Chapter 294: Chapter 296 - Dragon And Phoenix Twins (2)

Lu Xiu went back to her natal’s house the next day and mentioned borrowing bodyguards for Yuxi with the Second Lord Lu.

Hearing Lu Xiu’s words, Second Lord Lu asked in a deep voice, “Did Duke Han mention this himself or did the Fourth Miss in your house request it?” As the head of the family, Han Jianming would certainly not borrow people from another family, so in all probability, it was the Fourth Miss Han’s intention.

Lu Xiu said, “It was Si Meimei’s intention. She said it wasn’t safe on the road, so she wanted to bring more guards.” Lu Xiu knew that the outside world was not peaceful, but she didn’t know precisely how dangerous it was. After all, she had never been far away from the capital before.

Second Lord Lu asked, “Does Duke Han know about this?”

Lu Xiu nodded and said, “Dabo doesn’t object to it. Father, if there is no shortage of people in our residence, let’s lend her a few people. They’ll be back in half a year anyway.”

In other words, Han Jianming did not approve, nor did he oppose. Second Lord Lu remembered what had happened before and commented, “This little younger sister-in-law of yours, she is quite special.” As an elder, he would not be paying any particular attention to other people’s girls. But this girl from the Han family was genuinely extraordinary. First, she was almost killed twice by Song Guifei, then she decided to withdraw from her marriage, and now she had been bestowed a marriage to the northwest. If her place were exchanged with any ordinary girl, if that girl didn’t end up dying, she would have been driven mad. But this girl from the Han family was good. She didn’t weep her eyes out, grieve, and wasn’t even frightened by it. She even calmly considered that the journey would not be safe and had to bring more guards with her while on the road! She even thought of borrowing bodyguards from them. Her actions showed that she was not afraid of marrying to the northwest.

Lu Xiu smiled and said, “Si Meimei is a stalwart and strong-willed person.”

Second Lord Lu nodded his head for a moment. If Yuxi had a weaker temper, even just a bit, she would have collapsed after encountering all the bad things that happened to her, and where would she still be in the mood to plan on bringing more people. “I will select twelve good men from the residence for her.” What harm would it do to sell this girl a favour?

Lu Xiu nodded and expressed her gratitude, “Thank you, Father.”

Yuxi was relieved to hear that she would be given twelve good bodyguards. “Er Sao, when the time comes, I want these men to protect me closely!” She would hand over the safety of the goods to the escort agency and the guards from the State Residence, and she would entrust her safety to these people.

Lu Xiu nodded and said, “That’s not a problem.”

Yuxi smiled and said, “Er Sao, if there is anything you want to give to Er Ge, you should also prepare it as soon as possible. If the weather is good, I’ll have to leave the capital at the end of the first lunar month.” Even though the outside world was treacherous, the danger could be foreseen. However, in the capital, it was all about killing people without leaving a trace. So Yuxi was worried that something terrible would happen again, so she wanted to depart from the capital as soon as possible. In the northwest, the mountains were high, and the Emperor was far away, so she would no longer need to be afraid. As for those assassinations and so on, she would deal with them using how one confronted soldiers with generals and stemmed water with earth.

Lu Xiu nodded and said, “I’ll get everything ready. By the way, how is the embroidery of your wedding dress coming along?” Yuxi had previously disposed of her wedding dress and other things, so she would have to embroider another one.

Yuxi smiled, “I haven’t finished it yet. But by the time we leave the capital, it should be almost ready.” The quilts and other things were left to the embroidery room. At the same time, the wedding dress and the head covering were embroidered by Yuxi and her few maids. The previous wedding dress was embroidered with a phoenix among peonies, but this time, it would be mandarin ducks. Her maids embroidered the decorative design on the wedding dress, and Yuxi only needed to finish up the mandarin ducks. As a result, their working speed had become much faster.

Lu Xiu nodded gently, then said, “If Si Mei doesn’t want to attend tomorrow’s first bath ceremony, then Si Mei doesn’t need to go.” Yuxi said that her body had recovered a few days ago, so it would be fine even if she went out of the residence. It was just that Lu Xiu was worried that the strange looks given by the people outside would make Yuxi uncomfortable.

