For a moment, Miantang couldn’t bring up any interest, and her wish to bow and shoot a large eagle couldn’t be satisfied. She sat in a small wooden room next to the paddock, feeling bored and lost in thought.
Cui Fu looked at her imposing attire and asked if she wanted to go hunting rabbits.
Miantang told her sister with a hint of melancholy that bullying the weak was not the chivalrous way for martial arts practitioners. She cannot kill the powerless rabbit.
Cui Fu rolled her eyes helplessly and went with Li Guangcai to the plum garden on the side of the paddock to admire the plum blossoms.
Cui Xingzhou walked over and grabbed her hand, saying, “Are you not happy when I bring you out to play? After a while, when Xiaoyi’er wakes up, you can’t even play anymore.”
Because their son was still young and needs to breastfeed at any time, in fact, he has also come with them. He just didn’t enter the paddock, he was in the warm pavilion of the restaurant, led by the nannies and servants, sleeping soundly at this moment.
So as a mother, free time was precious.
Miantang lowered the corner of her mouth slightly and said, “You hunted a tiger last time. Isn’t there any bigger prey in this enclosure?”
Cui Xingzhou lightly tapped her forehead and said, “At this time of year, if you go to a real enclosure, you will encounter a newly awakened black bear. Hunters who hunt year-round are afraid of starving bears. Do you still want to show off your authority with these two swords? When it’s autumn, I’ll take you there, and I’ll make sure you’re addicted to fox and wolf hunting.”
After speaking, he led Liu Miantang to the Deer Garden and hunted a well-stocked deer to fill in today’s menu.
Now Miantang has also rested her hunting mind. She just treated it as coming to the restaurant for dinner, so after hunting deer, he followed Cui Xingzhou up the back mountain for a walk.
Due to the frequent visits of noblewomen, many pavilions have been built here. Standing on the mountaintop pavilion, looking around by the railing, she could see the distant official road and scattered villages around.
The scenery here was very pleasant, other ladies and madam are walking around in the mountains too.
However, most people who come here to play know how to avoid situations, after all, it was not a tea banquet or a social occasion, and there was no need to be polite. If they see the servants and attendants from afar, they will just stagger from each other.
So Miantang and he walked all the way, and it was peaceful.
But just as they were going down the mountain, they had a head-to-head encounter with a young lady who was surrounded by servants and maids.
The young lady looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, with fair skin, a slender figure, and very delicate and beautiful features.
When she saw Prince Huaiyang not far away, the young lady shyly lowered her head and said, “Didn’t expect to see you here, Your Highness. It has been a while since we met, how are you doing?”
This statement was somewhat imaginative. Miantang couldn’t help but take a few steps forward and carefully examined the young lady, hoping to see how she and her husband had “been a while since they met“.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that this young lady was probably the youngest legitimate daughter of General Shi Yikuan, Shi Xiujin.
Shi Yikuan rose halfway up the road. His former wife was just a rural woman, but although he later married several concubines, he was still not satisfied. It was said that she was the legitimate daughter of a young official who was married by General Shi after he rose to fame. She has been spoiled since childhood and was different from other children. Daughters born from concubines like Empress Shi cannot be compared.
Nowadays, Shi Yikuan was in high demand in the court, and the imperial father-in-law of the country was regarded as a rising star. He was good at catering to small intentions and shows great respect to the emperor, earning the liking of the emperor.
In this way, Shi Xiujin, who was just in her prime, became the first-class lady in the capital, and the unmarried nobles of the palace were all inquiring about her birth date.
But now, the young lady’s big, water-like eyes are staring straight at the tall and handsome Prince Huaiyang standing not far away, with a wide robe and a carefree and graceful appearance.
Strictly speaking, Shi Xiujin had already met Prince Huaiyang when she was in her hometown in the State of Qing before. At that time, she was still young, but she could also distinguish between beauty and ugliness. When she saw Prince Huaiyang, she was startled by his beautiful features.
She originally thought that she had not seen enough men, but when she entered the capital and met so many handsome young masters, none of them had the same appearance and temperament as Prince Huaiyang.
That was a fusion of the literati’s elegance and martial arts practitioners’ heroic charm. Every time at a banquet, one’s gaze falls on him, making it impossible to move their eyes away.
Unfortunately, he had already married the legitimate princess consort and was ultimately not a good match.
However, later on, a scandal about the Huaiyang Princess Consort broke out and spread throughout the capital. Shi Xiujin couldn’t help but rekindle hope, hoping that the rumor would come true and that the Huaiyang Princess Consort would die of childbirth and blood loss. At that time, she could have her father propose marriage and become the hostess of the Huaiyang Prince’s Residence.
Everyone knows that her elder sister of a concubine married well, but in Lady Shi’s opinion, even if Liu Yu was an emperor, a weak and sick body had nothing to envy.
If there were no Prince Huaiyang, Liu Yu’s position would not be very secure. Nowadays, her father was also very afraid of this prince, which shows that he was a man with real abilities. If Cui Xingzhou marries her and becomes the son-in-law of the Shi family, then the person sitting on the throne will not necessarily be the surname, Liu.
And if she were to become the queue of the world, she would be much more suitable than her fat sister.
As a result, Lady Shi’s unrequited love affair became increasingly intense, and she often exchanged pleasantries with the prince at various banquets.
Unfortunately, the Huaiyang Princess Consort had such a smooth childbirth that she didn’t die as the rumors had spread.
