Zhao Yan did not let everyone wait too long. She arrived only about ten minutes later than Jiang Yuqing and the others. She was also wearing a light blue and white ruqun dress today, with hairpins and jewelry on her body, apparently carefully dressed up.
In order not to embarrass her, everyone was scattered in different places, quietly observing her without making a sound. They saw that this girl was as beautiful and charming as Jiang Yuqing had said, cheerful and generous, and they liked her instantly. Jiang Yuqing, on the excuse of feeling unwell, asked her elder brother to act as a tour guide and take Zhao Yan to pick fruit, openly creating opportunities for the two.
Jiang Yuchuan also did not fail his sister's painstaking intention. He bravely took scissors and a basket to lead Zhao Yan all the way to the grape orchard.
His sister said that if he wanted to get the beauty back as soon as possible, he had to have thick skin. Besides, the two happened to wear very matching clothes today that looked particularly pleasing to the eye. It was very fateful.
Seeing this, several elders made eye contact with each other and rushed along another path to the vineyard at top speed, determined to get there before them, like a guerrilla unit carrying out an ambush.
Not long after Jiang Yuchuan and Zhao Yan arrived at the grape orchard, a row of heads peeked out from the window of the temporary warehouse next to the vineyard, which was obscured by lush branches and leaves.
On closer inspection, goodness! The Retired Emperor, Li Deshun, General Qin, old man Jiang, old lady Hu, and the Retired Empress were all here.
Old Lady Hu squinted her eyes with a smile and said softly to the Retired Empress, "This girl is so beautiful, slender and graceful. She doesn't seem pretentious either, dignified and elegant. She will make a good wife."
The Retired Empress also approved. In her heart, she also added another sentence, "No matter how good she is, she is not as good as my Qingqing!"
They saw that although the two had picked half a basket of grapes, they were still observing propriety and had not made any real progress.
The Retired Emperor couldn't help but complain, "I thought this kid was quite smart usually. Why is he so slow now? I've been watching here for half a day, how come there's still no sign from him yet?"
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at him: "What sign?"
The Retired Emperor said, "Look, there's no one around them. Why doesn't he take the chance to at least hold the young lady's hand? He's being too much of a gentleman. Does he plan to get the beauty in the year of the monkey?"
A real man has to have thick skin. Back in my day, when I was pursuing Qingqing..."
The Retired Empress blushed. She was afraid that the old guy would say something embarrassing and make people laugh, so she quickly coughed. The Retired Emperor immediately understood and shut his mouth.
Everyone looked at him contemptuously. That was the extent of his abilities.
General Qin looked more and more fondly of Zhao Yan. He suddenly said, "This girl is really good. Actually she would also match well with my grandson."
As soon as Old Man Jiang heard this, he was unhappy. He glared at him angrily: "What do you mean, old fella? Are you trying to snatch her away? Do you want to fight?"
General Qin glared back: “Let’s fight then. Why would I, a sword wielding general, fear a farmer like you who carries a hoe?”
"Hey, with my fiery temper today, I really ought to cross weapons with you. Don't think you can get away with it just because you're a general. I’m not afraid of you, old man."
Everyone was really afraid they would start fighting and expose themselves, so they quickly separated them.
Jiang Yuchuan played with Zhao Yan for a whole morning and clipped several baskets of grapes. With so many grapes, they definitely could not finish them all at once, so Jiang Yuchuan said he would take them back to make grape wine.
Seeing that there was no one around, he plucked up the courage to say to Zhao Yan, “Yan, I have feelings for you. I fell in love with you at first sight by Baoyue Lake. If you are willing, we could use the grape wine as our wedding toast. Would you like that?"
Zhao Yan was stunned that he suddenly confessed to her. Her beautiful little face quickly turned red, her long eyelashes drooped, and she twisted her hands in embarrassment, not knowing what to do.
Jiang Yuchuan saw the beauty's rosy cheeks like a shy little deer, which he found extremely cute. He boldly took her hands. Zhao Yan twitched slightly but did not pull her hands back, letting him be.
"Yan, you haven't answered my question yet."
Zhao Yan took a deep breath, looked up at the handsome man in front of her, and weighed it up. No matter how she looked at it, she felt like she was at an advantage, so she nodded.
Jiang Yuchuan was overjoyed. He hugged the beauty tightly and felt that although this year's grapes had not yet been made into wine, she was already so intoxicating.
Unfortunately, the melon-eating gang of six who had left early completely missed such a beautiful scene.
At lunch, when Zhao Yan saw Jiang’s group of women, she was completely stunned. Only then did she realize that everything that happened was planned by Jiang’s family. She was so embarrassed that she wished she could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
Lu Shi took off the magnolia flower hairpin on her head and put it in Zhao Yan's hair. She smiled and said, "I've worn this hairpin for many years and kept it at home gathering dust. Now it can finally be gifted out. My good girl, I was too impatient today and startled you. Please don't take offense."
Zhao Yan was shy and quickly declined.
After lunch, Lady Lu also talked with her for a long time before letting Jiang Yuchuan send her home.
When she returned home, Lady Yong asked her niece eagerly, “How was your trip to Tai’an Farm today? Who did you meet?"
