest brother and the second princess to divorce, and confined the second princess and all of the Emperor's children together. He even spared their lives and did not implicate our family. In addition, he granted titles to you and your daughter."
Ning Yan: ...The crippled former emperor was imprisoned in the former Cheng'en Duke's mansion, and several princes and princesses were also sent there. How can such a group of people be any good?
Even if my elder brother was forced into marriage by the previous emperor, Mother didn't have to make it so obvious, did she?
As for her position as a county princess, it was definitely thanks to the Empress and Chu Yu's efforts, and perhaps the old lady also put in a good word for her.
Lady Cheng: Ha, back then, when the marriage was arranged, my son was about to exchange betrothal gifts with the eldest daughter of the Su family, but the second princess stole him away. She has seen what kind of life her son has lived all these years. She didn't set off two strings of firecrackers on the spot because she was afraid that her family would be too high-profile and people would hold a grudge.
"Let's not talk about her anymore. Do you have any plans?"
Ning Yan: "Mother, you're not going to try to persuade me to remarry, are you? I just crawled out of a fire pit, I'll never jump back in!"
"But you're still so young, it would be better if you had a man by your side."
In her previous life, this mother had also advised her daughter in the same way, but instead of advising her to remarry, she suggested that her daughter find a man to keep by her side.
Therefore, this mother is quite avant-garde.
"Yes, if I find a suitable one, I'll take it home and raise it."
Lady Cheng was relieved; it seemed her daughter no longer cared about Chu Jingxuan, which was a good thing.
"I don't know what the Emperor was thinking, why did he put your county princess's residence next to the crown prince's residence?"
Ning Yan: "Perhaps it's because I took better care of the eldest son's family during the exile."
Speaking of this, the Duchess of Cheng laughed. Today, it wasn't just her family members who came; apart from the Empress who was far away in the palace, even the Old Madam Chu had come.
The three princes and their siblings, along with the two from the third branch of the family, were so close to her daughter that she once suspected they were all her daughter's biological children.
Especially Song Ge from the third wife's family, it's as if his own mother is gone and he's treating his daughter as his mother.
After lunch, the boy named Song Ge'er didn't want to leave, so His Highness the Crown Prince dragged him away.
"Why do you think the old Duke and his wife haven't entered the palace?"
Logically, with Chu Haoxuan ascending the throne, the old Duke would be the retired emperor, and the old Duke's wife would be the retired empress.
However, everyone in the Chu family received a title and reward, except for the old Duke and his wife, who never even entered the palace and continued to live in the Duke of Dingguo's mansion.
"It's probably because the old Duke and his wife didn't want to be bound by these constraints. Besides, the Chu family has been loyal for generations. They wouldn't have rebelled unless the emperor had pushed them to the brink. Moreover, the old Duke was indeed seriously wounded in the war against Xiling..."
It's normal for older people to want to stay in familiar places.
In the original two lifetimes, when Chu Haoxuan ascended the throne, the old Duke Chu had already passed away, and his injuries were truly severe.
The mother and daughter talked for a long time until it was almost dark before Lady Cheng returned to her residence.
"Mother, my eldest brother lives alone in such a big courtyard and he's too lonely. Can I invite him over to eat with us?"
Chu Jingxuan had been causing a ruckus at home these past few days, and the old lady, fearing that her grandson would be influenced, sent him to the county princess's residence, much to the little guy's delight.
Ning Yan paused for a moment, then nodded: "Okay."
It's a good thing that the son and the crown prince have a good relationship; it means he'll have someone to protect him in the future.
Chu Lin cheered, "Then son will send someone to invite eldest brother! No, I'll go myself."
After saying that, the child ran out.
Although the county princess's mansion and the crown prince's mansion were next to each other, both mansions were too big. After a while, Chu Lin's voice came from the courtyard again, "Big brother, look how beautiful my mother's courtyard is. Some of these flowers are ones I've never seen before."
Chu Yu thought to himself: Aunt Ning's place is naturally the most beautiful, because this county princess's mansion was carefully selected and meticulously decorated by him.
"Yes, as long as you like it."
Ning Yan instructed the servants, "Go and serve dinner."
The two brothers entered the main hall, and the servants all bowed. Ning Yan stood up and said, "Let's go to the side hall for dinner."
The servants were used to it; after all, their master and the crown prince were close, and the crown prince wouldn't object to their master's bowing if they didn't.
Chu Yu hummed in agreement and casually asked, "What are we having for dinner?"
"I've had some liangpi (cold skin noodles) made; you can try it later."
The weather is so hot that even if the room is full of ice bowls, all I want to eat is something cool.
Liangpi (cold skin noodles)? Another food I've never heard of.
"Then I'll definitely have to try it later."
Soon the maidservant set the food on the table.
The most eye-catching dish was the plate of red and green, crystal-clear cold noodles.
The three of them sat down. Ning Yan put the cold noodles on her plate, scooped two spoonfuls of sesame paste on the noodles, added a spoonful of vinegar and some chili oil, and stirred.
"There's already chili in here, so you don't need to add sauce if you're afraid of it being too spicy."
Chu Lin forcefully picked up a large mouthful of cold noodles and put it into his bowl. The maid wanted to help him, but he refused, saying, "Eat it yourself, no need for help."
He ate mostly on his own during the months he was exiled, and he got used to it.
After saying that, he boasted and poured two spoonfuls of chili oil onto the cold noodles.
Seeing the chili peppers reminded Chu Yu of chili pepper seeds.
"Aunt Ning, do you have a lot of chili seeds here?"
Ning Yan nodded, "There are many, but it's a bit late to plant them in the north now, but it's fine in the south."
It's already July. The ideal temperature for chili pepper growth is between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. In the north, the temperature drops rapidly after the start of autumn, making it unsuitable.
"Then I will send someone to take the seeds to the south for propagation."
"Compared to chili peppers, I think you should plant high-yield crops. These are not picky about the land, and since the dynasty has just been established, if high-yield crops appear, the hearts of the people will soon be won over."
Chu Yu paused in his act of scooping chili oil. "Does Aunt Ning have seeds of high-yield crops?"
Ning Yan nodded and pointed to a plate of cold shredded vegetables on the table, saying, "This yellow stuff is made from potatoes. Potatoes can yield more than 2,000 catties per mu. They can be used as a staple food or as a dish. This dish is called hot and sour vermicelli, which is made from sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes yield twice as much as potatoes. They can also be used as a staple food or as a dish."
There's another crop called corn, which yields six or seven hundred catties per mu (approximately 0.16 acres). It's coarser than rice or millet, but it's very fragrant when cooked into porridge, and corn cakes are equally delicious.
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