Chapter 144 The Prince Changes, Opens His Heart
Xiao Yizi put down his needlework and asked, "Tear down the threshold?"
Bai Shen: "Yes, there's some banging outside, it's quite noisy, Your Highness, can't you hear... ahem."
He held back the words "Can't you hear me?", thinking that the prince just had difficulty walking with his legs, and there must be nothing wrong with his ears.
It was all because of Second Miss Xie's shocking remarks that made him talk nonsense.
"Oh, by the way, the princess also ordered someone to bring the six pairs of betrothal geese and a chicken."
Xiao Yizi didn't pay attention to this and lowered his eyes.
The threshold of Fuguangyuan is high, and it is difficult for wheelchairs to pass through every time. I wonder if Xie Yao removed the threshold simply to make it convenient for him, or to please him deliberately?
Or maybe, his princess is trying to win his favor?
"What does the servant say?" asked the prince.
Bai Shi: "Servants? In the middle of winter, the servants should be complaining and unwilling to work. However, since this is the princess's order, they dare not disobey. Otherwise, should I keep an eye on it?"
"Are there any servants who dare to complain?"
The prince murmured softly.
Yes, it was the second day after Xie Yao entered the mansion. If he lived in Liuxia Courtyard and ignored her, even if the people in the mansion did not dare to show it on the surface, they would look down on him in their hearts.
Besides, she has been friendly with me, and if I don't go, it will be embarrassing for her.
The prince suddenly said, "Tell the butler to come now."
A moment later, the old housekeeper hurried over carrying a medicine box.
When the butler was young, he was a military doctor of the Jingbei Army. When he got older, he was instructed by masters and his medical skills improved. In the mansion, he was both a butler and a doctor who was specifically responsible for the health of the prince.
He asked curiously, "Doesn't the prince usually have a massage in the afternoon?"
Xiao Yizi didn't explain, he had already undressed skillfully, and said calmly: "From today on, the massage every other day will be changed to the morning."
"yes."
The old housekeeper took out the medicinal oil and opened the cork, and a light bitter medicinal smell came out.
The prince smelled the scent he had long been accustomed to and suddenly said, "From now on, add some osmanthus powder to the medicinal oil."
The housekeeper didn't dare to ask more questions, but he was very happy in his heart.
This was because he was afraid that the princess would not like the smell of the medicinal oil, so he immediately asked someone to get the incense powder ground from osmanthus flowers.
In the past, although the prince did not resist massage and other things, he did not take the initiative either.
He accepted massage treatment just to avoid becoming a useless person lying in bed, needing help from others even to turn over. He had no requirements or reactions to the doctor's treatment methods, what medicine to take, or how it tasted. He was completely lifeless.
But before, the prince had been exercising diligently in order to ride a horse, and now he has moved up the time for massage.
Besides, only when one is attentive to something can one change the smell of the medicinal oil.
The old butler watched Xiao Yizi grow up. He still remembered that two years ago, when the prince was first injured, he was furious and crazy, and he was also heartbroken. So when he saw that the prince had only changed a little bit now, he felt indescribably happy in his heart.
Xiao Yizi was only wearing a shirt and had taken off his pants, leaning on the bed with an expressionless face.
The servant on the side had already prepared a hot handkerchief. The old butler took the handkerchief and began to massage skillfully using medicated oil mixed with scented powder.
The prince's legs had broken tendons and veins, and he had also been poisoned. In order to stabilize his leg disease and prevent it from getting worse, and to prevent muscle atrophy and bedsores, he had to have regular massages and bathe every day.
Xiao Yizi lowered his eyes and looked at his legs. The steaming handkerchief fell down, and he was unaware of it.
Whenever he closed his eyes during massage, he would recall the battle of Qijiang. He could hear the sounds of swords and spears piercing his flesh and arrows piercing his bones. The blood of his soldiers was still splattered on his face, steaming hot.
They were saying: Your Highness, the soldiers of Dayan would rather die than surrender, but Your Highness, it hurts so much...
When he opened his eyes and stared at his legs, he couldn't control the anger rising in his heart.
But at this moment, hearing the knocking sounds next door, Xiao Yizi was thinking that only a woman like Xie Yao would dare to tear down those thresholds for him the day after marrying him.
In Fuguangyuan, several craftsmen and servants removed the old threshold and paved it with bluestone.
In the northwest corner of the yard, a jet-black hen was strolling with her head held high, showing off her shiny black feathers in the sun, and sneering at the wild geese trapped in the golden cage.
Xie Yao, Madam Qi and others were in the accounting office in the side room, confirming the accounts of the palace.
Aunt Qi explained the contents of the accounts to her, while Changsi was fiddling with the abacus beside her.
Every expense in the mansion, the prince's title and salary, the rewards from the palace, the dowry prepared for her by the Xu family and her mother, and the previous betrothal gifts from the prince's mansion were all counted and recorded one by one.
