Mei Haoxuan looked lovingly at his dearest younger sister.
"Xue'er."
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he was glared at by Xia Ruolan. "Now that she's married, she should follow her husband's family. Do you want her to be unvirtuous?"
"Mother... We're all family. Don't be so formal." Mei Qingxue leaned on Mei Haoxuan and said with a smile, "Brother, have you taken a fancy to any young lady? I can ask Concubine Qin to act as a matchmaker for you."
"Cough, cough..." Mei Zhenguo coughed. Was it something a younger sister should say to matchmake for her elder brother?
Xia Ruolan glanced at Mei Zhenguo, completely unaware of why he was coughing there.
"We're all family. I think Xue'er is right," Xia Ruolan said coquettishly to her husband. "Don't mind your father. He..." Xia Ruolan almost said that he had water in his head.
This was all learned from Mei Qingxue. She gave her daughter a coquettish look. Mei Qingxue knew what her mother was about to say and immediately turned her face away, covering her mouth with a palace fan and laughing.
"Xuan'er, sit over there," Mei Zhenguo said, looking at his daughter and then his son.
"I have a few words to tell your sister. You can listen in too." Mei Zhenguo cleared his throat.
Mei Qingxue glanced at her father and knew that this was the purpose of their visit. The evil feudal society! If only her husband were the emperor. But unfortunately, that position was even more dangerous. She still wanted to live a few more years.
She lowered her eyes and waited for her father's admonition.
"Father, it's so hard to see my sister once!"
Admonish what? Hadn't he admonished his subordinates enough and now came to admonish in his own family? It was not easy for his sister to be the mistress of the family after getting married. Mei Haoxuan was dissatisfied in his heart, but he didn't dare to say anything. Mei Zhenguo was the head of the family.
With just one look from Mei Zhenguo, Mei Haoxuan's accumulated momentum disappeared.
"Brother, listen to Father. It's rare to hear Father admonish us," Mei Qingxue said, looking at her family in this life. Her heart was filled with warmth.
Xia Ruolan looked at her daughter, who had become much more mature and well - behaved, with relief and nodded. "Xue'er has really grown up. Let me say a few words first."
Looking at Mei Qingxue, Xia Ruolan gently parted her red lips. "My daughter has grown up. Normally, I don't need to say much. But since my daughter has married into the royal family, as a mother, I still have to nag a few words."
"Mother, please speak!"
Although she knew it was about women's speech, virtue, and appearance, Mei Qingxue was willing to listen to her nagging.
"Now that you're married, you should be thrifty, dutiful, and manage the family well. You should abide by the duties of a wife, assist your husband, and raise your children..." Mei Qingxue nodded vigorously. To raise children, it wasn't something she could do just as she wished.
"Be able to manage the family well at home and be honorable when going out..."
After Xia Ruolan finished speaking, Mei Qingxue's neck was sore from nodding. Her father still hadn't started speaking.
At first, she was quite happy to listen, but later it became a torture.
Mei Haoxuan saw the tortured look on his sister's face and secretly laughed. Who was it that wanted to listen to their mother's admonition just now? Now she was frowning.
Seeing the smile on her brother's face, Mei Qingxue made a face at him. Mei Zhenguo saw it and secretly worried. Even after getting married, she didn't seem to have changed much.
"Father, what do you want to say?"
Would it also be a long - winded speech? Mei Qingxue secretly worried. The stool was so hard that it hurt her bottom.
"Hehe, what Father says is simple. Now that you're not at home anymore, you should always consider the overall situation. Don't be willful, or your mother and I will worry about you."
Xia Ruolan nodded.
Mei Qingxue pouted. "Father, Mother, are you thirsty?" The implication was that their mouths were dry from talking and they should drink some water.
"Why don't I see my brother - in - law?"
Mei Haoxuan looked around.
"Brother knows that the prince has always been in poor health. He goes for recuperation every month. He'll be back in two or three days at most," Mei Qingxue said, looking at her brother. "I like the little gadgets you brought, Brother."
"I'm glad you like them," Mei Haoxuan grinned. Now that he saw his sister was okay, a big stone in his heart finally dropped.
He had been busy with official business recently and had no time to find some interesting things for his sister and send them to the prince's mansion. Now that he saw his sister whom he hadn't seen for a long time, he couldn't touch her head like they did when they were young.
"I noticed that there aren't many servants in the prince's mansion," Xia Ruolan said, recalling what she had seen after entering the mansion.
"Mother, there aren't many people in the prince's mansion. There are only two masters. Besides, the prince has no official duties. Having too many servants will only invite criticism. It's better to be more careful," Mei Qingxue said.
"But it's so hard on my Xue'er," Xia Ruolan wiped away her tears. At home, there were several maidservants. Now there was only Yue Ru, and she was about to get married. By that time, there would be no one to serve her closely.
"Madam, don't worry. I'll figure it out myself."
"Father, Mother... What are you going to do?" Really! If they were going to raise so many people, would I have to subsidize from my own property? Although the third prince had subsidized some pocket money last time, it was for household expenses.
Actually, raising a few servants wasn't a big problem. The main thing was that where there were many people, there were many problems. People talked too much and it was difficult to manage. Mei Qingxue hated gossips the most.
