Chapter 64:
The little young lady’s worried expression made Pei Yuqing laugh as he watched.
He gently grasped her hand placed on the small table, saying warmly, “How to get your father to agree to marry his daughter to me is my business. Don’t worry about it.”
This made her sound so desperate to get married.
Xie Wanning felt a bit embarrassed, lifted her eyes to glare at him, and huffed, “Then everything is up to you.”
“Good,” Pei Yuqing smiled and nodded. “Everything is up to me. All you have to do is not go back on your word.”
As long as this young lady didn’t go back on her word, no one could stop him from taking her as his wife.
The man who had seemed so reluctant about marriage last night was now more invested in their wedding than anyone, making Xie Wanning unable to resist teasing him: “Have you changed your mind, or are you just done pretending?”
“…” Pei Yuqing smiled faintly and said helplessly, “Just assume I’ve stopped pretending.”
He admitted it so frankly that Xie Wanning couldn’t say much more.
She lowered her gaze to look at her hand being held by his, but didn’t tell him to let go. Their hands intertwined, they sat facing each other like this.
The carriage stopped first at the Xuanping Marquis’s Estate gate. As Xie Wanning was about to get out, she tugged her hand and laughed, “Time to let go. Isn’t holding it for most of the hour enough?”
Pei Yuqing was a bit embarrassed by her teasing, but he didn’t let go. Instead, he pinched her palm and said, “Wait for me. I’ll come over soon to pay respects to your father and mother.”
Xie Wanning said, “My father might not be home today.”
Pei Yuqing let go of her hand, smiling warmly and politely. “He will be.”
“…”
She shouldn’t have said that extra sentence. Even if her father wasn’t home, with this man’s intelligence network, finding him would be effortless.
She glanced at the youth leaning against the carriage wall with a smile full of meaning, then got out of the carriage on her own.
…………
Jinxiu Hall.
Madam Zheng was talking with her sister-in-law Madam Liu in the room. When Xie Wanning entered, she was first stunned, then showed surprise on her face.
She hurriedly stood up to support her daughter’s shoulder, looking her up and down, and asked, “Has something happened?”
Her daughter, who had left home yesterday to stay briefly at the separate courtyard, had appeared before her early this morning.
Even Aunt Liu looked a bit anxious. “Why is Wanwan back? Where is Ru Niang?”
“Don’t worry, you two. Nothing has happened. Ru Niang is still at the separate courtyard. I’ll go join her in the afternoon.” Xie Wanning curtsied in greeting, then said slowly, “I came back to the capital temporarily to handle some matters.”
Some matters to handle…
Madam Zheng frowned slightly. An unmarried young lady, neither the matriarch in charge nor betrothed and awaiting marriage—needing to embroider a wedding dress—what matters could she possibly have to handle.
Madam Liu assumed the mother and daughter had private words to say, so with good awareness, she said she had matters in her room and took her leave first.
Once the aunt left, Xie Wanning sat leaning against her mother, yawned tiredly, and said, “Mother, don’t ask yet. You’ll know what it is soon enough. I didn’t sleep well last night. Let me rest a bit.”
Seeing her daughter looking normal, as if nothing major had happened, and that she wanted to keep it a secret, Madam Zheng didn’t press. She just tapped her forehead crossly. “If you want to rest, go rest in your room. This old bag of bones of mine can’t handle you leaning on it.”
Xie Wanning was such a big young lady now; she felt too embarrassed to sleep in her parents’ bed. Hearing this, she immediately stood up, instructed servants to prepare a sedan, and returned to her own courtyard.
Madam Zheng watched her daughter’s lighthearted retreating figure, shook her head with a smile, and said to Mama Li, her confidant nearby, “I wonder what it could be that’s worth this troublemaker making a special trip back.”
Mama Li massaged her master’s shoulders while guessing, “Perhaps she saw some novelty at the farmhouse and brought it back specially to honor you.”
Their family’s young lady traveled light and simple, coming back first, while the carriage with things was still on the road behind.
Madam Zheng thought about it and felt it was probably that. After all, her darling youngest daughter had always been very thoughtful.
Her heart felt warm, and a bit of anticipation rose.
After waiting a while, she didn’t get the “matter” her daughter mentioned, but instead her husband returned from court.
She glanced at the sky and said in surprise, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t come back for lunch?”
Besides, the sun was only halfway up, and it didn’t seem like time to be off duty yet.
With the weather so hot, Xie Shu had stopped returning home for lunch half a month ago.
Either he ate with colleagues at a restaurant near the yamen, or family servants delivered meals at the right time.
Hearing his wife’s question, Xie Shu, who was washing his hands and face, smiled and explained, “I temporarily received an invitation. A guest will come to visit.”
…………
Duke Pei’s Mansion, main courtyard.
“This palace didn’t hear wrong, did she…” Princess Duanyang’s expression was dazed for a few moments, then she suddenly gripped her confidant granny’s hand and urgently confirmed, “Changqing really decided to get married?”
“Your Highness didn’t hear wrong!”
Granny Zhou was also excited. “Our young lord really said that. He wishes to take the eldest daughter of the Xuanping Marquis’s Estate as his wife.”
“Eldest daughter of the Xuanping Marquis’s Estate…” Princess Duanyang repeated it, her gaze lighting up. “Quickly, open this palace’s private storehouse, prepare a few generous gifts, and wait for the consort to return…”
Master and servant were overjoyed. Princess Duanyang completely lost her usual steady and dignified poise, issuing a string of orders to the servants around.
Seeing her mother’s state, Pei Yuqing sighed softly, reached out to pour tea for her, and said gently, “Great joy can harm the heart. Please take care of your health, Mother.”
The princess came back to herself with a start. Her son was still there.
She looked at her own handsome and refined son, her face unable to hide her smile. “How so sudden? A few days ago when I asked, didn’t you still…”
She shook her head with a smile. “Never mind. It’s good that you’ve come around now. After all, what man doesn’t start a family? Besides, your heart condition hasn’t flared up in years. How could it affect getting married.”
Not to mention far away—right in the capital, there were several young masters from prominent families who never went without their medicine jars, yet they still married, took concubines, and had offspring.
Her Changqing had a heart condition, but he wasn’t so frail as to need constant medicine. Born so talented and handsome, in terms of birth, appearance, and ability—even marrying an emperor’s princess wouldn’t be impossible.
Yet he always found reasons to refuse marriage. Such a fine young master was dragged all the way to twenty-seven, with his youth slipping away.
…The Xie family’s eldest daughter seemed to be only sixteen or seventeen this year. She wondered if she would mind her Changqing being too old.
In just a few words, Princess Duanyang’s thoughts as an old mother had already jumped to proposing marriage.
She was wondering if she was too eager, if she should first send someone the two families knew to sound things out, when she heard her usually mild eldest son’s voice.
Pei Yuqing said, “Later, this son will go to the Xuanping Marquis’s Estate to pay respects to Marquis Xie and his madam, and seek their agreement to betroth their daughter to me.”
“…” She hadn’t expected her son, who had strictly refused marriage before, to be this impatient once he relented. Princess Duanyang was truly stunned. She wished it could be as soon as possible.
But…
She hesitated. “Wouldn’t visiting so suddenly be a bit too rushed?”