Especially these dowries and betrothal gifts.
The betrothal gifts from the palace were already quite a lot. On my mother's side, in addition to the pearls and land shops that had been in the boxes at home, there was more cash, including a thousand taels of silver ingots, a box of gold ingots and gold ingots, and some of her remaining jewelry.
As for the Xu family, the dowry was even more substantial and extremely luxurious.
Not to mention the thousands of taels of silver ingots and silver notes, there are also several boxes of gold bars, thousands of acres of fertile land, and farms and shops.
Just the eight-pillar bedstead made of golden nanmu wood, the bed covered with a curtain with hidden patterns woven from Shu brocade, the dressing table made of huanghuali wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the cosmetic boxes, boxes, vases, and even pots and pans, are all dazzling, with everything you could imagine.
Even Nanny Luo, who had been managing the old lady's accounts for half her life, was amazed at the wealth of the Xu family when she saw such a generous gesture, and became even more respectful and devoted to Xie Yao.
While Xie Yao was sorting out the accounts, she calmly asked, "Changsi, do you know Chengyuan?"
"I've heard from the young master that it was the private residence of the rebellious Prince Rui before he was crowned. It was bought by the old master and used as a dowry for the Marquis' wife. Later, the Marquis Wenchang used Chengyuan to host several banquets."
After thinking for a while, he answered clearly and logically.
"But the garden covers a large area, and the cost of maintaining it is enormous. I'm afraid that now, apart from the steward Xu who was appointed by the old master in his early years, there is no one living in the garden anymore."
Xie Yao's eyes glared, and she asked, "Are you saying that the manager of Cheng Garden is surnamed Xu, and is my grandfather's man?"
"Manager Xu is a servant of the family. Even if all other servants in the garden are dismissed, he will stay to look after the garden." Changsi nodded.
"He had returned to the Xu household several times to inquire about the expenses of the garden because of the reduction in expenses for the Wenchang Marquis. The master always gave him several hundred taels of silver. Although I was still young at the time, I met him twice."
"In that case, I have something for you to do."
Xie Yao raised the corner of her lips and whispered a few instructions: "Take 500 taels of silver notes, and take 7 taels with you to leave the palace."
Nanny Qi said, "Princess, if you have something to do, bring the palace's personal guards with you. They are all veteran soldiers in the army, and they can scare people to death!"
Xie Yao remembered Xiao Yizi's words in the morning that Bai Zhu could be instructed on everything, so she nodded and said, "Okay, then bring two more guards from the palace."
The accounts were almost settled. Outside the window, the sun sank to the eaves and the rays of light filled in through the window lattice.
Tang Xin came to report: "Princess, it's time for dinner."
As soon as Xie Yao walked out of the house, she saw Nanny Luo leading two chefs and a cook to Fuguangyuan.
Several maids were behind her, carrying food.
Nanny Luo said, "Princess, these two were originally the old cooks of Ninghui Courtyard, and this one is from Jiangzhou. The old lady knew that your maternal grandfather was from Jiangzhou, so last month she ordered this old servant to find a cook from Jiangzhou. From now on, she will stay at Fuguang Courtyard."
Xie Yao said, "Thank you, Aunt Luo."
"Princess, please don't be so polite. These are all the old lady's orders. She also said that the palace is your home. If there is anything in the food that is not to your taste, please tell the chef."
The three chefs saluted Xie Yao together.
Nanny Luo nodded to Nanny Qi again, then went to the dining room with the maids to set the dishes before leaving.
She subconsciously raised her foot to step over the threshold of the dining room, but was stunned when she saw the flat doorway.
I hadn't noticed it when I came here, but now I see a new peaceful clucking hen, a few pairs of geese, and...
At the gate of Fuguangyuan, Bai Zhu was pushing the prince in a wheelchair and coming towards them in the setting sun.
The whole courtyard was filled with rosy clouds, which fell on the prince's crimson robe with gold trimmings, his golden crown and black hair, and the golden threads on his clothes sparkled.
The wheelchair rolled smoothly across the ground without any bumps or the need for wooden boards on the door threshold.
For some reason, Nanny Luo suddenly remembered when the prince was still the son of Marquis Jingbei. He was so full of vigor and vitality, like the rising sun, unstoppable.
Her eyes were moist.
Part of the threshold of the palace was removed when the prince was injured, but the other part, the more it obstructed the wheelchair, the more they dared not remove it, for fear that the prince would think too much.
However, no one dared to think that the prince had never stepped out of Liuxiayuan before, perhaps because of these bumpy thresholds.
The princess removed the threshold of Fuguangyuan, which might be her way of opening the tightly closed door of the prince's heart.
Xie Yao stepped forward and said in a natural tone, "Why is the prince here?"
Xiao Yizi glanced at the newly laid bluestone slabs on the ground, and his eyes deepened.
"If you're passing by, come and have dinner with the princess." He said softly.
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