Yuxi smiled a little and said, “If I don’t see San Jie and her children this time, I’m not sure I have the opportunity to do so in the future.”

On the day of Yuchen’s children’s first bath ceremony, all women and girls from the Han family went out, except for Lu Xiu, who stayed in the house to look after the residence. Qiu Shi was not there to see Yuchen, but she felt uneasy after what happened last time, so she had to come along this time. When it was time for them to travel to the wangfu, Qiu Shi asked Yuxi to share a carriage with her.

When they arrived at the wangfu, they saw the clamour of carriages and horses outside the residence and heard a boiling cauldron of voices, making the place extremely lively. The Old Lady was relieved to see that the Emperor and Song Guifei cared for Yuchen. Thus, royal families and top noble families in the capital attended the first bath ceremony for Yuchen’s children. Otherwise, it would not have been this lively.

Wen Shi said, “Mother, I heard that the Emperor has already given the two children their names. The Third Girl is truly blessed.” After saying that, she even gave Yuxi a particular glance. But Yuxi didn’t even spare her a look.

The group was then guided by Momo Gui to meet Yuchen.

Yuchen looked very well and was very happy to see the Han family, especially the Old Lady. She got up and asked, “Grandmother, what brings you here?”

The Old Lady restrained Yuchen from moving any further and said, “Go back to bed. Don’t get cold!” Now Yuchen was too precious to let her act inappropriately.

Yuchen smiled and said, “Grandmother, I am not that delicate!” She turned around and instructed the maid to have the wet nurse carry the two children out.

Yurong was the most impatient one. When she saw the two children, she couldn’t help exclaiming, “His and Her Little Highness are so beautiful looking.” Although they were only three days old, the two children looked particularly beautiful. Their appearances were something that the other children could not compete with. Of course, other children did not have two parents with outstanding looks either, so it was normal for their children to look this good.

Yuxi looked at the two children and said with a smile, “San Jie, the two children look different!” People said some twins looked identical, and outsiders could not tell them apart.

Yuchen smiled and said, “It’s good to look different. If they were identical, others wouldn’t even be able to tell any difference.” Being different had the advantage of being different.

The Old Lady looked at the group of people behind her and said, “All of you go out. I need to talk to Yuchen.” She hadn’t been able to speak properly with Yuchen since she returned on the third day after her marriage.

A smile crossed the corner of Yuxi’s mouth. The Old Lady had indeed gotten older. Did she think they were in their own residence? This was the wangfu. Yet she still gave orders here.

Yuchen didn’t mind. She smiled towards Qiu Shi and the others. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good talk with Grandmother. So I would like to invite Eldest Aunt, Mother and others to sit in the drawing-room first.”

After leaving the house, Qiu Shi told Yuxi, “We will go back as soon as the first bath ceremony is over.” The wangfu was not a nice place to stay longer either.

Yuxi smiled and nodded her head. “Okay.” In fact, she originally wanted to talk to Yuchen, but seeing how the Old Lady did not wish Yuchen to speak with her alone, her wish had come to nought.

When she went out to socialise, Yuxi ran into Zhou Shiya.

Zhou Shiya came over and called out, “Yuxi.” After calling out, she said guiltily, “Yuxi, I’m sorry that I couldn’t visit you after all that happened to you some time ago.”

Yuxi smiled and replied, “It’s okay. It’s all in the past. But you, why have you lost so much weight?” Her face, which used to be filled with baby-fat, was now pointy.

Zhou Shiya looked at Yuxi and asked carefully, “Yuxi, don’t you blame me?” It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see Yuxi during this time, but her mother had kept her too tightly confined that she couldn’t even leave through her yard gate. [T/C]

Yuxi shook her head and said, “Blame you for what? I know your mother wouldn’t let you come and see me. You haven’t told me why you’ve lost so much weight?”

