Unwilling
Ruan's already ugly face became even more embarrassing, and Shen Xiujin's originally clear and bright face also changed color in an instant.
Shen Xiujin lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness can ignore my feelings, but please consider that my mother is also your future mother-in-law. I don't ask you to respect her as you respect the Queen Mother, but please don't hurt her feelings."
Zhao Fanghua looked at Shen Xiujin's high-sounding appearance and snorted with a forced smile: "Oh? What you said is really interesting. You keep saying that I hurt her feelings. Wasn't it she who was disrespectful to the elderly first?"
"They say a mother is kind and a son is filial, but I just got home and before I even had time to drink a sip of water, your mother scolded me without asking why. How can I respect her?"
Zhao Fanghua looked at the food box in Peihuan's hand and sneered, "You compare your mother to the Queen Mother, but she's not worthy. The Queen Mother at least remembers my preferences and gives me delicious food. But what about your mother? Ever since you returned home, every day she's either been finding fault with me or withholding my food. You even have the nerve to ask me to play along with you in this drama of loving mother and filial son. It's truly laughable!"
Shen Xiujin's expression changed slightly. He turned to look at Ruan with a hint of suspicion in his eyes. He was about to speak: "Mother..."
As soon as he opened his mouth, Ruan Jiaojiao interrupted him: "Your Highness, are you resentful of your aunt's discipline of you? Actually, your aunt also has good intentions. As an elder, who doesn't wholeheartedly hope for the best for the younger generation?"
With one word of discipline, Ruan's scolding of Zhao Fanghua turned into a reprimand from an elder to a younger one, and at the same time, the blame for disobeying discipline was put on Zhao Fanghua's head with a "clang".
Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, Ruan straightened her back immediately, and Shen Xiujin's gaze towards Zhao Fanghua returned to the scrutiny she had just given him.
Zhao Fanghua shook her head helplessly. She was really fed up with the twists and turns in this mansion and felt that her brain cells were not dead enough.
So how many dirty things are hidden in the mansion that was not mentioned in the original novel? The word "peace in the backyard" is just four words, but how many grievances are hidden behind it.
"Forget it, talking to you is just a waste of time and saliva." Zhao Fanghua couldn't stay any longer. After all, Ruan Jiaojiao could turn white into black and black into white. Regardless of the expressions of the three people behind him, he took the ring and walked towards his Fanghua Garden.
Only three people were left there staring at each other.
Ruan was even more furious. She pointed at Zhao Fanghua's back and shouted, "It seems that her lesson was not enough. There is no need to send food to her yard anymore!"
Zhao Fanghua was too lazy to roll her eyes. There was no need to threaten her by not sending her food. If she didn't want to send it, then don't send it. She could go to Tianxianglou and eat delicious food every day. She could also take the opportunity to stroll around the capital and see the outside world.
Thinking of this, would Ruan, under Ruan Jiaojiao's instigation, put all the gold, silver and jewelry in the mansion into her own pocket?
No, no! Absolutely not. I have to go back and think about it carefully.
After returning to his Fanghua Garden, Zhao Fanghua ordered the servants to wash the bayberries that the empress dowager had rewarded him with. Although he knew that there were added foods in the bayberries, he closed his eyes and regarded them as high-quality protein. Anyway, Zhao Fanghua felt that he had grown up rolling in the mud, so it didn't matter.
The bayberry this time tastes much better than last time, juicy, sweet and sour.
Zhao Fanghua thought that Shuyu was still lying in the back room recuperating from her injuries, so she took Yangmei to visit her.
When Shuyu saw Zhao Fanghua coming, she was so moved that she wanted to get up to greet him, but Zhao Fanghua pushed her back to the bed: "Just lie down and recuperate. Look, what I brought you."
Zhao Fanghua stuffed the bayberries in front of Shuyu, and immediately a maid cleverly took the bayberries and put them on the small cabinet in front of Shuyu's bed.
"Your Highness, where did these bayberries come from? Didn't we finish eating the bayberries we brought back from the palace last time?"
Zhao Fanghua: "Oh, I went to the palace again today. The Queen Mother asked me to bring back some food. It's much better than last time. You can try it first."
Shuyu pinched one and put it in her mouth, curiously asking, "Today isn't the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, so why did Your Highness come to the palace to pay his respects to the Queen Mother?"
Zhao Fanghua chuckled: "I'm going to see the emperor!"
"Your Majesty?" Shuyu's eyes almost popped out of her head. She struggled to get up. "Hiss—Your Highness is going to see the Emperor?"
"What's wrong?" Zhao Fanghua looked at Shuyu's movements in confusion. His heart skipped a beat, and he asked tentatively, "Is there something wrong?"
Shuyu bit her lip and shook her head: "No...no..."
Zhao Fanghua had a bad feeling in her heart. Could it be that the original owner had a bad relationship with the emperor? It made sense to think so. After all, although they were siblings, they had the same father but different mothers. Besides, if the original owner had a good relationship with the emperor, then she would have done what she did. After hitting a wall with the empress dowager, she would have turned to seek help from the emperor.
The more Zhao Fanghua thought about it, the more she felt that this was the case. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. She wondered if the emperor had already seen through her.
Zhao Fanghua wanted to cry but had no tears, but still held on to the last glimmer of hope and asked: "My relationship with the emperor...isn't it good?"
Shuyu shook her head and gave Zhao Fanghua a big smile: "No, Your Highness and the Emperor have a deep brotherly love."