"Your Highness, the snacks are here."
They were all delicate snacks. The maid served them on a plate and placed them on the table.
"The cook in the prince's mansion has good skills," Mei Qingxue said, picking up a piece and putting it into her mouth first. She was very happy to listen to her mother's words and because of many other things. It was a pity that the prince wasn't there. Otherwise, she could have kept her parents for dinner.
"We've already had snacks and tea. We won't stay any longer."
Staying too long would invite criticism. No one would know what the powerful Prime Minister Mei and a prince were up to. Mei Zhenguo didn't want to be criticized, so he could only look at his daughter deeply. Xia Ruolan was full of reluctance, but a married daughter was like water spilled. Mei Haoxuan couldn't get too close to his sister either.
"Brother, take good care of Father and Mother," Mei Qingxue said. She wasn't the type to say a lot of reluctant words. All her feelings were in this one sentence.
She sent her parents to the door and watched them get into the carriage. Only then did she feel her eyes a little sour. In ten lifetimes, the affection of parents was always the hardest to part with.
She didn't expect that this lifetime would be in ancient times.
Yue Ru helped Mei Qingxue back to the Qingxue Pavilion. At this time, Han Chao came back.
"I pay my respects to Your Highness."
"Get up. There's no need for so many formalities," Mei Qingxue waved her hand.
Han Chao took out a key. "Your Highness, this is the key to the library. The prince specifically ordered this subordinate to send it back."
Seeing that the key didn't stay in Yue Ru's hand for a moment and then fell into Mei Qingxue's hand, Han Chao's heart twitched. He tried hard to tell himself to just think that the prince's library had caught fire. As soon as he thought like this, he felt better.
"Your prince is really considerate," Mei Qingxue played with the copper key for a while and said with a faint smile. "How is the prince's recuperation?"
"Report to Your Highness..."
Han Chao originally wanted to tell the truth about the prince's whereabouts, but when the words reached his mouth, he hesitated because of Du Guqing's order. He didn't dare to disobey it at all.
"Report to Your Highness..." Han Chao looked at her.
Mei Qingxue said, "If there's nothing else, you can go. I'm not making things difficult for you. You look so scared. Tell the prince that I've found a doctor for him. He should come back early so that I can take him to see the doctor."
Hearing what Mei Qingxue said, Han Chao swallowed back the words on the tip of his tongue.
Mei Qingxue also saw his hesitant look. She really didn't have the heart to care about Du Guqing's affairs.
"Yes, this subordinate takes his leave!"
Just as Han Chao was about to leave, Mei Qingxue saw Yue Ru looking longingly, hoping to be let out for a moment to talk to Han Chao.
Mei Qingxue rolled her eyes at her. "It's only a few months until you get married. By then, I'll let you see him every day. Otherwise, you won't concentrate on your duties now. Go ahead!"
With a wave of her hand, she let Yue Ru go after Han Chao. The two of them were lovey - dovey for a while before Yue Ru returned to the Qingxue Pavilion.
"Are you happy now?" Mei Qingxue could tell from Yue Ru's happy face that people in love were like this. At the moment, she was also grateful to Du Guqing for making a good match.
"Come and massage me, Your Highness!" If she didn't let Yue Ru massage her, she wouldn't be able to enjoy her skills anymore. Mei Qingxue had some silver of her own and didn't need to touch the 180,000 taels of silver pieces at all. She would keep those for rewarding people.
180,000 taels of silver and 1,000 taels of gold leaves. Only Mei Qingxue would dare to say that she would use them to reward people. They were all silver pieces and could be used for rewarding people for decades.
"Your Highness, where do you feel uncomfortable? This maid will massage it for you?" Yue Ru asked.
Recently at night, the princess didn't know why she suddenly wanted a massage. Anyway, Yue Ru knew that Mei Qingxue wasn't really uncomfortable. It was mostly because she was reluctant to let her get married.
According to what Han Chao said, the yard was just across the road. It wasn't like she was getting married far away. Yue Ru thought of her young lady's reluctance and felt warm in her heart. She didn't know what to say and worked even harder with her hands, just hoping to make Mei Qingxue more comfortable.
"You can go. I'm going to sleep," Mei Qingxue said. As soon as she turned around and saw that a pot of flowers on the window had changed its position, she knew that An Ying had come. So she had to send Yue Ru away.
"Yes, Your Highness. Do you need me to keep watch tonight?"
"No, you can go!"
Mei Qingxue pretended to be going to sleep to send Yue Ru away.
"Come in!"
An Ying was outside the window. Hearing Mei Qingxue's call, he jumped into the room.
"Master."
"I've told you not to be so formal. Why did you come today?" Mei Qingxue remembered that she had been lazy recently and hadn't checked the accounts for a long time. She felt a little embarrassed.
"This subordinate has found out some news about the Jade - faced Gentleman."
"What?" Mei Qingxue's hand trembled. Just when she was about to forget him, the news of that person appeared. She forced herself to calm down.
"Tell me!"
She wanted to know the true identity of that person. Now her heart was pounding wildly. That person seemed very close to her, but she didn't know where he was. Although they knew each other's feelings, they had never said anything.
When she was about to confess her love, that person said... He was going to get married, on the same day as her.