Chapter 2674 - 2607: Yoho

Changyu understood, and asked, "Has Mother invited only our generation or has she invited our aunts as well?"

The attendant smiled and said, "It’s difficult to overlook other princesses, but the older princesses might not have the resources, so Her Majesty refrained from making them spend much. Only invitations were sent, limited to the families within the capital. If families are interested, they can simply send a few ounces of silver. As for the princesses, tomorrow is the fourteenth, and Her Majesty’s idea is that it’s just right for an early reunion feast."

In other words, the Empress planned to gather her daughters’ resources, without asking money from her sisters-in-law.

Changyu nodded and said, "Good, tomorrow night the consort and I will surely enter the palace to accompany Father and Mother."

Only then did the attendant smile and take his leave.

Princess Changyu thought for a moment, asked the maid to bring some money, and opened her jewelry box to pick some pieces she wasn’t particularly fond of. She instructed, "Fetch a box."

Princess Changyu placed the jewelry inside, holding her chin up slightly, she said, "Take these tomorrow."

They were to be donated to the Empress for military funding.

The maid complied.

In the neighboring mansion, Princess Mingda’s residence was also searching for items, not only gold and silver, but things they didn’t need or like.

Bai Erlang rolled up his sleeves and personally rummaged through cabinets, picking out fabrics he disliked, which could be sold for twenty to thirty taels each, enough to buy many medicinal herbs.

Mingda opened her jewelry box too, Bai Erlang approached and she took out items, which he placed in a large box elsewhere. After half a day, the small box contained only two golden hairpins, put there merely because they weren’t attractive.

Mingda looked at him helplessly, Bai Erlang said, "These are all nice, aren’t they? Tomorrow let’s go back to Zhou Residence, my mother left many things before she passed. Her jewelry is old, we can compensate by using hers."

Mingda: "Wouldn’t your mother beat you out the door if she knew?"

"She wouldn’t. At worst, we buy her a few new pieces of jewelry. If she knew you were donating such nice items, she’d feel distressed."

Mingda said, "Isn’t this for raising military funds? You didn’t say anything when I donated money."

"That’s money, not jewelry," Bai Erlang said, "They are different. Jewelry has to be sold off at a reduced price to convert to money. If the jewelry was bad, that’s fine, but I see these are decent, with fine craftsmanship, and they were gifts from His Majesty and Her Majesty. If sold off like this, I’d be heartbroken."

Mingda paused, then laughed, bowed her head in thought, and nodded, "Alright, then we’ll donate more money and keep Mother’s jewelry."

Bai Erlang said, "Tomorrow let’s visit. It’s almost Mid-Autumn Festival and we can deliver mooncakes to Aunt."

Mingda immediately said, "I have two boxes of good tea leaves, I’ll give one to Aunt tomorrow."

Bai Dalang has gone abroad, and Old Master Bai and Mrs. Bai have returned to the countryside, so Bai Erlang’s relatives in the capital are mainly Bai Shan’s family.

Well, there’s also the Bai Family whom they aren’t in touch with.

Thanks to Mingda’s good relationship with Manbao, she also has a nice rapport with Old Madam Liu and Ms. Zheng, after all, they are seniors, so Mingda is very respectful towards them.

Thus, early the next day, they set out with Mid-Autumn Festival gifts, ending up meeting Princess Changyu’s family carriage on the road.

Princess Changyu’s carriage caught up from behind. As it was just their two families on this street, she boldly took the other half of the road, approached Mingda’s carriage in parallel, raised the curtain and called over, "Mingda, where are you heading this early morning?"

Mingda raised her curtain too, and Changyu saw Bai Erlang inside, nodding off nearly to sleep.

Mingda smiled and said, "We’re going to Zhou Residence to deliver festival gifts, and you, sister?"

Changyu hesitated momentarily before saying, "We’re also going back to deliver festival gifts and must accompany Father-in-law and Mother-in-law for lunch. Didn’t Old Master Bai return to the countryside?"

Mingda said, "It’s to deliver gifts to Aunt."

That must be distant kin, Changyu somewhat envied them, as this was clearly a trip to see Zhou Man, not merely delivering gifts.

She had a look of wanting to say more but held back.

Wei Yu noticed and laughed, "After lunch, we should visit Lord Zhou and Lord Bai. Speaking of which, our homes are close and I’m unsure if a surprise visit would trouble them?"

"No, no," Bai Erlang, awakened by Changyu’s speaking, leaned on the window and said to Wei Yu and his wife, "Just go ahead. I’ll ask Bai Shan to prepare more snacks. The veranda at home is particularly cool right now, and Aunt planted many chrysanthemums; we can enjoy them with tea."

Bai Erlang grinned and said, "You wouldn’t know, last year Aunt had a lotus pond dug at her estate. Although initially intended for picking lotus roots, the year was dry, the water shallow, and the soil sandy, so Aunt raised some crabs in the pond. Now’s the perfect time for crab-eating; I’m uncertain if they’ve delivered any to the house. If so, you can enjoy crab when you visit."

Changyu’s eyes sparkled, she immediately held onto Wei Yu’s arm.

Wei Yu nodded with a smile, "We’ll go."

Changyu was somewhat apprehensive of Wei Zhi, so she whispered, "What about Father-in-law..."

Wei Yu quietly said, "I’ll talk to him."

Changyu was satisfied.

When they reached the intersection and entered another district, the two carriages could no longer travel side by side, thus Changyu’s carriage fell behind.

Pedestrians started to fill the area. This was a busier district, near the East Market, with people setting up stalls by the roadside. Changyu sat by the window watching the outside things, never blinking.

Wei Yu, seeing her somewhat reluctant appearance, hesitated and said, "Would you like some?"

Changyu immediately said, "Yes."

She quickly tapped on the carriage wall to halt it, pointing outside at a table of customers at a bun shop, "There’s roasted persimmon, I want to eat roasted persimmon."

Their entourage paused, completely separating from Princess Mingda’s group.

Both princesses’ entourages were used to such occurrences and went about their own tasks without waiting.

As Lou Mian dawdled toward the street corner, he looked up and saw the couple standing by a stall. Wei Yu held a tray, carefully helping Princess Changyu drink the broth from a reed pipe, allowing her to eat roasted persimmon flesh gracefully.

The guard accompanying Lou Mian noticed too and reminded him, "Young Master Lou, the princess is just there, quickly go over."

Lou Mian said, "Didn’t you see the consort and princess together?"

The guard dismissively said, "So what, would he outshine you, Young Master? With you there, the princess won’t glance at him."

Lou Mian: ... What should he do if he didn’t want to go over?

But it wasn’t up to him, seeing him delay, the guard even pushed him lightly, saying, "Young Master Lou, remember the prince’s instructions before we left."