Chapter 241: Xueji Painting Academy, Good News
The snow in the courtyard of Shufangzhai had been swept and piled under the porch into a small hill. The remaining water stains on the bluestone slabs reflected the morning light, like scattered silver. Little Swallow squatted under the crabapple tree, her reddened fingers gripping a half-broken branch as she scraped vigorously at the thawed mud. The branch's tip poked into the wet mud, sending a few brown specks of mud staining the hem of her pomegranate-red skirt, smearing a few dark-colored flowers.
"No, no!" She suddenly dropped the branch, clapped her hands, and stood up, the dimples on her cheeks appearing and disappearing with her movements. "The palace courtyard needs to be bigger! Here," she tapped the crooked squares in the mud with her toes, "we need a training ground! My brother always says my swordsmanship is getting worse, and I need a bright place for him to teach me! And here," she took two steps to the side, drawing a circle in the snow and mud with the toe of her boot, "we need a swing! We need the kind that swings high, and is sturdier than the one in the imperial garden!"
Before she finished speaking, a cloak, scented with body warmth and a cool pine aroma, gently fell upon her shoulders. The golden-threaded lotus pattern gleamed faintly in the sunlight, and the edges, fringed with snow-white feathers, made her slightly red cheeks, flushed from the cold, even more charming.
"Whatever courtyard you desire, the Emperor has prepared it for you." Yongqi's voice, tinged with a smile, came from behind. He had just entered from outside, his dark blue prince's formal attire still stained with unmelted snow. His handsome face was chilled by the wind and frost, but his eyes were warm. He naturally adjusted the ties at the collar of her cloak, his fingertips carelessly brushing against her slightly chilled earlobe.
Xiaoyanzi turned around suddenly, her eyes wide open: "Is it ready? Where is it?" She moved so quickly that the kingfisher butterfly hairpin on her head trembled and the tiny tassels swept across her forehead.
"It's right next to the Fang Mansion." Yongqi nodded with a smile, took out a roll of drawings tied with a bright yellow ribbon from his sleeve and handed it to her, "It was originally an idle royal villa. It was renovated a few years ago. The layout is square and bright. The emperor said that it is just right for us to use as a wedding room." The jade belt around his waist today was replaced with a lapis lazuli inlaid with gold belt buckle, which symbolizes the noble status of Prince Rong. It exudes a restrained brilliance in the sunlight.
Xiaoyanzi snatched the blueprint away, her fingertips pale from the pressure. She quickly untied the ribbon, and the blueprint unfolded with a swish—the meticulously painted mansion came alive on the page, pavilions, towers, corridors, and waterside terraces, all exquisitely detailed. Her eyes scanned the landscape eagerly, finally fixated on a corner: a clear line marked "Prince's Mansion—Square Mansion Corner Gate," with the words "Connecting to narrow alleys, facilitating travel" written in small script next to it.
"Next to the Fang Mansion?" She suddenly raised her head, her voice rising like a startled bird. "It's the house across the alley from my back wall, the one with the gate that's always locked tightly?" She remembered that when she first moved to the capital last year, she crouched over the back wall of her house, peering through the high courtyard wall and asking Xiao Jian who lived inside. Xiao Jian, holding a grass stem in his mouth at the time, said nonchalantly, "It's a royal property. It's always been empty. Don't set your sights on it."
"Exactly." Yongqi's smile deepened, and he reached out to point at the corner gate on the blueprint. "The Emperor specially had the layout changed. As you requested, the backyard has been turned into a martial arts training ground, paved with bluestone slabs. The weeping crabapples and peach trees you like have been transplanted into the garden, so you can enjoy their blossoms in the spring. And this corner gate," he traced the ink line connecting the two houses with his fingertips, "was designed by the Emperor himself. He said that if you ever want to visit your parents' home in the future, you can just walk there, saving the hassle of traveling."
