After saying that, Side felt a little guilty. Before going to Yuezhou, Ye Zelin only told him to keep an eye on the Da Sanyuan gambling house. He didn't tell him to find Bao Changzhou to shut down the gambling house, nor did he say that the young lady could not be bullied by anyone. He thought that since he was caught by Hua Fushu and he couldn't get away with it, he had already confessed everything. What's the harm in adding a few more words? Maybe there would be some unexpected gains.
Hua Fushu was stunned. She didn't expect Ye Zelin to really believe her and let Side keep an eye on the gambling house. She was still holding a grudge against Ye Zelin for letting Bao Changzhou beat her with a stick, but now the grudge was gone.
She remembered that she had lost several hundred taels of silver in this gambling house and was beaten with a stick. This deal was not worth it. She coughed lightly twice and pretended not to know.
She said, "Side, your young master asked you to keep an eye on him, so you did. If you hadn't met me, I wouldn't know anything. The illegal things happening on this street are not the business of the Tokyo government. If there is anything wrong with the gambling house, it would be an overstepping of authority to report it to Lord Bao."
Side suddenly realized and looked at Qin Youran. His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin was in charge of the City Patrol Department. Of course, the illegal activities on the street were under the jurisdiction of the City Patrol Department. Given the relationship between His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin and his young lady, how could he not shut down this gambling house?
Qin Youran sighed lightly, then smiled. Since it was his city patrol department's business, why shouldn't he care about it? If it got out, people would laugh at him for dereliction of duty, and those nosy censors might even report him to the emperor.
He said, "If there's any disturbance, go to the City Patrol Office and let me know."
Si De smiled happily and replied yes.
Hua Fushu and Qin Youran left. Side looked at the two of them. Qin Youran was shielding his young lady from the sun, a very upright gentleman. Suddenly, he had another idea in his mind. He would tell Ye Zelin when he returned to Beijing.
It was a hot day as the sun was high in the sky. Si De sat down at a cold water stall and ordered two bowls of cold water to cool down.
The Lu family has already decided on the guest list for their third son's wedding and has also prepared the invitations. However, since they agreed yesterday to invite Prince Zheng and others to the mansion for the wedding banquet, they need to prepare more invitations. Madam Huaping should have handled this matter, but Madam Huaping was not feeling well, so she asked Lu Tianyun to add a few more invitations.
The Shui, Wu, and Ling families had already been invited, so Prince Zheng's request to come naturally required an invitation from the Prince Zheng's palace. However, after returning to the capital, the Prince of Qin had only visited the residence of the Grand Princess of Anguo, never met with the officials of the court, and declined all banquets, large or small, offered by various palaces.
If he invited His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, people might speculate that the Lu family was trying to win over the Prince of Qin and cause suspicion. If he did not invite the Prince of Qin, it would be a breach of trust. After much deliberation, Lu Tianyun finally decided to invite the Prince of Qin.
In order to avoid the impression that the Lu family was trying to win over the Qin Palace, Lu Tianyun added a few unpopular royal family members, drew up a list, and asked her maid Xinyan to send it to her father for his review.
Not long after, an elegant middle-aged man in a blue silk shirt entered the Youlan Pavilion. He was Lu Tianyun's father, Lu Jin, the current Shangshu Ling.
Seeing his father come in, Lu Tianyun put down the yellow pear wolf hair brush in his hand and stood up to greet him, "Greetings, father."
"Don't be so reserved." Lu Jin said calmly.
Looking at the words written by Lu Tianyun on the rice paper on the table, he showed a touch of joy, "Yun'er's official script has improved a lot, almost reaching the level of your father and your elder brother."
Lu Tianyun was delighted. "Father and elder brother are masters of calligraphy. My daughter's achievement is also due to their good teaching."
Lu Jin handed the list to Lu Tianyun and asked, "Yun'er, do you really want to invite the King of Qin?"
