Seeing that the princess was emotional, Jiang Yuwei quickly patted her hand to comfort her:
"I know that Wang Ma is of one mind with you. Don't worry. Think carefully again. Besides Wang Ma, who else in this house can serve you personally?"
After hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, the princess pondered for a moment.
"And then there's Qin'er, that maid. Lately, I've noticed that Wang Ma has been watching over me day and night. I'm worried that she'll break down from exhaustion, so I ordered Qin'er to come to my room every night to keep watch. That way, Wang Ma can sleep more peacefully at night."
Jiang Yuwei nodded.
"Okay, I understand. I'll keep an eye on Qin'er later. If all else fails, I'll secretly stay in your room tonight and see how she keeps watch at night."
The princess nodded nervously.
As the two were talking, they heard Wang Ma calling from outside:
"Your Highness, Princess Anping has arrived."
Jiang Yuwei hurriedly got up to open the door and saw Princess Anping standing outside with her maid. Jiang Yuwei gave her a faint smile, but Princess Anping didn't even greet her and turned her face away, pushing Jiang Yuwei aside and entering the house.
Upon seeing the princess, his demeanor immediately changed, and he greeted her with a smile.
"Your Highness, ever since I returned from your residence last time, I've been concerned about how your health is recovering. So I've been searching everywhere for some precious medicinal herbs, hoping they can be of some help to you."
As she spoke, Princess Anping waved her hand, signaling the maids behind her to present the gifts she had brought.
Standing to the side, Jiang Yuwei watched as the maid opened the box, which contained some tonics such as ginseng and lingzhi. At first glance, the quality of the medicine was indeed good.
However, it cannot be considered a precious medicinal herb. Herbs of this quality are not hard to find; Xinglin Pavilion in the south of the city alone has many.
Jiang Yuwei simply smiled without saying a word. The princess noticed the unusual expression on her face, but still warmly took Princess Anping's hand.
“Anping, I’ve watched you grow up since you were a child. Our friendship is definitely deeper. After the last banquet, you were the only one who remembered to come and see this old man.”
As she spoke, the princess waved her hand, signaling her maid to put the things away.
"Logically, I shouldn't accept your gifts like this, but since it's a token of your filial piety, I won't refuse."
Princess Anping was naturally delighted to hear the Princess Consort's words. She hadn't expected that the Wang family wouldn't rush to visit the Princess Consort, but instead let her get there first.
Thus, she felt grateful to Qinglan for showing her the right path, and conversely, she disliked Jiang Yuwei even more.
Seeing that the two were having a great time chatting, Jiang Yuwei decided not to disturb them and went out to arrange for the maid to serve some tea, fruit and snacks. She also instructed the kitchen to start preparing the meal.
Later, Jiang Yuwei thought that Princess Anping's visit to the Princess Consort today was certainly not solely for the Princess Consort's health, so she summoned Xia Yue and gave her instructions:
"Go to the Prince's residence and inform him that Princess Anping is visiting the Princess's residence today. If the Prince is free, he can come and have lunch with her."
Xia Yue left after receiving the instructions.
Seeing that Jiang Yuwei was no longer in the room, Princess Anping quickly took the princess's hand and said with concern:
"Your Highness, I'm really worried about you because Madam Jiang has been treating your health for so long and you still haven't gotten better."
The princess smiled faintly.
"My body has been weakened for a long time, and it won't get better in just a day or two."
Princess Anping's eyes flickered upon hearing this, and she then spoke:
“Your Highness, I think it’s not a long-term solution to keep Madam Jiang and her family in the palace. How can an outsider stay in someone else’s house for so long, especially with their whole family? I think Madam Jiang is taking advantage of Your Highness’s kind heart and has become even more shameless.”
Princess Consort frowned upon hearing Princess Anping's words. Although she did not know that Ning Huaizhi was her biological son, it was indeed a bit excessive for him to try to interfere in the affairs of her household before the marriage was even arranged.
So he put away his smile and replied calmly:
"It's alright. The Prince's mansion has so many idle people to support, it won't make a difference if they are a family of four. Besides, Madam Jiang only stayed in the mansion for my sake, it's not that she intentionally refused to leave. Her General's mansion has already been renovated and the servants and housekeepers have moved in."
As she spoke, the princess took a sip of tea and continued:
"They can move back whenever they want; they're only staying in that little courtyard of the Prince Jing's residence because of me."
Princess Anping noticed the princess's expression and realized that her words were clearly in favor of Jiang Yuwei, so she felt embarrassed and gave a forced laugh.
"I didn't mean anything by it. I was just concerned about Your Highness's health. I was thinking that if Madam Jiang couldn't cure your health, it would be better to go to the palace and ask the Emperor to send a qualified imperial physician to take care of you."
The princess waved her hand.
"Princess Anping, you don't need to worry about that for me. I know my own body."
Seeing that the Princess Consort had already said so, Princess Anping didn't know what else to say. She smiled, picked up a pastry from the table, took a bite, and praised it:
"The pastries at Prince Jing's residence are indeed delicious. I tried them once when I visited your residence last time and have been craving them ever since."
The princess smiled.
"These pastries were brought back by Madam Jiang from her shop. If you like them, please have some."
Upon hearing this, Princess Anping quickly put down the pastries in her hand with disgust. She didn't want to eat Jiang Yuwei's food, as it would be as if she were betraying her good friend Qinglan.
The princess saw through all her little tricks. Although she didn't know why Princess Anping disliked Jiang Yuwei so much, seeing that Jiang Yuwei was talking badly about her behind her back as soon as she went out.
However, someone like Princess Anping, who makes no attempt to conceal her actions and wears her heart on her sleeve, will naturally never amount to much.
Thinking this, the princess couldn't help but sigh. She had thought that Princess Anping was a good match for her son in terms of appearance, talent, and family background. Who would have thought that she was just all show and no substance.
When Ning Zixuan saw Xia Yue come to his courtyard, he thought something had happened to Jiang Yuwei, so he quickly put down what he was doing and waited for Xia Yue to deliver a message. Who knew that Jiang Yuwei actually wanted him to go to the Princess Consort's courtyard to have dinner with Princess Anping.
Ning Zixuan felt disgusted whenever he thought of Princess Anping's face in the Delicious City that day, so he waved his hand and said:
"No, no, tell your master I'm busy here and don't have time to have dinner with that Anping guy."
Seeing this, Xia Yue had no choice but to bow and leave.
After Xia Yue left, Ning Zixuan returned to his desk to look at the business's account books, but after flipping through a few pages, he couldn't find them anywhere.
At this moment, Ning Zixuan kept thinking about Wang Yuru's round face with two dimples.
There are pictures of her stuffing her mouth full while eating, pictures of her smiling with her eyes crinkling into crescent moons, and pictures of her graceful and heroic sword dance...
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