Chapter 21
The betrothal gift from the Third Princess had already been delivered, and it had caused quite a stir. Knowing her, I felt it might be her entire fortune.
I've been going around various stores lately, stocking up on a lot of rare items for my brother. Finally, he had to warn me, "Stop it! This is beyond the standards of a young prince. Even with these, I can't take them all away. The royal family has standards, and we can't exceed them."
After a pause, he continued, "The Third Princess also secretly added some extra things, which also exceeded the limit."
I had no choice but to stop and give face to the princess.
Of course, the goods were all visible; the shops below were the real deal; after all, that was where the money was made. Father and I agreed to give my brother 50% of the soap, skincare, rouge, and paint shops, 20% of the clothing and accessories shops, and 10% each of the restaurants, teahouses, and pawnshops.
Of course, An Qi was also invited to participate in these activities, and she had no objection.
But my brother didn't take all of it. All of it together accounted for a quarter of the family income. Some of the shops already had a share given to the Emperor's aunt, and my brother didn't want to take too much away from the royal family. After all, a lot had already been given away for free.
My mother doesn't care. We are a small family and as long as we have enough money, we're fine. The extra money we have is donated to charity every year.
My brother, considering that Anqi and I were getting married later, only took 40% of the soap, skincare, rouge, and watercolor shop, leaving the rest unchanged. Of course, Mom and Dad also clearly outlined the share.
Most of the business development was primarily driven by my brother and me, but since we all had people in the family, I got 20% of the remaining profits from the soap, skincare, rouge, and watercolor shops, my father got 20% on behalf of the family, and Anqi got 10%. As for the clothing and accessories shops, I got 20%, my father got 40%, and Anqi got 10%. The Queen, representing the royal family, got 10% each.
As for the restaurant, teahouse and other businesses, 10% was given to me and An Qi each, 40% went to my family, and 30% went to the royal family.
As for important shops such as pawnshops, we each own 10%, our family owns 20%, and the royal family owns 50%.
With that, the family property was clearly divided in front of my brother. Later, when Anqi grows up and the family is divided, the family property will be divided between Anqi and me. My brother also agreed.
You know, the shops in our family are basically nationally famous chains, and the Third Princess has gotten a great deal.
In the first few days of the wedding, all the relatives came early, and several uncles brought their children to help out. It was a huge crowd. It was a rare occasion for the whole family to gather together like this.
As the eldest daughter in the family, I have been following my mother to meet all the elders in the family, which made me dizzy.
However, the face blindness I had in my previous life is still with me in this life, and I am really at the point of wanting to cry. Fortunately, Zhixia and the others are here, constantly reminding me.
When the night settled, I collapsed in my brother's room. Seeing him sitting there drinking tea, I resented, "You married people seem to have a lot of free time."
My brother looked at me and patted my head. I felt a surge of melancholy and buried my face in my grave.
"Are you sad? It's not like we won't see each other anymore. I don't live in the palace and I can go out every day." My brother was very understanding.
I tried my best to suppress my tears and got up. "I know. If you don't come out, I'll go find you. I'll go back first. You still need to get up early and rest early!"
Back in my room, I washed up and lay down. I couldn't help but cry. It's true, but going from being together all day to only seeing each other in ages, it would be strange if it wasn't hard! But my brother is so happy today, and I'm happy for him from the bottom of my heart. The shadow of his past life will no longer hang over him.
I finally understood why in novels, couples always strive to be together. No matter how close family ties are, they can't stay together forever, but love can. And yet, I simply couldn't bring myself to do anything to my brother. Two lifetimes, a brother-sister relationship. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but laugh, amazed at my own imagination.
Zhixia was listening to me crying and laughing in the outer room, and she shook her head.
The next morning, everyone was busy with their duties. I stood at the door while my mother greeted the guests in the hall.
My friends are all very loyal and came home early. They were the main force blocking the door.
The Crown Princess also made a visit on behalf of the royal family in the morning, sat and chatted for a while, and then left to go to the Third Princess.
By noon, almost everyone who was supposed to come had arrived.
My mother is doing very well in the court. After all, who wouldn't like a money-making expert who can get money as long as they have formal needs?
Officials of all ranks from the Ministry of Revenue should have arrived. The higher-ranking officials entered and sat down, while the lower-ranking officials presented their gifts and left. This was a time for open gift-giving and favor-giving. Furthermore, this dynasty also restricted the value of gifts between officials. Therefore, giving gifts was not a difficult matter.
The other people were also very interesting, and they were divided roughly equally. I think the upper management had divided it up in advance to ensure that both sides were lively. Of course, the gifts that were not here also arrived.
During lunch, I slipped into my brother's room. It was empty, and my father was secretly wiping away tears. My brother looked at my father with a helpless expression and gave me a look.
Although I was very reluctant, I still spoke.