Zhou Shiya rubbed her face and said, “I’ve been embroidering the dowry all this time, and I was not even allowed to go anywhere, so I don’t know how I lost so much weight. Yuxi, do you think I’m prettier now than before?” She had always wanted to be thin but couldn’t lose weight. She didn’t expect a mistake due to a strange combination of circumstances to contribute to losing her weight. [+]

Yuxi smiled a little and said, “Yes, you look much prettier than before.” Although the slimmer Zhou Shiya was prettier, Yuxi still felt Zhou Shiya looked better with her baby fat.

Zhou Shiya took the initiative to ask, “Yuxi, when are you planning to depart for the northwest? I was told life was very hard there. Not only because of the constant fighting, but there was not even enough food to eat.”

Yuxi smiled and answered, “It’s not that exaggerated. Besides, no one can starve me.” It was no joke if even a general’s wife would starve. Furthermore, even if she couldn’t rely on Yun Qing, she wouldn’t let herself go hungry.

Even after exchanging a few words, Zhou Shiya was not as talkative as before. Yuxi suddenly remembered that she had promised to provide her with an additional dowry and said apologetically, “Too many things have happened recently, so I didn’t have time to embroider the screen you asked for.” Even if she had time, she was not in the mood for it.

When Zhou Shiya realised that Yuxi still kept this matter in her mind, she felt somewhat ashamed and hurriedly waved her hand and stated, “I’m already satisfied that you don’t blame me, so no need to remember it anymore.” As a matter of fact, she was ashamed that she hadn’t been able to comfort Yuxi after all that had happened to her.

Yuxi smiled, “All right. Let’s not talk about it. After walking away for so long, my mother must have been looking for me. Then, I’ll leave first.” The two had been together for more than ten years. Even if they had to part, they had to do it peacefully. They didn’t have to start scratching each other’s faces, which was unnecessary.

Looking at Yuxi’s back, Zhou Shiya’s heart became sad. “Yuxi is still blaming me.” Even though Yuxi said she didn’t blame her, she was clearly distancing herself from her.

Zhou Shiya’s maid uttered, “Don’t think so much about it, Miss. Let’s go find the Lady!” Like the Second Lady Zhou, the maid was convinced that Yuxi was a person with bad fortune. Otherwise, why else would all the bad luck have happened to her alone. It was better to have minimum contact with people having such luck as not to bring bad luck to her Miss.

Qiu Shi knew Yuxi had been talking to Zhou Shiya for a long time and asked, “What’s there to talk to her about? You’ve been sick for so long, and have you seen her show her face? Such a person is not worthy of your friendship.” Although it was known among friends and relatives that Yuxi was pretending to be sick after withdrawing from her marriage, Yuxi and Zhou Shiya had been friends for ten years or so. Hence, how could Zhou Shiya not even bother to ask or listen to Yuxi? Such a person was not worth dealing with at all.

Yuxi leaned on Qiu Shi and said softly, “Mother, I just had a few words with her.” It was sad to think that a ten-year friendship had ended just like that.

Qiu Shi put her arm around Yuxi and said, “Don’t be sad. it’s not worth being sad for someone like her.” She initially felt that the Zhou family was pretty good, but she despised them after seeing how they treated Yuxi. Especially that Second Lady Zhou who went after you if she could gain any profits and the first one to avoid you if you were in trouble. Qiu Shi didn’t even think that the Zhou and Yun families could live well off forever! Once they were no longer in the limelight, there would surely be people who would throw stones at them when they had fallen down the well.

Yuxi whispered, “Mother, I want to go home now.”

Qiu Shi said, “Okay, let’s go home.” She turned around and asked the maid beside her to inform Yuchen and the Old Lady of their departure while she took Yuxi back with her.

The Old Lady was very angry when she knew that Qiu Shi had left and complaint to Yuchen, “Just look. Do you still think she put me in her eyes?” Ever since Jianming became the Duke of State, Qiu Shi had finally torn off her mask and revealed her true face. It had been a waste of her energy that she prided herself on her accuracy in reading people, but she had never thought that she had misread Qiu Shi. This woman was so good at disguising herself.

It was after Yuchen had comforted her that the Old Lady’s anger finally subsided.