Chu Yan slightly lifted his eyes and walked over unhurriedly. He said to Shang Yunruo, "I have something urgent to discuss with elder brother."
Shang Yunruo hesitated for a moment, then let go of Chu Jinli's sleeve. Understandingly, she said, "Okay, then you go and talk first."
Looking puzzled and solemn, Chu Jinli followed Chu Yan into the inner chamber. They walked through the side corridor and arrived at his bedroom.
The furniture in the bedroom was simply arranged. Chu Jinli looked around, masking the disgust in his eyes. He asked, "Come on, what's the matter?"
Chu Yan closed the door and lowered his voice. "After you eloped from the wedding, grandmother asked me to take your place to go through the wedding ceremony."
Chu Jinli frowned and stared in shock. His voice rose several tones. "What? You took my place to get married?"
Chu Yan lowered his eyes meekly, but said in a leisurely tone, "Grandmother said that although you're not afraid of the prime minister, our Marquis Mansion is. When you ran away before the wedding, it wasn't the Prime Minister's Mansion that lost face, but our Marquis Mansion."
"So you just agreed?"
After asking this question, Chu Jinli thought it was a stupid one. Chu Yan had always been obedient. How could he disobey grandmother's order?
He glared angrily at Chu Yan. He took a deep breath and then sighed. He knew he was in the wrong first and couldn't get angry with him.
At that time, he just wanted to disgrace the Prime Minister's Mansion and teach the rumored domineering daughter of the prime minister a lesson. Coincidentally, his cousin had something urgent to find him. In a hurry, he made an impulsive and unwise decision.
He had been worrying about how to clean up this mess when he got back. So he came to Chu Yan first to find out how chaotic it had been yesterday. He never expected that it had been solved so quietly.
It actually saved him a lot of trouble.
After a pause, Chu Jinli calmed down his emotions. Stammering, he asked, "Then you... Did you two... What did she mean by saying you were gentle?"
Chu Yan lifted his eyelids. His long lashes fluttered slightly. Looking innocent, he asked, "She must be referring to my gentleness towards her. I couldn't glare at her or be rough with her, could I?"
Chu Jinli clicked his tongue. He thought it was useless to talk to this boy who hadn't come of age yet.
Chu Yan seemed to ask sincerely, "What are you bothered about, elder brother? Don't you like cousin Ning An?"
Chu Jinli shifted his eyes. Being questioned like this, he was speechless. He had to put on an air of an elder brother and scolded lightly, "Keep this secret and don't talk nonsense."
Chu Yan lowered his eyes and looked respectful as he saw Chu Jinli off the courtyard. A faint smile flitted across his cold and rigid face, like a gorgeous and enchanting lotus blooming on the wasteland.
—
Chu Jinli deliberately avoided Shang Yunruo. She stood in the courtyard for two quarters of an hour before being told that Chu Jinli had left.
She felt a brief sense of loss. Then she was summoned by the old grandmother to the courtyard to talk.
Since Chu Jinli's father passed away, the old grandmother's health had been deteriorating. Maybe it was because of the great grief of a white - haired person burying a black - haired one. She had been recuperating in the courtyard.
But as soon as Shang Yunruo stepped into the courtyard, she felt something was different from the morning. The usually quiet courtyard suddenly had many voices.
Sure enough, as soon as she entered the main hall, the grandmother introduced, "Yunruo, come and meet your uncle and aunt."
Shang Yunruo suddenly remembered that the grandmother had two sons. The eldest was Chu Jinli's father. So the person in front of her should be the grandmother's second son, Chu Jinli's uncle and aunt.
She quickly paid her respects. "Yunruo pays respects to uncle and aunt."
After a few words of greeting, the grandmother, probably wanting to go back and rest, coughed a few times and got straight to the point. "I've called you here today mainly about the management power of the mansion.
"My health is failing. The management power of the Marquis Mansion has been in the hands of the second daughter - in - law. Now that Yunruo has married into our family, as the mistress of the Marquis Mansion, the management power should naturally be handed over to her. Second daughter - in - law, did you bring the seal of the mansion?"