For a moment, Lady Shi’s hopes were dashed, and the uncomfortable taste was truly unbearable.
She didn’t expect to meet Prince Huaiyang here today, so Lady Shi didn’t pay any attention to the woman wearing military attire next to Prince Huaiyang. She only thought she was an attendant of Prince Huaiyang. And Shi Xiujin’s eyes were hot and straight toward him.
It wasn’t until the woman in military attire suddenly strode ahead and stood steadily in front of her that she recognized she was the Huaiyang Princess Consort, who had just given birth.
Unlike those women who became plump after giving birth, the princess consort retained her slender figure even more than before, but her seductive eyes were not polite, with a hint of awe in her eyes.
For a moment, without being on guard, Shi Xiujin felt as if she had encountered a ghost and was so scared that she let out a cry and lost her composure.
Liu Miantang smiled slightly and said, “Lady Shi and I haven’t seen each other for many days, and we really miss each other! Are you okay?
Shi Xiujin smiled awkwardly and quickly bowed to Liu Miantang, saying, “Thank you for your blessings. Everything is fine, Princess Consort. You have just given birth, but you are already out to play and recovered so well. It’s enviable… I won’t disturb the pleasure of the Prince and Princess Consort playing anymore, so let’s say goodbye…” After that, she hurriedly took the maid guards and turned to another path.
Liu Miantang looked at Lady Shi’s hurried back and turned around and looked meaningfully at her husband.
She wanted to take back her preface, even if it was a piece of wood that doesn’t understand the charm, he was still looking at a handsome and charming fragrant flower! She was confined at the royal residence these days, and she doesn’t know how many young and beautiful ladies Cui Xingzhou met at banquets of all sizes.
Cui Xingzhou did not notice the undercurrent surging between the two women just now. In his eyes, Shi Xiujin was just a noisy and talkative little girl who had never thought about that aspect at all.
Prince Huaiyang has always turned off his thinking skills whenever he could.
However, when Liu Miantang puffed up her cheeks and said that she would accompany him to all the banquets in the future, he smiled and said, “If you like, you can go with me. I just can’t bear the noise of those banquets. Every time I use the excuse that you feel unwell in the residence and need to go back to take care of you to leave early. In the future, if you follow me, I will have to change my excuse.”
Liu Miantang half opened her mouth and said, “I wonder why there are always rumors outside that my body is weak and I can’t withstand the birth process. It turns out that the source of this rumor is you, Your Highness! However, it’s not appropriate for you to always deliver this kind of excuse like this. Never give those little ladies a chance to think that I’m about to die, so they can fill the room with their superior position.”
Prince Huaiyang didn’t like to hear this, he just had a stiff face and wanted to reprimand her. But at this moment, a guard rushed over and said, “Something had happened, Your Highness, there is a commotion at the foot of the mountain.”
It turned out that they didn’t see the almanac today before they go out, and the Masters of the Qingguo Mansion unexpectedly came to visit the eastern hunting ground today.
The Duke of Qingguo has now calculated everything, which has backfired on his son’s future.
Watching the Huaiyang Prince’s Residence establish a firm foothold in the capital, the Huaiyang Prince’s official career was steady in the court. The Old Lady of Qingguo, Gai’s intestines have turned blue with regret.
Guo Yi now increasingly misses Cui Fu’s kindness. In the past, all the affairs in the mansion were handled by Cui Fu alone, and Guo Yi would never be bothered by the mundane affairs. The silver he received was always enough to spend, and going out to drink and have fun with his colleagues was pleasant.
But now, he has to go through his mother to ask for money, which adds a lot of trouble. The amount of money and silver was not enough to sustain the scene.
Nowadays, without the hostess of the household, many affairs have been handed over to the hands of the noble concubine Yurao. But Yurao’s actions were completely different from Cui Fu’s, with all her heart set on bringing money and belongings to her mother’s house. On the field and village of the mansion, there was also her brother who took over.
As a result, after accounting at the end of the year, the rent and harvest were significantly reduced compared to previous years.
When asked about Yurao, she made a hundred excuses, crying and making a fuss. She said that when the Gai family accepted her, she had promised her, and even though she was a concubine, she was not inferior to the main hostess.
Unexpectedly, she was not as respectable as the big ladies in other mansions nowadays.
She just bought some supplements for her family, but she didn’t think that the questioning was endless, and even an ordinary landlord’s family was better than the grand Qingguo Mansion!
Guo Yi couldn’t argue with her, but instead, he missed Cui Fu even more. Finally, he realized the benefits of Cui Gu’s soft-hearted personality. When Cui Fu married himself, never once did she move things to her mother’s house like a mouse. She always helps him and never makes him worry about money and silver.
With such thoughts in mind, Guo Yi became even more interested in the matter of reuniting with Cui Fu.
But she didn’t expect that today on the paddock, he would watch Li Guangcai follow Cui Fu’s side, admiring plum blossoms in the plum garden, and politely hand Cui Fu a sweat towel to brush off the fine snow falling from the branches.
Guo Yi’s face turned red with anger, feeling that his green clouds were pressing against him. At that time, he walked over and mocked Li Guangcai coldly.
Li Guangcai’s mouth, which was developed from the rural county magistrate, was refined and vulgar, and he could easily transform. He mocked people like a willow leaf and a small knife, and in just a few words, he incited Guo Yi to explode.
Moonlightjie On GD (QT) Chapter 6