Chapter 13 Returning Home
Mother Liu had just left Lanxue Garden when Mother Guan, who was by the eldest lady's side, came and invited Shen Qingtan to have lunch at Jingde Hall.
Shen Qingtan sent Guan Mama away, tidied up her appearance, and went to Jingde Hall alone without taking any maidservants with her.
A maidservant was guarding the door of Jingde Hall. When she saw Shen Qingtan coming, she opened the door and said, "Second Madam, the Madam is waiting for you in the side hall."
Shen Qingtan nodded slightly and stepped into the house. He heard the eldest lady's voice coming from the side hall: "Yier, your grandfather summoned you to the study. Did he tell you anything?"
Zhao Yi sat with his back to the side hall door and said succinctly, "The northern border army is short of food, so my grandfather arranged for my third brother and I to collect food."
"Northern Qi is taking advantage of the natural disasters our Great Zhou has endured, and is using delaying tactics to deplete our military rations and ultimately wear us out." The First Lady said anxiously, "Yier, your uncle and cousin are fighting the enemy in the northern border. We can't delay the military rations."
"Mother, my third brother will gather military rations and send them to the northern border within ten days." Zhao Yi covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed a few times, then said softly, "I will also find a way to gather food. My uncle and cousin will be fine."
The eldest lady was worried. Seeing that Zhao Yi's face had turned even paler due to coughing, she said distressedly, "You've been coughing a lot these past two days since you stopped taking the medicine. Will you resume taking the medicine tomorrow?"
Zhao Yi coughed a few more times and was about to speak when he suddenly turned his head to look at the door.
Shen Qingtan stood at the door and unexpectedly met Zhao Yi's eyes.
In the bright spring light, his skin was pale, and his eyes were extremely dark and deep, looking at her quietly.
Shen Qingtan felt her heart tighten under his gaze, and she felt guilty as if she had discovered a secret.
He suddenly stopped taking medicine for two days, probably because he was getting married and was afraid it would be unlucky.
She looked gentle, smiled at him with curved lips, and walked towards him.
The eldest lady heard footsteps and followed Zhao Yi's gaze, and saw Shen Qingtan's slender figure appear in the side hall.
Her smile was very kind: "Tan'er, you are here."
Shen Qingtan bowed and said, "May father be well, and mother be blessed." She said with some shame, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
"They and their son just arrived." The eldest lady ordered the maid, "Hurry and serve the meal." Then, the eldest lady pulled Shen Qingtan to sit beside her, took out the marriage certificate from the tray beside her and handed it to her, "This is your marriage certificate with Yi'er. Take a look. If there are no problems, please put your fingerprints on it."
Shen Qingtan was stunned and looked down at the marriage certificate carefully.
In the format of men on the left and women on the right, the names, birth dates, native places, ancestors of three generations, land properties, official positions, etc. of both parties are written.
The guarantor and the matchmaker have already signed and sealed it.
Zhao Yi placed the ink pad next to her hand.
Shen Qingtan pursed her lips lightly, dipped her index finger in the ink and pressed her fingerprint on the marriage certificate.
Zhao Yi handed her a wet handkerchief.
"Thank you." Shen Qingtan took the handkerchief and wiped his hands.
The eldest lady secretly observed the couple and found that Zhao Yi was really considerate and took care of Shen Qingtan in every possible way.
Others, unaware of Zhao Yi's true nature, often assumed him to be gentle and refined, a gentleman. In reality, he was aloof and distant, difficult to get along with.
This is the first time I've seen him take care of someone like this.
The eldest lady once again deeply realized that Zhao Yi really liked Shen Qingtan and was not using this as an excuse to treat Shen Qingtan well.
She glanced at the old master who was drinking tea calmly and cleared her throat with a cough.
The master shuddered and quickly put down the teacup in his hand. He took the first lady's teacup, skimmed off the foam with the tea lid, and handed it to her.
The eldest lady glanced at him and saw that he was very eager, so she took the teacup and sipped it.