"Father, think about it. If my brother had stayed at home, you would have been worried sick. Now that my brother has finally agreed to get married, you should be celebrating with joy."
As soon as I finished speaking, my father burst into laughter and hit me, "You naughty monkey, you're teasing me. I wonder who was secretly crying yesterday?"
I glared at Zhixia fiercely, and she lowered her head silently. What a bunch of bad guys, laughing at me!
My brother couldn't help laughing out loud, and the smile was evident in his eyes.
An Qi didn't quite understand. He leaned on his father, looking at this and that, unable to turn his head.
Kong Qing brought in some food, but there was hardly any soup or anything. My brother ate a little, and after my father gave him some more instructions, he stood up and prepared to leave.
Seeing that I was a little hesitant, I looked back in confusion.
Finally, my father stomped his feet, took out a booklet, stuffed it into my brother's hand, said, "You study harder," and ran away.
I took it without hesitation, and my brother didn't have time to stop me. "What?"
"Hey." My brother came over to grab it, but I opened it quickly.
"Wow, a pornographic picture." I glanced at it, but before I could take a closer look, my brother took it away.
I wasn't shy either, and couldn't help but lean over and whisper to my brother, "It's much more intuitive in modern times than this, brother. You were not young anymore, you understood everything, right?" I blinked.
My brother pushed my head away angrily and said, "You're a girl, watch your words."
I took the fan I used to pretend to be Thirteen and opened it and waved it, "I am the one who calls the shots in this life!"
My brother rolled his eyes and whispered in my ear, "It's still different. You're old enough, so you should learn it too." After saying that, he coughed pretentiously and looked serious.
At this point, my brother blushed and asked me curiously, "You don't want to marry more than one woman, do you?"
I thought about it and said seriously, "From the beginning until now, I have wanted to marry only one person, as long as the other party is not too outrageous after marriage."
My brother nodded and said, "Don't be too sentimental. Good relationships are exclusive."
"I understand. Don't worry, my sister still has some character." I patted my chest and assured her.
My brother sat back down at the dressing table and held up the phoenix crown. "Look, it's really beautiful. The craftsman is so skilled. I wish I could just look at it instead of wearing it on my head. I feel like my neck will break."
I approached it. How could I describe it? It was a magnificent and exquisite phoenix crown, its main body crafted from shimmering gold, spreading out like branches and leaves. It was inlaid with round, plump pearls of varying sizes, and adorned with vibrant gemstones, shimmering with light. Long pearl tassels dangled from either side, and the delicate beads swayed with the angle, creating a play of light.
Even so, my brother chose a relatively simple one. However, no matter how simple it is, it must be four or five kilograms heavy.
My brother still likes to wear a hair crown, but the men's hair crowns here are not simple ones. They are all kinds of gorgeous, similar to the style of a huasheng. Women also wear simple hair crowns on a daily basis, but they will wear their hair in a bun and insert hairpins during festivals. So the variety of accessories here is really countless and varied.
This also gave my brother and I a lot of creative space.
After a while, the palace embroiderers came in. I watched as they put piles of things on my brother's head, and I felt really sorry for his neck getting tired. When the embroidering was done and the red veil was taken off, I saw my brother's eyes twitch.
"Ahem," I held back my laughter, "Brother, I'll wait at the door and carry you on my back later." I quickly slipped out of the house, covering my mouth and laughing.
The compliments of the groomsmen came from the room, "You and the young lady have a very good relationship."
"The county lady is so beautiful. This is the first time I've seen someone so beautiful. She looks like a fairy descending to earth."
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I arrived at the gate, where the guards were already preparing to block the passage. An Qi was the first to take charge. About a quarter of an hour later, the sounds of drums, trumpets, and suonas could be heard from outside, along with the crescendo of firecrackers.
Including the Crown Princess and three princesses, a total of five princesses have arrived.
The little prince also came to join in the fun. When he saw me, he blushed and glared at me. When I looked over at him in confusion, he turned away. I didn't know what he meant.
At this point, no one cared who was who; everyone crowded the doorway, peppering her with questions. The Third Princess was sweating. I was so proud. My friends were truly amazing. Money poured down the drain, and finally, the Third Princess was let in. She greeted her grandmother, mother, and father first, then her brother's door.
After some conversation, I carried my brother to the hall to bid farewell to the elders. My father couldn't help crying, and I couldn't help crying too. After I put my brother into the sedan chair, the wedding procession returned.
I followed the team to the Third Princess's residence. The dowry was carried out one by one, and the people watching outside exclaimed in surprise.
I felt very sorry. Even so, there were still many boxes that could not be carried over, which exceeded the standard. My brother still picked out a lot of eye-catching ones and kept them.
But it doesn’t matter. I won’t show off my wealth to others. I can secretly send it to my brother later.
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