Xiaoyanzi held the blueprint in her hands, feeling a surge of heat rushing from her heart to her head. She looked at the small corner door on the blueprint, then at Yongqi's smiling eyes, then thought of the distance between her home and that house, separated only by a wall... A surge of joy, like exploding fireworks, made her feel light and airy. She spun twice on the spot, her pomegranate-red skirt swirling open like a blossoming flower. The gold tassels of her cloak fluttered with her movements, brushing against the back of Yongqi's hand.
"Great! Great!" She stopped suddenly and grabbed Yongqi's arm with such force that he almost staggered. "Let's go! Let's go tell my parents now! They will be so happy!" She pulled him and ran out, forgetting to pick up the branches that fell on the ground.
Yongqi was dragged along, shaking his head in a helpless yet doting manner. The corner of his stone-blue robe brushed against the snow-stained bluestone, leaving a trail of wet marks. Sunlight pierced through the clouds, falling on the icicles hanging from the eaves of Shufangzhai, reflecting a rainbow of colors.
***
The main hall of the Fang Mansion was warm and cozy. The heating was burning brightly, and the air was filled with the refreshing aroma of freshly brewed Longjing tea, mixed with the mixed scent of new silk and camphor emanating from the red lacquered wooden box.
Fang Zhihang sat in a rosewood armchair, reading glasses perched on his nose, an ebony abacus clacking in his hands. A thick dowry book lay spread out before him, and he scribbled on it with a cinnabar pen, his brows alternately relaxed and furrowed. Fang's mother stood beside several large, open red-lacquered wooden boxes, loading them with neatly stacked pieces of Yunjin and Su embroidery. On the maroon brocade, a pattern of hundreds of children and grandchildren, embroidered in gold thread, shone brilliantly in the light.
"This piece of brocade is soft and perfect for a quilt." Mother Fang picked up a piece of moon-white material, her fingers stroking the dark pattern of lotus flowers. "That piece of Suzhou embroidery with phoenixes and peonies is bright, so it'll be a quilt cover for Ci'er. She's afraid of the cold, so we need more thick quilts." As she spoke, she picked up a piece of pomegranate-red brocade satin and gestured, "This color is festive, so make her a few new everyday jackets..."
"Dad! Mom!"
Before anyone arrived, clear and loud shouts had already exploded in like small firecrackers, with uncontrollable joy, shaking the window paper and making it buzz slightly.
The silver scissors in Fang's mother's hand fell to the embroidery frame beside her with a clang, and the sharp tips poked a small hole in the taut satin. She didn't bother to look at it, and turned around in a hurry, forgetting even to take off her reading glasses.
Xiaoyanzi rushed into the living room like a gust of wind, her cheeks flushed with the heat from running, her eyes bright and startling. She slammed the rolled-up blueprint onto the eight-immortal table in front of Fang Zhihang, shaking the abacus beads so much that they jumped.
"The Emperor has given me a mansion! It's right next door to our house! He even drew a corner gate, so I can go home anytime in the future!" She said it in one breath, her chest still rising and falling slightly. She pointed at the eye-catching ink line on the drawing, her fingertips trembling slightly with excitement.
Fang's mother rushed over, frantically took out her reading glasses from her sleeve pocket and put them on. She leaned close to the blueprint and pointed at the corner door mark with trembling fingers: "This... this..." She raised her head, her eyes suddenly red, and her voice was choked with disbelief, "This emperor... is too considerate..." She grabbed Fang Zhihang's hand, her fingertips cold, "Look, old man! Look! It will be so convenient for our daughter to go home in the future! She no longer has to wait for the palace banquet to see her!"
Fang Zhihang put down his abacus, held his wife's shoulder, and his eyes fell on the connected houses on the blueprint. He stroked his graying beard, surprised at first, then burst into a hearty laugh, so loud that it shook the dust off the beams. "Good! Good! The emperor is thoughtful! Yongqi is a sensible child, he knows we can't bear to part with our daughter!" He turned to Yongqi, who had followed him in and was standing at the door with a smile on his face. With a serious look in his eyes, he raised his hand and patted his shoulder heavily. "From now on, my daughter will be handed over to you. Our house is next door." He pointed to the blueprint and then to the ground under his feet. "If she is wronged, I, as a father, will be the first to disapprove!"
