16 Chapter 16

◎Fighting◎

Half an hour later, the doctor came. After taking her pulse carefully, he said that it was the evil wind that had entered her body and that she needed to be treated for deficiency. Huiyin said, "My cousin came here alone from Jianye a few days ago. I'm afraid she must have been exhausted after the long journey. Doctor, why don't you prescribe some medicine to calm her mind? No matter how much money it costs, our palace can treat her."

The doctor hesitantly agreed. Fu Gui hurriedly sent the doctor out and said, "Our little princess is really good to Miss Xun. No one is more considerate than our princess in treating guests. She specially built a new courtyard and selected all the furnishings from the warehouse. She even sent several servants here. Miss Xun, let alone deer antlers and ginseng, even if it is the most expensive medicine, just prescribe it. Our little princess will treat it if it is necessary."

Manager Qiao was guarding the second gate. When she heard Fugui and the doctor say these things, she secretly admired the broad-mindedness of the young princess. It was obvious that Miss Xun was here to serve as a vassal, but she not only did not exclude her, but treated her very well.

I also heard Fu Gui say to the housekeeper Zhong: "Miss Xun's servants said there are too many mosquitoes in the courtyard in the southeast corner. Our little princess said there are not many trees in the north embroidery building, so you should send servants to clean it up. Miss Xun said the landscape painting screen you chose is not very good. Our little princess was afraid of neglecting it, so she said to take the screen out of her wedding clothes and you don't have to prepare it."

Not far away, Madam He saw this and said to Yun Hui, "Our new princess is really quick to act as soon as the stage is set. Miss Xun made a mistake this time. But if Miss Xun complains to the young prince, who will he help?"

Yun Hui said with a dull face: "We just need to do our duty as servants, and we shouldn't care about other things."

Madam He got herself into trouble and left in a huff.

When Xun Rou woke up, she found herself in the embroidery building and was at a loss as to what to do. Mei Xiang then told her everything that happened after she fainted.

"The young princess said that you were too frail to live there, so she asked a servant to carry you here..."

"What?"

Xun Rou pounded the bed: "This Zheng is really stubborn." She had already asked the old concubine to spread false news, thinking that she came to Xuzhou this time to marry outside the country, in exchange for Zheng's relaxation.

She hadn't expected this person to be so vigilant. She had intended to use her fainting to let the people in the mansion see how harshly Zheng had treated her, but she hadn't expected that she would use it to enhance her reputation.

Meixiang couldn't help but worry: "Girl, what should we do then?"

Xun Rou took a deep breath and said, "Make plans before taking action."

Xun Rou was quiet for the time being, but Nanny Fan had to go back. She was supposed to leave in early August, and if Xun Rou hadn't come, she wouldn't have stayed for a few days. After she left, Xun Rou stayed at home, and Huiyin did not relax her surveillance on her.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, Huiyin wrote a letter to Li Cheng, in which she first expressed her longing for him, and then asked him whether he should prepare holiday gifts for the families of his subordinates and where the money would come from.

Unexpectedly, Li Cheng only replied with two words: wait and see.

What a fool! Who asked if you were coming back? Huiyin had no choice but to bring up the old example from last year. In fact, Li Cheng had only been in Xuzhou for a short time last year and had not prepared any holiday gifts at all.

Le Yun couldn't help but ask: "Should we prepare?"

Huiyin rubbed her head: "This unreliable Li Cheng."

“Little Princess, you can’t say that.” Mother Nan hurriedly stopped her.

Huiyin nodded: "I know."

She thought about it and came up with an idea. She called Manager He and asked, "Are you good at making mooncakes?"

Manager He nodded and said, "I can make both white and red cakes. We in Xuzhou mostly eat crispy mooncakes. Do you want me to make them in the kitchen?"

"Well, I have already sent someone to buy some delicious mooncakes from Xuzhou. I'll try them first. If they're good, you can make two boxes for me and send them to the little prince." Huiyin said.

In fact, the chef she brought with her also knew how to make a kind of milk skin mooncake, which was of course made in her little kitchen.

Manager He secretly complained that you didn't even choose what the little prince liked to eat, but only chose what you liked to eat and sent it to him.

Huiyin quickly selected three kinds of mooncakes: milk skin mooncakes, crispy walnut mooncakes, and black sesame mooncakes, and packed two boxes of each to send to him. These were all her favorites, and she wanted him to try them too. She wrote in the letter which one he liked, and they would prepare it at home. If he didn't like any of the three, she would just give him a gift.

After the letter and mooncakes were sent out, Madam He quietly went to Xun Rou and said, "Don't worry, we never revealed that the young prince didn't like mooncakes."

Xun Rou smiled and said, "This is the result of her being too smart. My cousin never likes to eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival."

No matter how smart she thinks she is, she can't outweigh the bond she has with her cousin because she grew up together.

But what she didn't expect was that after Li Cheng received the mooncakes from Huiyin, he found that there were also milk skin mooncakes. He had never tasted milk skin before, so he took a bite and found that the outside was crispy, but the inside was like milk tofu, not to mention it was quite delicious. Even the walnut mooncakes that he hated the most no longer had that sweet and greasy taste, only the fragrance of walnuts.

But he didn't like these sweet things after all, so he kept half the box for himself and gave the rest away as gifts.

