The next day was the Shengshou Festival. The Empress Dowager was not in the mood to celebrate her birthday this year, but Emperor Xianjia persuaded her privately, âMother, I donât have much time to fulfill my filial duty anymore. Please give me the chance and let me celebrate your birthday for the last time!â
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager was very sad. Although she agreed to celebrate her birthday as usual, she disguised her sorrow beneath a cheerful expression when she appeared that day.
The others didnât know the reason, but it was not surprising for them. The Empress Dowagerâs beloved youngest daughter was Grand Princess Daiguo, but her best days would be soon behind her. How could the Empress Dowager not be sad?
However, on the day of the Shengshou Festival, the Empress Dowager specially summoned Wei Yinlian and Su Shaoling, the future daughters-in-law of the Ji Family, and inquired after their well-being for a long time and clearly showed her attention of backing Grand Princess Daiguo up. However, she worried about Princess Changxing most. âI havenât seen you for a few days. Why did you lose so much weight?â
Princess Changxing indeed lost much weight obviously, and her expression was no longer cheerful as before. The loneliness on her face revealed a kind of sadness.
After she heard her grandmotherâs question, the corners of her eyes were slightly red though she still maintained her grace and poise, âGrandmother, thank you for your concern. I caught a cold accidentally before and just recovered after taking some medicine recently. Iâm sorry you were so worried!â
The Empress Dowager had heard about what happened between her and Jian Yiyou in private. Naturally, she mentioned it on purpose at the moment, âI see! I was wondering you were the most lively and fun-loving but you were so silent today.â
She told her to take good care of herself, and then told the servant to pack up a dose of tonic that the emperor gave to her and asked Princess Changxing to take it back, âDonât neglect your health just because you are young. When you are at my age, you will know how important having good health is!â
Although the Empress Dowager didnât say anything about Jian Yiyou, they all understand the hint in her words⦠She was tactfully warning Jian Yiyou that he should be nicer to his wife in future.
Then they didnât talk about anything else. When Song Yixiao returned to her mansion after the banquet in the evening, she asked about her brotherâs teacher-acknowledging thing. Jian Xubai reached out his finger, scraped the tip of her nose, and said with a smile, âWhatâs the worry since I take care of this thing personally?â
âMr. Helou agreed?â Song Yixiao said with joy, âWhen is it convenient for him? So that Guanyun can visit him.â
âGuanyun is only five years old this year. Didnât you say he would officially start school in the next year?â Jian Xubai said, âI told Helou Duhan that we would let Guanyun formally acknowledge him as teacher after the Spring Festival. Now itâs less than two months before the Spring Festival. Why donât we let Guanyun have one last fling before that?â
However, this was just Jian Xubaiâs wishful thinking. When Wei Mengying received the news from her daughter, she was happy, but immediately called her son to her and said, âI made so many efforts to persuade your sister and brother-in-law to introduce you to the No. 1 Scholar Helou Duhan! He is talented and of great learning and is much more excellent than ordinary Scholars. Itâs your great luck that you can be his student! So, donât slack off on your studies. Understand?â
Lu Guanyun had been given earnest exhortations by his mother all the year round and was less mischievous than before. Hearing this, he said listlessly, âYes!â
âFrom today on, youâll trace characters ten times more a day!â Wei Mengying continued, âYour future teacher hasnât seen you. He is willing to accept you as his student just for the sake of your sister and brother-in-law. He is so famous, and talented children will scramble for being his students. Moreover, he is still unmarried. If heâs married and has his own children in future, how could he bother trying his best to teach you after seeing your poor performance?â
Therefore, Lu Guanyun got much more study assignments to do. Jian Xubai and Song Yixiao didnât have frequent contact with them and didnât know that at all.
Of course even if they knew, they would persuade Wei Mengying not to be so strict with Lu Guanyun at most. If Wei Mengying was determined to be a strict mother, they couldnât forcibly intervene in her education of her son.
A few days after this thing was over, news came out of Prince of Weiâs mansion⦠No, it was Prince of Xiangâs mansion now that Princess Consort of Xiang was in labor!
Back then, Princess Consort of Xiang was found pregnant shortly after Princess Consort of Liang. She was the biological daughter of Grand Princess Daiguo, so no one harmed her during her whole pregnancy, and she had a very smooth delivery.
It took her less than two hours to finish the whole delivery. It was rare to see someone have such a smooth first delivery.
However, Princess Consort of Xiang failed to have a boy. It was a fair-skinned lovely girl.
If the fight for the title of heir to the throne hadnât been over, Prince of Xiang and his wife and Grand Princess Daiguo would be a little disappointed. After all, what else could be more inspiring than having a male successor?
However, Prince of Xiang had failed in the fight. At this time, his first legitimate child was a daughter, and it would be better for his whole family now.
The royal family apparently thought the same. The rewards given by the Empress Dowager and Emperor Xianjia were exactly the same as those they gave to Princess Consort of Liang when she gave birth. They didnât give Prince of Xiang his wife inferior rewards just because their child was a girl.
Moreover, a few days later, when the Empress Dowager chatted with Emperor Xianjia, on a whim, she asked Emperor Xianjia to name her great-granddaughter. For fairness, the emperor also named Prince of Liangâs first legitimate son. The first legitimate son of Prince of Liang and Princess Consort of Liang should have the generation name âChengâ like Commandery Prince Zhongling. Commandery Prince Zhonglingâs name was Chengcui, so the first legitimate son of Prince of Liang and Princess Consort of Liang was named âChengguiâ.
