The news that the orphan of Marquis Zhongyi and the legitimate nephew of Concubine Ruigui had been found spread quickly throughout the capital, followed by the Emperor Yuanyou's commendation of Lady Shen, the wife of the Duke of Ying. Everyone then learned that the orphan of Marquis Zhongyi had been raised in the Duke of Ying's mansion all these years.
Suddenly, everyone said that Lady Yingguo’s kindness was rewarded, and they were extremely jealous of Emperor Yuanyou’s generous reward.
Since Pingfu was the new Marquis of Loyalty, he naturally could not live in the Duke of Ying's Mansion any longer. Emperor Yuanyou had earlier ordered people to renovate the Marquis of Loyalty Mansion, which had been waiting for its master since its completion. Concubine Rui Guifei also asked the Qintianjian to choose an auspicious day for Pingfu to move in.
Looking at the young boy who came to say goodbye to her, Shen Xinyan always felt a little reluctant. Although the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty was only a quarter of an hour away from the Mansion of the Duke of Ying, they were not in the same mansion after all. Even if they wanted to meet, it would not be as convenient as it is now.
"I think the Royal Concubine has given you a lot of reminders, so I won't say more. You just need to remember that no matter what happens in the future, this will always be your home." She suppressed the reluctance in her heart, personally stepped forward to help the young man up who was kneeling on the ground, and said softly.
Pingfu lowered his head and said "hmm" with a distinct nasal tone.
If he had known that becoming a marquis would require him to leave the Duke's Mansion and the people he was familiar with, he would rather not be a marquis.
Shen Xinyan also felt her eyes moisten. She had a lot to say but didn't know where to start. She could only sigh softly and pat the back of his hand.
All the younger male members of the Duke of Ying's Mansion, led by Wei Chenglin, came up to say goodbye to him.
"Lingfu, can't you stay in the mansion with us?" Wei Chengyue asked reluctantly, holding his hand.
The eldest brother was never easy to get close to, the second brother never wanted to play with him, not to mention Qi Ge'er, who was tightly controlled by his mother and could not be seen by others. In the Man Mansion, only Lingfu could win his favor. Now Lingfu became a marquis, leaving him alone in the mansion, which was too boring.
"How about, Pingfu, how about I move to the Marquis' Mansion with you? That way I can keep you company!" He suddenly had an idea and looked at Pingfu expectantly.
"Is it okay?" Lin Fu's eyes lit up and he thought this was a great idea.
"Of course not!" The eldest princess, who had walked in at some point, said unhappily.
When everyone saw her coming, they hurried forward to greet her.
The Grand Princess sat down at the head of the table, her gentle gaze resting on Ling Fu, she nodded and smiled, "As expected of the son of the Marquis of Loyalty, you have the demeanor of your father."
I originally thought that I was just taking care of the son of an old friend of Master Huiming, but I never thought that I would get such a great opportunity because of it. It shows that there is indeed a reason why people will be rewarded if they do good.
Pingfu smiled a little uncomfortably.
The Grand Princess encouraged him a few more times, then she deliberately glared at Wei Chengyue with a stern face: "You are pretending to want to be a companion for the Marquis, but you are really doing this to avoid your homework. Be careful that your mother will beat you again if she finds out!"
Wei Chengyue hurried forward and begged for mercy and acted coquettishly, making the eldest princess smile.
After everyone in the room left, Lin Fu looked around and found that Wei Yingzhi was nowhere to be seen.
"Madam, where is Ying'er?" he couldn't help but ask.
Only then did Shen Xinyan realize that her daughter was gone.
"I don't know where this girl has gone!" She shook her head helplessly.
"I'll go find her!" Pingfu said this and turned around and ran out without waiting for her to answer.
"Don't waste time!" Shen Xinyan only had time to call out from behind him.
From far away came the voice of Lingfu——"Got it!"
After all, he grew up with Wei Yingzhi, so it was not difficult for Lin Fu to find her in such a large Duke's Mansion. In less than a cup of tea, he found her on the swing in the back garden.
"Why are you here alone? Let me be well." He asked with a smile as he saw her swinging back and forth on the wooden swing.
"Hey, I was wondering who it was. It turns out to be the Marquis. Why are you doing here instead of going back to your Marquis' Mansion?" Wei Yingzhi glanced at him.
As soon as he heard her tone, Lin Fu knew that the little girl was in a bad mood, so he asked cautiously, "Did someone make you unhappy?"
"Who in this mansion dares to make me unhappy? I had my grandmother, parents, and brother to protect me before, and now I have another marquis. I will live a comfortable life in the future!" Wei Yingzhi snorted.
Even if Pingfu was slow, after hearing her calling him "Marquis" left and right, he understood why she was like that. It was obvious that she was reluctant to let him leave.
But, it’s not just her who is reluctant to let go, he is too!
Seeing him standing there blankly without saying a word, Wei Yingzhi felt even more unhappy for some reason. She snorted at him again and suddenly jumped up from the swing.
"You can just go and be a marquis, and don't come to me anymore!" She said this angrily and ran away without looking back.
