Chapter 2524 - 2498: I’m the Brightest

The two princess residences were basically finished; only some details were still not done.

For example, the garden plot Changyu wanted—where she planned to make a proper garden—the Ministry of Public Works had willfully left a whole area empty for her. At the moment it was piled with some rocks that they hadn’t yet had time to put together.

It was Changyu’s first time seeing these stones, and she was stunned for a moment. Once she recovered, she couldn’t help disliking them. "So ugly."

Manbao also thought they were ugly, but she said, "People need clothes to look good, of course stones need some adornment too. Once they’re stacked up, just plant some flowers and grasses in the gaps and they’ll look nice. If you don’t believe me, ask Mingda."

Mingda nodded, not very sure of herself. "A mountain with trees and flowers is certainly prettier than a bald one."

Changyu looked at them very skeptically. "Can this kind of stone even grow flowers and grass?"

Manbao could be certain about that and nodded. Good flowers and plants might not grow, but those tough wild grasses and wildflowers would be fine. Don’t even mention far-off places; just look at some courtyards that aren’t tended often—the bluestone slabs and stone walls can all grow flowers and grass, can’t they?

Manbao patted her chest and said, "If nothing grows then, you come to me. I’ll give you a big handful of seeds."

She could go into the wild and yank up a handful of wild grass seeds, and if that didn’t work she could buy suitable grass seeds in the mall.

She’d heard that the mall even had a kind of seed that could grow without water or soil, with extremely strong vitality. You could put it in a basket and it would grow out of nothing, just give it a few drops of water from time to time.

And its genes were remarkably stable; it wouldn’t slowly turn into something else as it grew. The grass shape looked pretty good too. At worst she’d buy a pack and scatter it all over this fake mountain. She refused to believe it wouldn’t grow.

Changyu very much wanted to have all these stones thrown out, but with Zhou Man and Mingda both insisting that once decorated they’d look good, she reluctantly kept them.

Mingda laughed. "If you really like Taihu rocks, you can have Brother-in-law Wei posted to somewhere near Taihu. When you get there, you can build another garden."

Taihu rocks themselves weren’t very expensive—at least for now they weren’t. The most expensive part was the transportation.

Those huge rocks had to be transported from Taihu to the capital without getting bumped or chipped, which used up a lot of manpower and animal power.

Changyu said at once, "I’m not going to Taihu."

She liked Taihu rocks, not Taihu itself.

She said, "It’s still better to live in the capital. I’ve already thought it through: as long as Father doesn’t drive me away and my Crown Prince brother doesn’t drive me away, I’ll live in the capital my whole life."

Mingda was exactly the opposite. What she thought was, as long as Father wasn’t crying to keep her, and her Crown Prince brother didn’t forcibly keep her, she would go travel all over. It would be enough to come back to the capital once or twice a year.

Manbao felt that if the two sisters’ temperaments could be blended together, it would be perfect.

Considering that they would be getting married soon, Manbao asked them, "What do you want as wedding additions to your dowry?"

Changyu said, "You have no sincerity at all. When we sent our wedding gifts to you, we didn’t ask your opinion—we just directly sent what you liked best."

Manbao just looked at her. "That’s because you have too many good things. If the gifts you send are the same as everyone else’s, that would actually be less nice for you."

Mingda thought for a moment and said, "I like rare things. It doesn’t matter what they are—anything that the Central Plains doesn’t have, even if it’s just a flower, I’d like it."

As soon as Changyu heard that, she said, "Right, you’re good at raising flowers and plants. Every year you can produce so many beautiful rare peonies and chrysanthemums. We’re getting married right when the peonies are in full glory. Why don’t you give us some kinds of peonies we don’t have?"

Manbao immediately started to feel conflicted. She could certainly give them, but what those plants would look like the second year, she had no idea.

Manbao said, "Forget it, I’d better not ask you anymore. I’ll make the decision myself."

Mingda and Changyu couldn’t help laughing. "You’re the one who asked, and now you’re the one going back on it."

It was rare for them to get out of the palace, so the two of them weren’t in a hurry to go back. They dragged Manbao with them and strolled around the two princess residences.

The princess estates were very large, bigger than Manbao’s house. After one round of walking, the three of them didn’t feel like walking anymore, so they sat on the railing, dangling their legs and chatting.

The palace maids and eunuchs were scattered nearby, neither disturbing them nor standing too far away.

"What a pity there are no empty houses left in Chongyuan Courtyard. If our princess residences were built there, the three of our households would be even closer."

Manbao said, "It’s not that far even now. By carriage it’s less than two quarters of an hour, and riding a horse is even faster. Distance keeps the fragrance fresh; if you lived too close to me, you might end up not liking me instead."

Changyu thought about it and said, "That’s impossible. You don’t have any traits that would make me dislike you. Well, except for one—you’re always bragging about yourself."

"I do not," Manbao said. "My teacher gave me the courtesy name Ziqian—Zi Qian. I’m very modest now."

Mingda couldn’t hold back her laughter. "Just hearing that, it doesn’t sound modest at all."

The three of them stayed in the princess residence until the sun was about to set in the west. Only after the palace staff had urged them twice did they finally get up to leave.

Mingda and Changyu both had bright, shining eyes. After they climbed into their carriages, they even turned back to look at their own estates. It wouldn’t be long before they could go play in the inner city whenever they wanted, and go stroll in the outer city whenever they liked. Just thinking about it was exhilarating.

The two of them said goodbye to Manbao, and they separated at the crossroads ahead, each going back to her own home.

Manbao rode her own horse clip-clopping back home. Bai Shan had long been waiting there. He reached out to take her medicine box and asked, "Do you need Xi Bing or Jiu Lan in May to go with you?"

Manbao shook her head and refused. "I can go alone. Sending people with me is more of a burden instead."

The period just before and after the New Year was when people most liked to choose auspicious days for weddings. At this time, the winter wheat had already been sown, and spring plowing hadn’t begun yet, so for those few months everyone was basically resting. Once they rested, they couldn’t help finding things to do. At such a time, finding a wife for a son or a husband for a daughter was the most normal thing in the world.

Especially in the time right before the New Year, when travelers away from home also had to come back to prepare for New Year’s Eve reunions, even more people started talking about marriage matters.

Zhou Liwei’s marriage had already been put on the agenda. After the Zhou Family picked out a good date, they sent someone to the Lan Family to choose a day together.

Even Zhou Dalang and Junior Ms.Qian were running around for Zhou Lixue’s marriage, going out frequently. Sometimes they’d squat at the entrance of a restaurant watching the people passing by, wondering who might be suitable for Zhou Lixue.

Zhou Sanlang, who originally hadn’t been very invested, took one look and also started staring at Zhou Ligu in deep thought.

Old Zhou and Ms.Qian, who had already packed their things to go home and see Zhou Xi, took one look at all this and simply decided to stay. After the New Year, they would go back only once all these marriages had been settled.

So every day when Manbao came home after leaving the office, she would see her First Sister-in-law, Second Sister-in-law, and Third Sister-in-law huddled together, discussing the marriages of several children. As for Zhou Lixue and the others, they hid whenever they could. If they couldn’t get away, they ran to the main courtyard to find their Little Aunt to share the pressure.

This scared Manbao so much that she didn’t really want to go home. So after leaving the office, once she got home, put down her things, and changed clothes, she would drag Bai Shan out the door, calling it "going out to visit the people."

Of course, Bai Erlang was never going to be left behind. He always dropped his books and ran after them, vowing to be the brightest lantern of them all.