After hearing her daughter’s suggestion, Jinguo Grand Princess looked displeased. And not until a long time later did she reply, “Elder Lady Duanmu will be in the imperial capital soon after the Spring Festival and your Uncle Limiao is now in a state of nervousness. It’s not a good idea to bother him during this period, is it?”
Song Yixiao heard the clear resistance and even some hidden scruples in her mother-in-law’s voice, feeling shocked. When she was still confused, she heard the explanation of her sister-in-law, “You’ve watched Yourui grow up from childhood, so how could she not understand that you invite her to the imperial capital is to sincerely help her? That she is unwilling to be here is most probably feeling embarrassed. So no matter what we do, I’m afraid she will still be in a dilemma!”
“But your uncle Limiao is from the Jian Family, too!” Jinguo Grand Princess frowned, “Can Yourui accept his invitation while refuses mine?”
Finding she disagreed with her advice, Commandery Princess Qingjiang closed her lips slightly and stopped speaking.
The hall was silent for a moment, then Jinguo Grand Princess said to Jian Xubai reluctantly, “Ask your uncle Limiao tomorrow whether he is willing to give a hand about this.”
The couple took orders and left before it was getting late.
After going out from the mansion, Song Yixiao asked her husband with confusion, “What’s wrong with Mother today?”
“Mother’s second husband, Pei Ze, was a lifelong friend of Uncle Limiao.” Jian Xubai kept silent for quite a long time. Not until they almost arrived at Duke of Yan’s mansion, did he answer faintly, “There was a rumor that Pei Ze’s falling from his horse was because he had found Mother and Father… He was in a bad mood, so he was venting his anger on his horse, but had an accident! The rumor was further supported by the fact that Mother married Father soon afterwards. Originally, Uncle Limiao, who had been raised by Elder Lady Duanmu since he was a kid, had not been very close to my father even though they are brothers. And that incident separated them even further.”
Later, Jian Limiao’s wife and her baby died because of difficult labor.
He was a one-woman man, unwilling to remarry. Therefore, he was alone and was inevitably lonely, “My eldest uncle returned to hometown together with my grandfather and his family. The only children, who he could remove his emotion on, were us, the three children of his second brother. One of them, my sister, was afraid of my mother and had never left the house. And it was impossible for Uncle Limiao to meet her in her boudoir; Yiyou had always stayed by my father and learned literature and martial arts from him. So he didn’t have much time to see Uncle Limiao; only I can stay out of the palace from time to time even though I was raised by my grandmother. Both my father and Yiyou didn’t pay attention to me. Mother was also very busy. Therefore, only Uncle Limiao was willing to coax me!”
Jian Xubai’s plain tone of voice had a sense of loss and loneliness that could not be concealed, “So Uncle Limiao and I became closer, which eased the tension between the two families. But the three of them still didn’t meet each other except in Spring Festival or other festivals. Mother is obviously reluctant for what Roumei suggested just now. It’s said that back then Uncle Limiao was furious at the Grand Princess’s mansion over Pei Ze’s death, which disgraced my mother. Finally, not until Grandfather himself arrived, did my mother was given a way out!”
No one knew if Jian Limiao would love one thing on account of another and make a scene again for Pei Ze’s niece Pei Yourui.
But in the end, Jinguo Grand Princess chose to turn to Jian Limiao, her younger brother-in-law, for help. Apparently, though she had remarried for three times and kept several men so far, she was not an unemotional person after all. She would like to risk her own disgrace to persuade her adopted daughter to stay with her and be taken care of.
Song Yixiao didn’t expect that she would learn such secret of her mother-in-law by just a curious question, so she felt embarrassed and thought, “He even told me the secret of his own mother, which showed that he kept me on his mind indeed. If there is another thing like the thing about Lady Nuan, I can no longer distrust him!”
When she was thinking of that, a little sweetness arose in her heart, and she couldn’t help but curved her lips again and again.
Some time later, they returned to their mansion. The moment they entered, a servant came to report, “A guest from regions south of the Yangtze River has just arrived, and has waited Your Highness for quite a long time!”
“Regions south of the Yangtze River?” Jian Xubai looked solemn after hearing this, “Please ask him to wait a moment, and tell him that I’ve just returned, so I’ll meet him after changing my clothes!”
After entering the inner room, while changing clothes, he told his wife, “It might be sent by Lord Gu!”
Seeing Song Yixiao looking at him confusedly, he knew she had forgotten and added, “It was Gu Shao, a good friend of your grandfather’s when he was alive. He was also my grandfather’s closest rival at court. Originally, he had returned to his hometown of Hongzhou after retiring some years ago, but attracted by the scenery in regions south of the Yangtze River, he built a residence there.”
Only then did Song Yixiao suddenly realize, “Have you sent someone to find him?”
Otherwise, why would this former court magnate send someone from far away to visit Jian Xubai, a junior for him, during the Spring Festival?
Jian Xubai said, “Hum”, took the robe Song Yixiao handed over and put it on. Then he walked towards his wife’s dressing table, checked his appearance hurriedly and said, “I’ll go to see. If it does him, he should not be snubbed!”
After all, the Crown Prince was trying to co-opt Gu Shao. So how could he ignore his emissary?
After Jian Xubai left, Qiaoqin also came to report before Song Yixiao had time to think about it, “Madam, the Yuan Family sent a message over, saying that if you’re not busy tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, Marquis Boling would like to invite you over for a talk!”
“It must be about the marriage between Yuan Xue’e and her close relative proposed by my mother-in-law!” Song Yixiao was clear in her heart. She replied, “I’ll ask my husband later whether we’re going somewhere to pay respects or need to stay at home in case of any visits tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If not, I will come over!”