"Ying'er, Ying'er..." Pingfu chased after her subconsciously. After he had chased for a short distance, Chunliu had already found him. When she saw him, she said hurriedly, "My little ancestor, I finally found you. Come quickly, everyone in the palace is waiting outside. The noble concubine and His Majesty are waiting in the Marquis' Mansion!"
As he spoke, he pulled him away.
Ping Fu was pulled by her and kept looking back in the direction where Wei Yingzhi disappeared, his face full of disappointment.
Only when the two figures could no longer be seen did Wei Yingzhi walk out from behind the rockery, staring blankly into the distance, with an expression that could not hide her loneliness.
"Hmph, just go if you want to. I don't want to stay here! You can just live alone in the Marquis' Mansion. Someday...someday when I'm in a good mood, I might go and take a look. I want to see what's so great about the Marquis of Loyalty's Mansion. Is it better than ours?" After a long while, she muttered to herself.
Naturally, Concubine Rui Gui was not comfortable with her nephew living alone in the mansion, so she sent almost all her capable people to the mansion and asked Emperor Yuanyou to send a team of guards to protect the mansion. However, she was still worried and had to come and take a look in person.
Although she was his biological aunt, she was still somewhat unfamiliar to Lin Fu. However, he could also feel Concubine Rui's true love for him.
Compared to Consort Rui, he felt more comfortable with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. After all, he had come into contact with the Crown Prince several years ago because of Wei Chenglin.
The prince could not have imagined that Lin Fu, whom Wei Chenglin regarded as his own brother, was actually his cousin. In fact, in terms of kinship, his relationship with Lin Fu was closer than that with Wei Chenglin.
"Don't touch this, and don't touch that. Hey, don't touch it, don't touch it. Let me do it myself!" Lin Fu's voice was heard from inside the house. Concubine Rui Gui, who was about to step into the house, was stunned. She looked up and saw her nephew dismissing the maid who wanted to help him pick up the large and small boxes on the ground, and rolled up his sleeves to do it himself.
"What are you doing? Just tell your servants to do it for you." She walked into the house, lifting her skirt lightly, and casually opened a black and gold-painted box, revealing a miscellaneous array of things inside.
There are priceless jade carvings, lifelike rabbit-shaped paperweights, small wooden swords with a chip on them, and even head flowers for little girls.
"Aunt, I can do it myself!" Pingfu said hurriedly.
"Did you call for these things?" she asked with a smile.
"Except for this small wooden sword which was made for me by Brother Chenglin, the others were given by Ying'er." Lin Fu answered casually as he was busy.
"That box contains the things given to me by Madam, the Duke, Sister Qiutang, Sister Xiahe, Sister Chunliu, and Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess. This box contains the books given to me by Mr. Lu..."
Concubine Rui Gui's eyes deepened as she looked at her nephew, who knew everything about her. She did not ignore the reluctance and joy on his face every time he mentioned the people in the Duke of Ying's Mansion.
She suddenly realized that perhaps in her nephew's mind, the Duchess of England was much more important than her, his biological aunt.
But even so, she did not feel jealous at all. She was only filled with gratitude towards Shen Xinyan and those people in the Duke of Ying's Mansion who treated Lin Fu well.
However, just because of Master Huiming's instructions, the Duke of Ying treated the child as their own son or nephew, and raised and cared for him meticulously.
***
After Lingfu left, Shen Xinyan felt uncomfortable for a long time. Not only her, but the entire Funing Courtyard, including the brothers Wei Chengzhao and Wei Chengyue from the third house, and even Wei Chengqi from the eldest house, were a little depressed.
Wei Yingzhi, on the other hand, acted like a person with nothing to do. She spent the whole day doing needlework and learning housekeeping with Shen Huiran. She was very busy and happy, as if she had completely forgotten about Lin Fu, which made Wei Chengyue secretly mutter to herself.
The fourth sister is so heartless. Lingfu was so good to her, but she has forgotten him for so long just a few days after he left.
But the next moment he became excited again.
Oh my, he actually has a brother who is a marquis!
After more than half a month, Shen Xinyan gradually adjusted to the fact that there was no child around her. And then the birthday of her future daughter-in-law, Princess Changning, arrived.
Naturally, she had to prepare a gift carefully for her future daughter-in-law's birthday. She also gave some instructions to her daughter and Shen Huiran, and then the three of them went to Prince Ning's Mansion together.
Wei Yingzhi and Shen Huiran had met Princess Changning before, and now with the addition of this layer of kinship, they were naturally closer.
Shen Xinyan was relieved when she saw that her daughter, niece and Princess Changning were getting along quite well.
The problem between sisters-in-law has always been the most difficult problem after the problem between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. She doesn't want her daughter to get along with her daughter-in-law again in this life.
"I see that Changning doesn't look very well. The princess has assigned her too much homework recently. Is she tired?" After sitting down with Princess Ning, Shen Xinyan said half with concern and half jokingly.
"Oh my, your daughter-in-law hasn't even married yet, but you've already got your future mother-in-law. It's really enviable!" Before Princess Ning could say anything, the concubine beside her said with a smile.
Princess Ning looked unhappy but didn't say anything. She just said helplessly to Shen Xinyan, "I don't know what's wrong with me these days. I always cough at night. I cough for half the night. How can I rest well?"