Lu Tianyun took the list, but didn't understand the meaning of his father's words. "Father, is there any problem?"
Lu Jin said, "I know you've always been a sensible child. It's fine to invite Prince Zheng and a few other royal family members, but why do you want to invite Prince Qin as well? Prince Qin's return to the capital for no reason has already caused controversy, so why bother to involve him with the Lu family?"
Lu Tianyun had Xinyan tell her father the reason for inviting the Prince of Qin. Thinking her father might have misunderstood something, she said, "Father, I didn't want to invite His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, but His Royal Highness the Prince of Zheng mentioned it, and since His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is here, I'm afraid it would be unreasonable not to invite him. After returning to the capital, the Prince of Qin refused invitations from court officials, so he probably wouldn't come to the Lu residence for a drink. The invitation was only sent because of His Royal Highness the Prince of Zheng, to save face and avoid criticism."
Hearing his daughter's words, Lu Jin knew that he had misunderstood, so he agreed to her request. "If you have any friends in the boudoir that you would like to invite, please prepare the invitations. Since you are not married yet and do not understand the various matters related to wedding banquets, you can ask your brothers, sisters-in-law, and concubines to take charge. Once the invitations are prepared, have your eldest and second sisters-in-law send people to deliver them to the various mansions."
Lu Tianyun nodded and said yes.
Perhaps because he had been busy in the study for a long time, Lu Jin suddenly felt a little tired, so he left Youlan Pavilion. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned back and said in a calm voice, "Go to your mother tonight to pay your respects. You should also go to your stepmother's place to see if there is anything you can help with."
After saying that, he went back to his yard to take a rest.
After Hua Fushu said goodbye to Qin Youran, it was already 3:00 PM when she returned to the General's Mansion. Looking at the jars of peach blossom wine at hand, she thought she couldn't enjoy it all by herself, so she called Wujing and gave him two jars, asking him to send one to Feiyuan and the other to Sanqiao, while she took the third jar to Rongliyuan.
In the room, Ye Shiheng was reading a book. When he saw Hua Fushu come in, he pulled out a stool for her to sit on.
Hua Fushu was not shy and sat down immediately, saying with a smile, "Dad, look what good things I brought you."
Ye Shiheng closed the book and let Cuizhi hold it. He looked at the wine jar in front of him and said, "It's wine."
As he spoke, he picked up the wine jar and took out the cork wrapped in red cloth. A faint fragrance of peach blossoms filled his nose, "What a nice smell, Hua'er, what kind of wine is this?"
Hua Fushu said, "It's authentic Qinzhou peach blossom wine. My brother asked someone to send a few jars over, so I brought some over for Dad to try."
Ye Shiheng gave the peach blossom wine to Cuizhi and asked her to keep it safe, and then he chatted with Hua Fushu about family matters.
Not long after, Madam Ouyang came in cheerfully. Ye Shiheng said, "She's so cheerful, there must be something good going on."
Madam Ouyang smiled brightly, "I've got a strange story for you. A few days ago, green smoke came out of the Hu family's ancestral tomb. Today, Qing Ya's eldest daughter-in-law, who had been infertile for three years, was diagnosed with pregnancy. It must be because of the green smoke coming out of their ancestral tomb. Their ancestor appeared, and Qing Ya was so happy that she kowtowed to thank the heavens and worshipped her ancestors."
Ye Shiheng naturally didn't believe such nonsense as smoke rising from the grave, but seeing Madam Ouyang happy, he was happy too: "It's true! I heard that Madam Hu went to the Bei Niangniang Temple every few days to burn incense and kowtow, and she was so pious as if she was serving her parents. Now that her wish has come true, I'm afraid Madam Hu can't wait to hold a big banquet to celebrate."
Madam Ouyang said, "I guess you guessed it right. Qing Ya is planning a grand banquet and said that the full moon banquet, the hundred-day banquet, and the first birthday banquet should all be grand.
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