"Don't worry, uncle." Yongqi bowed and made a solemn salute, with the corners of his stone-blue robe hanging down, his posture respectful and sincere, "I will spend my whole life protecting Xiaoyanzi, making her happy, and never letting her suffer any grievances." The jade belt of Prince Rong around his waist shone with a warm luster under the indoor light, silently demonstrating the royal family's attention and favor.
"And conferred the title of Prince?" Fang Zhihang only then noticed the unusual jade belt around his waist. He was so surprised that his hand, stroking his beard, paused. "The Emperor has truly honored our Ci'er!" He turned around and shouted vigorously to the butler waiting at the door, "Fang Fu! Quick! Go and get that jar of twenty-year-old daughter's red wine from the back of the storeroom! Today is a huge happy event, we must celebrate it!"
As he was speaking, the door curtain was lifted, and Xiao Jian came in from outside with a chill. There were unmelted snow particles on his shoulders, but he was holding an exquisite red lacquer lunch box in his hand. His stern brows were tinged with warmth when he saw the scene in the hall: "I just came back from the guest house. When Liu Qing heard that I was granted a mansion, he specially asked the kitchen to make some snacks from our Jiangnan area." He opened the lid of the lunch box, and hot steam mixed with the familiar sweet fragrance hit his face - crystal clear osmanthus cake, rice cake printed with the red word "Determined Victory", and Xiao Yanzi's favorite sugar-coated fruit wrapped in shiny sugar. "The emperor also said," Xiao Jian added, his eyes swept across the drawings spread out on the table, and the corners of his lips raised slightly, "Let the Ministry of Works start repairing the corner gate tomorrow and finish it before the wedding date."
"Brother is the best!" Little Swallow cheered and pounced over like a happy little bird. She picked up a piece of the still warm sugar-coated fruit and stuffed it into her mouth. She puffed out her cheeks and said incoherently, "When the corner gate is repaired, I will go to the guesthouse for dinner every day and ask Jinsuo to make sweet and sour fish for me!" The sugar coating was stuck to the corners of her mouth, sparkling.
Mother Fang smiled and wiped the sugar stains from the corners of her mouth and the grease from her hands with a handkerchief. "You're about to get married, yet you're still so greedy." She took Xiaoyanzi's hand, her fingertips gently stroking the heavy red gold silk bracelet on her wrist. It was the bracelet she had personally put on her daughter when she came of age. "From now on, in the palace, you must learn to be the mistress of the house. You can't act as willfully as you did at your mother's house."
"I know, mother!" Xiaoyanzi took advantage of the situation and hugged Fang's mother's arm. She rubbed her face against her shoulder like she did when she was a child, and said in a long and coquettish tone, "I have Yongqi to help me! If he dares to dislike me," she raised her head, wrinkled her nose at Yongqi, and made a face, "I will run home through the corner gate and make you punish him by copying "The Instructions for Women" a hundred times!"
Yongqi stood aside, watching Xiaoyanzi's innocent appearance, his eyes filled with doting, and he shook his head helplessly, "How dare I dislike you? I love you so much!" He walked to the window and half-opened the lattice. The sunlight after the snow poured in unhindered, filling the room with warm warmth. Several large red lanterns hung from the eaves of the Fang Mansion swayed gently in the breeze, casting a warm red glow on the unswept snow in the courtyard and reflecting on the smiling faces of everyone in the hall.
In the living room, Fang Zhihang and Xiao Jian were discussing the details of the mansion's layout in whispers, pointing at blueprints. Fang's mother chatted privately with Xiaoyanzi. Yongqi sat quietly nearby, listening to the laughter and chatter that filled the room, and seeing the undisguised joy and relief on his family's faces. His heart felt like a small warm stove, soothing and reassuring. In the distance, the sound of court musicians tuning wedding music seemed to drift faintly. The crisp notes of flutes mingled with the melodious suona, piercing the clear winter sky, blending with the laughter in this small world, and drifting away slowly. This consummation that spanned two lifetimes was walking towards them step by step, firmly and warmly, under the warm sunshine and joy.
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