Prince Ling Min stared at the old woman standing in the door with wide eyes. She was bent over nearly in half, wrinkles on her face like time worn ravines, glaring at the both of them. He moved forward slowly and offered the large carved box in his arms to her.
A servant came forward to take the box and opened it to show the woman. She glanced in it and then waved it away. General Yu was staring at her with a mild look on his face and tapped the Prince's elbow to give the old woman a nodding bow in unison out of respect.
"Granny Yu, pleased to introduce my wife, Prince Ling Min." General Yu said respectfully. She huffed and slammed her walking stick down on the poor man's toe with more strength than was expected.
"Pleased my ass! Grandson never comes to visit his granny and comes back with man for wife. Why you never visit your granny? Hmm? Bad grandson. Bad." She smacked his foot again and General Yu struggled to keep a straight face as his toe throbbed with pain.
Prince Ling Min tried very hard not to laugh at the scene, and in fact sank to his knees and bowed low before the old woman in respect, unable to see the surprise on the old woman's face.
"Apologies to Granny Yu. I will do my best to make sure we visit you more often in the future." He said with an earnestness that put a reluctant smile on the old woman's face.
"Yes yes, now get your prince up off the ground you bad grandson. Let's go in and eat. I am starving. You are too late coming." She complained with a huff and one last stab at his toe for good measure.
The two followed the woman into the house and were treated to an enormous meal, which was piping hot despite her insistence that they held up dinner. It seemed the old woman loved to complain about everything, but the staff seemed to ignore it completely.
After all, even as she said the dish was too spicy, she was still shovelling it onto her plate with a straight face. It was almost frightening how deadpan her face stayed through all her griping. The only time she twitched her lips was when Prince Ling Min complemented her kitchen.
"How did you hook this handsome boy into marrying such a bad grandson like you? Why you get a nice boy to be bad with you? Tsk. You are a bad influence. The Emperor is going to throw you out of the capital and see if I keep you here with me." She grumbled.
The two of them were really trying hard not to laugh. General Yu and Prince Ling Min exchanged glances all through the meal that were laced with humour. It didn't take long for Ling Min to understand that Granny Yu was not serious about most of what she said, just said it because she could.
They retired to the guest rooms at the villa with a sigh of relief and laid down on the large bed that had been prepared for them. Neither of them spoke to the other, just sat at ease with each other and felt the strangeness of being in Granny Yu's place.
"She seems fun." Ling Min finally said to Yu Zhi with a grin.
"She seems fun until it is your foot being squashed beneath her cane." He said to his wife with a frown. Ling Min laughed under his breath and nodded.
"Yes, I suppose so. Do you think she likes me?" He scrunched his brows in worry. Yu Zhi smiled and looked over at him.
"Of course she does. Give it a day or two and she will begin complaining about you too, and you will know you are really part of the family." He teased him, poking his side. Ling Min pursed his lips.
"In that case, maybe I should hope she doesn't like me too much." He replied. General Yu looked alarmed.
"Oh no, be glad she does. Really scary if she doesn't like you." He shuddered as though remembering something and Ling Min looked at him with worry.
"How is a big time general like you scared of his granny?" He whispered the words and poked Yu Zhi back in the arm playfully.
"Forget sore toes, you would be lucky to leave the place alive. Who do you think taught us diligence for our martial arts in this family? You think I can dodge Granny Yu's walking stick with my martial arts, then you are wrong. Looks can be deceiving." General Yu told him very seriously.
Prince Ling Min gulped and nodded back seriously. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, no longer content to sleep in the scary granny's villa. What if the old lady decided he was trash and did what Yu Zhi said? He shook his head.
No, no. He was a powerful prince. He shouldn't be afraid of any granny, even if she was the scary granny of General Yu. Yeah. He had the backing of the Emperor and was really good looking. He nodded to himself and rolled over to sleep.
General Yu Zhi smirked in the dark, glancing over at his sleeping wife with a mischievous look.
*
On the other side of the Empire, two boys were crawling very quickly in opposite directions. One was heading towards a very deep pond and the other towards a very nervous cat. Du Fen was sitting between the two with a look of alarm on his face.
His mother was after the one that liked the geese in the pond and was about to take a swim before he was probably ready. His serving woman was after the one who was trying to go and pull the cat's tail.
His father and his husband were watching all the excitement from the same table as he was sitting at, the former snacking on the treats and the latter with a rather amused grin on his face. Du Fen looked at the Emperor with a sort of detached feeling.
"That is your future emperor about to drown himself in your pond." He said dispassionately. Jian Jun looked at him and shrugged.
"Good thing we have a spare." He glanced at the child who was arguing nonsensically with the serving woman for taking him away from the cat.
"He is going to be a royal terror, just like his mother." Du Father said with a superior look on his face. The Emperor decided not to agree with him, purely in self preservation. Du Fen glared at his father and snatched the plate of cakes away from his reach.
"You can always leave, you know?" He said grumpily. Du Father licked his lips and stared at the plate.
"Ah, sorry sorry. I meant a great warrior like his mother." He adjusted his comment and smiled as the plate was placed back within reach again. Du Fen huffed and rolled his eyes at the gluttonous man that sired him.
"Is your father misbehaving again?" Du Mother asked with a round, fat, dumpling like baby in her arms that was staring over her shoulder at the ducks.
"No." Du Father replied.
"Yes." The Emperor replied.
"..." Du Fen looked between them with a raised brow. Du Mother sighed and handed the baby to Du Father, taking the other one from the serving woman and talking in a low voice to him.
"Alright, we will take them for an hour or so. Enjoy your tea and come get them when you've had a rest." She replied, forcing her husband to leave the table and follow her to their own residence with a grumble.
"I do love them, but they are a handful. I am glad my parents decided to stay to help for a while. I don't know if I would have been alright with leaving them in the hands of our staff." Du Fen said with a tired sigh.
"I understand. I am sorry I do not have more time to help you out. I believe even my shadow guards would have issues keeping up with those two. You are doing wonderfully, my dearest." Jian Jun hugged his wife close to him now that the in-laws were gone.
"Don't stray too far, or you will miss their first steps at this rate. They are too quick for words." Du Fen rejoined with a proud look.
"Yes, I know. I will be here as much as I can for all of you. But..." Jian Jun had a bit of sadness in his eyes, which Du Fen saw and moved to stroke his face.
"Hush. I know. You must be here for our people first. I will make sure our children know their Emperor father loves them also." He stated with an understanding smile. Jian Jun nodded and tucked his face into the crook of his Empress' neck and inhaled the scent.
It calmed his heart and steadied his soul. So that, when the Head Eunuch came to remind him of his meeting, he was able to get up and leave with only a slight sourness of heart. Du Fen watched his husband leave to get back to work and nodded to himself.
He would need to work hard with his children so that they might all lessen their father's burdens in the future.
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