Zhao Yan touched the hairpin in her hair and uncharacteristically revealed her feminine charm, “It was fine. Except for Her Majesty the Empress, all the women of Jiang Gong’s residence were there. This was given to me by Lady Jiang."
So Lady Yong already had a good idea. She happily praised, "Our young lady is lucky." That night Lady Yong told her husband and mother-in-law about the matter.
Marquis Yong had never imagined that Jiang Gong’s residence would fancy his niece. This was simply a windfall. He was extremely excited and asked his wife to make good preparations.
Sure enough, after a few days Jiang Gong’s residence picked an auspicious day and sent a matchmaker to discuss marriage prospects. The Yong residence readily agreed.
Soon the imperial decree came down, granting marriage between Eldest Young Master Jiang Yuchuan of Jiang Gong's residence and eldest daughter Zhao Yan of Yongning Marquis’ residence.
As soon as the imperial decree came down, the entire capital was in an uproar, causing countless young ladies in the inner chambers to cry bitterly while the madams of each household pounded their chests and stamped their feet.
Thus, after Jiang Yuqing, Zhao Yan became the second person that the girls of the capital envied and hated.
For a while, the Yongning Marquis’ residence was bustling with visitors. Among the madams paying congratulatory visits were also many young ladies from the inner chambers.
Everyone wanted to see what kind of nationally renowned beauty this young lady Zhao from the southwest, who had lived there for years, was to make Eldest Young Master Jiang, the number one gentleman in the capital, bow in admiration to her.
The wedding date was set for the twelfth lunar month, still three to four months away. Although it seemed like ample time, it was actually very pressing.
Just after Mid-Autumn festival, the fetus in Princess Mingyang’s belly ripened and she gave birth to a daughter after a night of labor pains at dawn. She was named Yang Zhenyi, nicknamed Yiyi.
On the third day after the birth, Jiang Yuqing and Jing Yan came to see the baby. She was an extremely delicate little girl. As Jiang Yuqing was pregnant, she did not hold the baby due to certain taboos.
On the way back, she nestled in Jing Yan’s arms, holding her increasingly bulging belly, and said to him, “I wonder if it will be a boy or a girl. It would be great if she's as cute as Yiyi if it’s a girl.”
Jing Yan kissed her forehead and gently placed his palm on her belly, saying gently, “I actually hope it's a boy. That way from birth I can teach him the ways of an emperor. When he grows up I can completely hand this burden on my shoulders over to him, and go live a life of just the two of us. If it’s a girl, I wouldn’t bear to see her suffer so much.”
Jiang Yuqing stared at him indignantly, “Speaking like that, I suddenly feel very unfortunate to have you as the father. He's not even born yet and you're already plotting against him.”
Jing Yan looked totally justified, “Because that's also how I came to be, so of course he can be no exception.”
Jiang Yuqing curled her lips, "So should I sympathize with you first in that case?"
"No need for that. It's the tradition of us old Jing family. If that's the case, then the people you need to sympathize with go back at least as far as his great-grandfather's generation."
Jiang Yuqing: "......" How vexing! You make those nine dragon sons who participated in the struggle for the throne so aggrieved!
Since the Ministry of Works succeeded in researching cement, in just over half a year, all the streets of the capital city were now paved with cement roads. Carriages traveling on the roads were very smooth.
The benefit was especially apparent after heavy rains, as there was no longer the fear of muddy and impassable roads, which greatly convenienced the commoners of the capital city.
Not only that, cement roads had started paving from the capital city towards major cities in all four directions. It was believed that in a few years, all the major official roads of Da Xia would be paved with cement roads.
The carriage smoothly returned to the palace. Jing Yan went to the imperial study to handle government affairs. Jiang Yuqing changed into comfortable clothes and lay down to rest on the beauty couch.
Bai Xiaojiu leisurely walked in from outside. First, as usual, it rubbed its big head against her palm to act coquettish.
However, soon after, it started twitching its nose, as if vigorously smelling something. Its temper suddenly became restless too. Lowering its head towards a big vase next to the bookcase, it let out a low, threatening roar.
While roaring, it also slapped the ground with its huge paws, its steel whip-like tail sweeping the ground at an extremely fast frequency. These were the instinctive reactions of fierce beasts when facing threats.
"Master, there is something inside this jar."
Jiang Yuqing was shocked in her heart. Her consciousness shot out sharply, penetrating the vase. Indeed, inside was a red, thumb-thick triangular-headed coral snake.
Perhaps feeling Bai Xiaojiu's threat, the red little snake suddenly shot out from the vase towards Jiang Yuqing's face.
In that instant, Jiang Yuqing's mind moved, and in a flash her body emitted a "hum" as a transparent protective shield appeared around her. The snake slapped against the protective shield with a "pa" and was bounced back, crashing heavily on the ground, beaten silly.
At the same time, the little thorn that was always coiled around Jiang Yuqing's wrist as an ornament swiftly extended two steel needle-like branches, nailing the little red snake's head and tail to the ground.
As the saying goes, take advantage of someone when they are down. This not only applies to the human world, but also the animal kingdom. Seeing this, Bai Xiao Ji jumped forward and slapped down with its paw, breaking the little snake into two at its seventh vertebrae.
This sudden scene really frightened the palace maids and eunuchs. They hurriedly shouted for protection. At the same time, some were sent rushing to the imperial study to report the incident.
