After Xiao Lang returned home and washed up, he locked himself in his room for a whole hour. There were so many things he didn't understand, and countless questions he had no answers to.
After some ideological struggle, he decided to ask his father and uncle. Maybe he could find the answer from them!
Xiao Lang recounted in detail to his father and uncle what had happened since arriving at the Royal Villa and returning home. He was puzzled by the fact that after hearing what he had said, his father and third uncle all looked at his uncle, each with a look of deep worry on their faces. His uncle, unsure of what to think, remained silent for a long time. The reactions of the three men were quite different from usual.
"Don't tell this matter to anyone else, and don't tell your grandfather either, okay? Go back and rest! Do what you need to do, but remember, you must keep the matter of the villa to yourself and never mention it again, understand?" Xiao Jingtai sent his son away quickly. Ever since his elder brother knew that Ping An was being remembered by Prince Jing's Mansion, he often became dazed and his mind wandered. He no longer had the energy to deal with other things.
My wife was right. At first, I envied my elder brother and his wife, but now I sympathize with them. What parent wouldn't feel bad about handing over their daughter, whom they've carefully nurtured, to someone else? Moreover, Ping'an is the treasure of the whole family. If the other men in the family heard the news, they would definitely go to Prince Jing's mansion and demand that they stop thinking about Ping'an.
"Prince Jing is trying to show his goodwill to us. It seems that he is determined to marry Ping An." Xiao Jingmin said in a low voice. He couldn't bear to disturb his elder brother who was lost in thought.
"Oh! I wonder how sad my brother and sister-in-law must be! I used to see Ping'an, Ruyi, Jun, and Qi so tall." Xiao Jingtai gestured to the height of a table and continued, "Back then, I always wondered when these children would grow up. Now that they've grown up, I think they were better when they were little."
At that time, I didn’t have to worry about the two girls at home being missed by others, and I didn’t have to worry about never seeing the two girls smiling every day again.
"Hey! King Jing asked me to have tea together after the Mid-Autumn Festival." Xiao Jingkang stared at the ground, as if responding to his brothers, and as if talking to himself.
"Did you agree?" the two younger brothers asked in unison.
Xiao Jingkang nodded. Unless he didn't want to make this marriage happen, there was no reason to refuse. The number of people in the entire capital who could make King Jing achieve this was countable on one hand. Furthermore, Xiao Jingkang wasn't the type of person who didn't know what was good for him. He understood the principle of knowing when to stop in everything.
A few days later, the Xiao family was preparing holiday gifts for the various mansions. The gift list was drawn up by Xiao Yao and Xiao Yuan, under Tong Mingyu's supervision. Xiao Yao had many custom-made gift boxes, tied with long strips of colorful satin in various designs. Some were tied with bows, and some were decorated with beautiful silk flowers crafted by the maids.
"Madam, the festival gift from Prince Jing's Mansion has arrived."
"Madam, the festival gift from Lingnan Palace has arrived."
Tong Mingyu, who was working, suddenly started coughing when he heard the two "bad news".
"Mom, what's wrong with you?" Xiao Yao dropped what she was doing and hurried over to help her calm down and pat her back. She couldn't understand why her mother was fine just now and suddenly started coughing!
"Aunt, have some water." Xiao Yuan handed Tong Mingyu a cup of warm tea. Look! Taking care of the family affairs made people cough. In the future, he wanted to live like his mother and second aunt, instead of being busy like his aunt every day.
No one noticed that the woman in charge of reporting hadn't left yet, because she hadn't finished her reply yet! And it was something very important that she hadn't finished reporting.
This was the scene Yun Yichen and Kong Xuzhe saw when they entered the room: Xiao Yuan was leaning against Tong Mingyu obediently, asking about her well-being and serving her tea and water; Xiao Yao was standing by, commanding the servants to do things in a serious and responsible manner on behalf of Tong Mingyu.
Every word she said was brief and concise, and after giving an order, she would leave time for others to give their opinions.
When the two met, both were filled with astonishment. Yun Yichen and the others hadn't expected to see their beloved here. Tong Mingyu glared at the messenger. "Why didn't they announce these two people's arrival? If they had known beforehand, they would have at least hidden the two girls!" What should they do now?
Isn't it enough to send a steward to deliver holiday gifts? I've never heard of any master personally escorting gifts. Is this the new trend this year?
Xiao Yao was more reserved, just looking at the two people with a look of surprise. Xiao Yuan was much more straightforward. She changed her meek and quiet appearance just now, ran over to Yun Yichen and asked, "What are you doing here? Do you want to see what return gifts we have prepared? I guarantee that your eyes will light up, something you have never seen before."
Yun Yichen didn't have time to joke with Xiao Yuan at the moment. He quickly glanced at Xiao Yao, clasped his fists respectfully and bowed to Tong Mingyu, saying, "My nephew pays his respects to my aunt."
"Yes, yes, nephew greets auntie." Kong Xuzhe winked at Xiao Yuan with a smile, then quickly put on a serious face and bowed in Tong Mingyu's direction. It was a pity that his future mother-in-law was not present at the moment, otherwise she would definitely be very satisfied to see such a polite son-in-law!