Zhao Fanghua patted his chest and complained with a smile: "You scared me to death just now."
Shuyu was about to say something else when a little maid came outside the door to report that the prince consort had arrived.
Zhao Fanghua felt unlucky when she heard Shen Xiujing's name, but she still said goodbye to Shuyu and went to the front yard reluctantly.
As soon as I arrived at the front yard, I saw Shen Xiujin waiting there. He was tall and graceful, holding two lotus flowers in his hands. With his official green robe, he looked like a lotus immortal who had come down to earth.
It’s a pity that this person is Shen Xiujin, and this good face is really wasted.
When Zhao Fanghua saw Shen Xiujin, her face immediately fell and she asked in a bad tone, "What do you want from me?"
Shen Xiujin handed the two lotus flowers in his hand to Zhao Fanghua and said, "Flowers are for beautiful women. On the way to Fanghua Garden, I saw the lotus flowers in the garden pond in full bloom. I also remembered that you were wearing a pink and green dress today, which suits you perfectly."
Zhao Fanghua was indeed wearing a light green Hezi skirt with a water red large-sleeved shirt today. As the saying goes, one should not hit a smiling person, and it is also said that one should be grateful for what one has received. Zhao Fanghua's expression softened and she took the lotus from Shen Xiujin's hand.
Shen Xiujin looked at Zhao Fanghua, who lowered her eyebrows and sniffed the lotus flowers. She had a smile on her face and a gentle expression, as if a fairy had descended from heaven. He was also moved by it.
With such a lovely wife, what more could a husband ask for?
Shen Xiujin came here to seek peace. He didn't understand why his mother and the eldest princess suddenly became incompatible after only a few days of returning home.
He knew that his mother might be a little unkind and might be a little harsh towards Zhao Fanghua, but she was still his mother after all. As his future wife, Zhao Fanghua should be filial to her mother-in-law on his behalf. Would his mother-in-law really beat or scold her? It would only be a warning or two.
Other daughters-in-law would have to carefully serve their mothers-in-law at all hours of the day, except for their sleeping time, for fear of upsetting her. Some even personally served her during her toilet breaks. Of course, Zhao Fanghua, a daughter of a wealthy family, didn't have to go to such lengths. But his mother just wanted Zhao Fanghua to be more docile in her presence, so why did Zhao Fanghua have to make things so awkward for both of them?
He knew that having a child with Ruan Jiaojiao before marrying Zhao Fanghua was indeed a bit unfair to Zhao Fanghua, but as far as he knew, most men in wealthy families were like this. When they were in their teens, their parents would personally send their children to be educated by maids, and there were many who had children before marrying their wives. How come their wives could tolerate it, but Zhao Fanghua couldn't?
Back then, when he was betrothed to the eldest princess, many of his classmates were envious. The moment he received the imperial decree, he was even more surprised than when he was the top three scholar in the imperial examination.
His mentor in his hometown was once a third place winner in the imperial examination, but he was only a sixth-rank official throughout his life. Later, because of his upright character and poor social skills in officialdom, he was ostracized by his colleagues and had to resign and return home. In the end, he could only teach in a college.
The moment he was granted marriage to the eldest princess, it meant that he would rise to prominence and become a prime minister in the near future.
Therefore, even though Shen Xiujin was dissatisfied with Zhao Fanghua in many ways, he still patiently lowered his posture and took the initiative to come forward to reconcile.
Shen Xiujin pondered for a moment, then bowed to Zhao Fanghua and said, "Your Highness, this time it was my mother's fault. I apologize to you on her behalf. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
Zhao Fanghua gently turned the lotus in her hand. Seeing Shen Xiujin's reluctant but sincere apology, her anger instantly subsided by half.
She was not the type to be petty, and it was just that Ruan had gone too far. Since Shen Xiujin came to apologize sincerely, Zhao Fanghua didn't want to make things too awkward.
Zhao Fanghua: "Alright, I'm a magnanimous person, I can let go of what happened today."
Shen Xiujin breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something else when Zhao Fanghua suddenly changed the subject and asked, "What about her withholding my food?"
Shen Xiujin felt somewhat displeased. He, a man of eight feet, had already been so humble and submissive to her, but why didn't she just stop while she was ahead, but instead became aggressive.
Chen Xiujin said, "I asked mother about this. She said that it was hot this summer and she was worried that Your Highness would have a poor appetite and cause a lot of waste, so she asked the kitchen to reduce the portions and make less meat and more appetizers. But I never expected the kitchen maids to be such jerkish people, always doing things that were insincere and disobeying their orders. This not only ruined mother's good intentions, but also damaged the relationship between Your Highness and mother."
Zhao Fanghua said nothing, just watched Shen Xiujing lie with his eyes open. Without the old woman's permission, the cook would not dare to do so even if she had the courage. Besides, she had just heard with her own ears that Ruan was going to cut off the food in her courtyard.
For a moment, she wanted to expose Shen Xiujin's lies, but another voice in her heart told her to just make do with it. What's the big deal about getting a divorce? Where can you find a handsome and educated man? At least he is willing to spend time to coax you. It's better than those honest men who have nothing and can't even do anything. Besides, if you leave him, will the next one be better than him?
Besides, hadn't the original owner lived like this all her life? In the end, she and Shen Xiujin lived in harmony and grew old together, which made countless others envious.
But Zhao Fanghua didn't want to.
She looked at Shen Xiujin's face and shook her head. It was a pity to waste such a good-looking face.
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