The crisis was resolved, the eldest master breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly glared at Zhao Yi: Go back to your room and serve your wife, don't show off in front of your mother!
Your father also wants to save face!
Zhao Yi was silent for a moment. Seeing the maid put the meal on the table, he took a pair of serving chopsticks, picked up a piece of fish belly, removed the fish bones and placed it on Shen Qingtan's small plate.
The eldest lady: "Hmm!"
The eldest man: "..." Treason!
Shen Qingtan's eyelashes trembled, and he stared at the snow-white fish on the plate in a daze.
When the two of them had breakfast together before, Zhao Yi never picked up any food for her.
She tilted her head to look at Zhao Yi. There were two vegetarian dishes in front of him. He was holding a silver spoon in his slender hands and eating the soup slowly and leisurely.
The pair of public chopsticks that had been used to pick up food for her were placed aside and never touched again.
He used another pair of serving chopsticks to pick up his own vegetarian dishes.
When Shen Qingtan withdrew his gaze, he saw the eldest lady smiling with satisfaction, her eyes looking as if she were looking at a pair of lovers.
Suddenly, she had an epiphany: Zhao Yi picked up food for her on purpose to show it to his mother.
She knew very clearly that Zhao Yi treated her well only because she was his wife.
Anyone who becomes his wife will be treated the same way by him.
After lunch, the eldest lady asked Shen Qingtan to stay to discuss the return gift.
Shen Qingtan went to the second house to move her dowry, causing a big commotion. The eldest lady heard about it, but she didn't dare to ask about it, after all, it was her daughter-in-law's private property.
Zhao Yi returned to the study in Lanxueyuan and took out a map of the Great Zhou Dynasty to look at it.
After a while, the servant Jiang Mu came in with a bowl of dark medicine: "Second Master, the medicine is warm, please drink it first."
"Bring it down." Zhao Yi didn't even bat an eyelid: "Take the medicine after you get home."
Jiang Mu said in embarrassment: "Second Madam told me to fry it."
Zhao Yi was stunned and looked up at the medicine bowl.
Jiang Mu stammered, "Second Madam said that a happy day like this will wash away all the bad luck."
He remembered something else and took out the small clay pot he had been holding under his arm. There was a clanging sound coming from inside the pot.
When the lid was opened, there was half a can of lactose inside.
Jiang Mu said, "Second Madam said she only has this much in stock, so please take the medicine well and take care of yourself."
Zhao Yi: “…”
——
On the day of returning home, Shen Qingtan got up early, dressed up, and had breakfast with Zhao Yi.
"Second Master, I need to go to Baixiangzhai to pick up some snacks. Can you leave a little earlier?" Shen Qingtan had a leisurely time these past two days, as no one in the second house came to cause trouble.
Either the second wife got the dowry and made trouble at this critical juncture, but was afraid that her secret would be exposed, so she didn't stir up trouble again.
Either the second wife is planning something bad and is just waiting for it to happen on the day she returns home.
Zhao Yi asked, "Going out now?"
"May I?"
"Can."
Zhao Yi ordered Jiang Chao to harness the carriage.
The couple went out of the corner gate and saw a carriage pulled by three horses parked at the gate of the mansion. It was inlaid with necklaces and gems and shone brightly in the sunlight, looking very gorgeous.
Shen Qingtan looked at Zhao Yi in surprise, as if he didn't expect that such an elegant and refined person would have such a rich aesthetic taste?
Zhao Yi said calmly: "The carriage was prepared by my mother."
"Oh, mother, you have good taste." Shen Qingtan's eyes were full of smiles: "The most vulgar is elegant."
Zhao Yi: “…”
Shen Qingtan got on the carriage first, but still did not bring Chunjiao and Qiuchan.
Zhao Yi followed in and sat opposite Shen Qingtan.
The carriage drove towards Baixiangzhai. When it was about to arrive, Shen Qingtan lifted the curtain and saw Zhao Jue riding a horse and stopped at the door of Baixiangzhai.
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