These were all gifts for his personal soldiers. They were not good things, but they were very happy after receiving them. Li Cheng turned around to look for the letter written by Huiyin. It turned out that she had asked him whether he wanted a gift and how to present it. But because he really hated eating moon cakes and didn't want to spoil his wife's mood, he just said that he was going back.

In fact, it is not necessary to reward with gold, silver and treasures. Sometimes it is also possible to be more humane.

He ordered his staff to prepare an extra meal on the Mid-Autumn Festival and give each soldier a mooncake. As for his personal soldiers and generals, he also wrote letters to inquire about their relationship.

Seeing this, Huiyin couldn't help but laugh and said, "Let Manager Qiao handle this matter. Let him go to Dingxing Building to order a high-quality mooncake gift box. Two hundred taels will be enough."

Li Cheng had occupied Xuzhou not long ago. Because he had been training in Huaishui for a long time, or training troops outside, the stewards in the mansion sent most of their gifts to Jianye. She had seen the gift list, and the local wealthy families Liu, Xue, and Miao had all sent generous gifts, but there were almost no gifts in return.

You can't just be a passer-by here. If you really want to run a business, you have to build good relationships with the local big families. If you encounter a shortage of food and grass, or a shortage of soldiers, you can recruit soldiers and horses locally.

What's the point of avoiding risks or suspicion? Anyone who can occupy a place nowadays is powerful.

The wealthy families in this prefecture all received Mid-Autumn Festival gifts from the Huaiyin Palace, including a box of milk skin mooncakes, a box of Dingxinglou mooncakes, a basket of seasonal fresh fruits, ten pieces of silk and satin, and two jars of premium osmanthus wine.

Huiyin also received gifts from these families one after another. They were all extremely rich and contained many treasures, such as high-top plates with jade flowers, white glass plates, glass vases, prayer beads, and bottles made of ancient Ru kiln artifacts and calligraphy and paintings.

Even the Miao family sent twenty pieces of gold brocade, one hundred pieces of raw flowery silk, and one hundred pieces of plain brocade.

I am very satisfied with the registration of these honors.

Xun Rou was very depressed when she saw that Huiyin not only did not get upset because of this matter, but also pretended to be a virtuous and helpful wife. She wanted to go out for a walk and look for the old concubine's old friends. Unfortunately, the maid at the second gate would not let her go out.

Mei Xiang said angrily, "You little dog slave, how many lives do you have to stop our young lady from going out?"

The maid couldn't help but say, "Miss Xun, it's not that we don't allow you to go out. It's the princess who has ordered that everyone who wants to go out must have a plan. Otherwise, if I let you go out and the princess finds out, I will definitely be punished."

Xun Rou had no choice but to come to Hui Yin. Hui Yin was busy at the moment. She was talking to Yun Hui: "After the young prince's fief is delivered, let me check it first. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, it will be the time to harvest the grain. This year, we should eat the old rice from previous years and save the new rice. Now that it is the solar term, we should sweep the inner and outer courtyards clean and make the vegetable market look brand new."

Yun Hui said quickly: "Don't worry, I will tell them."

"Then I'll trouble you." It must be said that Yun Hui works almost day and night and is a responsible person.

Looking up again, she saw Xun Rou coming over, and Huiyin asked hurriedly, "Cousin Xun, do you want to see me for something?"

Xun Rou said, "Cousin, I have been to Xu's house before and have three or five good friends. I want to go out and meet them. I want to ask you for chips."

"Cousin Xun, I'm afraid I can't give you this plan. If you want to invite someone to send an invitation to the palace, I can ask Steward Zhong or Steward He to help you arrange it. But now it's Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are a lot of people outside, and your health is not good. You are a grown woman, and I won't be able to handle it if something happens." Huiyin said lightly.

Xun Rou frowned: "Cousin, I came all the way from Jianye to Xuzhou by myself, what's there to be afraid of?"

Huiyin laughed, "That's different. You came from Jianye to Xuzhou because the old concubine asked you to come. She can't blame me for anything. But if you leave the house now, your cousin and the old concubine are not here, and I can't take the responsibility. Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, and my husband, your cousin, will be back. If he agrees, I have no objection."

Xun Rou glanced at Mei Xiang, and Mei Xiang smiled and said, "No wonder people say that the little princess is so good. You said that for our girl's sake. But our girl originally came here to help you with the household. When Nanny Fan left, she also said that she was a little bored staying here now."

It turns out that she wants to ask for the right to be the housekeeper. Huiyin covered her mouth and smiled: "You are such a talkative girl. Your sister-in-law is not here, but you still want to trouble your sister-in-law to be the housekeeper. What's more, your young lady's wedding is coming soon, where do you have the time to do these trivial things?"

Xun Rou's heart tightened. She came here to ask for a marriage proposal just as a cover, she didn't really want to get married. But from what Huiyin said, it seemed that she wanted to arrange a marriage for her.

No, this was definitely not done by my cousin. He was training his troops in Huaishui, how could there be any movement so quickly? Could it be Zheng Shi, who wanted to marry me off?

But she was completely overstepping her authority by doing this. Her marriage could only be arranged by the old concubine dowager.

Xun Rou walked out anxiously. Nan's mother asked Hui Yin in confusion, "Princess, has the young prince arranged a marriage for Miss Xun so quickly?"

"Where? You must lie to her. Otherwise, she will rush out in a rage. If she is in Jianye, I don't care how she goes out. But if she goes out here, I really can't be held responsible if anything happens." Huiyin curled her lips.