The daughter of Prince of Xiang was given a maiden name Qianman.
After that, it was the emperorâs Wanshou Festival. The emperor was just dragging out an existence. He didnât want to celebrate it, but he was afraid that the Empress Dowager would be sad, so he thought about it and then decided to celebrate it as usual.
Less than ten days after the Wanshou Festival, it was the wedding day of Su Shaoling and Ji Zifu.
The date was fixed in the first half of the year. At that time, Ji Mingfei hadnât been engaged, and Prince of Zhao and Prince of Wei were in a hurry to ally, so they set the date directly before Ji Mingfei could get engaged.
So, Wei Yinlian would marry Ji Mingfei next year. After all, the Ji Family and the Wei Family were both eminent families, and their marriages served the political purpose. So, they couldnât be hasty.
However, she was betrothed to Ji Mingfei by the emperor in person, and she was bound to be in-laws with Su Shaoling. She didnât need to prepare for the wedding, but she had to go to the Su Family to lay a good foundation for her future relationship with Su Shaoling.
After all, the Ruiyu Hall and the Fufeng Hall were both the offspring of the six influential families and their ancestors were closely connected back then.
On that day, Wei Yinlian went to the mansion of Duke of Ji with the needlework made by herself. On the way, she passed the mansion of Duke of Yan, subconsciously lifted the curtain and took a look at it, but happened to see the servant pushing open the door for a guest.
The guest sat in the carriage and didnât come down when he saw the door was open. However, he stayed in his carriage that went straight into the mansion. It was probably a female guest.
âThat carriage looks unfamiliar and doesnât look like carriages in the imperial capital. Is it a guest from other regions?â Wei Yinlian saw that and was surprised, âIs it Madam Jian who came back to visit her family? However, Madam Jian is Duke of Yanâs aunt. If she returns to the imperial capital, Duke of Yan and his wife should go to visit her. How could she come to the mansion of Duke of Yan?â
Madam Jian she mentioned was Jian Pingyuâs first legitimate daughter with his official wife, Jane Lizhi, who had not returned to the imperial capital for decades since she got married and was sent into exile with her husband.
When Jian Xubai and Song Yixiao got married, she only sent her eldest son Ji Wangxi to congratulate them instead of coming in person.
Therefore, although Wei Yinlian sorted out the distant relatives of the mansion of Duke of Yan in her mind and thought that it should be someone from Jian Lizhiâs family, she didnât believe it was Jian Lizhi. Her carriage gradually moved forward, and the mansion of Duke of Yan was already behind her and about to be out of her sight. She thought to herself, âItâs strange. Who is it?â
It was not surprising that she couldnât figure out who it was.
Song Yixiao, who received the visiting card yesterday, was also very surprised. Gu Shaoâs granddaughter hurried to the imperial capital, but she only stayed with her grandfather for a short moment, and then proposed to visit Song Yixiao. Why?
She guessed that it might have something to do with Qiu Zhiyin, but the crown princess had sent someone to explain it to her.
In this case, Gu Tongxu didnât seem to believe Song Yixiao if she made such a trip.
Song Yixiao greeted this rare visitor and led her to the back hall. The servant served tea. Song Yixiao was in her late pregnancy and was easier to get tired than before. She didnât want to waste her time, so after some polite greetings, Song Yixiao tactfully asked about Gu Tongxuâs intention, âI heard that you arrived here yesterday. Hongzhou is far away from the imperial capital. I guess you must have had a very fatiguing journey.â
She had just finished her journey. Shouldnât she get rested and restore her energy so that she could perform well when the Empress Dowager summoned her? Why didnât she come to the point since she had come to her?
Gu Tongxu recognized the implications of her remark and smiled at her.
When Gu Shao resigned from his official post and returned home with his family, this girl was not yet born.
Song Yixiao hadnât seen other girls in the Gu Family, so she was not sure whether Gu Tongxu was really âthe most virtuous one among his granddaughtersâ as Gu Shao said.
However, Gu Tongxu was good-looking. She was fair-skinned and had delicate features. Compared with girls of the same age, she looked elegant but not skimpy or humble in such plain clothes.
She had the unique gentleness that belonged to girls of water-bound towns in Jiangnan, radiant and vivacious.
Her smile was demure and artless like the willow branches swinging in the spring water in rivers, âMadame Song, I heard on the way that you are pregnant now. I didnât want to disturb you. But my grandfather said that it was going to be the twelfth lunar month. You are in charge of affairs in the mansion and would become busier and busier and wouldnât have some free time until the beginning of next year. Therefore, if I want to visit you, I can only come as early as possible, so I took the liberty to come. Please forgive me!â
Song Yixiao said in a hurry, âMiss Gu, youâve overstated. As you can see, itâs not convenient for me to walk around with this big belly. Iâm bored in the house. Fortunately, you came!â
They had an exchange of greetings. Then Gu Tongxu said that she came here at the order of her grandfather to get familiar with the way to the mansion of Duke of Yan and get acquainted with Song Yixiao.
As for why Gu Shao asked her to do that, she didnât know.
However, Song Yixiao knew the reason, âIt seems that Prime Minister Gu still doesnât believe me!â
Otherwise, why would he let his granddaughter who had just finished her journey of hundreds of miles come to visit her in such a hurry?
He was afraid that she would get Gu Tongxu involved when she set Qiu Zhiyin up.