Qiaoqin promptly sent someone to reply to the Yuan Family.
The servant who had been sent to the Yuan Family hadn’t come back yet, but Jian Xubai sent a message over first, “His Highness will accompany the guest. Please have dinner yourself, Madam!”
“It seems that the guest was really sent by Gu Shao, otherwise there would be no need for such courtesy.” Song Yixiao thought and said to the servants beside her, “Tell the chef to cook a few dishes from regions south of the Yangtze River, and the taste of which should be lighter!”
That day, it was very late when Jian Xubai came back to his bedroom. Although he looked tired, it could be seen that he was not in a bad mood. He held his wife in the bed and kissed her for a while before releasing her, smiling, “I may not be that busy when spring comes, so I can accompany you in the official holiday. There are quite a lot of places to go for a walk outside the imperial capital during March and April!”
Song Yixiao was curious, “Lord Gu has agreed to come back and assist the Crown Prince?”
“How is that possible?” Jian Xubai spread out his fingers and inserted them into her long hair, combing it slowly and saying with a gentle smile, “How could Lord Gu take a stand so easily with his status? Besides, it was a big deal for him to come back because of his status. Without Uncle’s permission, the Crown Prince couldn’t make it. However, although the nephew he sent over is just a Scholar in terms of official rank, he is actually an available talent taught by Lord Gu! After I introduce him to the Crown Prince tomorrow, I won’t have to worry about too much from then on.”
Song Yixiao was not clear about these things, so she didn’t talk too much and just looked at him with a slight smile.
Her face looked like jade under lamps. And her apricot-like eyes curved a little, brimming with light, which reminded him of the breeze that whipped through the falling flowers in the courtyard in late spring and early summer. It was warm with sweet languor.
It was noticed by Jian Xubai. He reached out his hand and twisted her cheek, smiling, “What’s wrong?”
“I was wondering that it was so dark and quiet that even the wind and snow whistling can be heard inside the colored glass windows, but it is as warm as in March in the room because of the brazier.” With one hand on her cheek, the other hand was drawing circles on her husband’s shoulder and arm neither lightly nor heavily, saying with her charming eyes, “There are just you and me right now…”
Without finishing her words, Jian Xubai had already showed an expression of “I see” and rushed to undress, “You’re right, the spring night is short. How can we waste it?”
Unexpectedly, Song Yixiao said slowly when smilingly seeing him tossed his underwear over the pedals, “It’s a pity I’m on my period today!”
Jian Xubai, “…”
I had already taken off my clothes and you told me that?
Meeting his suspicious gaze, Song Yixiao said calmly, “If you don’t believe me, look at the table. It’s the ginger and brown sugar soup Jinxun cooked for me!”
Without saying a word, Jian Xubai walked out of the mosquito net, picked up the porcelain pot and poured out a cup of the soup to have a taste. Then he threw down the cup with a dark face, and turned back in anger, “You’ve gone too far!!”
At that time, Song Yixiao was already laughing so hard that she was almost stumbled, saying breathlessly, “Oh! I, I…I just…I didn’t finish my words… It’s you who are in such a hurry. I am about to remind you, ok?”
“Happy, huh?” After standing at the table for a moment, Jian Xubai walked back into the mosquito net, sat down on the edge of the bed and stretched out his hand to lift his wife’s chin. He asked her as if he was smiling, “Very Interesting? Funny?”
His long eyebrows raised lightly. A light of cold flashed in the blink of his eyes. His bright red lips curved a little, and his look seemed to be cold and sarcastic, which was very different from the normal times. There was a kind of indifference that was beyond description.
When Song Yixiao saw this, she regretted that she had gone too far, and was about to give in to let him cool down. Unexpectedly, Jian Xubai abruptly put her in the bed!
She yelped in a low voice in surprise, but he just leaned over and patted her cheek with a playful smile, “Don’t regret in a few days!”
After picking up the robes on the ground, he sashayed away!
There was a sound outside the door, which seemed like a calling for the servants to make preparation in the bathroom.
Song Yixiao held the blanket in her arms for a while before she got up, made a face at the door with her mouth twitched, “You can flirt with me, but why can’t I do that to you when I am in a good mood?”
But thinking of her husband’s look, she was somehow a bit daunted. She bit down on her fist, rolled a few times on the brocade quilt, and made a decision in her heart, “I’ll coax him recently so that he might forget about it after a few days!”
She had to admit that it wasn’t hard to coax Jian Xubai most of the time.
Both of them went to bed that night with complicated feelings, and it wasn’t until the next morning that Song Yixiao found the opportunity to tell her husband about going to the Yuan Family, “Will we visit any relatives these two days? If not, I’ll go over there and make things clear with him, so that he doesn’t have to keep worrying.”
When Jian Xubai heard this, he pondered for a moment and said, “I’ll take the guest to the Eastern Palace later, and you have to stay at home in case someone visits. If I return early, you will be able to go over there today!”
By the time he returned from the Eastern Palace, it was almost 5 o’clock, not very early.
But Song Yixiao was worrying, she still asked the servants to take the carriage and went out of the house.
When she arrived at Marquis Boling’s mansion, she was invited directly to Yuan Xuepei’s study as expected, “You grew up with Xue’e, and you’re Xubai’s wife. I’m disabled, so I’m not going to treat you as an outsider. That’s the reason why I invited you here to talk!”
Yuan Xuepei cut to the chase, “Your mother wants to pair Xue’e off with Lu Guanlun. Do you have anything to tell me?”