Aunt, Tong Mingyu really didn't have the courage to agree, nor did she want to agree, because the price was too high and she could hardly afford it now.
"You two should go back to the backyard first!" Tong Mingyu didn't want to see the two glances cast at her daughter and niece. They were guests, and their status was obvious. Sending her own children away was the only solution she could think of.
"Mom, let me stay and help you! Xiaohui, ask someone to send Prince Yun and Prince Min to my grandfather's study." Xiao Yao continued to do her own thing after she finished speaking. People were coming and going around her, so she didn't notice that someone would look at her from time to time.
What a cruel little girl! She hadn't seen me for so long and she didn't even say hello to me. She even called me Prince Yun in a businesslike manner. In her eyes, I was no different from anyone else. This was too depressing!
Yun Yichen handed the gift list to Tong Mingyu with both hands and tactfully exited the room. Kong Xuzhe followed suit, but as he passed Xiao Yuan, he whispered, "Are those picture books good? When you've finished reading them, have someone send a message to me and I'll personally deliver them."
He dares to be so blatant when I am here. If I am not here, will he get closer? Tong Mingyu looked at the boy who was laughing and joking with his niece, and then looked at Xiao Yuan who was not angry, with a hint of coquettishness in his eyes. Tong Mingyu felt that the day when his third sister-in-law would arrange a marriage for her daughter was not far away.
"Ruyi, come here." Before Tong Mingyu could speak, Xiao Yao spoke first. This Prince Min treated this place as his own home! With so many eyes watching him, he dared to be so unruly, thinking that the Xiao family members were easy to bully!
Kong Xuzhe chuckled twice and went after Yun Yichen. He didn't dare to offend Xiao Yao. Not only would Yun Yichen be unhappy, but Xiao Yao would also most likely retaliate. This person had a huge influence on Xiao Ruyi. If he said a few bad words about her, all his efforts would be wasted.
The old man was not at home today, and Xiao Jingkang felt awkward and upset and did not want to show up, so today it was Xiao Jingtai and his son who were responsible for entertaining them. Xiao Jingtai did not want to show up either, but who made his son owe them a favor!
Yun Yichen originally wanted to try his luck and see if he could meet Xiao Yao by chance. Although the circumstances of their meeting were very different from what he had expected, one should learn to be content, right?
The look in her future mother-in-law's eyes revealed a message: she had already tacitly agreed to this marriage, but was just unwilling to admit it. Because there was wariness and criticism in her eyes, but no disgust.
Just bear with it! If you want to marry someone's sweetheart, how can you avoid being ignored and looked down upon? Didn't you see that the little girl's father didn't even want to come out to receive you? They need time to slowly accept this matter, and you understand this.
Qin was thrilled to see the gift lists from the Prince Jing's and Lingnan's palaces. Even though she had rarely left the house recently, she could still sense something special. If she hadn't noticed by now that the Prince Jing's palace treated their eldest granddaughter differently than others, then she'd lived for over sixty years in vain.
Great! That's great! But until she was completely sure, she cleverly kept it a secret. Not only that, she planned to wait until she heard the news that Prince Jing's palace was proposing marriage, then trick the old man... coax him away from home for a while, and then tell him the result directly when the dust settled. By then, everything would be a foregone conclusion. Would he dare to regret the engagement?
But what was going on with the Lingnan Palace? She didn't believe that pie in the sky would fall twice, and she didn't dare to associate it with her little granddaughter. Because she also felt that before her eldest granddaughter got married, or at least before she was engaged, no one would pay attention to the little granddaughter who was obviously still a child at heart.
Seeing the long gift lists from the two palaces, Xiao Yao was so frustrated that she grabbed her hair. What were these two families trying to do? Wasn't this going to disrupt her plans? The gifts had almost been distributed and were just waiting to be loaded and sent away tomorrow. But someone had gone against the grain and prepared a festival gift as if it were a coming-of-age gift. How could she repay them?
"Mom, did they give the wrong gifts? Who gives so many gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival? What should we give during the Chinese New Year?" Xiao Yao went to complain to her mother. She had been busy for several days, but all her efforts were overturned in an instant. She was so depressed!
I'm even more depressed than you! All your hard work for several days has gone to waste, and I'm going to lose the most precious thing.
"You don't need to change the things you prepared. I'll figure out the rest. Ping'an, how did I notice that you're so indifferent to the prince? Do you hate him?"
If his daughter doesn't have a good impression of him, he will definitely stand on her side. Getting married is a major event that affects one's lifelong happiness, so his daughter must be willing.
"No! The prince is not a bad person. He is much better than those dandies in Kyoto who indulge in sensual pleasures. He is just too cold. He and I are just ordinary friends. There is nothing else to it." Xiao Yao was afraid that her mother would misunderstand, so she tried to explain in as much detail as possible.
"So you don't hate him?"
"I don't hate it." But she doesn't want to contact him either. Xiao Yao knows very well that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of interacting with Yun Yichen!
"Mom understands." Tong Mingyu knew that her daughter's evaluation of a boy in this way at least proved that she had a good impression of him, and she also knew what to do.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