The room fell silent for a moment. Although Shang Yunruo couldn't see, she could feel that this aunt didn't want to hand over the power.
The aunt said gently, "Mother, I didn't bring the seal of the mansion today. It's not something that can be done overnight to hand over the power. I need to sort out the accounts and property before I can hand it over. Yunruo has just entered the mansion and needs to get familiar with things. Besides, her eyes are still injured. I think we should wait for some time before handing it over."
Her words were impeccable. Shang Yunruo couldn't find any reason to refute.
Actually, she didn't really care about the management power. It would be nice to be a carefree person, growing flowers and plants, cultivating feelings with her husband, and caring about the future big villain. Life would be quite comfortable.
The grandmother asked, "Yunruo, what do you think?"
Shang Yunruo said gently, "Aunt is right. I'll get familiar with the environment of the mansion first and then take over from aunt."
The grandmother had no objection. After all, it didn't matter much to her who managed the family.
After leaving the grandmother's courtyard and returning to her own courtyard, Shang Yunruo asked Chuyao to find out from the maids and servants in the mansion what her husband and Chu Yan liked to eat. She wanted to cater to their preferences.
Soon, Chuyao came back. She listed a lot of Chu Jinli's preferences. But when it came to Chu Yan, Chuyao said, "I couldn't find out the second young master's preferences."
Shang Yunruo thought for a moment and sighed, "Chu Yan's food, clothing and daily necessities are so poor. Almost whatever is left in the mansion is given to him. Who would care about his preferences?"
It would be a bit abrupt to ask him directly what he liked to eat. Moreover, she didn't want to have too much contact with him.
After thinking for a while, she decided to prepare the same food for Chu Yan as for her husband. If he didn't like it, he could return it. In this way, she would soon know what he liked.
Shang Yunruo was proud of her idea. She went to the kitchen with Chuyao to prepare some sweet pastries that Chu Jinli liked.
She had always liked making pasta. Even though her eyes were injured now, it didn't affect her cooking skills much.
Chuyao prepared all the ingredients according to Shang Yunruo's instructions and arranged them in the order she said. Shang Yunruo touched them with her hands to check if the ingredients were correct.
When she touched the dried osmanthus flowers, she suddenly stopped. She grabbed a handful and smelled it under her nose. Her eyebrows knitted together.
These osmanthus flowers had no fragrance at all. Instead, there was a pungent smell.
She picked up the whole bowl and handed it to Chuyao. "Are these osmanthus flowers golden yellow?"
Chuyao looked at them. "Some are yellow, and some are a bit black."
Without waiting for Shang Yunruo's order, Chuyao went to fetch all the jars of osmanthus flowers. She said, "Miss, they are all half - black and half - yellow. They smell very bad. They can't be used."
Shang Yunruo said, "Check the other ingredients too."
Chuyao rummaged through all the bottles and jars. She reported, "Miss, except for the commonly used rice, flour and oil, the more expensive ingredients have all been replaced with inferior ones."
Shang Yunruo roughly guessed that this had something to do with the managing aunt. She endured her anger and said to Chuyao, "Go and buy new ingredients."
—
Finally, before the sun set, she made two drawers of pastries and put them into two food boxes respectively. Knowing that her husband hadn't come back yet, Shang Yunruo first went to Zhuoxi Courtyard.
As soon as she reached the courtyard gate, Shang Yunruo was choked by the smell of smoke. Covering her nose, she heard a servant scolding, "Second master, we've given you your meal. If you take the firewood, we won't be able to account for it. How can we explain it to the madam?"
Was this... a servant scolding Chu Yan?
Wasn't this a good opportunity to gain his favor!
She straightened her sleeves, put her left hand on Chuyao's, and strode in. Putting on the air of a daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion, she said loudly, "He's the second master of the Marquis Mansion. What's wrong with using a few pieces of firewood?"
Chu Yan, who was tightly holding a firewood stick with sparks flying, immediately hid the fierceness in his eyes and replaced it with an innocent look. His clear and refreshing voice, like the sound of jade, called out crisply.
"Sister - in - law."