Madam Xu took Li Shiyue's hand and said, "This is my granddaughter, and also your cousin's bride. Since you're coming back to the capital with your mother, you must come and have a drink after the wedding."
Li Shiyue smiled slightly, without any hesitation, looked at Yang Yan, and nodded and curtsied slightly: "Seventh Master".
Yang Yan glanced down and looked only at the spot at his feet, not at Li Shiyue. He was a very well-mannered young man.
"I will naturally attend my cousin's and the county princess's wedding. I hope you won't mind my fuss."
Madam Xu couldn't help but smile. She then took Xu Lingqing's hand and intentionally moved Xu Lingzi forward a little, unlike Li Shiyue who had been standing further away earlier.
"It's good that you're here. Who would dare complain about your trouble. Yuan Niang is in the palace, and Chonghua Palace cannot be left unattended. Wu Niang has also married. This is Ba Niang, Xu Lingqing."
"You two are close in age, so you must have some things to talk about."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Lingqing looked up, her delicate features gazing at Yang Yan with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
Yang Yan coughed lightly, avoiding eye contact, lowered his eyes and nodded, his gaze fixed elsewhere, not looking around at all.
"Eighth Sister".
"Seventh Young Master." Xu Lingqing withdrew his gaze, a faint smile playing on his lips. He turned to meet the smiling eyes of Old Madam Xu, smiling slightly as he avoided her gaze, as if he were shy.
This reaction was also seen by others, and Yang's smile became even more obvious. However, she was worried that she might frighten the Xu family's daughter, so she thought for a moment and did not step forward.
The Yang mother and son did not stay for long. After leaving Shousong Hall, Li Shiyue stopped and looked at Xu Lingqing, who had been waiting for a long time.
She couldn't help but think of another person: why did the Xu siblings always wait for her outside Shousong Hall?
Xu Lingqing seemed to sense someone approaching, and when he saw it was Li Shiyue, he was not surprised at all; in fact, it was expected.
The afternoon sun was exceptionally hot, and even the autumn breeze felt warm at that moment. The warmth on my skin made me want to go back for a nap.
"Didn't you go with your aunt to see them off?"
Li Shiyue withdrew her gaze, but the tone of her voice was no longer as intimate as before. Ever since Xu Lingqing said those words in the carriage that day, she had been as calm as if nothing had happened.
But they weren't very affectionate; it didn't feel like the way he used to dote on his younger sister.
Xu Lingqing didn't care: "I went, but I'm back now. I wanted to see my cousin, so I came over. Cousin, you wouldn't be unhappy to see me, would you?"
Before Li Shiyue could speak, she had already walked over and taken Li Shiyue's arm: "I haven't been to Chengyu Pavilion in a long time either. Cousin, you won't be avoiding me today, will you?"
Li Shiyue looked at her, trying to find something in her expression, but Xu Lingqing smiled gently and looked extremely well-behaved.
Chengyu Pavilion was not far from Shousong Hall, and they arrived in no time. After entering the courtyard, Xu Lingqing looked at the changes in the courtyard and felt as if he had not set foot there for a long time.
Compared to the previous Chengyu Pavilion, it now feels more like a living space. Xu Lingqing sat on the wooden couch, looking at the red brocade folded on one side and the embroidery needles pinned to the patterns sewn on the brocade on the other side.
"My cousin's embroidery skills are as good as ever. My second brother is in love with my cousin, and he will definitely wear the wedding dress that my cousin embroidered herself."
Xu Lingqing couldn't quite describe her feelings. She had initially agreed to let Li Shiyue marry Xu Yunyao because Old Madam Xu favored Li Shiyue. The second and fourth branches of the family had always been at odds, and she wanted to provide support for the fourth branch.
But later, the second branch of the family separated, and her second uncle and cousin met a tragic end, their heads separated from their bodies. Her brother was going to marry someone else, and Li Shiyue was going to marry Xu Yunci. Xu Lingqing wasn't blind; he could see that Xu Yunyao and Li Shiyue had no feelings for each other at all.
She also asked Xu Yunyao privately that Xu Yunyao had agreed because Zhou Shi had given permission, but later it was clear that Old Madam Xu did not mean it that way, and Xu Yunyao's mind was not on it.
To be precise, Xu Yunyao had absolutely no interest in who his bride was; it was an arranged marriage, and he had no particular thoughts about it.
Li Shiyue had no idea what Xu Lingqing was thinking. She glanced at the brocade beside her and couldn't help but wonder what that person would look like in bright red, something she had never seen before.
"Seventh Prince is also good, and the Chengen Duke's Mansion is the Crown Prince's maternal family. Your maternal grandmother and aunt have planned very well for you."
"Is that so?" Xu Lingqing's expression was calm. When she heard her mention "the Duke of Cheng'en's Mansion," she even curled her lips, looking completely uninterested.
"I didn't come to Chengyu Pavilion today to talk to my cousin about these things."
Xu Lingqing put down her teacup and smiled gently: "I just wanted my cousin to stop avoiding me. Now that Xu Lingwan doesn't bully me anymore, I won't use my cousin to annoy Xu Lingwan anymore."
She and Xu Lingwan were about the same age in the household. The second and fourth wives had always been at odds, and Xu Lingwan would always find fault with her.
Li Shiyue's arrival at the manor was a perfect opportunity. Sure enough, Xu Lingwan was foolish enough to go looking for trouble with Li Shiyue after she only made a few provocative remarks on the day Li Shiyue arrived.
To her surprise, Xu Lingwan actually suffered a loss at Li Shiyue's hands. Later, when Xu Lingwan knelt in the ancestral hall, she even said that she was inextricably linked to Li Shiyue.
At the time, no one believed it, but she listened and realized that Li Shiyue was no ordinary person. It was not difficult for her to try to matchmake her brother Xu Yunyao with Li Shiyue and persuade Zhou Shi. The mother and daughter put in a lot of effort to make Old Madam Xu notice without making a sound.
But unexpectedly, Li Shiyue was to marry Xu Yunci and would become the future matriarch of the Xu family of the Duke's Mansion.
As for the matter involving Wei Yujie, it was simply that Wei Yujie had offended her without realizing it, and she naturally understood Xu Yunci's temperament. She simply tried to sow discord, and unexpectedly, Wei Yujie actually believed her; the result was predictable.
It was truly unexpected that Li Shiyue would avoid her because of this, which caught everyone off guard.
Xu Lingqing, being younger, looked somewhat uneasy and raised her eyes to look at Li Shiyue: "When did you find out about me, cousin? I think I concealed it very well."
Li Shiyue's gaze was calm, without the slightest hint of panic: "I didn't tell anyone, so don't worry."
The answer was not what was asked, and Xu Lingqing's expression became slightly unnatural, probably because he hadn't heard Li Shiyue's exact answer.
But the next moment she felt completely relieved, after all, Li Shiyue had no reason to lie to her. She had always been well-behaved and quiet in front of her elders and older siblings, a world apart from Xu Lingwan back then, and she didn't want to shatter their impression of her.
Xu Lingqing smiled bitterly: "The people from Chunjinxuan bullied my people, and I just wanted to vent my anger. I know that my second brother truly loves my cousin, otherwise he wouldn't have asked for an imperial decree to grant them marriage."
“If you still care about the rumors from that time, I apologize to you, but I never intended to really harm you and my second brother.”
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